My little NP8660 review

NOTE: This will likely get very critical as I am one to usually emphasize the bad more than the good. Also, no pictures will be provided. I'll just go through the motions with this as an owner of one of these:

PREVIOUSLY OWNED LAPTOP: Dell Inspiron 9300
Short rundown of specs: 17" screen @ 1440x900, Pentium M @ 1.86Ghz, 1 GB RAM, 80Gb 7200 RPM Hard Drive, 256Mb Geforce Go 6800, Windows XP MCE
Owned since: July 2005

UPGRADE LAPTOP: Sager NP8660
Short rundown of specs: 15.4" screen @ 1680x1050, Core 2 Duo @ 2.53 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, 320Gb 7200 RPM Hard Drive, 512Mb Geforce 9800M GT, Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit.
Owned since: September 2008 (have had for a few days)

Now, a bit of this review will be comparing the two systems as I see each one has significant strengths/weaknesses to the other.


CHASSIS DESIGN: GREAT!
This thing just looks as handsome as can be. It has an etched kind of pattern on its surface, with some glossy trims here and there for some nice balance. The size isn't too bulky for me, but it does look like it's got "junk in the trunk" when you pack it into your notebook bag. The blue power button is just fantastic. It's definitely designed for a more elegant age while still giving off a slightly intimidating feel to the "louder" looking notebooks out there. However, I do wish that the Ethernet port was located on the back of the chassis and more was going on with the left side which only houses the Optical Drive (features that the i9300 had). I'll also miss the media controls that were on the front of the i9300 .


TOUCHPAD: BELOW EXPECTATIONS
And here we go! Okay, this isn't a bad touchpad, but I've had a difficult time adjusting it to behave like the one on my i9300. The biggest culprit has to be the vertical scroll sensitivity as I usually have to run my finger down the side a couple of times to make it register. Other times, it'll become hypersensitive and I'll overcompensate the scrolling. The actual tracking section behaves as I would expect. The buttons actually frustrate me as it takes a bit of effort to click them in compared to my i9300. They don't depress that deep either which makes the amount of force to press them not seem tactile enough.


KEYBOARD: SLIGHTLY BELOW EXPECTATIONS
This is a good keyboard for the most part. The official review saying that they don't depress enough is unfounded in my opinion. The setup is largely like the i9300 but some but the home keys are re-arranged for the smaller size. The reason I give it a "slightly below" is because of the size of just 1 key: Left Control. It is just too small, and if you're into gaming, expect to twist your wrist a bit to reach it when you have to. I'd definitely take it over a notebook that has the Ctrl and FN keys switched but I think some improvement could've been made.


SCREEN: ABYSMAL
And here come the thrown chairs at me. The monitor/display/whatever is just not what I'm used to what I had with the i9300. For one, the screen is just too bright, and I currently have it on PL 3 typing this review. The backlight bleeds into the lower half of the screen, which makes any black look more like a dark gray. The viewing angles are atrocious with dark colors, as they brighten upon looking at angles > 45 degrees. Another beef I have with this screen is the native resolution. I would've been fine with 1280x800 or 1440x900, but not only do I have to fine-tune plenty of my previous applications and web browsers to be enjoyably readable, but it'll hit the components hard during gaming. Resolution is just too much of a powerhog in games these days that playing the Call of Duty 4 demo at the current resolution gives me ~35fps, while it plays at a buttery 60fps on 1280x800. Too bad LCDs don't handle anything other than native resolution well. Comparing this screen side-by-side with my i9300, the 3 year old screen is simply superior-looking while being more pleasing to the eye. Increased resolution on a smaller screen is just to me because I don't need it, it doesn't help the quality/size of videos, the performance in games, or even video editing. To end on a slightly positive note, there isn't any "grain" that people speak of, and there are no bad pixels.


BATTERY: GOOD
I wasn't expecting the battery life to be any good with this. The i9300 and the laptop before it could only have around a 90 minute life at a full charge and all energy saving measures on. For the NP8660, I was quite happy to go through an 80 minute class on PL 2 and still have 40% battery remaining. Not too shabby considering what's in it.


PERFORMANCE: GREAT!
I think what's in this machine is great. Stock 3dMark05 score was 14982, which is better than the 4400 I got by overclocking the video card on my i9300. I haven't had any problems with the processor while doing some experimental video editing. What used to take at least a dozen seconds to catch up on my i9300 now takes no more than a second on this one; a big difference. I'm new to Vista with this laptop, but everything's holding up fine so far. The Hard Drive does get a bit warm though, but I'm thankful to get one with such awesome storage capacity.


HEAT AND NOISE: MEETS EXPECTATIONS
The heat is more evenly spread around this notebook than my i9300, which got pretty hot in a couple places in the bottom. However, this laptop gets a bit noisy when it starts to sweat. Some big fan in the rear will kick in to cool down the video card, and it's definitely noticeable, reminding me of fans on much older desktops. It has a silent mode where it really won't make a noise, but that's best used for energy saving measures. It is weird feeling the heat of the HD from the palm rest of all places.


SPEAKERS: BELOW EXPECTATIONS
Okay, the i9300 had a subwoofer that made everything sound so much fuller. You get tinny sound from these speakers, and to top it off the max volume isn't very loud! Even with headphones on I wish the volume could go higher. It's a shame because it kinda looks like there's a subwoofer at the bottom of the chassis.


OTHER FEATURES: MEETS EXPECTATIONS
It has a 2.0 megapixel camera, but the image is terrible in anything other than a brilliantly lit room. It has a thumbprint reader that I don't see any use for. (Biometrics on a personal machine of mine? Why I'd never!) Anywho, it's missing media controls that I would like to have, particularly for volume control/mute (ease of access is important to me). The HDMI port is a nice addition, and I'll probably be hooking the laptop up to my 720p HDTV once games on max settings start to chug under the native 1680x1050 resolution.


FINAL EVALUTION: MEETS EXPECTATIONS

For the price of this machine, it's hard to go wrong. You can get significantly weaker machines from Dell or Alienware while paying up to 50% more!



PROS:

• System Design
• Superior Performance
• Plenty of features
• Great bang for your buck
• Decent battery life

CONS:

• Poor screen backlighting/angles/resolution choice
• Heat on palmrest
• Tinny Speakers
• Odd touchpad response and feel
• Most features are underwhelming
• Port placement
• Lacks dedicated media controls

 

Good review You definitely are critical (without reading the Final Evaluation, it sounds as if you are cursing yourself for the purchase )!

 

I agree on wishing the volume could go higher with headphones. It's only like half as loud as I could get my FL90 and every other laptop I've ever owned. Oh well, sounds fantastic over bluetooth.

 

Great review Sabin17 and a very interesting read.
would it be possible to ask for 3Dmark06 scores as this is what everyone goes by now a days.
and finally when you get a few minutes spare could you fill out the heat survey in my sig below.
cheers.

 

I don't get the screen part...are you actually saying the screen is too bright and have a too high resolution? You know you can lower that.