IFL90 Still stronger than competition?

When I along with many of you (I assume) first looked into this notebook it seemed to be the best bet given the new tech, good price and reputation. However now with the passing time the big names such as HP and Dell have woken up and are refreshing their lineups. After seeing the changes to the new inspiron for example that can be figured simularily for not much more (even less as I could have got a student discount), I've lost alot of the original confidence I put into ordering this notebook. It even seems at this rate these notebooks will end up shipping at the same time anyway. Maybe Im just bummed with the whole wating game.

Im not trying to put the IFL down... it still has my order and faith... rather I would just like a little discussion as to the qualities that still make this a good option.

 

Look at this thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=139133

The main quality that makes it a good buy is the resellers and their customer service/tech support.

 

While I do share some of your sentiments, I have to really think if Dell sincerely prices their products correctly, or if they deliberately raise them only to cut them down later with "deals", "specials", and "coupons". One thing's for certain, companies like Dell do their math before doing any kind of deals, and I think they've figured that artificially raising prices and then spamming and making their coupons readily available allows for consumers to believe they've got the upper hand on the deal.

Well at least I can still delve in the fact that the IFL-90 looks better than that hideous monstrosity they call the 1520....

 

Thanks actually thats pretty much the comparison I was making in my head

 

I believe their 8600GT is also less powerful then the ones in the Compals.

Steven

 

Im becoming more certain (with absolutely no proof, just paranoia) that Compal is building those 1520s anyway I have seen almost all praise for owners of the Hel80 model, and everyone likes the one on one aspect of having the folks at Xotic or Powernotebooks or wherever to lean on when things may go south. I saw in the exploded Dell thread that a rep actually quoted a wikipedia entry when he was asked about GDDR3.... No thanks!

 

lol can I get that link to that thread?

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Compal is Dell's ODM for the 1520s, to be honest.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=139452

299 posts since this evening.... crazy

The person that got theirs benched it at 2900 I think, needless to say everyone flipped.

IFL90>Dell>Acer>HP

 

That would explain why the IFL90 is delayed in the US by a month+ if they suddenly needed to produce a boatload of Dells. It certainly isnt as if Compal is doing nothing for the last few weeks because they ran out of screws or something. They are the 2nd largest producer after all, and the Dell rollout seems to be pretty darn big.

 

The HPs aren't even competing with the same cards. 8400GS in the 6500t iirc. And only an 8600GS in the 17".

 

Thanks for the link sco_fri. That's pretty sad and hilarious at the same time. Sad for those people who honestly thought they were getting a better deal than they did. (I did consider the 1520 so I could have been one of them. ) Hilarious because those among them who felt emboldened to go into other manufacturer's forums and prance around with their 1520 are now reduced to eating humble pie. It is unfortunate but that's the only way (i.e. the painful way) some people will learn that they should reflect intelligently on the specs before opening their mouth instead of just drinking the koolaid the manufacturers feed them.

 

I'm sorry - that thread was hilarious.

I just got to post #260 - sco_fri's post trying to calm the masses. Do you ever feel like Compal buyers are stress councilors for Asus and Dell buyers?

 

Yeah its too bad, they have a brand spanking new laptop on the way to the house and they all sound like they want to refuse shipment because someone mentioned gddr3 in the forum. If you want G1S benchmarks, buy a G1S People seem really stuck on the fact that its not as fast as the G1S 8600gt, but its still an 8600gt, I will bet that 95% of them wont care at all 45 minutes after firing their baby up.

 

You are probably right that a good deal of them won't care but I'm on the fence about the strategy of returning the machine, for those who would want to follow that option. I see two possibilities:

1. If people started forecasting that the 1520 would be a G1S in performance but at a much lower price and they did that forecasting based only on their on wishful thinking, then they can only blame themselves. If they return the machine, it's because of their own damn fault.

2. On the other hand if Dell provided performance data that would justify inferring that the 1520 should be equivalent to a G1S, then Dell is to blame. (By performance data I mean benchmarks or statements that the memory bandwidth is XMb/s.) One could argue that it would be naive to believe Dell's word on this (and I would be the first to argue that) but as a matter of principle manufacturers should be held to sell what they advertise. In this case, I would consider it fully justified to return the machine to Dell and tell them to get lost.

I don't know which case is prevalent here because I did not follow the discussion on the 1520 and did not read the small print Dell provided when I priced a 1520 to see whether I would want that over a Sager NP2090. In my mind, I thought it *likely* that a 1520 would not be as good as a Sager NP2090 with 512MB of VRAM and not as good as a G1S but as they say the proof is in the pudding and in this case the pudding is not edible until you have the machine in hand and check the FPS of an actual game.

 

Yeah I agree there, it seems quite a few people made multiple phone calls to verify that there was gddr3 on the gpu, and since it looks like that isnt the case I agree they are entitled to return the machines. The reality after that is for the gddr3 they need to shell out $400 for the G1S or $200+ for the C90, I just don't see it as worth it.

 

I bought an 1520 and I am with you guys that maybe the 1520 is manufactured by compal. I would be curios to do a comparison of the equivalent laptop when my 1520 comes in.

 

When yours comes in and if mine ever comes in I'd be happy to do a cooperative review of the two.

 

ok that sounds good. I think that would be funny if the two computers were the same on the inside. I dont see why they are complaining so much on those baords. The 8600m gt still has more stream processors on it.

 

Yeah they do seem very similar, both are even without the hdmi (grumble). It did seem that the 2 people that received their Dells were very impressed otherwise, and we have heard mostly good from the lucky few that have their IFL90s.

 

Some similarities, but I don't think they are the same model. Maybe both by Compal, but hey, we know which one looks better (AND WORKS BETTER @ Dell fanboys on that thread).

 

At least the Dell people are getting theirs. I think I'm going postal if I hear it'll be another 2 weeks.

Edit: I just realized that maybe the Dells were just shipping the wxga screens too. But no, at least one reviewer got hers with the wsxga+ screen. Grr...

 

Better get some handcuffs and lock yourself in for a wild 2 weeks...

 

As they say, patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait.

 

I know - sorry I'm so impatient. 6 weeks is a long time to wait though...

 

feel the same way Donsell. but kinda off topic. managed to sell my desktop system for college money + pay off this laptop now!

 

6 weeks?! Man I can only tell you to calm down because I haven't even waited for one week yet! I don't think I can last 6 weeks.

 

Pre-Orders went up for this on May 19th I believe.....

 

I preordered on the 21st of June so I'm way back there in the preorders list.

 

I pre-ordered on the 27th of June. Will I get mine before or on the 21st of July? Anyone have any guesses?

 

I got an email from Xoticpc stating that I will proably get mine in 2-3 weeks. So email your reseller with the appropriate information so that they can give you the best answer they can.

 

Hum, I ordered on the 19th... hopefully I will get it earlier than 2-3 weeks? Otherwise, I might decide to switch my order ~_~

 

What would you switch to?

 

If I was going to switch I would probably see the C90s or the 1520.

 

Yeah, the 1520 maybe, although I've had some issues with Dell. If the lenovo or latitudes had better graphic options I'd look there too, but they don't.

I need more battery life than the C90.

 

Anyone else find it a bit odd that nobody knows when they are arriving for sure? Are they still on a boat crossing the pacific?

 

Actually, I'd probably switch my order to a W3J. It's a lot lighter, looks nicer, and has better build quality, although it is worse in spec, since it's only Merom T5500 and X1600 ATI Card.
However, it is a 14' screen, which I did somewhat prefer. (I was going to originally buy a W3J or a HGL30 before deciding on the Sager 2090/Compal IFL90)

The real problem is the price; It costs just about as much as the Sager/Compal I'm ordering.

 

If I switched it might be for the Dell 1420. I don't like the grapic option, but the size is appealing. Aug 8th shipping date though....I might as well wait.

 

It's a double-edged sword though.... the longer I wait for the IFL90 the higher chance of the W3J disappearing from retailers, since it's discontinued. But I always want to keep waiting? Because it seems so close to coming.... but I'm just waiting for that new 1-2 weeks later thing ~_~

 

Yeah I heard the 2 weeks thing two weeks ago... I would feel better if someone somewhere could just say 'THIS is WHEN you will recieve your purchase'... reguardless of how long it might be. A definate timeline is better than waiting in uncertainty.
Nothing against the resellers really, they cant do much either and Im sire they are tired of this too.

 

Whoa... anybody who read through that Inspiron thread care to make cliff notes version?

 

Its gddr2 the way it looks, clocks are listed the same as what the IFL90 are at. The one last night benched at 2900 or so on 3dmark06 and everyone flipped out. Whats funny is the Dell reps dont seem to know what gddr3 actually is so they are sticking to their guns, although ossperse (sp) who decided for the Dell over the Sager due to gddr3 managed to get 100 dollars back because of the screw up. Then of course there are all the folks that now think since the card isnt as fast as the one in the G1S that their new laptop is junk, etc etc etc

 

Well, I'll quote a cliff's notes post from that thread:

 

So should we be expecting a 2900 3dmark? This isnt a huge deal for me but I am admittedly confused.

 

wait... so the sager2090/ifl90 8600gt perform the same as dell 1520 8600gt card?
their both equally unclocked??

 

I just got a call from Powernotebooks. I'm going to need those handcuffs.

 

What did they say?

 

Not necessarily - read this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=139133

The IFL90 has twice the dedicated VRAM.

 

If you check the threads in here the default benchmark for the IFL90 is around 3000-3100 I think, but flippoet got his to 3590 today with some overclocking. The point is, this card and the one in the Dell are good gaming cards and just as good as you were hoping. That is unless you thought you could get G1S results out of it Its not underclocked most likely, just gddr2

 

Information should come from Powernotebooks, not from me. Hopefully they'll post something.