Clevo D910C Retailer Preference?

Accident in title...I meant the "Clevo D901C".

So I'm in the market for a Clevo D901C. For anyone who has been following my posts around the forum, I'm sure you have gotten a bit sick of hearing about it, ha-ha. I'm nearing the final stretch though and thought I'd get some views/opinnions from the bulk of NBR.

I've narrowed down my selection of retailers from the Clevo Guide (Thanks Gophn!) to FIVE retailers, based-off of the fact that they all meet my price requirement (they're the cheapest), they all offer the hardware I require, and they all have satisfactory or above BBB/Reseller Ratings. I ordered them in my preference (1=best, 5=worst) based on how I felt after reading up on these ratings and the company in general.

1. XoticPC
2. PowerNoteBooks
3. LynnBay
4. Gen-X-PC
5. DarkSmileySystems


The things I hope to learn more about from these retailers (and I plan to be calling them all up in the next day or two) is...
A. How is their tech-support?
B. How good are their warranties and their willingness to replace defective/under-performing devices?
C. How far can you go (opening chassis, upgrading ram, upgrading ANYTHING ELSE, undervolting, overclocking, etc) before your warranty is voided)?
D. How good is their student discount?
E. How good a job do they do on custom-paint jobs (I plan to get this for the lid/palmrest)? Also, if they do a crumby job, what is their policy on replacing the chassing and/or re-attempting the job? Or, their policy on letting a DIFFERENT company paint/laser-etch it, in regards to warranty voiding?
F. How do you guys feel about them on a personal level; satisfaction; etc.

I greatly respect you guys here on NBR and I trust you won't lead me astray, so if I've missed anything else that seems important, then please go ahead and note it.

Just to note. The machine (based on retailer) will be about $4,200 - $4,350 for just the hardware specs. I still have to factor in tax, student discount, custom paintjob, price of warranties (I plan to get a 3-yr parts/labor warranty, 1-yr accidental forgiveness, and a dead-pixel guarantee [unless you guys have total confidence in them]). I also plan to use one of the credit-cards to get the extended 1-yr more warranty.

Please state whether you have/haven't bought from the retailers you are commenting on. As well as what was the "tipping point" that made you choose them. DOMO ARIGATO!

 

both xoticPC and powernotebooks are same in terms of service and pricing.
A) top notch
B) top notch, as long as you don't damage part by yourself, ie drop it from 30th floor.
C) opening chassis and upgrading do not void your warranty, nor will overclocking; however, damages caused by OC will.
D) 50% off shipping from xoticPC
E) top notch
F) top notch
ps, no tax needed.

 

No Tax? How can that be? I know the "discount" they offer is kind of pointless to accept, because you end up paying it one way or the other, if that is what you were referring too?

I don't follow?

 

They don't collect tax since they have no business registration at new york.

 

My knowledge of financing/investing/stocks/REITs/bonds/ETFs/Mutual-Funds/401ks/403(b)s/IRAs/Roth-IRAs/etc is very high. However, my knowledge of taxes...not so much, lol. When you are buying something from out-of-state, aren't you required by law to make note of it in your expenditures? Thus ultimately paying tax on it?
Anyhow, I don't want that subject to take over this thread. I don't think the other 3 are located in NY at all, either.

 

I bought mine off XoticPC and so far everything has been great. My laptop should ship this week, but the ordering process is simple.

 

if you wanna know about taxes, wait for "Shyster1" to drop in. the prices of xoticPC and PNB should be the lowest, plus they offer 2nd/3rd years labor for free.

 

Ha-ha, Shyster1. I've been waiting for him to arrive after I said that to be honest.

All good points. Have any of you guys ever considered the other 3 retailers, however? I don't believe they are "authorized retailers" by sager (seeing as they don't call their machines "Sager 9262" like XoticPC/PowerNoteBooks do). I'm pretty sure xotic/power are "limited" in warranty, no? I think 1 of the other three has a "full" warranty, which got my interest peaked.

The more important warranty point I would think would be the PART, as oppossed to LABOR. Labor = They put in. Part = They replace/upgrade. I can handle the labor on my own if I really had too, but they don't offer more part and lesser labor, ha-ha.

My aim is the following....30-day no dead pixel guarantee (I figure if you don't have the dead pixel right-off the bat, then you are unlikely to be getting one). 3yr PARTS warranty (it will become 4 with credit card). As well as 24/7 lifetime tech support. Also, 1yr accidental damage warranty.

Some "caveats" about the "tech support" with xotic/power is that I believe they make you do the tech support through sager a lot. I've heard bad things about their tech-support, as oppossed to xotic/power directly. It would seem as if you have to pay more at Xotic for them to do the tech-support and not all the options are listed as "lifetime". Power flip-flops on their "toll free" tech support, too, from what I can tell (I may be misinterpreting this part, however). They just seem a bit confusing is all.

 

when you say full warranty, do you mean accidental coverage?

 

That is what I meant. I went back and checked, however, and none of them had "full" warranty. Though, lynnbay did a free-included one-year accidental warranty (just what I wanted, lol, overlooked it earlier) and a "premium" warranty through prostar. Anyhow, disregard the full/limited comment, it's proven irrelevant.

Also, going back, reading the fine-details of the warranty on darksmileysystems makes them seem almost....evil....They said something to the effect of "any poorly packaged parts that are damaged during shipment will not be covered by warranty and will not be reimbursed/exchanged". That scares me, lol.

I am concerned about who does the tech-support, however. Will xotic/power take care of it or will they forward me to Sager for all 4yrs?

 

they will take care of you for life time.

 

First of all, it seems like the main thing you're stuck on is the warranty. My company, Dark Smiley Systems, as well as XoticPC, and PowerNotebooks all offer our warranties and tech support through Sager. Gen-X-PC offers the same warranty with the same wording, just "Sager" is replaced with "Gen-X-PC". I'm guessing Lynnbay has roughly the same warranty, since it seems to be like Canada's version of Sager.

This means that, according to my interpretation of the warranty, your warranty will be void if you take your laptop elsewhere to be painted. However, you can circumvent this if you call Sager and get (in writing) that you have their persmission to take the laptop to so-and-so to have it painted:

This quote from the warranty would also apply if you were to upgrade at a later date - you'd have to once again call Sager and get it in writing.


Secondly, about tax: if you don't live in the same state as the company you're buying from, you don't have to pay tax. Period.


Finally, my sales pitch. Though our laptops have different names, they are still Sager branded. We offer the Sager warranty and so on, up to 3 years with lifetime tech support and a 30 day dead "no dead pixel" garantee. Our prices are competitive, and in line with the other manufacturers listed on this page. Finally, you can get a 1% student discount by entering the code "COLLEGE" during checkout. Our version is available at www.darksmileysystems.com/lion.htm.


Hope this was helpful!


P.S.: About our evil warranty - recheck. That part's gone now - it was a misinterpretation on my part including it in there. And that warranty only applies to desktops anyway; click the link to the sager warranty page to see theirs (i'm sure you've been redirected there multiple times anyway).

 

I don't question your pricing, it is competitively priced (I wouldn't consider you guys otherwise).

Gracias on the update on sales tax out-of-state. I'll take your word on that.

In regards to the warranties, I'm a little confused as to how you guys offer SAGER warranties. Sager states explicitly (I don't have it in front of me atm, but I did some hours ago) that unless the machine is "marked" as sager or if you see "authorized retailer" somewhere, then you are covered. Otherwise, you're not. I didn't see either on DarkSmileySystems. I'm also a bit disconcerted on the fact that the warranty on your site, even if it was intended only for desktops, does seem to encompass laptops (as I can't find a seperate one for laptops anywhere). So, if it ever came to a "disagreement" in the future, the warranty would be on your guys side (I'm not saying I don't trust, I just don't like the cards being in someone elses hands, if you know what I mean).

Also, I've been seeing a lot of "changes" going on with the "Lion" configuration, which is your Clevo D901C. Every few days when I look at the configuration page, something changes (e.g. last week it said the barebones was a Clevo M57ORU-U...that was fixed sometime this week, but then this week it says you offer THREE difference versions of 160GB HDDs at varying prices...no longer supporting 200GB and 320GB. Why?). I'm assuming they are just faults in getting the site to appear correctly (lol, I do some html coding, just give it over to me to fix, ha-ha), but it doesn't help the "image" of DSS very much.

 

I'm so sorry about any misunderstanding. It probably is on my part - we were getting our notebooks from someone other than Sager before, and within the past few days have been updating the site with new prices and information.

If you click on the warranty page, the second line states, in bold:

The "click here" is a redirection to Sager. Our notebooks are covered by Sager because they are "marked" or "branded" on the actual laptop itself as Sager, we just sell them under our own name.

And I'm sorry about the changes - you were right about the coding. The entire lion custom page should now be correct in prices. What you chose in the drop-down menu wouldn't appear in the cart, but that's all fixed now

 

welcome aboard DarkSmiley! glad we have more sager retailers. You might want to PM Chaz - NBR mod for "Notebook Retailer" title.

 

First off, I would go with either xoticpc or powernotebooks. They are going to be near the same price, although the student discount is easier to get and makes it cheaper if you go with xoticpc. From my personal experience from talking to both companies, I felt really comfortable with both. That being said, I have to say that Donald at powernotebooks seemed a little more friendly and knowledgeable than the person I spoke to at xoticpc. Either way you will be dealing with a top notch company, its just depends on the one you are personally more comfortable with.

Secondly, DarkSmiley, I went to your website and you definitely are similar price wise to xotic and pn. However, what killed me is you only off 160gb hard drives. Plus, there are three options for the 160gb hard drive, each with a higher price, but there isn't an explanation as to why they are priced higher. Maybe you can explain that or change it up? Its looking pretty good though.

 

It wasn't changed? AARGH!! Damn you, Expression web! Okay, now it's a 160, 250, and a 320 - no longer just three 160s.

It should be changed now. Thank you very much for catching my bugs lol

Oh, and thanks for the heads up, Nirvana

 

Flyinonice4
Yeah, I think they are both good, too. I almost added a 6th poll option for xotic/power, cause I figured that would be a popular pick. I wanted to figure out, which is "slightly" more respected around here, though, ha-ha. I'm pretty sure power offers some student discounts, though, too.

DarkSmiley
Yup, you got the 160GB thing fixed now. I liked how you displayed the "Lion" configuration more, though. In reference to the fact that it had displayed the manufacturer (and RPM) of the drives. Your configuration page would be a LOT more appeasing to look at (for us techies here, at least) to see that kind of detail. Takes out a lot of guess-work and extra back-and-forth communication. Same for RAM (2GB = 1 or 2 sodimms? Same question for 4GB) and the manufacturer (kingston, ocz, etc). You also got a typo for "remite" instead of "remote" for the "TV Tuners". No big deal, though.

Ha-ha and glad to see your no longer a "n00b" but a "Notebook Retailer" now.

I'll keep your site in mind, I've gained more confidence after having spoken with you. I'll have to see how the other 4 pan out atm, however. Currently 3 of the other 4 are slightly cheaper and offer RAID, something I was thinking of getting.

 

Yea I agree I kind wanted to see detail on the different options too.

 

I do like your sites touch with "support". I just clicked on it and it instantly connected me with Shane (you?) I was surprised by that (expected a FAQ and Contact Us like info, lol). Good touch.

I'd be especially interested to know if you have any intent of offering any SSDs or XEON processors (like PCMicroWorks) ECC RAM (I took a look around and saw you offered all those things here and there, glanced at the blog). The one thing that upset me with all 5 retailer choices was the lack of SSD options. They didn't exist. Bit of a downer. :/

 

Welcome to the forums DarkSmiley.

You might want to correct some of these statements. In order for a system to come with a Sager warranty it MUST be advertised and sold as a Sager Branded machine. Unless I have an incorrect understanding of your warranty we (Xotic PC & PowerNotebooks) provide additional service on the NP5793 and NP9262 such as:
3 Year Labor Warranty
Lifetime 24/7 Telephone Tech Support through Xotic PC or PowerNotebooks.

Our 24/7 Telephone support is included with all warranties on these models.

 

Sorry about that, Justin. From now on I'll stick to just talking about my own company - i don't want to make any mistakes

I'd just like to restate that through Dark Smiley Systems the 3-year extended warranty and lifetime tech support is offered through Sager. And I just got an email from Sager telliung me that I have to call my laptops by their correct names, so the Dark Smiley version of the NP9262 is available at www.darksmileysystems.com/np9262.htm.

 

^^ No biggie .

 

DarkSmileySystems
I liked "Lion", too. Ah well. Be sure to change your "shopping cart" page to display it as "NP 9262", as it still says "LION Base Price" in the shopping cart section.

Everyone Else
Alright, it looks like NBR is in agreement that XoticPC/PowerNoteBooks seem to be the best choices (perhaps influenced by the retailers here? Lol.)
As such, let's hear some opinnions on WHY to choose XoticPC over PowerNoteBooks (or vice-versa). It's pretty much neck-and-neck at the momment.

Some examples of differences might be...
1. PowerNoteBooks has been around longer than XoticPC (dunno if this is even true, .
2. XoticPC has a great (9.93) lifetime resellerrating, but less than PowerNoteBooks (9.97)
3. PowerNoteBooks has nearly 200x as many resellerrating reviews, making it a more reliable #.
4. PowerNoteBooks has had fewer BBB (Better Buisiness Bureau) complaints (1) compared to XoticPC (7) recently. Though, both had them fully-resolved.
........So on and so forth........Let's hear some differences/reasons/experiences.

 

^^totally unnecessary to make things so complicated.

 

not being a smart ass or anything but the poll is kind of useless. i would think that most buyers from these retailers have only purchased that retailer so your poll would only compile who sold the most to readers of the poll. and if anybody has purchased from more than one retailer, then how would you know?
i didn't answer the poll, but xoticpc and powernotebooks have excellent service. and why don't you be the guinea pic and order from darksmiley? maybe a discount or upgrade could be worked out for feedback?

 

Ha-ha. I agree with you pukemon (on the discount/upgrade for feedback from DarkSmiley). That is up to him, though (wink-wink). Lol.

In regards to the poll, no, you aren't being a smart ass. You're being sensible I did the poll for three reasons.
1. It might make more people come by, take a look around, and give some feedback.
2. I already knew powernotebooks/xoticpc had representatives here, so I suspected a disproportianite amount of votes for them regardlessly (I was curious to see if the forum had a natural bias, however). Sort of like favoring either the Mets or the Yankees in NY.
3. I figure NBR has a lot more technical, knowledgeable, and experienced (many of you more than myself, but I do at least know some stuff) so you could give a more appropriate view.

btw, +rep (for your cumulative efforts helping me out on the previous thread and not being afraid to speak your mind on the poll, ha-ha. It pays to be edgy sometimes).

 

polls usually don't well on nbr. the turnout is usually low. of course there will be a bias. if you really want to gauge sager/clevo, hang around alienware forums and these forums for about a week. i think you'll notice more "converts" in one of the forums.

 

I'll do that.

 

I completely agree. The sample size is just too, too small for this poll (or most polls on NBR, unfortunately) to have any meaningful relevance. Assuming that there are at least 200 people who have purchased from one of the listed resellers, to get a survey with any accuracy would probably require a minimum sample size of at least 60 people, and probably a lot more. For some light beach reading on the subject of sample size, check out this article.

 

personally i only have buying experience with xotic so i can 100% recc them, but i can also say donald from power notebooks seems to be a great stand up guy also. but i have experience with xotic and they have always taken care of things i needed..

welcome to the forums darksmiley

 

Shyster1
That article was scary. Remind me not to take the survey-psychology class I was planning on registering for in the Spring. *Shivers*. It's about how to properly run them, not so much the psychology of the people taking the surveys.

The poll doesn't just indicate "popularity" of a brand, however. All your statements have been accurate. But, take "lynnbay", "gen-x-pc", "darksmileysystems". They all got <=1 votes. Yet, none of those ppl who voted for them commented (I am not counting a vote for DSS, as I'm sure DS voted for that, lol). So, it is judging just how "well heard of" they are around here. If they aren't well-heard of around here (unlike xotic/power), then my chances of learning something bad (or good) are lower. Thus, I can feel more reassured to go with the ones more people around here have experiences with. Given that I've seen few complaints (when they hold the majority of the votes), that, to me, seems as if it would be a good indicator.

Everyone
My search continues for bias/converts. As well as calling up xotic/power for some last details. :confused2:

 

@ shyster,
do you just pull these crazy links out of your butt or what? Its like you've got a whole folder in bookmarks dedicated to crazy stuff no one wants to read.

 

Google and Wikipedia - together they let everyone be an idiot savant (or, in my case, an idiot - one out of two ain't bad ).

 

Ha-ha....I got a shirt that say's idiot savant. But, I suppose I must simply be an idiot to wear it in public. What do you think?

I still read half his link, fyi. It was interesting. Just not a SEMESTER-long-reading-interesting. I read technical/mathematical/crazed stuff all the time. Hell, I read the warranties/terms-of-use/etc in booklets. Even when they are 40-200 pages long (I don't skim hardly ever).

 

hehehe, you guys should check out the googlepedia plug in for firefox. While being EXTREMELY useful (atleast for me), it also has a cool name. lol.

 

I have only used powernotebooks but can recommend them 100%. Quick, expert, and professional service.

 

For Europe I guess NotebookGuru.de have the best prices.

 

Lol, Europe. I'll keep that under advisement if U.S. curency ever becomes stronger than Euros (slated for not in my lifetime).