Finally Ready to Order - Final Config

After about two weeks of heavy researching, I have finalized my entire configuration.

Model: Sager NP8150
Reseller: XoticPC
Budget: Under $3000
Use: Heavy gaming, school, graphic design, possibly coding in the near future.

I will be using the secure payment option, giving me a 3% cash discount, coming to a total of $2792. With UPS ground shipping, $28, the total is $2820.

Upon receiving the laptop, using tutorials I will remove the CD/DVD drive and replace it with a caddy bought off Ebay for ~$15. In the caddy will either be a Western Digital 750gig Scorpio Black or a Western Digital 750gig Scorpio Blue. I am undecided as to which.

Scorpio Black is ~$110.
Scorpio Blue is ~$90.

I will take the CD/DVD drive and place it in an enclosure that I will buy from Amazon for ~$10, turning it into an external USB CD/DVD drive.

Ebay Caddy (or Something Similar): 12.7mm Sata To SATA 2nd Hdd Hard Drive Caddy Dell - eBay (item 110649155309 end time Apr-15-11 02:02:54 PDT)

750gig Scorpio Black: Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Black WD7500BPKT 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

750gig Scorpio Blue: Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT 750GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

DVD/CD USB Enclosure: Amazon.com: Slim external USB 2.0 Black CD/DVD Burner Enclosure case For Laptop Notebook slim drive [ only case included!! Dimensions: 5.2"(W) x 0.8"(H) x 5.5"(D) ]: Electronics

The total of everything, depending on Scorpio Blue or Black, comes to ~$2900 including shipping.

The only thing that is keeping me from ordering right now is the imminent release of the 6970M.

Now a few questions:

Should I get the Scorpio Blue or Black Model?
Does everything above seem compatible with eachother? (Caddy, enclosure, HDD, ect.)
I plan on keeping this laptop for at least 4 years. Is it worth waiting and switching over the 6970M or should I just go with the 485m?
Will the price of the 485m most likely drop with the release of the 6970m?

Also, any comment/suggestions to my current configuration and plan?

I appreciate any help and all the help I have received over these past few days.

Thanks

 

Configuration sounds good to me. Quite similar to mine actually.

You may be interested in this caddy as well ( 2nd Hard Drive Caddy for Sager NP8690 / 8690 , also for SSD [OBHD-SATA12-SATA-BU] - $44.75 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks ) I've heard it mentioned by a few people here and they used it on the same model.

 

You might want to call them up and see if they'll give you a discount on that, sounds a bit expensive... Then again I can't remember how much they charge for the warranty upgrade. Either way I think you can shave a bit off the top since you have a very similar config to mine and everyone says Mythlogic is more expensive than Xotic... I paid credit card too...

 

yes, i agree. you should be paying less then that at least see if they'll throw in the caddy. maybe bump you to a blu-ray drive?

you're a student right? see what current discounts xotic is offering to students. it changes from time to time i believe. it was 50% off coolers logitech mice and 25% off external HD's when i was talkin with them..

 

i would get the scorpio black if i were u and partition it accoringly

 

The Scorpio black will be much faster.. Idk what the difference in power consumption would be between the two, but at the battery point this laptop is at, I'm sure it's negligible..

People in the ssd threads say the 750gb Scorpio black is consistently faster than the momentus XT hybrid drives. Sounds like a good investment to me watch for sales on newegg for em. Got my 500gb one for like $57.somethin shipped

 

510 ssd 4k write 5000 , good

 

All they will do is price match, I don't know what else to try. Everything besides for the screen upgrade is done with Sager. They would have to negotiate with Sager to change prices.

 

My advice:

Don't get the Intel 510. The OCZ Vertex 3 beats it in almost every performance category and is slightly cheaper.
Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (OOS right now).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4202/the-intel-ssd-510-review/4

Just get the HDD with the computer and proceed with your swap plan.

Also, remember the 6300 doesn't have bluetooth. To get bluetooth, you need the 6230 or an external dongle, if that matters to you.

 

oh, that makes sense i guess.. xotic cant change the pricing laid out for them by sager.

Windkull and I are speaking from Myth experience. guess they have more places for discounts since they buy parts individually?

 

That's a sweet system!
The price of the 485 won't drop because of the ATI release. I wouldn't wait - if you have the funds now, then go for it!

 

aren't you worried about the intermittent random freezes the guys on this thread are experiencing?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/555274-random-freezes-8130-8150-a-36.html
I was going to pull the trigger today but just thought i'll give it another month and see how everything evolves.

Someone in that thread said they get random freezes four times a day. That is simply unacceptable.

 

Not everyone gets the freezes. Those that do clean installs with updated drivers tend to be ok.

The OP's system is pretty nice. Lots of upgrades and pricing seems good. I would go with their HDD caddy to be honest, because trying to find a decent ODD caddy that is 12.7mm with SATA both for hdd and ODD tray, and can fit a 9.5mm drive is hard to find. Only sure bet is Sager's offering or Newmodeus.com.

Also try to save a few bucks and get an Intel G2 120GB. You will see little to no difference in real world performance between the newer Intel and the G2.

 

Well order finally placed 4/4/11.

Now in Phase 1 at Xotic PC

 

Congrats, and welcome to the waiting list!

What was your final config?

 

I also ended up getting the Caddy from XoticPC for $40. I agree with the above posters that it isn't worth the risk and it will only be an additional $10-15. I will be buying a Scorpio Black 750gig off Amazon or Newegg ($110) as my secondary HD. The laptop is still coming with the optical drive inside, so I'll probably buy an enclosure for that.

Also thanks

 

Very nice config, that's gonna be a good one. Surprised you did add a blu-ray reader at least with all that you got. But hey I'm guessing you don't need one then so what's the point.

 

To be honest, the majority of the movies I watch are downloaded. And my optical drive will have the secondary. Maybe I'll buy a 3.0 USB Blue Ray in the future, but not too sure yet.

I also notice you have almost exactly the same config, besides for slightly different secondary drives

 

Well that makes sense. I have a nice blu-ray collection so I can benefit from the blu-ray drive.

Great minds think alike eh?

 

Agreed

 

congrats on the purchase! that's a beast of a system. if only i waited a few months, i'd have a 485M too.

 

Well the release of the HD6970M changed somethings.

New config:

I ordered it without RAM (-$40). I will buy 8gigs of Crucial or GSkill for $90 and install that myself. I will buy the SSD myself. Not sure which yet, either an Intel 510, Intel 320, or Crucial m4 I think, most likely ~120gigs. My secondary drive will be a WD Scorpio Black 750gig.

After the discount, it is $2236. SSD should be ~$250. Secondary will be ~$110. Ram will be ~$90.

Total comes to ~$2690.

Pretty much the same as my old config minus about $250 for the change in GPUs from 485m to 6970M.

Well, it is nice to finally be done. (Hopefully)