Opinion on this Sager NP8173-S1?

I got my credit card out, thinking about buying this machine. Specs seem just about perfect, actually quite amazing for the price. Does anyone see a downside? Anyone own a similar machine and can give some feedback? Do you recommend this over the competition?

My only nitpick would be the design. This is the slim version, correct?

 

TBH, why not go direct, get a better price. Even if you do not want to go direct to the wholesale, or you want specifically the XOTICPC touch.... go to thier website and not to Amazon, it benifits you and them better.

If you are still shopping around, I could give you quotes on many various models from various vendors to compare.

now, over competition - I do not understand what you mean... do you mean over Alienware, or MSI ? I say go MSI if you want to spend more but get something like a ferrari in terms of branding. If your going for a Clevo in North America, then go to Eurocom directly, since they supply everyone here, or I can set you up with coupons or give you quotes myself.
The downside really is, the fact Amazon is going to take a very large chunk of change from whomever your buying that laptop from. You get a TON of extra protection as a buyer though, and that makes it risky for the seller, so obviously they ALSO jacked up the price to compensate for miserable deals on Amazon + the 15-30% fee Amazon takes.
The difference will be hundreds of dollars in savings, and about as much more profit from the seller too. Support the companies you love man !

Also, most people on this forum will point out the obvious in this laptop : it's soldered on BGA and the GPU is built in too, it remains non-upgradeable, and perhaps even might die sooner because all the heat moves around on the motherboard much more. So yes, it is SLIM - because "Reasons"....+ "concerns"

 

That's about as slim as a Sager gets. It's not MSI GS series or Gigabyte/AORUS thin, but still pretty thin.

Also

RIP this thread, you've probably summoned the BGA debaters. May as well stand in the mirror and start saying candyman.

 

LOL...

the laptop is a great laptop. There are a few things that will wear and tear on it, screws might come loose and fall out if you move it a lot, like use it on your laptop everyday for 12 hours, because your opening and closing it and moving it 10x a day every time you get up or move. The hinges are very strong, but connected to the weaker plastic body known to be used in Clevo's, so if you also open and close the screen fully, many times everyday, it won't get loose in the traditional sense you get from other companies, but instead, the magnesium alloy/plastic that the hinges are bolted too will crack and break even if being careful and a kind quiet 90lb school girl uses it like it's the only thing she owns in the world. The trackpad doesn;t have proper windows 10 support so you will get ETD crashes every so often, blue screens of death. maybe once a day, who cares right. Also, when actually gaming, the system might crash from getting too hot, without the actual laptop feeling very hot. The fan can be controlled and set to maximum by hitting a F1 +Fn button very easily to prolong how long that will take before it happens.
THE ACTUAL BIOS FOR THIS SPECIFIC MODEL ALSO ONLY ALLOWS VERY LITTLE OVERCLOCKING. The ram and CPU and GPU can be expected to move only a minimum of 5-10% better then stock. There really will not be any support to do better, and when something does break you will have to replace the entire laptop, or send it in, because the motherboard itself will cost more than a newer version of the laptop will cost. There is however a more generic version of the same model with a 1060m that goes for a bit less, and the motherboard is about 700$ less so while it's only 200$ overall on Amazon, it would be much cheaper if replacing it. Of course, you can also always go direct, to bert or amanda or whomever else from clevo directly and get various models and upgrades that none of the USA/North American resellers/retailers provide too. They will mostly ignore though, any email address from some public domain like gmail or hotmail etc..

Anyways I could go on with a real indepth review of this laptop, but I got 10:1 reason why not to buy it rather then buy it. however - there are reasons why I would also buy it, even though all that, it is thin, it is super cheap ( I can get them for less then 1,000USD so if I personally wanted one, it's super cheap) and I have purchased a few of it's predecessors for my relatives. Its really light, lasts a long time, and since the maxwell versions came out 2 last year with the m.2 drives in them, they also boot incredibly fast and are great companions on the airplane too for 2 hours - also keeping your lap warm and possibly more comfortable. It has a tight fitting snug fitting mDP port at the rear which I love, and while it only has a few usb ports they are rather faster then what you usually get on a DELL laptop. I also like the keys like that, got sick of the ones on Alienware's , just too smooth, too flimsy, these while small and light can easily tell your fingers where one key stops and another starts and they hold up and do not fall off or wear out, or make any noise.

Also, it doesn't bend when you lean on it, even though it is light and flimsy and almost feels cheap - its not really, just the few points about screws on the bottom and the hinges being stronger then the material the chassis is made of being an issue (the strength between them is too large of a gap.. they should use aluminium hinges that are weaker really.) Also - no matter how much you sweat and rest your hand on the palm rests, it doesn;t have this rubbery coating that rubs off, unlike on Alienware's and some MSI laptops. These Clevo's actually stay consistent with how they physically feel under your hand. But again , the crashing from poor updates to the actual components the motherboard has attached to it, like fingerprint scanners and track pads, are all cheaper products, with like no driver updates ever.

So, don't NOT buy it because of the BGA/Soldered on things. However, look at the fine points of why I WOULD buy it, to decide if those are also maybe important to you.

 

The guy who relied after me, is a XOTICPC representative, he can actually sell you that specific laptop, but instead of through Amazon, through him/them/thier site/ or who knows. XOTICPC is one of our retailers in the USA and they even ship international.

 

Do you actually work for Eurocom?

 

So is there a similarly speced laptop you'd rather get? From what you wrote, the crashing and the once-a-day BSOD's is what bothers me.

It would mostly be sitting on my desk and I'd open and close it a couple of times a day, on average. I think it's powerful enough for general maxed out gaming that I don't need to overclock. How do you get them for 1000USD?

 

You know I was being honest about those BSOD's but many laptops have them, and it's easily avoided if you use a mouse and keyboard externally, or don't rest your hand on the trackpad for hours on end, or touch the track pad and two other buttons simultaneously.

I still actually like the laptop. I can get that laptop much cheaper because hardware is generally what I do, the guys who are more famous or even better than me don't even pay - they generally get it for free, so don't think it's extremely special or anything, I get a discount because it is worth giving me a discount among other reasons.
Plus, that's not even much of a discount to be frank. That price for 1999USD on Amazon, is 30% higher then listed price, direct. Trust XOTICPC, click on the guys (the rep) name and start conversation and ask for that laptop. You have money, your ready to buy, you've established intent, now time to haggle over price. If thier price is not satisfactory, come see me, and i will find you someone else.
But - for the sake of helping hardware sellers out - don't use Amazon unless your scared, or hate us, lol.

 

I wish, they're practically walking distance from my house, I literally said to Mark once, let me come work for you. Didn't accept, so then I sold 5M in products within the year afterwards without trying hard, within 1% of cost and still love what I do, but that effort could have been a large bump for any company. Thinking of oneday starting my own, but for now, I kind of just help people with what they want to do anyways, and you'd be surprised how many people from Tom's hardware just give me tips for helping them. It's like one guy recommended me to another guy and it just started a chain that never stopped. Kind of what happens here too on these forums, which I frequent much more. (WAAAY less trolls, and most people are much more knowledgeable)

 

I wouldn't get it unless a bios fix is released. Probably gonna return mine to Xotic.

CPU downclocks like crazy. Massive FPS fluctuations in virtually every game I've tried.
GPU acts weird too, often sits at some weird clockspeed between boost and base. I'm guessing it's CPU related? I don't know.

Thermals and noise are decent though. Performance is is decent in random times it decides to be.

 

Wow, now that is a cause for concern. Putting my wallet away for now. Researching this.

 

Does anyone know what is my best option for buying a gaming laptop like this or msi whilst i am in france.
with a qwerty keyboard. i would love to buy from xoticpc, but shipping and duties are so expensive, but they are not so bad when i want to buy from xotic pc on amazon why is this?

 

I bought this laptop from Xotic via their Amazon page, and it arrived with a faulty speaker. The right one vibrates like crazy.Had quiet a bit of trouble communicating this to Xotic. It's taken live chats, emails, a few calls and 5 days to even get a shipping label. I guess my brand new laptop is going in for repairs 5 - 14 days, probably excluding shipping. I'd bought a Sager from them before, and been really happy with it for 2 years. Had this one not arrived faulty, and had I had a better RMA experience, I'd be happy. Major buyers remorse.

EDIT: I've been so disappointed at my communication with XoticPC and the whole RMA experince that I'm just going for a refund. Maybe I'll try order a new unit after I get a refund, but this experience does not bode well. Has something changed at Xotic? I've had fantastic service in the past.

 

Are you sure your unit isn't just defective? Someone else had an 8172 in the owners lounge and didn't seem to be having problems with it.

Did you manage to find anything? I looked but couldn't find anything for the new Pascal laptops.

 

I haven't found anything outside of the thread he started about his issue. Still concerned that he didn't get an assist from the company.

Oh man, sorry to hear that. Nothing worse than waiting weeks for something and then dealing with that.

 

Truly a bummer. Looks like it'll be at least 5 weeks in total since I placed my initial order. Sager still need to let me know that the actual issue is, so I'm hoping it's not longer.

 

Let me know if you need any help with the RMA at any point

 

Heya folks, new poster here. Been following this thread. I've been looking at a similar model https://www.amazon.com/XOTIC-Sager-...08011,p_n_feature_five_browse-bin:13580790011, and this is the first negative thread I've found.

I'm curious about a couple of things I've read here. One, where can you find this model for $1000? That seems a tad low, even with the standard ssd on this model. Two, and this is the main reason I'm posting, is why does everyone say going direct through Xotic is cheaper by several hundred dollars? I've read that on two different sites now and I've went to Xotic's (and Sager's) websites to build the exact same model I'm looking at (see above) and Sager is considerably higher mainly due to the 512 nvme ssd upgrade, and Xotic is higher as well (though the difference is only a few dollars).

They are NOT cheaper if you go directly to the websites. Yes, there is a 3% cash discount, but aside from that, the custom build on their websites are not any cheaper than Amazon for the exact same build, or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

 

Where did you see mention of $1000? Who was telling you there would be a big difference?

 

Page one of this thread. Woodzstack made both claims, one in each of his posts.

 

Don't get me wrong, I would go direct to Sager or Xotic if I thought there was money to be saved, and yes, support the companies, but that just doesn't seem to be the case, especially so when it comes to Sager themselves.

Everything 'everywhere else' I've read about these laptops has been positive with the only exception being that Sager's direct CS is a little lacking (which I'm wondering about because I've already gotten a response on here from Sager which is a good sign imo). It was shocking to find this thread with the negativity in it regarding them.

I'm not a fan of Alienware, because I'm not a fan of Dell. All too often they put older generation, out-dated parts in their desktops so I simply don't want to take a chance on an expensive gaming laptop made by them. I've heard issues with ASUS ROG systems which was disappointing because as a whole, I'm an ASUS fan. Mostly that they seem to rush their gaming laptops to the market before they're fully ready, as well as numerous nightmare scenarios with DOA systems, etc. Most of the other competitors I read up on have issues from overheating, cheap cases, inferior screens, and more.

Really, the only other systems I considered in the end were the Dominator Pro's, and most of the other forums I've searched through still seem to like the Sager/Clevo products better in the end. Believe me, I'm all eyes/ears for other suggestions for a laptop in the same price range or under, with the same specs. Until someone can convince otherwise, I'm still looking at these Sagers.

Thanks.

 

Yes I made both claims. But the price does not reflect what it sells for, least not accurately. I had another point, that was meant to be more relevant, and that was why I would buy it, and why I would be cautious. I don't value performance based on price. I just wanted to put things into perspective, value wise. personally I actually like that small little laptop, even though it's BGA and breaks a lot.

Also because I can get something for a decent price doesn;t mean it's for sale for that price, everyone has thier rewards for what they do, and it's not uncommon for companies to give out demo models or give discounts far greater to people who brings in a lot of sales by steering customers thier direction.

 

ALWAYS go direct. The deals a I offer are just a bit more direct then Sager or XOtic PC by going to thier warehouse directly. However - you lose out on smaller features like getting it directly from them, means you don;t get my support you get THEIR support. Whomever you think has a better track record or is more convenient or pure taste, you know. I would recommend Sager direct if getting a base model though, and you plan to make all the upgrades yourself. But if you want XOTICPC to do tons of customizations and support them with warranty, or me if you want a more 1 on 1 approach and to have it stress tested for a few days longer and a smidgen cheaper.

 

Well then let's hear it. What's your price on the model I linked? What else can you do for me at your lesser price besides stress test it? Give me a reason to consider purchasing from you. Do you have reviews somewhere? A licensed vendor website?

I, too, am ex military. I see that in your profile. Thank you for serving.

 

Oh you reminded me of this thread/feedback area, thank you. I should be directing thousands of people here, but here, take a look at some feedbadck : http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/woodzstacks-nbr-feedback-thread.779929/

Anyways, your shopping around, and being served already, we don't start undercutting each other like we're at war or something. I'm aware you've already been approached, which means your in good hands. Like I said, the main reason to buy from one person over another when the hardware and pricing is relatively all the same should be the personal experience can vary and differ as well. If one vendor starts under cutting another, it doesn't serve anyone. You'd in the end, not have anyone selling laptops - unless more cost cutting features are implemented, and we already have it pretty bad.

 

Fair enough. I admire your courtesy. I haven't actually been approached by anyone, other than to have a Sager representative respond here on this thread. I have simply done a little homework and picked out 2 laptops to choose from (on Amazon at present). Not sure how I'm being served, but since it's your right to back out after mentioning buying from you, I can certainly respect that.

 

Why no new posts? Now, when MSI as well as ASUS and Gygabyte and Aourus have released their line up with Pascal GPU there are a plenty possibilities for comparisen.

May be I can start. What do we have here?

Size: Sager is in the middle here. It is not as bulky and heavy as MSI or ASUS G serie. However Aorus is much lighter and thinner, but... (I say it here and repeat again) much more expensive.​

Screen: Sager has no new 120Hz TN and no 1440p screens, but... these two rather controversial, - they have some disadvantages, and personally I would rather go with 60Hz (or better 75Hz) IPS 1080p screen that is good for all types of work. (not perfect, but good). ​

Storage options: here Sager really shines with its 2 M.2 slots for SSD and 2 7mm bays. For someone who likes store a lot of data it is a very convenient thing. No other manufactures provide 2 HDD bays as far as I know, and acually, some models, GT72VR has just one M.2 SSD slot... though the raid of NVMe SSD in Sager is not an option unlike GT73VR. ​

Input: Here Sager is in the middle. RGB keyboard better then permanently red ASUS's one but worth fully RGB (all keys are customizeble) in Aorus, but again, the latter is much more expansive. ​

Output: Unfortunately Sager does not have a Thunderbolt, like GT73VR or ASUS G752VR. But everything else seems OK in this department, more or less on pair with other manufactures.​

Heat management: here it is more complicated. There are some reports that CPU on Sager usually at 80 degrees and that, in my opinion is too much (of course it is withing safe range according to manufactures, but still...), Here the GT73VR is the vinner with its 10 heat pipes system, but remember, that mashine is almost twice the size and weight, in addition to the price. ​

Overall impression: I have nighther of these laptops, but I've read a great deal about them. So, my thoughts is:

Best performer (regardless the size): GT73VR, but it is bulky, heavy and pricy.
Best for carrying around: Aorus, but it is very expanisve and the screan TN lines make some people wish better.
Best value: Sager. Yeah. As far as I know now, Sager gives a very slightly less in terms of pure performance than MSI or ASUS with the same hardware (due to heat management mainly) but it is much cheaper them both of them. ​

So. The question I would like to ask in the end is, what other people think about this model from Sager. Is there anything that potetial buyer should know (except mentioned above)? Any additional issues with this model? Any thoughts?

And, by the way, what in your opinion is the best way of getting this laptop in Germany? Buy from AMAZON, XOTIC or from local retailer (Hyrican Striker 1548) It is 300$ more expensive, but if anything happens I would be able to go directly to shop and ask for help?

 

You might want to check the owner's thread for that computer, to see what all people have to say about it. I think you are right on a lot of the points of comparing models though. Sager is an overall well rounded system, not too big, and no draw backs you might find on slimmer models. It has good expandability, and at a good price.

If you buy from us through Amazon, the shipping might be a little cheaper, just because Amazon sets the shipping prices. But if you order through our site directly, you would do a wire transfer which the cash discount would save some money. So it might be worth comparing it both ways to see what is the best option.

If you have any questions, just let me or anybody from our sales team know. We'll be glad to help out.