Say something bad about Sager

It hasn't taken long for me to figure out that Sager is the most widely-praised laptop manufacturer on this forum. Their pricing, build quality, and customer service is all widely praised. But I'm someone who believes that there's no such thing as a free lunch. So what's the catch? What are some downsides of Sager laptops or buying from Sager? Surely there's not just this one company that is head-and-shoulders better than anything else on the market.

I'm also curious why it's so hard to find formal reviews (not just owners, but formal reviews by reviewers) of Sagers on notebookreview.com and similar sites.

This isn't meant as a flame, but instead a serious inquiry, as I'll be buying a new laptop later this year and I've had Sagers recommended quite a lot.

 

Downside to buying FROM Sager (not a reseller):

bad customer service

Downside to sager laptops:

loud fans (sometimes)
no backlit keyboard

 

What model were you looking for reviews on? There are tons out there, for example P150HM/8150 (quick google search of "P150HM review"):

MALIBAL Lotus P150HM Review

MALIBAL's Lotus P150HM: GeForce GTX 485M Gets Its Game On : Bigger Bang In A Smaller Package?

Review Schenker XMG P501 Gaming-Notebook (Clevo P150HM) - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

Maximum PC | AVADirect Clevo P150HM Review

They may be tough to find because they'll be listed by various brand names, and usually by the Clevo base model.

 

Well, first I'd give the credit for being a great manufacturer to Clevo instead.

A complaint I'd have against Clevo would be their switch to 16:9; which resulted in the loss of 1920x1200.

But the same goes for pretty much all laptop manufacturers at this point.

 

I see no point in reiterating what everyone's eventually going to say....really, the only bad thing about Sager is their customer service. They have targeted a certain population of the market, the gaming-focused public, and have largely delivered on their promises. Furthermore, they have improved and added new features with each generation.

For example, the speakers are "meh" compared to my standards, but it does what I bought it for so well that I don't even notice it. There are many other instances. In my review I tried to be as objective as possible, saying bad things about the fingerprint reader, for example.

That being said, Sager is not "better" than any other company, they simply have more happy customers at this time. They are still subject to the limitations as other manufacturers, such as the occasional lemon.

I hope this answers your (rather odd ) question.

Mr. Mysterious

 

The most obvious thing that Sager dont have compore to Dell ,HP, Asus etc is that Sager only have service center in US . If you live in US this maybe not such a big deal

But if you live outside US ... this sometimes can be a deal breaker since you have to use your own expense to send the laptop to US for repairs , warranty claim , etc

 

^^But for that, there are usually Clevo resellers in your area that you can purchase the laptop from.

And, I agree on the speakers. They're just ok, my HP's were a lot better. The sound output is fine, though, and I like the THX software it comes with.

 

The reviews are there but they won't be found by searching for Sager....you have to look for the machines under their reseller model names.....e.g. AVADirect, Eurocom, Malibal, etc.



As for my bad thing to say about Sager...they fail at numpads.

 

While I love 1920 x 1200, people are stupid and developers are lazy. It's hard to find a video editing software that will use higher than 1920 x 1080, and certain lazy game developers *cough* Treyarch *cough* make things for 16:9 res alone, and 16:10 will slightly cut off edges, even though the resolution is set correctly.

If I had to pick a bad thing to say about sager, is that they don't have any low-end models. But seeing as how "The Portable Power People" is Sager's tagline, I can't particularly blame them. Umm... they don't have international support? That's gotta be it. I wish I did not have to pay for international shipping buying my laptop, fixing my laptop and/or getting new parts.

 

- Not all country have Sager/Clevo reseller
- Not all reseller wants to bear the shipping cost
- Even if they bear it can take 5 - 8 weeks before the laptop returned to us , cuz they choose the cheapest means exist
- Even if the reseller exist and the warranty is good , the price is more expensive that its cheaper to import from US

 

As our other rep and other members have stated, you can find lots of professional reviews for Clevo laptops. We've had our laptops reviewed on sites like: ComputerShopper, PcWorld, MaximumPC, G4TV, NotebookReview, CNET etc.

 

You have a choice of shipping speed, little one. You just have to pay if you want it faster. Don't forget that it has to go through customs and everything. International shipping is complicated.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Other than:

- Lack of media buttons
- Questionable numpad layout

I have nothing bad to say.

 

Yes aware of that , and all of those shipping fee , customs etc can be avoided if Sager or whatever Clevo builder have service center in our home country , like Dell , HP , Lenovo etc . And i think this is what makes most people live outside US think twice before buying Sager laptop

 

a downside is they are not as aesthetically pleasing as say a sony apple or alienware, or hp, but that included in the price of other brands, especially apple.

 

Yeah umm....firstly the world is a big place, and secondly it costs a hell of a lot to set up base in a different country. Personally, I'd like to keep Sager/Clevo small so that they keep making quality machines.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Yeah agree , cant be helped .

 

Define low end?

What about:
Sager NP3250
Sager NP5160
Sager NP5165
Sager NP5175
Sager NP3101

Base price range of about $670-880. Some of those seem pretty low by today's standards imo, unless want lower which I wouldn't see any point of having as custom models or even getting anything other then a base warranty on from someone else or ordering it and paying for shipping. Was just assuming budget wise mostly, but yea lol

 

While I agree about wanting them to remain relatively small so that they make quality machines, you honestly don't understand what it's like being a techie in a technologically backwards country. The shipping woes doesn't help lack of modding tools/support/smart people/heat/lack of resellability of high-end laptops AT ALL. I love Sager machines and all, but I still wish they had big-company-backing in warranties/etc at the least. It's annoying when depending on the item that's died, it's cheaper to buy a new one and ship it rather than ship up the defective item and ship down the new one. This *HAS* happened to me already. >_>.

 

I do mean lower than that. Like Dell's budget $400 machines and stuff. Barely passable specs for today's normal standards, but cheap and for quite a few people, "all I need". The sad part is, if Sager could produce some of those kinds of models, they'd get a lot more sales, as their products are of far superior quality than pretty much every other laptop company.

 

The only negative thing I have to say about Sager... specifically the NP5160 is the mediocre speakers and headphone jack power...

 

To summarize, all nitpicks and not major concerns

Mr. Mysterious

 

well heres one: there aren't any entry models. the min price for the slowest computer is around $689

 

Lol, that's like saying Alienware doesn't have any entry models. Sager is targeting a specific population of the laptop-buying public.

Mr. Mysterious

 

No backlit keyboard. nuff said.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I didn't realize that Sager/Clevo/Malibal/etc were the same thing. That'll help me find a lot more reviews. Thanks.

 

Can't believe nobody mentioned they're all plastic.

 

Not true, the X7200 and P170HM have aluminum on the palmrest and lid.

 

Clevo's pretty focused on the internals of the laptop. I can't really say the case material or design compares to apple or high-end AW/Dell/Elitebook products. That said, they're getting better at designing their laptops. The P150HM was definitely an improvement over the W860CU in terms of aesthetics.

 

They might be mostly plastic, but they can take roughing. My laptop's the sturdiest thing I've ever seen. (a D900F/NP 9280)

 

They look boring. Nothing aesthetically about their laptops stand out.

But we all know it's really what's under the hood that matters, and in that regard, they beat out all the competition (price-wise as well).

 

backlit is not very important and if you have to game with backlit then it is not good for your eye since gaming in the dark is never good on the eye.

However if it has backlit it has to be like the GT780R where it has every single color!

White backlit is just so ugly and boring, might as well have glow in the dark standard.

 

They don't do any marketing and never appear in computer magazines. You wil be a lone ranger with a Sager...

 

Sager is regularly in a few PC Magazines such as Laptop and I believe Computer Shopper and a few others.

 

The last PC Gamer I got had a two page spread, dedicated to the new line of Sager notebooks, from the NP8170 on down to the NP5160.

The ad also showed the 6970M as an option, even before the NDA had expired.

It was impressive.

 

The only gripe I have with Sager this generation is the lack of SWITCHABLE GRAPHICS. I cannot stress this enough.

I don't get how Sager can forgo one of the most touted features of the 2nd generation i7 processors. If they implemented switchable graphics (either manual or dynamic) on their NP8130/NP8150/NP8170 laptops, those things would sell like hotcakes.

As of now, Sager completely ignores the iGPU functionality in the 2nd generation i7 processors, which is a pity, since companies like Alienware have had it implemented from the start. Compare: 6 hours of browsing (Alienware M17x R3) versus barely 3 hours of browsing (Sager NP8170).

Take note Sager: We don't always need to be using our dGPU when we're not gaming. iGPU is enough for browsing, and that extra 3 hours is a godsend when you don't want to be tethered to a wall all the time.

A big portion of your potential customer base is being stolen from under you, just because of your laziness in not implementing switchable graphics. People may say that switchable graphics is "glitchy", but as a testament to the contrary, my M17x R3 has been working perfectly with switchable graphics. No issues whatsoever. I love being able to lounge around the house for half a day without the need for the AC adapter.

 

Uninspiring design (curse to some, blessing to others; as bland as they are, they are also quite discrete in their blandness). Lack of backlit keyboards (not so much for gaming as just using your computer in dim/dark lit rooms). Massive power supplies.

I find it hard to level that criticism at Clevo/Sager alone. Pretty much every performance/gaming laptop out there that is Nvidia-powered and not from Alienware has skipped switchable graphics altogether. You'll get no switchable graphics from MSI or ASUS either.

It must be something to do with the modular design in using MXM. Alienware has it with the M17x/M18x, but I don't think it's dynamic switching and relies on a mux. It's crude but it does work (key combination to switch and all) with a bit of screen flicker. It's something that requires a fair amount of engineering.

To be fair, Clevo/Sager do have switchable graphics on some models (NP5165/W150RQ using the GT 555m).

 

Manual switching is neither "crude" nor is it hard to use. You press ALT + F7 and it switches. Screen goes black for 2 seconds, and that's it. Not difficult at all.

Manual switching is infinitely times better than automatic switching, which Alienware has. Many people hate Optimus, as do I, because it's glitchy due to drivers. The manual switching that Alienware has is perfect for power-users who want complete control over when they are using dGPU or iGPU.

Sager/Clevo can do the same, but they are just too lazy to do it. Again, Dell is stealing everyone else's business because those who want a gaming laptop with good battery life when not gaming can only turn to Dell right now.

Everybody else, including Clevo/Asus/MSI, needs to step it up.

 

While I have been impressed with their response to adding options to machine builds rather quickly (see history with screen options), they are slow to market with newer features like a backlit keyboard as has been mentioned time and again on this forum. Not to mention switchable graphics.

Also, they use one keyboard for all their machines. They need to have a 15" version and one for the 17" and 18" machines. The only advantage you get for having a 17" machine is adding a second hard drive bay and the larger screen of course. Otherwise the 15" and 17" are identical (speaking of NP8130/8150/8170).

My biggest complaint would have to be their BIOS is completely lackluster. ZERO control over anything, not even fans. Just set date and time and, well, that's about it! Seriously.

 

Loud as in hairdryer or a desktop 5970 gpu? I'm asking because I plan to buy a Sager 8170 with 2820 cpu and 485m gpu, and I live in a tropical and hot country... temps here during summer average 95 Farenheit, so I'm quite worried. Or Should I wait for the second generation Asus G74 or MSI GT780DXR?

Just read a review here:

Review Deviltech Fragbook DTX (Clevo P170HM) Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

The review isn't very sure if they got a bad unit which was causing the "noise" from the power supply and the laptop. 43.9 db is loud I Had the previous ATI 5970 and based on a review emits 44-45 db, and I couldn't stand its noise and sold it just after a week.

I will be using this laptop for work and play. Work is programming, and converting videos for my daugther. Currently, my 980X converts 81 episodes about 1.5 hours. I'd like to do this with this laptop since I spend alot of time in the office and my last HP Envy would whine like a hairdryer. I sold that laptop.

I'm consulting the experts here since the last two laptops I got an HP Envy that was almost $3000 USD was also too noisy which I sold and lost almost $1400 dollars. The Only laptop that I got that was quiet was a MAC BOOK PRO 17" that I gave my wife. I don't want a MAC since most of my CPU intensive programs that convert videos, programming software is not available in MAC.

 

If you live in a Tropical country, you don't have "summer". You only have "dry season" and "wet season". Anyway, bang-for-buck, I would have suggested sticking with the 2720QM. As for noise, if you're in a quiet room with NO other sounds, no other fans on, etc etc, then you'll hear your fans on *max*. If not, (headphones on/tv on/fan on yourself or in the room/having happy time with a girl/whatever) then you won't notice anything. I keep my fans on max at all times anyway, helps beat the heat with the ugly stick.

 

I'd say that you're going to really notice your fans while they're set to max, but that's about it. They're not that bad in other cases (and, honestly, I like being able to hear them go a tiny bit in the background while I'm gaming, let's me know that my computer's getting cooled like it needs to )

 

NP5175 owner here..

1)really really bad blue hue with the screen, thank god for color calibration hardware
2)NVIDIA 555M driver compatibility issue
3)OPTIMUS is a joke

 

Take forever to issue refund; going into 3 weeks.

 

They need a RGB LED screen option on their top models.

 

No need, the 95% Gamut screens are just as good as the RGB LED screens.

Mr. Mysterious

 

are rgb led screens brighter

 

No! I refuse!

J/K, I would like a backlit keyboard please?

Seriously, that's just being nitpicky.

 

i bet some one could mod a backlit keyboard, as long as the connector for the keyboard part, not the light part is the same, you could use the scroll lock to control the lights.

 

We're saying something bad about Sager... of course we're going to be nitpicky. Keyboard dislikes, or touchpad dislikes, it's all cosmetics and/or preferences.