Clevo M860TU/ Sager NP8860 FAQ

since there seems to be dozens and dozens of questions about this laptop, I though a faq was well overdue. If i miss anything, please PM me and I will add them.


Q1: Where can i order the laptop?
A1: Please check out the clevo guide for a choice of resellers close to you.

Q2: When will it be released?
A2: The system has been released and resellers and distributors are just waiting for the shipments. Shipments are eastimated to arrive by the 8th of August 2008 and will be ready for shipment to customers around the 11th.

Q3:Who are clevo? I have never heard of them, why should i spend so much money on an unknown brand?
A3: Although clevo is not highly renouned like dell and sony, is because they cater to a small market of people (high end laptops) They also do not waste money on advertising as they have many resellers that rebrand their laptops to sell. Some such resellers include Killernotebooks, Voodoo, Kobalt, Rock-Direct, Alienware(when not owned by dell) and many others

Q4:what is the price margin on this thing?
A4:This depends on where you are buying from and what specs you want in it. in europe, you can expect to pay from 1250-1800pounds. North American prices tend to be cheaper

Q5:Why is there so much cumotion about this laptop?
A5:This is because this laptop is the first of its kind to compete with Alienwares m15x. The M15X was renouned for being the first 15.4inch laptop that was able to use extreme processors and up to 8800m GTX graphics card, but had many issues, including overheating and downclocking. The
NP8860 will hopefully pull all this off with any issues.

Q6:Why would clevo do any better over alienware?
A6:Clevo are renouned for their cooling systems and have already turned away parts that do not meet the thermal requirements for this laptop, wich shows that extensive testing occurs before releasing a laptop.

Q7:How big is it?
A7 imensions

14.3" (w) x 10.6" (d) x 1.45"-1.95" (h)



the laptop is wedged, so the frontal part is smaller in height.

Q8: How much does it weigh?
A8: About 7.1lbs
Does that include the battery?
Yes

Q9: Is the chassis made from plastic or metal?
A9: Metal. it is made of plastic with a comsetic aluminum coating just like the 5796.

Q10:How many fans does it have?
Q10:Only one, larger than normal cooling fan

Q11:How loud is it?
A11:We cannot tell untill someone recieves a model first.

Q12:what kind of battery life can i get?
A12:It is expected to get 1-1.5hours on normal setting and up to 3hours on silent mode

Q13: What is silent mode?
A13: Silent mode is a feature added to many new montevina clevo models that downclocks the cpu among other thing, to save battery life and causes the fan to not be used as much, thus, silent.

Q14:does it support hybird graphic mode like m15x"?
Q14:No it does not, this has been confirmed. The laptop has a silent mode feature though that acts the same in concept as the m15x;s stealth mode excluding the hybrid graphics function.

I could add more questions and answers, but i think they would be a bit unnesesary. pm me if you think otherwise.

 

You might want to rethink that.

 

ooops, thanks

 

Nice FAQ! You made one mistake, though, according to Sager and other resellers, the NP8660's dimensions are:

14.3" (w) x 10.6" (d) x 1.45"-1.95" (h)

http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=90599

 

added, thanks

 

You should rename this and make this the
Clevo M860TU / Sager NP8660 / Nexus / Edge Owners Thread/Lounge.

I think someone should start one by now.

 

I like Helios dimensions better

and very nice FAQ, answerd a few questions i had, and a few i didnt have.

thanx

 

dont you mean a Clevo M860tu / Sager NP8860 / Nexus / Edge / CX15 / (whatever rock will call it) Thread/lounge?

I will when i get back or closer to deliver dates.

 

how about "does it support hybird graphic mode like m15x"? and is 7.1lbs included battery?

 

ask away then, give me a pm and i will add it instead of asking here, that way it will reduce the amount needed to be read by a newcomer to the thread.

 

This is a good FAQ format to follow as well:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=138143

And I would like to inquire about:
- difference between this and the M15x
.... price, mobile platforms and videocards
- add pics
- add links for detailed specs (on Clevo site), User Manual, and drivers (when available)

 

if you are gonna compare it to m15x, don't forget that the size and weight on AW web site are w/o rubber stands and battery.

 

You spelled "renowned" wrong.



As far as the height of the unit is concerned I'd like to know it that's with or without the rubber feet.

 

Can someone tell which version is the hdmi port in the laptop? Is it 1.2?

 

There is weired nvidia gforce 512mb GO9800 GE ddr3
as option in EUROCOM.Com
couldn't find anything about it!
Is ATI 3870 good?

 

I think that saying that the expected shipping date of August 11th is a bit early. If Sager does get them this friday, they still need to test and customize the machines, which probably wouldn't get done within 2-3 days even if they did work through the weekend, which they probably won't. I'm guessing it's more like the 13th-15th that they will start to ship some of the first systems off the line.

 

not everyone gets their laptops through sager^_^
oh and gophn, im kind of internet cafe jumping, so its hard to put things together ATM. ill try though tonight.

 

Only England uses pounds.
Most of the European countries use Euro's.

 

I always thought it was reknown.

But anyway, Helios is from Ireland so I'm sure he knows that.

 

It's a good start but as people are pointing out you have ALOT of work to do before it's sticky-worthy.

I was gonna mention the point already brought up above. The biggest readership through this forum will be American so it maybe best to work everything from a 'dollar' perspective first and keeping Euros/Sterling in brackets.

To get a major of idea of how to best yourself have a look at some of the the other FAQs on the board to.

 

But make sure, that just because laptop A configuration costs $1000-1200 in the USA, that doesn't mean you can just use the exchange rate and put the number of euros in brackets.
Usualy, just take the number, in this case 1200, at 20% , then change to euros, then add another 19% and you have a probably price that europeans pay to have the pleasure of owning any of the laptops.


PS. This isn't entirely scientific, but it approaches the truth I am afraid.

 

That's very true

But, since we're in the Sager and Clevo forum, the title of the thread is all-encompassing (generic Clevo M860TU and the specific Sager OEM version), and it seems like most users on the forum are ordering a Sager model, I think that it should be specified in the FAQ that, at least for Sager models, that the shipping will happen later than the 11th.

It might also be good to distinguish how screen choice is expected to delay shipment, too (at least for Sagers); in another thread, Paladin noted that Sager is expecting the WSXGA+ and WUXGA screens in mid- and late-August, respectively.

That last bit is a little disappointing to me

 

I remember Paladin saying the other day that it was plastic with a comsetic aluminum coating, not actually aluminum. Kinda disappointing :/

 

Only the palm rests and back of the screen cover have aluminium veneers glued on. Structurally everything is made of plastic.

 

yes, paladin wrote to me on that. Just to let everyone know, im on reseeved time in internet cafe's during my trip, so i cant really make this an amazing time due to the lack of time.

 

I'd like to know how you found out its a "larger than normal" cooling fan?

Also I'd like to note where you found out silent mode downclocks more than just the CPU?

Also the m15x's stealth mode downclocks both the GPU/CPU. Although you can downclock the GPU manually via settings panel in the M860TU.

Please don't sugarcoat a FAQ.

 

Well it's an assumption one makes based on the fact there is only one fan and the assurances from various vendors/resellers. It's probably mentioned in The Clevo Guide, as is information on silent mode, although to be honest no one really has any concrete idea of what silent mode does.

 

Actually im pretty sure the Killer notebooks guy said it downclocked the CPU only. This is very disappointing in my personal opinion because I don't need the GPU at full power to play some of my older games.

 

There was some debate about whether or not downclocking your GPU really saved all that much power, if any, because the vgpu remains unchanged. Thus the only thing you would be saving energy on is the fan because downclocked GPU = cooler, but the fan is already spinning quite slowly or completely off because of the CPU?

 

The ETA of the 8th is a Sager ETA only. So if your going by that it will not ship by the 11th. Since the 8th is a Friday. Sager does not operate on Weekends. So on the 11th, they will test for 3 days like they do with any new things like their OCZ drives etc.. Then around the 15 they will build going into the weekend again they will stop. So they will start shipping if all goes right by the 18th.

 

If you want to downclock your GPU use nbitor to change the voltages of the bios.

 

hey ive seen the sager NP8660, never seen a NP8860. Is it something that i dont know of? Its NP8660 on Sagers website.

 

Hm. Funny no one's noticed.

Silly numbers.

There's also a NP6680. yeesh.

 

If you can save so much power by down clocking, how come the producers never thought of it?

 

I'm trying to say it may not.

You save power downclocking your CPU because it's designed to reduce the vcore at lower clockspeeds. A GPU is not.

And the producers have, I'm fairly sure that's what ATi's PowerPlay was about.

 

how come nVidia never thought of it?

 

Because they're sillay!

No clue. Probably too much work for a fairly small benefit.

 

Wait your telling me nvidia doesn't have a Powerplay equivalent?

 

Whats powerplay? Nvidia's cards downclock to low values but the voltages can be brought down much lower.

 

I'm sure nV does, I just don't know what it's called.

I don't even know if ATi still uses PowerPlay...

 

I actually googled it, nVidia called it PowerMizer Mobile Technology.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_powermizer.html