Full Clevo M860TU Review

by Livesoft

Introduction

Clevo is a Taiwanese notebook ODM (Original design manufacturer). Established in 1983, Clevo mainly sells barebones to various manufacturers like Sager and Eurocom.
Sager Notebook Computers is computer manufacturer that sells laptops based on Clevo and Compal barebones.
XoticPC is a reseller, mainly of Sager notebooks but also sells Asus, MSI and other brands.

The Clevo M860TU is a 15'' gaming notebook and rebranded under various names: Sager NP8660, Kobalt Nexus, PCMicroworks Edge and many more. Introduced in March at the CeBIT2008, it was released to the consumer in August. This notebook is a competitor to the Alienware m15x as the most powerful 15'' gaming laptop. Other competitors include the Asus G50vt.

It includes the new generation of processor by Intel, codename Montevina 45nm, a 9800M GT (now 9800M GTS) and DDR3 RAM 1066MHz (or 1333MHz). It is also equipped with a HDMI and eSata and optional features includes fingerprint reader, webcam, Solid-State Drive (SSD) and Bluetooth.


Purchasing process

I was searching for a gaming laptop that was "portable" so I focused my efforts searching on a 15'' laptop. Among my choices were the HP dv5t, the Dell XPS m1530 and the Alienware m15x at the time. These days, the dilemma should include the Asus G50vt. The dv5t is not available in Canada (UPDATED: it is now available) and have some heat problems although it can be solved easily. The Alienware m15x build quality is subjective and the price is more than what I can afford (although recent price drop can help). After checking at my local Futureshop for the Dell XPS, I realized the left palm rest was rumbling because of the hard drive and it was more than annoying for me so I had to think twice about it. Also, the Dell XPS m1530 is only equipped with a 8600M GT video card. All of my desktops were HP and they were able to meet normal needs (e.g.: internet browsing and word processing) but was a big trouble when it came to upgrading and doing more powerful tasks. Also, Dell and Alienware customer service are really subjective and varies a lot, depending on the users’ experience. After posting my request in the “What laptop should I buy” section, many people suggested the Sager NP8660. After checking the specs and the reputation of Clevo/Sager and resellers, I knew this would be a great laptop so I decided to buy this one after the first reviews came in.

I bought my laptop from XoticPC. JustinW answered all my questions, emails replies were fast (in the next business day) although I never has able to talk to someone with Live Chat but it didn't really bother me since email was fast enough. The purchasing process was easy. I used the "Secured Payment" option, i.e. I provided credit card info to "secure" the payment so my order can be processed faster while I sent my money order to get the Cash Discount. I got an email the next day about the amount to send and my order went in Phase 2 during the evening. Nine business days later, longer than I expected, the package was shipped. I got my email confirmation the morning and the package was already in my city. After all, that's normal since I took Express shipping. After calling UPS and paying my $380 of taxes, I was a proud owner of the Sager NP8660.


Canadian import
All the info is available in my guide: Guide: Shipping/Importing for Canadians, eh.
Import was really easy, no brokerage fees since I took express shipping. Taxes (GST and PST) were paid at the nearest UPS center since nobody was at home during the day.


Specifications:

• Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 (2.53GHz/6MB L2/1066MHz FSB/25W TDP)
• No OS
• 15.4-inch WSXGA+ glossy display
• Intel PM45 + ICH9M chipset
• Transcend 4GB DDR3-1066 RAM (2 SODIMMS)
• No Turbo Memory
• Nvidia GeForce 9800M-GT w/ 512MB GDDR3 video memory
• 320GB 7200RPM Seagate Momentus SATA II hard drive
• Optiarc DVD-RW AD-7560S
• 7-in-1 memory card reader
• Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 5300 + Bluetooth
• 8-cell Li-ion battery
• Sager 3 Year Parts & Labour Warranty + 30 Day NO Dead Pixel Warranty w/ Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Toll Free Customer Service

The price came up to $2,550 + $100 shipping = $2,666. With the cash discount, it was around $2,600.
Ordered on August 21, 2008.


Unboxing







Design
The laptop has a nice black metallic brushed finish. The chassis border is silver-colored while the screen has a plastic reflective border. The look of this laptop is very "standard" for a laptop that has a rectangular shape. Overall, it is definitely not flashy like many gaming laptops and could go unnoticed easily. The whole brushed finish of the laptop is a fingerprint magnet and the dust is easily visible. Fingerprints and sweat can mark the surface easily although the laptop manages to hide those fingerprints under most angles of view. Overall, the design was a nice try to give a classic look at this beast, but it is not entirely practical because of the fingerprints. There is no disappointment on this side.



Personally, I really like the appearance of this laptop. It’s far away from an eye-catching design but instead, gives this laptop a serious look although I would have preferred a more convenient surface for the fingerprint problem. I’m careful when manipulating this laptop to avoid marking it with fingerprints or sweat although it is inevitable. I believe the design could have been more convenient.


Build quality
The laptop is really solid, got some Clevo quality. The palm rest area is solid under normal use but the left side does flex a bit with a lot of pressure. Chassis is solid and the screen is well fixed to the chassis - no loose there. But the screen itself got some flex, when you are manipulating it from one side or another but it is really minimal. If you open it correctly, i.e. from the center or with both hands, the screen won't flex. The screen wobbles a bit, but only if you push on the screen. There's a small gap between the optical drive and the chassis but it’s not annoying. The screen’s hinges on both sides hides a small gap and some weakness but again, it is really a small gap.


Flex: left side of the screen


Flex: right side of the screen


Gap between the optical drive and the chassis

The laptop itself is heavier (around 7lbs) compared to other 15’’ laptops (dv5t: 5.5lbs; XPS m1530: 6lbs; Macbook Pro: 5.5lbs) but more powerful laptops like the m15x or G50vt weight the same. Since it is in a compact 15’’, it doesn’t feel that heavy when in the hands. Also, it is easy to use on your lap since the overall product feel solid. Overall, the build is really solid, especially the chassis.


Screen

The display is really clear and sharp. It is not as crisp as a WUXGA (1920x1200) resolution but it is really better than WXGA, especially on a 15’’ widescreen (16:10). The display is quite glossy under daylight use but shows no flaw under an office environment. The screen brightness seems below average, even when at maximum brightness. Viewing angles for pictures seems to suffer from the glossy display although the text stays clear all the time. Black images starts to show distortions at ~40° and show severe distortions in the colors. More vivid and bright images do not suffer from the viewing angles.

I could clearly see some reflections during the day, while setting beside my window. I could also see the reflection of the lamp that was behind me during the night. But depending on what the screen is displaying, you could just don’t notice it at all, that is, the majority of time. On a dark screen, even inside with no windows around, there are some reflections. Also, when working behind a window, it’s starting to be painful because I couldn’t clearly see the screen. The brightness is acceptable but I wished it could go higher. My 22'' Samsung 226BW is way brighter, even at only 75%. The display came with no dead pixel although there is some minimal bleeding on the bottom when the screen is black but that's normal for an LCD screen. Viewing angle is OK. Text is more than readable but images and video suffer from the viewing angle. The main advantage is here is the high resolution of the display although viewing angles could be improved but most of all, brightness could have been stronger.



From any viewing angle, text shows up sharp and clear.


Viewing angle of a dark picture (i.e. the trees): big distortions in the color. Brighter images show no problem with the viewing angle (i.e. the water)


The right side of the image still suffers from the viewing angle because it is darker.


Depending on the image or what’s displaying on your screen, you could still see some reflections.


Brightness of the M860TU (left) compared to the brightness of a Samsung 226BW (right) at 75%.


Speakers

The speakers are located on the upper sides of the keyboard. The quality is good (or acceptable for some) for laptop speakers. These simply can’t handle SRS WOW Effects from Windows Media Player without showing severe distortion in the sound.

Sound is realist while I was watching TV; COD4 music and gaming is good. Surrounds effects are present. When playing Call of Duty 4, I noticed the sound is a bit different than on my desktop with some harman/kardon speaker, maybe there is some minimal distortion. And as always, the headphone jacks delivers excellent quality without any problems.




Keyboard

The keyboard has a normal size and layout, without a numeric pad. The keys are a bit more shallow and resistant than expected. They are relatively silent but the spacebar makes more noise than the other keys. The Enter, backspace and other keys like the Shift make also more noise and that's normal since they are bigger. There's a small gap between keys just like almost all keyboards Also, the keys have a small finish on them and sweaty fingers could easily fade the finish on the keys. Overall, the keyboard does its job great and typing feels good.

From my usage, you cannot go dead silent with this keyboard except if you stick to the WASD, so expect other people to hear you typing/playing. Also, like most of the keyboards, stuff gets in the gap so you shouldn't eat on top (or around) the keyboard if you don't want food or stuff to get between or under the keys. I also find that the Spacebar is too large for its responsiveness: there is no response when you hit it on the edge although you don’t have to be dead center either. In addition, the surface of the keys has some sort of finish of them, and this finish can wear out if your fingers are sweaty.




Notice on the right side of the spacebar that the finish of the keys wears out, making the surface glossier.


Touchpad

Again, the touchpad works just as expected. The surface is big enough and shallow to avoid going off the trackpad. The surface is matte and the scrolling functions are working great. The left and right click buttons are separated by the fingerprint reader. Features from the Synaptics software include horizontal and vertical scrolling and region action (e.g.: tap the right corner of the trackpad to minimize).

At first, the buttons seems at bit resistant compared to other laptops. I had to apply some force to press down the left/right click so I had to use both hand to do operations that requires holding the left click like drag and drop. Also, the trackpad gets a bit hot and can make your fingers sweaty, making it hard to use it.


Fingerprint reader

The reader just works as expected. Only problem is that it seems to act like a heat conductor from the inside so it gets really hot, like the right palm rest, but you don't really feel that except if you leave your finger on the reader. Complain here is about the software. I had troubles filling forms in Internet Explorer. First, you can't use a 32-bits browser on a 64-bits Operating system. After I got the 64-bits version of Internet Explorer running, the software wasn't able to fill any form. (UPDATE: Internet Explorer has been updated to version 8 RC1 and forms are working now on the x64 browser on a x64 system. Result is just like most fingerprint software: good). On the other hand, it works great for Windows Login and with other software. You can also assign each finger a "shortcut" to start any applications, up to 10 (limited by the numbers of fingers). For this, hardware is good, software is barely OK. Software was Protector Suite 5.8.2.


Multimedia and shortcut buttons and others
There are 2 shortcut buttons: Default E-Mail Browser and Default Internet Program. The buttons doesn’t seem to be configurable. There is also the silent mode button which works great. Like the power button, you need apply some force to press the buttons down. Also, when the laptop if running on battery, you need to hold the power button to start it up. I believe this is a safety feature. The Fn functions just like advertised, icons are clear but I don't know why they omitted a little drawing on the F10 and F12 (which are the Camera and Bluetooth respectively). Overall, there's nothing special for the buttons, it does the job well.


Wireless
The NP8660 is equipped with an Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 5300 with a, b, g and n. It was able to get a much stronger signal than my old Dell Precision. There is no bundled connection software. I experienced some router disconnections but I suspect more the network. After disabling the n frequency, I was able to keep a full 54Mbps connection although on my (reliable) home network, I experienced some (rare) lag spike when playing online games, but it doesn’t happen that often. I guess it’s normal that wireless networks have some flaws.


Ports

Left:

• Optical drive: I found the shape of the optical drive a little bit weird: I'm used to some flat surface but this one is shaped with the chassis so the upper part is longer. The button is again different from what I used to see: it’s right on the hollow so at the beginning, I needed to focus a bit to get the drive open. Again, it’s just weird (there’s no problem). Also, the drive makes a different noise than what I'm used to, it’s some sort of electronic special cash register sound. In addition, the optical drive is bundled with the classic loud spinning noise. The optical also includes an Emergency Eject Hole in case the drive cannot eject and must be ejected manually.

Rear:

• Kensington Lock: my standard Kensington MicroSaver Combo Lock was a bit loose in there. You could easily move the lock around. There's at least 1mm between the rubber and the chassis. But it is still solidly locked to the computer.
  
  
• DC-In Jack: I found the input a little too close of the USB port. This is a standard input, not like Macbook Magsafe feature. The connector is also a bit short so it can go off easily if you trip the cord.
• USB Ports/eSata: My Logitech G5 worked flawlessly with the USB Port, no complain here. I was surprised that the eSata port was also a USB port. This is definitely practical. I did not try the eSata port.
  
  
• HDMI: You can also output the sound with the HDMI with the settings so you can easily plug this to your TV without having the audio cable plugged at the front. Image comes out clear and better than VGA.
  
  
• DVI: The display looks as good as on the screen. There's a DVI to VGA adapter included with the computer so you can connect the laptop to older projectors or screens.
• Vent: When the fan kicks in, there's really some hot air coming out from there. It reached some 57 degrees while gaming so you might want to leave some space behind and don't place anything there. The air is really hot and gets as far as 20cm from the laptop.
  

Right:

• Modem/LAN: No problem here, the connections are working well.
• USB Ports: I found that like the ones at the back, the ports are more "tight" and offers more resistance than most of the ports. So you have to be careful to not force anything in there.
• Card Reader: The card, when inserted, doesn't fully get in: it stays a bit outside. On one hand, it’s easier to pull out and you don't have to have small fingers or long nails to press the card so it gets out. On the other hand, there's a little lump on the side that might annoying for some (see picture)
  
  
• Express Card Slot: Not tested.

Front:

• Audio jacks: the placement of the audio jacks might be weird for some people but now, I see a lot of laptops with the audio jacks on the front. But it still delivers crystal clear quality.
• Mini Firewire: The port itself is definitely practical to plug a camera without an adapter although I would have preferred it on the side (I don't like ports on the front).

Webcam/Microphone

There is no indicator to tell if the webcam is on or not, like most the laptops although you can clearly see that there is a webcam, based on the big: EYESHOT written beside with some plastic to cover it. The bundled software "BisonCam" is decent with standard image feature. You don't have extra features like face tracking or the funny ones included with Logitech, Microsoft or Dell. The webcam is able to take pictures up to 2 mega pixels. The quality is decent for the image: got some noise on the image, colors are just decent and sharpness is poor. With larger image resolutions, there's some lag on the camera, don't expect it to be instantaneous. Video is OK also, nothing impressive really. The built-in microphone is like the camera, decent. There's really nothing impressive here. The camera is convenient but does not worth the extra you pay (although it is included when buying from Sager)




Sample cropped (100%) images, poor quality.


Sample unzoomed, from Windows Live Messenger webcam. More decent.


Noise

• Idle: in a silent room, you will notice that the computer just started up. It is not really loud but it’s not silent either. You can clearly hear the fan spinning, at, I would say, around 30 dB. It’s noticeable, but the sound is not disturbing since it’s not really high-pitched. Sadly, the fan is constantly spinning, even when idling, although it is spinning at a low rate.
• DVD: You will notice that the optical drive starts spinning when installing something from the drive, not only because the fan kicks in after a while but you can hear the drive spinning and making some weird reading noise. I would say around 40dB and a little irritating sound but since nobody uses the optical drive anymore (except to install the drivers), I can live with that. On the other hand, it’s pretty silent when playing or ripping a CD.
• Silent mode: when you press the silent button, there's a nice icon that appears on top saying SILENT MODE (then disappears). When enabled...well...the sound dies, it’s totally silent. All I can hear is electronic buzzing coming from the room (or the computer) but I have to stick my ear to the laptop. 0 dB.
• Load: like the optical drive, you will notice the fan noise has increased, more than what you would tolerate normally, at I would say 35-40dB. It’s not totally disturbing but there's place for improvement.
• Gaming: You can DEFINITELY here the fans running at high speed. I would estimate this at around 50dB or more. The noise is a bit high-pitched but not annoying. I can't really compare the noise to any laptop since I never game on these until now but I can say it’s quieter than my desktop. In addition, you won't notice the noise if the speakers are on (even at a low volume) or with your headset on.

Overall, the fan constantly spinning can be annoying sometimes. Silent does help but heat is accumulating fast. When gaming, it’s pretty normal that it goes faster. Overall, even if noise is constant, it doesn’t really bother because the noise isn’t high-pitched.


Heat
The cooling system here is almost perfect. Temperatures are in Celsius, room temperature at 22, surface is a clear desk with no obstruction. (Please note that for an unknown reason, RivaTuner does not display the same CPU temperature value as in HWMonitor. RivaTuner CPU temp is 5-7 degrees lower than the temperature displayed with HWMonitor.)

Idle:


Load with 3dMark Vantage, 2 different runs:


More temperatures available in benchmarks
Zalman NC-2000 section will follow

The cooling system works pretty well, the CPU is the coolest component followed by the GPU. I believe the hard drive is not the only culprit for its temperature but is also caused by other components since I don't believe the hard drive temp can rise from 30 to 55 in less than half an hour by itself. Blocking the main vent cooled the hard drive by at least 3 degrees but increased the fan speed. The right palm rest is just warm when the hard drive is at 60; it doesn't bother me at all.


Temperature graph


Zalman NC-2000




Temperatures:




Air vents:

Zalman NC-2000 vents are 32.5cm (12.8'') x 16cm (6.3’’ . Detailed information about this cooler can be found in the excellent review of X2P




Performance

CPU-Z:




3dMark6:

Score: ~9200 points



3dMark Vantage (with LaptopVideo2Go 180.84 drivers)

First run:

P3984


Second run:

P3982



3dMark Vantage (with NVIDIA 179.28 beta drivers)

First run:

P4743


Second run:

P4777



HDTune



Nero DiscSpeed



I found that the performance of the optical drive is poor. It took at least 20 minutes to burn a CD and the same amount of time to rip a CD with Windows Media Player.


SuperPI

1M: 13seconds
2M: 43seconds
4M: 3minutes 50seconds


wPrime

Plugged in: 30.927 sec.
On battery, maximum performance plan: 49.033 sec.




Global gaming performance

Games run extremely well on this laptop.
Details about benchmarks are below.




Call of Duty 4 Online



Call of Duty 5 Online



Crysis Warhead

Respectively Call Me Ishmael and Shore Leave




Battery life

Under the "High Performance" profile and doing internet browsing, I was able to get 1h50. Under "Power Saver" in silent mode, I was able to get 2h00. I find the battery life respectable and decent for that kind of laptop.
According to Battery Eater ’05, the minimal battery life is 1h40.




Setup/Configuration and practical information

The installation of Vista on the clean computer took 15 minutes.
The installation of Vista as clean install from Vista took 30 minutes.
The installation of Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) took 1 hour.
The installation of the drivers took 45 minutes (restarting when prompted)

The first boot of Vista took 2 bars and a half.
The second boot of Vista took 5 bars.
Now, the boot of Vista takes 5 bars and a half.
Booting Windows takes around 1min
Loading startup items takes 30sec.
So computer takes around 1min.30sec. to be ready (without tweaking services or startup items)

The following applications were included:

• CyberLink PowerDVD (on CD)
• Nero Home Essentials (on CD)
• BisonCam (webcam): standard webcam application, no face tracking, no special effect. Uninstalled it
• Protector Suite QL 9. 2 (fingerprint): Kept it for Windows Login.
• Intel ProSet/Wireless Wi-Fi Software (Wi-Fi): installs with the WLAN drivers.
• Hotkey (Hotkeys): displays the little drawings when you press an Fn Key or a shortcut keys.
• Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.2 (hard drive): must be updated to keep the hard drive cooler.
• Motorola SM56 Data Fax (modem): Modem driver
• NVIDIA stock driver (video)
• Realtek (...) Ethernet Network (...) (LAN): Ethernet drivers
• Realtek High Definition Audio Driver (audio): includes Realtek HD Audio Manager to configure audio options
• Synaptics Pointing Device Driver (touchpad): general configuration for touchpad

Customer support

XoticPC ticket system works pretty well. Response time vary from few hours to 1 business day. Answers are always prompt and relevant. One of the best customer support I ever have to deal with. Representatives are knowledgeable and they will try to deal with Sager instead of just referring you to them. They stay honest: if they don’t know something, they tell you and simply tell you to ask Sager. UPDATE: I'm a bit disappointed by the lack of extensive support provided with the drivers, especially about the CPU whining noise. I have simply been told, as of Dec. 29, that they were not experiencing the problem, while the vast majority of the people on this forum does. I'm still happy to obtain an answer to all my inquiries, even if these answers doesn't answer all my questions. The service meets expectations and is above average.


Conclusion

Overall, this is one of the best gaming laptop and maybe the best 15'' gaming laptop that is affordable and powerful for gamers while having the latest technology available (Montevina, DDR3, 9 series GPU). You get the Clevo quality as always with decent features but great power. Even if this laptop is not perfect, it’s really close to that. While on most laptops, [power] x [temperature] x [noise] = constant, this laptop does not respect that rule by providing both cool temperatures and great power for a normal fan noise. If power is your main concern, but you don’t want to sacrifice portability, this is the best laptop for you.


Pros

• High performance
• Cooling system
• Build quality
• Best bang for the buck
• High resolution 15’’

Cons

• Hard drive temperature
• CPU Whining
• Fingerprint magnet surface
• Fans always working
• Low brightness

 

Great review!
Wish there were more benchs but all in all great job.what MP camera did you use? the pics were grainy in enlarged view.

 

Sorry Cant agree on you with the Macbook Pro remark. Friend runs COD4 on his MBP all he does is dual boot his MBP with microsoft xp via bootcamp problem solved. He needs a MBP for work because everything at his working place runs on Mac, but all his coworkers dual boot windows XP on their MBPs for those times when they are on break and wanna have some lan fun. Other then that great review!!

 

Review is good,but I don't agree with this part-

 

Sorry, I was just really tired and wanted to meet my promise of publishing this review Friday. The last part "Why this laptop rules..." and the rest was written around midnight. I'll just let that go

The pictures were taken with my Nokia N82. It has a 5 megapixels camera but its not a total camera replacement.

 

That explains it, so my assumptions were right.

Don't worry about the debaters, just be happy you made a REVIEW! OH MY GOSH!

 

nice and thorough review dude.

thanks for the efforts.

 

mine didnt come with that... does it work? is it only for specific harddrive brands?

 

it should work with any HDD.

 

Great one Livesoft...
An amazing review for the best 15'' laptop out there.
Cheers.

 

thanks Livesoft for a great and thorough review +1 rep

i just hope your not expecting as much from me (mini review maybe)roll on tuesday.

 

milcs/Dj-already with laptops?

 

not yet but almost.
built yesterday,testing over weekend,delivery monday,receive tuesday

 

nice review, and gratz on your purchase.

 

That's correct, just run the installer

 

The same as the DJay...
We are waiting for our precioussssssss!!!
The wait is a torture...

Oh and Livesoft, the AW m15x doesn't have a better performance than the M860TU. On the contrary, the M860TU is marginally better than the m15x when it comes to gaming performance and processivity (obviously, this depends a lot on the CPU used on each laptop...).
Bottom line, this is the fastest and most powerful 15'' laptop out there... FACT.

 

O Rly? lol I dunno, I though the m15x scored like 10k in 3dMark06, as stock benchmark, since it has some Core2Extreme. Anyway, I'll give you that one.

 

In most of the games tested, the M860TU does better (giving more FPS). As I said, the advantage is marginal. Regarding the core 2 extreme, the CPU on the m15x does get very warm and downclocks... to fix this, AW introduced a bios that undervolts the CPU (unfortunately, the bios has lots of bugs... including very high driver latency which causes lots os sound and video stuttering).

Point is... 9800GT is marginally better and I suspect that the improvement might only have to do with some minor tweaking on the 8800m GTX that was then rebranded to 9800m GT.

There's a comparison between systems with the two different GPUs: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-nVidia-GeForce-9800M-GT-Graphics-Card.11099.0.html

As I said, bottom line... the M860TU is the fastest laptop ou there (even if only by 1-2 FPS... )!

 

BTW,8660 gets 10k+ with t9600

 

The EDGE gets 10+k with P9500. But you know, where we go again using 3dmark06 as our be all, end all of real life computer performance. Why is that?

 

Nice review livesoft.

 

nice review bud! i'm happy you're happy with your rig. Enjoy!

 

is it really heavy like if you have 3 or 4 2" textbooks in a bag with the laptop etc? As in weight!

 

every other 15.4" high-end gaming notebook will weigh about the same weight.

My 17" notebook weighs 12 pounds and an additional 2-3 pounds... I still carry that in my backpack with my folder and books.

Just make sure you get a good notebook backpack so you wont feel uncomfortable and keep the notebook well protected.

 

Depends on how much you can handle...and how much time you can last! After one hour, walking around with my laptop, few textbooks and a sport bag, I had enough... >=[

Btw, I'm working on a really extensive review, based on the 4 months of usage with different scenarios, with A LOT of pictures and more benchmarks. And I corrected all the (grammar) mistakes and will try to have a better and more objective approach.

 

When shall we see the extension Livesoft? :]

 

Well, since its the exam session now, I should have more time to finish it. Just missing the CoD5 and Crysis benchmarks and other softwares...

Should be finished before Christmas

 

Sounds good, cant wait!

 

UPDATED as of December 23.

Whats new?

• More benchmarks
• Zalman NC-2000
• More temperatures
• Pictures, lot of pictures
• Customer support

What's improved?

• First part (Design, build, screen) is longer
• Grammar and syntax
• Pictures are now in thumbnails + overall layout.

I received my Zalman NC-2000 today so I decided to add it at the last minute. Benchmarks, noise and heat doesn't have a lot of text, you guys should judge if the performance is good. We discussed A LOT about this laptop so there might be not a lot of new stuff but I hope this review will help future buyers in making a decision.

I also wanted to submit this review but links and email addresses didn't work :/ so I just gave up on that. There's already 2 reviews of this laptop on NBR...

Anyway...

Merry Christmas to all the folks on NBR!

 

First of all Thank You Livesoft awesome review

Are these with stock setting or OC?

Come on man do some fricken pushups or somethin, I weigh in at 158 lbs and this thing is nothing. Although I pack around iron and swing a sledgehammer on a daily basis as well as operate.

I agree, with alienware you Can't get:
X9100 (AW has X9000)
4GB DDR3 @ 1333 or 8GB DDR3 @1066 (AW has DDR2)
1066 FSB (AW has 800)
AW does have a lot of fancy lights though

Once again awesome review

 

Thanks for the review livesoft!

But since you live in Quebec, why did you buy your notebook from oxticpc instead of Eurocom ???

 

I had US funds bought about a year ago, during parity, so it came down cheaper + better service with XoticPC.

 

Dude your review makes me want to get one of these things so badly.

It's such an appealing laptop to me but I know I'd be wasting my money because I won't find any practical use for it since I'm not much of a gamer and it's a bit bulky for my taste. Still, I love the idea of it lol

 

Hm, the whining noise is starting to get annoying sometimes but I can live with that. And my needs have changed too: I underestimated the workload at college and I don't have time to play now And this laptop is far from conveniant in class. I should have get something like the Asus N80Vn: smaller and ExpressGate. Still a great purchase that will last several years.

 

How bad is dragging it around to class? I take my NP2096 to class with me every single day, so I'm trying to gauge whether the NP8660 would be significantly more noticeable.

 

For me, a laptop that is conveniant for class have these features:

• Not heavy (~5-6lbs), relatively thin (~1'')
• Bright screen, especially for outdoor uses (eg LED screen)
• Quiet, keyboard and fans
• Fast boot and sleep (eg ExpressGate or 30sec. boot)
• Good battery life (3-4+ hours)

Of course, all of these are relative to each others. Sadly, the NP8660 doesn't really have those feature. I still use it in class sometimes but I think about it twice before bringing it with me. The size is not the biggest problem, but it's still a pain after more than an hour in the subway. I can also live with the 2hours battery life but the screen and the fast boot is really important for me. And Phoenix Hyperspace is just too expensive for what it has to offer. But if you can live with the NP2096, the NP8660 wouldn't be more painful to use.

 

Excellent review, very thorough.

 

I love the 1920x1200 matte screen it is plenty bright. The only thing is that if you have the brighness up the battery life suffers a bit.
As far as boot time mine boots vista and is connected to the internet in 36 seconds. And if you used Win 7 you might get a fair bit quicker from what I hear.
Also try this guide for speeding up performance and boot times.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70563-boot-up.html
Check out al the links too for speeding up vista and IE.

 

Hai guys.
Thinking of buying this, but I can't seem to find information if there is a docking station solution or a good port replicator. The only port replicator i found has VGA connection out, which is _not_ appreciated.

 

You have the NP8660 w/1920x1200? How's the screen? I'm undecided between the 8660 or the 5797... intrigued by the Dell XPS 16, due to the decent graphics card and the great LED display... plus (with the Dell giftcard i have that expires in a couple weeks, worth $200), i could get a souped up XPS 16 for about $1600. The 5797 i'm looking at would be about $2800(!) and the 8660 would be about $2450... so the Dell is quite a bit less.

Nonetheless... how does your 8660 LCD compare to other screens you've seen... is it nice n sharp?

I'll be doing lotsa programming for games on it...

Do you find it cumbersome to carry around? I work from coffee shops a lot (I have a home office... but i need to get out often!)

 

Sorry, I don't have WUXGA . For WSXGA+, the screen is excellent under office condition: really sharp because of the high res. But it's really hard to use outside, even under a cloudy sky. Overall brightness is low, compared to other screens. You can read the "Screen" part of my review. I wished this laptop had LED but I can live without it. There's a topic about WSXGA+ and WUXGA: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=327375. But overall, it's really nice and sharp, but low brightness. If your main use is CPU intensive programs, you should be looking a for better CPU instead of the graphic power, like the .T500. It's obvious this laptop is more powerful the .Studio .XPS 16 but it's also more expensive. Maybe you could get an Extreme CPU with this laptop, and downgrade to a 9600M with Eurocom?

I don't find it painful to carry it around, but I wouldn't have it in my backpack everyday. It's obviously larger but it's not really a big deal, especially for the power it packs. Battery maybe be one of the biggest issue, except if you'll have a wall plug near. The screen is OK when you're in a coffee shop or a cafeteria but you'll wish you had more brightness.

 

Thx. The machine is on order, so i'll likely try it out for a few weeks and return it if disappointed. If the screen disappoints at all, it's going back. It's going to be my mobile workhorse for doing game development, so I'm not going to compromise on the eyeballs. Worst case--i pay for shipping, send it back and pick up another machine.

For now, i'll hold out for the 5797, and hopefully it lives up to the hype Should get here within the week, from what i can tell from the forums (xoticpc sounds pretty quick).