Purchasing Sager np8150 this weekend! Upgrades?

Hello everyone,

So I am pretty set on purchasing a Sager np8150 this weekend. I am really unsure of which upgrades to go for. I want to keep the performance balanced and under budget, which is around 1700$ (USD) including windows and warranty. I also am pretty sure I want to upgrade the GPU to the 6990M. Ill most likely buy with Xotic PC, unless anyone can give good evidence for a better place to purchase what I am looking for.

If you had 1700$ for a new Sager/Clevo what would you get? Ill be using mine, for gaming (Starcraft, Civ 5, Witcher 2, Skyrim) streaming video, running some statistical software (just SPSS, nothing fancy) web surfing. I am also an amateur photographer, and will be editing some photos. I take a lot of photos.

Thanks for the help!

 

I'd upgrade the screen and gpu only
to ssd you can upgrade yourself also ram is cheaper to upgrade yourself

I'd also pm malibal and powernotebooks to see if you can get better prices

 

Do you need an optical drive or would you rather have SSD + HDD combo?

Since you edit Photos a 95% Color Gamut screen is a high priority upgrade. I believe Matte screens are better for true color representation, but I'm no expert.

6990M GPU is a sweet spot for the GPU choice.

i7-2670QM CPU has enough processing power in order to play modern games without causing slow downs. I don't think you need anything higher.

IC diamond compound is a nice upgrade if you can't do it yourself, it's important to try to keep temperatures down for gaming especially with possible overclocking in mind.

Unless you are working with extremely high resolution files humongous in size for your photo editing 8GB of RAM should be plenty. If you do work with huge photoshop files (several hundred mb in size), perhaps 12-16GB of RAM would be better.

Intel 6230 Wireless upgrade has better signal strength over stock and comes with blue-tooth.

So then we come down to HDD choices. You can either get a Hybrid 750GB HDD with 8GB SSD NAND Cache or replace Optical Drive with a hard drive caddy and get SSD from a place like Newegg to install yourself. I recommend Samsung 830 and Crucial M4 Sata III SSDs with Marvel Controllers in terms of the best price/performance/reliability.

 

6990M, IC Dia, 2.2 quad, killer wireless, hybrid 750gb. since you are getting 15inch you could eliminate a optical drive and get 2 hdds, but its your call. i have 8170, 2 hdds and a blu ray burner its awesome!

 

I would upgrade to 95% color gamut matte screen, 6990, Intel 6230 is more than enough and has Bluetooth (if you do not play online games over Wireless).

If you will get SSD anyways, get the caddy, keep the HDD (save the hybrid upgrade for the SSD). I second the Samsung 830 or Crucial M4

 

Finally some answers!!

Yeah I am pretty set on the Matte screen with the 95% gamut, and the 6990M gpu.

Im just trying to make sure I spend the best bang for the buck, with out over killing it. I think I would like to have the optical drive. To be honest, I didn't know some people weren't getting them anymore.

I'm sure there are things I would be able to do myself, like the paste, but I'm just not sure that I would ever get around to it. I'm so busy with school and such.

What are the benefits of the hybrid hard drive with ssd, other than boot time? Less noise? And is there much of a performance difference with these two: 750GB (w/ 8GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA III 600 - 32MB Cache & 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA II 300 - 32MB Cache).

 

Boot time is the primary benefit because it is the most repetitive task you do. The drive monitors and "learns" what files you access the most and then caches it in the SSD portion of the drive. Thus, accessing the handful of things that happen to be cached at the moment will be accelerated to SSD-like speeds. So, anything you repetitively use, like the OS boot files, web browser, Office, etc. are usually the major benefactors. Anything you "randomly" access will be not be able to benefit from the learning process and thus will be relegated to the speeds of any typical platter drive. It usually takes several times of accessing something before the drive learns about the task in question, so it'll only reach its speed potential after a few consecutive accesses.

Here are some numbers of what to expect. The larger hybrid has 8GB of flash, so it's able to store more of what the drive sees you access often. I think they also messed around with the learning algorithms and such, but the increase to 8GB is the major change.

AnandTech - Seagate 2nd Generation Momentus XT (750GB) Hybrid HDD Review

 

The benefits to the hybrid drives are a best-of-both-worlds type of compromise between SSD and HDD. You get the size of an HDD, the speed of an SSD for frequently used apps, and all at much less than the cost of a large SSD. They're not much quieter than normal platter hard drives though, because that's really what the are. They also can't compete with SSD's entirely because you only get the limited 4 or 8GB of flash and have no say in what gets cached there.

The 750GB w/ 8GB flash model will be a bit better in performance for two reasons:

1) it has higher aral density on the HDD due to the bigger capacity (which means faster seek times on the HDD)

2) More flash memory (8GB versus 4GB) which allows for more to be cached there for faster access.

 

If you want top performance for daily tasks SSD is really a must, once you try it you won't be able to leave it.

In case you you arebnot planning to buy SSD, hybrid will be good solution.

For DVD you can get a slim external DVD burner for about $30 or even better a Blue-ray burner for about $110.

 

An upcoming firmware update will allow caching writes as well. Anand mentions this in his review. I don't think the 4gb version will support this.

 

Alright, I still haven't ordered yet! I am a bit worried about spending 2000$ on a laptop when new ones are right around the corner (2 months?).

Anyone have any idea what the prices are likely to be on the new ones? And if the currently technology price will go down?

 

Prices on the new GPUs, CPUs, and Chipsets will be higher, but not by much. Prices on the older models wont drop for a few months.

 

well, would you wait?

 

That's the eternal question. A Radeon 6990M and Sandy Bridge quad-core CPU will give you years of use. If you want it now, get it now and enjoy the heck out of it.

 

I think that was the answer I was hoping for! I am computer-less right now

 

Whoa! That screams need right there! Technology moves fast, it just does. Play the timing game only when you have the luxury of time, not when you are painfully counting days and weeks. If it were me, the several months going "computer-less" will cause me much more pain and angst than any fancy new GPU or back-lit keyboard ever could give back. Buy now!

 

I STILL haven't gotten a computer!! (damn you IRS)
But I am ordering one tonight.

Just wondering if you guys think I should get the hybrid with 8 gb SSD and 750gb HDD or the 120 gb SSD for 10$ more. I can store all of my pictures and what not on my external drive.

Also should I stick with the 8gb ram or go to the 12?

 

If you have the extra storage space, the Intel 520 is much faster then the 750GB hybrid

8GB RAM is good enough for most people unless you're working with alot of large files like HD video editing or for professional use. For home use, 8GB should be fine, you can always add more in the future if you need.

 

Thanks for the reply, I think am about to order through XoticPC!

 

You're very welcome

 

Sorry to derail for a bit, but I noticed that XoticPC has a special offer for the dead pixel guarantee on the NP8170 when you purchased a premium screen, however for the NP8150 I don't seem to have this option. Is it a glitch or does the $39 Dead Pixel guarantee is only available for the NP8170?

 

If you can wait till Cebit (next week) to see if any more info comes for release dates on the refreshes.

That is my plan atm

 

That is listed correctly. The Upgraded screens on the NP8170 are installed by us directly and not Sager so we can offer a discount on the 0 dead pixel policy. The upgraded screen options on the NP8150 are installed directly by Sager so the 0 dead pixel policy for those are at Sagers standard pricing.

 

Ahh, I see thank you. The only thing left for me before I pull the trigger on either an NP8150 or P150HM is the justification of the extra $75.

 

Let us know what you decide.

 

I just ordered mine a few days ago and mailed my check in yesterday (should have done a wire but I get charged $25 and I wanted to keep prices low). I went with Xotic mainly because Hutsady was usually always the 1st to respond and he hasn't failed me yet. But I guess a clevo is a clevo right? 8150 or P150HM. I also am attempting to do a lot myself to cut cost such as install on SSD, artic mx-4, and etc. Hopefully I don't mess up.

 

They are built off the same chassis, if you spec them out the same you'll get the same comptuer. Only difference is the branding on it and the customer service/support before and after the sale.

Thanks raymondjchin! If you have questions when you go to install the SSD let me know, its pretty straight forward if you've had any experience with similar installs in the past.

 

As someone going through the 8150 purchase process *this* weekend, this thread was exactly what I needed. I made some changes to my intended configuration based on it. Thanks guys.

 

I placed my order for my new 8150 with Xotic a couple weeks ago. Aside from a few hiccups (I'm deployed and communication is a continual issue for us out here), I've been pretty satisfied with the process so far.

I did have a couple questions RE the 8150:
1. I ordered mine sans ODD and with the HDD caddy installed, with the OS on the 750gb HDD. I ordered a SSD separately. How hard is it going to be for me to ghost the original HDD OS install onto my new SSD, and install the SSD into the SATA III slot and swap the formatted HDD to the SATA II slot in place of the ODD?

2. I've been researching but can't get a really good answer to this one. Are there more than 1 mini-PCIE slots? I've read yes and no, and that the second slot is used by a SIM card reader. If this is the case, how hard would it be and would it be feasible to install a mPCIE SSD? I'm just trying to maximize my storage options with as many slots as possible.

Thanks for any help.

 

Does anyone know if the 95 gamut screens are still having calibration issues? I really dont want to have to buy software just to enjoy this screen.

 

Do you mean the red tinting on the matte screens? That was brought to the attention of the manufacturer months ago, so it's been checked for much more carefully. I haven't seen anyone mention that issue on the forums in quite a while.

That said, screen calibration is still highly recommended. Either professionally done, or doing it yourself by eye (using a color stick from an art/paint store, etc. for reference)

 

Ah thanks! That red tint was horrid!

 

1. I would recommend just doing a clean install on the SSD opposed to ghosting it. There will be a Windows disc included so you can use that for the install.

2. There is 1 mini pci-e slot in there and its used by the wireless card. I dont think you'll have physical room to add a mPCIE SSD in there instead. It's under the keyboard which doesnt leave much room for anything bigger then the wireless card.

 

If he ordered it without an optical drive, how's he doing to use the disc to do a clean install?

I'm pretty sure I've seen on here in a few places that the mpcie slot in these models is wired only for usb and not full pcie so a mpcie ssd wouldn't operate in the slot if you did get it to fit. Only thing that can be used is a wifi card. Or something to that effect..

I could be wrong as I don't frequent the sager/clevo forum as much as I used to. I'm sure someone could clarify.

 

He can always create a bootable Windows USB with the easy creator tool:

Microsoft Store Online

As for the mPCIE, you're correct. It's only wired for USB. Regardless, an mSATA SSD wouldn't work even it was a full mPCIE slot as they require special pin configurations to operate anyway.

 

Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate it. I've got an external ODD drive I can use, so no worries there. But I'll probably go the USB route you linked, as it will most likely go faster. Thanks again!

 

Hi,
I am planning to purchase Sager NP9270 in next month and I am currently doing some research on hard drive options. I want to know if 750 GB hybrid option is reliable and secure. I have seen lot of blogs online which mentions that 750 GB hybrid hard drive creates lots of issues during normal operation of laptop. Please can someone confirm that once . Thanks

Regards,
Pratik