Sager NP2090/Compal IFL90

17" is far harder to lug about a college campus, portability is an issue sometimes hehe. Thanks for the explanation that was a wee on the surprisingly confusing side.

 

That LCD Accidental Damage Protection is incredibly expensive for what it gives you...it only covers the LCD and not the rest of the computer...ouch!

It also does not offer any theft protection.

I would recommend leaving that off and going to www.safeware.com where you can get some real Accidental Damage Protection that also includes protection against theft. The coverage is much better...and you only have to pay it annually instead of all up front.

Also, the TV Tuner with Remote on Xoticpc’s site will not work with Vista Premium or Ultimate, it only works with XP and Vista Business. To get the Remote that works with Vista Premium or Ultimate costs $35 more.

At PowerNotebooks.com for the same configuration of the Compal IFL90 including the 3 year parts and labor warranty for the Sager NP2090 with 3 day shipping paid both ways it is only $2,698, or the PowerPro J 10:15 with the 3 year parts and labor warranty with Next Business Day Shipping paid both ways is only $2,704, and that is with the TV Tuner with the Remote that works with Vista Premium and Ultimate.

See, now you don't have to worry about why those other prices are so different on the same website.

 

im just bummed out that I have to wait weeks-months for the sager to come.

 

I ordered my Sager NP2090 June 18th from Xoticpc, and selected the TV tuner option with vista ultimate. Is it just the remote that wont work with ultimate or the entire card? And if it is just the remote, where can I buy the one that will work with the TV tuner?

 

Welcome to the forum Destruk7

Those are questions you should ask of Xoticpc.

 

Nytingale
To get the best pricing it is usually best to go to our elite packages on the model.

If you start out at the 2090-V Elite you get a price with a 3 Year Warranty $2681

The Compal Force 3297 we have the same configuration with our standard 3 Year Complete Care for $2684. It is usually best to keep the Complete Care Warranty and if you want to get Accidental Coverage on the full machine go to www.safeware.com as Donald states above.

Destruk7 It is just the remote that needs to be added to work in Home Premium/Ultimate. We have the MCE Remote. If you need to revise your order please email me and we will get it done for you.

 

So Justin, does that mean when you add the proper TV Remote for Vista Ultimate the price goes up $35 to $2,716?

 

For the time being current and new orders we will provide the MCE Remote at no charge for the customer that need it with Home Premium/Ultimate.

 

I have just started looking at getting a laptop and the Sager 2090 looks good with the lower price and 30 day return policy. I want to start out with WindowsXP but may upgrade to Vista later or even dual boot. With that in mind, will the Turbo Memory option cause any problems when running XP? Also, the tuner discussion above is still confusing for me. If I get the Vista compatible tuner, will it work with XP Pro? If not, do I get the standard tuner and then buy a $35 remote if I change to Vista? My hesitation with Vista is based on not being sure if the older software I use will work properly with Vista.

 

The Tuner will work under XP, what we are speaking of above is only remote functionality under the Media Center Console option in Vista or XP Media Center. There is a program in these OS's that allow to launch the Media Center Console to view TV or other media options. The MCE Remote is only needed for Home Premium, Ultimate or XP MCE. (the standard remote doesn't work under these OS's)

XP can't use the Robson Turbo Memory. It shouldn't cause any problems with it in under XP. One other option is you can install it yourself later if you are comfortable with it. It isn't very difficult to install.

 

I agree with Justin the installing Robson Turbo Memory with XP is fine, however since there is no driver for it in XP you will see the yellow (!) in your Device Manager beside it. Nothing to worry about, and it will be there ready for you should you decide to move to Vista.

However installing it later is not a good idea for all but the competent techie. The actual installation of the module is easy enough, but to install it and get it up and running later on in Vista OS will not be an easy feat except for more experienced users. Turbo Memory needs BIOS support and you need to enable AHCI and some other options in CMOS. Then in Vista, you need to load the Turbo Memory driver along with the Intel Matrix RAID software and make a couple of other changes in the Turbo Memory console to enable ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive features.

It costs so little to add in the beginning it will be much wiser to do that than to pay the cost of shipping along with the hassle of installation later.

 

Thank you Justin and Donald,

For the small intial cost, I now believe I should order the Turbo Memory, Vista Tuner Remote and Vista OS. I have a magazine article about setting up a dual boot with WinXP.

Wayne

 

speaking of turbo memory... and since I'm here... say you've got 4 gigs of ram cuz, well, the thought of it made you giddy, would turbo memory actually help? what does it do anyway? hehe I had a friend refer to it as "ghetto memory" which caused some rather amusing visuals, but thats a whole nother subject.

 

1GB Intel® Turbo Memory (Robson)

There are also several discussions with varying opinions here in this forum...for example several threads can be found HERE with the best one HERE.

Turbo Memory and System Memory are two different things, so it is not really accurate to say you have 5GB memory if you have 4GB system memory and 1GB Turbo memory.

 

It is kind of ghetto memory. It helps with the read times between the CPU and HDD. Generally speaking when you start getting close to 2gb+ RAM it has currently not shown much. With time driver improvements and optimization, maybe then it would make it a difference.

 

hm...I hope the switch between the control and fn keys won't bother me too much, that is making me worry a little bit.

 

If you want to become a laptop user, you will have to get used to it since about 90% of all laptop keyboards are laid out this way.

Who says whether the desktop or laptop lay out is "correct"? If you started with a laptop, you learned its lay out first, so you think it is the "correct" one, and visa versa for someone who started with a desktop keyboard.

 

Yes, I will have to get used to it, I hope I can learn in time.

 

With regard to TurboMemory, is it a good thing to invest in if you don't use Vista right away? I'm planning on using Ubuntu, but I'm wondering if I should spend the extra $35 just in case I switch to Vista eventually.