Clevo P150HM / Sager NP8150 in office or class environment!

Hi guys!

I searched a lot for a clear answer to this question but could not find. I seriously consider to cancel my W520 order and go for Clevo P150HM.

I am moving a lot with my laptop and work in office and class environment:

1- With high CPU load applications (e.g. multiple VMs, Matlab or heavy programming). Is the fan noise noticeable (comparing to a mainstream Thinkpad laptop)

2- Is the laptop chassis durable, can it last for 3-4 years, with daily commuting, and stand heavy use (I am not expecting it to be exactly same as Thinkpad)

Really your help will be appreciated, I want to make the decision before Monday to get benefit of the current offers!


Edit:
I received my P150HM and now I can answer these questions

- The laptop is really quite under normal load and perfect for class or office environment
- The chassis feels really solid and the look is very professional

The performance of this laptop is OUTSTANDING in every sense!

 

1) Yes, this is definitely noticeable. The notebook is quite powerful, and it needs a good fan to keep things nice and cool.

2) Yes, the quality is good. However, if you take good care of it, it will take good care of you

Mr. Mysterious

 

I might be near deaf, but I really don't hear my fans much. They are running but very quiet to me. the only time I really notice them is when I Fn+1, and even then they are pretty quiet. I just did the Fn+1, and had to put my hand over the vents to be sure they ramped up.

 

Thanks for quick reply!

Is there any practical difference between NP8130 and NP8150? does the rubber finish make it more durable or give it a premium look? or it just matter of preference?

Does both models have the same internal components capabilities/upgrades?

Should I cancel my W520 order and get this one (there are amazing free upgrades till Monday)? Any thoughts?

 

The only differences are:

1) Different stock screen (matte versus glossy).
2) 180w power supply on the P150HM for higher wattage GPU's
3) Rubberized exterior on the P150HM instead of plastic

The general consensus is that the rubber looks more premium, but otherwise it's no more/less durable.

Internally both models can be made to the same specs IF you were to upgrade to the 180w power supply on the P151HM1. Of note though, that would have to be done yourself and may void the warranty. If you plan to have a more powerful graphics card and want to keep the warranty, you should probably consider the P150HM

 

Well I lean more towards P150HM mainly for the Matte screen and also the exterior look.

The only thing that really make me confused is that this powerful machine is usually presented as "a gaming laptop". My main use will be heavy software development, data processing, multiple VMs and only 20%-30% of the time will be for games. In short, I need a portable, powerful workstation/gamestation!

I will be moving around with this laptop on a daily basis and work in office environment (I am not worried about the exterior look as it seems professional to me), just want to make sure that it is the right choice given my needs.

I wonder if this chassis can stand an accidental drop?

I really hope to reach a final decision before Monday

 

Have you had a look at the Thinkpad W520? Might suit your needs better than the P150HM seeing as you're primarily doing software/work stuff rather than playing games? In saying that, I don't know how much the W520 is going for currently.

 

The NP8150HM is a great laptop. If you want the rubberized chassis and a matte screen you can custom order one from many of the resellers here (malibal / xotic / mythlogic / power notebooks / etc.)

I'll also say that the high end GPU is dead quiet when just typing papers due to the auto scaling. The CPU fan also shuts off and on (and on low). It's a really nice laptop, I'd spring for it if I were you

Another nice thing to remember is heavy software development / VM's / and rendering work best with a nice high end GPU as well (which the 8150hm has).

Either way you can't go wrong, but I'm in love with my Sager laptop. Best quality laptop I've ever owned.

 

In fact I already ordered a W520, but it is not shipped yet and I was thinking to cancel the order

My W520 configuration are:
Processor Intel Core i7-2860QM Processor (2.50GHz, 8MB L3, 1333MHz)


Display type 15.6" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED backlight Anti-Glare display, with Wireless WAN Antenna

System graphics NVIDIA Quadro 1000M Optimus Graphics technology (2GB)
Color sensor Colour sensor
Total memory 4 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
Pointing device UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) Fingerprint Reader, Smart Card Reader
Storage subsystem Primary SATA RAID 0
Hard drive RAID HDD, 320GB, 7200rpm
Optical device RAID via Bay Adapter
System expansion slots Express Card Slot, 4-in-1 Card Reader & Smart Card Reader
Battery 9 Cell 2.8Ah Li-Ion Battery
Bluetooth Broadcom Bluetooth 3.0 with antenna
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

Cost: $1400 + tax, free shipping



I did configure a P150HM as well

Display: 15.6" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED AUO B156HW01 V.4 95% NTSC Matte Display
Display Upgrades: Spyder 3 Elite Professional Color Calibration w/ Profile Disc
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 2.2-3.1GHz
Memory: (8GB) 8192MB, PC3-12800/1600MHz DDR3 - 2 SO-DIMM
Graphics Card: AMD® Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5
Hard Drive: 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300
Optical Drive Bay: 6X Blu-ray Burner 8X DVD+/-R DL Super-Multi Drive
Wireless: Intel® 6300 Ultimate-N 802.11A/B/G/N LAN Card
Cooling: IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU

Cost $1,469.00 + tax and shipping


The trade off is very confusing for me!!!

 

I really started to like this laptop as well

Do you move a lot with your laptop? I will be taking it to work on daily basis, so portability is important. Are you comfortable with the heat level for normal light use?


Such comments really so helpful for me

 

Very much so. As long as you are on a flat surface you are fine =) No temp worries (actually the best cooling laptop I've owned.)

Just please note that I wouldn't trust this much power on a soft surface... aka don't type with it in bed or carpeting. I'm sure the fans could cool it, but I wouldn't want to over heat my system. (if I want to type in bed I just take my cooling pad or put it on something hard so it can breath.

Another great thing about this laptop design is that the CPU and GPU are both located towards the back of the unit. This means you will not have heat on the palmrest, keyboard / track pad / etc. Just stone cold! Gaming I max at 60C GPU on my 460M.

I work on this system and game after hours / on the road. BF3 / Skyrim / etc. and it's great. No worries at all.

I also have a Targus 15" laptop bag and it holds the laptop just fine with no issues at all. I take my laptop to work every day and this thing is solid (and great for VM and all my virtualization I do when on the road) Total weight is about 8 pounds with the AC adapter included... ~7 pounds with just the laptop.

Another thing to note / pitch your way is the customization and upgradability of these systems. EVERYTHING can be upgraded and is EXTREMELY easy to do so! If you haven't done so yet, check out the youtube reviews to see what I mean (in regards to cooling / design / etc.)

Sager NP8150 Video Review Part 1 of 2 by XOTIC PC - YouTube
Sager NP8150 Video Review Part 2 of 2 by XOTIC PC - YouTube

Also here is a link to the full service manual to the laptop, showing to upgrade anything - P15xHM_ESM.zip

**edit**
I also wanted to point out that on my system I have an SSD installed. And when the laptop is at idle (rest) with no processes taxing the CPU / GPU the fan kicks off for short periods of time, and the GPU fan never runs when at the default idle clock. It's always the CPU fan (right side) and always at the lowest setting. For comparision the fan is as quiet as my old Acer 5672... which wasn't designed to be quiet by any stretch of the imagination)

 

how long did you have the laptop for? does it have any bsod or shutting down issues? just asking cus my laptop is going to come soon as well. LOTUS P151HM1... specs is on my signature. Does it seem like it can break easily? stable laptop?

 

Very stable / no BSOD or lockups. I'll run HWinfo while gaming next time for you if you want.... so you can see the temps. Seems very well built and solid overall. No keyboard flex no screen flex, no body flex. I love the simplistic design of the system too... The rubberized finish is great and is one less thing I have to worry about. LCD bezel is still glossy though (annoying but understandable)

I'm very picky about my systems, and tend to do really detailed reviews down to the nuts and bolts of the system (check my 2 reviews to see what I mean). I give the system a 9.5 outta 10.... I'd just change nit-picky stuff like a full size right shift key, and a backlit keyboard. The rest is just great though.

Also I still have the laptop, not sure if you worded your question in a strange way or not... >_<

 

Impressive!

I watched the youtube review you sent. I just wonder about the chassis color, does it change (lose color or texture) after long abusive daily use? I feel it can easily collect dust

I am almost going to pull the trigger !

 

You will need to speak with someone else to answer that one in regards to heavy repeated typing and ab(use).... sorry.

As far as dust goes, yes it does collect dust (it's not a smooth surface). But once a week I wipe it down with a microfiber cloth and it grabs it right away. The chicklet keys also prevent dust and debris from settling (which I like).

Also if it was me I'd go with Malibal for the build due to the black friday deals they are offering - Laptops, Gaming Laptops & Fastest, Custom Laptops - MALIBAL. The free GPU upgrade and other goodies just seems like the best deal this year.

$100 OFF Configurations Over $1500 $-100.00
FREE SHIPPING ($50 Value) UPS Ground to Lower 48 States $0.00
FREE UPGRADE ($40 Value) 8GB 1333MHz to 8GB 1600MHz Memory $-40.00
FREE UPGRADE ($45 Value) Spyder 3 Elite Color Calibration w/ Profile Disc $-45.00
FREE UPGRADE ($75 Value) GeForce 560M to Radeon 6970M $-75.00
FREE UPGRADE ($95 Value) Blu-ray Reader to Blu-ray Burner $-95.00

I keep saying this to everyone who is buying a system this black friday, so I'll say it to you too... BUY THE 3 yr warranty! Not because I think it will break, but because for 10% of the purchase price you get 2 years of piece of mind in case there is some freak-of-nature accident where it does die (unlikely)

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'll try to answer them tomorrow... but for now I'm turning it (2am here)

 

Yeah actually I did one of my configurations with MALIBAL, but I was bit surprised that the laptop does not support hardware RAID. I cannot find a clear answer on this, but I wish RAID can be configured with this powerful laptop!

 

SSX4life, i got LOTUS P151HM1 and is it still rubberized finish? i heard that it is plastic... im sure it is still good since its from sager?

 

Here the previous answer of MALIBAL #2

 

The primary reason it doesn't support RAID is because it only has a single HDD bay. The optical bay does not run at SATA 6 like the HDD bay does either. (Also the HM65 chipset does not support RAID natively). If it's important though, the P170HM with the HM67 chipset DOES support RAID on its two SATA 6GB bays

 

Sorry, I have the rubberized version (Sager NP8150, not the 8130). The only difference is the rubberized chassis and a larger AC adapter.

 

Thanks MALIBAL for the clarification. I believe I can live without RAID or setup a software RAID if possible, but given the speed different between the HDD bay and the optical bay I do not think there will be much performance gain with RAID.

 

^ I agree completely with you tiko2020. Go for the purchase! Today is the last day to do so before the freebies go away!

 

I did it

I cancelled my Lenovo W520 order (lucky it was not shipped on time), and I placed my P150HM order with all the freebies except the Blueray since I selected a higher processor and will get SSD anyways later.

It is more practical to have a slim external Blueray burner later when needed (about $100 on newegg.com) and the money I saved from this upgrade was invested in the i7-2760QM

I really appreciate your help guys, SSX4Life you convinced me ... lol

Here is my configuration!

PRODUCT Lotus P150HM

Promotions: $100 OFF Configurations Over $1500
Promotions: FREE UPGRADE ($40 Value) 8GB 1333MHz to 8GB 1600MHz Memory
Promotions: FREE UPGRADE ($45 Value) Spyder 3 Elite Color Calibration w/ Profile Disc
Promotions: FREE UPGRADE ($75 Value) GeForce 560M to Radeon 6970M


Display: 15.6" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED AUO B156HW01 $95.00
V.4 95% NTSC Matte Display
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2760QM, 6MB L3 Cache, $210.00
2.4-3.5GHz
Memory: (8GB) 8192MB, PC3-12800/1600MHz DDR3 - 2 $40.00
SO-DIMM
Graphics Card: AMD® Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5 $75.00
Hard Drive: 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300
Optical Drive Bay: Hard Drive Caddy For Optical $15.00
Bay - QTY: 1
Wireless: Intel® 6230 Advanced-N 802.11A/B/G/N $25.00
LAN and Bluetooth Card
Cooling: IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU $40.00
Keyboard: English: US & Canada
Power Cord: US & Canada
Branding: None
Build Time: 5-7 Business Days
Warranty: LIFETIME Ltd. Labor and 1 Year Parts
Warranty with 24/7 Support (CA)

$1,507.00 + shipping and taxes

 

That depends on what you need and what will you regret later. either one will make you like and regret at the same time.

it took me a long time to decide between P150HM and a workstation. I chose workstation at the end but i feel regret, because of:-

1) Unable to overclock extreme CPU, knew it only after purchasing.
2) Using MXM 3a and not 3b, knew it only after purchasing.
3) msata slot shares with 3G card, knew it only after purchasing.
4) Poor GPU
5) No spdif out and poor speakers
6) More expensive, poor 2nd hand value
7) Room of upgrading is almost nil.

However at the same time it fulfills my needs on other areas and I am happy because of:-

1) Docking station that is very convenience. Clevo does have dock station version laptop but i find noone in this world selling that.
2) Good keyboard layout and backlit, good trackpad. Clevo sucks at these.
3) Good business class warranty
4) VGA out, which is important for business presentation.
5) Expresscard
6) IPS screen
7) Better battery life (with nvidia card and non-IPS screen)

Have been using the workstation for 6 months but until today i can't say i made the wrong choice although i have the regret feeling. If i bought Clevo i will also have the same feeling. Either one will give you some + but also some -. There is no perfect laptop in this world, you have to decide what you need.

i will not go for W520 because of no numpad, i am using M4600.

 

Actually Clevo-based laptop was not an option for me when I start looking for a powerful workstation. I did only considered M4600 and W520 and finally ordered W520 because it was much cheaper and I could not get a got discount from Dell.

However, when I compared the value of workstations with my needs I found that what I really look for is a true powerful laptop that I can get the maximum performance (CPU, GPU, Monitor and Max RAM) out of it and easy to upgrade because I want to live with this laptop 4+ years.

I work daily in office environment and I do not care much about battery life much (2-3 hours enough for me) and other features such Expresscard, spell resistant keyboard, dock station and what not I never really used before.

I only noticed now that P150HM does not have VGA output, which for sure I need, but DVI-to-VGA adapters are available which is a practical solution (Mac users accept this fact)

My only concern about Clevo is the noise level during normal use, but I have a 30 days money back guaranteed (without the 15% stocking fees of Lenovo)

I was lucky that I cancelled my W520 order just 1 day before it get shipped and now waiting my P150HM to be shipped.

BTW I am surprised that workstation has poor 2nd hand value! I expected the opposite. I was hesitated about Clevo because I thought I will lose by far more if I wanted to sell in the future comparing to W520. But in fact I never sold a laptop I owned before, I always give my old laptops to my near family.


I am still in the experience so I cannot judge now, but I will share more thoughts once I get my laptop.

 

Hi, what is the P170HM made of? I did not consider this rubberize finish before but I wanted to get an Asus G74SX b4 simply because of the nice rubber finish. So are you saying that a P150HM has this but a P170HM does not? Wow that maybe a new discovery for me and may shift me into getting a 15inch. I didnt like a 15inch because I am on a 15 inch right now and well just want more screen space you know. Will also love a slot for a 2nd hdd (a SSD I will get when it is on sale). Tiko, since you do not have an optical drive, what USB optical drive will you be using? I like how you plan to remove the optical for a SSD slot in the future, that may solve my problems as well.

 

The P170HM has a brushed aluminum finish while the P150HM has a rubberized finish. Personally, I like aluminum finishes and would actually prefer if the P150HM had it.

 

I am aiming at Asus Blue-Ray burner
Newegg.com - ASUS USB 2.0 External Slim Blu-ray Burner Model SBW-06C1S-U/DBLU/G
It was available yesterday but today it is out of stock, but I am keeping an eye on it

Edit:
Also Samsung Blue-Ray burner is a great option
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151251&Tpk=samsung SE-506AB