Just discovered the Sager NP8170-S1

So far, I'd only been looking at Asus and Alienware. You can imagine my surprise of the mileage one can get out of the Sager NP8170-S1. My dream setup: 470M, with 16GB ram, at just $1839. Just WOW!

I do hope to keep using this laptop for four years at least. So I had a few questions:

a) How is the stock screen? (Viewing angles, and in comparison to, say, the Asus G73 stock screen.) Because the upgrade for $220 seems incredibly pricey.

b) It'll be a desktop replacement for me, and I live in a country where power outages are common. I would want to make sure it isn't too much of a power-hungry monster (on a battery inverter). 220W the max, I presume. How much power does it generally eat up?

c) The GTX 470M seems to be a more powerful option to the more expensive Radeon HD6970, according to the Notebookcheck.net. (Another lovely surprise.) Does the 470M eat up a lot of power whilst on less power-hungry work like internet-surfing, etc.? About the HD6970 and the 470M: Is the switchable graphic option available on either?

d) For those lucky enough to already have the laptop, how cool does it stay when gaming and is it noisy?

e) I couldn't find a review for the laptop on Google, so what features does it lack? I didn't see a USB 3.0 or back-lit keyboards. Is this about right?

f) Also: How is the build?

 

I can only speak on behalf of the Sager NP8150, which is the NP8170's 15" brother. However it is similar specced at some areas.

The 470m is slowly being phased out to the more potent 6970m and the 485m, sadly. The Sager machines do not have switchable graphic options, due to compatibility issues.

Sager machines tend to run cool, because they are infact very efficient cooling laptops. The vents are at the back of the laptop, so most of the hot air is at the back, and won't affect users.

If you are looking for features then, it most certainly have USB3.0 ports...2 I believe (if it's the same as the NP8150). However, no Sager laptops have back lit keys. Expresscard slots aren't available as well.

 

Thanks for the response. The backlit keyboards don't really mean much to me (since I never use it in the dark or pay attention to my typing).

The 485 is overkill for me. But why would the 6970m be more potent? I think the 470m is slightly more powerful, isn't it?

Any thoughts on the screen?

 

I have the stock glossy screen, and I love it. The 6970 is a more powerful card than the 470. It will be more able to run games in the future. It will also handle video and photo editing much better. The 6970 is more on par with the 485. The laptop is never going to give a netbook a run for the money in battery time, so as long as you understand this, then you understand that your buying this for performance, not battery life. That being understood, you would want the 6970, not the 470. You will not gain a lot on battery life by going with the 470.

 

Thanks. I'm not actually looking for battery life, since it'll never be unplugged or moved around from the desk. But it will matter if it eats up power during simple tasks like net surfing almost on par with gaming. (The backup battery inverter has to be shared with other electronics around the house, like television, etc.)

As for the HD6970 and the 470M, the price difference is $145. And I'm trying to justify if it does handle video editing THAT much better (since I will be video editing). How much better would it be?

 

The 470M uses about 75w, and the HD6970 & 485M both use about 100w. The HD6970 is only about 12% behind the 485M in performance, yet look at how much less expensive it is!

I got all this information from here, and the links to the 470M & 485M.

I just ordered my Sager 8170 with the HD6970.

 

Thanks. HD6970, it is, then. Anyone on the power consumption during net surfing and similar simple tasks?

 

There's this Anandtech article that does touch briefly on the battery life and power consumption of the 6970m relative to the 485m.

 

Oh, thanks. That helps.

 

a) How is the stock screen?
It is perfectly fine. It is not anywhere close to the screen you get in a MacBook Pro (which is probably similar to the premium screen here), but it is not bothering me. The viewing angles are the weakest area.

b) Power consumption?
Not sure.

c) Switchable graphics?
Not available on this laptop, due to the motherboard.

d) Cooling and noise?
It stays cool to the touch under heavy load, and is subjectively not that noisy. The fans do make some noise, but it's not high-pitched and annoying like in many laptops.

e) Features?
It has USB 3.0, I believe, but no back-lit keyboard available.

f) How is the build?
The build quality seems quite good overall, however I have some gripes that shouldn't have happened in a killer laptop like this. The microphone seems to me to be poorer than an average laptop microphone. The touchpad buttons are kind of hard to press. The touchpad is brushed horizontally, making it slightly harder to move vertically than horizontally with your finger, which took some getting used to (I usually use a USB mouse anyway, so no biggie). The button to open the DVD tray is located so that I push it accidentally almost every time I pick up the laptop when it's open.

I'm super happy with the laptop, but the touchpad in particular is pretty disappointing. Why can't anyone else get a big, smooth, responsive touchpad like Apple uses?

 

Configurator

The customize section of this website slates the 485 as "User Upgradeable" as opposed to the 470 and 6970. I havnt taken the plunge yet, but this is a potential sell for me considering that the laptops I have purchased (higher end) have lasted 3-4 years and have fallen victim to the gpu hindering the rest of my system. This is with upgrading to the 2720 sandy bridge.

 

The stock screen is pretty terrible, viewing-angle-wise. Brightness is decent, but contrast is ruined by the viewing angle. Straight on you will start getting viewing-angle washout both at the top and bottom of the screen. You can adjust the angle to eliminate the washout at the top, but it'll make the bottom worse, and vice-versa. It's really bad.

I use it on a little board on my lap, and it stays reasonably cool. The fan noise is pretty decent for a high-end notebook. They rev up pretty good when gaming, but for casual use they're not too loud, and will actually turn off entirely sometimes if you're just websurfing in a cool room.