2090 Not worth the hassle

I finally get my 2090 from Xoticpc after almost 2 months.

-Some keys are higher than others.
-The strip with the power button is pretty heavily scratched all over the place.
-I ordered with 1GB of ram so I can upgrade on my own. Guess what, they stuck the stick in the back so that I can open it all up to install mine. Which is probably fine because the generic Transcend crap they put in will fail first. I should've took the hint when their reply to ram inquiry is "we use brand name" instead of just answering the question.
-There is absolutely no documentation. I didn't even get a warranty card. Installing all the drivers on the CD, I still get unknown devices in device manager.
-Webcam does not show up even though drivers installed w/o a hitch.
-Wow button software gives an error saying something like "cannot be installed on this system".

I am on the fence about returning this. At the very least, I am not recommending these non-mainstream brands and stores to those who ask me for advice.

 

1. Some keys being higher than others seems either specific to your 2090 or the 2090 in general. Never heard this before on a Clevo.
2. Does the strip on the power button have a plastic film coating on it? Most Clevo's are plastic coated to protect them from scratches.
3. Transcend isnt generic btw. It's probably CAS4 or CAS5 latency JetRam. Cheap, yes. Generic no. It's not bad ram. It's pretty much on par with most laptop memory. There's only a very select few RAM Modules for laptops that are low latency, and usually at DDR2-667 it would be CAS4 instead of CAS5 like the JetRam. Making little to no difference.
4. No documentation is strange, you should have got a user manual that comes with Clevos. The service manuals are hard to get, I admit. Warranty is through Sager via your serial number on the back, and extended through XoticPC themselves. They're much more friendly than HP too.
5. Don't know which Webcam it has. Is it a Bison?
6. I didn't know SRS-WOW needed software.


These are really minor things to be honest. You would have got TRULY generic Nanya ODM RAM from an HP/Dell/Toshiba. You might not even be able to upgrade your harddrive in stuff like a Gateway. Give it some thought and try it out before you get too wound up. Remember these notebooks are for those who aren't looking for a mainstream notebook. Not much compares to what Clevo offers to gamers especially with their video cards and configurations/upgradability. As for whether you recommend it, if theyre asking you for advice, they probably should get a mainsteam notebook anyways. These products tend to be for people who try to figure things out on their own before asking questions.

 

When did you get it?

Make sure you decide before the 15days after the ship date aren't up. So you can get a full refund.

 

i had no problems like this when i recieved it today.. looks like you did get screwed though, id say return it

 

Just realised the 2090 is by Compal. I dont have experience with them. I assumed it was a Clevo. Oops.

 

I know you mentioned in the http://forums.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=133186&page=77 thread that you ordered from xotic, but Donald responded regarding some of the concerns you identified there. It is difficult for people to really help you when you are posting your concerns in multiple threads. Also, detail would be very helpful, particularly the OS you are using now.

I missed the UPS guy by 23 minutes yesterday to sign for my laptop so they are trying again today. Hopefully they will catch me this time and I can let you know about my experience with it tonight and the resolutions I find if I also encounter some of these issues.

Anyway, here are some initial thoughts on these issues that may or may not be helpful to you:

1. Could you post a picture of this? I have seen a lot of pictures of 2090's without the keys being at different heights (unless it is very hard to tell from the pictures). It could be some type of defect with yours or something that happened during shipping. It just doesn't sound right, but perhaps you are just more observant to small differences in height than most of us.

2. The strip with the power button is designed to be removed and it should be very nice underneath.

3. Nothing wrong with that RAM from what I can tell. If you would rather pay extra for a specific brand the option is available, but that is fine RAM in a laptop.

4. I couldn't imagine no documentation being included. Did it get thrown out in the packaging? I will look at mine tonight (as long as I am there to sign for it this time since I will NOT authorize the UPS guy to leave it on the door) and let you know where mine is at. As for the driver's there are numerous threads on these boards with solutions to the various driver issues being experienced. Most of them are different depending on the OS you put on it. You mentioned you were upgrading to Vista 64 last night which will completely change the driver scene for you. I don't know which OS you are using now, but the driver issues have largely been resolved and have answers on these boards.

5. Doing a quick search on this site found numerous threads about Webcam/FingerPrint reader issues with XP/Vista 32. Please take a look at some of them to resolve this issue as solutions have been posted in many of them based upon the specific circumstance and OS involved.

6. There were numerous threads about issues with the Wow buttons as well. Many of these were due to the cables not being connected on some of the older batches that shipped. If that is not your problem it is likely a driver issue. I beleive it was stated that driver's for these buttons are available on www.bizcom-us.com. For more detail do a search for some of these threads.

If you are having issues with drivers/software/OS they can likely be resolved with the help of many people here. If you do have a serious defect with your laptop contact xotic and ask them about it. If there isn't an explanation for it I am sure they would be glad to provide you with an RMA and refund your purchase if it is within the 14 days (or is it 15, can't remember because I don't plan to return mine).

 

Are you sure about that? On my sager 2090 I started to peel it off from the bottom right corner cause I hate those plastic sticker things, but noticed it had some decent resistance to it. I called up sager support and they told me not to take it off.

 

From many comments and pictures I have seen it is supposed to come off and is designed to prevent scratches. Hotblood, if you are not sure about yours contact your re-seller about it, I am sure they can help you further specifically with this. Don't take my word for you model specifically, and don't take the word of others on this forum that may have had the neccesary vinyl covering that yours did not. I believe it is only the Vinyl covering that can be removed and most likely is designed to prevent scratches during shipping. It should be glossy underneath from what I understand.

Hows does yours compare to the picture posted by jjockers of his? The pics can be found at http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8856&d=1186157520 from the thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=150686.

 

1. What specific keys are higher than the others? The same thing happened in mine for the right column of keys (Home, Page Up, Page Down, End, Right Arrow). Ever since the laptop has arrived, the keys have either gotten even, or I just got used to them. It's no real big deal. In my opinion, it was actually helpful because I won't be hitting Page Down when trying to hit enter. (I have some large hands). The rest of the keys are just fine, though.

2. Well, there is plastic on it, and it can be removed with some effort, but it's best to keep it on.

3. The RAM in there isn't bad. It is a brand name (Kingston) if that helps.

4. Documentation is on the CD. I did, however, receive the Warranty Card.

5. I have not gotten the webcam to work, yet, but that's really because I have not tried. I've seen it work with other people just fine, though.

6. It should just a driver issue, and it can be resolved.

Overall, this is a great laptop, and the best computer I've owned. I doubt you'll be able to find something comparable at a similar price.

 

If we can be of any assistance please contact us and we would be happy to help

 

Im sorry to hear about your numerous problems,

I go my 2090 yesterday

- All my keys are nice and even
-I agree that the lack of uttons dont work allong with smart charge buttons, dont know what i need to do.
-Webcam works well, need to find some 3rd party software to use it

 

I was a little upset when I received mine. The power panel looked messy and scratched, and I saw no plastic covering. When you said this I picked at the corner and noticed a perfectly place piece of plastic which I removed, and now it's beautiful.. so beautiful I wish I hadn't removed it, so people could have watched. Thanks!

 

I had the same issue with mine (power panel being all scratched up). I didn't make a big deal out of it since it was working perfectly. Besides that, everything else was quality.

 

So the plastic cover is safe to remove then?

 

Got some of these issues resolved. Had to reinstall everything because AHCI wasn't enabled in BIOS. It is required for Robson and if it wasn't enabled in the 1st install of Vista, you'll get a BSOD if you enable it. The solution is to enable it and boot from a Vista DVD to reinstall the OS.

Here is where documentation would've been nice, or, IMHO, etiquette. Something like this requires an additional warning note.

It was really lazy for the assembler to use the ram slot at the bottom. Lazy a55 bum.

 

of course you can peel it off. it's just there for protection. just about all new electronic devices have these plastic peel offs. personally i always peel them off because although it protects fro scratches, it's ugly to look at.

i have to agree that im not totally 100% satisfied with my NP2090 either, but it's still a very good laptop.

here are some of my gripes:

- not as cool some other laptops i've used. left side of the arm rest can get pretty warm as well as right under the display. AC adapter gets pretty hot too.

- some of the keys ARE uneven, you just have to look closely. you can tell on the left side where the directional pad is.

- interior design is really lacking. the plastic, although durable, feels and looks cheap. i've seen better with HP and even some dell models.

- fn/ctrl keys are switched. i don't know for the life of me, why it was switched. there are many other laptop models out there that don't switch them, why do it for this model?

- i've been getting BSOD's sometimes, especially when i try to open Yahoo! Messenger. It's not a huge problem, but will be when im typing 15 page reports and the BSOD pops up out of no where. It could be a harddrive/motherboard problem, im not sure. I've already reformatted once and i still get this problem from time to time.

overall though, it's still a pretty good laptop.

 

The very thing protection strip covering the Power Strip where the WOW buttons are is standard on this model but is placed with such precision that it can easily be missed.

For those who think they just have a scratched up Power Strip please examine it very carefully and you should find that strip that can be peeled of revealing a perfect Power Strip.

If after careful examination any of you find that you do not have the protective strip please take some pictures of the Power Strip showing the scratches and send them to me at [email protected]

 

My apologies to the assembler regarding the ram. Both slots are on the bottom.