Sager NP5165/5160

I need a laptop for school.

What is the difference between these two?

Does one have a better battery life? How much battery life do they have? What about if you just use word processing?

How much do each weigh?

I will be buying from reflexnotebook.ca as I am Canadian. What upgrades are a must?

 

I am on the same boat.

With these upgrades:
-15.6" Full HD LED-Backlit Display features 95% NTSC Color Gamut in Matte Finished Surface (1920 x 1080)
-2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor ( 6MB L3 Cache, 2.00GHz)
-8gigs ram
-Windows 7 Home Premium
-500gb 7200rpm
-6230 wireless card

My total comes to $1,226.61 before shipping and tax at reflexnotebook.ca

Is this a good price? Will I get a better deal ordering from xotic or other us sites?

I am also going to be daily carrying this laptop to school so I want to hear from similar owners.

Weight and battery life are the major concerns. Other then that, it's pretty much dream specs for my needs.

Thanks

 

I'm pretty sure the only difference is the GPU. The 5160 has a nvidia gt 540m, whereas the 5165 has a nvidia GT 555m.

They both weigh 5.73 pounds according to the technical specifications.

I've read reports placing the battery life around 3-4 hours with integrated graphics.

Your upgrades will depend upon what you want to use it for really. I would say go for a higher quality screen as you use it all the time.

 

The main difference is the GPU 540m compared to the 555m. The 5160 has more screen resolution options.

As far as the weight goes:

5160 is 5.73lbs
5165 is 5.73lbs

As far as upgrades go if it's just going to be used for school then the default specs are more than adequate on both machines.

 

What's the max battery I can get using word processing?

How much better is the graphics card in the 65? Is it worth it?

 

Here are some good links to gauge GPU Performance

Link 1
Link 2

I would say batty life wise if you turned off WIFI and Bluetooth and only did word processing you could get around 5 hours.

 

I think the battery life should be about the same for non-gaming tasks, since they both run with GPUs with optimus technology.

 

for 1260 you could get the 8130 of course u need to use the discounts, which is much better, with

Display: 15.6" 95% NTSC Gamut glossy screen
i7-2630QM
8GB DDR3
GTX 560M 1.5GB GDDR5
500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300
Windows 7 Home Premium; 64-bit
Intel® 6230 Advanced-N

 

Yea for pretty much the same price I can get the 8130 which is same except the better graphics card 560 vs. 555.

However, the weight is a huge issue for me. In terms of the brick for 5165, how is it for daily carrying? I am coming from macbook ac adapters, vaio bricks and from pictures, they look heavily and big. Does anyone carry this daily?

 

Im canadian and will have to buy from reflexnotebook and with taxes the base model alone will be almost $1000.00.

Basically I am concerned about portability. Is this going to be too heavy, big and/or battery heavy to use for school. I'd really feel secure if it could max out at 6 hours but 5 is not bad.

 

my 8150 ways about the same as my dell d820, maybe a bit lighter. there is a lot room that the fans take up, which is not densely populated.

 

Personally 5.73lbs isn't heavy for me, I'm used to lugging around a 17" behemoth. So a 5.73lbs notebook would be a great change for me as far as weight goes. It's pretty much comes down to how comfortable you are with it.

Would you be willing to go to an even smaller notebook?

 

I'm fine really with anything under 6 pounds. I'm more concerned with it's battery life.

Depends what notebook, I've looked at a few 13'' and would be most comfortable with a 14''.

 

If you dim the brightness when not plugged in i think the battery life should last a while and will be to your liking.

 

What do you think the max battery life I could get out is if I only plan on doing word processing?
I believe a previous post said 5 hours, is that correct?

Also is the matte upgrade a must? or is the standard 1980x1080p enough?

 

Of course the matte is not necessary, but it's something that you will be looking at (for hours a day I assume) so you might want to consider that. Personally, I made the investment based on the fact that glossy screens give me eyestrain.

 

If battery life is a concern, then skip the recommendations advising you for an NP8130. It's a very good performance value, but it won't make it nearly as long as a laptop with Optimus. Have to pick and chose your compromises...

 

I'm not considering a NP8130 at all. I would just really appreciate some clarification as to the battery life on the NP5160 more specifically the maximum battery life I could get running only word processing.

Also what upgrades should I get for sure with a budget of $1000 buying from relfexnotebook.ca (Canada).

 

If your intended use is predominantly school work, then it's almost fine as is stock.

Obviously you'll need to add an operating system (unless you already have your own), so +$80.

Upgrade the wireless card to at least 6230 for $25.

I would upgrade to one of the 1080p screens as more screen real estate is always better for getting things done; that's either $50 for the 1080p glossy (if you can stand glossy), or $143 to one of the 95% gamut screens (glossy or matte). I'm personally a matte screen preference kind of person, so if $143 was out of budget for you, then I'd consider sticking with the stock matte 1600x900 screen. Tough call. It's still a much better resolution than a 15.6" LCD that's only 1366x768. Gross!

You are probably fine with the rest bone stock. Core i5-2410, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB HDD (easy to replace on your own at a later date), DVD-RW (unless you want Blu-Ray).

With the above options and the glossy 1080p screen (because it's cheaper), that's $881 before tax. If your budget is $1000 before taxes, I would spend the rest on warranty coverage. If it's after tax, then you're right around $1000 (give or take).