4 Months With the NP8660

In January we purchased 2 Sager NP8660. We have been using them for 4 months now and I thought I would share my experiences with everyone.

(Obviously, the NP8662 is out now. We had the terrible luck of purchasing shortly before that came out. Bad timing on our part.)

...But back to the 8660. In short, this has been the most disappointing experience I've had with any laptop I have ever purchased.

Having read numerous positive posts regarding Sager laptops prior to my purchase, I am completely stunned that these laptops have turned out to be such lemons. Below are some of the problems I have encountered.


Noise.

The laptop has two major noise problem:

1. When playing some CD's and DVD's (not all) the drive rattles so badly I have to hold it in place with my fingers for fear of vibration damaging the system. The disks that seem to cause this problem work fine in 2 other laptops and one other desktop I tried them on. I haven't noticed a pattern to as to which disks cause the rattle and which don't, but my Windows install disk is one of them.

2. Video card fan noise when playing games. I've owned desktop systems with dual 80mm front fans that did not make as much noise as this laptop. It is clearly audible from outside my home office when playing 3D games. I have to turn the volume up to clearly hear voices in some cases. This is beyond disappointing, particularly from a system that is primarily aimed at advanced graphics applications.


Heat

All components run unbelievably hot when playing 3D games. I have reached max GPU heats of 98c during even short plays of fairly moderate 3D games. The HD idles at 51c and frequently reaches 55+c under moderate use. The ambient temp in my office stays around 79f or 80f. The fact that the GPU gets that hot even when the fan is making that much noise is somewhat baffling. I am considering moving back to my Asus M50v for playing games for now to avoid damaging this system, which I use as my primary computer for now.


Stability

This is subjective and obviously may just be my perception or personal experience, but the system does not seem as stable as other laptops I have owned. The system seems to bluescreen more often, and I occasionally have problems using my external monitor (the DVI connected monitor doesn't detect correctly or at all - only happens with this laptop). Games crash a lot more than I remember with any of the other laptops I have owned.


General Issues

There seems to be no way to make the Bluetooth connection active at boot time. You have time press FN+12 to turn it on. This complicates trying to use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse when I am in the office.


Conclusion

These problems may be specific to this model or just the two that I happened to buy, but I will not take the risk of buying another Sager system to find out. I most definitely would not recommend this laptop or Sager to anyone else.

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

for the sound of the fan and the heat...

If you are overheating... usually any temp over 90C degrees is bad.

when was the last time that you cleaned out the fans and vents thoroughly...?

if never, then thats why.

1) remove battery
2) remove/unscrew the panels on the bottom of the notebook to get to fans and vents ( if possible, if not its okay.. skip step 5)
3) use flashlight to look through vents for the dust (if you cant see the light on the other end, then the vents are clogged up)
4) go outside, get some compressed air (cans or compressor @ 50 PSI) and give the vents a good airing out all directions ( concentrating on the vents)
.... you might want to brace the fan blade(s) when airing it out (with a toothpick or paperclip to prevent it from spinning out too much)
.... or use short bursts (1-2 secs) of air instead of bracing the fans.
5) go get some Q-tips and swab the fan blades and the area around it
6) then go do a second airing with compressed air (all directions again focusing on the fans and vents) to push out the dust that was dislodged from the Q-tips

7*) Now go use the flashlight again and look through the vents (shine the flashlight from the fan, you look through the other end) for anymore dust clogs.

8) Then start up the notebook... and let the fans cycle up (use the Fan Toggle at max speed if your system has it) to push out any other dust that might have been stuck.

If all goes well you should be able to close up the notebook and...

you're done.

*repeat this step until its cleaned out.

Thats pretty much it.

Just make sure to do this every two-three months... it should take about 15-20min per cleaning if you want to be thorough.
________________________

Gaming notebooks are a new thing, you must realize that you have to take some extra care of them over typical use notebooks:

1) Battery: to maintain the longevity of any rechargeable battery
- you must NEVER overcharge it [especially for long durations of time while it still be in use] by keeping it plugged into AC
- remember to give it a charge cycle (discharge it to under 50% and recharge) at least a few times a month
- OR you can just charge it to 50%+ and remove the battery and store in cool dry place.. not the fridge [remember to use it occasionally 3-4 time a year to charge and discharge it].

2.) Heat: to prevent a healthy notebook from overheating
- ALWAYS use the notebook on a clean, hard & flat surface
- NEVER use on soft surfaces (laps, beds, couch, etc.) that can block the fans on the bottom
- RECOMMENDED to be used on a notebook cooler... namely the Zalman ZM-NC1000 or ZM-NC2000
- check your fans underneath occasionally (at least once a month or two) for any dust clogs [clean them out with Q-tips and air cans/compressors]
- ALWAYS monitor the temps (CPU, GPU, HDD, etc..) to watch for fluctuations, which would indicate overheating by dust usually

By doing these simple things, your entire system will easily last for more than 3 years.

 

for the noise of the optical drive.

... you can contact your vendor about it so that they will just ship you a replacement one.

_________________

for the stability with BSODs, Bluetooth, and such... make sure you are:
- using the lastest drivers for the videocard
- using the latest BIOS revision

 

Did you do temp checks when you first got the laptop? I bought an M860TU based laptop around the same time that you did and it wasn't put properly together, which brought my GPU temperatures to the same level as yours. This caused other problems, i.e. stuttering during games, stability, etc. If this is a recent issue, then as Gophn said, clean your lappy out. Good luck, sorry to hear about your experience.

 

sorry to hear your not happy with it. ive had none of those problems at all and i received mine in september.

 

Bluejay345 I feel your pain! I am having a couple of those same problems with the 8662 as well.

High HDD temps and a Blu-Ray/DVDRW drive that sounds like it is going to take off with the laptop every time I put a disk in!

 

Sager had been known to have loud DVD BD drives, seen alot in the past..

 

Well that sort of sucks. No fix for the noise?
Although it looks like, from Bluejay345 post, that the other drives aren't all that quiet either!

 

Sorry for your luck bud, contact whomever you bought from and see what they will do for you.
My bluray drive doesn't rattle, it's been great. Of course you can hear it when burning but that is to be expected.
My video card never gets over 85 C even with Crysis and other demanding games.
Even with my X9100 installed and my 9800M GT overclocked I have yet to reach max temps.
A good thing to try might be to take a look at ALL of your system drivers and make sure you are all up to date. I know that old video card drivers or matrix managers can be the cause of excess heat.
Again sorry to hear that you have had bad experiences, but I don't think I speak just for myself when I say I couldn't be happier with my M860TU

 

Bluejay, I used to have a similar issue with my optical drive. I had to hold the drive in place to reduce the rattling. I managed to fix it by tightening the screw that secures the drive to the chassis. I know my notebook is not the same as yours, but go ahead and try that to see if it fixes it.

As for the heat, try applying some AS5 to the GPU, and clean out your vents like Gophn suggested. I have to do this every 3-4 months myself. Good luck.

Duane

EDIT: As for the fan noise, this is pretty much a standard 'feature' of any gaming notebook

 

One of the primary features of (most) sager notebooks is the outstanding customer service, so dont hesitate to use it!

 

I got mine in March (I missed out on the 8662 by days)

So far I have had no real noise concerns. The only heat concern I had was with the HHD during gaming, but most of that concern was resolved with new drivers and a cooler totally removes the issue.

I have never owned a laptop that I enjoy more.

 

If your notebook has issues, send it back. You deserve a properly working machine, so don't just keep it.

98° on the GPU is not par for the course at all.

 

did you order this laptop with the x9100 or did you upgrade yourself?

 

Ordered it with the X9100 and 9800M GT
Would have ordered a QX9300 and 260M if they were available at the time. I'm just mad that I can't overclock my processor like I was told I could when I bought it from Eurocom. But other than that I am happy with my lappy and with Eurocom.

 

How do I keep the battery from overcharging? On my lenovo there was a tool to make it stop charging a certain point, how do I do that with this laptop. I do use my battery a lot as I like to move around my laptop so I don't really want to have to take it out.

And I too can attest to not putting your laptop on your bed. All of my temperatures DOUBLED when on the bed and the metal palm rest was scorching hot and the even the keyboard was hot....and that fingerprint scanner...damn that thing gets hot.

I used the silverstone cooler rather than the zalman one because the silverstone is like half the price and its for a 15.4 inch. Space is kind of important on my desk and it cools about the same.

 

if you exercise you battery, then you should be fine.

and glad you realized not to use your notebook on a soft surface.

 

Well I had always used it in bed with my old tiny lenovo, it got hot but not that hot. Maybe I'll just get a cooler that I can use in bed like that $20 antec one. Or maybe I'll just get a 3 ring binder xD

 

Bluejay, who did you buy your Sager from?

 

what site did you order from? i ended u going with the T9800 b/c someone at xoticpic.com said anything higher than that would cause stability issues is wouldnt be covered by warranty

 

98 degrees on the GPU is not right by any stretch of the imagination. Send it in and get it fixed. If you dropped this much money on a high performance notebook, don't you dare skimp on taking care of it, you may as well have bought a $2000 paper weight.