A little lost, perhaps confuzed, and definitely undecided

Greetings from a new guy! I was hoping a few of you could help me out.. I've been in the market for some time, for a new laptop. About 7 months really... So a few things have changed since then in the industry.

this post will likely be very scattered, so please bear with me

Always a fan of Sager (previous owner of a 3790 back in the day), the (now suddenly discontinued) NP8662 caught my attention.. However since discontinuation, the NP8690 has caught my eye.

In the crossfire is the HP Envy 15... Mainly due to the body style (it's thin), tho the video isn't as fab as the NP8690. And reportedly, it gets very hot.

After researching the 8662 and now the 8690, I've discovered (imo) the horrid 1 hour ish battery life on the 8690 (to be expected tho, with a i7 ),, the issue with the battery temp reaching a certain temp (at the hdd), and shutting down the laptop also very much concerns me.

Additionally the body size is of concern.. it just seems thick... Currently I'm using a dell d830 latitude which isn't the thinnest computer either...

I guess in a way, other than an opinion of the np8690.. I'm just not sure if I want a i7 processor. But in my exhaustive research, I've been unable to find any laptops with a 280 geforce...

So, in conclusion, does anyone have any advice for me? I'm not in a rush (obviously ) so confused.. :-/

sorry for the rough scattered thoughts.. I wrote this as I was thinking...

 

Hello palemoonrises,

Welcome to the forum!

I see you are from J-ville..... I retired from the N.A.S. there, and still visit frequently, as I have investment property in O.P.

Anyhow, advise? I am sure you will find much of this here, and mine would be to wait and see what comes from CES, January 7th.

Considering the investment, and current climate, I think you are wise not to be in a hurry. Good things are ahead..... and soon!

Good luck in your search!

 

Ah a fellow Clay/Duval County friend what are the chances. I actually reside in Macclenny (baker county), but it's sorta the same thing..

Anyway, CES was on my mind.. call me a pessimist, but so are the production announcements.. For some reason the phrase, "What dreams may come" comes to mind

I'm confident someone will make some sort of announcement, the 280 and 260 geforce have been out for too long, and nvidia may be getting antsy.. how long we wait for a announcement to hit a retail for sale item is the question

 

BAKER (Bubba'ville)? LOL! Most of my grown kids are residing there, and to me, it's a different world there.

Anyhow, yes, I know what you mean. If you look at some of my earlier post, you may see the direction I was going in regarding CES. Also, when you have reach the minimum post to PM, feel free to do so, and I can share a little more thought on this.

 

Baker isn't so bad.. the phone company here actually just put in Fiber internet in throughout most of the neighborhoods, 15mbit down and 3 up, and they're getting ready for wimax and iptv (allegedly). was so nice to get rid of comcast (and their nasty 250gb monthly limit; packet shaping, etc...). I'll check out the previous posts.. and def watch the PM limit... (I wasn't aware there was one actually)

 

I believe you need at least 15 post to PM.

AHhhhh, yes...... McClenny..... the land where clans, pick-ups, deer & hog hunting, pick-ups, 4-wheel'in (both pick-up & 4-wheelers), mud bogg'in (mudd'in), dogs, guns, WALLYworld (Walmart), the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, Southern Baptist, and Pentecostal's reign supreme...... oh yeah, and everybody knows EVERYBODY. Sound about right?

Since I used to live there, and have relations there, I know a tad on Baker County history. Did you know, Baker was at one time considered the 'moonshine' capitol? Gave the 'revenuers' fits! Also, research the 'Baxter Rebellion'...... the Altman's are my kin folk!

Enjoy!

 

Yep, that's about right.. they've legally banned 4 wheelers from paved roads.. to many people were run over. Yep, moonshine capital.. my grandfather was telling me about that a few months ago.. apparently the land our neighborhood is built upon has some significance to that.

Pickups? bubba trucks might be more like it They just built a nice new jail here... freaked everyone out.. long story..

 

New jail? Not really surprizing, but do tell..... ask your grandfather about the rule of Sheriff Newman..... how he remained as such, for so many years..... how his deputies would stand at voting precincts, to intimidate the vote..... the corruption, and how it took federal investigation to bring it to an end. (which to this day, I wonder if it really ended)

Anyhow, we are drifting off topic here and probably in danger of getting spanked by a moderator.

Talk Computers! Sager/Clevo computers!

BTW, don't they have two WallyWorlds there now?

LOL!

 

I'll PM you about the new jail and the details surrounding it when I can.. my father actually designed the new jail and works for the new sheriff.. I'll ask him about that fiasco And no, the walmart on 121 (which was adjacent to food lion grocery) closed, and they opened a supercenter on 228 (which was also a fiasco).

Back on topic, moderators, please forgive me.. -=$tr|k3r=-'s tie to the area was strangely rare.

Another item which occured to me RE: the Sager models, do any of them support Virtualization on a hardware level...? The dell I'm using, via the bios you can enable Virtualization, which supposedly enhances virtual machine use, like virtualbox, vmware, etc (something I use quite often, the former, virtualbox; vmware = sadness). I saw BIOS screenshots of the np8690 and didn't see the option there, however maybe there was an update?

 

Hmmmm, then your father probably knows my son..... everybody knows everybody, LOL!

Anyhow, TBH, I am not a Sager authority, but this would be an excellent question to devote to a new thread.

 

Battery life is short, ~1 hour. Not much you can do about that. I have no idea what battery / hdd temp issue you're referring to. I've not heard anything like that from any 8690 owner, nor experienced it with my 8690.

I don't know how big the D830 is. The 8690 is heavy, but not really that large of a notebook. I'm sure the dimensions of both are published widely, you can look them up and determine what the size difference is.

I believe you can get the 280M with Alienware as well.

All core i7 support Intel's VTD, and I am pretty sure most recent Core2Duo / Core2Quads. I can tell you the VMWare does not support it. I think VirtualPC does, not sure about VirtualBox. So even though the hardware virtualization is there, not all VM software supports it.

 

Yes, the M15x can accept the GTX 280M, but the card needs to be purchased separately and at a very hefty cost.

 

I think I was thinking of M17x, which offers the 280M direct from Alienware (SLI) but seeing as he wants a 15", you're right, it would need to be an additional purchase.

 

Which makes the W860CU that much better than that George Foreman grill dubbed the M15x.

 

Amen, brotha..

 

exactly hefty cost.. lol... Words can't express my frustration with making this decision.. you must understand, I've been a mac user (now the mac traitor; thanks Windows 7) for the last 5 or 6 years.. so it's always been quite easy to just grab and go.

Truthfully, I don't even play that many games.. I'm shopping in this category for 2 reasons. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition and Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2.... Which have hefty requirements.

I'm a n00b when it comes to spec'ing a computer around a game.. around a server or enterprise requirement, not so bad.. games = no.. argggh lol

 

Welcome back to the light side.

The W860CU is at the top of the mountain in terms of performance. It will outrun most household desktops in both CPU and GPU horsepower. You should have no problem running any current games and future games for the next three long years. You made one of the biggest and wisest decisions in your life by going with this notebook.

 

Thanks.. I have to ask, is your avatar pic Sting, +/- 20 -30 years ago?

RE: the hdd temp issue I spoke of in the beginning of the thread. I had read the hard drive in the np8690 was under or above, dep how you look @ it, the battery.. and if the system exceeds a certain temp, it will flash num lock and caps lock, then shut down? Is this becoming a common issue, and easily reproduced?

 

My avatar is Neil Patrick Harris when he gets stopped by Homeland Security from the movie Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiRd4nq8RfY#t=4m42s

I don't know if the HDD will even get that hot. My single platter 250GB 7200.4 always stays in the low 30's even when thrashing torrents all night long on my W870CU. I'm pretty sure the temperature will be very similar on the W860CU since the HDD is in the same spot underneath the battery. I have yet to see someone other than ChinNoobonic drive the HDD up to 55*C, which is the alleged full system shut down temp for the HDD. But then again, he has a WD while I have a Seagate, and he lives in a hot tropical paradise while I live in a cool city by the bay.

 

Yes, well Florida can be that tropical "paradise" (of sorts)... And seagate... I've never really trusted them for some reason.

I just had a nice conversation with Justin W @ xotic pc, and I think I've made my mind up between the hp envy and the sager.. and the sager seems to come out on top, just due to the graphics.... Size, battery life, and the extended keyboard will be something to adapt to. Maybe I should acquire a netbook for time when I need a longer battery life, or to travel with. As Bubble, from AbFab would say "Who Can Say? "

 

Yes, Seagate does have a few issues in all three of their HDD sectors. Their desktop 7200.11's and server ES.2's had firmware issues regarding setting the drives up in RAID and being unable to identify itself at POST. The issue has already been addressed. I have five 1TB ES.2's each in their own Antec MX-1 enclosures and I have yet to receive any errors from them. The mobile 7200.4 also had a firmware issue where users were reporting the drive to fail after anytime from one week to one month of use when it first came out. I too had a 500GB 7200.4 from the first batch but I never had any problems with it despite using it for months. Then I downgraded to the second release of the 7200.4, this time in the 250GB flavor. Seagate is recently notorious for having bumpy product launches, but they always pick themselves up after people start complaining, though fortunately for me I haven't been plagued by any problem regarding any of my current and retired Seagate HDD's. If I had a HDD manufacturer to blame, it would be Hitachi. I have had problems with them with my own Hitachi drives, my clients' drives, and my friends' and family's drives, both desktop and mobile.

 

Do you think I should request a Western Digital scorpio black? Or leave it with the standard 320gig 7200 rpm seagate?

 

Depends on the cost.. So far, no one here that I'm aware of has had any issues with the Seagate. If the cost is negligible, go for it.

 

This made me laugh.

 

there is no better spec'ed 15inch notebook than the 8690.
my mom has the the macbook. its cute - with the technology of pc laptops from two years ago however.
you will be awesomely satisfied with this notebook and xoticpc.
im glad youve seen the light

 

Honestly, I'm torn between the resellers, Malibal, xotic, and pctorque. Sager directly obviously is higher in price....

Just not sure of the main differences between the 3 above resellers...

 

So the Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 will work with the 8690? I know the hardware may support it, but if you cannot enable it, it will not work. This is the case for many other brands.

 

Can't tell you much about PCTorque. Since Malibal's warranty change, the only difference between Malibal and xoticpc is that xoticPC offers phone support through themselves, while with Malibal I believe you go through Sager/Clevo directly. Malibal usually has the cheaper prices, which can help offset shipping costs.

I've never used phone support for a personal laptop before, so I went for the cheaper price.

 

Yes, it will work. There's an option in the bios to enable or disable VT-d.

 

Sweet! Thanks I doubt I'll need to call tech support, unless it's a hardware thing... bios related, failure etc...But you never know I appreciate the help everyone...