Looking to Buy NP8660

I am again in the market to buy a laptop. I was going to get a Sager last year but financially didnt have the money to do so. I am looking at the NP8660 now for gaming and also for school, work etc. I am interested in finding the best deal and company to buy it from. I was looking at xotic PC and was curious to know if any sales are currently going on for paying cash.

 

There is no current deal that is significantly better than the sites you are looking at.

Powernotebooks, XoticPC, etc... all are comparable to each other... as well as even price-match one another.

 

So the last decision I have to make is the screen. Is the upgraded 1900x1200 worth the 175 dollars? I will use it only for gaming and school work. I am just not sure if I can spend the money to get it. I have a glossy screen laptop at home and it doesnt bother me so I am not worried about that. I enjoy the games like COD: WOW, COD4, Crysis, EQ2 etc. so I just want to make sure I am not selling myself short. I have read some of the articles here but they havent really helped me decide.

 

The NP8660 has one of the most non reflective glossy screen I have seen. If the glossy screen on a laptop you have at home doesn't bother you. Then this definitely won't.

 

Mett, I don't know what the 1900X1200 res screen would look like, but I can tell you that I do not regret for a single moment having bought an NP8660. I got mine with the 1680X1050 screen, and it's INCREDIBLE. I can't imagine having more room available. Granted, it took me a couple of days to get used to the higher-res screen from an older 1280X800 I used to own, but now even that resolution looks big and blocky to me. BTW, this thing has handled SUPERBLY everything I've thrown at it (although I don't have any monster-resource games like Crysis).

 

Hey, i own the m860tu with a 1900x1200 lcd in it. In my personal opinion if you do not mind the glossy glare get the cheaper screen, 200$ is a lot of money. The only reason i got the 1900x1200 is that i can absolutely NOT stand glossy screens. Also do not worry, the 1600x1050 resolution from the glossy will be plenty of resolution on a 15 inch screen, i found with my 1900x1200 i had to turn the dpi up when i code on my laptop without my 24'' second monitor.

 

Ok cool, the only monitor I have at home is a 22" and I think it maxes out at the 1680x1050. I just want a wicked nice kick butt laptop for a reasonable price. I think I will go w/ the 1680 then to save some money.

 

I ordered mine last Friday...and am very eager to receive it.

I decided on the 1900x1200 as I too do not like glossy screens. Here is what i have ordered...

Sager NP8660 -
15.4" WUXGA (1920x1200) MATTE LCD
nVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS w/512MB GDDR3
Intel® Core™2 Duo T9800 2.93GHz Processor w/6MB L2 Cache (35W) - 1066MHz FSB
4GB (2 SODIMMS) DDR3/1066 Dual Channel Memory (64bit Vista Required)
320GB SATA II 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive (16MB Cache Buffer)
Combo Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
7-in-1 Memory Card Reader (All versions of MS + SD/MMC)
Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11a/g/n
Built-in Bluetooth Wireless
8-cell Smart Li-ion Battery
Full Range Auto Switching AC Adapter
Spare Full Range Auto Switching AC Adapter

I did a lot of research and I happened to land at Powernotebooks.com. I'm sure the others are good too, but I would ask questions at the weirdest hours in the middle of the night and most of the time I'd get a response in minutes. To me that said that these guys are into their work.

Good luck on your purchase! Meanwhile I'll be sittin here waiting for my dream laptop to ship.

 

nice config.

congrats on the order. PNB is a great vendor.

tell us when you get it.

 

Is a T9800 worth it? I had heard that it runs too hot, you might as well overclock the P9600.

 

Yikes…now you're scaring me. With all the online research I did I'm hoping I didn't get a CPU that runs too hot. Actually I was really going crazy before PNB brought me down to earth. I was all giddy over getting the fastest quad core money could buy; luckily they walked me thru the process of what Sager approves and doesn't approve of (and sent me lots of links to read).

Mett - have you ordered yours yet? If so what did you end up with?

I will be sure to let everyone know when mine arrives!

 

Hey I just ordered mine today @ xoticpc. I just cant wait for it to arrive!!

 

Yeah, I'm curious as well. I remember reading something of the sort on the forums. I think a member had posted that an XOTICPC staff member had said it wasn't worth it to get a T9800, because with the heat, it couldn't run much faster, or something. Of course, I'm dying to see what actually happens with your laptop. If everything is OK, then I might get one myself, when I order my NP8660 in a few months.

 

What did you order Jrlrule?

...I'm off to go hunt down T9800 heat issues.

 

I got the np8660 of course and on top of my head I got

intel p8600 2.4ghz
nVidia 9800GTS
4GB memory ram
250GB @ 7200rpm
Vista home premium 64/32bit

My order is on phase 2, I just wish it would be here right now because I am having to deal with my Acer Aspire One as my main source of computer/internet and its freakin tiny!

EDIT: Also I have to change my sig once I get it since I sold that crap

 

Unless you are doing extremely processor intensive things all day long. Like you're running a professional encoding decoding DVD service or rendering large photos (1600x1200+), HD Footage or a 3d model render farm, you should just get the entry level 6mb cache processor which I believe these days is the T9400 or P9600 and you'd be getting the top level performance that is intended for the Montevina line.

 

So is it worth it to get the T9800 if you're playing a lot of processor-intensive RTS's? Or is it still a waste?

 

I would NOT upgrade the screen on this notebook by the way - I think some games will chug on high at higher resolutions quite a bit, and run hotter trying to handle the resolution, not to mention everything being smaller on the desktop etc.

As for heat, I was afraid of CPU generated heat as well so I went with the lowest CPU I could get and... it runs way too cool and I should have gone with a faster CPU. The M860TU has great cooling for gpu/cpu so I don't think there should be issues unless you're running nonspec processors or are overclocking quite a lot. The hard drive heat issues would be what you should look out for on this notebook. That said, I'd go for a 25Watt CPU anyway just to keep temps low (so a P, not a T).