P-6860FX VS Sager NP5793

Sorry meant P-172S-FX

Hi guys, migrated from the Alienware forums where I got sick and tired of the issues with the M15X and so decided to ditch AW all together and look for a different solution.

Primary use: LAN GAMING/Competitive
Screen Res: 1440x900 for the GW and 1680-1050 for the Sager

So Ive finally shrank my options down to these 2. Obviously the GW has the price advantage, starting at $1399 with an 8800M GTS which isnt bad since the res is lower. Although the 96 shaders on the GTX is obviously more attractive.

The sager comes out around 2200$ with loads of options minimized although i will go with the T9300 and 8800GTX all else will probably be minimum.

Again, just going to LAn and thats it, there will be no other use for this.

The sager is pricier but comes with a better cpu and better gpu...

What do you guys think?

 

Sager 5793 . Better build quality,better looks,better specs,better all
You need a gaming rig,this is the one.

 

If its only for LAN, then I think you should go for the gateway....Otherwise, you can buy it from eurocom without wireless or bluetooth to save some money.

 

i would go with the sager if u have the money the 8800m gtx is alot better than the gts but i dont know what kind of cpu the gateway comes with

 

gateway comes with a pretty meager cpu T5550 or something 2.0ghz although the price does reflect the lower cpu and gpu.

On the other hand, at 1440x900 probably the cpu and the gpu are probably not that bottlenecked for most games (except Crysis).

On the other hand, 1680 is obviously nice for 17inc and 8800GTX is more powerful than the GTS although not by THAT much.

They are both pretty custmiseable although the 8800GTS is soldered whereas the 8800MGTX, i can potentially upgrade although Im not really counting on it as such.

Also the GW has 2 HD slots which i dont need but still seems nice to have?

Hmmm build quality of the Sager is better? From the pics it seems that GWs build seems very nice also with touch controls at the top.

 

Another important factor is the service/support that you want to get.

Gateway might give okay support, but a Sager reseller (like Powernotebooks or XoticPC) will definitely be much better.

 

Yeah Gophn, that is a good point, I plan to order from Xotic since I saw one of their representatives on the forum, things like that gives me more peace of mind...

 

If you have the money ,get the SAger. I personally cant stand gaming at low res

 

yeah low res is kinda annoying specially when I game at home with a 24 inch monitor, the 17inch with 1440 may feel very different...The 1920 however is too high even for 8800mGTX in my opinion, although may be fine for now, but in terms of future proofing a slightly lower res might be more beneficial like the 1680 which is the sweet spot with the 8800M GTX i think.

 

What games do you plan to be playing?

 

Cod4, Css, Ut3.

 

Those will defintely be playable at WUXGA easilly

 

Ofcourse it will for now, but what about COD5 (when it comes out)? or newer games etc If Im spending $3K i want to have it at least for 2 years or 3 if possible.

 

That's always hard.But if u can afford get a Sager 9262.Atleast it can put in 2 8800GTX in sli.But may be if a 9900GTX comes out, sli 8800GTX might be blown off like 8800GTX >8700GT Sli

 

Yeah but the 9262 is a true BEAST of a machine at over 12 pounds...

The only attractive thing about the GW is the price, i can get a decent gaming laptop for 1399, that is very attractive since Ive got a decent rig at home.

On the other hand, the 5793 isnt THAT much more expensive and u get a far better CPU and GPU and better screen...

decisions...

By the way, thank you all for the replies so far, very helpful

 

i would try to wait if u dont have the money and get the sager 8800m gtx sli and a quad core in it. then u do not have to worry about gaming or programs stressing your system until maybe 2-2.5 years (the only reason it might be shorter is because something new comes out every 1-3 months, and devolops try to use the new products as guide line for eye candy)

 

If your going to go with a 17" why not wait for the M17X. If you can't wait then I would go for the 5793. Its alot more portable than the 9262 and alot thinner as well. For me the thicker the notebook the worse it is for gaming.

 

The M17X looks good but with all the problem of the M15X (check out the AW forum, its a disaster fiasco) and most likely will be highly priced compared to similar spec sager systems.

 

True the M15X is having some problems but then again I am not surprised. Trying to pack that much power in such a small form factor is going to creat heat, and alot of it. Once they get the bugs worked out it will be a fine machine. I highly doubt we will see such problems with the M17X. my guess is they will make sure its 100% before release.

That being said I own 2 M9750's and One NP5793. They are both fine machines but i will say the M9750 is much nicer. The keyboard is better. The screen is better and the build quality is much better. So AW can get it right at least some of the time. Either way the NP5793 is a much better way to go than the GW. The only reason you should get the GW is if your on a very tight budget.

 

If your into competitive gaming like myself you should go with the faster choice, which obviously is the Sager 5793. I also purchased the WSXGA screen because I've had the wuxga and found it to be to hard on my eyes when playing games like Counter Strike.

 

The screen is just right, no ghosting at all. The noise doesn't bother me, if i use Fn+1 now thats pretty loud, but my temps are fine while gaming never needed to turn them all the way up thus far.

CPU: 28-32 idle, 46-49 peak
GPU: 49-51 idle, 67-70 peak
HD: 49-51 idle, 58-60 peak

Temps are in celsius

everything is fine except the HD seems to get pretty hot while backing up or defrag.

 

If your going to get the 5793 dont get the T9500 its not worth the extra money vs the T9300. I purchased without doing any research:{

 

jmanrob: thanks for the info there, those temps are very nice. The M15Xs were going into the 90s which is very worrying.

So Im supposing ur into LANs as well i gather. Does this machine match up to that task? is it all up to my skills now?

 

Oh yeah sorry I am going for the T9300, didnt see that you got the T9500.

But I am thinking of maybe getting it painted by Xotic to make it look original

 

The 8800M GTX is faster by THAT much, you gotta realize 96 is much greater than 64 when it comes to pipelines... by the numbers the GTX should perform 50% better than the GTS or a 3 to 2 ratio of performance. The GTS is a very nice card but you will want the extra power for the future, and also when nVidia decides to release the PhysX firmware for the 8 series cards (might just be a pipe dream but I have high hopes).

Also, as far a build quality goes; fancy, shiny panels attached to the outside of a laptop case can be very deceiving when it comes to the build quality on the inside (we all learned as kids that the inside is what counts )

Anyways, if you got the extra dough, fork for the 5793 w/ 9300+8800M GTX and go with XoticPC (I did). And remember, in the future you can definitely add an X9000 core and possibly a newer GPU (even it you can upgrade GPU you will for sure have to send it in for motherboard mods)

Happy Buying!

 

@bigjohnsonforever: yeah i think I will spring for the Sager, I will probably get better CS too i think.

Thank you all!

 

@Kaiserphoenix: very nice Voodoo system you got there *jealous*

 

http://web.mac.com/jordan.nebuya/Site/Voodoo_Omen.html

it looks really cool too! I love voodoo and their customer service.

Pricey? Yes. Worth it? hellyeah!

but it is heavy.....

 

the GW has 1.83Ghz CPU.

 

I believe the P-172S-FX has a 2.00 gHz processor

 

but he's talking about P-6860FX

 

Itll do better then the gateway.

 

hey guys did u know that hp makes voodoo

 

HP does not make Voodoos, they just own Voodoo... who still operates near independent from HP re-branding Compal and Clevo notebooks.

Its like Dell owning Alienware... where Alienware does not sell Dell notebooks, but rather they brand Quanta and Arima notebooks.

 

But, only to the extent that they (i.e., _HP) have chosen to be absentee owners and haven't monkeyed around with the personnel, policies, or design methods of Voodoo.

 

I have both (see sig for benches).

My opinion:
If you get the Gateway then also buy a faster CPU (T8300 or T9300).

Sager advantages:
Faster video card
Better resolution screen
Can get blu-ray
A bit smaller (very little)

Gateway:
Cheaper
Less noisy
HDMI and e-sata
can accept a 2nd HD

 

I think the thing convinced me to get the Sager was that once you start upgrading the 6831/6860, the Sager is the slightly better value:

I would have bought the 6831 and upgraded the proc to a 9300 and the screen to WUXGA.

Once you add in those costs (325 for cpu and at least $300 for a WUXGA screen) -- the Sager (from Eurocom) becomes a better value.

 

Doesnt upgrading the CPU also void the warranty?

 

Not really. First of all there is no protective tape to keep you from opening the bottom cover and you could always keep the old CPU to replace it if you need to send it in for repairs.

It is worth getting the Gateway if you only replace the CPU. If you want an 1900x1200 screen as well then go with the 570RU.

 

Guys, thank you for all your advice and suggestions. Upon careful thought I think i will go for the 570RU although not necessarily Sager since I live here in EU. The thing that pushed me to this is because of the superior CPU i plan on the T9300, and better GPU, and better Screen 1680/1050. Once I add those in, the GWs bang for buck diminishes considerably.

I am also not going to need the second HD drive so I guess it is M570RU for me.

 

Look at:

Rizeon
Kobalt Computers
Rock Direct

 

I found that Novatech had the best prices in the UK and also has quite a few configurations in stock for next day delivery!

 

I put in an order from Xotic Thanks people!

 

I'm in a similar boat. I'm looking for a gaming laptop for lans/comp. I play cod4,dod:s, and hopefully sc2 when it arrives.

I ordered a p-6831 fx from bb and gave it a run and thought it was alright. Luckily it had a scratch on the molding so i was able to test it and return it without the 15% restocking fee. I have a few things to say about it. I think it is a good laptop. For the money it is quite impressive. hdmi, esata, the sound plugs on the side were all things I appreciated. Screen for me isnt that important because at home I'll have it hooked up to my 22in sammy lcd and use an external keyboard/mouse. Vista even on that system lagged some and there is a noticable difference in vista vs xp in terms of mouse acceleration. If you are used to xp and use cplmousefix then dont use vista or u will have to learn how to aim all over again.

Running cod4 on that system with a fps config produced decent results. Drops down in the 30's in smoke and i got it to average around 60fps. I know that I won't be getting something that has the performance of my desktop but I am hoping to find something that will at least be alot closer. (125fps constant)

I considered going the route a lot of you have and just upgrading the GW with a t9300, installing xp, adding a quicker hdd ect. Warranty on a laptop does have value to me because I've seen friends use theirs a lot, so voiding the gw warranty vs buying a system that is exactly how I want it is something I'm looking at seriously. I've got a budget of $3k but like most ppl I guess I'd like to know if the NP5793(t9300) or the NP9262(e8400) is going to give me a significant boost in fps performance vs lets say the GW P-172X FX Edition(t8300). If the difference is 15fps in real gaming performance in like cod4 I dunno if that justifies a 600-1000 price jump. I'd probably buy the GW or wait. If it was 30-50 fps I stand to gain by forking out the difference in coin then I'm sold on it. Suggestions would be very very much appreciated.

 

Well Bungles, I am going for the Sager NP5793. Like me, you have a separate desktop at home so the laptop just needs to perform games at LANS at the best possible way.

So my thinking was, drop the 1920 res because that chokes even the best of graphics cards for modern games, with the NP5793, I can get the 1680 which is the best balance for a 17inc in my opinion.

I reckon the sweet spot is the T9300 coupled with the 8800M GTX and a 7200RPM drive either the 160 or 200. That makes a very fast system and if you configure it at Xotic, I believe it costs 2262 with the cash discount which is actually quite good value for money considering youre getting a Penryn chip with 6mb cache and full fledge GPU, the best in the market at the moment.

I personally quite liked the case of the GW better as it had more thoughtful ports and the machine was thinner I think, but in the end (estata, i never used, HDMI is pointless for me without Blu-ray) so I went for the 5793. (also you can paint it too!).

The 9262 is a beast and while its good for someone without a main computer, I reckon its over-kill for people like us whose got decent rigs at home, and besides the SLI wont perform so well and lowerres with single 8800 is a better combination i think for gaming.

Let me know what you decide

 

Wow, this is the same boat I'm in. I went to BB the other day to check it out, but they didn't have the 6860 in stock, and had to order it if I wanted it. For me it boils down to the performance difference, and if the extra money spent for the 5793 is justified. Obviously, you would have to upgrade the processor to a T9300 in the gateway, but that still puts the 6860 well cheaper than the 5793. The difference in the pipelines between the GTX and GTS seems like there should be a 20-30% jump in performance, and is it worth the extra money.

 

@Kaiserphoenix: Ah the 1920 screen I got is very beautiful for hd movies and graphics rendering, but in retrospect I probably should have gotten the 1680 because everything is SO DAMN SMALL!! I had to change my windows font dpi from 96 to 120 because I couldn't read CRAP. Some webpages still screw with my eyes. However, a very nice upside is I will never notice a dead pixel!

 

I also live in Europe and I could've sold you my Gateway 6831FX which is still unopened and comes with full warranty but I also think the Sager is a better value.
I already purchased the Gateway when I calculated the costs of upgrading the screen, cpu, hd, etc... which will not only be more expensive than the Sager but it will also void your warranty.
I guess I should've done my research earlier because I am now stuck with the Gateway but it's not all bad, I've bought a Sager NP9262 from the BST forums and due to the weak dollar at the moment I can sell the Gateway here in Europe without loosing too much money.
I don't have a second desktop system like most guys in these forums so the 9262 will be just right for me and this time I've done my research

 

well.. i own a 5791 with upgraded 8800gtx and x9000 now.. i also had the chance to have a gateway in my hands this week since i was wiping it out for him and doing a fresh install as well as adding a second hdd.

imo me personally i like the plastic frame on the gateway. it did seem a bit tighter in tolerance and maybe a bit thicker im most areas. they both still have flex.

i would have to upgrade his screen if i owned it. imo it sucked bad. i believe it was a samsung that came with but the overall picture was imo terrible.

the 5550 (i think thats what it had in it) was VERY slow compared to even the older meron's like the t7250 or better. imo it would need a cpu upgrade.

one feature i LOVE is the dual hdd's on the gateway. i WISH the sager had this feature.

overall all the way around the sager is the better system. it gives you more cpu the 8800gtx instead of the gts, better screen, its just as upgradable as the gateway.

imo i would get a hdd like the new wd 320gb 5400 rpm. they were tested to be just as fast and even in some cases faster than even the hitachi 200gb 7200 rpm due to the platter density among other things..

yes the t9300 right now is the sweet spot. the t9500 is not worth it and dont go for the x series unless you have the money to blow or want the absolute best cpu out (for the moment we all know that changes way to fast now)

 

despite the dual gpu, why can't sager design the np5793 with 2 hdds? imo its embarassing for sager that AW m9750 have dual gpu and dual hdd for similar dimensions.