Impressions - Compal IFL90 (Sager 2090)

I bought NP2090 from PowerNotebooks.com, and I want to share some thoughts about its LCD screen, GeForce 8600M GT drivers, lid that has no locks, keyboard flexibility, dead pixels, light leakage and heat. All those things that I was reading a lot about before the purchase, which I can now comment first-hand.

Sager NP2090
T7700
2GB RAM
200GB 7200 rpm Hitachi HD
GeForce 8600M GT 256MB
Vista 32 Ultimate

Notebook arrived in perfect condition. Not a single scratch, bad fit or uneven line.

1. LCD
LCD screen is WSXGA+ 1680x1050. I've read a lot how Dell and Lenovo play the lottery by shipping notebooks with Samsung (grainy appearance according to users) or LG (preferred by majority) SXGA screens.

From my previous HP notebook with WSGA+, I got used to great viewing angles and non-grainy, fine picture of excellent WSXGA+ LCD. I was scared to buy any laptop online - what if it would have an IBM/Lenovo kind of WSXGA+, that is painful to my eyes (I have an IMB T42 with SXGA+ screen that is terrible!).

To a great relief, IFL90 has high-contrast, non-grainy, wide viewing angle LCD screen!


2. GeForce 8600M GT drivers.
In Windows Vista 32, NVidia Card "forgets" its color settings every time computer goes to sleep.
I like "Digital Vibrance" set to 10%. I have to apply it manually after every "sleep". This issue is old, but neither NVidia, nor Vista care to fix it.

3. Lid has no locks.
That's true. No locks. However, there's a magnet in the lid that holds it well in closed state.

4. Keyboard is rigid. Not like that on YouTube video, which demonstrates that NP2090 has poor keyboard rigidity. Maybe, that video played its role in Compal fixing the flex.

5. Dead pixels = 0.

6. Light leakage. Null as far as I am concerned.

7. Heat. The hottest place under normal use can be referred to as "slightly warm".


Conclusion: a high-quality, well designed notebook that stands out. Get one


P.S.- Dec 6.
After 1 month.

Now I can comment on system stability after one month of using it.

CPU:
I've done some intense calculations that lasted up to 12 hours in a row at full CPU load. The system behaved perfectly stable and did not heat too much. Certainly, laptop cooling pad was not necessary.

GPU:
Again, after hours of heavy load, no stability or heat issues.

Overall, I didn't have a single stability problem, no matter how much load 2090 took. It deserves to be mentioned.

 

I can't agree with you more. I am very pleased with my NP 2090 ( IFL 90 ). This is my first laptop and I didn't know what to really expect, and got something that is high quality with superb performance.

How do you find out the manufacturer of the WSXGA+ screen ? Device manager just says default monitor.

 

Try Lavalys' Everest.
http://www.lavalys.com

 

There's a magnet? Where? I've never felt the tell-tale pull of a magnet; it's just really really stiff.

A magnet wouldn't be the best idea around computer components, would it be? I dunno, someone enlighten me.

 

There is indeed a magnet, not a very strong one though since the laptop still opens if I hold it upside down from the bottom. I found the magnet on accident when I was juggling a screw and it stuck right to it! Lol.

 

You'd need a pretty strong magnet to damage a computer (including hard drives). Most people don't have magnets strong enough in the house to do so short of things like speakers that could be disassembled for the magnet.

 

==GAMING on NP2090 / Vista==

I'd like to add a little information about Nvidia 8600M card.

My laptop shipped mid November 2007, and it came with 156.10 drivers. When I tried to play Halo2 on 2090, game would crash during game loading and notebook would restart.

I tried many drivers from laptop2go.com, and was shocked how many of them there are! (why so many? why most of them are half-official?). I tried about 6 diff. drivers and had to do system restore in 3 cases, got no improvements and lost "color settings" menu in the rest of them. No go.

Then I found that Compal released 156.65 driver. Installed it and - voila - Hallo2 runs.

http://www.compal.com/asp/driver_dnd/index.htm

Get rid of 156.10!

Perhaps, it's not a news for some users. But it wouldn't hurt to mention the 156.65 driver update yet one more time.

PS
and YES, the driver still "forgets" color setting after sleep. What is wrong, Nvidia?

 

Install the 169.09...

 

Ah, are you *actually* using this one on *NP2090 running Vista*? If yes, would you elaborate on your experience like DV, driver crashes etc?


My experience: "Digital Vibrance" is gone - driver is "home brewed" and I'm sure it has deeper problems too.

Plus, for that one almost as many people say "No" as "Yes".
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16152


Also, such can never happen with official NVIDIA driver...
QUOTE (apprenticepeng @ Nov 22 2007, 04:13 PM) *
Hi guys,
It seems that I cannot use the 169.09 driver. I was using 169.04 for my Dell M1730 notebook. After I update the driver to 169.09, other things seem fine and I can play Crisis normally. However, when I turn off my computer and turn it on the next day, I couldn't start Windows Vista (Home Premium 32-bit). My laptop was giving me a black screen. So I had to go to safe mode to uninstall the 169.09 and install 169.04. Anyone knows why I'm having this problem?

 

im happy to have the IFL90, beatuful

 

Anyone reading this, do NOT buy the 1440 screen res Compal...you have a chance to have an extremely crappy lightbleeding screen. Trust me, i have one and others have complained about it. I'm going to return mine and upgrade to the 1680 version.

 

Don't want to be a party crusher, but can you test your built-in microphone using internal sound recorder?

Also visit this thread,
Major audio problem

And Bhima, I don't have the lightbleeding issue as you have except the audio problem.
Mine is a glossy WSXGA+ screen with weak viewable angles.
Using Everest, the monitor is detected as Chunghwa CLAA154WP05A.
Chunghwa Pictures Tubes, Inc. --> www.abico.com.tw (Currently listed harmful site by Google)
http://www.stopbadware.org/reports/container?reportname=http://www.abico.com.tw/

 

It works. If that's what you are asking.
The quality is terrible due to lack of high and low end, would be a D+ grade.

But built-in microphone is not what I seriously consider using anyway (same for the camera).

P.S. I thought no one offers ifl90 with glossy WSXGA+ ?

I looked at the microphone thread mentioned and I want to confirm that the concerns are valid and because there obviously is a demand for built-in microphone use, Compal is better to look into sound issues seriously.