NP8690 Order help

So, I have been saving up for a month and bathing in anticipation of finally ordering a new computer. I plan on buying it on the 1st of April.

After looking around I have decided on the Sager NP8690.

I was going to get it straight off the Sager website, but they are back ordered so I went on XoticPC and they didn't seem to be so it looks like I am getting it from there.

My intended configuration is the default, but with a 920XM processor, 1366 memory, and 500GB 7200RPM Harddrive.

However, I have a few questions I was hoping could be answered:

1. Should I go for the 5870 or 285? Both I hear are good and that it depends on what games you play. The newest game I really play is Fallout 3 and probably some Crysis just to see how well it will run.

2. Do I need to get dead pixel insurance? I don't want to get stuck with a faulty notebook, but $200 is a LOT extra. What are the chances of dead pixels?

3. Is my listed configuration good for a $2500 budget?

I have never bought a gaming laptop before and I hope a guru will be able to help put my mind at ease.

 

well, ill tell you what i ordered....

FHD, i7 820, HD5870, 4gb ram, 500gb 7200rpm Hdd... but I just got word from exotic that the FHD screen is on backorder from sager until early april

I also had to order an OS, so that drove my price up $90..total was $1888 i believe.

I didnt get the dead pixel insurance cuz i figured if it doesnt go bad before 30 days i will probably be allright...but to each theyr own. some people like the piece of mind, i like my $200 more

 

So if it's back ordered on the Sager site any reseller will also be back ordered?

Because then that would also mean that the GTX285m is unavailable as well.

Is there any particular reason you opted for the 5870?

 

1. The Mobility 5870 is faster, provides DirectX11 functionality and costs less than the GTX 285m. For the moment, the 5870 is a no-brainer.

2. The value of pixel insurance is in the eye of the beholder. For me, it is a waste of money given the 30 (or 15) day, no questions asked, return policy extended by most resellers and the relative infrequency of the problem. But, if it lets you sleep better, go for it. Incidentally, my screen was perfect.

3. I would consider downgrading to the 820QM from the 920XM and using the savings to add the Intel 160GB SSD. I was fortunate enough to have a budget which permitted both, but if I had to choose, I would get the SSD. The increase in speed and responsiveness is incredible.

In the end, get exactly what you want, regardless of what anyone else may say or advise. You're the one who will be living with it.

 

If I bump up the HD to the SSD it comes out to about $2700.

What kind of increase in performance would we be talking about here?

I can do that but only if it is a significant improvement.

Or is it possible to just get a SSD and put it in myself later?

EDIT: One other question for you, do you get good performance with the 1080 screen in games?

I am avoiding thus far due to performance drop concerns.

 

An SSD will be astonishingly fast, but at the cost of maximum disk space. Plus, the NP8690 is only capable of housing 1 internal hard drive. All of your storage and possibly bigger games would need to be installed on an external e-SATA drive.

You could very easily buy and install an SSD yourself later on down the road. Sager/Clevo machines are easily upgraded.

Regarding the FHD screen: As soon as you get the notebook, you can play pretty much whatever you want at native resolution with high details. However, in a few years, it will be difficult to run newer games at that native resolution (1920x1080). You'll have to sacrifice some eye candy as time goes by.

 

Do you think I should be able to max out FO3 and Oblivion still if I go for the FHD?

 

Those run on the GameByro engine, which is relatively old. I'm not sure about running those on absolute maximum with maximum Anti-Aliasing and such, but you should be able to run it on Ultra details with Anti-Aliasing disabled. Hope that helps.

 

Any reseller that uses Sager as their supplier, yes. However, not all resellers do. RJTech, for example, imports their own from Clevo.