Sager/Clevo Weaknesses/Faults?

Hi everyone!

I'm currently looking into getting a replacement for my Samsung R480, a roughly 1.5 year old laptop that has been a bit of a nightmare quality-wise between its constant overheating and broken DC jack. I've been considering getting a Sager/Clevo as a replacement, and I'd just like to do a bit more research on potential faults/weaknesses before taking the plunge.

That said, has anyone on this forum had particularly bad experiences with their Sager/Clevo laptops? I'm more particularly concerned with the 8130 and 8150 since I'm hesitant to go for a larger laptop than 15.6", but general experiences would be great too. I'm primarily concerned with durability and cooling, I would say, since those have been my core problems with previous laptops. But, pretty much any kind of annoyance that you've had would help me know what I might be getting into, including fan noise, keyboard problems, and so on.

Oh, and if any of you did have any particular problems, how easy was it to get them fixed, and which reseller/builder did you deal with? My partner recently went through a bit of a nightmare of being juggled around and dodged by Asus support for about a month when the laptop's screen hinges snapped under regular usage. (The sad thing is, I'm still tempted to get an Asus laptop, since my being in Canada makes Sager/Clevos not nearly as good a deal as would normally be the case when you account for shipping/brokerage.) My impression is that all the resellers/builders on this site wouldn't jerk me around like that, but I'd still like to know how they've been.

 

Hello, as a fellow Canadian here, I can answer some of the questions about buying a Sager/Clevo as a Canadian.

First, if you want to deal with Canadian resellers of Sager laptops, FortNax Notebooks and Reflex Notebook are situated in Alberta and Quebec, respectively. They have a great reputation on these forums, and I would not hesitate to hop over to their websites and configure your systems there. One thing to note is that Reflex Notebook has free UPS ground shipping if your laptop is over $1500 CAD, but that does not include the $75 brokerage fee, which you will be billed for after the notebook is ready to ship.

You can still look at USA Sager/Clevo resellers. Their prices can be lower than FortNax's and Reflex Notebook's, and some resellers have exclusive NBR member discounts that you can use to save even more. I am actually going to be buying from one of the USA Sager/Clevo resellers myself, very very soon. I priced it out and it is still cheaper for me to go with a US reseller, plus the warranty I got is top-notch and much less hassle than dealing with Sager directly.

 

Thanks for all the advice! Do you know if the Reflex deal would provide discounted shipping if I took the express shipping route? It's my understanding that it costs a similar amount to Ground+Brokerage, and is faster.

Which reseller are you going through, out of interest? I'm still shopping around a bit. While I really like the fact that Mythlogic builds and rigorously checks everything themselves, it's sadly just a bit too much outside my price bracket compared to the same specs at the resellers. If you've found a particular reseller that seems to be cheaper/has better deals, especially for a Canada-bound laptop, I'd love to know.

(For the record, I'm in BC.)

 

I got mine from Fortnax and he had it shipped via USPS for me, thusly I paid no brokerage fees.

Just to note, Eurocom is actually in Canada and the only other builder besides Sager of Clevo notebooks in North America. Their Canadian prices are bad though, they haven't adjusted to the exchange rate but one of the reps here said it might be negotiable if you contact them. If you buy from Eurocom it is built in Canada and stays in Canada. You just have to deal with their service (which has a bad rap here sometimes) and their prices (need to be adjusted for reality).

I'm very happy with my service from Fortnax (username is Aikimox on this forum), especially after I requested USPS because I did not want to go through UPS as Reflex does. Mine came directly from the Sager facility. He also gave me several discounts over the list price like a student discount. I met with him too when I needed to get some parts.

 

Oh yeah... forgot to mention FortNax offers USPS shipping. I'm going to remember to mention that from now on.

USPS standard shipping = no brokerage fee, transferred into the hands of Canada Post, but could get held up by customs (unlikely, but it has happened to a few of my items when buying from eBay)
UPS standard shipping = brokerage fee, UPS handles it all the way to your home, less likely to get held up by customs

 

There's also no brokerage with UPS Worldwide Express or Expedited. We offer 40% OFF these service for NBR Members.

 

If you buy from the resellers, you will have top-notch support.

 

hmmm.. the matte plastic on the 8130 doesnt really makes you feel its high end, its pretty much a simple matte plastic feeling.

also i got a slightly raised "f" key, maybe just a factory defect, u dunno..

the 1080p screen on a 15" makes browsing a little tough since it really makes everything small, soo if you have bad eyes you might want to look closer to the screen or just zoom in.

ahh the camera, its really below average, but its usable.

the speakers are pretty average compared to most laptops at this price range.

big power brick, its really a brick.

but overall i like it

thats all i can think of right now, i hope that helps.

 

Try adjusting the DPi on your laptop if the texts are too small.

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display

 

^yea but some text will still be blurry..

 

Just for the record as a limited time offer all Clevo/Sager systems sold by Fortnax include free shipping + brokerage fees regardless of the base price. It's either USPS or UPS Expedited

 

Actually, bumping up the DPI does not make the text seem blurry (at least that's what my eyes tell me ). Lowering the resolution does, however. Increasing DPI is not the same as lowering the resolution.

One problem with bumping up the DPI is some text in various programs will get cut off. This gets irritating very fast.

I do not know if Reflex Notebook has any other shipping promotion. As Malibal (situated in Las Vegas) mentioned, they offer 40% off UPS Expedited and Express shipping, which costs a bit more but already accounts for brokerage fees.

As for which reseller I went with, my signature tells all. I shopped around and Malibal gave me a terrific deal after we communicated via a lot of PMs.

 

I disagree about the speakers. with THX adjusted, I find sound quality is head and shoulders above many of the HP models including the DV6. Speaker volume is also far greater, in the 8130. I'm pleasantly surprised, after my wife and I have had 5 laptops between us recently that have had wimpy speakers. The 8130 is almost as good as my old Toshiba Satellite which has the Harmon Kardon option.

 

I would have to say the power brick. Is there a reason why manufacturer's can't follow Apple's design or at least make it smaller and easier to carry around.

 

Do Macbooks have nVIDIA GTX485M or GTX580M, or AMD Radeon 6990M in their chassis? It is the GPUs in these laptops that makes them awe-inspiring (but force you to carry a brick ). The P150HM is designed with a 180W TDP, and I don't think Macbooks are even 100W TDP in total.

What I am jealous of that Macbooks have is that magnetic charging port that just pops off if someone snags on the cord. I'm so scared of this happening at my university sometimes!

 

Good point, but I still don't like carrying a brick.

 

Understandable. Everyone has their preferences! I also realize I detracted from the thread, while your comment was intended to point out one of the drawbacks of a Sager/Clevo system. My bad!

EDIT: StoneColdCrazy, being classy, provided pictures of the power brick that the P150HM uses in his thread he created as a review of the laptop. Malibal also chimed in saying the brick is around 6.5"x3.5"x2" in size and approximately 1.5lbs. It is definitely bigger than most power adapters, unless someone you know has a Toshiba Qosimo or Alienware or something.

 

I'm also interested in this thread and the 15 inch models listed by the OP. I hear a lot of good things on this forum about these laptops, but surely there are downsides? Even little things like dirt, noise, heat, feel?

 

Fan is kinda loud. Trackpad is a little worse than crappy. Laptop is on the heavier side. Battery life sucks.

Despite it all, I'm still very happy with my computer.

 

Thanks for all the helpful responses, everyone. I must admit, I'm being more and more drawn towards the Sager/Clevo path...

How loud is the fan, would you say? I've read some posts describing it as a "jet engine", but I imagine that's a bit much. I'm not too worried about it - I'd rather have a noisy fan than one that lets my cpu hit 100 C regularly while gaming.

While I'm here, anyone want to break down the difference between the 8130 and the 8150 for me? The latter seems to be noticeably more expensive for the same specs, and the only differences I can find are the rubberized finish, the increased wattage power supply, and greater upgradeability of the video card. Since I'm pretty sure I can't afford that new ATI card everyone's excited about, would I be best to go with the 8130? That's the assumption I've been working under, so please let me know if that's wrong.

Most of the other issues seem like things my normal usage patterns would work around - I use a wireless mouse and I have a netbook (Hooray! At least it won't fail me, right~~~?) for battery life-needing things. The resolution thing probably shouldn't be a problem, and is more likely to turn out as a good thing for me.

[edit] Oh yeah, any particular recommended upgrades? Probably can't afford an SSD... :/

 

fan kicks in pretty loud but as long as you don'T have small kids sleeping next to you it won'T be an Issue. The cooling system overall is pretty decent. running like 10 h straight gaming at 35 degree celcisu outside it still feels pretty cold. ( good trade in my opinion after i have suffered under the 80 degree oven the mx1530 was).

The power brick indeed is one of the most annoying things. yes it's a beast. Yes beasts need power, but there would have been for sure ways to half the size of this thingy. I am travelling long distance at least twice a week and the added wieght and volume are definetly a huuuge minus in mobility. UNfortunately i haven't found any smaller replacement for it since most common power bricks don't offer the wattage needed.

The plastic coating doesn't look or feel really nice, but well if u want design u'll probably go for the bitten apple anyways.

Also if you can, go for a matte display. the glossy full hd one i have doesnt really convince me. Way to many reflections compared to my old glossy. On the bright side colors and viewing angels are decent.

On another sidenote i'd strongly suggest not to go for the ati radeon, while it performs decently there are a lot of driver related hickups. Nothign really preventing you from using it but small things like streaming programs crashing or vlc stopping to play video when alt tabbing into a game and back. As said while it isn't to much of a problem it's simply adding up to be annoying.

Three smaller issues are that the opening button of the optical drive is placed wierdly and you wil often accidently open it when having it on your legs. The touchpad is the usual crap u get everywhere ( guess apple will win on this one forever) . ANd the power input in the back direcytl between the two large fans will force you to lay the power cord in front of one. Not a big issue since coooling solution is strong anyways but a stupid design flaw in my opinion.

Overall i am satisfied though since performance is just <3

 

I have the same take on the 8130 vs 8150. The 8150 just is a bit higher end and allows upgrading. The 8130 also has switchable graphics (I believe?) for those wanting to save on battery. That is why it has Optimus / 555m.

 

The 8130 does not have optimus and comes with the GTX 560M. The only difference between the 8130 and 8150 are:
1. difference finish, 8130= plastic while 8150 is rubberized
2. the 8130 has the 120 watt power supply while the 8150 comes with the 180 watt.
3. the 8150 can have upgrades to the GPU (you can upgrade the GPU in the 8130 but you would need to buy a 180 watt power supply)

 

Oh sorry I was thinking of the P151HM, which I thought was the 8130. My bad

EDIT:

Looks like that IS the 560m... I honestly have no idea what PC I was thinking of! Either way, I clearly got them confused. Sorry.

 

I know you say you cannot afford and SSD but the SSD more than any other hardware upgrade changes the entire computer experience for the better like I couldn't believe.

Faster CPU, more ram, etc. did nothing. An SSD meant that the computer did what I wanted instantly.

The notebook is practically silent when I am gaming and that is because I either stand it up when plugged into my desktop monitor or have the back raised when I am using it. The fans just need room to breathe. The jet engine is only when you manually max the fans to 100% by hitting turbo (Fn+1).

Personally, the 8130 is fine. The only game I feel like I could use a little more power with is The Witcher 2 or Metro 2033. Everything else from Crysis to Starcraft II run with near maximum graphics settings without AA on. Besides, with a 15" screen that is 1080p, the pixel density means you almost don't need AA, or at least I don't.

Just now I have been playing two different 3D games at once. I have Counter-Strike running and World of Tanks running at the exact same time in two windows. When I die in one game, I alt-tab to the other. That's how powerful this thing is.

If you buy now, you'll also get the 560M which overclocks much faster than the 460M I do does.

 

You were thinking of the W150HRM (np5165). It's the 555m optimus enabled mode. The P151HM1 and P150HM are both the larger 560m and up chassis.

 

Go Control Panel > Display > and set it to medium (125%) this will help

 

my 8130 is reasonably quiet. We have a couple of acer netbooks in the house which are many times louder and they are just little 9.7" units. I wouldn't worry about Sager's fan noise. trust me, I'd gripe about it if it were bothersome.

 

So, if I did go for an SSD, what brands even work with a Sager 8130 or the MSI GT683R? I've heard some really bad things about Sata III SSDs and the Sandy Bridge architecture, especially about Sandforce-utilizing drives (Corsair and OCZ, iirc? Kingston as well?). I really don't want to go through the RMA circus that I've read about on newegg feedback for OCZ products. I mean, there's always an outside chance of a lemon, but I'd prefer minimal hassle... While not buying something agonizingly expensive.

Also, what's a good overall size? I really can't afford a big upgrade, so what would you recommend if I did take the plunge?

Hm... What else? In terms of SSDs, is there any new tech on the horizon worth waiting for? Are prices likely to go down?

 

Crucial m4 or Intel 510. The bigger drives are faster. I wouldn't do smaller than 120 GB. that should be in the $200 range with a good sale, maybe rebates.

 

The most reliable SSDs for the 8130 are the Intel series of SSDs. They are the most expensive (at $2.00/GB usually), so the storage size you are looking at is probably not much, only enough for the OS and a couple crucial programs.

The bare minimum sized SSD would be in my opinion 64GB. A typical Win7 install takes up ~30GB, and then you would probably prefer some applications to be installed on the SSD as well. You'd then need to change where all your documents, pictures and videos will be stored. Still, on average that costs ~$120.

New tech is not really on the horizon, I don't think. CES is over, so the big show when companies announce the next new thing won't happen for months. Prices are likely to go down though, personally I am waiting for that magical $1.00/GB barrier. I know I am missing out on the benefits of an SSD, but I can wait.

 

Hmmm... I think it's probably best to pass on getting an SSD right now, and just to keep my eye out for future price drops/technology improvements. After reading about all the headaches people have gone through with malfunctioning SSDs (especially OCZs, but even Intels/Crucials), it just seems like the tech isn't worth fitting into a tight budget.

I did find a $1.42/GB SSD ($100 off), but it's for an OCZ Agility... My budget is such that I'd probably only really consider a 120 GB drive at about $1.5/GB, and it just doesn't seem like the tech has hit any kind of real reliability+performance at that sort of price point.

I mean, if someone thinks that the Agility would actually work in a Sandy Bridge Clevo or MSI (new firmware has healed the hurts?), I might do even more research, but the poking around that I've done suggests that I'd be better off picking up a blinged out drink coaster for $170, since at least it'd be prettier. I mean, I suppose I could always take a crack at it and return it if it doesn't work out, since the deal is at a local store and not Newegg... But it's a lot of effort, and a rash of BSODs/freezes would sort of sour the shiny new laptop experience for me. Plus, tasting the apparently delicious speed of an SSD only to have it yanked away would be so painful.

Ugh, I've wrapped around from "I guess not " at the beginning of this post to "I kindaaa want itttt " at the end. Suppose it's best to wait for more opinions from more knowledgeable people than me. Again, if there's something better/cheaper/more reliable on the horizon (and there usually is with tech), I'm not adverse to waiting a while before taking the SSD plunge. I need to buy the laptop now-ish, but upgrades can be done after the fact. But, if sub-$1.50/GB is the best I'm going to get for the next long while and the Agility's reliability isn't as bad as I fear, then I might just go for it.

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[edit] So, I've basically narrowed down my decision to an MSI GT683 (on sale, + a $150 MiB) vs a Sager 8130. I've got my own list of various advantages/disadvantages that I can think of between the two laptops, but would anyone else be able to weigh in? I might just post another thread in "What Notebook Should I Buy?", but let's see if this helps first.

I've been to a brick-and-mortar store to play around with the GT683, so I'm not terribly worried about the keyboard and trackpad issues that people have raised in reviews - they felt fine to me. Aesthetically, I'm not a big fan, but I'm not overly concerned with the looks of the notebook. From what I understand, the 8130 has a somewhat better cooling system, but the GT683 is excellent as well (and I'm really not planning on overclocking components). I'm more wondering how the build quality stacks up as compared to the 8130. The whole idea for me of getting a slightly pricier laptop with great specs is for it to last (both physically and performance-wise) about 4 years... Would the MSI last that long? Would the Sager, for that matter?