How portable is Sager NP-8690

Im considering getting one of these (albeit from Kobalt so won't be a sager as such) and am just a bit concerned about the actual portability of this laptop.

Can it be used on my lap whilst on the sofa?
Is it really a chore to carry it from place to place due to thickness and weight (including the added weight of power brick)?
It looks a bit plasticy, is this the case? I would have prefered an aluminium or brushed effect finish.

The main alternatives now are the alienware M15x or the Dell XPS Studio 16. Is the much of a difference between the dell and the sager? How much better is the graphics power compared to the dells Radeon?

 

It has a much more powerful GPU than the Dell/M15x have, even if you upgrade the GPU. Which may or may not matter, depending on what you do.

Of course. The Dell may be more comfortable, but you can certainly use it on the sofa.

It's not that thick of a laptop. Overall it's slightly thinner than the AW. It weighs less than the AW and only ~1lb /.45kg more than the Dell. The power brick is a bit larger than you might be used it, but it's not freakishly large. I don't mind it at all, but I don't move the laptop much.

I don't think it's "plasticy" but that's a bit subjective. To me the AW looks "plasticy". Your call.

 

Thanks BrandonSi.

I'm mainly going to use it as a work laptop that i'll do web development on, run an apache and mysql development server as well as some other proprietary server systems (so definitely need all cores). As well as that, i'll be using it for gaming when not working.

When i said using it on my lap, i meant i do a lot of work in the evenings and it's sometimes better to do it on the sofa whilst half watching tv at the same time. I can be glued to the laptop for hours on end so a comfortable laptop is as important as a powerful one for me.

Again, any feedback from current owners is very much appreciated Maybe if someone happens to have any pics of the laptop in a desk environment so i can get a feel for the actual dimensions of it that I could see thatd help

 

Well, (overall) performance wise the Sager is the way to go. I'll run Linux in a VM, with tomcat/apache going, and at the same time doing SQL development with a local instance of (MS) SQL and IIS running. Smooth as can be. That's more a product of the i7 than the GPU though. Personally, if I spend $1500+ on a laptop, I'm going to get the best I can. No sense in settling on a weaker GPU only to be dissatisfied with it later.. Unless of course, you need to stick to a specific budget.

As far as using it on the sofa, I'd get one of those sofa laptop pad things. They're just more comfortable to me than sitting a laptop on my actual lap.

 

Psst, the GTX280M is much more powerful than the ATI 4650, but I wouldn't call it much more powerful than the GTX 260M. It's about 10% as it is.

It is, however, a fair bit more portable than the M15X, which would be more akin to a 15.6" in a 17" chassis. i.e. HP 8730w dimensions = 1.3" x 15.5" x 11.1", M15X dimensions = 14.88” (W) x 12.15” (D) x 1.92” (H)

 

Hi bigpun11
if your thinking of getting it from kobalt it might be worth posting on our forum where you will also get some good feedback from owners as well as on here.
link in sig.