Few pre-purchase questions...

I am about to get a p150em from Xotic, but I have a few questions. The bluray burner option is pretty expensive (135), and I can just get a sata bluray burner on amazon for under 70. If I get the HDD Caddy option instead of getting an optical drive I will have the option of a 2nd hard drive later, and be getting the bluray burner for a lot cheaper, but what do I do about the optical drive bezel? Is it possible to order just the bezel to put on the outside of my slim bluray burner, or does the HDD caddy have a bezel that I can pull off of it when I am installing my own drive?

I also wanted some feedback on the steelseries keyboard. I heard there are some mapping issues with the keyboard's FN keys, and though there are some software packages to fix that, is it a little annoying? Do you have to wait for the software to load in windows every time before the FN keys work correctly? Also, the backlighting I hear isn't any different because it has to use the Sager software to control the lighting, so the only real benefit is chiclet keyboard layout?

Also, I have seen several different pictures of the Sager branding. Is the one offered by Xotic plain, or is it a lighted "clear" Sager logo- I have seen both, but if it's just plain I don't think I would want the branding.

Any general comments or recommended upgrades for the NP9150?

Thanks for the info

 

You should be able to purchase an external enclosure for the Blu-Ray burner.
Resellers offer the external enclosure, you may be able to ask them for just the enclosure and then get the slimtype Blu-Ray burner on your own.

The hard drive caddy uses the little faceplate that comes off of the optical drive. any standard laptops hard drive should be able to fit in the caddy.

You may want to clarify your question just a little more concerning the HDD caddy and the optical drive.

As far as the SteelSeries keyboards, there may be a work around for the Fn keys, but as far as I know there isn't one without spending time remapping them. Your reseller may be able to help you with that.
Yes, the backlighting is still controlled through the Sager backlight software so it isn't any different except that it is the chiclet keyboard layout.

I believe with the P150EM, the logo is just a decal. It is not lighted.

For recommendations for upgrades, post what your intentions are with this laptop. Do you plan to play a lot of games? take it to college? Only watch movies on it? Give us an idea and we, the community, can help fill in the blanks for you over the next 24 hours.

 

Usually the ODD caddy for HDDs have a little drive faceplate on them that are generally removable and this can then be placed on your own drive.

In regards to the steelseries keyboard, if you order from XoticPC all of the keys will be mapped out by Sager and it will function as it is supposed to.

The branding on the back is definitely a decal and does not light up.

Upgrades wise, i will definitely recommend an ssd for a boot drive.

 

I am going to be taking it on a ship (Navy Pilot) so it will be for all entertainment purposes on the ship. From gaming to playing blurays in the rack to studying publications. I didn't want something too big, and my last 15" asus had 2 hard drive bays, so I could have a SSD and a 750gb 7200rpm drive in it.

My plan for this one was to get:
95% gamut glossy screen (There are no windows for sunlight on a carrier and Ive always liked the shine on a glossy screen)
i7-3720QM
I was going to get the stock thermal compound and apply the IC Diamond myself
nVidia GeForce GTX 680M
16GB - DDR3 1600MHz
I was going to order a 128gb mSATA drive myself and install the OS on that (MyDigitalSSD 128GB BP3 Bullet Proof 3)
750gb 7200rpm Hard Drive for storage/game installs
For the disk drive I wanted the option of another HDD later (when I am not on the ship since I won't watch a bluray at home on my laptop) so I was going to get the HDD Caddy installed, and buy my own slim bluray burner and install that myself, but I am still curious as to if I get the optical drive bezel to place over a slim drive if I order it myself.
The Intel Advanced-N 6235 Wireless Card
Then I am on the fence for the upgrade to the SteelSeries keyboard, because I don't want another program running in the background re-mapping the FN keys but I do like the island style keys. I would have to do the mapping myself because I will be doing the OS install myself on the mSATA drive I am going to put in, so I am not sure how the drivers/software work to re-map the FN keys.