A listing of my final thoughts and concerns

OK

I've done a tremendous (borderline obsessive) amount of thinking on the matter, and here are my thoughts. I am more drawn to the m15x because it is slightly smaller than the np8660, has a better battery life, and has slightly better benchmark rating. Many of the issues surrounding it have been fixed over time. My last major lingering concern is the build quality. I want to know if this machine will be able to get me through 4 years of college. So... all I'm trying to figure out is how things are. Is the plastic flimsy, or is it more like its rickety and can fall apart at the seams?


Please cater to my OC behavior, and bear with me.

 

Spending a lot of cash should make everyone OC. Well, first of all, you can't go wrong with a warranty (that you can update as you see fit). I don't feel like the plastic is at all flimsy. You have to actually press down on it with some force to feel the slightest flex. Also, as far as heating goes, I've never had an issue. Thankfully, I think I recall hearing that BIOS and driver updates have solved the majority of overheating problems. So, us new m15x users no longer have an issue with that. That's all I can think of right now, at almost 4AM, about the plastic exterior.

I don't think you should have to apologize for asking questions. I think that's why most of us hang around here anyway, to help each other out.

 

if you leave it one on place it will last, use it to much and move it about I doubt it, my opinion

 

That's certainly possible but not definite, I would say. Accidents happen, but if you're lucky and they don't, I don't see why it can't last while moving around with it. Even if an accident does happen, I wouldn't call it a glass cannon. Not the best build but I'm sure it can handle an average level of shock.

 

yes its not like the build quality is the absolute worse in a notebook. its just average in my opinion. this is a big issue because of the hinge problem and since people payed a lot for this notebook they expected a better build quality. I personally think that the build quality feels the same as the vostro 1500...

 

Wow, I think that's saying a lot since the Vostro is Dell's 'El Cheapo' business laptop...

 

For 3 Years it will handle (3 year warranty of course).

If it survived the 3 warranty years, them the last 1 will not be a trouble.

 

I didn't think there would be anybody else but me in this forum that has trouble choosing between the m15x and the sager np8660 lol. welcome aboard man, i think we're on the same boat here. After joining this forum i did changed my mind about the Alienware m15x because people were telling me how good sager notebooks were. They tell me to go for the np8660 so i waited for it to come out. Now it's out and it's not a perfect laptop. It has major heat problem that's what i read from some of the threads over their forum. I guess no laptop is perfect. There will always be problems. So i've made up my mind to go with the m15x eventhough i know the risk of it going to crack later on but i'm going to get the 3 year warranty.

 

If by chance you have an American Express card, buy it with that, than pay it off right away, thats my plan, and AMEX will add an extra year of warranty, plus 90 days protection against lost, stolen, or accidents.

 

haha Finrir84, I'm right there with you, Actually I just sent my np8660 back, and am strongly considering the m15x.

 

why man? is there a problem with it? don't tell me you return it because of the heating problem right? wow i've never seen anybody else turn down their np8660 to go for the m15x. it seems like the np8660 is like the best laptop before it released. cuz everyone be talking about it and such. never though someone would return it. which is totally the opposite of what i think people would do. cuz the m15x is the one with all the problems and i know people try to get a refund so they can get something else. if you let me know the problem maybe i'll just stick with the m15x instead lol.

 

There was few things I didn't like about it, but the heat on my wrist was a biggie, sometimes I've got to work on stuff that takes hours, and if my wrist is turning red after an hour, thats too much for me.

I took a chance with Sager, I guess I could say that I think of them as a generic brand, and from my experience most things that are generic, are not as good as those with names on them, Why, because when you've got a name, you want to protect that names image. so when the np8660 started showing problems, I felt it was better to trust my gut instinct, and send it back. I have no regret about my decision, My only problem now, is what do I buy? I know voodoo is coming out with a 15 inch soon, and I can't imagine why Dell is taking so long to release a new XPS, but most of all, the m15x is almost 8 months old, I wonder when they will release the next 15in laptop.

 

Personally, I think they'll wait until at least 2009. That's just me, though.

 

dont forget about the OCZ Whitebook, steveninspokane

 

hmmm it seems like everyone's point of views is different. people in the sager/clevo forums are praising their product to be the best of quality and everything. before the np8660 even released they were talking about it like it's the best laptop in the world or something. It almost got me buy it too. but someone in there told me to wait for reviews before i made my decision. and that person is right. good things come to those who wait. I have the same problem with you too. after joining this forum, i've become so confuse i don't even know what i want to buy anymore. with all the good and bad reviews on the laptops i wanted to buy made me feel unsure weather or not i want to buy it. i guess i should continue to wait.

 

As some say, the M860TU is not perfect but, the above afirmation is totally wrong. There is no "major heat" problem. For the ones of you that want some information, major heat problems was what the m15x experienced when released, that lead to REAL problems, with the GPU and the CPU downclocking (my GPU reached the temperature of 107ºC).

So, let's try to be objective and not convey wrong information. The M860TU does a superb job at handling CPU and GPU temperatures (with one fan it does a much better work at that, than the m15x with a fan for each of the components) but it does seem to have the HDD running on the hot side. Appart from that, I do not think anyone yet has reported a real problem... Did anything downclocked? Did anything burn? Did anything break?

More, to inform m860tu owners that returned it because their hands would warm up... The m15x is exactly the same (read Chaz's review). The region right of the touchpad warms up to the point of making my hands sweat.

So, to make a long story short, the m860tu is not perfect (as no other laptop is), but it has far less problems the m15x had when it was released. And, if the HDD is trully a problem and it get's solved, I would chalenge people to compare GPU and CPU temperatures under load and come up with objective conclusions.

 

Well, first of all i just want to say that i might've been too exaggerating about the "major heating" but the system does have heating problem. i've seen people complaint about the np8660 heating problem. you probably been to their forum and know that many people there who owns a np8660 have been saying the same thing about heating. Second, the np8660 is only been out for not even 1 month yet. So you can't say anything about it not having any problems like the m15x. I know that sager's laptops are well build better than m15x but that doesn't mean it will not have problems later on. I know you owned a m15x and had bad experiences with it that's why you have a grudge against it.

 

No, I don't have any grudge against it...

I think that it's much safer to go for an M15x now that it was back when they were released. As someone said, appart from the risk of the hinges breaking, things seem to be shapping up and working fine.

What I'm saying is that it's funny that people are talking about the M860TU heating problems, without remembering the total disaster it was the M15x. And yes... the m15x also heats up your right wrist. The question is... regarding the m15x the GPU issues were discovered very promptly (specially because temps would go up to close to 100ºC). Now, even with everyone monitoring their temps on their M860TUs, GPU temps do not go above 80ºC. And this is a couple of weeks after being released. So yes, I would say that it's actually a great system and won't need as much tweaking as the m15x did.

Why don't you focus on that, instead of saying that people that have seen their HDD at 57ºC (when mine in the M15x was around 50-55ºC) are all freaking out? (and this is because you just need a sparkle to start a big fire).

So no, I'm not recommending the M860TU (I would actually recommend waiting for things to be cleared out) or telling people not to get the m15x. I'm just trying to put things clearly, objectively and with facts.

 

Another point none touches is: Clevo you need to choose a trustworthy Reseller.

If you get a trustworthy Reseller, the m860tu blows the m15x out. If not, you will have a stalemate.

Clevo m860tu has better GPU/CPU (new tech, heat control, 9800GT insignificantly better that 8800GTX), better build quality and way cheaper.

M15x has cool looks and loooonnngg battery life (with smart).

But on the bad side:
Clevo M860ut has HDD worrying heat.

The m15x has a proven cracking issue.

 

Pointing fingers doesn't seem to help either. I think most of us by now have acknowledged the problems that have been seen with the m15x and most of the problems have been addressed. It's true that the m860tu is still a bit premature and has some adjusting to do, just like the m15x and in time, maybe it will be the grand notebook as it has been anticipated to be.

Until then, the "major heat problem" will remain "major" until they fix it. You can't deny that it isn't a big heat problem (why would people panic about this problem if it isn't?). Don't get offended because someone was not satisfied with the product.

Also, there are a bunch of testing to be done with it before you can point fingers and say that the m15x has experienced worse. I think we've heard enough and we get it. Maybe it has. But until then, wait a few more months then tell us if you still haven't had any problems with it. Sometimes problems don't arise until a month or two after it has been purchased. If there aren't any problems with it, then good for the m860tu.

The cracking issue has been addressed with the new BIOs. As for the hinges, we still have yet to find out whether it's completely gone or not. What we do know is that Alienware is constantly trying to address the issues that have been reported to them. Steven made a good point about the Alienware brand. It's rational that they try and fix any kind of issues that their computers are facing because they have a reputation to uphold. The exclusivity is their incentive to work a bit harder to fix problems sooner.

 

How do you fix cracking with Bios update

Does Bios magically repairs chassis/hinge problems?

 

@Oceanus- There is a big difference between me and you. I couldn't care less about brands and who is king of the hill.
More, there is no major problem and saying so is simply telling people lies. There is no perfection and saying so is also... a lie. I'm just trying to prevent people to believe things that are not true.

 

Unless it has already happened, then that sucks to be you. The BIOs update just prevents it from happening, if it hasn't already happened. It speeds up the fan and keeps it running longer to prevent the chassis/screen from cracking due to heat.

@Milcs:
Fair enough. How soon do you think they'll fix the HDD heat problem on the m860tu and have they found out the root of the problem yet? Was just curious.

 

I wouldnt go as far to say that the M15X has a PROVEN cracking issue. Yes 10-15 people had it, I dont think its fair to say thats proven to be fair to Alienware.

I mean for a company to be profitable, Im sure they need to sell these laptops in the thousands so a few problems are likely to appear.

But yeah Im not saying the M15X is wonderful but still i would just say, SOME people's m15X has cracked.

 

I think in order to avoid confusion we should probably calm down a bit with the cracking issue and wait for such an issue to surface with us newer issues. We should let them know that it exists but there certainly is no guarantee of a crack or anything.