Sager NP8662 - My Thoughts and reviews after 1 week Use

Hi,

**Updated a couple of screenshots to show you light benchmark results (3d mark) temperatures, Windows Rating, and Desktop resolution space // size at 1680 x 1050**


Okay, I thought I'd come on here again and post how I felt about everything after about 1 weeks use. (I know this post looks huge and intimidating, but I think it's worth the couple minutes of reading if your interested in the NP8662 what so ever.)

First and foremost I'd like to say thank you to a lot of people that helped me here (mostly Gophn) with a lot of questions before I dropped $1500 bucks or whatever I paid for it. That was one of the biggest purchases of my life lol, besides my car, and it was a lot of hard earned money. I'm 21 and I've built computers since I was in 7th grade, so I know a thing or two about desktops, never have I thought I would get a laptop over a custom PC, but I have no regrets...

Anyways to get started I have the P8600 Processor, 7200 RPM 320 GB HD, 4 GB Ram, GTX 260m, Regular non upgraded screen (1680 x 1050) and regular super dvd burner. I also bought it without an operating system, and I put Windows 7 RC1 on it.

Build Quality - Wow, I have used a lot of laptops in my life, Gateways, Dells, Alienwares, Asus, MSI, Compaq, E-machines you name it, I've probably used it. Right when I took this thing out of the box, before I even used it, just looking at the materials I knew this thing was the best laptop I've ever seen. The brushed gun metal, everything about it, was great. The thing just feels and looks so damn solid. The Chasis is so nice... A lot of people complain about smudges, but all you have to do is get one of those lint free cloths and put a dab of warm water on one of the corners, get it a little wet, and then wipe it down with the cloth and it gets shiny as hell... This is going to sound dumb but even the power button looks stylish and really nice.

The processor, if you are debating on if you should upgrade the processor to something that costs a little bit more, thinking the P8600 sucks, you are in for a shock. This laptop has handled everything I've ever thrown at it, without a glitch or any kind of lag. You can save an extra 200 - 500 dollars for just sticking with this processor, you won't be dissapointed with it at all.

The Screen - I took a day or two debating on if I should go with the upgraded 1900 x 1200 screen, or the standard one that comes with it, and I thought I would only be getting an OK screen since I didn't upgrade. Damn, was I wrong. The standard screen that comes is amazing. The color quality, the resolution, everything about it is perfect. I had no dead pixels, and everything looks great on it. IT works great in the light, and in the darkness. The brightness, glare, gamma, whatever you wanna call the specs, it's perfect. I thought the 15" would be small for some reason, just because it wasn't a 17, but the 15 is not small at all, it is a very great size to have.

Hard Drive - I know a lot of people have been saying their hard drives are over heating. I thought mine was running hot when I first got it too... Then I put it on a glass table, and the thing idles at 45c or so, and the highest I've ever seen it run is 55c. (That is after 2 hours of Call Of Duty 4, and then RIGHT away, 2 Hours of Crysis so 4 hours of the new age games)

GTX 260m, My oh my.... Nvidia did it again. This mobile graphics card is ridiculous! This thing tops all my friends high end desktops without even sweating. If you play some older games like me (war craft 3, Counter strike source, Counter strike 1.6) This thing runs everything at max fps.... It's not even funny.... When you get to newer games like Call of Duty 4, it plays that maxed out quality settings at native resolution, and it plays Crysis at High settings without a hiccup. Everyone I know was thinking I would never be able to run crysis on a laptop but this thing does it at high settings. I'm sure it can run it at the highest settings too, but I haven't had enough time on my hands to test it at Highest settings. My call of duty 4 looked just like it did on my Xbox 360 with a 720p tv, and it ran just as smooth too. I can't wait for Nvidia to release newer versions of drivers for this card, because I know they will be able to get more out of it, as soon as drivers are optimized.

Windows 7 RC1 64 Bit edition- this operating system runs soooooooooooo smooth and fast. It's like Vista on Steroids. I haven't had one crash, one BSOD, one freeze up, nothing. I installed Windows 7 RC1, and it recognized my finger print reader, webcam, it recognized everything. All I did was go to www.nvidia.com and download the newest drivers for Windows 7 RC1. It installed perfectly from the EXE file, no problems. Windows 7 and this laptop were meant for eachother.

Battery Life, I'm not really sure because this thing has been plugged in everywhere I use it. I will do some testing without it plugged in, I just have been working a lot so I haven't been able to test the battery life without AC support.

Speakers - I read a review somewhere when someone said that the sound quality of these speakers is crappy. I must say, they are not. Even on 100%, this thing sounds great wheater it's music, a movie, or a game. You can hear the surround sound with every game I play and you know exactly where everything is coming from. Anyways - I do most of my gaming with plantronics headset, but when I use the speakers to test them, they were great.

Keyboard / Trackpad - I use my own external Mouse and Keyboard - but I did some testing the first day and let me tell you that the keyboard built in is great, the keys are awesome and they feel just like a high end logitech keyboard. - Trackpad - it is very responsive and the buttons are great. That's pretty much all there is to say about that lol, but like I said I use my own keyboard and mouse.

Input / Output - It has input plugs in the very front for your headset, microphone and whatever. On the side there are USB Slots on the right and the left so if you are left or right handed, has ethernet slots if you don't have wireless available, and on the back it has HDMI output and DVI output, and additional USB inputs. Might I say - this thing looks great too when you hook it up to a 32 inch HDTV through the HDMI and it looks good if you put it on an external monitor through the DVI... No complaints here-

Wireless performance - My dad's little IBM laptop is downloading somewhere around 400 kb/s wireless and I thought that was good, this damn laptop was downloading at 1.5 MB/s and my internet at the house isn't even that upgraded! That was simply amazing! It's a DSL line that is probably 12 down and 6 up... On the router/modem that the internet company provided for me! If I had one of those brand new netgear or dlink routers, on a faster internet line, I'm sure this laptop would download even faster.

Rest of the Temps - all the temps run great from the CPU, the HDD, and the GPU. They are all in the 30c and low 40c range.
*Note this is without a laptop cooler and I am going to be buying a Zalman 2000 Laptop cooler soon (not sure if that's the exact model number)* So I can only imagine how much cooler it would be with the cooler, probably a few degrees better.

*Also - a note - if you have a gaming headset with a mic, that is all good, but if you want just to use your favorite pair of headphones, this thing has a built in mic on the laptop, right below the keyboard, and it works perfectly even from 3 feet away. I was on ventrilo, skype, and teamspeak, and people on the servers can hear me and everyone in the room with me, clear and crisp. The built in microphone on this thing is amazing also.

I ordered the PC from XoticPC, and I have nothing but good things to say about them and their customer service. Both Justins were extremely helpful. I am referring 2 customers to them in the next couple of weeks because they were so good I told everyone I know.

Now I'm not just trying to be a Sager fan boy and say this laptop is the ultimate best thing out in the world, just because I own one, because until about a month and a half ago, I didn't even know who Sager was and I was thinking of buying a Gateway FX Laptop. I know that I had a month after the shipping day to return this thing so I really wanted to test it, so that if I wasn't happy with it FOR ANY REASON AT ALL, I was going to simply send it back and build my own desktop. I have found nothing about this laptop that I can complain about, it is simply OFF THE HOOK.

I thought this desktop replacement laptop was going to be a clunker and I wouldn't be able to take it around. Right when I saw it I was amazed about how much smaller it actually is than I thought. It is extremely good sized, and extremely portable, but when you open it, the screen just seems bigger than 15" for some reason.


If you are stuck on deciding which laptop to order, you wiill not be dissapointed with this and I'm sure you will find it of higher quality than alienware and the such... If you want to know anything about this laptop or have any questions about it, just go ahead and ask on this thread, and I'll try my best to answer it. If it is too technical or complicated, I'm sure Gophn will answer you

 

great review m4ttjirM.
thanks for sharing. +rep

 

Thanks for the rep, that's appreciated. Just trying to get the word out to all those buyers who didn't have anything good to read, when deciding if they want to buy this. I really couldn't find much about this laptop about a month ago...

 

Solid, solid review. You're pushing me right over the edge on this laptop. Definitely looking to pick it up next week after reading this review. Can't wait.

I'm also going to go ahead and just install Windows 7 RC on it, because I've heard such good things. I think I'm tech-savvy enough to do it, but is it an easy process? Anything particular to keep in mind?

 

Thanks for a very detailed review!
It's fun to see people not only posting what problems they have but also when everything works great
I myself will be getting pretty much the same specs as you have on yours (W7 RC aswell) within a month or two and I can't wait! (Though I'll get it from Kobalt, not XoticPC since I live in EU). I was a bit worried that the P8600 would be too weak but judging from your review it can hold it's ground until I have enough money for an upgrade!

Gmaster7: Installing W 7 RC is no problem at all and as m4ttjirM said it recognizes most of your hardware, if not all, automaticly. Also, if there are no Windows 7 drivers for a certain hardware you can try using the Vista ones, they usually work (atleast on my desktop).

 

Yeah, all you have to do is download windows 7 directly from microsoft, if you have 4 GB of ram, you want the 64 bit version, and then burn it directly to a DVD.

You just put it in your computer and turn it on, when the bios boots, it will recognize it and say press any key to enter set up. After that, it is all graphical, and it will guide you through the process step by step, and it automatically recognizes your Network adapters, wired and wireless so you instantly have internet access. After that, you run a windows update and it gives you the rest of the drivers it didnt get during installation.

Then you want to go to www.nvidia.com and go to drivers section , then notebooks, and download the windows 7 newest driver, install the EXE file and you are good to go and install all the games your heart desires.

 

Before you install anything, I highly recommend that you do an Acronis True Image or a Drive Snapshot of your current OS onto external media.

I also have the NP8662 (with the Q9000) and with out the slightest doubt, it is the best laptop I have ever used or owned period. The gaming performance is excellent, the build quality is solid, the size is portable and I am completely amased at how cool the components run (apart from my previous HDD).

You will not regret buying this laptop, I recommend you go out and buy it as soon as you can. I have no regrets at all and I got mine from Kobalt Computers. I recommend them 100% to anyone looking to make a purchase in the UK.

 

A very informing review for anyone interested in this notebook. I just got my np8662 last week and I am amazed by how much better it is than my cousin's m17x. The build is of extraordinary quality. With the gtx 260m I can run any demanding game on it without any problems whatsoever. This notebook is a gaming beast and the best part about is that it looks like a professional business notebook. I agree with everything in your review 100%. I too was amazed by its size because it looks small but when you open it up it looks much bigger. I love it! BTW i too recommend xoticpc for their excellent support and fast build. The only problem for me so far has been the high idling temp of the HDD. It idles at 52-55 which is not too bad but I wish t would idle at 45 or so. Other than that, I have not found anything else wrong with this.

 

Should I upgrade the cpu through Xoticpc, or purchase later from another online retailer?

 

Word on the street is, next week intel is releasing faster versions of all of the currently offered laptop cpus, so if you order the 8600, you'll end up with the 8700, they just can't have it posted yet.

 

It depends... If you know you do not want the standard processor that comes with it, you might as well pay the extra upgrade price now, and have them install it. I however, can not see myself upgrading this CPU unless someone gives it to me as a gift because this thing is not slow at all... Would it be worth it to wait a week to get a P8700 for free rather than a P8600? Definately... But I don't think it was worth the 250 dollars to upgrade to the P9600 for my situation...

Say for example, it only costs $200.00 to upgrade a part to a better part, it may cost you $400.00 to buy the newer part at full price.

Just like it would be cheaper to get leather seats with a car when you first buy it, then get cloth seats and try to put leather seats in there yourself later on... Get what I mean?

 

Nice review. I'm glad you didn't post this last week or I wouldn't be getting my ThinkPad T500 tomorrow. In the end I needed something a little more businessy to get me off the computer after hours.

Sounds like a great machine!

 

Thank you :-D I'm sure you will enjoy your ThinkPad T500 ... I have had nothing but good experiences with my Dad's ThinkPad .... I just needed something that could demolish games like this thing does :-D

 

Yeap nice review ive ordered one same as your but with the P8700 and its currently in Phase 4......after reading your review i am amped to get this thing in my hands......problem is its still got a long trip to go.....from my friends in america to me here in india....but with DHL im still hoping to get in next week....cant wait....
Just ordered afew new games...crysis, the last remnent, empire totalwar, and bioshock.....oh the wait, THE WAIT......!
Thanks for the positive review.

 

u got a nice buddy mtness... my 'buddy' messed up things a little bit and ended up cancelling the NP8662 order. Now she is returning to India empty handed ...

Back to square one now and watching out for the happpenings in the market next week, before deciding on a new model and making a purchase.

EDIT: Between, nice review! makes me feel I miss the NP8662!

 

thanks for the review

very good read.

 

I'm considering this model now, I've been curious about the turbo memory (do you have that installed?) and it's effect on performance, if any.

 

yeap actually my friend is offering it to me as a gift, and has been sharing all the documentation with me, they have it in there posession and are taking it to DHL in the next day or so, cant wait tbh.
Sorry to hear you missed out on the machine mate.......hopefully you get what you need soon.

 

no i dont have that turbo memory, i did some reading on it, and i decided it wasn't for me... dont really think i needed it.

updated last night with a couple of screens.

 

benchmarks!!1

 

Benchmarks are posted mayne. It's under attachments on the first post

 

CS:S, Crysis, and Cod4 benchmarks?

 

m4ttjirM, that is a sweet background, where can I get it and others like it?

I just love the chaotic nature of it. Right now I've had a lot of peaceful backgrounds, time to turn up the tempo.

 

I've seen that one before - he got it from DeviantArt's wallpaper section here. DeviantArt has tons of awesome wallpapers available here - you can sort by screen resolution, popularity, and more.

 

Hey bro, Could you post your battery life experience? I am really interested in that and would be really thankful if you could experiment with it for a little bit.


Great review Thanks!

 

I would just like to say it's real name is Clevo (a Chinese company from Taiwan) M860TU. Good review though.

 

i second that request - I'm leaning heavily toward the NP8662 just because it's so excellent, my possible cheaper alternative is the NP2098 which seems to have a better battery life. I'm also thinking I might wait till June 26th so I can get in on the Vista to Windows 7 upgrade program... i really want to just have it though, i've been researching my first laptop all weekend

 

Okay Guys, today I am going to go home and play crysis with no power plugged in and see how long it takes for it to die lol.

I play Crysis, CS:S, and COD4, I don't know the exact benchs but i'm telling you, CS:S does not even BURP on this system. It is playing maxed resolution, max quality settings, and there is no LAG AT ALL. it plays Source ridiculously well.

Same for Call of Duty 4, and it plays crysis on all settings high with no lag or glitches.

What are some good programs to use to benchmark games? I will run it for you guys if you help me out with which programs to use.

And also- my backgrounds and wallpapers I got a lot of cool stuff like that through google and deviantart.

 

hey thx for the review.

I also got mine this friday. Been on a lanparty whole weekend worked like a charm this laptop.
I ogt an original clevo M860TU quad core 9000

Love the laptop and windows 7 64Bit

But i can't get the fingerprint to work. It recognizes it in device manager but the software doesnt. anyone has the same problem?

Greet

Lox

 

I played crysis without it plugged in and i got about 1 hour and 45 minutes on highest settings.

 

and how long does it last when you are just doing word docs and internet?
try this for benchmarking
when you are done take a screenshot of the summary
http://downloads.guru3d.com/Crysis-Benchmark-Tool-1.05-Final-download-1791.html

 

You're review really helped. I was thinking of getting the 9280 for college but I now think the 8662 will better suit my needs. Its 4 pounds lighter and ran for almost 2 hours playing crysis on high. I could only imagine how it will run doing "normal" things.
How much better does the gtx 280m preform than the 260? that would be the only thing holding me back from getting one in a few months. IMO it looks nicer than the 5797. Looking forward to a new sager in my future!

 

I will run this today when I get home after work. That will be around 6 pm pacific time. Thanks for this.

 

Hi,

Also sorry that I do not have that many good battery life benchmarks.

The thing is plugged in on my office desk, and whenever i take it to a friends house, they all have an extra desk for me to use, i never use the thing unplugged.

 

You need to condition the battery sooner or later, m4ttjirM.

 

Yeah, you're right, are there any good programs to run while the computer is unplugged to get a good idea of the battery?

 

I am all droling over the screen for this Lappy. Well i have 3 years more to go before i buy another Laptop. I promise myself that i will be buying another lappy in 5 years after i purchase my 9261. Oh well Better keep putting those dollars in the piggy bank.

 

Anyone have anything else they want to ask about this beast? Still haven't had a problem with it...

 

m4ttjirM, could you by any chance post up some good quality pictures of your machine, possibly comparing its size to other things, or if that is a pita, just normal pics? Thanks!

 

Today I will put some pictures up.... What type of things do you think i should put next to it lol ?

 

How about a deck of cards and a soda can for reference? I'm almost certain I'm going to be getting this thing after June 26. I'll try and come up with a few more questions to ask tonight.

 

Hey Guys sorry been extremely busy didnt find time to get those pictures posted yesterday. Should be here after work today or tomorrow -

 

nice review man. Sounds like you got it primarily for gaming. Do you do any rendering work? Autocad, maya, formz or anything? I'd be curious as to how well it handles that sort of stuff.

also, how's the batter life (non-gaming going?)

Thanks again for the review. I'm all but sold on this over the m4400. anything you can add to seal the deal for me?

 

Hi, I do not do any auto cad, or any kind of rending. I'm sure if you got it for that and upgraded the processor you would be all good.

Sorry I still havent gotten a chance to post pics of this beast... Hopefully try to get them up tonight to compare sizes of things. Just been real busy and just got my camera set up.

 

for battery testing, you could run a program called battery eater to see how long it lasts under max stress. make sure to keep wifi and bluetooth on, and max out the brightness.

Then try to run lighter stuff (word processing, internet, and other soccer mom applications) with the brightness at around 50%, and time it

 

Awesome review. Your review literally just helped me decide between This and an asus. Amazing!

 

I just got my 8662 today. Here are a couple of pictures for size.

 

Have any of you had any problems with dead/stuck pixels?

 

I have one in my WUXGA Matte.

 

No. I am more than pleased with everything so far.