Finally stepping up to the plate...

After years of owning Dell/HP laptops I'm ready for something better. I've decided Clevo/Sager is the way to go. I will be using it for photo editing (Adobe Lightroom), potentially some basic video editing, heavy web use and basic productivity software. I was going to pull the trigger on/around Black Friday but was pretty put off by the lack of real discounts offered by XoticPC. I'm glad I waited because now through this site I've discovered many more retailers.

Before I keep relentlessly searching, I have a few basic questions. Considering my needs, would it be more important to focus on 16+GB of potential RAM or the ability to run multiple hard drives (SSD for OS and 7200GB for the rest)? If so, which would be more important if I can only chose one? Also, should I be looking for a video card that supports Optimus due to the fact I won't be gaming? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Here's an example of a laptop I've been eyeing (though I'd prefer to spend a bit less):

- Sager NP8130 (Clevo P151HM1)
- 1080 Matte-type 95% gamut LCD
- i7-2670QM
- Diamond thermal compound
- Nvidia GTX 560M
- 8GB 1333Mhz
- 750GB 7200RPM
- Bigfoot wireless (3x3)
- Windows 7 Premium

I read in the forums that some of the dealers are open to negotiating. Is this common practice? I sold hifi for 5+ years and used to cut deals all the time but wasn't aware this was common practice in the PC industry.

Thanks in advance for any guidance!

ps
I'll be purchasing in the US.

 

8GB of RAM should be fine, unless you are running a ton of apps at the same time.

I would highly recommend the SSD. With an i7 and SSD you'll have a super responsive system.

In terms of "cutting deals" ... I purchased my Clevo using a promocode and they were offering a lot of discounts. I guess I could have haggled the price a bit, but doubt I could get it much lower. There are reps that post in the Sager/Clevo section of these forums that you could PM. Also most larger sellers have price match guarantees, so yes, you should be able to negotiate if that's your thing.

I would assume you have an external monitor, because photo editing on a 15" screen would not be ideal. I find my 17" to be great for CS4, and find the laptop portable enough.

 

If money's an issue I think you could shave about $150 off that config and not notice a difference but that's me! Anyway ignore optimus laptops unless you can find one with a GTX card. Mobile GT class cards can actually struggle with some 1080p video and cause laggy brushes in Photoshop.

As for RAM, I think 8GB is plenty and even with Photoshop et al. you shouldn't be seeing out of memory errors but the upgrade is cheap so go for it if you want. An SSD would make programs like CS5 and Vegas load *relatively* fast no matter what (ex: 5 secs vs 10), but I'm not sure it's worth removing the ODD over. That's up to you

 

Thanks for the super quick replies!

Let me re-word my situation. I understand that 8GB is pretty good memory-wise. However, should I still focus on laptops that support 16+GB so I have room to expand down the road? Or, is 8GB plenty for my needs now and a few years out? Also, should I focus on laptops that have multiple drive bays (in addition to an optical drive, not scrapping that) with the intention of one day running an additional SSD drive? Or, is the benefit of running 2 drives not really worth limiting my laptop selection?

Synce, what would you scale back on to save $150 on my example configuration?

 

If you're worried about memory, you can always upgrade most current models to 16GB. The limitation is usually in cost and the number of slots. The P151HM1 has 4 slots, so you could do up to 32GB with current RAM (though it's expensive). 2x4GB sticks are the best option if you want the path to 16GB but without having to waste any RAM.

Multiple drives are your call. A lot of people don't need the optical drive (at least, internally), so using that bay for an HDD and the primary for an SSD is a great option. If you don't use the optical drive much, you could always consider getting an external model. SSD's are getting cheaper, so eventually it may be feasible to just have one large one (this could be a ways down the road though). A hybrid drive is a good alternative if you only want to use one drive bay and still want the speed of an SSD/size of an HDD.

 

If you have an external display or plan to get one, you could scale back on your laptop display if you really have to. You can also scale the wireless card down to a Advanced-N or Ultimate-N. The Advanced-N should suffice unless you have demanding network needs.

In case you ever want to support RAM in amounts greater than 16GB, you'll need Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate editions. Any other edition supports a maximum of 16GB.

If you are really attached to the idea of an internal optical drive and cannot live with an externally connected one, multiple drive bays are really handy. However, you'll need the NP8170/P170HM based machines to get that. If you can only run one hard drive, make it a Momentus XT hybrid. It's the best compromise there is for those who need a single drive.

You can also run with a SSD and use an external HDD for storage. I frankly would rather just use an external optical in that case though, as internal storage is a more efficient use of the bay than an internal optical drive.

 

I plan on getting an external display, but I want to make sure I have the best laptop monitor for the money. I'm pretty mobile with my laptops and won't always be working in front of an external monitor.

I'm not really familiar with the Bigfoot products, but I know that with my last laptop one of the things I did upgrade after a few years was the internal wifi card. I just want to make sure I have the strongest signal and greatest range possible when working on a wifi network.

I don't really see myself ever going past 16GB of memory (at least not during the lifetime of this next laptop) but I'm really stuck on whether or not I should be looking at motherboards that only support a max of 8GB of RAM.

I appreciate the hybrid drive suggestions. I've heard mixed reviews about them during my research but maybe when I'm ready to upgrade (6 months or so) the price will be a bit lower and I'll bite.

Thanks for all of the help!

 

After researching this myself today, there is no benefit to getting over 8gigs of ram performance wise unless doing tons of multi-tasking. Otherwise those specs look good