Decisions decisions...

What's up guys?

I am fast approaching the day I order my new Sager laptop!! In 10 days it will be ordered. I am having some serious issues deciding on which one though.
It is exclusively between the NP8690 and NP8760, but I am finding pros and cons with both obviously. I could really use some input from any of you.

Here are both systems as configured if I were to choose one to order right now:

Sager NP8760

• Display - 17.3” Full HD (1920x1080) 16:9 LED Backlit Super Clear Glossy Widescreen
• Modular Video Card - nVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M 1GB GDDR3
• Processor - i7-720QM (1.6~2.8GHz, 45W) w/6M L3 Cache - 10Gb/s DMI I/O BUS Standard
• System Memory - 4GB (2 SODIMMS) DDR3/1333 Dual Channel Memory$55.00
• Hard Drive - 320GB SATA II 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive (16MB Cache Buffer)$20.00
• CD/DVD Read/Writer - Combo Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares Standard

As Configured: $ 2004.00
Cash Discount: -$ 60.12
Cash Discounted Price: $ 1943.88​

Sager NP 8690

• Display - 15.6” Full HD (1920x1080) 16:9 LED Backlit Super Clear Glossy
• Processor - i7-820QM (1.73~3.06GHz, 45W) w/8M L3 Cache - 10Gb/s DMI I/O BUS$200.00
• System Memory - 4GB (2 SODIMMS) DDR3/1333 Dual Channel Memory$55.00
• Hard Drive - 320GB SATA II 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive (16MB Cache Buffer)$20.00
• CD/DVD Read/Writer - Combo Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares Standard

As Configured: $ 2039.00
Cash Discount: -$ 61.17
Cash Discounted Price: $ 1977.83​

Thanks in advance

 

That one. 10char

 

Are they both relatively equal as far as future interchangeability goes?? I think they are, due to the same processor type and all of the other similarities.

Should the i7 820QM in the 8690 configuration make me lean to buying it, or should the bigger screen and ability to add a second HDD make me lean toward the 8760?

I also can't decide if the NP8760 will be "too big".

I understand these are decisions that need to be made myself, but any input on my dilemma would be appreciated.

 

You are probably on a budget im guessing because you did not upgrade the 8760 to the i7-820qm.

I was in the same situation before, at first i was looking at the 8690 but then i started to take a look at the 8760. But i ended up choosing the 8760 similar specs to yours.

i7-820qm
4gb ram
250gb 7200rpm hdd (I chose this becuase i dont use up a lot of storage space, my current dino laptop has 40gb hdd and im just now starting to fill it up)

I play Eve online and figured the extra screen space would be nice for me.

As for size and weight, when i was comparing the the specs the 8760 is only a little bit larger and heavier.
listed for the 8690:
7.38 LBs with Battery Pack
14.75" (w) x 10" (d) x 1.65" ~ 2.0" (h)

8760:
8.35 LBs with Battery Pack
16.25" (w) x 11" (d) x 1.69" ~ 2.25" (h)

 

Thanks for doing that, so I didn't have to!

As you can see, for the larger screen, you don't really get a much larger laptop. It really depends on what you'll be doing. If it's gaming, I don't think the 820QM is really going to be that better than the 720QM since *most* games are GPU limited, not CPU limited. You can always upgrade the CPU later, however, with the NP8690 you do NOT have the option to add a second HD, or use RAID. To me, I would rather have that capability down the road than be limited initially.

My vote is for the 8760.

 

Thanks.

This is good to know. The worry of bulk in the NP8760 was making me lean toward the NP8690.

I will be doing a bit of gaming, but my main usage of the notebook will be software developing and modeling. There are times when I have many applications open that are fairly heavy on system resources. Although, I am not sure how well the IDE's or modeling software even use multiple cores. Or is that a non-issue? I would imagine that future releases of these applications will end up being optimized for 4+ cores.

I will have to do a bit of research myself regarding each application, but here is a brief list of currently used applications:

• Visual Studio 2008 Professional
• NetBeans
• SQL Server 2005
• Oracle 10g
• Visual Paradigm
• Parallels Workstation for Windows (Ubuntu, Fedora, and 2x WinXP installed) and some other resource hogs I am sure.

Future HDD and RAID is one reason I am leaning toward the NP8760.

If I went with the NP8760, I guess I could wait, and eventually upgrade to the 920XM.

Right now I am about 65% for the 8760, and 35% for the 8690.

Keep the posts coming, they will really help me

 

I do similar development work, mainly SQL with VS2008 (business intelligence, but some ASP.NET(c#)). I'll also be running VM's with XP, *cough* OSX *cough*, and Linux. Luckily I was able to swing the 820QM on the 8760 so I go the best of both worlds, but if I had to choose, I'd take RAID over the 820QM. I plan on selling the CPU and upgrading to the 920XM in a year or so. With the 8760 at least you have the option of RAID/Dual-HD's. Also of note, the 8760 has the ability to overlock in the BIOS with the 920XM. I do not think Clevo plans to allow that on the 8690, and from what I've seen, is not currently enabled in their bios, even if you get the 920XM on the 8690. Their little way of squeezing you for more money

 

Right now I am about 75% for the NP8760, and 25% for the NP8690. I really do think I will end up getting the NP8760, and then just upgrading to Blu-Ray and RAID 1-2 months later, and then eventually popping that 920XM in there, maybe 6 months down the road or so. Should I worry about settling for the 720QM?

 

The 720QM is a darn good CPU. I actually have it on my 8690 (it resides in a secondary location) and from my around 1 week worth of usage on it, I was very happy. To be honest, I'm getting the 820QM for my chess program (which does serious number crunching) and photoshop work. If someone held a gun to my head and had me choose either 8690/820QM or 8760/720QM I'd take the 8760 without much debate. Future upgrade ability is important. While I'll replace the 8760 in two years, I still plan on using it for other purposes, so I want to make sure I can squeeze everything I can out of it.

If you plan on upgrading to the 920XM, the only downside is the resale value of the 720QM. It will obviously be less than an 820QM, but should still somewhat offset the cost of the replacement 920XM.

I mentioned this to someone else, but you can get an external USB BD-ROM for the same price as the internal upgrade. Obviously it's an extra thing to carry if you travel, but external BD-ROM prices will continue to drop faster than the internal laptop equivalents.

 

I am considering not adding Windows 7 and instead adding the 820QM.
But. I also really want the convenience of having the OS installed when it gets to my door, as well as an actual Windows OEM disk.
Crap, this is why the thread title is "Decisions decisions.."

I have so much work to do, and all I am doing is thinking about this notebook.

I saw you mention that in another thread I was lurking. Personally, I would prefer having an internal drive, thanks for the suggestion though.

 

I didn't get Windows 7 either. I actually downloaded the .iso (legal, there's a thread in the Win 7 sub-forum) and took a risk buy buying a key off of ebay for Win 7 Pro for ~$18. The others who got in on the deal all reported the keys valid retail and working, but I haven't actually tried mine yet. Worst case scenario, you can install Windows 7 without a key and use it for 30 days until you decide how to proceed.

There's also the $29.99 (I think?) student deal (valid until 12/31 or 1/1.. something like that), if you know someone with a .edu address.

Not sure if it matters, but the OEM Win 7 Clevo/Sager uses is not a mainstream OEM setup like DELL/HP etc. It's royalty based, and as such, you cannot do offline activation (no SLIC table in the bios). Offline "activation" was something I looked into.. cost savings, you understand.

 

I have a Windows 7 Professional 32-bit .ISO file and 64-bit .ISO file that are both legal. They are both only "single-installation" licenses though. Addind Windows 7 Pro to my order was mainly the convenience factor of having one less thing to do when the beast arrived. I wonder if I could send them a disk when I order for them to install , highly doubtful.

 

Hey Brandon, have you had any heat issues or any excessive noise with your box?

 

Actually you can use it for 120 days . Just use the re*** command.

 

Not with the 8690, still waiting on the W870CU. Fans are a bit loud compared to my other laptops, but only under load, and certainly not desktop level.

 

Good to hear. I can handle a decent bit of noise if it is under load. I would expect any laptop to be blowing hot air in those situations. If idle I would just like to hear some faint noise from the cooling system.

 

I too am thinking about the 8690 vs the 8760. I do software development (Visual Studio and gnu). I also play a few games lightly so either is slight overkill with regards to gpu.

I think I want 2 drives, 1 ssd and 1 hdd. I'm reading that compling might be faster on hdd over sdd. This leans me towards the 8760.

I'm just not certain about size and fan noise. I posted about the potential difference in fan noise between the two. I'm trying to figure out if 17 inches might be just too big.

 

I was worried about this too, it is on the first page of this thread. But, as Brandon pointed out, it isn't actually that much bigger than the 8690. Also, I will probably be happy when doing any kind of work at a bookstore or coffee shop and I have such a nice/big screen to set up a "comfortable" environment. I definitely will not need to worry about placing two windows side by side on that nice big display. :yes:

 

i just ordered mine today =D

and that was me who put up the size, shame on u giving away my credit LOL

 

Sorry, sorry . I did thank you here though: Thanks again street.

You will have to give me/us a report when it comes in. Can you post your configuration here? If you don't mind of course.

 

I think I'll run over to BestBuy and check out the size of the Asus g72. The specs look to be about the size of the 8760. Is that a fair comparison?

 

Pretty decent comparison size wise, but not anything else

G72 - 16.2" (w) x 11.8" (d) x 2" (h)
W870CU - 16.25" (w) x 11" (d) x 1.69" ~ 2.25" (h)

and yes, thanks street for the dimensions

 

Oh yes, I'm talking size not quality and performance

 

I7-820QM
4GB DDR3 RAM
250GB 7200RPM HDD
Windows 7 Home

Those were the only configuration upgrades I made

 

So newbie, what did you get?