New Laptop and Software

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the form but have been reading up for some time on all your information. Thank you for all the reviews, reseller information and recommendations. They have been invaluable in my research for the upcoming purchase of my future laptop. I feel like I've discovered a whole new side to the laptop world.

Quite honestly I was ready to purchase a XPS1710 as I had never heard of Clevo and their resellers. I now know I will be purchasing the M570U or the M570RU when available.

I actually have some questions and would appreciate your help:

1. If my purchase time is around May - would you recommend to wait for the M570RU? I read that Santa Rosa (Centrino Pro?) will have better power management (better battery life maybe), Draft N Wireless, etc. I don't really need any Direct x10 graphic card (whenever thats available) as the 7950 512 would be enough for me.

2. In reading the forum posts, I see that many of you order the laptops without any software (Vista, Office 2007, etc). Is there a more cost effective way to obtain this software? OEM maybe? Or is there another reason?

3. I take my laptop to and from work daily as I work at both places sometimes. For this reason a docking station would be beneficial to avoid having to connect/reconnect cables each time. I haven't seen a docking station available for the Clevo M570U, is there one?

Thanks in advance for your help. I realize now there are many places to purchase the laptop (thanks Gophn) so when the time comes I'll do a final review on the ratings and prices. I do like the idea of getting it without any logos/stickers on top and it sounds like that might be possible just by asking them to ship it that way.

Thanks Again,

Luis

 

Welcome to the NBR Forums.

Glad that you found the information here to be useful.

As for your questions:

I personally do not feel that the new Centrino Pro [M570RU w/ Santa Rosa] should warrant you to wait... the performance and power management is probably improved, but I would not believe it to be very significant... its probably marginal at best. And the current M570U seems to have a bit more features [mainly the Audio DJ front panel].

Well if you are not going to play many games, then Vista would be a good choice. However, Vista is still young and needs some more optimizations to match the performance from the matured Windows XP. Its not about price for most of the enthusiasts that buy such a high-end notebook, its the performance and stability that matters.
As for Office, most people have their own preference (such as WordPerfect), and some just get Open Office (which is the entire MS Office Pro) for free.

There is no proprietary/specific docking station for the Clevo M570U, probably because it is considered a desktop replacement.
If you want a docking station, there are many good options for USB docking stations available. (from Belkin, Targus, Kensington, and other notebook accessories manufacturers).

I would recommend this one:

Belkin F5U216 USB2.0 Docking Station - about $70

Hope this helps,
-Gophn

 

I would wait for may unless you absolutely need the laptop now.

Ordering without any preinstalled software mean that you wont have any bloatware that will slow down your system and its also cost effective if you have an extra copy of xp or vista or if you want to try linux.

Take a look at third party dock like from targus or kensington or Belkin

 

Thanks Gophn I appreciate your feedback and recommendations. You too Kdawgca.

I'll keep researching and see what happens in the next month or so as my purchase date is mid May. I will definitely use it to play games as well as business. I love Half Life 2 and when Episode 2 comes out I want to be ready. I do like Halo 2 as well but that one is Vista only (Coming out May 9) makes it tough... I hear you about the newness of Vista so we'll see.

The M570U is a beauty and it sounds like I can't go wrong either way.

Thanks again!

Luis

 

I think your questions have been covered, but I'll throw in my two cents . . .

It's definitely worth waiting for Santa Rosa, especially if you are buying around May. If you buy a laptop right now you're buying technology that came out well over a year ago.

Here's a nice but expensive docking station:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3558
It connects via the ExpressCard slot.
The Belkin Universal Notebook Expansion Dock is also worth looking at for a bit more $$:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3261
I imagine that both of those can be had for less than retail at online stores.

I'd recommend getting Vista with your notebook because you're going to want it anyway, so you might as well get it right away. It'll be more cost efficient that way. The gaming performance under Vista isn't as bad as people are saying, and with a Go7950GTX graphics card, even with some performance reduction (once again, not a big one), games will be more than playable.

 

Thanks Chaz, I appreciate the info. I like these two, they cover everything I need. I probably should have done a better job of searching the site for these, so thanks.

Regarding Vista - yeah I think that's what I'll do it sounds like the best way to proceed as well as waiting till May and seeing if the M570RU is out. When talking to some of the Clevo Resellers they say May/June so we'll see.

 

If you buy a Sager with a pre-installed OS you won't have to worry about any bloatware because there simply isn't any.

Also, one of the great advantages of buying Vista on a Sager laptop is that you get 64-bit pre-loaded, and you get the CD for both 64-bit and 32-bit as well. Anywhere else you would have to buy both if you wanted both. Right now a lot of people are buying the 64-bit Vista pre-loaded, and then reinstalling with 32-bit. They prefer waiting for 64-bit to mature before jumping into it.

**NOTE - You only get both if you get the 64-bit pre-loaded, not the other way around.

 

Yea those are definitely nicer docking stations, I just recommended something that is basic and "bang for the buck" because i did not know the extent of what the OP wanted in one.
I personally have used the one that I recommended, it works fine and not software issues.

 

It really has been - you and many others on this forum are really great about giving help to those of us who are looking for the best bang per dollar spent!

I almost pulled the trigger yesterday on a 570U even though I have been waiting on a -RU. My reasoning:

• You can now buy the 4965 (draft N wireless) card on ebay. However, only Vista drivers are available at this time. As I'm a linux guy I noticed that the 3945 (a/b/g wireless) was only $40 and it wouldn't be a financial problem to 'upgrade' later... like when the drivers for the 4965 are more mature (6 months or so).
• 800MHz FSB shouldn't really give that much of a performance boost given Intel's CPU interconnect design - with hypertransport it might be a different story. It'll probably get a few percent, but probably not worth the price increase (for me).
• Saw pictures of the -RU in this story and didn't like the placement of the jacks in front nor the removal of the DJ panel.
• I didn't really need the G84/G86 (Nvidia 88xx) DirectX10 chip - I only have been wanting enough graphic power to let the laptop last 4-5 years (like my current HP). I figured the 7950 had enough to get me that far. Again, I expect the price for the G84/G86 to be at least a little higher.

In chatting online with Rick at ISTNC yesterday to check out their company to order (who was very kind and helpful btw - kudos to you Rick!), he suggested waiting for Santa Rosa and told me that typically Clevo would discontinue the -U a few months after the -RU is out. He also said that a lot of times the actual released model does not match the demo model; in other words, maybe the DJ panel could still be there on the -RU. Though I have been lurking on this site for a few weeks now, I haven't been here long enough to know how Clevo usually phases in/phases out their products with a technology bump, or if what he said about the "release" and "demo" versions of the chassis itself to be true. Combined with my initial hesitation and "goal" to wait for the Santa Rosa release, that was enough to hold me off - for yesterday at least !

Now, with today's story about the initial G84/G86 chips having clocking problems (causing excessive power drain), I'm already wavering back towards purchasing now! How pathetic is that?!

 

This is not that accurate. The Clevo M570U is still their best seller, they should not be phasing it out for at least another full year. Its the bang for the buck 17" gaming notebook on the market.

It really seems that the Clevo showcase at CeBIT2007 was showing the M570RU to be the final design, I know this since I have been corresponding with some of my Clevo sources, which have drilled in my mind:
"Look at the new models of Clevo, do you see any Audio DJ's" "No"
It seems that Clevo is starting to drop the Audio DJ's on their newer systems.

Personally, if it were me, I would really confused as well.... but as for waiting.... I would determine my budget. If its too much money for the premium new technology, then I would just go for the "bang for the buck" Clevo M570U. The current 7950GTX is still going to rank as one of the top mobile GPUs for years. On the other hand, if I can afford the extra budget [probably at least $500 more for the new model, and at least another $200 for the DX10 videocard], then I would wait.

 

Thanks again Gophn! Yes, I didn't know how much more the new machine would be either. I know there will be a premium for the CPU and faster memory at the very least, plus a little more for the new chassis. Add in the new GPU (though I'm fairly sure(?) you could get a 7950GTX for the -RU too) and it's going to add up fairly quickly.

It seems like in order to get the same kind of deal that I'd be getting today I'd have to wait at least 5-6 months. At that point, one's already screwed because the next great thing is <=6 months away again; you're always outdated the moment you buy!

So once again, here I am with an itchy trigger finger ...

Just out of curiosity - was your $500 estimate based on some kind of historical experience or just a guesstimate?

 

well currently the new "next-gen" D900C is being shipped with 7950GTX, until nVidia releases the 8800 Go. The M570RU also will probably ship with a default 7950GTX... since the showcase at CeBIT2007 showed it off with a 7950GTX already inside.

 

Thanks everyone for all your input and insight. I think I'm going to wait a little while and see what happens next month. In the end, if the M570RU turns out to be too expensive for what it delivers I should still be able to buy the current version no?

Thanks again!

 

Alright - trigger pulled!!

I ordered from RJTech this morning and hope to get it next week, barring obstacles, but it could be the week after too. I decided that I would like/use the Audio DJ panel more than a few percentage points performance gain and the likely price increase with the -RU. I'll put in a 4965 for 802.11n (draft 2+) after the linux drivers come out.

I found that RJTech had a slight price advantage over a few of the other resellers that I checked and Richard was very fast and helpful with his replies through email. That together with the good reviews throughout the forums here and I felt good enough to go with them.

Thanks once again to all of you who have been so great to researchers like me!