2 questions about Sager 8130

Hello everybody,
it's the first time I am posting, so forgive my noobiness.

QUESTION 1:
I am ordering a Sager 8130 and there are two basic screen configuration.

The matte standard one, and the glossy 95% gamut one. Both are now free.

I have seen a variety of posts on this forum about the comparison between the 95% gamut matte vs the 95% gamut glossy. And from my understanding the consensus is that the 95% gamut matte is practically not distinguishable from the other but provides less glare.

What about the matte standard one? Is it similarly almost not distinguishable in quality from the 95% gamut glossy one? Or the difference is more pronounced?

For a person that doesn't do any graphic work, and simply uses the laptop for office work and videogames what is the best choice?

QUESTION 2
The sale representative I was talking to was really insisting that I buy instead their version of the msi MS 16F2. It costs a around 300 dollars less, but it has better sound and 2 hard-drive bay, everything else is identical. Does anybody knows this laptop? How is the screen? I have searched for reviews online but I couldn't find any. I am biased toward the Sager given the stellar reviews I read in here. Am I doing a mistake?

 

If you don't do any graphics work, the stock Matte screen is the way to go. That way you don't have to deal with reflections, and the 95% gamut won't really mean anything to you because you're not trying to tell the difference between similar colors.

I do some graphics work and I still didn't find the 95% gamut screen necessary.

That being said, it's a REALLY nice screen.

EDIT: What reseller were you dealing with? i'm surprised they were trying to sway you to another product. I've heard that MSI's build quality isn't that great, but I could be mistaken.

 

There is quite a difference between the stock screen and the 95% color gamut screen. I recently had the opportunity to play games with two 8130's sitting side by side. The games look pretty good on the stock matte screen with nVidia's digital vibrance turned up a bit. On the 95% glossy screen the games looked amazing. The colors were just so rich and beautiful. The stock screen is also very blue. Seems the screen is set to 9000k color temperature. Maybe even closer to 10000k. The 95% screen is redder and seems to be set to the more common 6500k color temperature.

 

The stock Matte screen on the 8130 is a 60% Gamut. With the 95% Gamut the colors are much more Vibrant, deeper Blacks and overall the screen "pops".

Overall the Sager sells more then the MSI. You hit the big points with the 2nd Hard Drive etc. It just comes down to personal preference.

 

You also need to take size/heft into consideration. The MSI weighs a full pound more than the Sager. If you're going to be carrying the machine anywhere, this is something to keep in mind.

I owned an MSI laptop (old GX740 model). The only real issue I had with it was the screen. It was pretty awful, as it suffered from some color distortions and banding. With much trial and error over the course of a week, I was able to eliminate the former and reduce the latter enough so that it was not nearly as bothersome. That being said, I have no idea how the screen is on the newer MSI models. I can tell you that the 95% color gamut matte screen in my Clevo notebook (same chassis as Sager) is really excellent. Everything is more vibrant. I didn't notice the red tint on my screen, but it was calibrated by my reseller before it shipped.

As stated above, it really comes down to your personal preference. They're both good choices, but I would lean toward the Sager with the 95% color gamut screen if you want the best display quality. If you're keen on having as much storage flexibility as possible and want to spend less, get the MSI.

 

The reseller I was dealing with is powernotebooks. But do not get me wrong the sale representative was very nice. He simply pointed out more than once that he thought that for my usage necessities (office work+non enthusiast gaming) I could get a better deal on the their MSI that has better sound quality and 2 hd bays. I ended up paying for the Sager 1400$ (basic configurations+advanced wireless+2 years labor and parts), 300$ more than the MSI thus I don't think he had any economic incentive to have me buy the MSI.

I went with the 95% gamut glossy.

Thanks for the help!!!

 

Saturnotaku is correct in that the 'red push' seen on the 95% color gamut screen can be calibrated to bring it more in line. The problem is, this calibration does not work in DirectX games. Colors revert back to their uncalibrated state when playing. This is a Windows 7 limitation. Some games will also break the calibration by not restoring it when you quit back to desktop. But this 'redness' is not that big a deal. Even uncalibrated, games still look great.