Sager Quality

Hello everyone, just want to get a honest survey of everyone experience with the quality of Sager Notebook. I am keep reading about how great these notebooks are in term of build quality and reliability comparing to other major brands like Dell, HP, Asus,... While I do agree with that from my own personal experience with the Sager brand ( I own a Sager NP5125, NP2096, and another older model I can't seem to remember, all purchased from a reputable reseller that is recommended here on the forum) and it is also true that these notebooks often feel more solid than the Dell and HP I have at work. In terms of reliability, I am having a difficult time being certain that they are better than the major brands, given that all three of my Sager notebooks have experienced motherboard failure within 2 years of purchases. My most current Sager NP5125 requires a motherboard replacement just 6 months after purchase. In comparison, the Asus, Dell Inspiron and XPS machines I have at work are still running solid after two years of purchase with only minor issues like loosen key cap and such. I am curious if this is a common thing among owners of midrange Sager notebooks since it seem like most of the posts here from owners of the higher end models seem to have better experience with their machines. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying Sager is horrible, I love their build quality and how quickly you could get to customer support once you have an issue. However, it does seem to me the reliability of the machine is not on par with other brands, and it is a huge problem for me since the warranty only cover up to one year of service. For me, when you purchase something at the price of Sager notebooks, you would like to expect them to work properly at least for two years solid. Am I the only one getting these reliability issues with the Sager notebooks?

 

I don't have a Clevo yet but I can tell you my Dell XPS had to have the motherboard replaced 4 times. It was a POS that also had a huge amount of hard drives go bad even though it was never bumped really while running or dropped or even moved while still turned on.

I'll never buy a dell again from that XPS experience and my experience with their workstations while I was the network admin for a school district.

HP's haven't served me much better.

Ultimately all hardware can potentially go bad or even be a lemon but with the major companies I find from personal experience their products are just plain unreliable.

My next machine will be a Clevo based upon the reviews I've read and the hardware they offer. I also recommend when looking into a Clevo/Sager you research your vendor quite a bit for the best service.

 

I had an NP8690 last year, that lasted for a year before being sold. There wasn't any problems with it and it ran as fast as how I meant to run it. (hardcore gaming all day and night)

Now, my NP8150 arrived, and it's been 2 days, and no hiccups yet.

There's very rarely that Sager customers get some sort of problem in their order. It's not to say that it can be eliminated; of course there might be defects during manufacturing at least, and sometimes things happen. However, from what I have read throughout, Sagers have a lower chance to being a failure than the other brands.

But then again, sorry to hear your unfortunate recalls.

 

I don't have my cleave yet but I doubt they'd do what Dell just did which was give me a brand new machine minus webcam, Bluetooth, CPU and ram a month before my warranty expires including new plastic shell and new Wuxga panel because I had a failed power supply and complained about a bunch of other minor things when they asked if I had any other problems... Annoying that the replacement optical drive is worse than the previous one though so they have to come back, but they do night time at home service.

Didn't have any problems a reformat could not fix and that I cared about before this on my xps at all. Overall a great experience.

 

Anything manufactured by any company will have lemons. But Clevo quality is pretty great if you ask me.

 

I've had my D900F for just over a year now, and it's still going strong. May be about time I clean my fans properly though If this thing ever dies, I'll still be getting another Clevo though. Love the plainness and sturdiness of these things

 

I have had my Sager 5793 for a little over 3 years. When I purchased it, I also got the 3 year warranty which I used two times both for video issues.

Other than that, the notebook has been flawless. When I had the system in for the first repair, I had them swap out the 320GB hard drive for a 500GB drive as well as clone it. They only charged me $45 for the work and were very quick in returning the notebook to me as I was in school at the time and needed it for assignments.

Sorry to hear about your problems but I think overall Sager is as good, if not better than, the others in the field of boutique systems.

All the best.

Mike

 

Yes, you should and not just the fans but also all the grills/vents/radiators. I'd also do a repaste job and replace the thermal pads on the GPU memory chips.

 

Cleaning and maintenance is crucial. Personally I'm going through a move, and am cleaning the fans everyday (without opening up the laptop). Once the dust settles a complete cleaning will be in effect. I'm so giddy.

Am I too geeky if I actually enjoy taking apart my laptop for a cleaning?

 

I've had a Clevo D901C since about 3 years ago and it's still going strong I received my x7200 already though so I'm dumping my D901C to a friend of mine But really, I've never received much problems with that machine

 

Yes... I wouldn't mind cleaning if I didn't have to shut off my machine to do it

That said repasting once every few months sounds like a major pita and if that's true I'm gonna have to pick up some IC diamond and alcohol...

 

repasting shouldn't need to be done more than yearly (if that)

 

I've had no problems with my Sager 9262 over the past 2 years, and one of those was a deployment to Iraq. Beast is still running strong and playing even the newest games on high settings. Just did a fresh windows install last month and it's running like brand new again.

Unfortunately the thing is just too heavy to carry around in Afghanistan. I'll most likely sell it to one of my buddies before I deploy again and rely on my Alienware M11x, but if I ever buy another desktop replacement it'll be a sager/Clevo.

 

I am reading good testimonials on older Sager Models and good impressions/expectations for those NP8#50.

And what about the new NP5160, what are your expectations to it? It's a little bit cheaper than the NP8#50 series....

 

NP5160 has dual core CPU and lower end GPU, but I wouldn't expect build quality to be any worse, it's cheaper because of components in it.

 

Thanks. I was worried that maybe quality build wont match its higher end brother.

But if you put the quad-core on it, the cooling system will handle it?

I noticed It has just one fan for both CPU and GPU.

 

I use compressed air on the grills once a week. What I meant was opening the fans and using cotton buds on each individual fan blade and grill

I share your joy of taking laptops apart for cleaning. Though I do know one friends' laptop that I'd rather not touch

 

Considering quad core is an available option, I'm sure it can handle it. It shares a heatsink and fan probably because the GTX 540m doesn't require nearly as much cooling as the higher end cards.

You guys are obsessive. I compressed air spray my system about once every six months and it's reasonably clean. Nothing wrong with doing it more than less I guess.

 

It is availablle. Check it out.

Just to keep you up to date.

 

I know, I said "considering quad core IS an available option, I'm sure it CAN handle it"

 

Hah, I'm with you there. Every few months my system starts to run a little hot and I remember to clean out the fans. There's usually more lint/dust than in a dryer trap.

 

hahaha sorry for that.
I though you was conjecturing.