Sager NP2096 User Review

by Corbs

Since the arrival of the new Intel platform, codenamed Montevina, last July, many manufacturers have been refreshing their notebooks line-up. Sager, which is known for building custom gaming notebooks, was one of the first to refresh their line-up. Today’s review is based on the Sager NP2096, which received a few reviews so far, aimed at mid-gaming enthusiasts. Question is, how well does this notebook perform and does it hold true to Sager’s reputation?


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Reasons for Buying

As you all know, Montevina notebooks aren’t actually cheap to come by these days, especially with a dedicated graphic card. As I mentioned at the very end of my NP7680 review, there are quite a few mid-gaming notebooks on the market at the moment. The NP2096 is one of them. What I was looking for was an average gaming notebook, being able to run all the latest games at mid-range graphics. Other entries to my list were the Asus M50VM and the HP dv5t, since I was looking for a Montevina refresh line. Will this notebook deliver what it was intended to do?

Price & Model Specifications

Depending where you order from, and at the time of this review, the Sager NP2096 was offered at a starting price of $1012.00.

The notebook was configured as followed:

• - Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.40GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache, 25W)
• - 15.4" WSXGA+ Super Clear Glare Type Screen (1680x1050)
• 4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM
• 320GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
• Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive
• Intel Wireless 5100 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Modem, Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR
• Built-in 2.0 Megapixel Camera, Internal 3 in 1 Card Reader, Fingerprint Reader
• 9-Cell 79.9Whr Battery
• Dimensions : 14.11” W x 10.2” H x 1.54” H
• Weight: 6.5 lbs with Battery

With those configurations, the total came up to $1247.00 before taxes and shipping. I was also eligible for student discount, therefore taking 25$ off the total.

Where & How Purchased

The notebook in question was ordered from XoticPC, who were quick to deal with and offered excellent support, and I ordered it from Canada. It is the second time I had the pleasure to deal with XoticPC, and I do recommend them to others, as my shopping experience was great.

For Canadian Buyers

I recommend heading over to livesoft’s thread, which contains all the necessary information for US imports.

Build & Design

I’m most impressed here. Both the exterior design and the interior design are awesome. I’d also like to point out that the Sager NP2096 looks a lot better in real life compared to Sager’s generic pictures.

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The screen definitely feels very solid. No ripples appeared as I tried to pushing on it and only a few appeared when flexing it (in the center parts). The hinges are robust, and it’s beautiful clear. The inside is made out of strong plastic, which seems very resistant, and the cover is made of a glossy finish which doesn’t seem to attract finger prints, to my surprise. There is no lock to keep the screen closed, but as I just said, the hinge holding the screen are quite robust and it takes two hands to open it, therefore I doubt having one would have made a difference.


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The keyboard is great, a lot better than my NP7680 (reviewed here). Almost no flex, only if you press hard enough (and I do mean hard enough). Apart from the Ctrl key not being at the far end of the keyboard which is replaced by the Function key, I do not have any complain for the keyboard layout (I guess I’m just too used to having the Ctrl key on the far end of my keyboard...). The touchpad also seems pretty good, feels a tad warm on the touch since the hard drive is beside it, but some of you might not even notice it. As you might expect, the left palm rest gets warm, due to the hard drive being under it. Again, nothing alarming, but it’s warm... Unfortunately, fans of touchpad scrolling will be disappointed, as this touchpad doesn’t come with integrated scrolling.


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The interior build is also much better than its cousin the NP7680. The hard drive and the memory can easily be accessed by removing just a few screws (3 to be exact) as those are separated from the main compartment. Now, the only thing we’ll have to see is how good this design dissipates the heat.



I must say, I'm not a fan of cheap plastic to keep wires in place.

For a closer look at the NP2096 build, sphinx454 does a tremendous video review ( part 1, part 2). I strongly suggest watching both parts.

Screen & Sound

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The NP2096’s screen is great. It’s brighter than I would have imagined on 50% brightness (Vista, shown above) and it works outside, if you do not have the sun facing it directly, since it is a reflective type. On Linux ( openSUSE), I had to screen brightness adjusted to 75%.



The sound system, again just like his cousin the NP7680, was actually decent. Nothing too impressive, but I guess it’s what you would expect out of a notebook. The sound wasn't that sharp but was loud enough for me.

Heat & Noise

This notebook has the usual keystroke sound (you can’t get away from those, even in desktops...), although I’d say the keyboard is a lot better than I thought. The almost nonexistent flex makes it fairly quiet. The CD/DVD-Rom is probably the loudest component in the system, followed closely by the fan. Since both aren’t on all the time, I’d say this system is amazingly quiet.

The heat, on the other hand, isn’t that bad either. It gets warm on top and under both the graphic card and the hard drive, which is why I wouldn’t recommend keeping too long on your legs, but it won’t burn you. As you’ll see below, after 10+ hours of running and some intensive Crysis benchmark, the GPU did reach alarming level. Otherwise, I’d say the overall chassis cooling seems to be decent as both the hard drive and the processor are well cooled.

Idle temperatures:

• Processor: 33.5°C
• Graphic: 56°C
• Hard drive: 40°C

( Reference here)

After running the 3DMark06 benchmark:

• Processor: Max - 74°C
• Graphic: Max - 86°C
• Hard drive: Max - 44°C

( Reference here)

After running the Crysis benchmark (notebook was opened for 10 hours+):

• Processor: Max - 69°C
• Graphic: Max - 95°C
• Hard drive: Max - 46°C

( Reference here)

After running the UT3 benchmark (notebook was closed for 10 hours+):

• Processor: Max - 69°C
• Graphic: Max - 82°C
• Hard drive: Max - 38°C

( Reference here)

After running the COD4 benchmark:

• Processor: Max - 69°C
• Graphic: Max - 82°C
• Hard drive: Max - 44°C

( Reference here)

Also, I noticed that whenever the GPU passes under 65C, the fan stops spinning.

Input & Output Ports

The downfall of I/O ports for the NP2096 is that it does not include an eSATA port. This comes with a disappointment, although it helps its cause by including a hardware wireless kill switch. Also, Compal’s wireless management program allows you to easily disable either or both wireless and Bluetooth (Fn+F2 also works to disable wireless). It also remembers your setting, therefore saving you the trouble of always disconnect it upon each reboot. It’s also a shame that all the USB ports are located on the same side. The NP2096 does include a HDMI port, which should be standard for all capable true HD 1080p notebooks, in my opinion.

Front: LED Indicators, Microphone jack, Headphone jack, Infrared Transceiver.

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Right: 3x USB 2.0, CD/DVD-Rom, power plug.

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Left: Kensington lock, Modem, Wireless Kill switch, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, 3-in-1 card reader (SD/MMC/MS), 34/54 Express Card reader.

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Rear: Battery.

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Wireless & Bluetooth

Unfortunately, you are limited to the Intel Wireless 5100 when ordering this notebook, which according to some other members achieves similar or lower result than the Intel Wireless 4935. Nevertheless, this option comes with the addition of high-speed wireless N, which is always a plus to have (On a side note, I wonder if wireless N will become a standard before wireless R hits the market?). Bluetooth 2.0 is included by default in all versions, and unfortunately, I haven’t had the pleasure to test its connectivity (I should really try connecting my Wiimote to it...).

Battery



The NP2096 comes with a 9-cell battery, which should be last around 3-4 hours. With Bluetooth disabled and balanced mode enabled, installing various programs pushed the battery to 3h 21 mins. There's also no hardware button to change the battery mode, which is a disappointment. I was surprised that the NP2096 came with both the US and European power plug.



There's also a Power On The Go button, which is always useful for recharging USB peripherals.

Operating System

When I ordered this notebook, I made sure I did not order any operating system with it as I wanted the freedom of choosing which OS to install on it. I wanted to install Window 64 bits on this system to be able to utilize the full 4GB of memory, and since the included drivers only include XP (32) and Vista (32/64), I decided to go with Vista. Plus, I did not want to go through the trouble of searching for compatible drivers for XP 64 bits. Vista was smooth, as always, plus the installation of the drivers and Vista SP1. I recommend installing the generic touchpad from Windows Update as it solves most of the annoying touchpad problems (too sensitive, double tap). I’ve also installed openSUSE 11.0 64 bits, which wasn’t as troublesome as I imagined. I actually encountered no problems during the installation process. I had to configure the touchpad, yet again, in order for it to run as desired. The default installation also included touchpad scrolling, which I found rather annoying. Other might see this as an opportunity though. There’s also a few missing drivers upon the installation, and since there’s no official support yet for Intel 5100/5300 cards on the kernel, you’ll have to go through a few steps in order for the system to recognize your card.

Side note: take a look at the driver installation page. This is by far the funniest looking one I’ve seen in years.


Benchmarks

First benchmark up is wPrime 32M which is a CPU stress test. Without further comments, here are the benchmarks results:

wPrime 1.63 comparison results:

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M Time
Lenovo T500 (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80GHz)	27.471s
HP Pavillon dv5t (Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz)	34.520s
Sager NP7680 (Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz)	31,185s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.20GHz)	37.299s
Hewlett Packard DV6000z (AMD Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s
Sony VAIO FW (Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz)	30.373s
Dell XPS M1530 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
Asus M50VM-B1 (Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz)	30.311s
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)	39.745s
Sager NP2096 (Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz)	31.154s

PCMark05 comparison results:

[/TR]

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3650 256MB GDDR3)	7,050 PCMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500)	5,689 PCMarks
Sager NP7680 (2.40GHz Intel P8600, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB GDDR2)	5,168 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Radeon HD 3470)	6,002 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	3,994 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, NVIDIA 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Studio 15 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	3,998 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sager NP2096 (2.40GHz Intel P8600, NVIDIA 9600M GT 512MB GDDR2)	5,822 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results:

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3650 256MB GDDR3)	4,371 3DMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500)	809 3DMarks
Sager NP7680 (2.40GHz Intel P8600, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB GDDR2)	1,832 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Radeon HD 3470)	2,598 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,599 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, NVIDIA 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Asus M50VM-B1 (2.53GHz Intel T9400, NVIDIA 9600M GS 1GB GDDR2) @ 1280x700	4,408 3DMarks
Asus M50VM-B2 (2.53GHz Intel T9400, NVIDIA 9600M GS 1GB GDDR2)	3,765 3DMarks
HP Pavillon dv5t (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9600M GT 512MB GDDR2)	3,910 3DMarks
Sager NP2096 (2.40GHz Intel P8600, NVIDIA 9600M GT 512MB GDDR2)	4,051 3DMarks
Sager NP8660 (2.53GHz Intel P9500, NVIDIA 9800M GT 512MB GDDR3)	9,279 3DMarks

HDTune Pro 3.10 trial version results:



Gaming Experience

Let’s face it; the Sager NP2096 is a mainstream gaming machine. Being what it is, can it really hold its place amongst graphic monsters such Crysis? Benchmark ran under Nvidia’s ForceWare 175.61, which is the default driver included with the system. Without further ado, here are the gaming results:

First game up for benchmarking is Crysis, the GPU/CPU basher by excellence. Crysis was benchmarked using Crysis Benchmark Tool 1.05, which can be downloaded at Guru3d’s website.

Crysis - v1.20 results:


Next up is Unreal Tournament 3. UT3 was benchmarked using UT3Bench, again, found at Guru3d’s website. Each UT3 Benchmark was repeated three times in order to achieve acceptable results.

Unreal Tournament 3 - v1.3 results:


Last runner up is Call of Duty 4. Unfortunately, no real benchmark tool exists for Call of Duty 4. Therefore, I made a two minutes time demo of myself and used it for benchmarking (Information on time demo can be found here).

Call of Duty 4 - v1.6 results:


Conclusion

The Sager NP2096 delivers its intended performance, above average gaming experience with an excellent build design. The build is definitely more solid, as I said before, than its cousin the NP7680. The separation of the memory and hard drive from the rest of components make those easy to replace, especially for those looking for an after-market user upgrade. It is well cooled, apart from the Nvidia card showing high temperatures after several benchmarks. Otherwise, the GPU shows great temperature if you keep it in a well-cooled environment (Let’s admit 10+ hours of running processes is excessive, while running beside two desktops). Even though it’s missing key features such as the Intel Wireless 5300 and an eSATA port, the NP2096 offers on the other hand a Hardware Wireless Kill Switch and a Power or Charge on the Go button. If you enjoy gaming at not so ridiculously high resolution and quality, than this notebook will most likely satisfy your needs. The 9-Cell battery makes this notebook a great gaming portable machine.

Pros

• Solid build.
• Built-in options (Webcam 2.0 Megapixel, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR).
• Awesome price/performance.
• 9-Cell battery.

Cons

• Limited to Intel Wireless 5100.
• No eSATA.

 

brilliant..

 

Those video reviews are actually my doing. If you could at least change the info you wrote to say that I actually made those video reviews. Devgru will agree, along with anyone in the Sager NP2096 owner's lounge. Nice review other than that though.

 

about time somebody did a good review

 

Great review. Did you use a cooler at all?

 

great review dude.

contact Chaz about getting it on the frontpage of NBR

 

and dont forget to change that someone here found a way to scroll up and down with the touchpad! theres a thread here about it, on the lounge at last page i think

 

awesome review, but yeah i second sphinx as those were his vids (thanks sphinx!)

 

Forgive me about that. I wasn't sure at first if those were his reviews, as the Youtube account doesn't match anyone's name in here, and some posts over the NP2096 owner's lounge made me believe those were his. Credits were edited, as well as the links. Great job on those video review, they're truly awesome (which explains why I referred them ).

Are those the ALPS drivers?

Nope, no cooler what-so-ever. Almost everything is "out of the box" (included drivers, Vista SP1, etc.). I didn't do any minor nor major tweaking.

 

hey, do you become a NBR Reviewer (status), once you post a in depth review like that? and is their some guide to tell us how to make a review in the NBR way?

cause if its true, expect a massive OCZ whitebook review

 

Yeah, as far as I'm concerned. Here's the in-depth how-to write a review for NBR.

OCZ Whitebook review would be sweet!

 

ok thanks for that

Edit: ****, just read that the review has to be intelligently worded and written like an essay. There goes my hopes of becoming a reviewer.

Btw, did you get paid 60$ for that corbs?

 

it also lack multimedia buttons presented in all laptops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

No, I did it for fun.

 

actually you should get paid for both reviews Carl!

 

sarcasm must it be, paid was he

 

Very nicely done review! Thanks.

A few questions though:

Does the screen seem a bit grainy and dim? (This was an issue that a lot of users had with a even better and more expensive model - the Sager NP8660.)

In general, how was the keyboard and touchpad? Were they comfortable to use?

By the way, the notebook looks very sturdy just by looking at the pictures. It seems very similar to Lenovo's Thinkpad notebooks.

 

Not at all. No graininess. Also, I've been running at 50% brightness (plugged) and it didn't seem dim to me. Although, this may vary according to other users. I, for one, didn't have any problem with it inside nor outside, with or without lights.

I know the screen pictures I posted feel like they have graininess, but I went through the trouble of changing background and took some new photos, as proof. Unfortunately, they still come off grainy, due to my camera (or settings).

The NP2096 is the only model based off a Compal, compared to Clevo for all the other Sagers. I had the chance to play a bit with the Clevo M762TU (Sager NP7660-80), and in my opinion, its build didn't come anywhere close to the Compal JHL90 (Sager NP2096).

My personal opinion was that both the keyboard and the touchpad were very comfortable. The touchpad buttons for instance, are separated from the touchpad itself and both feel and look solid. The keyboard also felt a lot better. It didn't feel like it was 'just laid down'. It may not feel as good as a Macbook or a Thinkpad keyboard, but it's very far from the cheap model.

A friend of mine owes a Thinkpad T61 and I must say, even if Compal's reputation isn't up to par with Lenovo, this build is most definitely sturdy.

No, it wasn't sarcasm.

 

Thanks a lot Corbs! You have been very informative.

I have one last question though. Have you been having any problems with the headphone jack? People who own other Sager notebook models seem to be having a lot of problems. Their headphone jacks are dead!

I've definitely decided that I want to purchase this notebook. I just want to be sure I'm making the right decision (this is going to be my first notebook ). Thanks again!

 

Hi Corbs,

+rep for various reasons!

1) EXCELLENT REVIEW Thanks!

BTW, Smart use of Great Video Reviews by SPHINX! Sphinx did do Great Job ... and I believe he was the 1st guy who tried to help and educate us! Way to go Sphinx!

2) Thanks for the comparison between Sager 2096 (Compal) and the Sager NP7660-80 (Clevo) ... will probably save some people the headache of ordering the Clevo M762TU thinking since it is a Clevo ... is probably superior to the Compal ... I guess this is not the case!

3) I was totally impressed by your GPU (Graphics Card) IDLE Temp of 56C ... I thought ALRIGHT ... this NVIDIA 9600M GT is not plagued with the same Heating Problems as the G8400 and G8600 ... and now rumors of G92 and G94 having problems ...

But, other Owners of Sager 2096 are reporting a HIGHER Idle Temps for the GPU ... like starting in 60sC and howering around 75sC in Idle mode. Either you are lucky or running a Cooler or your Ambient Room Temps were cooler!?!?!

Anyway, THANKS for the review and everything else!

G!

 

I'm planning on getting this notebook soon. Do you guys think heat will be an issue? I really don't want to carry a notebook cooler around. Knowing that Sager has a good reputation regarding heat management, is a notebook cooler absolutely necessary?

I'm willing to take certain precautions, but I would expect much more from a Sager notebook. Heat should not be an issue in the first place. Based on what people are saying, the temperatures do get rather high. Would anyone here recommend getting the extended 3 year warranty? I was thinking of staying with the standard 1 year warranty...

Another issue - after looking at real pictures of the NP2096, it appears to have a dark brown color. Shouldn't it be black? The generic pictures show that this notebook should have a black color instead. Is there any particular reason for this?

 

Hi Elite,

I didn't mean to alarm you ... I personally have gotten paranoid about NVIDIA GPU's since they have not come out and "Clearly" told us what the heck is going on ... but with that said .. I don't see any Major Laptop Manufacturer or Reseller pulling back form them ... so may be A-OK!?!?!

1) The Heating problem is not Sager's (Compal JHL90) issue ... Compal cooling is just fine ... it's the darn Graphics Card (GPU) by NVIDIA causing all these headaches. But I have seen most people reporting a GPU IDLE Temp of 55C to 60C ... that is the Temp that I would be concerned with ... because we know that duirng Gaming the darn thing if a non-faulty one will heat up.

2) Precaution ... would be always prop the back of the laptop 1/2" off the table to get some air circulation under it. Also, if you want to be super safe ... I saw some 4" personal fan (which is Battery or A/C opertated) and it was flat looking that you can throw in your bag ... unit was not big at all and only $5.

3) Should you pay $139 more to get the 3 year Warranty vs Standard 1 Year?
If you are paying $1200+ for a laptop and you are planning to GAME the heck out of it ... i would say $139 for 3 year Peace-of-Mind ... would be a GOOD BET.

4) The color of the unit should be BLACK ... sometimes people's picture are not the greatest. Then again Corbs review and pictures from Canada was showing the unit as Silvery ... go figure.
MY SUGGESTION would be call the REseller that you want to buy the unit from ... for example "Power Notebooks" and ask Donald if the 2096 in fact is Black Color.

Hope this helped.

G!

 

Thank you for your advice!
I'll be sure to check on all of these things.

I'll make sure my notebook will have enough air circulation. I just don't see the need of carrying a notebook cooler.

As for the warranty, I'll definitely get the 3 year warranty just in case. This is going to be my first Sager notebook, so being on the safe side is worth it.

If nVidia is having such problems with their graphic cards, why didn't Sager/Clevo use Ati graphic cards. The HD3650 is similar, if not better in performance than the 9600M GT. It would have been a much better choice.

 

You and me Both ... I wished the same thing. Actually when Sager 8660 announced that will have ATI card I was all excited about it ... but I really not a Gamer and did not want to blow $1800+ on a laptop that will be old in about 6 months ...

I am more into dvds and AVIs and that stuff.

G!

 

Definitely agree with you. With technology changing ever so quickly, it is not always worth spending so much money for a notebook that will get old in the coming months.

As for the graphics card, the Ati HD3650 would have definitely done the trick! If only the NP2096 came with this graphics card, it would be running much more cooler than its nVidia counterpart. Not to mention the slightly better performance!

 

So in comparrison would you say that the Sager NP2096 is better than the Asus m50v-b1. That's where I'm at right now, it's SUCH a tight choice. The price range is the same, but the sager out does the asus (from how i've selected it) by 300 mhz, and the real kicker, having a better lasting battery. If the asus had a longer battery duration things would be different, but I really do love the look of the asus; it looks so sleek and professional. The sager does too, but it doesn't look very sleek, comes off barebone from the keyboard and the material used in the interior. Please help me out

 

thanks dude

+rep

 

Well, both have their advantages and disadvantages. Here's both notebooks and their sellout key points (from my point of view) :

Sager NP2096

• 9-Cell Battery
• GeForce 9600M GT
• 4GB DDR2-800MHZ

Asus M50VM-B1

• Warranty
• Supplied accessories
• E-Sata & Intel4965 (which I heard has more range, but I couldn't say for sure)

Anyhow, that being said, more are ultimately amazing notebooks. I chose the Sager NP2096 for its superior specs. Plus, so far, I haven't had any problems with it. Great build, keyboard being one of its strongest key point in my opinion. The Asus M50VM does come with a bit more functions (multimedia touch pad, e-sata, etc.), therefore might seem more attracting to you. As for its look, I for one, loved the Sager NP2096. In my opinion, it comes out somewhat more professional, whereas this differ from your standpoint.

Also, I bought mine from XoticPC, and they've recently changed all the customization options. For example, a 500GB 7200RPM now only cost 75$ to upgrade from a 200GB 7200RPM drive.

Honestly, if superior "horse power" is what you're looking for and looks aren't that important, I'd pick the Sager NP2096. Although, if looks really are a selling factor for you (nothing wrong with that), I doubt you'll notice any performance difference at that level and therefore, I'd go with the Asus M50VM.