HI Guys, Need Help On Which To Choose NP8850 or Alienware M17x

Hi Guys, i know i'm on Sager sub-forum but i have been looking at the sager NP8850 recently and the specs are:

" NP8850" - Customise It!

Display:17.3" Full HD LED Display with Super Glossy Surface (1920 x 1080)
Video & Graphics Card:Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory
CPU Processor:Intel® Core i7-840QM Processor ( 45nm 8MB L3 Cache 1.86GHz ) (add 620)
Thermal Compound:IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (add 58)
Operating System:Genuine MS Windows® 7 Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition
Memory:6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 1 X 4GB 1 X 2GB (For i7 and above only) (add 173)
RAID Storage Options:Non-RAID Storage
Primary Hard Disk Drive:50GB Mach Xtreme DS SATA2 Solid State Disk Drive (add 255)
2nd Hard Disk Drive:500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Secondary Hard Disk Drive (add 155)
Optical Drive:4X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software (add 189)
Wireless Network Card:Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module (add 55)
Bluetooth:Internal Bluetooth V2.1 Module
Primary Battery:Smart Li-Polymer Battery Pack
TV-Tuner:None - Select from the options below
MCE Remote Control:None - Select from the options below
Integrated Security Device:Fingerprint Reader
Microsoft Office:New! Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included in Price
Carry Bag:Free Carry Bag
Warranty & Service:2nd Yr On-Site Limited Warranty
System Build Time:Express - Please allow up to 7 business days to process - built - test and deliver your order (add 60)

Item Price: S$5,161.00

and the "M17"x Specs:

Style
COLOR OPTIONS Cosmic Black Base edit
AVATAR Alienhead 3D edit
WALLPAPER Alienhead 3D edit
AUTOMATIC UPDATE Automatic Updates Off edit

Build My Dell
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-840QM Processor (1.86GHz, 4Core/8Threads, turbo boost up to 3.2Ghz, 8M cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit (English) edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee® Security Center (Multi-Language) 36 Months Version edit
MEMORY 6GB (1 x 2GB + 1 x 4GB) 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM edit
HARD DRIVE 1TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive (500GBx2)(Raid 0) edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load Fixed Blu-ray BD-ROM / DVD + /-RW Combo Drive edit
VIDEO CARD CrossFireX™ Dual 1GB GDDR5 ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5870 edit
KEYBOARD AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard (English) edit

Protect My Dell
WARRANTY 3-Year Dell Care Premium edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
ALIENFX COLOUR AlienFX GREEN

Bundle T511558SG-Alienware M17X
HD DISPLAY 17.0" UltraSharp™ WUXGA (1920x1200) RGBLED Display with TrueLife™
AUDIO SOLUTION Integrated Stereo Sound
Label Options Intel® Core™ i7 Label
BATTERIES 9-cell Primary Battery
POWER ADAPTORS 240W Primary AC Adapter
WIRELESS NETWORK CARD Dell™ Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-Card
BLUETOOTH Dell™ Wireless 370 Bluetooth Internal mini-card
CARRYING CASE No Case
Alienware Nameplate Alienware Generic Nameplate
Other Software Dell DataSafe Local Basic
Item included in the System EVE Online game
Item included in the System AlienGUIse Theme Manager with Breed Theme
Item included in the System Power Cord (UK)
Item included in the System Directship Info Mod
Item included in the System System Driver
Item included in the System System Resource Media Kit
Item included in the System Alienware Command Center Software
Item included in the System WinRE software
Item included in the System CyberLink YouCAM Camera Software
Item included in the System Internal 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Item included in the System ExpressCard Slot, (DOES NOT SUPPORT PC CARDS)
Freights NB-OL-CTO HandlingandInsurance charges(Singapore)
System Documentation Document and Accessories for Alienware M17x (English)
Dell Services: Remarks Laptop Batteries Carry One Year Warranty Only From Invoice Date
Dell Services: Remarks Dell's Terms and Conditions apply
Dell Services: Remarks Great Technical Tips and Information available 24x7 at Dell Support
Dell Services: Item Included Technical Support

Price: $4,991.65.

i have been reading about the M15x recently but not the M17x heard that there are a few issues on each of the laptops,

there's been only 1 video about Sager NP8850 on youtube, i have have yet to read anything about it yet, so i was wondering if there is any issues on NP8850 i should know of?

hmm would like this laptop to last about 3 or more years.

Thanks Guys for helping me here.

 

Your comparing a dual GPU system (m17x) to a single GPU system... I would take none of those. Take either the X8100 or X7200 (definitely the X7200 if it has a RGB LED display option) and equip them with GTX 470M SLI. Then buy a 920XM from ebay and you have a very powerful laptop that should be able to play most games at high details and 1080p (without AA) for a couple of years. Eventually GTX 470M will be an option for the m17x as well, so that might be an option, but why pay extra just to get screwd by Dell?

 

I agree. If you have that kind of coin to spend on it, the x7200 is what you want.

 

Well NP8850 had a 2GB GDDR5 GTX 480. I was just thinking. Thanks for your advice guys as Im still quite new to Sager* and Computer parts. Was consideing the M15x for about a month now and NP8850 caught my eyes.

Wonders if it's Easily upgradable by user on the np8850 so I could get cheaper processors aftermarkets price

 

All Clevo laptops are generally upgradeable. The GTX 480M is a bad joke, way too expensive for that performance. An oc'd GTX 470M should come very close to a stock clocked GTX 480M. Like JohnnyFlash said, if you are able to spend that much money, you should go with the X7200, it also comes with a desktop CPU which are way cheaper than mobile CPUs.

 

well the looks of np8850's great (simple yet beautiful) , currently looking for pictures of the X7200 as i found lots of different picture about it~

 

For the price of the specifications of the NP8850 you listed, you should wait for the legendary Clevo X7200. It will laugh at the M17X, and will dominate the NP8850. The X7200 takes desktop Core i7 CPUs, which are tremendously faster than their laptop counterparts, particularly if you go the 6-core i7 route (i7 980X, i7 990X, or i7 970). Top that off with GTX 470M SLi and that is one hell of a monster laptop in which it will take years for mobile CPUs to catch it.

Here is Clevo's official page on the X7200: CLEVO - Products

You should read through the entire X7200 owner's lounge thread, which has some useful information as well as speculation (since it's not out yet): http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...lounges/486713-clevo-x7200-owners-lounge.html

This is also another useful thread about the X7200 which you should read through: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/487740-x7200-pre-sale-price-here.html

Note: Don't believe that price. Wait until the machine is officially available from Sager and its resellers.

Hope that helps.

One last thing/Edit: Clevo's official page does not list 6-core CPU support, but there are shots in the threads I linked where the machine is functional with these 6-core i7 CPUs.

 

Thank you!
i had read most of the pages in the Pre Sales Price Thread, the X7200 looks really thick and wonders if they do comes with ati cards..

i hope the GTX480m wouldn't throttle like what the GTX260m did on the alienwares..

i do hope its still within my budget since the price listed on my previous machines are in singapore dollars.

 

Clevo machines are known for their superior cooling design compared to others. I myself have never experienced downclocking issues on my NP9262 for the 2+ years I've had it.

ATi 5870M cards would not change the X7200's thickness. It is thick for a reason: cooling. 130W CPU + 2x 100W GPUs = hot. Clevo obviously hasn't taken any shortcuts on cooling for the X7200.

As for your budget, it should fit. You don't need to go full-on spec wise because the X7200 will be easily upgradeable by yourself. You can buy the better parts when you can afford them later on and install them yourself. The service manuals make it all very clear on how to do things yourself.

 

First, there's no RGB LED screen available with x7200. In fact, there's no proof that such panel (RGB LED 1080p) even exists. Up to date only 1200P panels come with RGB LED backlight.

Second, what makes you think that Dell charges more for similarly equipped system? M17X with 5870x2 is even less expensive than X8100 (same config). And, you get a nice bonus of the NBD warranty - something no reseller can offer (unless you're two blocks away from their HQ).

To me M17X looks like a better option with lower price, better build quality and more gaming features (backlit keyboard, RGB LED screen, etc).

Also, with Dell you can get a 10-20% off by ordering through a rep, - check the AW section for the how-to's.

>>> Correction, the X8100 does cost less (just checked the prices again) and only after a nice discount from Dell you could approach the price offered by XoticPC. However, if you're not going to pay for RAM/HDD/ CPU upgrade and like most of us can get those cheaper from third party resellers - M17X might still be cheaper.

 

Here's my best advice I can give. I would wait to see how 470SLI performs, so far the last 2 Nvidia SLI releases in both Clevo and AW have been pretty much failures. Unless you want to be a guinea beta testing pig I would wait.

The 5870x2 were close to becoming failures themselves until DELL finally stepped up with good drivers and a VBIOS that cure most of the 5870x2 problems.

Lastly if the x7200 doesnt come with RGBLED I wouldn't buy it personally, screen is too important. Also some people here are being a little overly excited about desktop CPU's, desktop CPU's will have almost zero effect on gaming performance compared with the mobile i7's. If your just doing gaming the advantage of desktop CPU's is null.

 

970 is a good processor and runs really cool on X7200.

 

My thoughts exactly, Bro

 

Guess I just have to wait it out again
I do hope Alienware comes out with USB 3 slots and other later techs, saw some guys saying that most Likely AW's gonna Refresh their system in Q1 2011?

btw Kaltmond you Had already own de X7200? Or? (in your siggy)

 

A cheaper, yet also pretty powerfull combination would be.
X7200 with core i7 950 (very cheap, the chip had recently been cut in half in price, if you want to get it, you should get it with the new price, roughly the current price of the 930)
470m SLI
6gb triple chanell ram
Cheap HDD combo performance and storage
(intel x25-v 40gb for OS + seagate 500GB hybrid drive for games installs and 1TB western digital or seagate hdd for storage)
And i think this will be even cheaper than your budget.

That's the config i'll aim for in autumn. Maybe replace the intel ssd with a 3rd gen value edition.

 

that's exactly what i'm lookng for
maybe with a weaker cpu and only two hdd if my budget doesnt allow

 

But will the GTX480m in SLI Works Perfectly fine with no problems?
Like trottling and stuff?

 

We'll know for sure in a month.

 

Yeah!

hope all turns out good wonders why so few sager notebook video on youtube? is the screen clear and bright like alineware's M15x version?

 

Probably because most sager owners are too lazy, too busy doing benchmarks or too into their laptops to make any videos.

 

well, arh im not sure what to say~

 

I've been doing this since I bought Speedy's D900F.

 

yap, but only with old G92 VGA, temporary.