Sager 8258/Clevo P157SM-A Questions...

I am in need of a bigger computer with lots of HDD space and depending on my tax return I would like to get this one. My only concerns are stemmed from HTwingnuts review of the 8250 where he showed the 180watt PSU doesnt really provide enough power for max output situations and keyboard ghosting. The other issue I have is the heat with a 880 and 4910 (I do alot of encoding so going bigger on the CPU). I know not many people have this laptop but those who have the 780m version can chime in as its close enough to help my decision.

Basically I need a mobile workstation and this is showing to be the best option I have so far. Hoping these issues can be resolved. Any input would be appreciated!

 

Even for encoding I am not sure the 4910 is worth the price over the 4810 due to the TDP limited nature of the clocks.

 

Main reason I was looking at the 4910 is the extra cache and having essentially the fastest CPU (the extreme is only 200mhz faster and same cache so no real difference). Right now Im working on the sandy bridge equivalent of the 4910 and its working good still but the haswell 4700 seems to do a noticeably better job at encoding so I figure Ill get more time out of it with the higher cache and clock speed. But this is a high price to pay for 2MB of cache and 100mhz so time will tell.

I see from the lack of responses that the power, key ghosting and cooling are all good.

 

If you over clock, you might want to get a bigger ac adaptor. The 4910 is not the best value, and not worth for many people. Cooling the 780M can stress the cooling system, but even the 17" laptops can struggle.

 

The TDP limits mean the difference between the 4810 and 4910 will be pretty much zero.

The 4930MX has advantages due to it being unlocked.

 

Well right now Im on the fence due to the ghosting. But if I do purchase Im starting to lean towards the 17in and a 230w PSU. Comparing a 17.3 to a 15.6 shows how marginal the difference is in size and being as the cooling will be better and no power issues to worry about make it the better option.

 

The cooling is only different on the cpu since it uses copper fins, otherwise the cooling is identical.

 

That and more room inside.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

 

I went with 17 inch over the 15 inch. I took the time to draw out the foot prints of both of them and compared. As you noted, the size difference is minor. There is a weight difference though. You do get a better screen size as some complain things are too small on the 15 inch. And a bigger HDD slot, and bigger power supply. I wouldn't expect cooling to be much different though.

I am happy I went with 17 inch over the 15 inch.

 

Yeah the only issue with a 17in is fitting in my current bag. My laptop is very mobile and I have a good setup with a 15in laptop, but a bag change is worth getting the right computer for the job.

 

There is no difference in area and airflow between the 17 and 15 inch, each use identical motherboard layouts, heatsinks and fans except that the 17 inch has copper for the fins of the CPU heatsink.

Nothing stops you from getting a copper heatsink and popping it in the 15 inch machine.

 

so the increased size doesnt open it up at all? Thats weird. The main draw to the 17in if thats the case is the 230watt PSU. Why they didnt use the 230watt in the 15in models when they use the exact same hardware is beyond me...

 

What is the keyboard ghosting you speak of?

(currently debating between the 8258 and 8268)

 

Talking about keyboard goshting :
little reminder : keyboard goshting is due to the matricial arrangement of the keyboard, if pultiples keys are triggered together, some may not be recognized.
And YES the goshting is damm here on the Clevo's.
I was coming from a MSI, wit steel series keyboard( anti goshting ) that was really good, and on clevo, it happen to me sometimes, when i play games, for exemple : Grid ( forward, turn, space, talk ).
it's a bit disturbing, but nothing really serious.

Elipsus

 

Hum. You may have a flakey keyboard or maybe I'm the lucky one.

I've not had any ghosting issues on my 8258-S yet and I've used it fairly heavily in my use. I also type about 160wpm so I'd likely hit a key or two by now that would ghost if I was to run across it.