My experience with Broken Hinges, Sager, and Xotic PC

I have had my M57RU (from Xotic PC) for about 3.5 years. I am now looking for a new laptop. My experience with my Sager has been good and bad. The good thing is that it's performance has been excellent, rock solid, almost never over heating even when playing games in 95+ degree temps. I have been able to run three EVE online clients w/o much if any lag, and four with some lag. When I replaced my original HD with a 500 Gig HD, was pleased by how little dirt/dust inside despite that fact that the laptop (being that I am a over the road truck driver) is often in a dirty and dusty environments. Still, I have had some issues with my laptop.

The bad: Primary, the Hinges. About 2 years ago, they both broke, starting on the right hand side. It fell once and that did the left side in, interesting the screen still worked. I thought that my perhaps I as not careful and contributed to the right side breaking. And no, I don't blame Sager for the left side, it broke when it fell through it was becoming loose. It also from day one had poor speaker (weak and tiny sounding) as well as a 60Hz hum over the audio output. When I contacted Xotic PC about the hinge (before the left one broke) they were slow, as in no response, from their tech support. Sent another email, same. Finally had to call them. Now, once we got it sent off and everything, Xotic PC did right by me.

However, they (Sager) still did not fix 60Hz hum, nor the speakers. Now, about a year ago, had a problem with one of my keys acting like it was being pressed while it was not. Again after emailing Xotic PC, they did not reply after several days. Seems like Xotic PC policy is to not answer emails and hope problems go away although in fairness, probably not the case. In any case, it actually worked for the problem went away and never returned. I suspect it was caused originally by using my laptop under unusually hot conditions and about the only time it shut itself down due to heat.

Now, my hinge is AGAIN becoming loose on the right side. Hell, I even purchased a cheep HP laptop to run my GPS while driving to lessen the wear and tear on my laptop, thinking the vibrations contributed to the hinge breaking. I been careful opening and closing the lid, keeping even pressure and using both hands, etc. With all that, it's just a matter of time before it breaks again. Going through the forums, I am not the only person who has had problems with the hinges . I can only conclude that this is a DESIGN FLAW, and from looking at the pictures of current Sager/Clevo laptops, the SAME design is still being used. I had a Dell in the same environment for about the same amount of time, since given to my nephew when I got the Sager, and it's still going strong hinge wise now over 7 years.

If it were not for the hinge, I would probably get another Sager despite the other annoying problems, through not from Xotic PC most likely. So I am going to sell my Sager and am looking at the Alienware new 18" laptop through I am going to hate spending $500 or more than an equivalent Sager, through the warranty (at home support) is IMHO, much better.

I guess in summary, if you are using your Sager at home, not opening and closing the lid a lot, and can live with sending your laptop off to get repaired if required, then it's a good deal. You are saving money. However, for the traveler like myself, then the extra money spent for a Dell or other name brand is probably worth it until Clevo fixes their hinge design.

 

one post wonder?

 

I am sorry to hear of your hinge problem you have on your 3.5 year old M57RU . If you wouldn't mind PM'ing me your information I can look into the hinges for you and see if we can help you with this issue.

I would like to look into your email issue you stated also. We reply to all emails, no matter what the email is, within 24 business hours.

 

Justin, I had no problem with sales at Xotic PC. And odds are, the slow email response is not par for the course, just what I experienced from your tech support. I will send you my sales info. My main issue is the hinge. If you have info showing that the have been redesigned then I will look again hard at Sager.

 

Naw, at least a three post wonder....

 

I have a Sager and the hinge is completely not like the 3.5 year old M57RU. There are many Clevo models that do not use that design.

Plastic construction and sturdiness will probably be a bit better on Dell models though. Keep in mind, Clevo manufactures alot of the Alienware models too.

 

Clevo used to manufacture Alienware laptops, but not since AW was bought by dell...

 

Just from looking at the pictures, it looks the same. My hinge has I think two or three metal posts which go down in the the body of the laptop and they are which broke. To me they looked like stress fractures which finally went clear through the metal posts. If there are some pictures I sure would like to see the details of current models. But from the outside, looks EXACTLY the same on current Clevo laptops as mine which broke. Somewhere on this Sager section there was a person who replaced his hinges and it is a more current model (IIRC) than mine. Yet it looked like what I had.

As for Alienware/Clevo, I believe that this is no longer the case that Clevo makes them for Dell. Dell has someone else make them but I am not sure. In any case, the design is a lot different and if there are problems, the difference is Dell with send a tech out to your house to fix it while with Clevo/Sager you will have to send it in. I assure you I have NO love for Dell, they ARE OVERPRICED compared to Sager/Clevo. However, one is the Devil you know vs the Devil you don't know. IF I get a Dell and the hinges break, it's Dell's fault. If I get one from Sager and it breaks, then it is MY fault, since I knew it going in that there were potential problems.

 

are you saying you use your laptop "open" while driving very often? if that is the case, then you are putting a lot of wear and tear on the hinge by it flapping back and forth. i doubt many laptop hinges are designed for that kind of wear except for military grade and panasonic toughbooks. sager/clevos are mainly gaming laptops/light workstations for portable desktop use i would presume.

 

Acting like you are establishing your knowledge as empirical data is not productive.

Dells are manufactured by Wistron and several other manufacturers. At least with Clevo you have real knowledge of you manufacturer.

You obviously don't know a lot about build quality if you are simply suggesting that Dell is good. There is a huge range of Dell machines which have better and worse build quality than Clevos, and which were again manufactured by a few different contracted corporations.

They also all have different warranty services and no, not all of them will replace your hinges in all cases.

I'm sorry if it sounds harsh but we get a lot of "experience" threads here in the Clevo/Sager forum, as unique yours may seem to you, its not really news to most of us.

 

My experience is once you break one side the clock is ticking hard on the other.

 

Suspicious posts are suspicious... especially that it was a few of them popping up at the same and tangentially referring to XoticPC in a negative light. Legitimate issues or the competition positioning themselves?

I have some experience training people how to use forums for geurilla marketing (for a different industry) and I have to say there are quite a few posts of dubious nature floating around.

 

you say that as if it isn't logical and you have some special intuition about it...

BUY FROM RJTECH
IF YOU WANT TO

Savvy noob is not savvy.

Or are you just applying your wish to be a reseller onto me? Believe me, I wish I was too
as long as its not for those euro*sses

 

Oh I'm not implying you're shilling, just speaking in generalities that some of these detailed "experience" posts by new accounts smell fishy to me.

 

Not the first time that thought has sprung to my mind either...

 

Is all the nastiness on this thread needed?

 

And this is Xotic PC's problem how?

Isn't it ironic how a tool like you is posting about a hinge?

 

I love it. Here I post about my experience and some of you Sager fanboys fall all over themselves to jump on me, yet they fail to read (or understand) that my point is that the Sager/Clevo has an excellent laptop with a, IMHO opinion, a design flaw on the hinges. I also mention my experience, both GOOD and bad, with Xotic PC. I said that they were slow (service) responding to emails, not like I blaming them for 911. I also said, and I quote, that they "did right by me" I also distinguished what Sager did and did not do and separated that from Xotic PC. Yet some of you fanboys are falling over yourself because you can't let your idols shine on all but the most holy light. Your worse than the Dell Alienware guys taking criticism on their holy laptops.

Now, while I may be an over the road truck driver now, I spent 20 years in IT. My company back then had a small division which repaired laptops in downtown Chicago for Toshiba. When I was in between network consulting gigs, would hang around our downtown office and out of boredom, give the guys there a hand. In no way this makes me and expert, Nor have I CLAIMED to be an expert. However, we never saw a single laptop with the hinges broken like I have, through admittedly, I only saw a small percentage.

Look mates, as I said, I don't really want an alienware. Name brand means nothing to me. Performance, reliability, and price are what is important. I think they are actually kinda stupid taking that Alien theme too seriously. . However, as I mentioned, unless I see the hinges have been redesigned, then I can't go again with Sager. IF they were redesigned, I would consider Sager and even look at what Xotic PC has to offer. If they have, or if you have current pictures of the hinges on today's Clevo laptops, please post them here.

Here is my opinion as to why my hinges are breaking and yours may not be. I use my laptop on my lap. Sounds simple, eh? For most of you, your laptops are probably on a desk or table, etc. When you move, breath, get up, etc, your laptop is unaffected. Whereas my laptop, in my sleeper on my truck, or even at home on my lazy-boy, it is on my lap. Every time I move, type this post, etc, my laptop and screen jiggles. When I get up to eat, bathroom, etc again I am moving my laptop, setting it aside, and then picking it up again. All this puts stress on the hinges. The hinges were not designed properly to be used everyday like that. Again, this is my OPINION, based upon two laptops, and if you bother to go back through old posts, others who have had problems.

For most of you, you will probably never see your hinges break or just start to become loose before you upgrade and sell or give away your laptop. But for me and others, using it constantly everyday on your lap, the hinges are not up to the job. Now when I look at Sager/Clevo since I am in the market for another laptop, the design looks the same. This irritates me hence my original post.

In any case I heading out on the road after hometime in a few hours. Back to 12 plus hour days seven days a week till next hometime, so don't expect long responses like this one any more...

 

I thought so too that the vibrations may have been the cause when the right hinge broke. So, while it was off being repaired, I purchased an HP laptop to run my GPS maping program on my passenger seat. When my Sager came back, kept it in the sleeper on my bed surrounded by pillows, lid closed, so it will be nice and comfy while I used my HP for navigation.

 

I'm genuinely sorry that you had trouble with your machine. Your usage, though, is probably not typical when compared to most Sager/Clevo owners. Since you use your system in an over the road truck, you may want to consider a professional-grade machine as your next purchase. Something like a Dell Latitude, HP Elitebook, or Lenovo ThinkPad. Sager/Clevo are consumer based machines that I don't think are designed to withstand the kind of use/abuse that being in a truck of hours on end can create. To be fair, I don't think the consumer versions of the above referenced systems (Dell XPS, HP Pavilion, Lenovo IdeaPad) would be able to either.

In any case, it's good to see that your issues are being resolved. Hopefully you won't have the same trouble in the future.

 

Considering I am sending emails to [email protected] as he requested with the email exchanges between me and their service dept sorta takes the wind out of this conspiracy theory. Unless of course, this was all planned from the beginning when I purchased my laptop, knowing that their service dept will be slow responding (or not at all) and I can pounce on them.

Let me just state for the record that as regard to Xotic PC, they are a better than average reseller of Sager laptops, maybe even the best. Justen, IMHO, as stated, did right by me. It is only that their service dept did not respond timely to my emails, nor did they call me as I asked them too via cell phone now that I have re-read the emails. Being a OTR truck driver I have to pull over and stop to send/receive emails. You REALLY don't want friendly truck driver texting and emailing while driving....

 

Thread closed ... too much arguing/insulting.