Change or Keep this NP9150 Configuration?

Hi I'm in the process of making an order on xotic pc and was just wondering whether I should commit to this configuration or make any changes? I really want to be sure. For the price I'm paying is there anything I should upgrade or downgrade or otherwise any add-ons I should include?

Sager NP9150 / Clevo P150EM
- 15.6 matte 95% color gamut upgrade (is this widely recognized as worth it?)
- i7-3610QM processor
- diamond thermal compound
- gtx 680m gpu
- 16 gb ram
- 128 gb SSD primary
- 500 gb HD replacing the optical drive
- bigfoot networks killer network adapter upgrade
- steelseries keyboard upgrade
- includes standard 1yr base warranty

Thanks for your help

 

What are you using the laptop for?

 

Pretty much everything. I'm using it to commute to school daily in Sept to take notes, stream/download a lot of tv shows and play video games on it pretty often. Hoping this laptop will last a while too. 15 inch is also portable enough for me

 

Your configuration looks fine. The one thing I'm not sure about is the steel series keyboard, which has gotten a mixed reaction. I myself have the stock keyboard and I like it.

 

There was a thread posted pretty recently about the high gamut screens not meant for gaming that you should check out before you buy.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/674980-why-high-gamut-screens-not-suited-gamers.html

 

Hello,

If you go for 95% gamut, you'll need calibration, the colours are very rich in detail but might stress out your eyes if you don't calibrate it. It doesn't have to be that correct on the colour displayed, as long the look makes you feel comfortable then it's OK, since you are the one that's using the laptop. Calibration tool in Windows under Display in Control panel would do.

For the - diamond thermal compound: If you have any experience of repasting the grease, I suggest you save the $30 or $35 and repaste it yourself, the paste is actually a lot cheaper than that, but that depends on where you live of course. Another thing is, diamond thermal compound brings scratches to the die. If you plan to upgrade from GTX680M and sell the GTX680M in the future, don't use ICD7, once the scratches happen, it cannot be cleaned. In this case use Prolimatech PK3 or Gelid extreme. Those don't scratch or leave any marks on the Die area.

 

Hey thanks for that information. I'm a pretty huge novice if you could help me out some more it would be a big help.

You're saying I should opt out of the thermal paste if I want to sell the 660m in the future, but it won't have any effect on manually upgrading to a new GPU?
That 95% gamut thread is a huge mystery to me. Is it more worth it to get the stock matte screen? Or is the 95% gamut screen a lot better but I would definitely need the calibrated option on xoticpc? Is there anything I would need to do after I receive the laptop to optimize the screen for playing games? The thread seems to suggest that I need to download additional software/there's different outcomes for different games.

I also just noticed that xotic's calibration option requires an OS installed but I'm not including one. I can get Windows 7 cheaper through my university

 

He was just saying if you knew how to re-paste the gpu that you could save about $30 if you just pasted it yourself, as for the screen, i have read a lot about how the stock screen is beautiful on its own and the only reason you'd need to upgrade would be if you were using the laptop for color sensitive work like photography or game design etc

 

Thanks again.

So pretty much I could choose the High Gamut Matte screen but since I'm not getting an OS I would have to calibrate it myself later in Windows? I'd also have to follow the PowerStrip method in that thread? Would this be a one time thing or would it require frequent maintenance?

 

The action of calibrating is normally for the environment you stay, for myself I usually recalibrate it if I go to somewhere that has yellow light in the room. And yes you can always calibrate it in windows, it's pretty easy, the calibration tool that came with Windows 7 brings you through the calibration step by step, but if you want do a more professional calibration you can use PowerStrip or Spyder 3 or 4.

 

Sorry a couple more questions. Can anyone help me out? I'm committed and ready to make my purchase but there's only two things I need to figure out.

1) get the steelseries keyboard or the stock keyboard and
2) whether I should upgrade to either a matte screen or the 95% gatum matte screen.

I've been reading a lot of mixed reviews about the steelseries keyboard - can anyone provide some advice or personal experiences? I was also wondering if calibrating the gatum screen would be a one time thing or whether it would require continual maintenance? The OP suggests that it might be an Enduro problem post-calibration? I'm more than willing to spend an extra $60 if this can provide a better display and it's easy to manage but I don't want it to come at the cost of gaming

 

As I said earlier, I have the stock keyboard and I'm happy with it. A definite problem with the steelseries keyboard is that the symbols on the F1, F2, etc. keys don't match what they actually do and last time I checked the steelseries keyboard thread there isn't been a program that allowed you to change what the keys did.

 

Is is a lot easier to type on one or the other or are the both pretty similar? Apart from gaming I will also be writing all my school lecture notes on this laptop, as well as typing out all my university exams on it (using Examsoft) so most importantly I'm looking for the most ergonomically comfortable yet responsive of the two options.

Any thoughts on my questions about 95% the gatum upgrade?

 

I would stick with the standard matte screen option. I've read a lot about all the screen options and what people think all over the Internet; the summation is that if you have never used a 95% gamut screen you really won't have that much of a difference coming from a matte screen. A matte screen will frustrate you much less in high lighting situations (ie. a classroom, school library, dorm room, etc.), than any gloss screen will. Again, I was in the same boat as you about screen options and honestly, matte will give you everything you need.