Looking at purchascing a NP8130

I am thinking about ordering a NP8130 with the following specs for my brother who just started college (IT-Networking Major). He will mostly be using it for school work and some gaming:


Display: 15.6" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED AUO B156HW01 V.7 95% NTSC Glossy Display

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 2.0-2.9GHz +$80.00

Memory: (8GB) 8192MB, PC3-10660/1333MHz DDR3 - 4 SO-DIMM $-50.00

Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M 1.5GB GDDR5

Hard Drive: 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300

Optical Drive Bay: 8X Multi DVD+/-R/RW RAM Dual-Layer Drive

Wireless: Intel® 6230 Advanced-N 802.11A/B/G/N LAN and Bluetooth Card +$25.00

Cooling: Stock OEM Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU

Keyboard: English: US & Canada

Branding: MALIBAL

Build Time: 2-3 Business Days +$50.00

Warranty: 4 Year Ltd. Labor and 1 Year Parts Warranty with 24/7 Support (USA)

Extras: Standard Black Carrying Case
Extras: Integrated 9 in 1 Card Reader
Extras: Integrated Fingerprint Reader
Extras: MALIBAL Software & Drivers Disc
Extras: Integrated 2.0 Megapixel Web Camera
Extras: PowerDVD & Bison Cam Software Package

Accessories: Targus TSB212 Deluxe Notebook Case

Just wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts/opinions before I actually pulled the trigger.

Thanks in advance,
SteenMason

 

Looks good. If you ever plan on upgrading the graphics card, I'd suggest getting a 180W PSU.

 

Looks nice to me. I only have a couple tips:

- Upgrading from a 500GB HDD to a 750GB HDD is really cheap. It would probably be worth it if you think you are going to use the extra space.
- Blu-ray videos look beautiful on the 1080p screen that comes with the 8130. A Blu-ray reader drive isn't too expensive but worth it if you anticipate watching Blu-ray movies.
- And just to echo what Jerry said, the 180W PSU (you'll have to request it from MALIBAL) is required if you ever intend to upgrade the video card. But, depending on the type of gaming you'll be doing, the 560M might be more than you need.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

Something else to consider might be to get rid of the optical drive and order the caddy instead, so that he can stick an SSD in for better performance.

That depends on whether he wants the performance boost, as well as how frequently he'd use the optical drive.

He could always find an external optical drive for fairly cheap.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I am now looking back over my order and making minor adjustments. Thanks for the insight guys.

 

hey, i bought an NP8130 about a month ago to replace my M11x R1. for the most part, i am 100% happy with the purchase, but there are a few things that annoy me about the Sager.

1) the headphone output is really weak, and does not extend down in the lower frequencies. i think a headphone amp would fix this.
2) the feel of the keyboard is taking some getting used to. i am not terribly happy with it, and i miss keystrokes (somehow) even though my typing is fine on my work computer and was fine on my M11x.

there might be some other things but they escape me at the moment. i'm definitely happy with the NP8130.

 

How much gaming is he doing? I bought the dell e6520 on this site for $1000 and dont regret it. The 2720qm is better suited for VMs and the 520 ain't too bad of a graphics card, not enthusiast but it'll do. The keyboard is jackpot and the best I've ever used. Its also got 3 years of next day warranty, so he won't have to ship it back if he gets into trouble. Just think about it, otherwise wagers are great.

 

Get him an SSD. I know that for a work/school notebook, this is basically an essential step for me because of the time you actually save not waiting for the notebook to boot up, for programs to load, not fearing about shutting things down when you move around and the time it will take to close up and start again, etc. An SSD makes everything so snappy it changes how you use a computer.