Official 8850 Pre-Order thread!

If there's one thing I really like about Clevo it's their awesome copper sinks.

 

Yeah how can you not love all that copper... Its like the lost city of gold when the back panel comes off ...


That 180w PSU looks pretty beastly as well....

 

yo joker, getting this new machine and break new record with it ??

 

unreal253

If I remember right from looking at some other pics somewhere, the second harddrive is located under the battery. just remove it and i think there's access to it?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I think I'm going to pick-up this beast. All though my Asus G60vx is nice, It doesn't display the dark colors very well. I think that's in part because screen resolution is only 1366x768.

I Love my Asus, but just having a 1920x1080 screen and a kick ()GPU would be nice.
ou think I'd be okay with just a i7-720qm cpu with 2 of those new Seagate momentus XT hybrid drives?

I mean, my Asus is more then enough for me now just want better screen.

FYI, cpu in current machine is only core 2 Duo P7450

I mainly just watch movies and play a few games, not real hardcore. Crysis, Atlantica Online, WoW, Eve Online, etc.

 

Take the cheap 5870MR version 8760 if you are not hardcore, then again, if you aren't hardcore, you probably won't even need a 5870MR.

 

hmm, 8760 vs 8850. same configuration.

Only diff is, ATI Card 5870 in the 8760 and no USB 3.0

Is everything else identical? There's a $660 difference there.

I've just never been a big fan of the ATI Cards.

 

^^^
Neither have I.
That is why I am buying this one if the reviews come out alright!
I got the money for it, I just want to make sure it doesn't overheat on me or have some other fatal flaws!
This will be my second laptop, my first was a Dell and it is almost 4 years old...

 

The 5870 machine is no slouch so if you dont need the bleeding edge version you could do far worse....

The new ATI cards are amazing and driver support is also top notch...

 

hmm, maybe i should do that then. I can't justify spending 660 bucks just to have 1 single USB 3.0 input and a slightly higher benchmark score (better graphics) with the GTX 480.

Looking at benchmarks, the 5870 seems to be pretty close to the performance of the 480 on most games.

I've just had major problems with ATI cards, from the start.

The first ATI all in wonder card for instance. LOL, YA, I'm showin my age now.

 

The hinge design reminds me of my Asus W2v. Mine ended up broken. This design puts a lot of stress on the hinge and the top case wants to pull away from the hinge.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/168161-w2v-broken-lid.html

 

This is the same basic setup as several of their other laptops isn't it?
And I haven't heard any problem coming from them...so why would it be a problem now?

 

Nah i owned the W8760CU and the hinges are just fine .... No issues reported ever about that ...

Only thing this machine lacks is battery life so just make sure that aspect is not important and youll be fine ...

Nice screen and good/decent build quality .... Sound system is not all that great but its livable ...

For the price of the barebones its hard to beat ....

 

IMO ATi drivers are still not at the level that nVidia is at. Especially Crossfire driver support is shoddy at best. AMD has screwed up twice now with just properly supporting the Dell 5870's in Crossfire (it's not the dell vbios at fault contrary to what some people claim). Also, SLi scales better than Crossfire does. Overall I've had a better experience with nVidia drivers but ATi hardware tends to be a bit more refined so it's a toss up. I plan to go SLi once there is a die shrunk fermi or whatever nVidia throws out next in 2011. As for picking up a Clevo, as much as I like their copper, the plastic, lack of rgb led and design just kill it for me. If they update their designs and add in backlit kb, rgb led and at least mag alloy then I'll buy one. Until then I'm pretty much going to stick with AW.

 

Can't comment on crossfire drivers but for the single 5870m performance it's pretty hardcore as it is i think. Games are smooth. Some games you can usually leave everything on high and just turn shadows down etc. and get a really good gaming experience. Can't see myself upgrading until there is a single gpu that gives at least a 50% performance boost.

Will you be needing your old backpanel after you upgrade

 

NP 8850 VS NP 9285

NP 8850: Mobile Processor, USB3, Default RAM: 4GB
NP 9285: Desktop Processor 900 series, USB 2, Default RAM: 6GB

Assuming both run the Nvidia GTX 480M GPU.
Almost Same price for both - $2670!! (i7 820Q for NP 8850, and 930 2.8GHz for NP 9285)

Am i missing something?

 

16:9 vs 16:10

Weight of the machine 8ish pounds vs 12ish pounds..

Those would probably be the 2 main reasons i can think of off hand because battery life is not that hot on either model ...

The 9285 though can handle 3 dimms for cheap 6gbs of RAM and also can handle 3 HDs ...


So it would really have to boil down to portability i think more then anything....

 

hope the reviews will do a comparison evaluation of both models as well. Am hesitant on what to choose.
NP 8850 VS NP 9285

what would you guys choose?

 

Thats a tough call to make ... I owned the W870CU and it was a nice machine but that desktop chipset in the 9285 would be nice as well and also 3 HDs worth of space and 3 dims for cheap(er) memory upgrades is nice as well....

The 9285 though uses LCD screens and while not bad are not as nice as the new LED screens but then theres the whole 16:9 aspect ration vs 16:10 ....

In the end its all personal preference more then anything ...

Also if your going to be lugging the machine all over the place in a bag the lighter machine would be that much nicer but some people dont mind the extra weight either....

 

Nope. Once I get my hands on a W880CU backpanel, my current backpanel will be hitting the market for a reasonable price.

 

why isn't there a NP 9285 thread?

 

Good question. I know of ones that have this beast but maybe they are not the posting sort. You would think some owner will get around to post an owners thread, just like there should be an owners thread for the Clevo W880CU / Sager NP8850.

 

Isn't it just the NP9280 w/ GTX 480M?

That's not really worth much publicity, is it?

 

I think it is a major change from what the 9280 has in the 285M...IMO

 

So can anyone confirm the touchpad equipped with this model? Synaptics or not?

 

give me a 880cu with a 285M and I would buy it right away

I just want the usb 3.0 and If I want to, upgrade the video card later

right now I don't see how that could happen, I live in Canada

 

What's so great about usb 3.0 - just faster transfer rates for an external hard drive or something? Surprised no other full reviews yet besides the notebook check one. These things are shipping out right?

 

all what we really need is a full bench-marked review of the NP 8850 (and/or the NP 9285), see some FPS figures, temperatures...and decide on ordering ASAP. come on people :/

EDIT: XOTICPC has a link that is titled "NP 9285 review" but as soon you go in you realize it is the detailed review of the NP 9280 with the GTX 285M.

And some other guy posted all over (forums appearing on) google that he is working on the review and will post it soon. This was posted back in June 12th!

 

To get things straight:
1)Is the chasis named Clevo W880U ?
2)The laptops based on the chasis Clevo W880U are named Sager NP8850 or Kobalt G875 ?
3)Is the Cizmo CX1730i based on Clevo W880U ? Or on some previous model of chasis, without support for usb 3.0 and gtx 480m, and is that the reason why fitting a 480m inside CX1730i is so expensive because of the modifications required by the increased tdp of 480m ?
4)I noticed on sager site, that there is a tv tunner jack on the right side, however when i customize the laptop, there is the option of getting an usb tv tunner. Doesn't this jack mean there is a tv tunner inside the laptop ?
Is there a tv tunner inside the laptop by default, or you would have to buy it as a suplimentary option ? I would like this laptop to have an internal tv tunner that uses the jack that i saw in those sager pictures. Tell me it is so.
5)I know there are laptops out there with core i3/i5/i7 cpu and 4 dimm slots and you can fit 4 dimms of 4 gb for a total of 16gb. (Asus g73jh or hp envy). Concluding that since the chipset supports 16gb of ram, is it fair to assume we could fit 8gb dimms in this laptop for a total of 16gb of ram (2x8gb so dimm) ?
6)Is the "Built-in 802.11 A/G/N WiFi card" built-in ? (Stupid question) ? As in, if i don't get the "Built-in Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 Wireless Card (Optional)", do i still get wifi n support ?
If it is so, why would i get the 6300 card ? if the laptop allready has built in wifi ?
7)The hdd slots are they both 9.5mm or is there a 12.5mm hdd slot ?
8)Is there a way to add hdmi in to this laptop, perhaps via the express card slot ? Or the only barebones with this option remain the x8100 and the x7200 ?
9)What kind of screen does it have ? CCFL or RGB ? Or perhaps something else ? Normal White LED (white LED is actually a blue LED with yellow phosphor to give the impression of white light) backlighting ?
Panel is TN or PVA or IPS ? What does the X-Glass on kobalt variant of the Clevo W880U mean ?

 

1 - Yes
2- yes
3- same model
4 - no tuner
5 - 16GB is yes
6 - yes it's built in
7 - 9.5 only
8 - external is only option
9 - LED, same on all models, X-Glass is just marketing

 

If there's no tunner, why the jack ?

 

The tunner is optional. About 100-150 euro and goes in an internal mini PCI-e slot.

 

I dont see the option on gettin the tunner on the kobalt system.

I'm gonna get a laptop on late august. Depending on the price of x7200, it's either gonna be that or this laptop, so i wanna know.

 

Sager is gonna keep the built in sound card..no creative/soundblaster upgrades. i wonder what is the integrated sound card; does it support hardware EAX accelereation..? 3d audio features? 5.1 channels?..

 

These are just a few pics and some differences of the W880CU and W870CU...

 

The standard Realtek HD.

 

Good idle temps...

 

do u ship worldwide babyhemi?

 

Most all places. PM if you would like details. Thanks.

 

@babyhemi. can you post gpu temps during 20 minutes of occt?

also the ambient temps where the laptop is located

 

So did you just post those pics as a teaser and nothing more ? ...

How bout some basic temps after Vantage/06 or a game or 2 ? ...

Furmark is not necessary but just some normal condition temps would be great...

 

Well I did do a quick run of 06 and I got 17792 with temps going up to only 63c. Not too bad for a start...right?

 

17,792 on a 920XM? Disgusting

63C... just begging to be overclocked

 

So your saying the 9285 has: LCD + Wider resolution
whereas the 8850 has: LED + regular widescreen 16:9

i am really hesitant about 2 configurations. I made up my mind on the reseller though lol.

here they are:

NP 9285:
Display: 17" Wide Viewing Angles WUXGA
Arctic Silver 5: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound- CPU + GPU
Processor: DESKTOP Intel Core i7 Quad (Nehalem) 960 3.2 GHz 8MB Cache
Video & Graphics Card: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M with 2GB GDDR5 Memory
Memory: 6GB Triple Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 3 X 2GB
(can i make the RAM = 8GB if i replace one 2GB DIMM with one 4GB? will i use triple channel acceleration this way?)

price:$3,204

NP8850:
Display: 17.3" Full HD LED with Super Clear (1920 x 1080)
Video & Graphics Card: nVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 480M with 2GB GDDR5 Memory
CPU Processor: MOBILE Intel® Core™ i7-920XM Extreme Edition 45nm 8MB 2.0
Thermal Compound: IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
Memory: 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz - 2 X 4GB

price: $3,286


and yes i am a business man AND an extremely enthusiast gamer.
weight is not an issue for me.
so...Help!

 

Get the NP8850. And try the 80GB SSD as primary drive, a 500GB HDD as secondary.

 

Great start man... Temps sound excellent as well...

 

17792 3dmark 2006 score, with stock 920xm and stock 480m ? WOW, Cpu is pretty powerfull considering a core i7 980x scores aprox 18700

Baby Hemy, we are looking forward for a 3dmark 2006 of a 980x and 480m sli

How is the hinge of the laptop, does it look solid, is it ok ? I'm afraid of it, by the looks of it. But maybe it's just me, and clevo makes good hinges.

 

What all do you plan on doing with this machine ?...


If you were going to do some heavy video encoding i would say get the NP9285 since there is no match for a real desktop i7 but if your just going to game mainly then stick with the W880CU ...

Also if the machine is going to work with you everyday even if weight is not an issue the lighter machine will still be the easier of the 2 to transport/move around on a daily basis....


Honestly if someone set both of them infront of me i would have a hard time choosing as well... They both have there pros/cons..

I really dont want to make up your mind and you just need to look at every aspect of them and decide .... Its tough i know lol...

 

Out of the 2, get the third, x7200

 

hmm thanks.

Can we talk more on the technical aspect of both displays?

the 9285 has 17" with WS 16:10 resolution and it is only LCD
the 8850 has 17.3" with WS 16:9 resolution and it is LED.

so what difference does each of those 2 factors contribute to gaming?

 

Well i have owned plenty of CCFL displays like what the 9285 has and they do make some darn nice ones but i dont know what model that machine ships with... Some are nice and bright with great viewing angles are others are dim and just plain stink... You may want to find out before hand what displays they have...

I had the W870CU and that had a hannstar LED screen which is what the W880CU will have and it is one nice screen for sure... Its actually the same screen the G73 uses as well... Good vertical viewing angles but not the greatest horizontals which to me is less important...

To me personally i want a good screen on my machines as i am rather picky and i know the W880CU will have a screen pleasing to the eyes... I cant speak for the NP9285 though sadly .... 16:10 screens are basically dead and even more so CCFL screens.. Good news is if your not happy with the 9285 screen you can find some nice upgraded screens but thats for another time....


Oh and lastly if you really cant decide find a reseller with a good return policy and just order both then return which ever you dont like .... Not the most ideal situation but it is doable ...