Please confirm differences between Sager and Malibal?

As far as I understand it, Sager builds, ships, and does the physical warranty repairs of all Malibal notebooks, correct? If Malibal closed shop, would Sager maintain the remainder of the warranty?

Can someone, preferably a reseller, Malibal especially, elaborate on this relationship?

 

I saw what you posted in the other thread and it got me thinking as well. I used to be under the impression that Malibal built their own systems but found it peculiar that their website and warranty is very similar, if not identical, to Sager's. When they used to participate here they also made it seem like they were a builder but now you've raised a good question and I'm pretty darn curious. I'll browse through their forum and see if I see anything to prove or disprove this.

 

that there warranties are only similar, but not identical is proof of the pudding.

and whoever's watching from malibal, i just witnessed you pull a "double backed guarantee" switcheroo. you just removed section eight from your warranty. i read section eight tonight, about two hours ago 22:30 EDT, while it was in your live warranty. now the link from this screenshot is 404 and section eight is removed from your warranty, but google cache caught it. what's up with that? are you amending your warranty as we discuss it or was it coincidentally set to update today, monday (6/11) at midnight EDT?

 

Sager and Malibal have nothing to do with each other. They are both independent builders and get parts from Clevo. The reason you see Sager/Clevo bunched together all of the time is that Sager makes the VAST majority of Clevo laptops (at least in the US) and as such essentially has dibs on everything as soon as Clevo puts it out. Xoticpc, LPC-Digital, Powernotebooks, and others are resellers of Sager; they basically put in orders to Sager for customers (each reseller obviously has advantages over Sager and are the reasons to choose one of them).

Malibal, Mythlogic, and I'm sure others (can't think of any this second) are builders, essentially exactly like Sager just without the volume/priority that Sager gets from Clevo. They also tend to have much better customer service, QC, and warranties (at least I know Mythlogic does, those guys are beasts). If you order from a builder, they will have different warranties from each other and warranty work would be done in-house (for the most part). If you order from a reseller, they are the middle-man between you and Sager for warranty work.

 

nailed it. i would only add that clevo is the ODM and sager/malibal/mythologic/powernotebooks/prostar/eurocom/falcon etc. are OEMs.

 

I guess I misunderstood and was wrong then. I recall this discussion coming up before, trying to find the history, but no luck. And as I recall they were built and warranted by Sager but sold by Malibal. But thanks to a couple emails from resellers (who are bound by rules against posting such info here) that Malibal did at one point get their laptops directly through Sager, apparently that changed recently. Would still like to get comments direct from Malibal however.

 

It's very confusing since another reseller mentioned the only companies that import Clevo in NA are Sager, Pro Star and Eurocom. So Mythlogic and Malibal must be getting their Clevo notebooks from one of those three.

And I noticed Pro-Star matches the price of Sager resellers and offer similar promotions.

 

Mythlogic is clearly a builder and seller of Clevo laptops, and what I'd expect from a reseller. Malibal just seems more like a Sager reseller with their own name considering their warranty and configurations are remarkably similar.

 

What I was told is MALIBAL actually build the laptop once the order is placed and they receive the parts from Clevo, so they are more like a builder company.

 

There are 3 importers in North America of Clevo machines Sager/Pro Star and Eurocom. No one else in North America works or deals directly with Clevo. According to Sager they are not a Sager/Pro Star customer.

 

I'm not disputing that and I don't think Xotic is either. Just Malibal is going through another middle person to get their Clevo notebooks in NA and seems they are possibly a Eurocom reseller/builder, same for Mythlogic.

 

From this thread. (12/05/11)

And for anyone curious, they postponed the move to the new facility. I imagine it'll be a few more months still. He told me they we're going to have a photographer take pics of the place and post them on their site when they're getting ready. Sounds like a pretty cool place from what I was told..

 

That still doesn't mean Malibal doesn't uses Eurocomm as their source for Clevo notebooks and do business with Clevo directly. Same for Mythlogic, purchasing barbone Clevo systems at mass wholesale prices from Eurocomm.

Which frankly means that Sager is ALSO a Clevo builder. I don't see how Malibal is any more special than Sager other than Sager doing business at much larger volume, which Malibal someday will want to do anyway. Who would say no to growing their business?

Either way, I'd just go with whoever provides the service you need and the best price you can find it at. It's still a Clevo whether it has no brand, Sager, Mythlogic or Malibal branding. They can claim to be notebook builders all they want, but it's going to be the same motherboard, same LCDs, the same CPU/GPU, they are not putting AMD/Nvidia GPUs fabricated by Asus, or coming from Dell, they are Clevo AMD/Nvidia GPUs. So what if they use a different brand of SSD, or offer a different branded gaming ram, which you can just buy from NewEgg cheaper anyway.

And every Sager reseller I've contacted all offer great prices on upgrades and parts, the phoenix upgrade service doesn't seem to be special in anyway. LPC-Digital even states on their site, all standard warranties come with their offer to provide parts at discount prices compared to retail by default, no special programs. Xotic reps have also affirmed this for their customers and I have no doubt PowerNotebooks does also.

 

One thing I would add, if Mythlogic can source their Clevo notebooks straight from Clevo how come they are still the most expensive US based Clevo reseller? How is it LPC, Xotic for configs I have can annihilate Mythlogic's prices if it's going from Clevo to Sager to LPC to me.

If Mythlogic/Malibal deal directly from Clevo, shouldn't they be able to offer even cheaper prices if Sager middle man is out of the picture? I don't believe a Malibal or Mythlogic will be any higher quality than a Sager notebook, same parts. If the thermals are not applied as well, don't care, I apply thermals myself with EVERY notebook I've owned anyway.

More options and customizations? Please, upgrading ram and HDD is easy on Clevo and likely can just find better prices on NewEgg during a sale, just requires patience. As said before, the 95% gamut LCd will likely be the same AOU v4 LCD that Sager resellers sell, the same motherboard, the same case, the same processor/GPU offerings, same keyboard. What is so special and custom at this point that I can't just customize myself?

 

I wanted to investigate this, so I asked Mythlogic for their Pheonix plan price for a component and compared it to Xotic. Mythlogic's price was slightly cheaper, and they stated that with the Pheonix plan they would also install it for free and perform a system "tune-up." I would still have to pay shipping, though. I am not sure if the other resellers will install and test it for free.

 

LPC Digital has lifetime labor with the warranty. Didn't check that with Xotic, and have full faith that when Larry with his 14+ years (believe started in 1998) of working with Clevo notebooks, installs the part will do it right. And full faith he will make sure the part works and not ship it back with a dud. While at it, if asked, I wouldn't doubt Larry or Xotic would use an air can to blow out some dust. I dont' want anyone running any software or doing any type of "tune ups" on my Windows settings.

Also reading what Malibal posted, they do not work directly with Clevo. They do source barebone systems from a middle person. Which I really don't see difference than just buying a Sager...

 

I am not certain of the specifics in LPC digital's case, but labor costs associated with warranties are not usually waived for elective upgrades.

 

Not worried, I can install any part on a laptop myself, and still save without having to pay a premium for the Clevo due to that Phoenix plan. I have yet to do upgrades anyway, as when it's time to upgrade, I do whole system upgrade.

 

Just to clear any confusion here:

a) Clevo manufactures the base laptop, chassis, motherboard, integrated ports of the mortherboard.

Clevo is also classifed as an Original Design Manufacturer.

A couple of things:
1) As an ODM, Clevo does NOT provide end user support for their products.
2) In general, Clevo does not sell directly to the end user or customer.


Since Clevo is located in Taiwan, and do not sell to the end-customer, how do we get our laptops? As it was just posted by XoticPC, this occurs through an importer. At this time, there are three importers of Clevo based laptops into North America: Sager, Pro Star and Eurocom.

If you purchased within the US, your laptop will have come from one of the lots purchased and resold by one of these three. Of these three, Sager is the largest.

Now, those three importers turn around and provide baseline Clevo machines to builders such as RJTech, Mythlogic, Malibal (??), AVA-Direct, etc. The builders turn around add their own components (memory, drives, software, paint jobs, LCDs, etc.) and sell those to the general public. Also, you may want to include "Sager Notebook" as a "builder" as well, and this is where confusion comes in. You see, "Sager Notebook" is also their own customer. Sager Notebook will sell some of their imported goods, but will also use some to build, decking them out with popular components/configurations, and sell to the customer.

Finally, when it comes to the "Sager Notebook" brand, there is another party called a reseller. These groups work and present Sager to sell to the general public. Also, a lot of the resellers not only sell Sager, but they also carry brands such as Asus, MSI, and seem to be now picking up on Alienware models.

Since Sager has its hands full on not only importing, selling to builders, as well as building their own brand, some people have had a better experience working with a Sager reseller as they can work as an intermediary between the customer and Sager, and sometimes have more of a direct line of communication in order to find and fix problems with "Sager Notebooks."

Since Mythlogic is a builder, they do not "source" Clevo chassis' directly from Clevo. Myth would need to purchase from an importer. If it is one of the three listed above, it is hard to say, but that does make the most logical choice.

In regards to price, once Mythlogic builds the machine (with more available inventory), they put the machine through its own rigorous Quality Assurance / Burn In program, in order to make sure it is working correctly before it goes out to you. They also offer other services that you cannot get by purchasing a Sager, and I leave that to the customer for their own investigation on the other differences they can find between a reseller and builder.

Hope this clears up a few things.


Sources:

+ Sager Notebook Computers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

+ List of laptop brands and manufacturers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

+ http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-0-faq-reseller-info-read-before-posting.html

 

I agree that this is the most cost-effective option for laptops!

 

Thank you for that informative post jclausius. However, is Malibal actually a builder or just an outlet that sells through Eurocom then?

 

Yeah I don't really see much difference. I have no doubt Sager does their own tests and so does Clevo, as we know Clevo tests to make sure the GPU is working for example. As for other parts and services, as said, I think the other resellers have something comprobable and I can find other parts for less than Mythlogic charges.

The differences seem to me, forgettable and miniscule. Xotic, PowerNotebooks and LPC have been VERY active and helpful, for all their products including MSI/Asus and supportive in multiple forums here. And if need be, they will help to make service with Sager smooth. The biggest difference I see for me personally, as I've read some posts saying their price difference was not much, but the config I chose, price was by far the biggest difference.

 

i'm not coming at you but this discussion now spans two separate threads, so i'd like to use some of your comments for clarification like jclausius has so helpfully attempted to do as well...

yes, it does mean that malibal doesn't use eurocom as their source. malibal and eurocom are the same type of entity--OEMs, original equipment manufactures, builders, or whatever you'd like to call them in order to make the most conceptual sense of the whole structure.

to be sure, this was never in dispute. sager, malibal, and eurocom are all the same type of entity--OEMs, original equipment manufacturers, or builders of clevo shells.

i'd agree with the better gist of this.

again, you're misunderstanding the structure here. mythologic is not a reseller. mythologic, malibal, sager, and eurocom are all OEMs, original equipment manufacturers, or builders of clevo shells. a partial list of the most popular clevo OEMs can be found here. companies like xoticpc and lpc-digital are simply sager resellers, as the volume of business that sager does in north america warrants middle-men between you, the end consumer, and sager.

dude, it's futile but valiant effort. i've cited the ODM and OEM wikipedia articles at least three times now.

 

You still clearly don't get it. Malibal and Mythlogic do not get their notebooks from Clevo. The only three in NA that get notebooks from Clevo are Eurocom, Sager and Prostar. And Prostar/Sager confirmed Malibal does not get their notebooks from them, that leaves Eurocomm.

 

My question is still whether Malibal actually physically builds or if they have Eurocom build the machines for them. Apparently they were customers of Sager at one point, but has moved to Eurocom.

All I can say is this has somehow struck a nerve with the whole Clevo/Sager builder/reseller community based on the number of interesting PM's I've received on the matter.

 

Yes. But if you have some specific make model memory or SSD, you'll have more of a selection at a builder than you would through any Sager config. However, as I think you've stated earlier in the thread, you can buy / install those yourself.

Also, yes, Sager does do their own testing with the config, but TBH I cannot tell you how they tested nor what they did. Granted, I never had any problems w/ any of my Sagers, but again, I was never told how or what they tested. Again, I'm not knocking Sager on this, as my three previous Sagers are still operational today (over a 9+yr period).

However, this was a lot different with my x7200 (my first barebone Clevo). With the purchase AVADirect provided a checklist of various tests/benches ran on the laptop - memtest, FurMark, PCMark, etc.) Perhaps Sager did the same thing, but seeing it in a written report was reassuring.

I'm sure there are other advantages to a builder like mythlogic, and if any of those myth customers come across those threads, I'm sure they'll share their experiences (which seem to be mostly positive.)

That is incorrect. Eurocom is the same thing as Sager. They import Clevo chassis / barebones, but they also build to sell to the end-user. I say they are the Sager Notebook of Europe / Canada since they import as well as build. However, in Malibal's case, they have no direct import line from Clevo. If you take their post at face value, they are a builder like Mythlogic or Maingear.

Who knows... Maybe "Fourth times the charm."

That is a tough nut to crack. All we have from Malibal is what has been posted - http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/669623-quality-sager-5.html#post8600679 I hate to admit it, but I'm still suspicious based on things I've encountered over the year. Things like exact config options (a while back they matched make,model,price of Sager), warranties (found by mattcheau), etc. But when you'd check two or three weeks later, things would be different enough to leave your head scratching.

I have doubts here, but choose to keep my thoughts private until I see verifiable proof one way or the other.

 

believe you me, buddy, i'm one of the few posters here who've actually invested the time into understanding the discussion at hand. why? because before purchasing a product, i do my due diligence in researching it first. so why don't you read something, like any of the helpful links that've been posted or the second half of this this thread here, before spewing more misinformed banter all over this message board. by the time you've made sense of it all, your fancy new machine will have arrived.

 

Still don't seem to get it, sad.

 

Take a break and re-read it all, with so much text on this thread everything might seem confusing.. take your time

 

@jaug, I think hulawafu77 was addressing mattcheau, not referring to his/her own understanding of who does what in this Clevo distribution model.


@the others...

"the only companies that import Clevo in NA are Sager, Pro Star and Eurocom." - hulawafu77
"sager, malibal, and eurocom are all the same type of entity--OEMs, original equipment manufacturers, or builders of clevo shells." - mattcheau

Yes, these are OEMs, but of those Sager and Eurocom are ALSO importers. And I think that is where there is some miscommunication.

So in regards to Sager / Malibal, when Wolfester states, "They are both independent builders and get parts from Clevo." That is technically incorrect. Sager *does* get its bareone chassis from Clevo as they import. However, Malibal does not get parts from Clevo. Being in Nevada, the would use Sager Imports, Eurocom Imports, or ProStar - one of the North American importers. I tried to bring up this fact that of the three importers, two of them also appear to be builders. (ASIDE: For all I know ProStar may build as well, but if they do, I've never seen the featured here at NBR. )

So, when mattcheau said "nailed it" back on page 1, I'm not sure he meant the part about Malibal getting chassis from Clevo. From this post, I think is where we got a bit side-tracked.

 

I didn't necessarily mean that Malibal gets the parts directly from Clevo, just that there are no other entities that actually assemble the laptop. It's my understanding that Malibal buys empty Clevo chassis from someone, regardless of whether it's Sager, Eurocom, or Prostar. Even if they buy the chassis from Sager, they differ from resellers in that they do not buy pre-assembled laptops from Sager.

I was just trying to simplify it as I didn't think the entire import chain needed to be clarified.

 

Oh.. I guess I went a little to far, somehow

 

I want to quote a certain builder here but afraid my post might get deleted.

Practically, MALIBAL has their laptops built by Eurocom in Canada with MALIBAL branding. In the case of US orders, they are taken by Eurocom's freight forwarder to NY where they are then shipped out to various US state locations.

I can confirm this as the laptop in my signature originally came from Potsdam, NY which is on the border between Canada and US. Postdam is right next to Ottawa, which is where Canada Eurocom headquarters is based at.

This was back in Nov 2011. Maybe it's different now.

 

THIS! I didn't want to say it but this is pretty much the info I've received as well. Except it used to be Sager but I guess Eurocom lowballed them.

 

Thanks for the clarification. Hopefully hulu and mattcheau see where you're coming from. I now think between all the posts here, people can figure out what is going on.

 

i think hulawafu77 has confused himself.

so even if malibal does in fact import some of their clevo shells through eurocom (or sager for that matter), that somehow turns malibal into a--eurocom (or sager) reseller? what are you getting at here, jclausius? i maintain that wolfester did "nail it." malibal takes a clevo shell, and builds a malibal from it. where the clevo shell itself comes from is irrelevant to this discussion.

besides, are you some type of agent vested with the authority to speak on behalf of malibal's business operations? cite some sources here. you were good at that earlier when i agreed with you. what happened? pretty sure i'll stick to the explanation that malibal offered directly and that hizzaah was kind enough to cite for us, which very clearly states, "In the meantime, due to high sales volumes, our laptops are currently being produced and shipped from our facility in NV and also by a partner who we oversee and manage in NY." [emphasis mine]

do you honestly take that to mean that malibal is partnered with eurcom's canadian headquarters whom they also oversee and manage just because boukyaku says his malibal "came from" (shipped from?) potsdam, ny last november? that's your contention here? come on, dude.

 

Really when it comes down to it you are going through the vendors for the support and ordering. I personally have dealt with XoticPC and another company that I will not mention and I can say that the support piece is important. I personally have not dealt with Malibal other than pre-sales, however I know people who have and have nothing but good to say about them.

It is all Clevo at some point including the parts, which are certified to work. If you go to one vendor and mention a part that you can get at the other and is not on their configuration screen, you can get it.

 

It's not complicated. Clevo builds barebones. Sager and Eurocom buy them and import them into US/Canada. Then Malibal, Mythologic or whoever else buy these barebones from Sager or Eurocom, add parts you specify in your order and ship them to you.

 

Except Sager and Eurocom ship directly to you too.

 

And the only customization differences between Sager and "builders" is the HDD and ram. The Phoenix plans or whatever are just marketing ploys far as I'm concerned. The extra testing, whatever, I haven't read of any disaster stories of a Sager arriving dead out of the box yet. Free ICD7? Yeah, pretty sure that's included in the price and I like applying TIM myself and replacing the thermal pads. And I always do a clean install of Windows myself.

As someone said, they are all Clevo machines and it comes down to who you feel provides the services you desire.

 

And you couldn't be more wrong because that is NOT what Woelfster said. The post plainly states, "They are both independent builders and get parts from Clevo." It does NOT say, they are independent builders and USE Clevo Parts, it says they "GET parts from Clevo," Howeverm as "Woelffy" clarified what he meant in that original post by a followup that Malibal uses parts manufactured by Clevo. Remember, if Malibal's materials do come directly from Clevo, then they would've been listed as an importer, which we have plenty of documentation they are not.

I haven't said anything about Malibal's business operations. Who are you addressing?

These statements are strange. Kinda accusatory in nature, but against what, I'm uncertain. Perhaps you could quote the author? Until then, put me down as ???

 

soooo you're trying to debate semantics then? "They are both independent builders and get parts from Clevo." he could've been the slightest tad more precise and said, "They are both independent builders and import parts either directly or indirectly from Clevo," but regardless of who the shell is imported through, it's a clevo shell.

if you'd been reading this entire discussion that's now spread over two threads, op's initial confusion stemmed from the warranty malibal offers its customers. at no point in this supply chain does eurcom, sager, or any company malibal contracts to import shells incur any liability to the end consumer of malibal's product except for malibal. technically speaking (a phrase you so loosely use), contractual privity exists only between malibal and malibal's customers. if your malibal is defective, your recourse is with malibal. whether they have any remedy to pursue from clevo is superfluous to the warranty malibal offers its customers. [that's why the whole "double-backed guarantee" business that was apparently removed from malibal's warranty just yesterday is rather coincidental.]

again, whether or not malibal is an importer of clevo shells (because they quite clearly are in some sort of capacity), woelfster nailed it. i don't quite get what you're trying to clarify at this point. that malibal imports some of their shells through other OEMs? again, irrelevant.

haha you really are confused, huh? whom do you think i was addressing? the topic of this entire thread has been related to malibal's business operation, particularly observed in your (jclausius's) replies.

riiiiiiiiight.

i saw where he (woelfster) was "coming from" after his first reply and i didn't need it to be clarified--not sure if the same could be said for you.

 

Personally I think it's irrelevant to classify either Mythlogic or Malibal as laptop builders, as they are not. The laptop comes pre-assembled with the screen, keyboard, motherboard, PSU. The only thing they will add to customize is the CPU, GPU, ram and HDD, which any monkey can do.

When you say shell, almost as if you are trying to imply they just get a casing and then Mythlogic choosing the MB, optical drives etc. It's all the same parts, whether you get it from Mythlogic or Sager. Same screen options, same optical drive options, same i7 options, same GPU options. Only difference is Mythlogic may offer a different brand of ram or a different brand of SSD, which I say, big fricking deal.

I see nothing special about this.

And does anyone really believe that when you order a Sager from PowerNotebooks, Xotic or LPC, when you have them "build" your Sager with the customized options you wanted, that they don't do tests to make sure it's working? Please... it's just marketing baloney from Mythlogic/Malibal.

 

This is true, but in terms of laptops, you cannot get any type of laptop more broken down than the shell that has the motherboard, screen, keyboard, and PSU because all of those are fairly dependent on each other (and from what I understand, that is how Clevo sells them).

The whole point of this thread is to define how Sager/Malibal/other resellers differ, or at least that's how I interpreted it. Both Sager and Malibal receive the shells (which include only the basest components) and then add the rest, the company that sells them the shells is irrelevant. Other resellers order the entire laptop, all parts included, from Sager.

 

Here's a thread of interest concerning Malibal and their operations:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/629173-malibal-builder.html#

 

Debate? No. Pointing out flaws and clarifying, yes. To debate would mean there are two distinct sides. There are no sides and there is no debate. Woelfster has already clarified.

That would be a falsehood. Malibal does NOT import. It would have been more precise to say they both use materials produced or manufactured by Clevo.

Agree with you there. It's been a while since my classes covering Warranty and Breach of Warranty, but the contractual obligation is between the two parties. If Malibal were to close shop there most likely is no recourse, unless there is special provision. And I doubt Malibal is authorized as an agent to enter into agreements for those other companies.

A fallacious statement. By that reasoning, the local independent mechanic at my garage must be an "importer" of drive belts.

I don't know. Although I do it on occasion, I am not usually one for putting words in one's mouth. You act like I am the one making or backing up statements from HTWingNut or boukyaku.

I still find these statements confusing unless you are directing them to someone else:

are you some type of agent vested with the authority to speak on behalf of malibal's business operations? cite some sources here.

"do you honestly take that to mean that malibal is partnered with eurcom's canadian headquarters whom they also oversee and manage just because boukyaku says his malibal "came from" (shipped from?) potsdam, ny last november?

My position is requoted here:

Nothing to really cite as I haven't made statements in regards to their business ops, nor have I made any mention of how and where they get their laptop components.

Of course I didn't. And yes, I did need clarification. If I didn't need it or felt it pertinent, then I wouldn't have posted.

 

Yes. And you can buy those Clevo shells from builders as well. I know for a fact RJTech and AVADirect will do that. To pick a nit, suggesting that anyone can put in GPU, CPU, memory, HDD, etc. that statement is a bit off, as if it were true, builders wouldn't exist nor would they offer these components, but they do, so people will pay for these services.

Also, I have a question about the LCDs as I've seen some people upgrade the LCDs to AUO, but I do not recall which builders have offered that in the past.

 

THEY ALL OFFER IT. ALL Clevo "builders" offer it. And it's the same AOU v4 matte 95% screen on the P9150EM for example. Nothing special whether you get it from Sager reseller or a "builder" like Mythlogic. And I just checked, AVA Direct offers it, the same exact screen probably. Give em a call as they probably offer some deal for you, an AVA customer, even though they don't specifically advertise a Phoenix upgrade plan.

And I'm pretty sure, you can train a monkey to insert ram into a laptop and to insert a HDD.

AMD already had an ad in which they trained a monkey on how to replace a GPU in a desktop.

That makes no sense at all. How is that explanation showing how a Sager reseller is different from say Malibal or Mythlogic? A reseller gets a notebook from Sager with the default 500GB 7200, and default 8GB 1600, default LCD, default keyboard etc, the same default offerings on Malibal or Mythlogic! And then the reseller then upgrades it to the LCD of choice, the HDD of choice, the GPU of choice, the CPU of choice and the ram of choice. I just don't see the clear differentiation especially since the parts will likely be identical or from same manufacturer other than the HDD and Ram if for some reason Malibal chooses to offer "blank" ram instead of HyperX or whatever.

Why is it different for LPC getting their notebooks from Sager than Malibal getting theirs from Eurocomm? They both offer the same customizations. This is ludicrous.

 

AFAIK, the LCD option was a special upgrade on my x7200, but you couldn't get it on the Sager NP7280. So maybe this varies from model to model.

I have not seen the AMD/ATI ad. Builders beware!! LOL

 

I think we've more than answered the OP question by now.

Anyway, I've already been down the road of ordering a Clevo "chassis" so I can put in my own GPU, RAM, etc. It ends up being more expensive than just going through a reseller or builder.