IFL90, where to buy from?

I'm looking to get a IFL90 for college (I'm a senior in high school this year) and do some some gaming as well with it. I've researched some sites and the three I'm thinking about are avadirect.com, xoticpc.com, and powernotebooks.com. All three sites seem like good business that are reliable, so I'm just asking about the specific laptop from each. Xotic pc and Powernotebooks both list it as a Sager NP2090 and the pricing seems pretty similar (xotic is like $10 cheaper and the warranty looks better). AVA Direct seems to be a whole lot cheaper for some reason (like $200 or something like that, I don't have the numbers in front of me right now), but it does call it a Sager NP2090 rather just a customized IFL90. Also AVA Direct's version does have as good as resolution (1440x900 compared to the xotic pc and powernotebooks at 1680x1050) and it doesn't have "arctic silver 5 thermal compound" either. There may be some other differences, but I'm not sure. Xotic pc and powernotebooks don't list the brands for ram and harddrive, but I e-mailed xotic pc and they said they "We use only major name brand memory (Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, Etc…) and hard drives (Seagate, Hitachi, WD, Etc…)".

here are links to the IFL90 or NP2090 on each site: http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_configurator.asp?PRID=9704
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2090-custom-laptop-built-compal-ifl90-p-1876.html?wconfigure=yes
http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=471

Here are the specs I'm looking to get:
processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
ram: >= 2 GB
hard drive: >= 160 GB, 7200 RPM
video card: nVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 512 MB
screen resolution: the more resolution the better (preferably 1680 x 1050, but I guess 1440x900 might have to do)
Intel Turbo Memory: yes, please (1 GB)
wireless network: Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965 802.11a/g/n
bluetooth: yes please (built in prefered)
battery: 9-cell
operating system: vista home premium (32/64 bit?)
warranty: a good enough one that I won't be in too much trouble

Can anybody help me make a choice/express their opinions on the topic?

 

Ava direct has only a 1 year regular warranty, you get a better one with powernotebooks and xotic pc, but their computer are more expensive with the same components... And you only need vista 64bit if you're planning to use 4gb or more of ram...

 

or if you can put one together yourself zipzoomfly is cheaper than all of them... otherwise i recc xotic, that is who i bouht my sager from

 

I have some suggestions regarding your configuration that might help.

Please either email me using the link in my signature below, or give us a toll free call at 1-877-711-1777 between 8:30AM and 5:30 PM Coast to Coast Monday through Saturday.

 

Own a PowerPro 10:15 (IFL-90) myself...

> Here are the specs I'm looking to get:
> processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz

This would be a good place to save a little money, imho.

> ram: >= 2 GB

Just saw NewEgg advertising a 2 GB, 667mhz ddr2 sodimm's for $36! (So maybe order your laptop with minimum, and upgrade yourself -- it's easy).

> screen resolution: the more resolution the better (preferably 1680 x 1050,
> but I guess 1440x900 might have to do)

The matte 1680x1050 screen is very nice. I don't game in full resolution, but none of the games I play are ill-effected by non-native resolution.

> Intel Turbo Memory: yes, please (1 GB)

Only useful if you're using Vista with insufficient memory (and I really wouldn't recommend using Vista period, especially with insufficient memory).

> operating system: vista home premium (32/64 bit?)

I started with 64 bit Vista-Business, and even with 4GB of ram, it was a stinker, and some software that I required for my job wouldn't run on Vista 64 at all. So I bought another copy of XP, and am happy enough with it.

> warranty: a good enough one that I won't be in too much trouble

You should definitely consider PowerNotebooks.com or XoticPC.com.

 

+1 for PowerNotebooks.

My 2090 from them arrived in superb condition.

I had xoticpc, powernotebooks and discountlaptops in mind, but xoticpc seems a little too new in the business, while discountlaptops has recently been resold and under new management it apparently has problems. At least, they failed to call me back, although they promised.

 

+1 for Xotic, just by pure fact that I went with them for my Asus and am very satisfied, thus they get free advertisement from me.

 

I'm sure all three are great companies. I've had a good experience with Powernotebooks myself (they swapped LCDs for me without any hassle, and let me hold onto my hdd through the RMA process), so I can recommend them.

 

ZipZoomFly is by far the cheapest, especially if you order ram from Newegg and a HDD from eBay - I got a fully loaded (1680x1050, 512MB video, 4GB ram, 250GB hard drive, wireless ABG) IFL90 for about $1200 that way. By messing around with which items you leave in the ZZF shopping cart, you can keep the ~$160 discount but remove things like the OS to get a pretty good deal.

ZZF is bloody awful for customer service though. One of the worst companies I've ever used. I think it's one guy operating out of his basement or something like that. But hey, you'll save several hundred dollars, and I figure if you wanted good service and all that then you'd just get a Dell or soemthing. Your choice.