Just received by P151EM (NP9130)! Ask away!

Hey guys, just received by P151EM from Pro-star.
Before I get into the laptop, I just want to mention how great Pro-star was.
Pro-star is maybe not as well known as XoticPc and such, but their service has been great! I live in Canada so shipping was a b**ch for me, but they offered some great deals! If you guys are wondering about where to buy, definitely go with these guys!

1. Free shipping to Canada and any other US mainland states.
2. GREAT discounts. I told them the P151EM was a little over my budget and they gave me the Windows 7 for free. (80$)
3. Fast build time and delivery. Told me it would take about 1.5 weeks. Received 3 days earlier then expected time.

Now on to the laptop: $1150
My configs are as follows:

i7 2670m (2.2~3.1ghz) I know I didn't get IB lol
GTX 670m 1.5gb
500gb HDD
8GB 1600mhz ram
Windows 7
Arctic Fox thermal compound

Includes 1 year warranty and 3 year labor

GPU and CPU user upgradable.

Now some people mentioned that a lot of these laptops' cooling fans are loud.
Some even go to say that they feel like they're gonna take off the table (runway) or something, but really it isn't THAT loud.It's moderate noise level, with it's speakers during gaming the noise is hard to notice.

Touchpad feels nice and soft. 2 separate buttons and the finger printer feel solid.

4 USB ports total is great. 2.0 for the mouse, 3 3.0 for cards. very fast.

Keyboards are solid. Feels very smooth and natural when typing, makes the nice crisp yet quiet clicking sound. Love it.

CPU and GPU has separate vents so with the cooling pad that I bought separately, it hasn't really gone over 80C.... yet!

Ran Skyrim, BF3 and a few other games.

Skyrim ran on ultra at bare 30~40fps. Not bad! Usually have to set it on high-ultra to make particle intense scenes run smoothly.

CANNOT run bf3 on max. (Figures) I can however run it on high at a solid 40fps mark. (even on intense moments.)

Starcraft 2 runs like a charm. Maxed out easy, no problem at all.

Overall, not too loud.
Not too hot.
Not a monster which runs BF3 at ultra (which is highly un necessary.)

Will do me good for the next few years and my college career. If I feel that it's not enough, then I will simply go for the P150EM later.

Post em up if you have any more questions.

 

Is it a burden to carry around?

 

It's about a pound heavier than most 15"

 

Looks like you had a great deal over there!

I had mine from GenTech PC for $1284, specs in my sig.

If you guys are wondering about where to buy, I would definitely recommend them.

edit: together with W7 Home and extra ODD caddy

 

I'm waiting for my laptop as well. I bought mine for $1072. All standard options except for the changes below.

|Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM | 8GB 1333MHz | Intel® Advanced-N 6235

 

Thanks for the thread. Always good to get basic info for those of use still researching. And yes, NBR is a really great site. Glad I stumbled onto it a few months ago.

 

Im still looking at the 9130 and 9150.

i like the better gpu options in the 9150 and the backlit keyboard. But i find the price very attractive for what you get with the 9130. What type of screen do you have?

im also in canada , so i will buy it with reflex.

+Rep for you

 

Any reason you did not get an IVB CPU? I'm assuming the decision was made because of the cost, just curious.

Have you found anything you dislike yet?

 

Cost of them is the same, so I'm going to guess time.

 

Is it easy to swap out the hhd for the ssd? Mine will arrive in the 21st.

 

Are there vents in the bottom? I am thinking of getting a notebook cooler with a large fan in the center, wondering if it would do any good

 

would u post some pictures of it, THX.

 

Pictures wouold be awesome, make me droooooool!

 

I am also a fellow Canadian (Toronto represent!) and have a very similar budget to yours. Here are a few questions after having visited the Pro-Star website:

1) Is this $1150 before tax/duties?
2) For $1150, did you pay Customs or did they handle brokerage for you through shipping (UPS means you get dinged, USPS is waived).
3) By warranty, I'm assuming you received Canadian warranty (which on the website is an additional $30), right?
4) THAT IS A WICKED AWESOME PRICE FOR EVERYTHING YOU RECEIVED!

My budget is a MAXIMUM of $1300 and I'm having an extremely hard time configuring a gaming laptop given these constraints. If you can PM me the full details or perhaps refer me to the sales rep that sold you that notebook, I would be most grateful. I want your laptop NOW!!

 

Well I got my np9130 and it runs great but alot of the little things of my m1530 I'm starting to miss.

Mostly being the media touch keys and the different FN keys. I wish there was a way to reassign the volume, mute, and brightness keys to something else that's either one press or different keys. I find myself looking for what damn key to press instead of just being able to go right to it on the XPS.

I have looked around the forums and it's saying the FN keys are based in the bios and are hardware driven with no option to change them. Is this true for the new models as well? Is there a program that out there that will remap keys for me that will work for these functions?

Other then that I love the computer but these little things that the major manufacturers give are nice too bad sager can't add them in.

 

Time was the main factor. Moreover, I did not want (need) a quad core processor, and since Core i5s have a lower TDP and higher clockrate, I chose them over i7s. Its a bonus that they come cheaper as well. As for SB v IB procs, after hearing all the hoo ha about Intel's botched TIM job inside the IHS, I'm glad I chose SB. Maybe its just sour grapes...

 

Afaik the mobile IB CPUs don't have the heat spreader that the desktop ones do, along with the TIM issues.

 

My most important questions are how does witcher 2 run on the GTX 670 (when you get the chance)...My most important question with the GTX 670m


How are the speakers (I heard sager speakers weren't that great), battery life with optimus and keyboard feel compared to a chicklet keyboard (like lenovo or sony)

 

The speakers aren't bad. Just use the volume enhancements.

 

did you apply the thermal grease yourself?
If so, how much work is needed to get to the cpu and gpu to reapply thermal grease?

 

+1 on this. I'm looking to buy a laptop and am in Canada. Any more info on the shipping would be awesome

 

Just bumping this back up since I haven't heard anything from the Thread poster

Please let us know asap!!! Or if anyone has his contact..yeah.


Edit: I'm open to any reseller representatives involved in the sale/website, or others who can match it! You have two Canadians ready to pull the trigger in this thread alone!

 

Add another Canadian (BC) as a potential 9130 buyer!

 

If you ship UPS Ground you have to pay UPS brokerage fees at the time of delivery which average $80-100. There is also the UPS Express for which does not have brokerage fees on top of that so its cheaper in the long run. You will have to pay any taxes (PST/GST/HST) at the time of delivery regardless of which shipping method you select.

You dont have to pay customs or duty fees on notebooks.

 

Sorry for the late reply guys!

Adressing your questions:

Sound Quality:
It uses the Onkyo Speakers from Japan I believe. Speaker quality is good, not a deal breaker at all. Loud enough to suppress fan noises easily.

Price/service:
I spoke to Lilian Hsieh at Prostar. She was helpful and polite. However, the rest of their representatives are sorta rudish. Got a few BS customer servicr cases. Love my laptop, but may switch to reflex notebooks as I am afraid they will feed me BS if it breaks at all.

1150$ was without taxes. Brokerage fee 80$ ish.
My bud got his from Reflex. May switch, if not definetely next puchase from Reflex. You do pay a little more yes, but you get better service. Free shipping and brokerage fee paid for.

Build Quality:
Great and solid keyboards. Don't like the sound/brightness/sleep keys.
Are on F1-F5 keys.
Plastic finish is nice and sturdy.
Doesn't overheat at all, sits at a nice 75C degrees.

Games:
Runs D3 on Ultra easily.
Other high end games on ultra-high.
BF3 is an exception of course.

 

I am from BC as well. If you have any more specific questions, email me and I will give me my thoughts and recommendations.

[email protected]

 

Thanks and sent an email!

 

If I recall correctly, the fingerprint reader is between the trackpad buttons. Does this ever bother you? Also, is it fairly responsive? A friend just got a new HP with a fingerprint reader, and absolutely hates it, so I'm curious.

Thanks!

 

Hello, could you try running BF3 or any games on non-native resolution like 1366x768 and 1600x900. Please let me know of the picture quality. TIA!

 

1. Finger print scanner

Yes, it is right in between the 2 trackpad buttons. However, the buttons are clearly spaced and they bulge out more than the scanner so it doesn't bother me at all. Trackpad feels great although I hardly use it.

2. Resolution...

I think I may know why you are asking this, don't get fooled by the cheap prices of 15 inchers or 17 inchers with those resolutions. No matter what you do they look like .

 

The scanner is very responsive. I used to use the one on my XPS m1530 and this blows it out of the water. Still waiting on a support update for Firefox 12, but other then that. It's a great addon that not many computers have now a days.

 

Any chance for a couple of pics? For whatever reason, there are literally no pics/videos of people who actually own this machine.

Thanks!

 

The awkward feeling when the OP buys from Pro-Star and has a Reflex Notebook avatar

 

i can post some pics/video of my np9130 at some point in the next day or two. check back to this post either tomorrow night or the day after (working back to back 12 hr days lmao)

 

Are you using the default P151EM screen? So is gaming on non-native resolution good or the lost in sharpness results it blurriness or some text being unreadable. I am asking this because of games like witcher 2 because as per benchmarks the 670m will have hard time playing on 1080p. Thanks!

 

Glad to hear it!

I'm always a bit wary of fingerprint readers. It's nice to hear that this is one of those that works well.

On a completely different track, would anybody mind measuring the outside dimensions of the notebook? I can't seem to find those anywhere, and I'm curious...

 

From what I have seen, in some unboxing videos, the NP9150 comes with a bag, does the NP9130 come with it too?

 

Yes it does come with a cheese bag I'll never use. Just should have given everyone a thermal paste upgrade instead.

 

Thanks for all the info. Looking to buy a NP9150, but still trying to decide from where. Prostar appears to offer the same product with slightly lower price but have came across some negative reviews on their customer service while for places like xoticpc, PNB, or avadirect the response were mostly positive. Tough decision to make now.

 

Look into the discounts offered by each one too, XoticPC for instance has a some exclusive discounts for NBR members.

 

They can be found on XoticPC's site here in the Tech Specs tab..

Size: 14.80" (w) x 10.08" (d) x 1.38"-1.69" (h)

 

Thanks! I'll go check them out

 

Thanks... Don't mind me. I'll just go feel like an idiot over in the corner.

 

I'm looking to get the same configuration as you -- how were you able to get it for such a low price?

 

If you go to Xotic, they offer $50 off when you reduce ram to 1333 speed from 1600. With 3% cash payment, it's $1041 and who knows, maybe you can ask if they have additional NBR promotion, you'll just have to call. Though for $1041, that is one incredible beast.

And from Larry, you can get the same setup with the 1600 ram, and 3% cash payment, around $1040 as well.

 

Ah, I must have looked over that Seus got the 1333 ram downgrade. I'm really looking for the standard configs with the addition of the 3610qm for under $1100. I don't know if I can get all of that for that price though.

Larry?

 

LPC digital. People have said that LPC digital offers the lowest price if you ask. I would have tried getting a quote from them if I had known before I made my order. However I'm pretty happy with what I got.

 

Thanks, I just emailed him to get a quote on a few different configs. Hopefully, he gets back to me soon.