Questions regarding the Sager 2090/Compal IFL90

I have a list of questions regarding this notebook. Answers would be greatly appreciated.

1. What is the build quality of the machine. Is it sturdy? Is there any wobble/weakness?

2. What is the battery life for: Low-power/Casual Typing & Surfing/Gaming, respectively.

3. I never plan to run off of the battery for gaming. Does the very present of the 8600M GT in the system lower the battery life even when not in heavy use? (word processing, internet browsing, etc)

4. What is the sound quality from the speakers? (With low being Frankenstein Through A Kazoo, high being Toshiba's Harman Kardons.)

5. What is the customer service like? What would be the best way to go about ordering one/who would be the best company to order from?

6. How hard is it to acquire replacement batteries, when the need should arise?

7. Is there any residual headphone jack noise, screen grain, radiation leaks, demonic possession, etc, etc that I should know about?

8. Are there any reported common or uncommon faults with the systems, and if so, how hard is it to replace the system once ordered, if it turns out to be faulty.

9. What is the average wait/shipping time through respective companies?

10. How is the venting/fans/cooling? Would I be able to have this on my lap? Does it heat up to the point where palm rests become untouchable?

11. How durable, long lasting, easy to use is the keyboard and touchpad? Ease of typing, ease of clicking, ease of cursor movement?

12. What is the quality of the webcam/microphone?

13. What is the ease of acquiring a wireless signal?

14. Would I be better off ordering the Sager or Compal version of this machine? Which has the better craftsmanship?

15. What is the likelihood of dead pixels being on my screen when I receive it? Who do I have to kill in response?

 

Question right back at you:

1. Have you done any research whatsoever concerning these two laptop variations?

2. Try the FAQ. What exactly are you looking for?

3. Have you tried contacting the resellers? i.e. Sagernotebooks.com, xoticpc.com, powernotebooks.com, eurocom.

4. Again, have you done any research at all?

Many of your questions are indefinable or very personal, i.e. acquiring a wireless signal, dead pixels. Nobody can absolutely, positively guarantee anything; find a laptop that suits your needs, ask around for other options, and make a choice.

And it sounds like you should really go to a brick and mortar store (Best Buy I hear is good) and figure some stuff out yourself.

Again, laptops are very much personal investments.

 

1. What is the build quality of the machine. Is it sturdy? Is there any wobble/weakness?
-quite study/solid, obviously not rock solid, ALMOST close to the quality of my thinkpad T60
2. What is the battery life for: Low-power/Casual Typing & Surfing/Gaming, respectively.
-Decent enough, if you configure it correctly I believe you can get about 3.5-4 hours out of the 9 cell battery, of course thats some light browsing, and word processing, gaming, probably about 1.5~2hours?
3. I never plan to run off of the battery for gaming. Does the very present of the 8600M GT in the system lower the battery life even when not in heavy use? (word processing, internet browsing, etc)
-I do not believe so.
4. What is the sound quality from the speakers? (With low being Frankenstein Through A Kazoo, high being Toshiba's Harman Kardons.)
-It isn't that bad, better than my old Thinkpad, but i recommend using nice headphones.
5. What is the customer service like? What would be the best way to go about ordering one/who would be the best company to order from?
-I personally like XoticPC.com, they were quick, polite, and really helpful!
6. How hard is it to acquire replacement batteries, when the need should arise?
-I think you can get it directly for Sager, not sure of the price.
7. Is there any residual headphone jack noise, screen grain, radiation leaks, demonic possession, etc, etc that I should know about?
-Do your own research, no that I am aware of, perception is in the eyes of the beholder, so grainy~ness rating is different for everyone.
8. Are there any reported common or uncommon faults with the systems, and if so, how hard is it to replace the system once ordered, if it turns out to be faulty.
-Just go with XoticPC.com, they are really helpful, they will assist you if anything goes wrong.
9. What is the average wait/shipping time through respective companies?
Depends, shortages cannot be predicted, I got mine in 2 weeks from ordering, including delivery (UPS Ground)
10. How is the venting/fans/cooling? Would I be able to have this on my lap? Does it heat up to the point where palm rests become untouchable?
-The touchpad gets warm after a while, but i recommend using a wireless mouse.
11. How durable, long lasting, easy to use is the keyboard and touchpad? Ease of typing, ease of clicking, ease of cursor movement?
-Keyboard is only annoying because of the layout of the Pause/break, Home, PgUp, PgDn, and End keys, otherwise it doesn't seem to have little/any flex.
12. What is the quality of the webcam/microphone?
-Fairly good for built in cam/mic.
13. What is the ease of acquiring a wireless signal?
-Like any other laptop
14. Would I be better off ordering the Sager or Compal version of this machine? Which has the better craftsmanship?
-Like thelazyone22 said "Sagernotebooks.com, xoticpc.com, powernotebooks.com, eurocom."
15. What is the likelihood of dead pixels being on my screen when I receive it? Who do I have to kill in response?
-I didnt have any dead pixels, so have fun finding who to kill if you end up with them, and btw that is quite violent!

DO SOME MORE RESEARCH YOURSELF!
There are reviews on this site, READ THEM!

 

^^^^

Damn you actually took the time to answer each question?

Disregarding the fact that all this info is available with a simple Search, I guess it was pretty nice of you to "answer" everything.

More effort that I cared to put forth.

 

1. What is the build quality of the machine. Is it sturdy? Is there any wobble/weakness?
It's been very sturdy so far. The case itself is made of very solid-feeling plastic and has held up to portable use very well. It flexes a bit in places, like below the keyboard (where the heel of your hand rests while typing), but this doesn't make it feel cheap or feeble in any way.

2. What is the battery life for: Low-power/Casual Typing & Surfing/Gaming, respectively.
I get about 4 hours of life during casual use (typing, surfing, etc). I only game when plugged in because the hardware tones itself down when running on battery. However, I use Ubuntu with laptop-mode enabled, which is probably more efficient/lightweight than Windows.

3. I never plan to run off of the battery for gaming. Does the very present of the 8600M GT in the system lower the battery life even when not in heavy use? (word processing, internet browsing, etc)
When I first got it, I tried playing Bioshock when it was running on battery and it ran terribly. It runs smoothly when plugged in, so I'm assuming that the hardware tones itself down when running on battery. So, to answer your question, no, the 8600M GT shouldn't reduce battery life.

4. What is the sound quality from the speakers? (With low being Frankenstein Through A Kazoo, high being Toshiba's Harman Kardons.)
The quality is that of typical laptop speakers. However, the sound card is very good. I hook up my 2090 to a Altec-Lansing 2.1 system with a big subwoofer and the sound produced is very good. In Windows, the sound card driver installs "Realtek HD Audio," which lets you customize the sound output to emulate being in a variety of environments like a stone corridor, concert hall, etc. The usefulness of this (or lack there of) aside, if you want to use your 2090 as a media player, I suggest investing in a good set of external speakers or headphones.

5. What is the customer service like? What would be the best way to go about ordering one/who would be the best company to order from?
I bought from xoticpc.com and I was very impressed. Every call i made was greeted with courtesy and helpfulness. They even called me back one time when they failed to pick up.

6. How hard is it to acquire replacement batteries, when the need should arise?
Not sure on this one.

7. Is there any residual headphone jack noise, screen grain, radiation leaks, demonic possession, etc, etc that I should know about?
Not that I've noticed/know about

8. Are there any reported common or uncommon faults with the systems, and if so, how hard is it to replace the system once ordered, if it turns out to be faulty.
When I first got mine, I thought the screen was broken because it was constantly flickering and distorted. I was just about to pack it up and send it back to Sager when it decided to fix itself. It's worked perfectly ever since, oddly. I don't think it's a common problem, but in any case, Sager tech support did a very nice job of prepping me for sending it back to them.

9. What is the average wait/shipping time through respective companies?
I ordered on August 4th from xoticpc.com and received it on September 12th, I think.

10. How is the venting/fans/cooling? Would I be able to have this on my lap? Does it heat up to the point where palm rests become untouchable?
Heat hasn't been a problem for me at all. I have it on my lap right now and it's perfectly comfortable. It's been running for probably... 3 hours?

The fan does run a lot, however. It tends to turn off and on incessantly, which is a tad annoying. It's easy to tune out, though.

11. How durable, long lasting, easy to use is the keyboard and touchpad? Ease of typing, ease of clicking, ease of cursor movement?
Keyboard is very easy to type in and feels as if it will last quite a while. Same goes for the touchpad. You can click stuff by tapping the touchpad like in MacBook Pro's, which is very nice. The left and right click buttons are a tad noisy, however.

12. What is the quality of the webcam/microphone?
Webcam seems fine. I haven't used it too much, but when I have it has produced very clear images. Not sure about the microphone. I use a headset, so any recording I've done is via the mic on it.

13. What is the ease of acquiring a wireless signal?
In Windows, the provided Intel software automatically connects to networks and finds them very easily. It seems to find networks that Windows can't see, which is nice.

In Ubuntu, it sometimes has trouble seeing/connecting to wireless networks, but I'm sure this isn't a hardware problem.

14. Would I be better off ordering the Sager or Compal version of this machine? Which has the better craftsmanship?
To be honest, I'm not sure. I thought that they were identical, just the Sager had better specs.

15. What is the likelihood of dead pixels being on my screen when I receive it? Who do I have to kill in response?[/QUOTE]
Not sure. I didn't have any, but it's always a risk with laptops.