NP9280 Review

Hello all. I just ordered a Sager 9280. It should be arriving early june. I want to so a review when it gets here and would like to know what information people want to see. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

 

I must admit that I am not that advanced and will need some things spelled out for me.

 

Haha! lol!! Your internet bandwidth will have to be super high so that you can upload all your videos!! Do not go wrong with the pros and cons. People do read these before purchasing their notebooks.

 

this laptop Achilles's heel is the GPU
i wish the 4870 x2 is available for this laptop...then we have a serious gaming laptop.

 

The GTX 280m is still a VERY powerful card. Its a perfect compliment to a mobile workstation. Those opting to purchase a notebook with a core i7 CPU in it are likely more interested in the processing prowess compared to GPU power.

If gaming is the sole care for a user, the M980NU would likely be a better system, which is not so powerful on the CPU side.

 

Yes. While I will be doing a lot of gaming, I will also be doing a lot of CAD work.

 

Hi washy,

Congratulations on your purchase. As for the review, this is a good review to use as a guide - http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=272634 . You don't have to go as in-depth as the review, but the more information you put in, the more helpful it will be.

Regards,

z.

 

When you get it, be sure to view your Overclocking options!

 

Ah I want to get a 9280 as well, but with the processor has a 130w output... what kind of battery life can you expect out of a laptop like this? Say if I needed to take it to class? (I will be doing CAD, virtual design) and core classes as well obviously

 

Make sure there is a plug nearby!

 

Can someone link me a Sager 9262 review for comparisons... I saw a video on youtube, but I want to get a look at the aesthetics with some good pictures... It's got a work style too it, but I think its kind of ugly, maybe Ill put a laptop sticker on it...

 

Ugly? it just looks like a black shoe box , I don't think that a sticker looks good but u can try a vinyl or something .

 

Hei, my post got deleted... . I was just joking, sorry.

 

I got to look at a D901c/NP9262 up close recently at a local boutique computer shop. It looks pretty good actually. Maybe it was the gloss finish, but the aesthetics aren't that bad. Can't say the same for the M860Tu next to it...

Anyways, here's a review of the NP9280 courtesy of Notebookjournal.de (Translated from German to English):

http://translate.google.com/transla...review-gtx280-cyber-system-i7-893&sl=de&tl=en

And I can see another reason why they went with 1 GPU given the battery power consumption rate...

 

Ya I love the look of the screen, black glossy borders and such... I just dont understand why they have the Grey workstyle look, with a Chunk Sager symbol on the lid

 

It's interesting to see that the x9300 score wise is near the I7, however I think they should have mentioned that the I7 actually has 8 cores, 4 that are split and better suited to task for certain uses (super quad)

 

Agreed... A plain black finish would be much better (and i have to say that those ventilation holes are UGLY)

i7 is like 20-30% faster than a core 2 quad at the same clock (and if the application got a good SMP support the hyper threading gonna rape c2q ).

 

Does this use the desktop i7? If so whats the battery life on this notebook? 20min? And heat? I bet its 5 inches thick and sounds like a 747 taking off. Honestly I would just build a desktop at this point. You could get an i7 920 + 2 GTX 285 in SLI and a have money leftover for a cheap netbook for the price of this "laptop", and with cooling and overclocking the desktop would be much more powerful. I guess for the laptop you could bring the power cord and cooler around where ever you go and it would still be somewhat mobile but still.

As for QX9300 vs i7 920, the QX9300 is a good overclocker in laptops, (better than the i7 in this case. Where talking 130W thermal for the 920, vs 45w for the QX9300. So I bet if this laptop could use the QX9300 after overclocking the performance would be similar. However the i7 would have triple channel ram and the more advanced chip set advantage.

 

If this can handle a i7 965 you have some room to overclock... And with a little overclock i7 already rape qx9300 , i DOUBT that a qx9300 can win against a i7 965 don't matter the overclock (i don't see anyone with a 4ghz qx9300 and at 3.5 vs a i7 @ 3.2 i don't believe it can win ), and remember 920 is MUCH cheaper.

Core i7 920 $280
Asus Rampage II $400
Evga GTX285 $330 each
Ocz reaper ddr 2000 6gb $160
Kingwin mach1 $250

Still need cooler, keyboard, monitor, case, and one 250gb hd to be compared to the D900F what xoticpc sells... Not that cheaper (more powerful but its a desktop). I'm gonna build a desktop if my new note (d900f or w90) get too outdated but i really don't want a desktop anymore .

 

Yeah I guess your right about the i7 raping the core 2 mobile. If we really wanted to compare them we should compare the same prices as in the i7 3.2 extreme vs the QX9300, where the i7 wins.

However the GTX 280m is essentially a 9800GTX performance wise (right?). Meaning even a single GTX 285 (fastest single core gaming gpu) would out preform the GTX 280m by far. The NP9280 fro xoticpc defalt specs (i7 920 and lets say raid 0) is about $2200. Pick up a i7 920 $280, a comparable mobo like EVGA E758-TR for $270, and a Evga GTX 280 (faster than the mobile version) for about $260, all in all will end up $500 cheaper. However the NP9280 would be portable. If having to carry the power cord around everywhere you go is considered portable. Also in terms of upgrades, the mobo supports 3-way sli, not to mention superior overclocking abilities of the desktop and how long they last (able to reuse psu/case for next build).

In my opinion I just don't understand the point of a laptop with a 130w desktop cpu in it, when you could just buy a desktop. However having a laptop with an i7 extreme 3.2 quad-core would be something to brag about . Just not very practical all things considered.

 

Desktop is faster, cheaper, more customizable than notebook its already know . For me it's the same thing with having a QX9300 in it , i need a powerful processor because it gonna be my main pc (at least till the day that i something in my mind change to make me want a desktop again lol) and i want a notebook to bring it with me when i go to practice with me team (I'm REALLY tired of moving my desktop lol)... But that's my case .

 

I Will be in the millitary and using this as a desktop. Its just when I have to pick up and move, having a desktop would be much more trouble.

 

Washy, you got me thinking about getting this beast when I seen this thread here earlier...I have had a 5797 on order for about 3 weeks now...I said the hell with it and got online and figured if I dropped a couple of extras on the 5797( that was not really needed) and added a couple better things to the 9280(that was needed)that the best buy was the 9280 with just a little bit more price difference(125.00)...So, I dropped the order on the 5797 and replaced it on the 9280...These machines should be the beast...I cant wait!!!

 

congratulations!

 

Take a look at this link... http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

 

Same here. I was a day away from ordering the 5797 and then the 9280 appeared and I had to spend the little bit of extra cash on getting the 9280. Which, for my needs, is totally superior. My only problem is. I have to wait till end of may/early june!!!!!ahhhhh

 

Wow, I'm so impressed with the 9280 so far!
I was going to get the Dell m6400 in the next week or so, but I think I'll better hold off.

A few things I'm not sure about:

- can the i7 965 Extreme Edition be overclocked?
I thought "yes", but I also heard "no" somewhere

- is it a problem to put in your own HDDs and Blu-Ray burner?

- where can I find more info on the screen? like how many NIT, and how reflective is it really. I suppose there's no way to make it anti-glare?

- I'm also missing an accidental damage protection on xoticpc.com...

Thanks for any help & happy rendering!
Schinkster

 

Look up the Sager 9262 for comparisons it uses the same chassis and casing