Clevo/Sager 17" w/Blu-Ray & SSD RAID 0 opt

All,

I'm looking for a current state-of-the-art 17" Clevo/Sager solution in the following:

8800GTX SLI
Blu-Ray Read/Write
(2 or 3) SSD RAID 0

I basically need a recommendation on who can offer this configuration... For example, I've already called Falcon Northwest and they don't offer the Blue-Ray or 8800GTX... Any suggestions? I know that the new upcoming Alienware 17x will accomadate these features but something in my gut tells me that I'll be happier with the Clevo/Sager version...

Any thougths?

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

Most vendors selling the D901C can special order the Blu-Ray drive, you just need to contact them directly to ask for the pricing.

Check out these vendor:
- www.xoticpc.com
- www.powernotebooks.com
- www.pcmicroworks.com
- www.rjtech.com
... more in Clevo Guide

 

I don't think most of them have the ssd drives...

Your probably going to have to order the drives seperately...

Doe anybody know what kind of SSD drives Alienware carries???
I haven't seen where they are spec'd...

When they come down in price, I will be upgrading to these... and putting them in a RAID 0 config....

Let us know which drives you pick up?

Joe

 

The SSD drives need to improve their performance IMO. They are about = atm to a good 7200 drive. When they can saturate a SATA 3.0Gb/s interface then I'll be more inclined to look at purchasing one. ATM they are a waste in anything other than a 'power light' notebook that gets 8+ hours battery life.

 

I would say they are better than a 7200 rpm drive, but not by much...
Definitely not worth how much the drives cost...

Joe

 

I would recommend going with 3 x 250GB drives in RAID 0 with an external backup drive.
Xtremenotebooks who I bought my D901C from has all of the options you mentioned including the 8800M GTX.
http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/index.php?section=specs&model_id=1266
I would recommend the Q6600 now and the penryn upgrade later, instead of the costly Q6700 now.
The 8800M GTX is listed on the custom configeration page.

Here is a long benchmark of my 3 HDD RAID0

 

I would definitely do the Raid 0 setup.... And if you want performance go with the 7200 rpm drives...

I personally have 3 x Seagate SATA 300 160gb 7200rpm drives..
Ill post my hdtach score in a bit....

Joe

 

Also for 300 dollars you should go with the q6700...
I wouldn't exactly say that is costly...

Joe

 

And I would also go with Xoticpc way way cheaper than xtremenotebooks.. and they have great personal service...

Thats where I bought mine....

Joe

 

Next year I think you can get a 2.66GHz Penryn for about $320 total, compared to around $575 right now for the Q6700. Right now the Q6700 is almost double the price of the Q6600 for only a 266MHz clock increase. Not worth the money unless your loaded, especially for a CPU that will depreciate really quickly in a month or two.

I am sure your triple posting isn't welcome here. The edit button was invented for a reason.

 

Errr... the main reason to get SSD is for the access time not for sustained transfer.

The Dell/Alienwares are shipping with Samsung, whose current drives are not the fastest available. Access time .3 ms but still a markable difference between the time it takes to get all 3 drives spinning, or to find data even once they are going.

Anyways, the benchmarks above are misleading with regard to SSD comparison. Run a test that simulates real-world performance and SSD can really shine. Also, I imagine 3 drives in raid 0 make quite a racket. Even if you don't care about heat/power, if you have the kind of money to even consider the option I think noise would be a big benefit (minus 3 spinning hard drives plus the fan running to keep them cool equals a laptop that is perfectly silent for most of the time)

 

Another reason to consider SSD is power consumption. If you use your laptop for extended periods without AC power it will increase battery life considerably.

 

Hey Bill,

Just think you could have had a Q6700 if you bought from Xoticpc..

Maybe you should just wait then....

With 8 posts you have alot to say..

Joe

 

I could have gotten the Q6700 from Xtremenotebooks, however I didn't think it was worth the extra ~$270 for such a small performance gain. I will wait and spend my money on a penryn next year. I think they will have a 2.66 GHz model for about $320, much less than the $580 2.66 GHz kentsfield quad core available right now.
I will probably get the 2.8 GHz model quad core penryn, or a 3GHz model if they make a 80-95 watt version of it.

I expect to maybe get one next summer, along with 2 GeForce 9 series mobile cards if available on a new motherboard if necessary. Maybe a computer that fast will run Crysis at very high settings with a good framerate.

I have a lot to say because I have spent too much time over at LaptopVideo2Go. It has helped change me from Nerd to a Super Nerd.

Back to the SSD debate. I don't think the latency reduction is worth the increased price. When prices drop then maybe. What exactly do all you guys need $1000+ hard drives for to load apps quickly in a laptop?
The latency for loading apps in my new laptop is still faster than any computer I have ever used before.
I bet a real world benchmark of how long it takes to load up an office app or something would show only a 1 or 2 second difference. (if you had no programs running previously)
Maybe its just because I'm a college student depended on my parents to buy me expensive laptops, but I don't think the extra hundreds or thousands of dollars per hard drive is worth the small latency gain. (could built a quad SLI desktop in addition to the laptop with that kind of money)

However the shock tolerance is a major benefit in buying one. If your data is very important then maybe it is worth such a high price.
Personally I will get an external backup drive to keep the data off of my RAID 0 intact.

Bill

 

Bill is a super nerd!!... hhehehe

Anyway... I think right now the that ssd has some ways to go...
Most of the ssd drives are not that good with performance.. There are only a select few that are really good.

I still don't agree with Bill about the q6700.... but I do agree with the RAID 0..
I personally think that if your going to get something now go with the q6700..

You probably won't notice too much of difference to wait on the new chips...

Remember new will always be coming out.....

Joe

 

The new chips come out next month probably, they have already launched the server line with 2.8 GHz chips with lower power consumption than the current 2.66 GHz quad. Not only should it work within the laptop's power specifications, but it will be faster, and enable the laptop to have a longer battery life.
The 2.8 GHz one will have a comparable price to the current 2.66Ghz, and the 45nm 2.66 GHz will have a comparable price to the current Q6600.
Even if the new CPUs aren't compatible with the current motherboards, the Q6700's price should drop by a large margin soon, if what we have heard about the 45nm parts' prices is correct.
I can stick my old Q6600 on a cheap desktop mobo if I get a CPU replacement for the laptop.
I need myself a dedicated server for UT3 to own all the 360 and PS3 players when I host some large LANs next year.

If you guys want to spend all that money on these your welcome too, but I will wait for the price to drop.
I could probably get some RAM to SATA RAID cards and a 10 HDD RAID setup for the price of a couple of these.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Value=4214:30849&PropertyCodeValue=4214:30848