Questions about Sager and Clevo laptops

Hey guys I'm new here, I'm heading off to college really soon and need a laptop that will last me a long time.

I'm looking at the Malibal P151HM1, NP8130, NP5165, and HP's DV6 Quad Edition. I'm only considering the dv6 because it is cheap but the np5165 is also around the same price so I don't know.

So some of my questions are...

6770m vs GT 555m?
How much difference in temp does the IC Diamond thermal paste make.
Does applying thermal paste myself void warranty? >>>>>>>>>> someone from Malibal or XoticPC answer this please
What is the difference between the P151HM1 and NP8130 and the difference between those two and the NP5165 besides GPU?

I might bring my desktop which has an HD5770, how does it compare to the GPUs in the laptops I mentioned?

 

Both resellers are very good I went with xotixpc

the P151HM1 and NP8130 are the same thing (just learned that today!)

 

Oh I'm curious as to how much the shipping is as well, how much did you pay for shipping?

 

the 560 is around 40% better if im not mistaken. but nvidia siet has a cart that shows the comparison.
here's the link: http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/NotebookGPUs/geforce-gt-555m/performance

 

i paid 40 dollars for UPS ground shipping, but if you are a NBR member and you are, you can get free shipping!(I paid shipping because I had a military discount)

 

XoticPC or Malibal: If you're in Canada, Malibal offers Canada-based warranty as a warranty upgrade. If not, then the differences between XoticPC and Malibal are few and far in between (both do price matching though, so shop around!)

6770m vs GT 555m: They seem to trade blows, depending on the game you are playing ( Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech)

IC Diamond thermal paste will make a couple degrees of difference, based on what others are saying; however, if you plan on overclocking, every degree counts.

The performance increase between the GTX560m and GT 555m is night and day, the link I provided above demonstrates that in game benchmarks. Depending on your budget, and if you are a serious gamer, it might be worth getting a laptop with the GTX 560m. It is a solid entry into high-end mobile gaming.

I haven't really looked at the NP5165 since I am looking at purchasing a P150HM/8150, so I cannot help you with that. Sorry

 

I was just looking at it lol, thanks. Also, how well would the 555M play Diablo III? I probably won't be playing FPS on the laptop too much.

 

ya the gtx 560 seems popular and should be decent for 2 years. also u can upgrade the it in the future by getting a new gpu and powerbrick, clevo's are very user friendly. but if its out of your price range it seems like the 555m isnt too bad.

 

Yea but looking at that chart.... it looks like the 560m is like almost twice as good as the 555m... lol, how much does a GPU + Powerbrick upgrade cost?
Also how is the battery on these machines? Outside of gaming that is. And also while gaming xD

 

If you order a machine with the 555m, you can't upgrade. The 555m is soldered on to the motherboard. If you went with the 560m in say, the P151HM1, it's a standard MXM card which gives you the ability to trade out for another down the road.

I can't speak for any of the other models, but the P151HM1 gets roughly 2.5-3.5 hours on battery with screen brightness turned down. Gaming will cut that down significantly.

 

ya the system with the 555m cant be upgraded, sorry i should have specified. but the laptop with the 560 can be upgraded, all u need is a new powerbrick to handle the increase in power needed. but u wouldnt need it for the 560m. so later on u could upgrade, but with the price of mobile gpu's its almost smarter to just get a new system.

 

Your desktop's Radeon HD 5770 is about the same performance as a Radeon HD 6870M, depending on the games played.

Diablo III is built on the same engine as SC2 as far as I know, so probably low/medium settings on the GT 555M. It will most likely run at high settings on the GTX560M. A GPU+power brick upgrade would probably cost about half of the laptop's original cost, as GPUs sold individually are not cheap. If you get the P151HM/NP8130, you will not need a GPU+power brick upgrade to have the GTX560M, as it comes standard with the laptop.

 

Yea I'm probably not going to upgrade my laptop, even if I do, it would be RAM only, but I tend to not use too much RAM anyways. I'm really wondering if i even need a gaming laptop anymore, maybe I'll just game at home and do a bit of D3 on the go.
Anyone know of any low cost laptops that would handle Diablo III at low-medium settings? Like lower cost than the NP5165.

 

LOL. Seems everyone is looking for this yet very few places offer it. It's a product that fell through the cracks I guess.

If you look in my sig, I got both the NP8130 and HP DV6z. I have them sitting right next to each other right now. There is also the DV6t that has Intel CPU and AMD GPU, and DV6z has AMD CPU and GPU. One of them is going to be returned. But the DV6z is your best economical choice for a machine that has any chance of gaming with newer games. However, the NP8130 bar none can handle anything you throw at it for the most part, but it's a little more expensive ~ $1300 with Windows 7, and battery life less than 3 hours, and it performs on par with a GT 210m when on battery, so don't expect to game on battery.

You can configure an HP DV6z for a little over $1000 with 1080p screen, blu-ray, 6GB RAM, quad core AMD A8 CPU and Radeon 6750m GPU. Then with 30% HP coupon, after tax (depending on your state), will cost about $750 with free shipping.

I intend on doing a full write-up of a comparison of the two here in the next few days, time permitting. But I gotta return one or the other within the next two weeks.

I really wish Sager had offered a larger capacity battery and/or switchable graphics. Getting 4-5 hours would be better than 2.5-3 and make my decision a lot easier. Currently about a $500 difference between NP8130 and DV6z, but I'd pay the $500 if I could easily exceed 4 hours battery. Right now I barely exceed 2.5.

 

Ah, if the battery life on the np8130 isn't that great then maybe I'll buy the dv6z again in the future, I actually have it right now, but i felt like it wasn't snappy enough so I'm returning it. Also by specs and price comparison, would you recommend NP5165 or Dv6z?

 

what's your windows experience score on the 8130? mine is only 5.9. isn't that kinda low? I thought the dv6 I had was higher, but maybe I'm misremembering.

 

Look into the details, I'm pretty sure your hard drive is bringing your score down because it shows the lowest score you got.

 

Don't worry about WEI, it's useless completely. And finding that 3DMark Vantage is as well. My overclocked DV6z scored better than the GTX 460m in Vantage, but there is no way in hell it performs near that level.

I've found that the DV6z for everything but gaming peforms admirably. Gaming with anything fairly new (I've been benching Bad Company 2) needs 720p at medium/low detail and then frames range 40-60 fps with some chop on occasion. I considered the NP5165, but if you configure similar to NP8130 (i7-2630QM, Blu-Ray, 8GB DDR3) it's close to the price of the NP8130. And since for whatever stupid reason they decided to use a 6-cell in the NP5165, so it only gets about 3.5 hours battery. Why bother with even making the machine if you can't give it longer battery life and use the same 8-cell in the other machines?

 

Well I figured i could cut down on the bluray and the ram and save myself some money to the point where it costs as much as the dv6z after 30% off. Also how is the 6755G2 vs GT 555m? With the dv6z i would play dirt 3 at max settings 1080p 2x AA averaging about 30 fps, what can i expect from the 555m?

 

the HDD is the "weakest link" at 5.9. I'm aware that the experience number is derived from the slowest performing subsystem. I thought my DV6 scored somewhere in the 6's with a 7200RPM HDD, which the sager also has. like I said, I may be forgetting what the DV6 scored.

 

Ah, the dv6z i had and my desktop hdd both scored 5.9 with 7200rpm, anyways, it should be fine for me to buy the np8130 try it and then return it if i don't want it like i did with the HP right? Is there a way to get free shipping with xoticpc?

 

Looking forward to the writeup. BTW, 15K+ posts? No words.

 

yes, u get free shipping if you let them know u are a member here.

 

NBR members get a discount on shipping, though I'm pretty sure you'd be responsible for return shipping should you decide not to keep it: XOTIC PC Return Policies

 

Hi, we offer Free Shipping for NBR members. We also have a RAM Promotion that can save you another $50 OFF. Also, if you are looking at the 5165, we can special order that model for you as well.

 

Really? I didn't know that! You've just given me options I need to consider...

 

if u are looking for a small gaming laptop you should look at the alienware m14x or m11x which offer great battery life and good performance. also the m11x is well priced, under 1200 for the upgraded gpu and cpu.

 

I figured I'd just let everyone know about the discounts offered by XoticPC and Malibal since I've been emailing both and found some stuff out.

XoticPC
1% Student Discount (doesn't mix with anything but the cash discount)
$50 RAM promo (adds time needed to ship out, 4x2GB)
Free shipping (NBR members only? not sure)
Not sure about military discount and such

Malibal
No Student Discount
$35 off any RAM, even base for 2x4GB, which I like better than the Xotic one
Free shipping with NBRFREESHIP

Also, m11x probably too small, I think i looked at m14x earlier but after I get all the stuff I want it tends to be pretty expensive xD

 

I'd love the m11x, but the size and resolution are killer. My machine has to double as a business laptop, and I'd feel silly in a meeting with it. Plus, Excel on a small screen - ouch.

Were there a way to get 1080P in a 14" package with a decent quad core, GTX 485 or 6990M I'd be all over it.

 

Fee free to contact us about getting discounts applied, we do offer Free Shipping for NBR Users + other discounts we currently have running. Any of our Sale Reps can help you

 

Hi, we also have a 2% military discount... and a low price guarantee.

 

I have a question, what is a hard drive caddy like? is it like a slot where i can just slide in a hard drive or something? I might consider getting that option just so i can slip in a small SSD for Windows.

 

Here's a pic - it goes in the optical drive bay: http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/images/OBHD-SATA12-SATA-BU.jpg

 

ah... is it easy to take out?

 

All you do is remove the cover for the main hard drive bay. Next to the hard drive is one small screw. Undo it, and the optical drive should slide right out. Simple.

 

Cool, thanks , btw how are you liking your laptop?

 

If you're going to do that, you might as well plug the SSD into the main spot, and put the HDD in the optical bay. The regular slot is SATA III, where the ODD bay is only SATA II. That's what I'm going to do.

 

Hmmm I'm not sure if i want to go through all that trouble lol, and i guess a DVD reader/writer IS somewhat useful, anybody know how well the Seagate Momentus XT performs compared to a regular 7200rpm HDD?

 

Customers are reporting a boost in load and boot times with the XT over the standard 7200rpm HD. I also feel it helps ...
_

 

Can we use those coupon codes if we special order the 5165 with the matched price from Sager?

 

Hi, only the 3% cash discount is available on the W150HR / 5165.

 

Get an external DVD drive for the 5 times you'll need it.

Besides, you have to take off the HDD panel anyway to install the ODD bay. It's just a couple more screws to swap the HDD with your SSD. These machines are built to be user-serviceable (mostly). Tinker away!

 

You also have to remember that because it's got ~4GB of onboard flash memory- it has to be picky with what is cached. You'll notice boot times and your smaller/frequently used programs will speed up over time as more of them make it to the cache. However, overall disk speed benchmarks will not reflect the hybrid nature of the drive due to how it caches.

For commonly used apps and for boot time, it will be a decent speed bump.

 

I'm wondering if I should get the IC Diamond upgrade, I have some Arctic Silver 5 laying around, how do these two compare? Also would I void any warranty by going in and applying AS5 myself?

 

IC7 and AS5 are very similar in cooling performance, based on a number of benchmarks done over the years. All the good thermal compounds these days vary by 1 degree or less in terms of cooling.

 

Maybe if the only programs they ran were the benchmarks

 

I noticed that Malibal just added the 4x2GB option to the Lotus and I'm wondering if I should get that, would I really need more than 8GB of RAM to do anything?

 

I tried to keep up with your posts, but cannot determine which system you are looking at, Sekito. Is it the P151HM from Malibal/NP8130 from XoticPC?

Using up all 4 SODIMM slots? That automatically means you will not have free slots to add more RAM in the future. Go the 2x4GB option, use their RAM promotion to save $35.00, and give yourself two extra slots for future upgrades.

Of course this depends on what you intend to do with your laptop. 8GB is quite a bit of RAM to begin with, but I like having 2 free slots because who knows what the future may bring.

 

Well the p151hm and np8130 are pretty much the same thing but I think I'm going with the Malibal, the RAM promo also works on the 2x4GB option right? Also does applying thermal paste myself affect warranty? I have another question, difference between matte and glossy display? also, repped

 

Big difference between the 2 if you ask me. If you aren't particular about your monitor, don't waste your money.

But if you're like me and the first thing you look for is visible lines (and they naturally catch your eye without you thinking about it), a screen upgrade is well worth it - and the difference between the Matte & Glossy are all over this forum, but some quick points:

Matte:

Less / minimal glare
Less of a finger print magnet (noticeably anyway )

Glossy:

Sharper colors (more of a "pop")