CLEVO X8100...Who's gonna get it???

IMO ATi drivers are hit and miss with gaming performance. I have Xfire 4870 in my M17x-R2 and I'm not impressed with the drivers. Personally I'd rather have 285M GTX in SLI.

 

The GTX 285m is just a factory overclocked GTX 280m.......exact same cards. Hopefully they will have more overclock headroom but if not then they are already near their limits. The GTX 280m's were only stable up to about 1080 on memory and 680 on core (1700 shader)

Given that is about where the GTX 285m's are clocked, this is sketchy - another G92 rebrand really....

The core i7 part though is good to hear - hope the cool these better than the QX9300 was cooled in the M980nu

 

The M980NU has awesome cooling. My CPU runs about 10-15 degrees cooler stress loaded than it did in the M17, and my temps for my GPUs are comparable to anything I've seen shown with the M17x.

 

100% agree with this. Benchmarks are great and all, but in game performance I've really found Nvidia more consistent and I do prefer their drivers.

With that being said, I will be open towards giving the 5870's a whirl.

 

I had a bit of envy till I realized my M980NU still frankly does everything I need it to... and more

 

For those that would like to know the new Sager 8120 aka the X8100 is now available for order and is in stock.

This features the SLI 285M, i7mobile chipset and get this an HDMI input

 

A HDMI **Input**?

Are you sure it's not an output? HDMI recording would be a nice feature, and Im surprised to have not seen it elsewhere if this is true.

 

Yes its an input, however it has a max signal input of 1080i.

 

Meh, nice feature for those of us with families hogging the TV and all we want to do is play a game on a console at 720p

Interesting stuff, I've not seen that on anything except expensive decoder/recording cards previously. Im guessing you've had a little play about now, how does it feel compared to the M980NU? Any obvious improvements (beyond the I7 and updated components) etc?

 

I agree, very useful for those who want to connect a game system. Making gameplay videos of consoles just got easier as well. Besides the obvious refresh of the GTX285M which by our benchmarks seemed to be a synthetic upgrade of about 4%, and a real life gaming upgrade of 15%. The core i7 mobile support is a very good change. Otherwise visually and physically it will be identical. I guess it does come stock with a 320 7200rpm drive in primary and 4gb of 1333mhz memory which is slightly different than the np9850.

We are pretty excited to get a demo and see what kind of benchmarks these differences make.

Edit: Sorry I missed what you said. We haven't gotten our decked out demo yet but I promise to make a nice video and post all of our findings.

 

FYI here is a image doing a loop from the HDMI out to the HDMI in

Here are some benchmarks FYI

 

Yes the Sager NP8120 is the Clevo X8100 rebranded confirmed!

 

that loop picture it pretty cool

and hdmi input....NICE

 

Yepp HDMI input might come to good use.

 

Wooo finally hdmi input ^^

Btw, is there any chance the X8100/NP8120 will be equiped with sli 380m or cf 5870 or will this be a brand new laptop? Don't really know much about it being able to go in there or not. Might be heat problems or not the right mxm?

Just dreaming of a laptop with 18,4'', sli 380m/cf 5870, i7, hdmi input, ssd, 4gb 1333mhz ram etc (and an integrated graphics option, but I guess no laptops are gonna be perfect )

While I am asking questions, does anyone know when we will see larger HDDs then 500gb (7200rpm) and why is the laptop not equiped with the newest wireless network card? I see Sager is shipping it with the newest one, but for example here in Norway they are still using the old one (5300 I think it is).

 

According to Multicom, it looks like they will ship with INTEL WIFI LINK 5300 HMC, atleast is says so in my order confirmation.

 

Preliminary reports show this baby easily hitting 18,500 slightly OC! Not bad!

 

but you got to catch 22k to be the supreme laptop 06 champion now

 

I could have sworn flickering screens, stuttering, and dead power supplies were keeping people from attempting 20k+ suicide runs. Well, some people.

 

a few squeezed a run off

 

Not for long, bios fix is underway. My machine will be the first to have it in a few days. Goal is to beat that 22k 3dmark06, I hit 19k on stock when the machine was still flickering so 22k should be feasible.

 

Got a mail from Multicom.no today, and they said that all the parts will be in stock by the end of february
I am really looking forward to play Bioshock 2 and Mass Effect 2 with this beast!
I really hope this one is worth all the money im spending on it, cant afford another mistake like the Asus W90vp...

 

between this and an M17x r-2 i don't know what to do.

 

then you can just wait and see what is doing better (pretty much just an ATI vs Nvidia thing)

 

well the 285's are just overclocked 280's

my 280's can go well beyond the stock clocks of the 285's

no upgrade here

 

Yeah but just one 285m card does this with stock drivers and slightly OC...What about 2 cards in SLI?

 

you are also neglecting the possibility that there will be much further OC headroom on the 285's (although I personally doubt this to be the case)

 

3dmark06 relies to much on the power of the CPU to get high scores which is why you are scoring high on it the card has nothing (or very very little) to do with it

Thats just the i7 flexing its muscles

The truth of the matter is that the 285 is maybe 5% better at gaming then the 280.

bear in mind we are looking at the cards here not the i7 which we know is more powerful then the Q9300

Run vantage and you will the GPU score is only slightly higher at stock, as i said 5-8% which is an easy overclock for all 280's

The people i spoke to top out about the same as my 280's some lower, some slightly higher, WE have to remember its the same card just clocked slightly higher at stock.

But all in all your 3dmark06 runs prove nothing as no game (possibly bar wow) is cpu dependant enough to make any difference to gaming frame rates

Which is why all M980nu owners myself included are not bothing until a real upgrade for gaming and benching arrives -- ie 3XX, 4XX or ATI 5 Series cards

Till then its all cosmetic to keep up sales

 

Hey folks, I took the plunge and just ordered an X8100 from Donald at Powernotebooks. Will let you know how it benches when I get it in ~2 weeks.

 

I'm considering switching from the G73 to X8100 too, and my previous order was also with PNB. Is the X8100 currently in stock?

 

The X8100 ships out as of the 15th.

 

How do you mean by ships out? Pardon my English

 

The X8100 has been shipping out since yesterday.

 

You're going to see a very noticeable difference in size. One is semi-portable while the other is a tank.

 

I'm planning to put it in my dorm and (perhaps) use it in the library which is a 5 min walk away, so it doesn't actually matter. But the 8120 is much more expensive and that's one problem too

 

What do you plan to use your proposed X8100 for?

 

Mainly gaming + movies, and, sadly, work

 

does this model support linux? i remember the m980u for some reason didnt support it which deterred me from buying it as i am a heavy linux user. also what is the max amount of memory it can have? finally i live in ontario canada, what would be a good source to purchase from?

 

Good places to buy from are Powernotebooks.com, XoticPC, AET Solutions and Prostar to name a few. A place you do not want to buy from is Eurocom, avoid them at all costs, see sig for details.

 

Any idea what this is built out of? Is it plastic? One nice thing about the M17X appears to be its aluminum chasis. I would hate to spend so much on this laptop to find out its all plastic.

 

Then don't think of buying it.

 

If its anything like the M980NU its a metal internal chassis with a plastic case over. It's pretty solid too, its not cheap stuff.

 

Origin PC ( a group of former Alienware guys) is now selling these as the EON-18.
http://www.originpc.com/eon-gaming-laptop-features.asp
Prices seem comparable to the Sager site, but I had such a horrible experience with Sager and Clevo five years ago that Im spooked about trying another one.

 

When are they going to put the duel 5870s in this laptop? Any chance after cebit?

 

What are you guys using to make use of the HDMI-input? Can't seem to find any preinstalled software to use it.

 

Dont think many people have it yet. There was software on the Clevo site IIRC.

 

Is this the only laptop with HDMI-input? (first I have seen so far at least, which seems a bit weird to me if there is not a big problem to add it)

 

Well I found the software on the laptop in the program files area but no matter what I do the GameMate software sees the resolution of the source and flickers between black and dark grey. Judging by the CPU fans it also spikes the system load and makes the system lag pretty bad.

 

You got the laptop already? How is it?

 

Fast... REALLY REALLY REALLY FAST lol

Wrapping up the review tonight, should be going up tomorrow. This will finally bump the ASUS W90 off our Fastest Notebook slot.

If I were looking for a highend gaming notebook it would easily be my top choice. But personally I think 15" is the breaking point for my tastes. With all the travel I do something this big would be a pain after a while.