Compal KHLB2 Users?

Anyone out there own a Compal KHLB2 (Sager NP2098)? I was curious about your opinions of:

A) Screen quality of the 1366x768 resolution panel
B) Heat emissions
C) Laptop structure/durability- do you feel comfortable staying portable with it, or does it feel like it should remain at home?

Thanks!

 

Just so you know, Mine was made by a British company "pcspecialist.com" (enigma laptop) but it is the same barebones...

Screen Quality is Alright. In my opinion people overreact about the 16:9 display. The only thing i find slightly annoying is that I usually play games at 1024*768 to keep FPS high and in 16:9 it makes the menus look stretched but once in game i dont notice it. The viewing angles are a bit strange but not terrible.
As for heat; I ordered mine with a P9500 which is NOT a 45nm chip like the P8*** chips. I'd reccomend going for one of these as even though the heat isnt very bad at all (and fans are only noticeable when you start gaming) I wish I had gone with a 45nm Chip.
When the lid is closed it feels very sleek and easy to take around. At the same time it feels very fragile and looks prone to breaking if dropped. Just be careful with it if you take it around.

PS. Just to tell you, I had an issue with my Wi-Fi and this laptop. I ordered the optional "N" card to future proof it and also ordered bluetooth an I am told that maybe that these might be intefering with eachother but im not sure...
Good Luck, Hugo

 

Hmmmmm?
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLB4E

 

"Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile T9400 (2.53GHz) 1066MHz FSB/6MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM) 4GB CORSAIR DDR3 1066MHz SODIMM - LIFETIME WARRANTY!
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (£86)
Bluetooth & Infrared Options INTEGRATED BLUETOOTH ADAPTER (£7)
Memory - Hard Disk 320GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
CD/DVD Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Graphics Card 512MB DDR3 ATi RADEON HD 4650 + HDMI & VGA"
How very silly of me. It was a T9400.

 

when i was shopping for a notebook, i originally skipped over the khlb2 because of the screen.

though now that i have one and have been working on it for a while, i've become accustomed to the screen and it's limitations. it's not really a big deal, i was slightly annoyed with it for a few days but then i got used to it. if you're a resolution junkie, you might not like it at all, but for general use it's completely fine for my needs. by general use i mean: web surfing, editing photos in photoshop and lightroom, casual gaming, and watching videos.

this notebook DOES get pretty warm. if you go with the 500gb hdd, you may have problems with head pauses and clicking because there's no active cooling for the hdd bay. though i blame seagate for not doing a good job.

i'm completely fine carrying this notebook around with me. it's a little on the large side for at 15" comp, but it's not bad. it seems pretty durable and could probably take a short fall and be okay. though the glossy lid will get dirty very quickly.

 

A) Screen quality of the 1366x768 resolution panel

So, there are 2 sides of this question. First, resolution and aspect ratio is completely fine. You cannot see anything pixaleted, on 15,6" screen its very pleasant resolution I think. On the other side, viewing angles of this display are for me, just horrible. Dont get wrong message - its "average", but if you think of KHLB2 as a multimedia notebook, average is not enough. If you look inte middle of the screen, bottom of the screen is overbrightened and upper area of the screen is inverted. In daily usage this wont be a problem for you. But, if you are watching movie or play games at night, you must adjust the screen to look at its upper area, so there is nothink inverted, but bottom area will remain overbrightened, with black beeing grey.

B) Heat emissions

There KHLB2 is just alright, its not cold, but even much slower notebooks are maybe even hotter than KHLB2. It surely depends on CPu type, I have 25W P8700 and its just ok.

C) Laptop structure/durability- do you feel comfortable staying portable with it, or does it feel like it should remain at home?

For notebook this size, KHLB2 is pleasant to carry. I have no problem with this side. About build quality, its generaly good, but there is wobbly battery. Battery is somehow little climbing, but this is not exactly problem, its more inconvinient.

I have Intel 5100 draft-n wi-fi, and only "problem" is that after I connect network, its signal is sometimes double it was before, in list of networks. But i think its normal, or its Windows 7 RC related.

 

Compal has a tradition of making crap cooling for their 15"ers. Otherwise they are quite nice, I'm quite satisfied with my JHL90))) However, I wouldn't buy KHLB2 because of the screen, I better stay with my 1440x900 and handicapped GF9600 rather than with a nice HD4650 but lacking vertical space. I wonder if they will offer custom screen as an option for this model.

 

your JHL90 only has a 1440x900 res?? I thought they only did 1280 and 1680 (which i have).

 

Can anyone with KHLB2 provide any temps from HWMonitor or Everest, like min, max, average...?

 

You might wanna read this. 100° C is too hot for the GPU... I guess the laptop will be fried after 1 year if you use it as your only gaming machine. If you buy it, apply Arctic Silver or Arctic Cooling MX-3 and undervolt the CPU, that may help to keep the temps at ~ 88 - 90°C.

However the sreens seems to be really crappy.

 

Well, crappy is bad, its just average. Anyway, if you do wanna see this screen, Asus G50VT-X1 has the same, I dont mean same specs, its the same model. Just search youtube for many gaming videos.

 

Yeah... you're right that most 15,6" screens are crappy, but that doesn't make it any better, does it? I guess you can life with it though, any screen has it's pros and cons...

 

Well, its not just that. I saw year old Acer with WSXGA matte, its just like KHLB2 screen, but its not that visible (viewing angle limitations), becouse of matte screen. We must wait to IPS panels, maybe sometimes... I think OLED displays will be used a lot in future. I really looking forward to their contrast ratio...