Sager 9130 - Good for what my buddy needs?

Hey guys, my friend had a macbook pro and it died on him. He wants to buy a new computer before Diablo 3 comes out. He wants something to play that obviously but I want to make sure he gets something that will run it very well.

I was looking on the sager website and the 9130 is around his budget at around $1200 and it has a 1080 screen, 8 gig ram, and a gtx 670m. This will run Diablo 3 at max settings right?

Aren't there Sager reps here or something that give discounts for this forum?

Anyway, I haven't heard much about Sager. I usually buy Asus and I haven't had any problems with them yet but the laptop I have (G74) isn't on sale anymore so it's out of his budget. Any advice guys? I have a thread in the "Which one should I buy?" forum, but I figured I'd ask you guys directly.

And what would you guys suggest for the optimal build? Should I change the wireless card or anything?

Thanks for reading guys.
-Jason

 

I can't say max or non-max definitively. It will definitely run almost max.

Some of the resellers who offer NBR discount are Powernotebooks, LPC-Digital, XoticPC. You can get a list at the Reseller Review subforum.

Given his budget, once you add Windows and possibly an upgrade to the 3610QM (I'd recommend it except if this is for gaming/light usage) it'll be exhausted.

 

There are no sager reps here. Never buy from the sager website as the prices are high and the customer support is bad. We have resellers instaid who will order (or build from scratch) your laptop from sager, send it to their shops to add customizations and cheaper parts, and send it to you, which saves money. Also, prices are much lower there, and some offer NBR discounts.
Diablo 3 isn't a very demanding game, a stock 9130 (P151EM) should handle it fine.
Customizations: top priority should be upgrading the processor to the 3610QM, do not buy with the 2450m. The 750GB hard drive is a cheap upgrade if your buddy can use it, so is the wireless card. If you have money to spare, the 675m is recommended, as the 7970m will not be ready by D3 release and won't be necessary for it anyway.
Come to think of it, there's no way you'll be able to get this by D3 release now, everyone's still backlogged from the ivy release...

Yo molTenLead, the default price of a P151EM on sager's website includes Win7.

 

I didn't check Sager. Went straight to Xotic (same prices as Sager afaik). It has a 9130 w/ a 3610QM and Windows Home Professional for $1250, then take away the $50 NBR discount. His budget was $1200.

He could actually bump down the RAM to the 1333MHz if he goes xotic and use that cash to go for a 750gb HD and a 6300N if he wanted to (I'd recommend it at least).

 

He has 1500 saved up but doesn't want to use it all. If he can't get it by the time Diablo comes out, he might want something else. I'll have to talk to him.

 

I would order one with GTX 660M since it runs much cooler and the performance is on par with the GTX 670M rebadge that Nvidia is trying to rid from its stock. Although resellers like Xotic PC and Power Notebook currently aren't offering a build with the 660M. You have to buy from Malibal for the cheapest price if you want the 660M.

Alternatively you pick up a 17" Asus G75 with i7-3610QM and GTX 660M for $1300 at Best Buy. I think 15" Asus G55 is available online at Xotic as well.

 

If your looking to buy a sager notebook any time soon, you won't be able to get it in time for D3 as most resellers have turn around times of just around 2 weeks, however you mentioned earlier the nvidia 670m and yes that should be able to play D3 max and beyond, it doesn't really take alot to play it maxed anyhow.

To be honest any graphics card currently offered is great for light gaming and if you don't mind maxing out every time you play it should be OK.

 

What video card would be needed for it, do you think? Would a GTX 540m run it? He doesn't want to spend that much and I don't blame him. He's only going to be playing Diablo and that probably won't be too taxing since they want a million people to play it.

 

What kind of notebook are you planning to buy? It depends on the resolution and CPU but most likely the 540 can run it low~med.

 

He wants to get this one:
Amazon.com: ASUS N53SM-ES72 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver Aluminum): Computers & Accessories

I feel blasphemous posting an Asus in this forum, haha.
He was gonna get that 9130 but people keep saying it'd take a while before he got it and he doesn't wanna spend that much. It was going to cost him 850 dollars to repair his Mac so he figured he could spend that on a new computer. That Asus is 899 and way better than the mac he had.

 

jpcamden, prepare for a long explanatory post from me. I will lay down some tips and facts as I see them, to help you and your friend make a good choice. Stay tuned...gonna edit this post when ready.

EDIT: Okay, here it goes.

First and foremost - the video card on a laptop is its captain. Without a good captain, there can be no smooth voyage trough the depths of gaming and framerates.
We will choose a laptop based on its video card. For Sager and Clevo laptops in general, we may have multiple choices for GPU's to configure.
For Lenovo, Asus, Mac, HP, Samsung, Acer etc, we need to always double-check the laptop's modification of the model, since there are identical models with different GPU's. This can be the difference between smooth gameplay and choppy comix nightmare.
Without further ado, Im listing the video cards with description on playability (based on Diablo 3).

*NOTE: I will be listing ONLY current-generation cards! These are 600 series for Nvidia and 7000 series for AMD. Reason - never buy old tech.
**NOTE: By "overkill" I mean the card has much more power than needed to run Diablo 3 on max. And "not recommended" means the card is actually a piece of shhh... and would likely have problems like weird textures, sluggish performance and would be generally a pain in the butt for the player.
***NOTE: Some cards may be old tech that was just rebranded. Still, if you get it rebranded, it will at least have Optimus and a newer firmware.

NVIDIA 600 Series:
GT 620m - not recommended
GT 630m - not recommended
GT 640m LE - not recommended
GT 635m - may be playable at medium, 720p
GT 640m - may be playable at high, 720p
GT 650m - definetely playable at high, 1080p
GTX 660m - definetely playable on max, 1080p
GTX 670m - rebrand, not worth getting, same performance as GTX 660m
GTX 675m - overkill
GTX 680m - not released yet, but definetely overkill

AMD 7000 Series:
Everything below HD 7730m - not recommended
HD 7730m - may be playable at medium, 720p
HD 7750m - may be playable at high, 720p
HD 7770m - may be playable at high, 1080p
HD 7850m - definetely playable on max, 1080p
HD 7870m - definetely playable on max, 1080p
HD 7950m - overkill
HD 7970m - overkill

So, based on this, you can start browsing the net for laptops that have good video cards (based on your friend's opinion) and compare prices for the best bang for the buck!
Oooh, and this http://www.amazon.com/N53SM-ES72-15...uminum/dp/B007BY57Y2/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top is utterly crap. Dont buy this. It wont do it for Diablo 3.

 

Trust me when I say that notebook is just not meant for gaming. To be honest I'm not advertising for anyone but you should take a look at this:
Sager NP6165 / Clevo W150ER - XOTIC PC - Sager 15.6" Laptop

And why not order a 9130? Your waiting for something that your going to spend months probably years using, or atleast don't you want to get something that'll last that long?

 

He doesn't want a "gaming laptop", just something he can play Diablo on. He's not really a huge gamer. Well he is but he plays on his xbox. The only PC game he will play will be Diablo and he said maybe Torchlight. He just wants something around 800 or 900 that can play Diablo and is good quality.

 

He may run Diablo 3 on that machine, but "run" is nowhere near "playable".

For 800-900$, you will not find good quality on a laptop.
The screen will not be so good, or the keyboard will be bad, or the video card will be gimped, or everything alltogether.

That laptop that you listed has an Nvidia GT630m card that is exactly the same as my previous laptop's GT540m. And I tried to play Diablo 3 Beta on it.
It utterly sucked to have 15-30fps on Low-Medium settings and 1366x768 resolution. This is NOT playable even in solo games. Imagine joining a 4-player coop with that thing.

 

Alright I'll let him know. He told me he already ordered the N53 but I'm trying to let him know his choices. This is why I didn't want the responsibility. I told him to do some research too. When we googled "gtx 540m diablo 3" everyone says they play on high with no problems. That's why we thought it was a great deal.

I looked at the Sager you linked and adding Windows and a bigger HD it comes to around 1039. That's within his budget but now he has to decide if he wants to cancel his other order for it or not.

[EDIT]Okay I relayed everything you said to him and he said no worries. If he has to dumb it down a little bit to play with players he's fine with it. I told him about the Sager and everything but he's fine with this one. I hope it works out for him but I did all I could telling him everything you've said. I really appreciate it guys. If all else fails he can return that laptop to Amazon and buy the Sager instead. Thanks again.