Is buying a Sager 8150 "Now" worth the investment?

Hey Guys,

It has been along time since I've been around!
I was satisfied with my G50V until now (+3years and counting!), sadly, it is showing its age (But it is still working perfectly )

So anyway, I have decided it is time to change, I am not really into new Asus G-series laptops,

So I am going with a Sager this time!

I configured a Sager NP8150 as follow:

CPU: i7-2760QM
GPU: ATi HD6990m
RAM: 8GB @1600
HDD: 500GB @7200

The rest is default, the total price is 1517$, which is amazing considering the high end internals!

BUT, the question I have been thinking about all the time, is it worth the investment, Now?!!

What I mean, is that new Intel CPUs (Ivy Bridge) are on the way (I believe with around +15% performance increase over Sandy bridge).

Also, Im thinking about the next Generation of graphics cards from Nvidia and ATi.

Please note I was satisfied with my current G50V until recently, but If by waiting I could get "WAY" better speced laptop for around the same price, I will wait.

What do you think guys?

Your inputs would be highly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

I think it's well worth it to wait for the next generation of CPUs and GPUs. I'm equally as excited for the huge power savings as the performance increase.

 

But man, the 6990 is TEMPTING!!!! (look how many 9's are there!) O_O

Is there a date we could expect the new Ivy Bridge CPUs to be available?

 

My point of view - if your old laptop is getting on your nerves, then buy the Sager. Look at my sig - thats what you want, right? Im extremely pleased with this and in my eyes its worth it. Ive had mine for 1 month now and Im amazed by it.

I've had a fully functional and scratch-less Acer 5742G with Core i5 480M (2.67-2.93Ghz), 2x2gb ram, GT540M that I bought 27.01.2011 (this year) and used it for 8 months then sold it like brand new. Then got my current laptop. Im telling you, this thing is amazing and I plan on keeping it until next year's Christmas.

If you wanna play BF3 NOW, then get the Sager. If not - then wait for Ivy Bridge. I dont think Ivy Bridge is gonna have too much of a performance increase (the first batch will be 32nm anyway). The 22nm processor may have more reason to wait, but they will be around next year around october-december (my predictions, nothing official).

 

Nobody can tell this for sure, but we might expect Ivy nalptops with 32nm GPUs in april/may, so it's around 5-6 months from now. I think it's worth the investment if you need a powerfull laptop right now with a possible parts upgrade in the future it's rumored that IB mobile CPU should be compatible with current-gen HM65/67 chipsets, while other sources deny it. Along with that you should be able to easily swap your 6990M GPU for much more powerfull 7-series radeon when they get released) You'll only lack a backlit keyboard, though... I'd say go for it)

 

Man, thats almost exactly the same setup in my mind! (except maybe the RAM is 1600 and the HDD is not SSD), but the performance would be on par with what I want! (I will start digging for your posts in the forums )

What REALLY is getting on my nerves is the Core2Due cpu, while it IS fast for everyday tasks, I always wished I had an i7, so mainly the CPU, also the GPU, and the RAM...so ya it is getting on my nervers!

Hmmm, what you mentioned about the nm tech used is a good point!
I believe for me the jump to i7 would be hugely notable from C2D than say from Sandy to Ivy.

Im not sure I would be upgrading the internal, most likely if i planned to upgrade, I would just replace the whole thing!

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

Half a year is an awfully long time to wait for an "average" consumer like myself, IMO.

I'm currently running with a 8600M GT. Waiting half a year to buy Ivy Bridge and/or Radeon 7xxx would not only mean half a year without BF3, Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, etc., but also a somewhat pricier purchase. The 6990 has fallen nicely in price already, I'd hate to wait for the 7xxx to do the same. By that time, I'd probably want to wait for whatever is after the 7xxx, hehe. None of these upcoming offerings seem to be unmissable game-changers either.

If you're like me, looking for a longer term purchase, I say there is no point in waiting for the grass to be greener--it'll never be green enough.

 

Haha I know how you feel. Right now I'm without a laptop and every day I'm fighting the urge to splurge. If I see a good deal today though I'm not waiting 6 months, at that point there will be something even more exciting around the corner (Haswell)

 

I know I'm just another guy, but I'm buying a new computer now because I've had a dell inspirion for the past 2-3 years -_-.

Can't wait to get it. (ALthough I have to place the order first, )

 

Seeing lots of similar threads. Really think we need to make a sticky with links to other threads with the same questions and answers .

Anyway, I'm mainly a console gamer, can't comment about running games.

What I will say though, is that almost every reseller that I have asked, and I have seen other users ask, has always replied that if you can wait until next Spring, wait, and then usually add a to the end. This says to me something good is coming along next Spring, they just can't say anything because of NDA issues.

So the question is, do you need a new laptop, or just want one?

In my case, I practically need one as my main desktop broke two weeks ago, and my laptop is pretty much falling apart (bought it in 2005 summer, yeah, practically running Linux on it cause there's no support from Acer), so I will probably buy a Sager for under $1k on Black Friday (I hope the resellers will be open for communication on that day).

I was originally planning on spending $2k+ for the best of the best, but seeing as how something good is coming next Spring, what's the point?

 

It depends on how eager r u to want a new laptop. I think the next gen graphic cards are coming out soon, but for the next gen cpu, u have to wait for sometime to let it drop to reasonable price.

I agree to what boukyaku asked, do u have a real need for a laptop, or just want one?

 

Yeah, half a year is a long time, there are lots of games that cannot be delayed!
Also, when I got the G50 it was a Mid-High laptop, not high end, but still it satisfied my needs!

HOW can you LIVE without a Laptop!!! O_O unbelievable!!!! (lol)

Same here, Ive had mine for +3 years, thats enough I guess.

A sticky would be nice

About consoles, Im moving away from consoles nowadays, not into them anymore

Also, I think I "need" one, not only want!

More like a Need!

By the way, My laptop gets 8765 in 3Dmark06 (I know it is not hte standard nowadays ... but old habbits die hard)
I saw that the 6990m can get upto 20000! (notebookcheck) impressive, more than double the preformance boost! O_O

Thanks for the inputs guys!

 

As soon as you can get the next best thing, there is another just around the corner, new tech, new specs, new speeds, new needs.... I have had computers since the late 80's, and it never ends. Figure out what you want/ need. Then figure out how long you want to wait for the next bestest thing. It really never stops. So get what will work, and get what works for what you want to pay. I buy what I need, and then use it until I need something better. If I kept waiting for the best I could get, I would have never bought a computer.

 

Thing is, there will always something "new" every year. if you buy now I'm pretty sure the next big thing next year won't be too far off from what you have now.

my i5 desktop with radeon 5870 and 6 gig ram still plays the latest games perfectly fine for my standards (sure bf3 isn't on ultra high with 1080p resolution) but still playable on mid-high settings too bad it can't cope with the number of vmware's I'm running and will be running hence my sig.

so if you can live without having the "best of the best of the best" 6-8 months from now then go ahead, otherwise wait for the Ivy bridge and Nvidia 6xx or radeon 7xxx series next year

you can also buy now, sell it with a few hundred $$$ off then buy the next generation laptop when it launches

 

buy a rig now or b4 11/28/2011 from malibal.com with the free upgrades and extras is def worth it. I just ordered mine.

 

Agreed "Now" as in before Tuesday
Those deals are awesome

 

I did!

From Malibal, amaaaazing offers for Black Friday!
I was just going to order couple of days before the deals appeared, good thing I was hesitating about the internals I wanted!! else I wouldve missed it!

- I got the free 8GB 1600 upgrade! (I was planning to go with it anyway) Big +
- I got Spyder 3 Elite Professional Color Calibration w/ Profile Disc free, I have NO idea what does that mean, But it is FREE!!

I was not able to utilize the free shipping sadly because i live out side (In United Arab Emirates)
Also the BR Burner discount, I never used Blueray before, I dont think I will ever do!

Also, what REALLY irritated me...is the free upgrade from 560m to 6970m!
I was soooo confused, the plan was to go with 6990m, but with black friday deals, I started thinking seriously about this free upgrade...
Still, I went with the 6990m!
More future proof in my opinion, even though I couldve saved around 145$..but anyway

Another thing, I went with Intel ultimate 6300 lan card cause I wanted the best reception possible! But I just noticed It has NO bluetooth!!!
Anyway, I could get a dongle for near free nowadays!

Here are the specs:



You also notice the UK power cord, why 9$ I have no idea (abit expensive)

Total was 1,836.90$
Sadly for me, international shipping cost is 148$
But you could NEVER find similar lappy here

The best I could find was a Toshiba which has 560m and priced at 2500$$$ (O_O) so it is a good deal!

I did a wire transfer, and now im waiting for a confirmation from Malibal, after that, I will start counting the days!

Now, I need to contact them to ask if they could verify everything is in good shape, because I wont be able to send it back if (God forbid), something was malfunctioning!
I really hope not!

 

You can probably ask them to change the LAN card if you still want that Bluetooth.

 

The thing is that I noticed that After doing the wire transfer, so it will be complicated and hard now! >_<
Anyway, If im going to get good reception I don't mind, I rarely use bluetooth nowadays!

 

also dont expect any sager model refresh or newer cpus/gpus untill Q2 2012 earliest, and if you want to get similar deals be prepared to wait 12 months!

 

Waiting for black friday deals on sager with ivy + hd 7990m + backlit

If you arent desperately needing a new notebook, i recommend waiting.

 

If you wait till Black Friday 2012, you'll be potentially half-a-year from Haswell. I'd rather wait six months for Haswell than wait six months for a Sandy Bridge shrink. That means you won't have a new laptop for at least 1.5 years. That's assuming you decide not wait to wait for Haswell's first Black Friday. That's 2 years right there. At that time, you'll be exactly where you are today, waiting for Haswell's shrink to come.

 

Which brings up the point that if you always want to wait, the "new thing" is always about a year away. Intel's roadmap is referred to as "tick tock", which means that it alternates between a tick year and a tock year. On a tick, they shrink the current architecture down to a smaller die (Ivy Bridge). On a tock, they introduce a brand new architecture (Haswell).

So worse case, you buy nothing until Ivy Bridge is released, but then you're only a year until Haswell at that point.

Unless it's something new coming out in the next month or two, or you don't need a machine for x amount of time, it's almost silly to wait for next generation parts.

Also considering that Ivy Bridge in particular is only useful to those wanting the integrated graphics enhancements and better power efficiency, it's not as big a reason to wait as graphics updates. The CPU has not been a bottleneck in high end laptops for quite a while now. On the other hand, even a modest 10% boost in a laptop GPU can be significant on overall system performance.

 

If i have limited budget, would you say is a good idea to get a really good GPU and a "average" CPU?

How about SSD Vs CPU?

This is in a Gamming environment

 

I would get the best GPU you can afford- there really isn't an "average" CPU on these machines. Even the cheapest stock i7 (the 2630QM) will not be your bottleneck. While the mobile CPU's compete favorably with their desktop counterparts, mobile GPU's really only compete with the midrange desktop models. The 580m for example is essentially an under-clocked desktop 560ti. The point here being that a 2630QM + 6990/580m would not limit you at all for gaming.

For an SSD versus CPU, the difference lies in where the speed is most important. An SSD will give you a much "snappier" feeling machine, but will not affect actual game performance beyond loading times. A faster CPU can very well boost actual in game performance, although it won't do much at all for system responsiveness and boot times. Of note though, is that a CPU is much harder to upgrade yourself, whereas an SSD is something you can always add down the road when you have the money.

 

You're right, Haswell would be interesting but gaming laptops like sager dont really need massive cpu performance. My main reason is going after Kepler or Southern Island. And considering their release of somewhere second half of 2012, Black Friday would be the most reasonable time to buy it because by that time more reviews about them would be available.

Besides my current notebook is doing everything I want out of it. I'm in college right now so gotta save as much as possible and cant waste my pennies on unnecessary matters.

 

Given that CPU isn't a huge limitation performance, can anyone speculate as to how likely it will be that we'll be able to put a next generation GPU onto the P170HM board or am I missing something else?

 

Early reports (possibly rumors) say that the MXM style socket will stay the same, and it will only require a bios upgrade to support a newer card. Here is hoping....

I would say the likelyhood is fairly high.

 

It seems likely at this point that the next gen GPU's will continue to use the current MXM slot, which means they would physically fit in the machine. The only other requirement would be that a new vBios is released to support them.

While this could all change last minute, it's looking good at the moment.

 

Well, I eventually decided I won't wait for the next best thing, as many already mentioned, I will wait forever!
Anyway, even a C2D still works perfectly for me, its just the GPU that kills me (>_<)

I wanted more processing power, thats why I went with the 2760, mainly because Im planning to do lots of emulation (Dolphin -Wii,GC- and Pcsx2 -PS2-) so I need a powerful CPU.

The nice thing about the 2760 is that its more powerful than 2820 (even though 6MB vs 8MB L3 cache)
A little bit less than 2920/2860 (not worth the price difference)
But weaker than the 2960XM (Sadly it is way too expensive!)

Anyway, happy with my decision
This laptop shall stay with me for the next 2-3 years!

 

Hey a fellow pcsx2 fan! That was one of my main reasons for upgrading too. 2630 could only handle about 90% of the games I threw at it. I don't do any pc gaming so this laptop should last me a while

 

LoL, the latest Pcsx2 is pretty good, and don't forget Dolphin emulator, It is way optimized! im really impressed.
I compared the performance on my C2D with my brother's acer laptop with i5 and it runs better even though hes got a 540m card which is weaker than my 9800m.

Anyway, it is a fact that the CPU is what really matters here! so that was my main goal, to get as much powerful CPU as possible, and hopefully the 2760 will delever!

And for me:
1- Emulation.
2- then come PC gaming!