Few questions before deciding on a Sager/Clevo

Alright, so I know for sure I want either a P170HM or a P150HM. A few of these questions are not model specific however will help me finalize the build I want. I've settled on Malibal as a builder as their RAM promotion and NBR shipping deal are too good to miss out on. Plus I really like their accessibility on NBR.

Let me first state that I am in no rush to get this laptop so please don't consider wait times on backordered or as of yet unreleased hardware as destriments.

I also want to clarify that while I will be using this laptop primarily for gaming, I am by no means a hardcore gamer. I am a husband and father of a 2 year old son and I have another child on the way. The only time I get to game is 3-4 times a week after 8:30pm. And even then, I'm so tired that I can only stay awake for 3-4 hours. So when I talk about the games I want to play (Skyrim, Diablo 3, Crysis 2, Dead Island, etc.) please be aware that these games will probably take me 2 years to complete.

Graphics Card: I am deciding between a 560M and a 6990M. The 6990M would certainly be great to have but the 560M is $295.00 less and will keep the final price very low. The 560M should be able to handle fine the games I want to play, right? The thought is by going with one of these two laptops and the 560M, I keep initial costs low and can then upgrade to a 6990M or 580M in a year or two when their prices go down. Does this make sense? Will the 560M be sufficient for the gaming I described above? Will it run those games decently?

Screen: If I went with the P170HM, it would be with the stock screen. If I went with the P150HM I would upgrade to the 95% screen (still haven't decided between glossy or matte). Is the P170HM stock screen decent? I've read lots of threads talking about different types of screens the P170HM gets shipped with. Seems like I would have to cross my fingers to get one of the better regarded screens.

Hard drive: Is the 500GB Hybrid worth the extra $65? I am completely unfamiliar with this hybrid drive.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

From what I hear, the P150hm with the upgraded screens is a lot deeper and crisper colors than the P170hm. It is smaller however (duh)

The hybrid hard drive is worth it. Its alot faster than the hard drives and seeing as how you are on a budget, a large SSD is probably out of the option. Another option would be to get a small SSD (120GB) and a second hard drive (750GB HDD).

 

Yes, the 560M will be able to handle the games you have described. You not be able to max out the settings and will have to turn down some settings depending on the game, but they will all be playable at a reasonable level of detail.
Obviously the 580 or 6990 has significantly more power, but as you stated, you can always wait and upgrade later.
The upgraded screen on the 150 is indeed marvelous, especially if you go with the matte option, which I highly recommend. I don't know about the screen on the 170.

I would also suggest the hybrid drive. I currently have one in my machine (check specs in my sig) and load times are very quick. As Tony mentioned, getting a smaller SSD and a larger HDD is also an option, depending on your budget.

 

Thanks for the info fellas. Hybrid drive it is. I'm also happy to hear the 560M should be good enough for me. I'm coming from a Gateway P-7805u FX with a 9800GTS and am excited to see how much smoother things are with this new laptop.

Really now all it comes down to is choosing between the 17" and 15". I want to go with the 15" but I can't help but think I'll wish I had gone with the 17" due to the bigger screen.

 

Are you going to be moving it around a lot? I wouldn't want to lug around a 17" in that case.

 

I thought I had read that if I went with the 560M that I couldn't later upgrade to an ATI card and vice versa due to different motherboards, is that correct?

Also no, I won't be lugging it around much at all. Portability means nothing to me.

 

i just got my p150 with the upgraded screen and it looks better than my $400 computer monitor. the matte is a good upgrade, the colors are bright and vivid. its worth the money.

 

I'm in the same boat as you.. I have 2 kids ages 5 and 2. I can squeeze in some gaming during nap time, business trips, after bedtime and vacations.

On the form factor:
I had an 8.8lb Asus G72 (glossy), and I was determined to get the P170HM3 (for the matte, not the 3D). After careful consideration, the P150HM gave me everything that I needed: an upgraded screen, 2 HDD bays (get a USB optical drive) and a more portable form factor. My P150HM stays docked to a 24" LCD at home for 90% of the time, and the 15.6" screen is more than adequate for hotel rooms (or quickly moving to different rooms to follow my rambunctious toddler). I can even carry my work Dell laptop and P150HM in the same laptop bag every easily. If you have bad eyes and need larger text, get the 17"; otherwise, stick with the 15".

On the video card:
I would wait for the 6990M at this point... it's so close to general availability and the price/performance ratio is amazing. And if you think you want to play Battlefield 3... get the 6990M! For $245, you can play everything on your list on ULTRA and get an extra year of HIGH quality gaming out of it. Plus, with little kids in diapers and daycare, money might get tight when you want to upgrade.

On the upgraded screen:
Everyone says the standard screen is 'nice', and the upgraded screen is 'wow'. Since you've never seen either one in person (nor likely to run into another person with a Clevo), how do you know what you're missing? If you will be viewing the LCD most of the time or doing photo editing, get the better screen. If not, pass on it. On my P150HM, it was worth $95, and I chose the matte screen to reduce glare. Since you do most of your gaming after the kids are in bed, you might prefer the glossy.

On the hybrid drive:
Definitely get it. While the hybrid drive doesn't score better than a standard 7200rpm drive in CrystalDisk benchmarks, it excels in 'real world benchmark tests' like gaming performance (20-30% boost in transfer speeds) - SOURCE. Save up for an SSD!

Also, is Marty Feldman on your avatar?

 

Wow! That was the perfect answer I was looking for bartman! You gave me everything I needed to know. Have some rep.!

Yes, that's Marty in my avatar. Always been a big fan of British comedy and I've been re-watching some Marty Feldman movies lately. Such a great guy.

 

Unless Seagate has fixed this with a firmware update, I personally would advise against the hybrid drive. I had one in a previous notebook, and while it performed well, I was having issues where games would occasionally stutter like crazy. It was mostly an issue with Source-engine titles (Half-Life 2, et al). When I switched back to a normal platter drive, all was well. Again, I don't know if a firmware update from Seagate has fixed it, but I would say if you plan on getting an SSD in the foreseeable future, get a standard hard drive when you order your new machine. Put the money you'd spend on the hybrid toward the SSD.

 

That's good to know. My most played game right now is L4D2 which is a Source game.

I'll just go with a standard drive for now and perhaps upgrade down the road.

 

Alright, placed my order through Malibal. Thank you everyone for the sound advice and the information contained in countless threads that helped me make my decision.

I ended up going with a Lotus P150HM with the following configuration. Also included my reasoning for each item in hopes it might help someone in the future who is deciding on a laptop.

Display: 15.6" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED Backlit 95% NTSC Color Gamut Matte Display
Was going to go glossy but decided on matte. My Gateway P7805-u has a matte screen which worked fine for me and when I thought about glare on the Gateway, I realized I never had a problem with glare because it has a matte screen. I decided to "go with what I know" in this instance.

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 2.0-2.9GHz
All signs point to "No significant increase in gaming performance with a processor upgrade."

Memory: (8GB) 8192MB, PC3-10660/1333MHz DDR3 - 2 SO-DIMM
Many resellers offer 4x2GB sticks of RAM which take up all your slots. Malibal uses 2x4GB sticks assuring that should I want to upgrade, all I have to do is pop in chips. 8GB is more than enough as it is.

Graphics Card: AMD® Radeon HD 6990M 2GB GDDR5
I just sold my Gateway last night. I was extremely close to getting a 485M from Malibal when considering I could now be going a month without a laptop but when I considered the performance of the 6990M for the price, it was hard to say no. Oh well, now I have a month or so to do some yardwork and painting to get wifey off my back so that when the laptop does come, she can't put up much of an argument when I spend a little more time gaming. See you single fellas, these are the games you have to play when married. Pick your battles.

Hard Drive: 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300
Was going to upgrade to the hybrid until saturnotaku mentioned the Source engine stuttering issue. My most played game right now is L4D2 and I wouldn't be able to deal with the stuttering. I'll also be upgrading to an SSD in a year or two so I figured why spend an extra $65 for a hybrid upgrade now?

Optical Drive Bay: Hard Drive Caddy For Optical Bay
I was going to go with a standard optical drive but I realized that I could grab a nice external for $35.00. The extra drive bay will now allow me to put in an extra 750GB drive I have laying around as a data drive which will make the transition to an SSD so much easier. Also, all of my current games are through Steam - no discs. Really all I would use the optical for is installing windows, games, and burning DVD's/CD's occasionally. Didn't need BluRay as I prefer to watch movies on my 50" Panasonic plasma.

Wireless: Intel® 6230 Advanced-N 802.11A/B/G/N LAN and Bluetooth Card
For an extra $25 this was really a no brainer for me. Very highly regarded card and double the antennas. MORE IS BETTAR!

Cooling: IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU
I could do this myself as I've always built my PC's but part of being older, having kids, a wife, and a career means you get to be lazy in other areas of life. This is one. I didn't want to tear apart the laptop to do it myself. I'd rather just have Malibal do it (please do a good job guys! ) and be able to start gaming as soon as I get my laptop (and install windows, drivers, steam, etc. )

Warranty: 3 Year Ltd. Labor and 1 Year Parts Warranty with 24/7 USA-Based Support
Standard warranty. Hopefully I won't need to use it!

I really hope Malibal is as good as the impression I have of them. I love the model name "Lotus" for a few reasons. First, it brings to mind the song "Lotus Flower" off the new Radiohead album which is a favorite song of mine. Second, and I've come across this recurrent theme in my exploration of Eastern religions, the Lotus is highly symbolic and represents purity (the purity of a clean new laptop? haha). Robert Lawlor, a respected symbologist once said about the lotus:

So that's really cool. The Malibal Lotus P150HM - Four Elements of Bad-assedness!

Finally, I decided on the 15" for a few reasons. First, is that it had a cheaper screen upgrade option. The 17" screen upgrades are going for $205. That's more than 10% of the cost of the laptop. Second, the 15" is more portable. As bartman said, when you have kids you have to be able to react in an instant. I'll most likely be using this on my couch and if I need to spring into action, a 17" is a lot more cumbersome to manuever. I know I would have been happy with the 17" but I really wanted a laptop, not a desktop on my lap.

I'm excited that the search is finally over and that I am getting a killer laptop for under $1,730. Any thoughts?

 

You got that right!

 

Testing my new sig.

 

Lookin' good!