9262 vs 5792

Hello all...

I am considering purchasing a new laptop soon [within the next 6 months] and have narrowed my decision down to the 9262 versus the 5792. My issue is this...

Simply put, I have no problem shelling out the cash for a top of the line laptop [$3500] but it must absolutely last 3-4 years and still be viable. Thus, I am considering going all out with the 9262 [2.66 quad core, 4g RAM, single 8800 GTX, etc.] but it will cost me somewhat more than a similar setup with dual core for the 5762.

I will be using this laptop quite heavily for the next 3 years [intensive business apps in an MBA and large amounts of gaming]. I would like this to be able to run the newest games 3 years from now at least on medium settings.

My issue is this: can I justify the extra expense of the quad core in the 9 series as being more 'future proof' than the dual core in the 5 series? I really need a laptop that will last 3-4 years and still be halfway decent at the time even in gaming.

Opinions? Guesses? Wild bouts of fantasy?

Also, is Sager/Clevo a reliable brand in terms of product make and how long they last? I don't want an inferior machine which will constantly need repairs. I need this to be reliable as I will be taking it to class all day every day.

PS I am not worried abou the size or weight as Arnold's got nothing on me.

 

within 6 months the tech will chance and chances are the 5792/3 and 9262/3
wont be around but the 5794/5 and 9264/5 will be...

when your closer to buying ask the question.
the tech and Clevos change a lot.

"inferior machine" Sager/clevo is not..
wont find one better from anyone. PERIOD!!

 

From first hand experience I can say the finish on the 9262 far surpasses the 5792.. The 9262 looks so much better with its semi-glossy finish (chassis)..

 

I don't (yet) own a 9262, but, for what it's worth, here's my take on it, and why I'm going to be getting one soon. Also, I assume you're talking about the 5792 (now the 5793), not the 5762.

Both the 9262 and 5792/3 will be more than viable in 3-4 years, depending on what you mean by "viable." They will almost certainly still be better than average (probably much better than average), but they will no longer be top-of-the-heap (another Clevo will be there instead ). For comparison, I bought my (recently deceased) Sony vaio in 2003, and even then, it was certainly not a particularly powerful machine; nonetheless, it continued to perform adequately all the way up through last night (when the hdd ate itself ). Even with all the new improvements, with a modicum of maintenance and care it continued to work at about the same performance level it achieved when I bought it. Also, we're just at the beginning of the period of the 64-bit OS, which will probably last longer than 3-4 years, so, since both Sagers have 64-bit processors, there should be no concern about not being able to run whatever OS is out in 2011-2012. The same should go for most (if not all) applications.

The one place where you're likely to notice the biggest difference is with graphic-intensive gaming. By 2011-2012 there will almost certainly be much more sophisticated GPUs available; however, since both Sagers will have very strong GPUs capable of handling dx-10, which is used in only a small handful of games now, and won't become mainstream for possibly a number of years, both Sagers will almost certainly be able to handle almost every game available in 2011-2012, and do so with better than average performance. For example, NVidia released the GeForce 6800 series in late 2004 (see here) and, as of today, about 3-1/2 years later, the 6800 Ultra is still a respectable contender, even ranking ahead of the new 8400 and 8600 GPUs recently released by NVidia (see chart here).

All of that suggests that, in 3-4 years' time, the 8800 should still be a respectable GPU, just not the fastest or the best (it'll certainly still beat the pants off of whatever integrated graphics solutions are then being offered).

The only fly in the ointment concerning the configuration you've picked out is that you're currently going with only one 8800. The biggest boost to performance in the near-term is going to be SLi capability, as indicated on this chart, which shows the 8800 in SLi with an almost 50% increase in benchmark performance over a single 8800. Those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, because I believe that the actual increase, based on averaging a number of different systems, is more like something between 20% to 40%; nonetheless, these numbers suggest that, as SLi becomes more prevalent in the next few years, even light-weight GPUs in SLi will begin to outclass a single 8800 GPU.

On that basis, the 5792/3 will probably fair worse than the 9262 given that the 5792/3 is limited to one GPU whereas the 9262 can take dual 8800s in SLi. I would therefore suggest that you either go with 8800 in SLi now, or make sure that you will be able to upgrade to 8800 in SLi in a year or two when you need to get a performance boost.

So, in terms of basic computational power, both the 9262 and the 5792/3 will continue to outperform most retail notebooks for at least 3-4 years' time. In terms of gaming, the biggest issue will be the GPU (don't count on any great range of upward upgradeability on that point; despite the fact that Clevo's GPUs are MXM-compliant, MXM is still not a standard in any meaningful sense of the word, so you cannot put any weight on being able to upgrade to the 9-series if/when they become available). The 9262, if set up with 8800 in SLi, will probably continue to perform very well, but will not be the top performer. It will probably outperform most HPs produced in 2011-2012 (provided HP continues its lamentable practice of using only gelded GPUs), but the then-top-of-the-line Dell/Alienware systems will probably outpace it. The 5792/3, given its 1-GPU limitation, will probably fair a bit worse than the 9262, and may have to struggle a bit to keep up with even the high-end HPs (but it will probably still spank the pants off your average run-of-the-mill HP).

If you spend some time browsing through the gaming forum, you should come across comments by owners of 6-series and early 7-series who are still more than happy with the performance of their GPUs, even though the 8800 clearly outclasses them. That should be some indication that, unless you absolutely must have the highest frame-rates and the highest level of detail at the highest resolution then available, you will most likely still be reasonably satisfied with the performance of a 9262 with 8800 in SLi in 3-4 years' time.

In terms of build quality, the general view seems to be that the Clevo/Sagers are very well built, although not quite as well as the Thinkpads. There have been some issues with LCDs having bad pixels (see, e.g., the Saga of MegaBUD - n.b., unfortunately, a number of his postings regarding his LCD travails seem to have been taken down), but that doesn't appear to be a wide-spread problem and, in any event, all of the resellers seem to be more than willing to work with you to replace a bum LCD, provided you contact them quickly and work with them (MegaBUD went through 3 before he finally called it quits).

I believe that some of the older Clevo/Sagers also had problems with hinges cracking and/or breaking, but again, that doesn't seem to be a significant problem with the current crop.

You can get a sense of the build quality from the perspective of someone with a lot of experience with different notebooks from this recent review of the 5793. As the reviewer (aka Chaz, one of the deities here ) stated:

I think that says most of what needs saying about the build quality of Sagers, and gives me a great deal of comfort when I consider buying a computer I've never seen or touched in person.

So, to sum up, I think that you will not be disappointed with the performance of the 9262 in 3-4 years' time (although I'm less sure viz the 5792/3), provided that you get it with 8800s in SLi (or prepare to upgrade to SLi soon), and you will most likely not be disappointed with the build quality.

The one area I would pay particular attention to is the LCD and dead pixels; however, if you get one early, and jump on it quickly, any reseller you deal with will probably go out of his/her/its way to work with you to fix it. Alternatively, you can spring for the zero dead-pixel insurance some of the resellers offer; going that way will give you peace of mind for a lot longer than the initial 30-day return period.

 

Shyster,

Thanks so much. That was extremely thorough and answered all of my questions and concerns perfectly. I think I will wait another few months and get the most recent quad core sager at that point. I was just trying to confirm that a quad core is worth it in terms of being viable down the road and that Sager was top quality in terms of product design and durability.

While I probably won't get 2 8800 GTXs right now, I'm glad I can pop another one in at some point in the near future.... might have to wait a few months though so my wife doesn't make me sleep on the lawn when she sees the bill.

I told her I would try to keep it near $3000

Again, thanks for the input, extremely helpful!!!!!

 

I hear you; for me it took staying up until 3am almost every night the last two weeks trying to do triage on my (now dead) vaio before my wife finally "decided" that I should go ahead and get a new system instead of flogging a dead horse, though I'm still being a little ... fuzzy ... on the total price (she doesn't know about the reseller config pages ).

 

I've gone through the same decision making process as you have. I've decided on the 9262, or Clevo D901c for the upgradability. I'm going to use a Q6600 with one 8800 GTX now. I plan to buy a second 8800 GTX in 6 months or so. I like the 3 hard drive options as well, raid 0 and a nice storage size drive. Possibly SSD in a couple years, i'm going to leave one bay empty for now and go with 2x100 GB 7200s.

I feel that the quad cpu is a good core choice for the future, and will outlive typical cpu obsolescence, and the Q6600 has a good price tag for that longevity.

I'm hoping that the future will allow this computer to be upgraded with the next generation of GPU's (nVidia 9000s), but that might require a motherboard upgrade. In 3 or 4 years its an option for me. The fact that the chassis supports SLI now suggests that it should support SLI then, with a motherboard upgrade.

I'm still trying to finalize who I'll be buying the computer from and the finer details like specific OS and memory speed. I've been able to get quotes in the $3150 range if that helps you out, with the 1900x1200 glossy.

Edit: I really like the orange stripe on the 5792. The laptop looks nice and classy with a spash of speed at the seams, its the best looking laptop that I've seen, in my opinion.