NP8662 now or W860CU later?

I'm going to get myself a laptop for college, I've narrowed it down and came to the decision to get a Clevo/Sager because I am gaming quite a lot and the 15.4" still make it a portable machine.


Now to the questions, -please- bare with me:

Should I get the NP8662 now or the W860CU later?
I couldn't really find that much information on the W860CU anywhere.. except on this forum.

When the W860CU is released, how long do you think it will be until (German) resellers (DevilTech, for example) "pick it up"?

Would I get the NP8662 now, should i go with the 2.8ghz core 2 duo or the 2ghz quad core?
I know that the W860CU's core i7 kind of takes care of this question..



By the way:
Has anyone of you made experience with overseas shipments of XoticPC?
I'm worried about shipping costs (different currencies, also) and how everything works with warranties because I live in Europe (Austria).

 

I guess it depends how long you can wait? I'v decided to go with the 8662 and the 2.8ghz. Theres a post in the games section comparing the 2.8ghz core 2 dou against the quad core.

I live in canada and i'm ordering from Xoticpc at the end of oct and i'v only heard good things.

With the specs you have said its pretty much the same as mine expect i wont be getting any OS with mine which came to a cost of around 1450 usd. I'm getting canadian shipping which is around 120 more and then there's the gst and pst. When i changed the currency it came to around 2000 canadian.

 

I was thinking the same thing and decided to go with the NP8662 because of the following reasons:

1. No one knows for sure when the W860CU is coming out, I need the laptop yesterday!

2. I figure once the mobile i7's start picking up and these guys over here start upgrading, we'll see a very nice market of used c2q's, or even price drops, which would mean cheap upgrade for the 8662, which would bring it almost on par with the W860CU in terms of performance (though no one really knows the performance increase of the mobile i7's yet, this is an assumption of mine and I hope I'm not too far off) (I'm getting the 8662 right now with a P8700).

3. W860CU will be a first gen everything (new chassis, new chipset, new processors). Would rather get it's successor than early adopt possible bugs in the new tech.

4. Money. I just barely have what I need for the 8662, I'm assuming the new W860CU will be more expensive.

5. Size. I think the M860(E)TU is a tiny bit smaller than the W860. Plus 16:10 screen. I like 16:10 more, but that's another topic all by itself. I'm coming over from a Gateway 17 inch (the P6860FX), and even though I loved it and its performace, I had to get rid of it because it was so HUGE!. So I'm looking at buying the best size/performance ratio laptop I can find.


Things that *almost* made me decide to wait for the W860CU:

1. Improved cooling. Just see the threads regarding the HDD temp issue on the np8662 (I'm crossing my fingers for a good 8662 with a seagate drive).

2. Upgradeability. The end of the road is here already for the 8662. Max cpu you can throw in there is a QX9300, best gpu a gtx 280m, both already released and doubtful there will be new additions supported by this chipset in the future.

 

Why not direct buy it in germany.

 

My perspective:

The 8662 is the cute choice right now, but once ATI's 5xxx and Nvidia's GT 3xxM are being announced as compatible with the W860CU, you'll regret not waiting the extra month.

 

There is also a m15x refresh coming from alienware. Might want to wait for that too

The NP8662 is a great laptop. We don't know how well W860CU will perform, but with what we know, I think it will be very cool and pretty powerful. If you like upgradibility, definitely wait for the W860CU so you get mxm 3.0. But if not, yeah sure go ahead and buy it.

 

The W860CU looks like an awesome laptop. Beautiful design, nice keyboard, and fantastic cooling. I'll probably sell my Asus and buy it when it rolls around.