NP8662 vs NP8690

So, for the longest time I have been reading through these forums and at this point i'm pretty convinced that my next laptop will be a sager, although I'm kinda stuck on which one to buy. The main thing I'm looking for in a laptop is build quality and longevity which i think sager definitely has. The problem here, is that I'm currently attending college and I'm starting to worry about battery life on these laptops.(I want to at least be able to sit through a couple classes and surf the internet and whatnot) I will occasionally use the laptop for gaming, which is why i want the power, but at the same time, its hard to find a good in-between on battery life and performance. At the moment, I'm kind of leaning towards the NP8662, just because I don't think I need the extra power from the GTX 280, or the i7, and from what I've heard it seems like the battery life in the NP 8662 is fairly better.


My main question here:

Is the performance gain in the NP8690 worth the loss of battery over the NP8662(or will the NP8690 be that much more "future proof")?

And for that matter, what exactly is the difference in battery life of these two? (Also, take into account that when I will want/need battery life, i wont be doing much more than surfing the web. and if I'm ever gaming, ill more than likely be plugged in)

 

Well.
IMHO if the main purpose isn't gaming and the main concern is battery I'd get a desktop for 1500 and a cheap laptop for 500(not powerfull, with a culv etc.)
But, the gtx280+i7 are
1) more future proof
2) way more powerful

Im not 100% sure but the motherboard on the 8690 will support i7, so I assume it will also support new things(sandy whatever, etc.) while the 8662 wont(not sure)

I'd actually think if you were to slightly undervault the CPU and when not gaming you disabled the turbo boost in the BIOS the 8690, dim down brightness to 30% you could get a good 2 hours browsing, with quite a few tabs and a bit of flash.
Joseph with the 920qm which is a higher TDP got 2:29 with light browsing(joseph@xoticpc)

--------EDIT---------

Link to josheph's thing
http://www.xoticpcforums.com/showpost.php?p=19965&postcount=17

 

See, i actually have a desktop that has decent gaming capability. I just want something portable now so I can take around and plug it in wherever I want.(for events such as LAN parties maybe, haha)

Pretty much what im saying, is that i more than likely dont need the graphics processing power in the 8690, but are the overall performance gains going to be worth it in the long run?

 

I would say yes.
The I7 has a much better infrastructure, and the motherboard makes it more upgradeable.
I just got a 8690 that I expect with upgrades every 2 years will last around 6 years.
In a year or two the gtx260 will be like the 8000series, and the gtx280 like the 9000 series.
So id go for the 8690, more battery+preformance

 

kk thanks for the advice. i think at this point i'm pretty much sold on the 8690. Though i would love more opinions!

 

Id listen to soviet and chinoobic, they are the two people that have really stuck out(also k-tron and gophn) theyll probably see this thread later and reply, listen to them over me(my advice contractdicts itself

 

If battery life is more important to you, then go for the NP8662. You can always upgrade to a GTX 280M and Quad if you want to in the future and still get better battery life than the 8690.

The 8690 won't give you better battery life than the 8662. In a college situation, you probably need to be close to an outlet if you choose the 8690.

As I have said before, the quad processors are more than good enough for gaming (most games only use two cores), the bottleneck for games is the GPU. The NP8662 GPU upgrades end at the GTX280M.

 

$5 says I hit three hours on the W860CU.

 

See I said listen to them ,one agrees one doesnt though
Hmm

 

Don't forget that the GTX 280M is not an officially supported GPU upgrade path for the NP8662 and the Quads you can use are also limited, with the only official one being the Q9000. Some have upgraded to the QX9300 but with only a single fan for both the GPU and the CPU, you can see why it is not officially supported.

 

3hrs sitting idle? 3hrs web surfing? 3hrs with the AC plugged in? I want to get my money's worth Sov lol.

 

I cant say that I'm referring to gaming that heavily when i ask these questions. The GTX 260m would probably be more than enough for any game I would ever want to run on a laptop.(and for anything that would require more than that, remember i have a desktop ) There many differences and changes that come with the 8690 than just graphics card. I just want to know which one in the long run would be a more solid and better laptop. The i7 offers a lot, especially alongside the MXM 3.0b. The video card upgrade for my uses would probably be negligible, it is just the fact that it comes with many other features and newer technology that may last longer, and in the long run cause my computer to run better.

And you mention that i could upgrade the features on the 8662. Those upgrades would cause significant heat increase and I feel like the hotter a laptop runs would be bad for the longevity of the laptop,(maybe that's just me) so that somewhat contradicts what I said i was looking for to begin with.

you need to test that and get back to me

 

Three hours unplugged sitting in the mall with a hot chocolate and browsing around the web and typing, just like how I did with my M570TU. If I can get 150 minutes on my M570TU, I can get 180 minutes on a W860CU. I will make sure of that.

 

the W860 has a 4cell right? Ive only seen battery tests on the 8760, and they were like 70ish minutes web browsing without any mods or voltage tweaks. 3 hours, I could see 150 minutes, but what other than those tweaks would give you the extra half hour? Because Id love to know how I could get 120-150 minutes out of my 9280

To the OP: The lowest configured 8690 is like $300 more than the lowest config 8662, and that $300 will save you alot more than you paid over the 8662 in the long run. Even the mobile Core i7 series absolutely blows away the old Core architecture core to core performance wise. Plus you're getting newer technology on top of it, including an LED screen, brand new build design, new cooling system, the highest end mobile GPU, and of course the new chipset.

 

My M570TU was optimized to the bone with one very key exception that prevented it from reaching the three hour mark: no CPU undervolt. My QX9300 was already running cool enough and I had more than enough battery time for my needs, so I dismissed a software undervolt as I had no need to implement it.

 

I was thinking of trying RMClock to undervolt, and using that nice registry hack, but does RMC even support X58/Core i7 these days? I used to undervolt my C2E X7800 way down, and was getting good results that way with RMC.

 

RMClock would underclock his CPU as it does not pick up half multipliers.

 

That's why you edit the registry to get RMClock to recognize non-integer multipliers, ChinNoobonic. PM sent.

Also, I am beginning to see the limitations of the W860CU/W870CU battery. I may need to lower my goal to two and a half hours instead of three hours, haha.

 

Thanks for the PM.

 

NP8690 ordered!