Building your own Clevo (OEM Sager) notebook

Guide to Building your own Notebook Gaming Rig
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I, as well as others, was recently looking for barebones for the Clevo D900K (OEMs: Sager 9750, Alienware m7700, etc).... Successfully I found it and built my notebook saving approx $400-$800. And in fact I am actually using it now to create this post.

You have a few good options (from my 2-month research):
1) www.rjtech.com -
-is one of the only sites out there that truly sells the Clevo barebones of any high-end notebook. With free shipping.

2) PC Club ( www.pcclub.com) -OR-
Club It! ( www.clubit.com) (mirror online store to go against NewEgg)

-is a store with a website thats more special over every other computer store (such as Fried Electronics, Cr@pUSA, etc). Although you won't see the parts of the Clevo notebook on the site, I recommend you to see if you live in the area of one, because they have Asian connections... namely Taiwan (the main manufacturers of the world's notebooks, such as Clevo). PC Club, if you do not know it yet, is a wholesale (OEM) computer store which is pretty competitive in pricing with other stores, that has a specialty that most computer consumers don't know about... which is that they will special order any type of computer hardware for ANYONE (regardless if its a big item or not), just give them the item's description, the manufacturer, and the model #. They will get back to you about the price and availablity directly from the manufacturer within 1-2 business days (email or phone).
I actually got my barebones through PC Club, although I would have gone with RJtech.com, but I thought it would be nice to deal with such a purchase locally. Now technically, since I special ordered the Clevo D900K barebaones from them, it now has its own item # in their system for future orders from others that might want the same item... such as yourself.

3) www.discountlaptops.com or Powernotebooks.com or www.xoticpc.com - Sager rebadging the Clevo's
-nice site with very competitive pricing for fully configured notebooks.

FYI: If you are wondering about the price of my notebook barebones:

Price: $2,379.00

---->ItemNo:A4065222--NON-REFUNDABLE LABOR FEE NEW SYSTEM Qty: 1
---->ItemNo:A5409068--Clevo 17"WUXGA,7800GTX256MB,9068,D900K Qty: 1
---->ItemNo:A5590681--NB TV TUNER CARD FOR 9068,9098,Clevo Qty: 1
---->ItemNo:A5506845--9068,9098 NB 8XDVD±R/RW D-LAYER BURNER Qty: 1
---->ItemNo:A5506844--9068,9098 NB CDRW COMBO DRIVE Qty: 1

Note: This was my price at PC Club, pretty d@mn nice price for being able to pick it up at a store. It was about $40-50 more expensive than getting it from www.rjtech.com , but it was worth it to me to have local support. And those are the item #'s that you would want to use at a PC Club if you want the same rig.

Then I added my own:
2gig (2x1gig) Kingston DDR400 SoDIMM ($85 each stick)
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Socket 939 ($100)
120 gig (SATA) Seagate Momentus HDD ($150)

Note: I got the 3500+ for temporary reasons until I can afford to get a Dual-Core Opteron 165 or 170 in there (and.. yes this is the only notebook that supports Dual Core Opterons) & another HDD.

Hope that helps, because it was mind-numbing trying to find anwers to getting a bad-ass notebook for a better price.

-Gophn

P.S. This notebook is coming with me to E3 2006 for some serious mobile gaming, and own most of the desktops out there. It's solid, its fast, its a Clevo.

 

Excellent job my friend, you certainly got a fast computer for the money. I used an Alienware version of the D900K not too long ago - the build quality is wonderful. I was also a big fan of the keyboard and the fact that it can take two optical and hard drives.

Thumbs up to Clevo - I've been using mine (Sager) since October last year, rock solid all around, never disappoints! Have a great time at E3.

Chaz

 

I would also check the thread I made in my sig about build vs buy... </selfpimp> ;-)

 

I actually have read the Buy Vs Build post, it did give a reasonable insight on why to buy than to build....

However, there are a few things to be said about building you own gaming notebook:
Pros:
-Say to people that you actually built it
-Be proud that you've built it (and successfully got it to boot)
-That you actually know every single component in the notebook, as well as where to install it
-There is no brand, no sticker, or even logo anywhere on the notebook (including the BIOS / Post bootup)
-You can make your own logo and sticker
-You still got the warranty (OEMs still get it all through the manufacturer, in this case Clevo. OEMs might have techs that could remedy some problems, but would still have to fall onto the manufacturer for major ones.)

Cons:
-Can't say that you built it
-Not really sure of where all the parts are in the notebook
-Has parts in it that you might not know the brand of (or might have like it to be of another type)
-Has a logo (this could be a Pro... depending on each person's preference)

As for my main reasons to built it myself were:
-to built it my self, LOL
-(MAIN REASON) that I could not afford to buy a dream notebook at once, since I had to save up months at a time, which only gave me the chance to buy parts at a time. After getting the chassis, the rest were easier to obtain and install.

So I would recommend to buy a fully configured notebook if you want it immediately, don't want the hassle of screwing up the build, and/or can actually pay for it. But for those that don't have the cash, like myself, all at one time, this might be a good route for you... it pays for itself off in the props given to you for building it yourself. Hell you save some serious cash as well (just know where to get the best stuff are the best prices).

-Gophn

 

Agreed.
Excellent followup to my post. My post was meant to be more informative. Many of the things you list are subjective (preference for logo or branding, pride), but still worth considering.

As you probably guessed, I will be building my own Clevo also... whenever that **** 570U gets to the states!! agh!! the wait!!

 

Elminst,

If you want a M570U, i can get you it, the barebones if u want.

I can special order any piece of computer hardware from anywhere in the world & directly from the manufacturers, regardless if there is a US release or not. If you read my first post, I actually gave you the secret to do it.

I got my Clevo D900K directly from Clevo, which is almost impossible for most consumers. However, if you live near a PC Club (pcclub.com), go in there and give them the model number, the manufacturer of what you want, they will special order it into the US for you if you want it (usually at competitive pricing too). They have direct ties to Taiwan's computer industry (the founder is from Taiwan), which most stores wished they had. Since Clevo is Taiwanese, you got a better chance to get it through them than even Sager or Alienware.

Hope that helps, if you don't live near one, I can still get the pricing and ETA for you, just ask me.

-Gophn

 

PC Club is west coast, i'm East coast. But thanks.
I'm in no hurry. I don't NEED a laptop.

 

Hi Brian, I removed your email address for security purposes, please private message the user you wish to contact. Safer that way.