New to the forums, looking for some insight on Sager/Clevo Laptops from xotic PC.

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forums, but after doing a lot of googling it seems this site has some of the best reviews of the brand of laptop I've been looking at. It seems none of the larger brands (ASUS,MSI) are offering 4/6GB variants of the 970/980m for laptops so I decided to look at some of the custom laptop shops and have since been drawn to XOTIC PC based on the reviews and customer service.

I've so far configured a Sager NP8298 (Clevo P177SM-A) but I was curious about this particular laptop and if anyone had any problems with it (granted I'm sure it will vary).

Also if there are any xotic PC reps on the forums are there going to be other black Friday / cyber Monday deals or is the black November promotion essentially it?

Thanks a lot !

 

As far as model-wide defects, there isn't anything that's rampant. Of course to each their own experience, your mileage may vary, etc. But at least by going through a reseller as you've mentioned, you'll get exceptional customer service, and to be honest, you're considering an exceptional computer, also.

 

Thanks for the information. I'm a bit skeptical because I've always bought ASUS components and to be honest I've never even heard of Clevo/Sager but after looking at some of other boutique laptop makers like ibuypower/maingear/cyberpower they all either have the same clevo laptop thats just slightly customized or their own laptop style with the SAME components is like $400-500 more.

 

If years passed serve any indication then we will probably be some specials on actual Black Friday/ Cyber Monday.

If or what they will have been kept secret even from me. If you're not in a hurry it wont hurt to wait until the respective days to see what happens.

There are no common issues with the NP8298 that come to mind. There have been occasion problems which are typical of any computer, but nothing directly related to this model.

 

Here is what I can tell you about my Sager NP-8268S purchase so far. I am NOT happy with it or the (lack) of assistance that I have received with it so far. My sales person at XoticPC, Josh, disconnected me abruptly from chat when I contacted him a few weeks after getting my laptop and had a question about a problem. I got my laptop in September. I chose to install my own OS, because frankly, I am a home expert in building and tinkering with PCs.

This new laptop has a truly annoying and ridiculous problem. The touchpad stops working at least once per day, and usually far more frequently. When I say stops working, I mean all the Synaptics functions of the touchpad. The basic movement of the arrow onscreen still works, but tapping and everything else fails. The only thing that gets it working again is a complete reboot. This sometimes has to occur five or more times daily, depending on how long the laptop is in use.

Also, for $1600 (and that is with a cash discount), the display sucks pretty badly, and the memory used in the system is Wintec!!!! ? Bargain brand memory in a $1600 lappy? I could deal with Crucial's most basic memory, but Wintec is a little too much to swallow. And, if I had SEEN the screen before I ordered this laptop, I would definitely never have purchased it.

Unfortunately, I know that contacting Xotic's tech support by phone for any assistance with the toughpad is going to be a nightmare. There is absolutely nothing that can be done further to troubleshoot the issue that I have not already done (believe me, I have spent over 100 hours trying), but I know they will hear a girl on the phone and A) ask me stupid questions non-stop and B) try to make me run through all the most ridiculous basic steps to fix the issue, which will not work. Something is causing the Synaptics software to just stop, and not even Windows Event Viewer is showing any clues to the issue.

Anyway, I would be very careful about buying from XoticPC if I was you. I don't mean do NOT buy, but I do mean make sure that if you do not want no-name bargain basement parts, that you select all brand name during the configuration. This will boost your price significantly, so be prepared. Also, if you need help, be aware they are super helpful WHILE you are buying, but after that, you may get kicked out of chat with no further follow up if you have questions.

Good luck!

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Josh disconnecting you from Chat isnt something that sounds like he would do intentionally. He's been with us for years and I havent heard of this from him or any of our sales guys before. Sometimes the chat will disconnect, but never intentionally. However bottom line is you did get disconnected which shouldnt happen and I do apologize about that.

For the touchpad issues, have you tried downloading the drivers directly from Sager and trying to install those to see if they help Software Upgrade.

I can understand you not being happy with recieving a brand of RAM you may not be familiar with. Have you have any RAM issues? If so let us know and we'll be happy to get it exchanged. We can even get it set up to swap individual sticks of RAM so you don't have to send in the whole computer.

When you say "Unfortunately, I know that contacting Xotic's tech support by phone for any assistance with the toughpad is going to be a nightmare." have you tried to do so, or is this based on any previous attempts? We do have 24hr tech support available M-F, after hours staff isnt the biggest so if you do not get through please leave a message and we will call you back. During business hours of 9-5:30PM Central is the best time to reach us as our office is staffed more then vs after hours. Our tech support is really helpful at troubleshooting.

I'm not quite sure why you say to be careful about buying from us, if I am reading this correctly you had problems with the touchpad and haven't tried to contact our tech support for help yet. However I will talk to Josh if he knows what happened to your chat session, if you message me your order number that will help out on finding out what happened.

Feel free to contact us via tech support phone, chat, email, or PM me here directly and we're happy to help out with any questions including your touch pad issues.

 

Hutsady, just to clarify...I was very specific about whether I meant being careful about buying from XoticPC or not buying from them at all. I clearly stated that I do not mean DON'T buy from Xotic...just to pay very close attention to what you buy. I am normally extremely careful myself, but I truly did not think that I would get Wintec RAM. My bad, but I am pissed to have done so when I spent a lot of money on this laptop. I would not do that to customers, but that is just me. DO I have problems with the RAM? I don't know, but I am certainly having an unexplained issue with my touchpad. For all I know, that could lead back to faulty RAM (odd things do)....perhaps with the Synaptics drivers being booted out of the memory address that it occupies in a bad area of the RAM stick. That is likely a longshot, but I am just giving you an example of why I am curling my lip in disgust over having bargain basement RAM in my gaming laptop. The simple fact is I would never put Wintec or any other no-name RAM in a system that I built (and I never have). I do not plan (when planning a system build normally) to wait for problems to appear. I build my systems to avoid all problems for as long as possible. That means quality parts. Buying from Xotic led me to believe that this would be the closest experience to building my own laptop that I can currently get, because I the customer can specify what I want. I just did not realize that your standard RAM was what I personally consider poo. That is just my opinion though.

Have I contacted XoticPC support yet? Nope! I am frankly dreading it, and quite honestly procrastinating by troubleshooting as many things as I can myself, because I am willing to bet your tech people will not be any better at figuring this out than I am....unless they already know this is a known issue and can tell me how to fix it right away, but I have seen no resolution in the Xotic forums provided to anyone else having this same problem, and there are a few posts about it. Unfortunately, I am probably going to be made to jump through basic stupid user pet tricks until I pull out my hair...none of which will fix my problem. Most likely, I will be told to send my new unit back in, which will T me off further, and will necessitate another fresh Windows installation, because I am not sending in my hard drive with all my personal stuff on there. THEN, since this problem comes and goes, I will be told that the problem cannot be duplicated, and I will then have my laptop shipped back to me, only to encounter the same problem again at some point, which means the problem will not be fixed. I base all of my stated opinion here on what I have read in the XoticPC support forums posted by other lappy owners who have had problems requiring support. And of course, I do not know for sure this is what will happen, but, I feel really comfortable betting that this is probably what WILL happen. Tech support these days is just such a nightmare and usually very limited in what they can do, frankly.

So no, I am a not-so-happy customer at the moment, but I would not AVOID buying from XoticPC in the future. I would just not buy a Sager from you folks, and I would darn sure make certain to select name brand everything if I could. And yes, Josh may have accidentally disconnected me, but he did not try to contact me back to follow up with this. He has my email and phone number. When I eventually posted in the XoticPC forum about the problem, he responded and stated that he recommends that I contact support, which is fine. I do understand that Josh may feel he cannot do anything about this for me since he is in sales. I was just taken aback at the disconnection in chat, no follow-up on the issue, and a suggestion to contact support, but no white glove treatment like giving me the phone number so I do not have to go find it.

I am really A) not happy to have these issues with my new laptop, and B) dreading the tech person talking down to me because he will hear a female voice on the line, and making me do all the troubleshooting steps that I already know about and have tried. But, I will contact them...after I find a leather strap to chew on and take a few Kava pills.

Oh, and my reason for posting my experience was for the OP, who wanted to know about any problems his new Sager might have. I wanted him to be very aware of this touchpad issue, since it seems to not just be limited to me. It is a biggy. I just wanted to save someone else from having the same troubles that I have experienced, because after my purchase, I am not loving the whole Sager experience at all.

 

Meh, while I've not heard great things on wintec memory, I've never heard of issues with it.

I have Kingston in mine, not the high-performance, but the normal memory. Which some people place above (and some below) the wintec memory.

I've frankly not had any problems.

Being techie, have you tried to stress-test your memory and verify there's actually a problem with it or just assuming? Not laying blame, just curious.

And Xotic like any company is hit and miss with tech support. A lot of times they have to follow 'the script' because they can never guarantee the person on the other end is a tech-head or a tech noob. It helps when you start the conversation with them you say 'I am highly technical and have a strong background in computers, and have tested X, Y, and Z' then they will know your tech skill and ratchet up the conversation accordingly.

These people deal with hundreds of customers every day, they can't be expected to be mind-readers and instantly know the technical level of the person on the other end.

Either they annoy someone by under-estimating their experience, or insult them by assuming they know something they don't. They're screwed either way. It's our job to give them a heads up on our experience level so they don't have to gaze in a crystal ball.

As for the trackpad, mine sucked balls as well, but once I updated the drivers to the latest, they were fine. But I had to use the correct version for the correct OS and make sure it was the later one. Earlier versions had a timeout issue where it would reset the device. Latest drivers and my 8258-S has had zero issues. Of course, it could be a faulty pad as well, but that'll require diagnosing.

Also, if you've not, make SURE after you install the trackpad drivers to go into device manger, remove the trackpad/pointer devices, then reboot then let windows re-find the proper drivers for it. Windows (especially 8) is cantakerous and will dual-load it's internal windows crap device drivers as well as the trackpad device driver and they... conflict... causing each of the device drivers to essentially hang as they compete for dominance. Bloody stupid windows.

I understand your frustration and anger, but I'm not entirely sure you're given everyone involved a fair shake.

 

I'm in I.T. myself (sys admin for an engineering firm) so I doubt I'll need any true tech support unless there are specific issues with the device itself. It's a bit of a let down to see wintec memory is being used.. although I planned to upgrade the memory myself or swap it out on my own if a better price is found.

I've seen a few other posts about people having tracking pad issues..so that's also a bit worrisome.

I'd like to get more feedback on the screen and its quality because the only other option is to upgrade to a better screen for $150+ more? If I'm spending 1600+ on a laptop I'd hope the screen wouldn't be a dud.

 

The majority of complaints with the trackpad is resolved after you tweak the settings. The pointer speed increased, scroll speed decreased, and disable the pinch to zoom/shrink features as they're too sensitive.

Once I did that the trackpad has been rock solid (after the driver update).

As for wintec, I've not heard of them before, but based on reviews of it various people have done, it looks to be +/- as good as generic Kingston memory.

So nothing to write home about, but nothing that'll just catch on fire in your rig either. I wouldn't be too concerned with it, honestly, unless you want to squeeze every ounce of power, then I'd just buy Corsair Vengeance, as I've heard mixed reviews on the Kingston HyperX with reliability (though when it worked, their performance was spot on).

Wintec Industries PC5400 DDR 2 memory - Legit ReviewsIntroduction

As for screens, my wife and I got the NP8258's. I got the 95% matte gamut, and wife got the 72% matte gamut. Both screens are stunning.

Just make sure to get the 72% gamut screen and you should be good. I've not heard complaints on those (or if I did, it was technical flaws).

If you get the default screen, I think by default unless specified it's a 60% gamut screen, which depending on the maker could be grainy.

 

I guess this is the default screen

17.3" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Anti-Glare Screen (1920x1080) (SKU - SSC002) yeah then the 72% matte screen is another $149. bit of a let down knowing the default screen is pretty meh. kind of a blows a hole in the whole cost savings.

 

Yea, I know man. But you want to get the 72%. The 60% is hit and miss and if you're getting a rig, it's worth the additional cost.

Think of it as an investment, or better yet, think of it as just 4 dinners, so eat ramen for 2 weeks and money saved!

 

Well I decided to downsize and get a gaming/workstation laptop again and just sell my desktop but I'm trying to keep it around $1600-1700 bucks..really don't wanna spend anymore than that. After I part out my desktop I'll probably be able to get 1300-1400 for it.

 

I'd say the things that are a must are:

1. the bluray burnder/reader. The DVD is cheap and rattles (lots of complaints on it)
2. The Intel AC wifi. The default wifi is ok but there's performance complaints.
3. The 72% gamut screen
4. Diamond IC paste.

The other stuff you can shuffle around, but I think you'd be happiest with those 4 above. Other people can verify or add/remove based on their own experiences.

 

Oh yeah I had pretty much done everything but the screen..but at this point if I'm spending another $150 for a better screen it pretty much wipes out any cost savings from everything else.

as far as the memory I had planned to just buy CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10 from Corsair (2x8GB DDR 1600) Bestbuy currently has them on ebay for $135 w/free shipping.

 

Verify with Xotic, but I think they have a 30 day return policy if you're not happy with it. And ask them upfront how their default monitor is, and expressly ask for the better one (if there's options).

So you still have options if you want to try the route with the 60% gamut.

Also ask them the exact model of the monitor then look around, you may be able to find the same monitor for like $50-$70 third party and install it yourself since you're tech-savy.

 

All Sagers do have a return window of 30 days. The default display isn't a guaranteed model, depends on what they have, but we never make a guarantee of anything over 60%. There are times that Sager will sub in the 72% when the default display supply runs dry but we can never guarantee that will be done. if wanting the 72% you'll have to select the option for it to make sure.

 

Derek,

What's the model number of the 72% so that he can go around and price check?

 

Another thing we don't list as a specific model or manufacturer. They go back and forth between AUO and Chi Mei with the AUO being the preferred by most.

Panelook

 

Looks like newegg has it for about $80 US.

17.3" LCD LED Screen fit N173HGE-L11 N173HGE-L21 B173HW01 V.0 V.5 Laptop Display ( ONLY 1920x1080, NOT FOR 1600x900 ) - Newegg.com

http://www.laptopscreen.com/English/screen-part-number/B173HW01~V.5/

 

Be careful when buying replacement screens. Many vendors sell compatible one and do not guarantee specific models. Since that listing you linked to has a few different model numbers in the title I would assume they are also selling compatible ones. Always contact the seller before you order to make sure you are getting what you think you are.

 

Thanks. Yeah I've replaced a few laptop screens before and its always hit or miss.

I haven't made up my mind yet and I'm still shopping around.

Customize Black Friday Fangbook EVO HX7 Gaming Notebook

^that offer is pretty tough to beat.

 

Just review that model first. Cyberpower are known to overheat a lot, at least previous versions were. They couldn't put out adequate cooling.

Also not sure if their screens are 60% or 72% gamut, they never show.

 

Based off the MSI barebone builds. You can check their whitebooks page for details on them.

 

Thanks,

looks like they're also offering free shipping, free game, and 5% discount.. so that's not too shabby.

 

the screen part # is CHI MEI/N173HGE-L11, which says its a 72% screen.

 

Awesome. That's all kinds of win.

 

http://www.msiwhitebook.com/product/notebook/download/keypartAVL_MS-1763_20130420.pdf

yeah, hopefully that's the case anyway. I new the case their using looked familiar but I couldn't pin point where. I'm on the fence with the mixed customer service reviews..but everyone deals with that I suppose. The whole dead pixel secondary warranty and 1yr parts is a bit iffy to me..although it seems everyone is doing that.

 

The MSI case tends to have better speakers (if they use the same MSI uses), but the cooling tends to not be as good.

So get the copper heatsinks if they offer it and definitely the highest grade thermal paste.

 

In the end, unless the build specifically says it comes with "x" or "y" any reseller can remove parts and replace with others as they see fit. I'd definitely contact directly and get clarification and see if there is any differences between what they offer at their base and what is listed as coming stock based on your research. Our Force models, built off same chassis, we keep default display and audio (I doubt they'd take the time to swap out audio for something else) which is technically the same speakers as the branded MSI machines, just can't be called Dynaudio since it's an unbranded machine and doesn't come with the sound software utility that MSI would come with stock.

 

Doesn't look like they offer the upgraded heatsinks, as far as the highest grade thermal I should simply repaste everything myself if it came down to it.