Avoid Sager products at all costs!

I purchased an NP7280 from Xoticpc on 2011. At the time, I bought it with i7-990x and 6990m crossfire. It costs around $3900. Nearly a year later, I have to send in to Sager for the repair, laptop keeps restarting itself with blank screen. It turns out that the CMOS battery somehow needs to be changed. It costs about $125 to repair the thing plus the $30 shipping fee.

About a month later, the laptop again has another issue. The laptop freezes during gameplay. So I send in again for the repair. This time, they tell me that the second GPU (6990m) needs to be changed. Since I’m already out of the warranty, guess what? It costs around $600 to repair the damn thing. This is totally unacceptable; you can easily buy another graphic card (6990m) for about $350 on eBay. Bottom line is that laptop malfunctioned within one year of very careful use.

In addition, since I live in New York. Every time the laptop has problems; it costs another $150 for me to insure the damn thing to ship to their company. Sager products are terrible; I will not recommend this brand to anyone. If you are reading this review, please do not buy their products. I will definitely avoid their products like disease in the future.

 

ouch, now thats some bad luck right there...

 

Well, nothing can be done now. Obviously I am not going to pay the repair fees; it still costs about $75 get the damn thing back. The diagnostic fee is $45 plus return shipping $30.

Bad luck? more like bad products...

 

Ouch. Here in Portugal the minimum warranty is, by law, 2 years. Most retailers offer a 3, sometimes up to 4 years of warranty extension. Still, you definetly drew the short straw. And even if we call it "unlucky", when it happens to us it's hard to not hold a grudge... I have the same problem with Sony and their Vaio line.

 

That sucks man. If you purchased using a visa or mastercard, they double the warranty up to one year. I got my old gateway and ps3 fixed like this. I always use a rewards card for big purchases for this reason. Then I pay it off right away.

 

same here in germany with the 2year warranty.glad for that, altho i havent had any issues with my clevo so far, very happy with it

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

I did purchase it with mastercard, I guess they do not have the extra warranty.

Based on the Xoticpc's better customer support, that's why I ordered the laptop. I just could not predict that Sager products would have that kind of quality. And I did not even overclock the thing, it was all default settings.

 

The retailer offered no warranty extention? Even a paid one? Cause one year sucks. I remember my Asus G1S failing after a year, and half a year later as well. My Asus G60j died after almost three years (it was given to me by the store to replace the faulty G1S).

 

yes all you hundreds and thousands of satisfied sager owners: avoid your product at all costs because it's junk and you didn't even know it.

neither issue and supposed solution makes sense, nor require sending the machine in for service under warranty. "i did not even overclock the thing" says it all.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

 

Buy the CMOS battery (what are they, $3 or so) and change it your self. Sager doesn't manufacter batteries. As for the card, did you ever clean out the vents and check the inside for dust buildup? And for the extra warranty on the card, don't you have to contact the credit card company? Just asking.

 

Nope, no warranty extention. "3 Year Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime -24/7 DOMESTIC Based- Toll Free Telephone Tech Support".

I ordered on 9/1/2011, I got $100 off that was it. "SAGER Labor Day Super Sale!!! - $100 OFF When you spend $1500* or more".

To mattcheau: I have no idea what are you trying to say

To Abidderman: at the time I did not know what the problem is, I'm not sure whether it's motherboard or the battery. For the card, no, I did not try to clean out the vents, I just had the laptop repaired for about two weeks. The laptop was stuck on "Starting Windows" screen, I tried to reintall operating system and the video drivers, but it still had the same issue.

Xoticpc did not offer such extra warranty, what's there to ask.

 

Do you know the exact issue with the card? Reballing or reflow can be an option. If they can't help you (or only will do so for an exorbitant fee) start looking for options! What are your options to fix it?

 

To Abidderman: it has nothing to do with clean out the vents, they stated that "The second 6990 GOU is bad, replace it is $585." And yea that's exactly what they typed in the RMA Quote.

To Jaycob, no, I do not know exact issue with the card. At first, I thought it was a software issue, that's why I tried the startup repair, system restore and the Last Known Good Configuration mode. No luck, the screen was still stuck on starting windows.

I'm not spending any money to fix the thing. I contacted the Sager to tell them to take out the faulty card, reinstall the operating system and all the drivers, that's it.

This thread is only a reminder to whoever wants to purchase Sager products may want to reconsider their offers.

To mattcheau: nobody is stopping you to buy anything from Sager, good luck.

 

Ok now these 6990m issues are catching my attention, that's several suffering the same issue now....

 

Call mastercard 1-800-MC-ASSIST and check. If you're in the US, I know for sure you have the extra warranty. You need to provide the receipt and a statement showing the purchase. 100% has to be on the card. If you supplemented even a $5 gift card MC won't honor it. It's not done through the bank that issued the card. It's done directly through mastercard.

Quit bashing sager. All products have potential failures and 1 year warranty is standard in the industry. I'm happy with mine and trying to help you. I have a 2 year free warranty through mastercard so I'm not worried about running out after one year.


http://creditcardforum.com/blog/mastercard-extended-warranty-claim/

 

ikr? its like theyre popping up everywhere these days...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

If anyone else has failures could people try an coax any more details out of them like how exactly it died, if they artifacted what sort of corruption they saw, if changing the clocks on either the core or memory down helped any, if maybe some oven baking does help at all.

 

AMD gpu's + no extended warranty. This was bound to happen. How is this Sagers fault really? Both the 6970 and 6990 were known to have a high fail rate from launch as did the previous 5870m's.

You should have either gotten 580m's or extended your warranty but above all else you should have done some research before buying.

Now let the hate begin on me for not being super polite and sugar coating the whole thing.

 

That was one of my questions, thanks M3n00b, I thought the extended warranty was through the credit card. To Boomsticks, Xfire will bring more heat, and if the vents or internals get dust buildup, it will affect the cooling, possibly causing overheating and long term issues with the cards. Do as M3n said and contact MasterCard about the extended warranty.

To Meaker and Jaybee... I haven't been on much lately, but after your post Meaker, I started to browse, and yeah, all of a sudden it seems like there are many more posts about this card having issues... Not good, at least in short sight, to see a bunch poping up in a very short time.

 

"According to MasterCard, those with Titanium, Platinum, and World MasterCards are eligible for this purchase protection". It does not work for me, I have a standard mastercard.

Well, maybe they should not sell the 6990m? I don't have the money for 580ms, it goes beyond my budget.

 

If they wouldn't have soled the 6990m the AMD fanboys would have gone raging. Don't know why people buy that ugly Clevo in the first place really. For the money you spent on it you could have gotten an m18x with 580m's and a maxed out warranty(4 years).

 

Call them. I have just a plain old MasterCard. I used this twice.

...ttalk...

 

Yea, even if I did bought an m18x, you probably would tell me to go get a clevo in the first place. Besides do you know how much m18x with 580m's costs in 2011, with tax it easily goes above $4000. Not to mention the warranty.

You are the fanboy here, obvioulsy you like the nvidia cards better. I bought what I can afford at the moment. Look who's raging here.

I did, they told me that I did not have the eligiable card, bank is first niagara in case you want to know.

Besides, have you check the alienware ratings at resellerratings.com, many people are have the issue with the "Dellware", may be you should do more research before commenting.

With alienware, it's the same thing. Same kind of useless customer support, once you have a problem with the laptop, you can kiss your money goodbye.

 

Laptops have issues, regardless of manufacturer.

You spent $3900, and didn't pay the measly $79 or $149 it costs for the two and three year warranties. That is your problem.

The lesson to learn from your story is that you've got to better insure such immense financial investments.

 

Do you know how long it takes to save $3900, lastime I check the warranties are not free. I don't need you to tell me the lesson. I can share my own opinions here, whether you like it or not.

 

Going to have to agree with Kevin here, so say it took u 3-4 months to get $3900, don't think 1-2weeks extra woulda hurt for an extra $150. Peace of mind for an expensive item.

 

An extra $150, I do mind. I am a college student, I working two jobs here and I need to pay for the tuition. That $3900 I have been saving for at least 2-3 years.

I am still using the 2006 old desktop, I bought the laptop so that I dont have to worry to upgrade for a while. An extra 150 may not seem that much to you, but it costs a lot for me.

Oh yeah and the apartment monthly rent, cannot live on campus like the rich kids.

 

Mate u aren't the only one who studies, saves and works. So don't think for a second that anyone here has the luxury of forking out that much money without have putting the hard yards in.

U saved the money, why not put in a little more for protection of ur investment. Sorry, but that's common sense esp. having put so much effort into saving.

 

Because I did not have the money at the time, it goes beyond my budget. If I paid the the measly $149, I would not have the place to live now, would I?

We can argue here all night, it's not gonna solve the problem anyway. I am done with the laptop and I have made my peace with it anyway. The reason I kept replying so that everybody here can see it, how unrealiable Sager products are.

Well, I got work tomorrow, I gotta go.

 

Such is life, unfortunately u made the decision not too. therefore ur problem.

 

Couldn't help a chuckle at this. You're the one deciding to spend 4k on a laptop, this is clearly way more than the difference between on/off campus housing for 2 or 3 years, and I highly doubt most of the "rich" kids could afford that. Sorry; but while you may perfectly have the right to report a problem with your laptop, all I see here is hating (I mean your whole post is "DONT BUY SAGER THEY SUCK I HAD A GPU FAILURE SO SAGER ARE THE WORST COMPUTERS EVER". What will you say when you'll own a car and it'll eventually, just like any car, break down ? "Don't buy this brand they all fail !" ?). Sager only assembled your laptop, you're the one who choosed what would be inside, and given how many failures of these cards there are, no matter who the constructor is, you should complain about AMD gpus, not Sager, as this is about as relevant as accusing the guy who delivered the thing 1 year ago of having caused damage that would somewhat cause massive failures in the long term.
PS to the guy who's saying AW are better : it's a matter of taste. I never liked the bulkiness, the price and the ostentatious look of the AW.

Edit :

No, really, understand this : sager isn't a gpu manufacturer. The GPU in your laptop is made by AMD.

 

So me knowing the fact that the 6970 and 6990 were prone to failure makes me an nvidia fanboy? I'm good with that.

Yup. The 6970m's and 6990m's were dying from their release while the only deaths I've seen on the 580m's were when their owners overvolted them.
The premium you're paying for nvidia is for the added quality and better driver support.

 

4000 $, that is 3000 € at the end of 2011, for a laptop, wowowo.......

 

A slight correction, the core and the package is made by amd but the mxm pcb and everything else attached to it is made by or is the responsibility of clevo.

 

It's because there is an EU directive which specifies that electronics should have a warranty of at least 2 years.
There are very few EU countries that don't fully respect that directive, i.e. UK.

 

UK also uses GBP not EUR, although it´s in EU....

 

Should have just gone with a P170HM with a single 6970M and you could have upgraded to a 7970M this year or 680M. And you could have easily afforded the 3 year maxed warranty with money left over still. You'd have enough to upgrade again this year to a 780M or 8990M.

Doesn't make sense to pay $4000 for a laptop when technology changes so rapidly unless you can afford to pay $4000 yearly.

As for Sager, sucks you had issues. GPUs fail all the time. Both nvidia and AMD have nearly 20/30% fail rate. Can't blame Sager for that. And you can't blame Sager for not taking the extended warranty.

 

That might be true for AMD but not for Nvidia. It's incredibly rare that I see a post about any newer nvidia gpu's failing. When the owner overvolts it sure but that's not nvidias fault.

 

Sorry for your problems OP. That is not typical of Sager or Clevo notebooks. I've dealt with lemons like that before, though, just not a Sager or Clevo (it was an Alienware that was out for service more than in my possession).

I would call MC again, afaik it works for all MC across the board through MC not the bank, and not debit cads. I have a regular plain MC and it works with extended warranty no problem.

I know woulda shoulda coulda for warranties and what not, can't change that now. But I'd use this as a lesson learned and invest in the warranty in the future regardless of laptop you buy. Better to downgrade a component and get the extra warranty imho. That being said, you opted not to buy the extended warranty for whatever reason, that's your choice, but you also have to live with the consequences of not doing so. On the other hand if it is a common issue, then Clevo or AMD should fix it for minimal cost or free. But that's yet to be proven.

But with the issues you listed, you have cheaper alternatives to spending the money Sager is requesting for the repair. Especially when out of warranty using some self diagnosis will save you lots of money in the long run. You can also sell the unit as is and it would likely pay for a new Alienware M17x with 7970m or Sager NP9170/50 with 675mx. Both would be nearly as powerful as your NP7280.

And while I can sympathize with a poor college student, and buying things that are really kind of out of your price range, been there myself, $4000 for a laptop is outside of MOST people's price range. If I'm going to spend a lot of coin, I'm also going to make sure it's taken care of for however long I own it. It's like my car is out of warranty now, even though I had the choice to buy an extended warranty. I opted not to and I understand if it breaks down it's money out of my pocket. It's the risk you take.

 

I'll never spend more than an inflation adjusted $1500 on a lappy. I can afford to spend $4k on one but that's just preposterous to me.

...ttalk...

 

Can the OP elaborate on "very careful use", does that suggest normal maintenance?

 

Another thread that went overboard.

 

For me, a laptop has to last ~ 1 year for every $1000 spent (for gaming at least), and will buy warranty accordingly.

 

So what I got from this post was Video card died after a year of no cleaning (wow), no use of a cooling pad on a crossfire setup (double wow), and that the cards have known and reported issues (boo).

While ranting is understandable (and helps to release some stress), OP could just ask how to fix it. One of the reasons I went with a clevo/sager was that I found NBR to be an incredibly useful source for fixing one's own laptop.

 

For me it has to last 4 years for every 1500 I spend. Lol

...ttalk...

 

This thread makes me worry, since I've a 6990m as well lol.

 

Just quoting you because I'm just making a point based on your post.

My CPU in my NP9150 started idling at 60C+, even though it was idling at low 40C's previously. It had only been 4-5 months since I repasted. Well the heatsink was completely covered with dust. I actually removed the heatsink, reapplied thermal paste, but I just sprayed the heatsink with a few blasts of compressed air and now it's idling ~ 40C again. Took all of 10 minutes. The rest of the inside of my laptop looks pristine still. Just that little bit of buildup of dust can make a huge difference in temps since air can't flow through there as it should. You shouldn't need a cooler for these laptops though, although it can't hurt. I'd use one if you overclock extensively, but for regular clocks not really needed.

 

For some reason I'm not tearing for you, man. I'm a "poor college student," and no way in ing hell would I be able to buy a 4k laptop, let alone 1500-2000. If I did, I would buy the best freaking warranty possible.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

I owned a P150HM with that card and haven't had ANY problems with it.
I had so many StarCraft 2 sessions, Diablo 3 raids, in the hottest of summer days and the card held its own brilliantly.

Its a rock-solid card and there is absolutely no reason to doubt that.

 

O irony, I have a P150HM and just had the 6990m fail on me a month out of the warranty period (bad luck, especially with no over clock and a cooling pad almost every time I game).
Anyway, didn't come on here to resurrect any anti-6990m ranting, just saw that bob1man had gone from a 6990m to the 660m, and since I'm thinking about buying a 660m to replace my broken card I was wondering if you could enlighten me as to how much of a performance hit I'd see?