Sager NP8690, where to buy and what to choose

I am not looking for a lot of information. I really only have two questions:

1. Who sells the Sager NP8690 the cheapest, sans any customization? I want the option to customize it, but I need to know who is offering the best deal on the laptop.

2. Who offers the best options on the Sager NP8690?

 

xoticpc.com has been the lowest I've seen, and the answer to #2 as well, imo.

 

1. Pro-Star comes out the cheapest, because they offer free shipping.

2. Everyone offers the same options.

 

Pro-Star don't sell Sagers You know that.

1. I guess PCTorque sells the cheapest one... not much difference from other Sager resellers, though, and..

2. Yes, they all offer the same. Some Clevo re-branders, however, like Eurocom or AVAdirect can configure you a W860CU and add nice things to it, like a 512gb SSD (overpriced) and a second hard-drive through the ODD bay.

 

I was going to go with the Dell Studio XPS 16, but I dislike their choice of video card and that the video card cannot be changed by the end user. If the video card were upgradable, then I would definately go with the Dell.

Are there any problems that any of you have with the NP8690 that I need to know about?

EDIT

Does the NP8690 have SLI support?

 

Check out GentechPC - http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchan...-NP8690&Category_Code=SAGERNB&Product_Count=3

I have bought like 5 laptops from them, highly recommended.

 

Actually GentechPC is cheaper by $20 if you choose 1080p screen and they also have cheaper shipping. That's where mine is coming from hopefully I get it by this friday. And no, Sager NP8690 does not support sli graphics.

 

It depends on the spec you want, like Suade8880 said. One might offer cheaper HDD, but if you only upgrade the CPU, it doesn't help.

So decide on the spec, and shop around.

 

Gentechs page says they do price matching too, so I imagine you can buy from them no matter who has it cheaper as they should match it.

So I would go with them since I know them so well and really like there customer service.

 

Did anyone look at RJTech yet? I find they often have the cheapest prices with the most customization. What Clevo model is this?

Edit: O duh it's my favorite 15" :d But no it has no problems yet aside from short battery life. Pending more full reviews of course. No SLI obviously, that would be insane for a 15".

But yeah RJTech lets you customize almost any of the parts, so you can buy things like the CPU and OS separately, saving you money. Plus it's always free shipping.
This place is where I bought my Compal, very good customer service. It's www.rjtech.com

 

I recommend rjtech as well. You can save about 100$ in the ram memory, hard-drive, wireless module and OS alone... that is, if you choose to buy and install them yourself from someplace like newegg.

 

Yeah, it's awesome. A little bit of work, but so much fun. RJTech is literally the only place that let's you buy the laptop for $1,169 as a full barebones.

 

Yeah that's what I did, I saved $300 by going that route.

 

Does anyone in Europe sell a barebone?

 

Not much of a deal.. here's the math..

rjtech barebones
+ LCD (1920x1080) 1,219.00

720QM + S/H - $395 ( http://www.lagoom.com/590705/intel-cpu-mobile-core-i7-720qm.html )

4GB DDR3 1333 - $85.49 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144373 )

320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA - $72.99 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280 )

Intel WiFi Link 5350 PCIx - $54.99 ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001E8YPY4?ie=UTF8&seller=A354VPA0KEEK5G&sn=A+TECH )

-----------
$1827.47


XoticPC
-----------
$1837 (after cash discount - $1781.89)

 

Different math/setup for me:

1080p barebone w/ wireless - $1259

i7-820QM ES- $355.88

4GB DDR3 1333 - $70

Seagate Momentus 7200.4 250GB - $60

Total = $1744.88, while it's a little over $2k prebuilt.

 

BrandonSi, don't forget shipping for XoticPC, roughly $37 for UPS Ground domestic, so the total would be $1818.89 for XoticPC. Plus, the 5350 is not offered by Xotic. On ebay, you can find a 5300 for $20 or less, bringing the rjtech price down to $1792.47.

So, RJTech, if you get all parts from them is $1829. If you get them yourself, it's $1792ish (plus shipping if you did not include that in your above prices). Xotic is $1819ish.

For equal parts in equal condition, they all pretty much cost the same, but you can save more if you go on ebay for ES CPU's, or buy used parts. Additionally, some people may be using HDD, RAM, Network Card, etc from their older laptop. In that case, it does save quite a bit. Plus, there is the satisfaction of putting exactly what you want in your new machine.

For some, this last consideration trumps all others; that it can be done for the same price, or - quite often - less, is simply a bonus that adds to the satisfaction of doing it oneself.

 

I thought about going that route, but now all I have to do when mine arrives is install the OS. No coordinating multiple shipments for me.

 

What is the difference between the Intel WiFi Link 5350 and the stock Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300AGN 802.11a/b/g/n wireless LAN from XoticPC?

 

Well, I'm not going to shell out ~$2k on a laptop and have it use an ES CPU I got on ebay, that's just me. If people are using leftover parts from other laptops, then obviously it would be cheaper, so that's not really comparing apples to apples.

I didn't include shipping from xoticpc since I didn't include shipping from Amazon/Reseller for the notebook card, but you might end up saving some money there, I wasn't aware shipping from xoticpc was ~$40.

As far as the satisfaction of putting what you want in the laptop, I guess, but we're dealing with hard drives and ram and cpu's, not much in the way of variety. I guess some people enjoy installing their own hardware, but I grew out of that (and the headaches that can come along with it) after building 5 or so desktops.. For the same price or a bit more, I'll pay someone to deal with it and just turn it on when it gets to me. Just my preference.

 

5350 is WiMax capable. Not of much use for most people at this point. You can get it on amazon here or on ebay. Some people have reported receiving ES versions with false labeling (MAC on label doesn't match MAC reported by hardware). I don't know about that vendor on amazon.

If you are just using a wireless N or G router, the 5300 is a better choice IMO.

 

Actually, this is a good point. If someone just wants the best price and doesn't really care about selecting their own parts, XoticPC and Powernotebooks are great. The price differences with RJTech are negligible.

RJTech offers the flexibility for anyone who is willing to shop on ebay or looks around to get great deals on newegg, tigerdirect, etc. Things like ES CPUs and harvesting parts from another machine simply sweeten the deal for those who go this route.

 

Agree 100%.. Just two different groups of people!

 

I personally get zero "satisfaction" out of the barebones route, but if putting it together myself saves me hundreds of dollars, I'll pay myself for the labor. My M86 was my first, and it took like twenty minutes. Calculate how much labor tax that is, when mine is $400 cheaper.

 

I always thought it was fun putting it together too.

I remember saving about 200 when I build my Compal. I'm sure you could do the same with this Sager if you get good deals on parts.

 

It might also be worth mentioning warranties on pre-configured vs barebones. Admittedly, the people who would be putting together barebones in the first place would often be interested in doing the sorts of things that tend to violate warranties in the first place...

 

Looks like Malibal has the cheapest price thus far..

Price w/o cash discount - 1642.00 USD

Cash Discount - 1605.88 USD

http://www.malibal.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=84

This is, of course, in no way an endorsement of Malibal.