New DELL's vs sager 2090

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Business
15.4 in UltraSharp™ Wide Scrn SXGA+LCD Display w/TrueLife™
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card
Integrated 2.0 mega pixel Web Camera
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Limited Warranty, Services and Support 1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)
Standard Vostro Services Tools 1 Year Dell Automated PC Tuneup

Price? 1302.00$ + 40$(to upgrade ram to 2gb by yourself)

ADD
2 Year CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service
2 Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Next Business Day On-Site Service

Price: 1452.00$ + 40$ (ram)

I think Sager's got some competition. Except that fact that dell blows. LoL!


Same configuration on the Sager 2090 is about 1550.00, this includes 2gb ram, and 512mb 8600m gt. What are your opinions?

link: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=bqcwkhv&s=bsd

 

The Dell seems like a nice machine, but I will lay odds that the Compal/Sager is going to be more durable, and I don't want anything to do with Dell's support!

 

Yeah, thats a shocking deal for a dell. I'm still sticking with sager though.

 

your pc has only 2 ram slots. if you add a 40$ stick of 1 gig ram, you have to take your old 1/2 gig out leaving you with 1.5 gigs.

 

I actually ordered a 1520 but canceled a week later after I found out about the sager 2090s. The dell was about 150$-$200 cheaper than the sager with the same specs but I decided to go with sager because it looked alot better. The sager also seems to have much better build quality.

Anyways, I think paying a little bit more for better styling is worth it. I also got the extra 3 year warranty from xoticpc which is an upgrade from the 1 year warranty I had before with dell.

 

You weren't just paying for a better looking laptop.

You were also paying for fantastic build quality and a laptop from a reputable company.

 

Asking in this forum is guaranteed to give you skewed results.

I've also looked at the 1520 but when I looked the price for the vast majority of the population who buy through the "Home and Home Office" store was about the same as the Sager NP2090. For a student taking advantage of the EPP deals and coupons, you could get a 1520 with a much better warranty than a Sager for a little less than the Sager but not by much. Reminder: make sure you include taxes and shipping when doing comparisons.

I've been a Dell customer for the past 9 years and owned three Dell laptops during that time. My experience with Dell's service has been great. I've used it several times for hardware issue. I've used their on-site service once when a motherboard was about to give up. The technician came to my house at the time I wanted and did the job well.

But I've decided to go with a Sager NP2090 over the Dell 1520. Why?

Over the time I was a Dell customer, the build quality of Dell laptops has gone down a lot. Apparently the 1520 is designed to buck that trend but I value experience (when available) more than speculation. It is only in 3 years that we'll know for sure how well the 1520 will hold up to 3 years of use.

I also think the Sager variant with the 512MB 8600GT is a better gaming machine. Here, I'm totally speculating but I don't have any "experience" to rely on since I would have to own a machine with a 8600GT already to be able to rely on "experience". Note that I'm not saying that everybody should get a Sager with 512MB 8600GT but for me that seems to be a reasonable choice. So if it is pricier, then, yeah, I'm paying for a better graphic card. (The recent benchmarks I've seen from those who got their Sager/Compal and from those who got their 1520 confirm this.)

I'm also annoyed at Dell's OS offerings. Linux is my primary OS. The machines for which they offer Linux lack some of the bells and whistles I want. It is apparently possible to buy machines without OS from Dell but you have to go through hoops to do that if you are a student because you won't find any of those in their EPP store. My recollection is that you have to go to the business section, configure the machine there and then call to get it transfered to the EPP store and then who knows what discounts still apply. I'd rather just be able to buy a computer without OS without having to do a song and dance. I can do that with the Sager.

I'm also annoyed at Dell's coupons and rebate system. It has happened too often that I configured a machine and then tried to put in a coupon only to find that the system rejected it. It was not an expired coupon or some shady deal. It was a coupon that the system rejected for some unspecified reason. If all the conditions for a coupon's validity ware sparkling clear, that would be okay. However, Dell has gotten into the habit of releasing coupons without clear conditions. You click on "view details" and there's nothing there that says anything about what the coupon is good for. Then you have the problem that some rebates are only good in some of Dell's online stores but not others. I'm tired of Dell's insane system. Every time I price something on their site, I have this sense of dread that maybe I could get a better deal if I followed a different procedure to configure the machine. Or maybe there's a coupon I don't know about. Or maybe 5 minutes later one of their salespeople will sneeze and the price will magically go down $100. I'm tired of that game. Dell, just give me the best price you can give me and stop yanking my chain, for crying out loud!

Then there's this recent announcement (go to the Direct2Dell blog to find it) that Dell is going to hold events in Second Life. Yes, Second Life!!! Talk about fluff! Why isn't Dell spending their resources where it counts like better build quality or better service rather than wasting their time in Second Life?!? Hello? Is anybody home?

That's pretty much how I see things when I think about Dell vs Sager. Not all the issues above are of equal importance. The first 2 (build quality and my evaluation of the NP2090 as a reasonable gaming machine) are more important than the rest. You should think about your own needs and buy accordingly.

 

everyone talks bout how sager2090 has better build quality.
but the new dell 1520 comes built with magnesium alloy casing and has no flex at all on the keyboards.

it seems like the 2090 casing is just hard plastic? it sounds like magnesium alloy is a stronger better quality build..
but is it lol? i honestly dunno.

 

The "Magnesium Alloy" is only inside the frame of the laptop, the outside of the 1520's still ABS plastic.

The Sager could very well have the same quality as magnesium alloy casing, they just don't spam it like Dell did.

 

A foil of metal vs. a thick stack of plastic? I'd go with the plastic.
Read the Dell 1520 vs. Sager NP2090...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=139133.

Do I hear a sticky?

 

I don't know that there is enough history with either of these machines for users to to be comparing build quality. I would doubt that many have had them side by side to compare, so any comments are totally subjective in my opinion.

I have mixed feelings about Magnesium Alloy. Its strength to weight ratio is supposed to be better than some plastics, but I'm not sure you can say that for all plastics. MA is more brittle though - it cracks before plastic will crack. It also blocks more of the wifii signal than plastic.

In my opinion, Lenovo's implementation of a MA chassis surrounded by a high quality plastic case sounds like a good implementation - bringing the best of both worlds into play.

 

What would convince me that one casing is definitely better than the other would be real-world stress tests like those Consumer Reports performs. Until then, magnesium alloys and roll cages are just marketing. We can look at theory all we want but theoretical advantages can be nullified by poor execution. Robson, for instance.

 

ram is cheap enough to disregard robson

 

From what I know only the Latitude lines have MA casing... Inspirons are plastic....there would have been a giant release that the inspirons have a MA casing now.

 

Anyone know anything about the Vostro line?

 

Vostro 1400, 1500 and 1700

* Wireless a/g/n Wi-Fi®, optional Built-in Mobile Broadband from top 3 U.S. carriers and optional Bluetooth; advanced wireless architecture for the fastest Wi-Fi connections and fewest dead spots of any leading notebook provider; up to 8 hours of battery life

* MediaDirect™ with Instant Office, the fastest one-button instant access utility available that enables users to check their calendar and contacts or other Office documents in seconds

* Optional Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processors; up to 4GB system memory


Edit: So I guess the Vostro also has the magnesium casing. It seems only the small business fueled divisions/companies(Lenovo, Dell Small Business) seem to feature it.

* Durability with magnesium-alloy chassis, sealed keyboards and StrikeZone™ hard drives

* 8-1 media card reader; optional integrated Web cam for video conferencing.

Edit: So I guess the Vostro line does feature it. Seems like business oriented companies only feature it (Lenovo, Dell Small Business)

 

the new 1520s do have MA.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/inspnnb?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
click on 'express yourself' and go to premium finish.
says, "durable magnesium alloy casing for satin smooth feel...etc etc"
just fyi =)

 

Thats casing, not chassis though, correct?

I am assuming that is placed on the outside of the plastic, and shouldnt really have anything to do with durability outside of scratch resistance. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

i dont really understand the terms,
but the 1520 has magnesium alloy in the Inside with Plastic covering on the outside. hopefully that helped.
im actually kinda bummed 2090s dont use magnesium alloy. latitudes build with ma is apparently very good for years.

 

"durable magnesium alloy casing for satin smooth feel"

Huh? The satin smooth feel is on the outside, and "casing" to me indicates its on the outside.....

I am relatively certain the MA is the colored lid, not the chassis inside

Edit- Don't get me wrong, it looks nice and Stella in her review said it was very nice, but the casing and chassis are two separate things. The MA chassis is used in the Thinkpads and the Vostro line and is aimed at business users. The casing here for the Inspiron is nicer than plastic but I would only say for a more scratch proof exterior and maybe nicer looks, but structurally its not adding anything.

 

Give me an adamantium-plated bone chassis with flesh casing! Nothing else will do.

 

Ok, Wolverine...

 

if anyone is willing to open a part of their 1520 and take pictures ill put up a magnesium alloy chassis from my R32.

 

Magnesium Alloy scratches easily, and if it is on the outside it is almost always a thin veneer put over the plastic. Take a close look and you will see it...no matter what brand it is.

It does little to add to the strength...the plastic under it is what provides that.

 

Given Compal's volatile ETAs, I went and checked the prices of the 1520 again. With the configuration I want, a 1520 is less expensive than a Sager NP2090 only by about $25. And that's with the EPP discounts. And that includes shipping ($0 right now) and taxes. (Yep, Dell does business in my state so I have to pay taxes if I buy a Dell.) The way I configured the machines I tried to keep the configurations as close as possible but I did not needlessly add things I don't want.

The two thing the 1520 has that the NP2090 does not are: 1) an OEM license for Vista Premium; 2) in-home service for 1 year instead of having to ship things back and forth. The things the NP2090 has that the 1520 does not are 1) a better graphic card and 2) the fingerprint scanner. There are other small differences (like antivirus software with the 1520) but they are utterly unimportant to me.

I can also report that Dell's nonsensical discount system is still alive and well.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I did not take the cash discount with the Sager. It would be a little less expensive than the 1520 with the cash discount.

 

The Sager NP2090 does offer Vista Premium, as well as Business and Ultimate. When you buy the 64bit version you get both the 64bit and 32bit media...you won't find that at Dell.

Also, we provide DOMESTIC 24/7 Lifetime Telephone Tech Support where real technicians answer the phone and actually help you Try to find that with a Dell.

 

Understood. Just to clarify, I did not mean to imply that Vista was not available to purchase with the Sager but that the price difference I saw included an OEM license for Vista Premium with the Dell, no license with the Sager. The fact that the Dell comes with an OEM license is not a bonus as far as I'm concerned but it might matter for some people.

My experience with Dell support over 9 years has been good in all instances. All the people I talked to were based somewhere in North-America and were able to provide what I needed. I've only been annoyed once when a tech at the other end of the phone did not accept my diagnosis of a problem and we had to spend 1/2 hour on the phone instead of 5 minutes because she had me go through her stupid scripted test procedure. The result of that 1/2 hour song and dance was the same as my initial diagnosis. This was an annoyance but not a major issue. I know a lot of people complain about Dell's service but it's just not been an issue for me and I value my own experience way way more than other people's opinions. Maybe it's just that I instinctively know how to deal with various kinds of CSRs or maybe Dell has flagged me as a special kind of customer irrespective of what kind of machine I buy and under what deal. My first Dell purchase was done with a special deal my wife was able to get because she's a government employee. Maybe they flagged me then as some sort of VIP and never removed the flag. I don't know... but I sure have little to complain about in that area.

I have plenty of other things I don't like about Dell however. Like the build quality of their laptops which has gone down a lot over 9 years.

 

There is a big difference between Dell's consumer support and their business support. I'm not going to relate my experience because I feel its best to vote with my money but needless to say I'll never purchase another Dell consumer machine.

 

There is something to be said about domestic customer support - I always stress that when recommending Sager or other third-party notebooks from reliable dealers. The customer service/support you get from a place like PowerNotebooks, XoticPC, or many of the other great dealers of Sager/Clevo/etc notebooks is unparalleled. It really is top notch and should you ever have to contact customer support that is the time you'll say to yourself, "I'm really glad I went for this over mainstream brand x."

The Sager NP2090 is hardly more expensive than the Dell 1520/Vostro. I think it is quite amazing that Sager can compete with Dell price-wise considering how big Dell is (#2 in the world for shipments).

 

This is starting to make me feel a little better. When I saw the 1520 announced and looked at the price I thought I might have made a mistake getting a NP2090...

I guess that I had originally thought that I was saving a lot more money by getting a Sager, but now I realize that although I might not be saving a lot more money (i.e. lower price for similar components) , I probably am getting a better deal all-around. I guess all of my "hard work" scouring the web for the best laptop won't completely come to naught. And if nothing else, I will be more "unique" in comparison to the probable ocean of dells and hps out there...