More silent replacement for P150EM

So I see from the better business bureau

So...you'd obviously probably recommend your own company, heh. And resellerratings doesn't lie...you guys have a better rating than XoticPC. So...could you honestly say that customer service throughout the transaction and order processing, and after a computer is received, is on par with that I can expect from Xotic? I did get the impression a lot the customer service stuff essentially ends up getting forwarded to Sager themselves when I looked at Xotic and Sager, so I wonder if its the same with most resellers.

 

I could not comment, the rules on the forum state we resellers can't compare against each other like that. It keeps the forum clean and creates a nicer atmosphere. We like the other resellers on here are happy for our customer feedback to speak for us.

 

ah, sorry for asking that then. Wondered after I did...since I felt like I'd heard somewhere that you can't do that.

 

We're all friends here

 

Again, my apologies for asking then. A better and more appropriate question would be: What kind of support is there post sale for your customers? I assume the 30 day no questions asked return policy Sager has applies here, and I'd have 90 days from purchase to decide whether I want to upgrade the warranty to a 3 year one. Do I need to go through Sager for everything though? Or do you guys continue to act as the middleman (an arrangement I hear constantly is the best as well as cheapest way to go with getting a Sager)?

 

Powernotebooks would likely be a liaison for your purchase, similar to how XoticPC would be. If you're getting Sager/MSI/Alienware then all warranty and terms (and possible for-sale upgrades) would be through them. If they do not offer it, you can't get it.

 

Alright, I think I understand that.

Looking around for issues with Optimus online and all I can find are horror stories from what seem like experienced users and only a few positive comments from people who seem knowledgeable, though a portion of those came with some 7 step directions to supposedly make it work right and some even said it only really works when the drivers are uninstalled/reinstalled after every single restart. What exactly am I in for if I pull the trigger here? Most older games refusing to use it (like SimCity 3000 or Rollercoaster Tycoon 1, 2, and 3)? Many new games being finicky with it? Or are a lot of developers getting onboard due to it being fairly common now (or so it seems, anyways; not a lot of other options for a thin and light machine with dedicated graphics and battery life), and have the drivers been getting better with each generation as far as getting programs to utilitze the gpu they should? I know a lot of people like their P650 clevos, and ALL of those use Optimus. I assume the NP8268 would have the same generation of compatible and decent drivers that they're all apparently enjoying?

 

Optimus does have some limitations but from what you're describing, don't worry about it

 

No telling if older games will work with Optimus. Only you can try and see, or you can google it online if people get it working.

The only issue with Optimus is that you do not have access to the dGPU's capabilities as anything else other than a graphics renderer. Some programs don't work with Optimus, and some games have a couple problems with it, but they're not that common. Games will utilize the GPU properly, don't worry. Optimus was near-forced on people since 2012, and has been that way until mid 2014 for the most part. You shouldn't really worry too much.

 

Alright. And it looks like Optimus is still on a ton of laptops as the 'thin and light and with the longest battery life possible' trend continues. The Batman may not have it, but of course the P650 and P651 based ones all do. And does this chassis provide ample cooling and power and so on for the 980m? I know the 880m did alright in it, but I need the 980m to not suffer any damage from being hotter than it was meant to run constantly at or anything, if I want it and the whole thing to last 5 years with no issues. Same of course goes for the CPU. I know a lot of people plan to switch laptops every couple years, but if I'm gonna go with something close to $1600, it needs to be built to last and age excellently. I don't plan on dropping it a lot or using it in a dust storm, so a rugged chassis isn't necessary, just a chassis and components that will provide great performance for as long as I use it for my only computer for at least a couple years and then still my only laptop for up to a couple more.

 

I have a P650SG and I have not noticed any heat issues with the laptop. Surprisingly it stays cool enough that I can keep it on my lap while I play games at their max settings.

Is there anything specific you would like me to test for you?

 

I was referring to the NP8268, which is P150 SM-A based. I can get a better deal for a 980m in that chassis right now. Full vram mxm card version plus a 120 gb solid state drive I can use for my OS and ICDiamond thermal paste, for just 50 bucks more. If the cpu, gpu, or mainboard goes bad in it, I'll only have to get one of those parts replaced, versus all three in a soldered build, not matter how new. Trade-off is just half an inch in thickness and a pound or so in additional weight, and no IPS screen, but I still don't consider that a serious trade-off.

But thanks for confirming the good temps on the P650SG. I wasn't concerned about them, considering it's a set build that HTWingnut has tried, and everyone of all experience levels on this forum only seem to have good things to say about the quality of his reviews.

 

Oops my mistake! Assuming that the IPS screen for the NP8268 is the same one as the NP8652 it isn't a bad screen. I would be curious to see the difference between the TN and the IPS screens side by side in person. For the IPS screen it seems like the colors are different than what I am use to, but it could also be an issue with it not being calibrated properly or my other monitors being off. There is also a bit of ghosting because of the response time.

 

You won't need to worry, and if anything you could mod a 240W PSU to attach if you need extra power (which you won't for stock clocks or a small OC).

 

Alright. I'm in the process of ordering the NP8268-S with a 980m upgrade. Just out of curiosity while I'm waiting to actually pay (it's starting to feel ridiculous trying to get that cash discount, but I can wait a few extra days), would you say that this is a better setup than getting a base NP9752 at the same price, or just maybe paying 50 bucks for the processor upgrade? This is assuming I cannot or will not upgrade anything beyond just maybe the hard drives and ram in the future.

 

If you don't need the CPU power you'll see better performance from the SSD in the NP8268-S then you would the HDD in NP9752. You could always put a SSD in the NP9752 but you did say the base model.

 

Okay. I might mess with hard drives and ram, but I know games and other graphics intensive applications are affected by both cpu and gpu, especially simulators (which I am curious about). So...I do wonder if that high end desktop processor would really improve performance overall and for a fair number of games especially more than a 980m. I know the gpu usually matters more, but with cards as strong as the 970m and 980m the processor does start to become a bigger issue, for some games. I'm curious to try flight simulator after I played a heavily modded version a friend has, for example. I might play shooters and I'll definitely play games like minecraft, Skyrim, Dark Souls, and Witcher 3. But I'm also seriously interested in games like Kerbal Space Program, space engineers (I think that's what it's called), and simulators (flight simulator in particular).

 

It really comes down to the particular game. Most will rely much more on the GPU then it will the CPU. If all other parts the same and you're comparing a desktop CPU to notebook, the desktop obviously is going to be a better performer. But once you starting swapping out CPU, GPU, SSD/HDD, then you're going to see differences in your games and applications. Then we just get back to what games and applications.
The NP8268-S is a good system, no doubt. So if you stick with it you should be happy.