New to Sager - will this NP8170-S1 work for me?

is the pch also present in the hm66 chipset of the 8150?
and also wh=ould routing to the pch affect performance in any way?

 

I know raid is much faster but it's not worth the possibility of loss of data. I'd need 3 HDD's and use one as a backup. So (2) 750GB drives = (1) very fast 750GB HDD drive.
That's a lot to lug around. The 2920 doesn't seem to really be giving emnough oomph for the money it costs. The 2720 really seems to be able to give enough bang for the buck to be worth it.
Raid is good but just too iffy if something fails. The 16GB should be ok for my needs for a long time but my sister (IBM programmer) uses Win Pro 7 and says I wouldn't need Ultimate, so a savings there.
If I can work out which reseller to go to I'll probably order this week.
The cash incentives sound good but I'd rather have the protection of using a Credit Card so that adds to the price.
Here is what I have pretty much decided on.

17.3" FHD LED Backlit 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1920x1080)
30 Day 0 Dead Pixel Guarantee
Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM, 2.2-3.3GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
nVidia GeForce GTX 470M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
16,384MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (4 SODIMMS)
6X Blue-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive
750GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
750GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's
Sager 2 Year Parts & 3 Year Labor Warranty w/ Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Toll Free Customer Support

Total $2548

 

You have selected a nice set up. The hard drive space you have is insane.

Good choice on the dead pixel and extended warranty, they are really good insurance when paying this much for a laptop.

I got the dead pixel warranty as well, this ensures you get a perfect display. Having a dead pixel would bum me out.


A lot of people say it's a waste of money, but on this new high tech bleeding edge stuff that costs so much it can save your bacon. (As an example two years ago I bought a 52 HD TV (one year warranty is standard) that was around $3,000, with a BB extended warranty. This fall at the two year mark the LCD screen died, what was bad is they no longer could get a new display, so if I did not have an extended warranty I would be screwed. What they had me do since they could no longer fix the TV was go back to the store and pick out a new set.

 

I agree thats a great setup and should last you a couple of years on video editing.
I replied on your other post regarding getting the xm for cheaper.
Tell us how it goes when you get that beast

 

Thanks, yes it's a fair amount of space, but I can always go external later if I have to. When you first start you think wow 500GB is a lot of space. Then you realize that your raw footage is 32GB then you edit and save what you need, rinse and repeat.
It adds up all to quickly.
I'm not as concerned about dead pixels as I am about bright ones. I think if you spend this kind of money it should be right from the start.
I'm not afraid to give good or bad reviews on whatever I buy.
I hear you about the TV. They can just up and die and then you're stuck. You are lucky it died within the warranty period.
I would have been surprised if they had the same model TV after 6 months.
Best Buy has a warranty that expires when your product does. Now that they have replaced it you have no extended warranty any more.

@trvelbug
Thanks hopefully it will last a bit more than a couple of years.

 

Steve,

Actually BB has a very good scam going, true once they replace the TV you no longer have the original extended warranty, but you can buy a new one based on the retail price of the new TV. I wish they would work on making the new flat screen TV's as reliable as the old CRT ones that would last for 20 years. I am not into spending the large sums of money to have a nice large screen TV and have it die after a couple years and then spend more money on it when it dies.

Wow you are creating some very large file sizes, Are these just home videos or are you doing work professionally?

Edit: The cash incentive is something I may use on my next purchase (whenever that is). The resellers on the forum have enough creditability that I would not be to worried about something going wrong, and if something did they would take care of it.

 

To Steve:
The last what I suggest you is to ask reseller what exactly type of RAM they gonna put inside. DDR3-1333Mhz or DDR3-1600Mhz. Higher is faster. New processors support DDR3-1600. There is a difference between 3x4GB 1600Mhz and 4x4GB 1333Mhz. First case would be much better no matter that there is lesser amount of RAM.

 

Quality has dropped on TV over the years. I still buy Sony and I have all my life. I bought a different brand one time a small one and it died in 6 months. Buy once, Cry once.

I am actually doing both but I am using video more now. I have to troublshoot machines used in manufacturing. Sometimes the Prints don't show the whole story. I am also doing video for other projects.

The thing about cash incentive is that you aren't protected compared to a credit card and transferring cash isn't as simple as writing a check and having them cash it and wait until it clears. You can't do ACH unless it's from their bank etc...

I'm still trying to figure out why I should use a reseller over going to Sager directly since there is no price difference for me.

 

All the sites have spec'd out 1333Mhz. It's very clear on their websites.
The faster RAM might be better but it's not offered on the sites I've looked at.

 

Regarding the dead pixel warranty, IMHO, if it ships with a dead pixel, then the machine is faulty. It shouldn't ship with any dead pixels. That means Clevo's quality control is shoddy, Sager's quality control is shoddy, and the resellers quality control is shoddy. If it does come with a dead pixel I'm getting it replaced for free or my money back. If it happens later, well then that's something out of their control, but they can easily inspect for a dead pixel in 30 seconds. If they don't care to check for the basics, I don't want to do business with them. And if it doesn't ship with a dead pixel then chances of one going bad in 30 days is slim to none. If it was $100 for a year, well then I'd say it'd be worth it.

 

Then its one more reason not to max out to 16GB (perhaps you are starting to hate me for the same suggestion but I can't be quit talking about configuring new laptop). I don't know about today but soon (I think in 1-2 months) this faster RAM will be very popular everywhere. I understand you are not a fan of self-put anything in notebook (like memory) am I right? But if I'm wrong and if it will be one or two slots free you could simply buy newer memory and put it in.

 

DDR3-1333MHz and DDR3-1600MHz will make little difference in performance.

 

But it definitely will, isn't it? Word little is widely meaning word. For 1 guy it means less than 100 pts of smth and for another it means less than 1000000 pts. I think for a guy who buy the latest laptop and who wants to get 16GB of RAM this difference should mean something, don't you think so?

 

Anandtech and Tom's Hardware both did studies that show the difference is really small, as in a couple of percent. The benchmarks that really count are the actual real world stuff, not the synthetic.

Even though these articles are a few years old they are pretty much relevant, and I invite anybody to do a new one that shows today's systems are significantly different.

Memory Scaling on Core i7 - Is DDR3-1066 Really the Best Choice? - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

and

LGA 1156 Memory Performance: What Speed DDR3 Should You Buy? : Which Memory Speed Do You Want?


Steve, by the way my original 52" LCD was a top of the line Sony model, believe me I was bumming big time.

 

Where it really matters is if you overclock. Buy the faster memory so it is guaranteed to achive the faster FSB clocks. But if your system is configurable, then you're better off using slower memory with a lower CAS with a RAM multiplier to keep it at the proper speed.

 

You are right about a lower CAS but about overclock I think you are wrong. This processor already supports 1600 without overclocking.

 

Unless Sager uses a different PLL (and I see no reason for them to) the only overclocking is using the unlocked XM CPU's and Throttlestop. SetFSB does not work with Sagers PLL and the author has stated they think no future compatibility will be forthcoming.


When I ordered my Sager the resellers state they actually will check and ship a defect free LCD screen when you order with the dead pixel warranty. Otherwise they do not and there could be dead pixels within the normal spec they use or you could get a defect free as well. It’s a gamble then really. The down side of not getting the warranty is you may have to go through the hassle of returning a unit and reordering a new system, for me it was worth the cost to avoid the hassle.

 

That was my point. Only time I see the need for faster RAM is if you plan on overclocking. There isn't much opportunity with these machines so it's kind of a moot point.

Regarding LCD, I'm sure Clevo tests / checks the units before leaving their facility, as I'm sure they don't want a bad run of LCD's with dead pixels. That would not bode well for them.

I would hope Sager and the reseller would at least do a color cycle visual check. I can spot a dead pixel by running a full white and various gray screens pretty quickly. Also, most resellers have a 30 day 100% cash back return guarantee (I now xoticpc does), you only pay for return shipping. So I'm certain they'd rather correct the issue than have to manage a returned laptop and lose a customer. Do a search for Sager or Clevo dead pixels. I find nothing relating to customers having any issues. If it were a common problem, I'd spend the money in a heartbeat. But probably a very small percentage of units have even a dead pixel especially considering the tech has matured considerably in the last few years.

Either way, $100 more to guarantee a good screen actually isn't too bad. I think it used to be $200 which is atrocious. A replacement screen probably doesn't even cost that.

 

On the S1 versions it's only $60 for the warranty, really can't beat that.

There has been an occasional complaint on the Sager forums of someone getting a screen with dead pixels, so it does happen.

To bad there isn't any hard data on this so you could get some percentages. It's probably pretty low, how much nobody knows.

 

Ah, if it's only $60 then that's more of a no-brainer. Either way I'm sending mine back even if there's one dead pixel unless it's in the extreme corner somewhere. $1800 is a lot of money to me at the moment and expect this machine to last me a good two years, probably more depending on cost of upgrades later.

 

i'm going for a core i7 desktop 980x 485m sli real soon. i was looking at your option also, new games come out new hardware comes out, you never know you might end upgrading next year =|

 

I read somewhere that at least 1 reseller checks to make sure there are no dead pixels in the center of the screen so I would assume they do run some quick checks prior to shipping? I'd probably send it back if there were more than a 3 and checking seems easy compared to more work for all parties.

Do resellers load the O/S anyways?

 

Actually it won't make any difference for my application. Video work was not increased in any meaningful way with the slightly faster RAM. Now if I was a hardcore gamer then it might make a difference.

 

I think you really need to ask all about this like I did. It's much more involved than what you are thinking it is. It was all explained to me by Sager themselves. Granted i feel it ought to just be a part of their policy but I don't want to have a dead or bight pixel that would annoy me to death. They have a sale now so it's only $60. True it should be free but then it would just be built into the price.

 

I've never seen a Sony TV die. Of all the TV's that I've had I usually buy a better one and then donate or sell the one I had.

Good info about the RAM I've read similar and figured 1333 will be ok.

 

Steve,

Oh, I wanted to get back on the reseller issue, the consensus is that you will get better service from a reseller versus direct from Sager. Where I have seen examples in this forum of this has been in post sales when RMA’s need to be performed. The reseller will help initiate this, and they are supposed to be better at staying on Sager to get things resolved. Also there may be minor tweaks to your order that a reseller may allow that Sager would not.

 

The fixed pricing leaves you with no options so you either go with a company that has a good reputation or has a sales person you like dealing with. I prefer to buy from people who really know their product but don't talk down to me like I'm a 16 year old kid.
One reseller has already done that.

 

Well either way they have a 30 days unconditional return guarantee with 100% cash back (you just pay return shipping). So if I'm not happy, and a dead pixel would not make me happy, I'll just return it. I think the $60 cost is only if you get the "S1" version.

My order (and assuming everyone else's) just got delayed to "beginning of February". I just hope that it doesn't continue down this route.

 

I would avoid that reseller. We are all adults here and need to be treated as such, including not to be talked down to by an attitude of holier than thou. We are parting with a lot of money and deserve to be treated right.

What would be real surprising, would be a reseller having an attitude that if you don’t like it goes somewhere else. The boutique brand (Sager, MSI, to a lesser extent ASUS) of laptop resellers have a much smaller customer base to compete from, so every customer counts.

Just to be fore warned, the Chinese new year starts on February 4, so if they have not come in by then it may be at least 2 weeks after the 4th that anything will get done. Everything literally shuts down over there during the 2 week holiday. Keep Fingers crossed your in the first shipment!

 

Yes Chinese New Year is a long holiday and do you really want anything made just before or just after a holiday?

I have my final specs and was going to order today but it got too late so I'll order tommorrow. There were other factors in ordering that came up so hopefully those will be resolved tommorrow.

 

Steve- Good luck with your order. Look forward to seeing your specs and final cost ;/

 

Yeah... Look forward to hear if that 16GB of 1333 RAM were any useful

 

I think he's pretty happy...given this thread is already almost a year old lol

 

Well, his signature says that he finally bougt only 8GB of RAM.. as I told him, while I was the only one who said that. Almost all other were too excited spending soneone else's money saying that he really needs 16GB. I was sure OP bought 16GB and I was up to say smth like if you don't have any benefit then I told you But now I see he made smart decision.

And about a year... I am resentful

 

heh, hopefully this trend changes, very few people really needs more than 6 gigs let alone 16gb (and those that do buy more than 8 typically knows what to use it for)