A couple of questions before I order my new NP8658-S

So my old laptop is on its last legs and I will be ordering my new NP8658-S either tonight or tomorrow at the latest. I have it narrowed down to either XOTIC PC or GenTechPC, but I had a few questions before I push the button so to speak.

First does anyone have any thoughts one way or the other about GenTechPC vs XOTIC PC that I should be aware? I am currently leaning towards GenTechPC only because the products are the same price and GenTechPC offers a 2% student discount (I will definitely not be using the cash discount from either place as I already looked into it and it will save me less than just doing a flat 2% for no extra work).

Second does anyone have any thoughts on the differences between their warranties if any? I will most likely be purchasing a 2 yr warranty perhaps even 3 I haven't made up my mind yet about the length.

Finally what differences if any are there between the Intel 8260 wireless card and the Killer N1535/N1525 wireless network cards?

Thanks for any help you all can give.

 

Great choice on the 8658-S.

For the warranties, if you are looking on our site, we have two separate warranties, both a Sager and XPC. They both offer lifetime labor support from us, as well as tech support. We also have a lifetime upgrade program that allows you to send your computer back in for upgrades in the future.

Between the intel and killer wireless cards, the biggest difference you will see is the killer will prioritize gaming packets better. So if you are using it for online gaming, the killer would probably be the better way to go.

Let us know when you get it and if there is anything that we can do!

 

As a networking student, I find it VERY Hard to believe that killer would perform any better in gaming over any other NIC out there and that anyone would see any difference. The killer in my MSI is literally just a rebranded Qualcomm.

 

It kind of acts like a port forwarding service on your router within the NIC on the PC. They are both good cards, and it doesn't cost any more to go with one or the other, that's just the reason people typically go with the killer for gaming and the intel for general tasks.

 

Most reviewers/testers I've seen on the Net all say the Killers are slightly faster for gaming, but it may rarely be noticeable. For the same price, as Alex points out, that possible split second might be more important to a Gamer than someone doing general tasks. Even at a small price difference, in a high-end gaming system, where a user wants more power, more speed, more more, why not get more?

Besides, "Killer" and "Gamer" just seem to go together in the virtual world.

In the real world, I find "Gamer" and "Lover Extraordinaire" go together, based on personal feedback.

 

Most of the comparisons I've seen just give the Killer a slight advantage on gaming. If online gaming is what you spend a lot of time doing and you are really competitive, then maybe a couple/few ms lower latency on the Killer might be the way to go.

 

I'd actually be really interested in seeing a benchmark comparing a killer NIC to any other NIC and showing that it does indeed perform better on ANYTHING. From what I understand, they are LITERALLY rebranded Qualcomm Atheros NICs. Anyone who I have talked to about Killer NICs says that they are all marketing, I would love to see something that says the contrary as that would be quite interesting to me.

 

Try that Bing-y, Google-y, Yahoo-y thing and do a search.

That's how I found out that it does what Pat, Alex, and I have described above.

 

Speaking to the Killer vs Intel I heard some comments that some times Killer ends up having some bugs/issues. So when I placed the order for my 8658, I went with Intel. Just my two cents.

In regards to your Warranty question, I too asked myself that.. However, my Chase Sapphire card offered a free additional year on Sager's 1 Year. So I am covered, plus they offer 90 day price protection. It is a matter of how comfortable you are as if the Mobo, CPU, and GPU go you are SOL. I want my laptop to last 5 years (hopeful), so at one point you need to part with a warranty.

When it came to vendors, I went with XoticPC. Frankly I never heard of GenTechPC until now. Not saying they are bad or anything, just haven't heard anything about them in the almost 3 months I've been on this site. I wrote a review on my thoughts with XoticPC, which were great so far and here is the link. http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/my-experience-w-xoticpc-p650rg.782186/#post-10110946

My 8658 is due in on Friday. I skimped out on the RAM, and the SSD, but got the 30 Day Dead Pixel Warranty. I plan on dropping my own 500gb SSD in and waiting until 3200MHZ RAM is available before I got 16gb.

 

Just wondering, when did you place your order? I just placed mine on Saturday so I'm just trying to get an estimation of how much longer I have to wait

 

I tried, but I couldn't find anything. I was just wondering if anyone else had any better luck finding a source like a benchmark that backs up claims that don't seem to be real to me.

 

CONGRATS! You go with the 8658-s as well?

It usually takes sager about 7-12 days after the payment has been processed to ship the machine. If you did rush it is lowered to 1-4. Sometimes they are a little quicker than those time frames, but that's typical. Feel free to message me or post on here if you need anything! Happy to help!

 

I placed mine back on the 30th of September and took two days to process payment, then went quiet for awhile since it wasnot really in production yet.. got an update on Friday production started then an update on Monday that it shipped!