NP8170 (P170HM) vs Toshiba X505-Q8102

Looking at these two machines, could anyone give me any feeback on the differences between the two machines, quality, performance, support, etc.

When I price them out at the same configuration, the P170HM is about $100 more.

Toshiba X505-Q8102: (Is avaiable at retail stores with 18.4" screen)
Intel Core i7-2630QM 2.0GHz / 6GB RAM / 640GB Hard Drive / Blu-ray Reader / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M / 802.11n / HDMI / Windows 7 Home Premium

Same configuration for a P170HM but 17.3" screen

 

One thing that stands out is the Sager has an LED screen, where the Toshiba has a TFT. But I guess you'd have to see the screen to see if it really matters. LED usually means more uniform light distribution and less power.

From the Toshiba's I've seen I'd say the Sager in general is a better build quality too. I have no clue about Toshiba support but I know the Sager resellers here have good support.

 

I think thats the thing thats underrepresented is that Sagers/Clevos have really good build quality.

My Clevo 5792 has been working without a hiccup for 3 years and I travel with it every week on the plane.

 

Is there any data to back that up? My anecdotal evidence of owning 2 sagers says otherwise.

 

I have the x505-898. This is my 3rd Toshiba and I would say the build is really solid. It does what I bought it to do GAME. I game on it for up to 3.5 hours with Crysis, Metro 2033 and others. No stutter, or over heating. I love the speakers. With the Toshibas I've had, so far no RMA (fingers crossed) so I don't know about support. But, support from most places is problematic (SAY DELL--Hello India) I will say I do take some heat from my buddies that have sagers 7200, or the 8120. From what I can tell those sages are solidly built. BUTTTT, I get to laugh when their lappies over heat, or get the ghosting effect from the dual cards (8120 problem). Full, disclosure I really wanted the 8120 . As for sandy bridge in the new Qosimo (if I only waited 3 weeks) that would be the only difference, everything else stays the same. Yes, SB will make it faster, but from what I'm reading it won't do much in game (fps-please correct me if I'm wrong) to be faster the 460 card would need to be upgraded (maybe to 485m) but don't wait for the 485m in a Toshiba.

 

I have the x505-898. This is my 3rd Toshiba and I would say the build is really solid. It does what I bought it to do GAME. I game on it for up to 3.5 hours with Crysis, Metro 2033 and others. No stutter, or over heating. I love the speakers. With the Toshibas I've had, so far no RMA (fingers crossed) so I don't know about support. But, support from most places is problematic (SAY DELL--Hello India) I will say I do take some heat from my buddies that have sagers 7200, or the 8120. From what I can tell those sages are solidly built. BUTTTT, I get to laugh when their lappies over heat, or get the ghosting effect from the dual cards (8120 problem). Full, disclosure I really wanted the 8120 . As for sandy bridge in the new Qosimo (if I only waited 3 weeks) that would be the only difference, everything else stays the same. Yes, SB will make it faster, but from what I'm reading it won't do much in game (fps-please correct me if I'm wrong) to be faster the 460 card would need to be upgraded (maybe to 485m) but don't wait for the 485m in a Toshiba.

 

The thing that's never mentioned is the ease in which you can work on a Clevo machine. You can swap a CPU in 15 minutes, which is something that takes considerably more time and effort with major OEM machines.

 

Yes I agree totally! One of the main reasons I recommend Sager / Clevo is working on them is very easy in comparison to many others...

 

i am also wondering about these i really like toshibas build and price but its not upgradable i know you cant update the gpu at all but what about cpu upgrade can i update toi7 2820qm or 2840qm at all?

@babyhemi plz give me the sager np 5170 details i hope it ships with gt 555m

 

The Toshiba needs a new mother board for the SB cpu.


JohnnyFlash is totally correct that sagers are so easy to upgrade. I'm going to change my Toshiba x505-898 cpu from i7 740 to the i7 940xm, once I read the disassemble guide for the 100th time I know it will be a bear to open the Toshiba, and get to the cpu. BUT, I like doing crazy things with my lappy.

 

I think he meant if he went with the base i7-2630QM can you update to another CPU later if I am understanding correctly? If it came with a SB CPU then yes you can most likely update to another SB CPU, only if the BIOS supports it though.

 

Data no -- no more than you asserting otherwise since my anecdotal experience runs counter to yours -- but here is a forum moderators comment right in the sticky -- see his comments on "quality":

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-0-faq-reseller-info-read-before-posting.html

 

Your right! The Sager w/ the Qosmio specs would be $100 more. I would think either laptop would be great. The one thing I realy like about the Qosmio is the look (some like it, some don't) and the 18.4 screen (this thing is huge!)

Also, the Qosmio weighs 10 lbs (Sager weighs 8.5 lbs)!!! Qosmio does have a 12 cell battery (vs 8 cell Sager). I think teh Sager has a better webcam (2.0 vs 1.3). Sorry, I did not see, but does the Sager have LED-lit Keyboard?

Like I said, they're both great computers. Good luck with your choice.

 

No, Sager does not have a lit keyboard. The Sager does have an LED backlight screen though unlike the Toshiba with CCFL backlight.

 

Ahh so they have superior build quality, is that why both my hinges broke? And when I inspected them, the part that broke was made of pot metal? Gophn is a total Sager honk, he'd sooner shoot his mother than say something negative about Sager. And again, his claim has no data backing it up. Though he may be right, the more expensive models have a better quality than cheaper mainstream laptops. Which is not a good comparison since it's apples to oranges.

 

Exactly what machine(s) did you own?

No point in talking if you aren't providing details.

 

I think if you were to take a poll of Sager / Clevo owners here at NBR you'd probably find very few significant issues.

 

Whatever the situation is, this is harsh

 

Yes, what machines are you talking about? You might be talking about thr lower end sager machines which are rebranded compals rather than clevos, meaning 2 different manufacturer altogether.

Edit: Right, M570U, not sure about how this model is, but it did last you over 2.5 years didn't it? The hinge design seems to be same as that of Alienware M15 first generation.

 

I love how being on an internet forum is an open license to be rude.

Anyway I have a Sager NP5792 (3?) / Clevo M570RU. It was $2000 3 years ago with the top end GPU at the time the 8800m GTX. My greatest fear was quality since nothing else really matched its specs for the price.

I get on a plane 48 weeks a year with this machine in a backpack - moving from hotel to office and back. Not one BSOD, no paint peeling, no signs of wear even. I had it shutdown on me once due to an overheating problem because I had it on a bed with all the vents covered up. It gets lukewarm in multi hour gaming sessions -- my 5 year old HP business laptop by comparison gets hot on the bottom.

Again one person's anecdotal evidence which is very different than your anecdotal evidence. There would be little need for a website dedicated to laptop opinions / reviews if there were statistical certitude about the quality of every laptop. When you say evidence you are simply looking for a straw man so that you make your point to the contrary with your 2 data points. Very hard to prove better / best / worst -- the assumption on these forums is 'experience based opinion'. Even the moderators / reviewers on the most technical of internet sites (including this one) have not tested 1000 of each laptop to give you 'statistical fact' with standard deviations associated with failure points of a laptop.

 

If there was a study that showed sager's had a better build quality than other laptops in the same class, i'd proudly link that article when people ask about sagers or are looking for gaming laptops. But you really can't dispute the fact that the parts that broke in my laptop were made of inferior metal quality, which directly counters the claim that they have a good build quality.

 

rickster - just because you've had a couple bad experiences doesn't mean every sager is junk. You're assuming all sagers are bad and need evidence that they're good. Quite the contrary. I understand the frustration, but there's plenty of evidence here at the forums of satisfied users that these machines are of good build quality and engineering.

 

Just for clarification, both screens are TFT, the sager is LED backlit and (I assume) the Toshiba is CCFL backlit.

Sager = LED TFT LCD
Toshiba = CCFL TFT LCD

 

100% my error. yes, that is what I meant to say but not sure whey I said it the way I did... corrected. Thanks.