[REVIEW] Level51 / Aftershock Vapor 15 Pro (i7-9750H, GTX 1660Ti)

[With in depth thermal testing and thermal results with CM Mastergel Maker Nano thermal paste]

An Intel collaboration.

Welcome to my review on Level51 / Aftershock Vapor 15 Pro thin and light gaming laptop, also known as Tongfang QC7 (LAPQC71A). Main specs of the review unit are as below:

i7-9750H
GTX1660Ti
16gb dual channel RAM
512GB NVMe SSD
15.6 inch 144Hz IPS
Intel AX200
W10 (unactivated)

Note: This review is originally a video based review, therefore there will be only a few images.

Design
Starting off with the design of the laptop. The matte black colour makes the laptop look professional IMO. The design is clean. There are no disturbing or fancy lines, which makes it suitable for professional/business environments (remember to off RGB lights). One word to summarize the design –minimalistic. What do you think?

Build quality
The laptop chassis is mainly made from magnesium alloy. The lid has only minimal flex when twisted. The same can be said when force is applied on the middle of the lid cover. There is only minimal screen wobbling and the lid can be opened with one hand. The maximum lid opening angle is around 130 degrees. The bottom chassis, including the keyboard deck and C cover, doesn’t flex when force is applied on it. It cannot be twisted also. Overall, build quality is superb.

Input devices
The mechanical keyboard (GTMX Brown switch) has deep travel (over 2mm) and low actuation force (around 45-50g). Overall typing feel is good; however, it might take some time to get use to the keyboard since the mechanical keys feel quite unique. Key noise is a bit loud if you press hard on the keys. Since there is no numpad, the keyboard layout Is aligned to the middle. You can customize keyboard lighting via Control Panel. The Precision glass clickpad is quite large. Surface is smooth as expected and accuracy is decent, although not Macbook level yet. The L/R clicks feel decent too in terms of actuation force and click sound. You can disable the touchpad by double tapping the top left corner. The clickpad is aligned to the middle.

Display, speakers
The 15.6 inch 144Hz IPS display from BOE (BOE084D) has good colours, brightness and contrast. Ghosting is minimal as shown here. This panel doesn’t have PWM.

*shot at 1/60s

The 2 down firing speakers (facing down instead of sideways, therefore sound is covered) have OK audio, even after tuning with SoundBlaster software. There is some distortion even at 75% volume, let alone 100%.

Here is the Soundblaster setting I use:

Here is the Latencymon result:

Thermals

Now on to thermal testing. The bottom cover has plenty of intakes. Inside the laptop, the cooling solution has 2 shared heatpipes (one doesn’t connect to GPU fan) and 1 separate heatpipe for both CPU (stretched to GPU VRMs) and GPU. There are 4 exhaust vents.

Notes for thermal testing:

Ambient temp: 24-26C
CPU PROCHOT: 90C, GPU throttling temp: 75C
Nvidia driver 441.41
Intel iGPU driver 26.20.100.7463
W10 1909 18363.535
Control Center 2.1.0.19, BIOS 0058, EC 1.20
There is CPU undervolt of -50mV by default. Custom undervolt is -100mV (highlighted in blue colour)
Laptop is plugged in
Max fan noise is around 56-58dBA (Benchmark mode)

CPU power limits (PL1, PL2):
Performance mode: 65W, 100W
Balanced mode: 45W, 65W
Quiet mode: 35W, 60W

CPU - Aida64 FPU only: 60sec refresh interval (in Aida64)

Performance 65W
Max 98W at start, then slowly drop to ~71W before hitting PL1

Stock: 84-87C, 3.15-3.17GHz

UV-100mV: 85-86C, 3.3-3.34GHz

Max fan speed all the time

Balanced 45W

~60W before hitting PL1 (47-48dBA)

Stock: 70-73C, 2.6-2.7GHz

UV: 70-72C, 2.7-2.8GHz

40-41dBA

Quiet 35W

Stock: 64-65C, 2.2-2.3GHz

UV: 64-66C, 2.3-2.4GHz – ~40W before PL1, 67-68C, ~2.6GHz

36-37dBA

GPU - Unigine Heaven: With CPU UV, CPU disabled turbo, Extreme profile, windowed mode

Performance: max 1875MHz

48-49dBA: Max 75C, ~1700MHz

Benchmark mode (GPU Boost+max fan): Max 75C, ~1755MHz

Benchmark mode, with custom GPU curve and 87C GPU temp cap: Max 80C, 1935MHz@0.962V

Balanced: max 1815MHz

44-45dBA (most of the time), 41-42dBA (sometimes): Max 75C, ~1695MHz

Quiet mode: Not usable for dGPU due to very low clock speed

CPU+GPU - Aida64+Heaven, Performance mode, benchmark mode enabled

75C GPU cap:

CPU: Max 90C, 2.94-2.98GHz, 47-50W

GPU: Max 75C, ~1500MHz (min 1455MHz)

75C GPU cap, CPU UV:

CPU: Max 90C, 3.08-3.12GHz, 47-50W

GPU: Max 75C, ~1505MHz (min 1455MHz)

87C GPU cap, custom GPU curve, CPU UV:

CPU: Max 90C, 43-47W, 2.95-3.05GHz

GPU: Max 80C, 1740MHz@0.831V (personally I don’t want to push further than 80C)

Apex Legends – 1080p highest settings. 4GB VRAM budget, 70% in game brightness, Windows disabled game bar, disabled game mode

Performance, benchmark mode enabled (will max out fan on auto, even if disabled):

CPU UV: 75-82C, 4GHz, 26-28W; sometimes spike to 90C, 40W

GPU: Max 75C, 1590-1725MHz

Scene 1: ~100FPS; Scene 2: ~170FPS

Balanced:

CPU UV: 73-80C, 22-27W, 4GHz; sometimes clock speed will dip, sometimes temp spike

GPU: Max 75C, 1515-1605MHz

3DMark Time Spy: CPU undervolted, Performance mode, benchmark mode enabled 

Stock 75C GPU cap:

82C GPU cap (for longevity reasons), 1740MHz@0.831V:

Best result, from demo unit (1935MHz): 6266 score, 6439 graphics

Note: Benchmarks are done with one run only

3DMark Fire Strike: CPU undervolted, Performance mode, benchmark mode enabled

Stock 75C GPU cap:

82C GPU cap (for longevity reasons), 1740MHz@0.831V:

Best result, from demo unit (1935MHz): 14315 score, 16302 graphics

Note: Benchmarks are done with one run only

Bonus Section: Repasted with CM Mastergel Maker Nano

CPU - Aida64 FPU only: 60sec refresh interval (in Aida64)

Performance 65W: Hold at 100W at start for a few seconds (start at 80+C), then slowly drop to 78-80W before hitting PL1, max fan.

Stock: 79-82C, 3.16-3.2GHz

UV-100mV: 80-82C, 3.3-3.34GHz

52-53dBA

Balanced 45W

Stock: 69-71C, 2.6-2.7GHz

UV: 70-71C, 2.72-2.8GHz

36-40dBA

Quiet 35W

Stock: 64-65C, 2.2-2.3GHz

UV: 63-64C, 2.32-2.4GHz

~34dBA

GPU - Unigine Heaven: With CPU UV, CPU disabled turbo, Extreme profile, windowed mode

Performance: max 1860MHz

48-49dBA: Max 75C, ~1710MHz

Benchmark mode (GPU Boost+max fan): Max 75C, ~1780MHz

Benchmark mode, with custom GPU curve and 87C GPU temp cap: Average 76C, max 78-79C; 1935MHz@0.969V

Balanced:

41-43dBA: Max 75C, ~1665MHz

CPU+GPU - Aida64+Heaven, Performance mode, benchmark mode enabled

75C GPU cap:

CPU: Max 90C, 3.14-3.19GHz, 54-58W

GPU: Max 77C, 1455MHz

75C GPU cap, CPU UV:

CPU: Max 90C, 3.26-3.32GHz, 54-57W

GPU: Max 77C, 1455MHz

87C GPU cap, custom GPU curve, CPU UV, CPU capped to 45W:

CPU: 86-88C, 45W, 2.97-3.00GHz

GPU: Average 80C, max 81C; 1740MHz@0.831V

Apex Legends – 1080p highest settings. 4GB VRAM budget, 70% in game brightness, Windows disabled game bar, disabled game mode, CPU capped to 45W

Performance, benchmark mode enabled (will max out fan on auto, even if disabled):

CPU UV: 74-77C, 4GHz, 26-28W; sometimes temp spike to mid 80s

GPU: Max 75C, 1620-1680MHz

Scene 1: ~110FPS, scene 2: ~185FPS

3DMark Time Spy: CPU undervolted, Performance mode, benchmark mode enabled

Stock 75C GPU cap:

82C GPU cap (for longevity reasons), 1965MHz@0.962V (drop to 1935):

Note: Benchmarks are done with one run only

3DMark Fire Strike: CPU undervolted, Performance mode, benchmark mode enabled

Stock 75C GPU cap:

82C GPU cap (for longevity reasons), 1965MHz@0.962V (drop to 1935):

Note: Benchmarks are done with one run only

• To increase GPU performance, CPU needs to be power capped. If CPU is exceeding 45W under CPU+GPU load, cap it to something lower like 45W or 35W via software like Throttlestop
• You can override 75C GPU temp cap with Asus GPU Tweak II. To apply both 87C GPU temp cap and custom GPU curve (aka GPU undervolt), apply 87C temp cap first in Asus GPU Tweak II, then only apply the curve in MSI Afterburner
• Repaste doesn’t seem to help much when both CPU and GPU are stressed at the same time, probably due to heatsink limitation
• Under CPU+GPU load, the middle of the keyboard and the area surrounding the keyboard will become warm, especially top of the keyboard which can be hot to touch. Keyboard deck also feels a bit warm, especially on the right side
• There is uneven CPU core temp: max 12C, even with repaste it doesn’t seem to help much
• Lifting the laptop doesn’t seem to help much
• The included power adapter is a 230W unit from FSP, which is quite large. Take note that temps will be a little higher when running dual channel memory

Battery life

This laptop has a 93.48Wh battery. Battery life of this laptop is excellent. According to my testing, you can expect around 8.85-9.05 hrs of battery life while watching Youtube. In light mixed usage, around 8 hrs 20 mins is possible.

Test settings for Youtube video: Microsoft Edge, 1080p YT fullscreen, Quiet mode, volume 24%, brightness 15%, CPU UV -100mV, force iGPU in Nvidia Control Panel, CPU C states normal

Miscellaneous

This laptop weights at ~1.87kg and has ~20mm thickness. The size is compact for a 15 inch, comparable with Razer Blade 15.

Ports:

Other settings in Control Center:

• The paint material doesn't attract much fingerprints (little more susceptible on lid)
• The bottom cover can be easily opened after taking off all screws
• It has IR camera for Windows Hello
• The default keyboard backlight is white colour (before entering Windows), however the white colour is somewhat blueish

Issues found during testing:

• There are no indicator lights for power and charging outside - only at C cover which is unable to see if lid is closed
• Sometimes dGPU couldn't turn off even while idling, requires restart
• Apex Legends in game audio broken after changing Sound Blaster headphone/speaker profile settings
• Opening CSGO and Unigine Heaven will reset display colour calibration, requires turning off and on – probably Spyder5Pro related issue though
• Lid closing is too fast at the last 15-20 degrees, could be more elegant (slower)
• Fan will stay on even in BIOS, or when CPU is over 50C
• Thunderbolt issue: Level51 is aware of this issue and made some adjustments to the laptop, please refer to BIOS settings
• Removal of heatsink requires fan disassembly too since the whole heatsink set includes the fans, which adds extra work

Conclusion
Thin and light gaming laptops with long battery life are usually expensive. If you want this kind of laptop, Vapor 15 Pro will be the cheapest option. Does it mean that it’s cheaply made? Not at all. It has excellent exterior build and surprisingly good thermals for a thin and light. Even with a Thunderbolt 3 port. For RM5999, there’s basically no competition in thin and light+long battery life+powerful GPU category.

The design language looks professional (with RGB lights off), the glass touchpad is nice to have. However, the keyboard needs some time to get used to due to unique typing feel and aligned to middle layout due to lack of numpad. Performance is also limited due to low temperature cap in both CPU and GPU. Of course, you can further tune the laptop for best performance; however, I bet 99% buyers won’t do that. It will still play games at high frames though. Keep in mind that the fans are quite loud while under load. The speakers are OK at best.

Check out Level51 website for more details and customization.

Pros:

Good thermals

Excellent build quality

Long battery life

Thin and light with a compact size

Subtle yet premium look

Decent input devices

IR camera for Windows Hello

Good quality 144Hz IPS panel
Thunderbolt 3

Cons:

GPU is temperature capped (75C), CPU has fairly low temp cap as well (90C) – hurts performance without tuning

Auto fans are loud

Audio quality is a bit underwhelming

Keyboard requires some time to get used to

Thanks for reading!

Tongfang QC7 (LAPQC71A) aka Eluktronics Mag-15, XMG Fusion 15, Maingear Element, Level51 / Aftershock Vapor 15 Pro