Sell me on the Sager NP5160

Yup, the only thing that's holding me is the low-midrange graphics (GT 540) :/

 

In my experience, pre-ordered products are usually priced at maximum value then slowly declines as time passes. Is it the same for this?

 

Sorry to jump in....
I'm definitely getting the upgraded screen when customizing, but is anything else recommended?
Thanks

 

I'd suggest an SSD if you can swing it. Or a hybrid For less $

 

^Thanks!
Now that theres an i5 option, would it be a better deal? Is there much of a difference between that and the i7-2630?

 

seems they consume the same amount of power, so no benefit as far as battery, but check out this comparison. there is a bit of a difference, but the new sandy bridge procs are all leaps and bounds ahead of the previous gen.. i think you'll still be more then happy with the i5 series. the gpu will bottleneck before the cpu if you managed an SSD, you'd be set IMO..

 

whats better for gaming the i5-2520m or the i72630qm?

 

It depends on what types of games your into. If they are more CPU bound (for instance SC2) then a 2520m is the way to go , if the games you play are multithreaded you will benefit from a 2630qm. long term I would bet more games are going to be multithreaded.

On games that are cpu bound the 2520m will run at slightly higher clocks, I don't think the difference will be very noticable. Also in the 5160 owners lounge I have interest in the battery life difference between the two, more than the performance difference. The cost savings between the 2 is not nearly as much as it should be at the Sager resellers, that was a major disappointment for me, if it was $100 or more it would be easy for me to go the 2520m route.

 

what screen looks the best the glare type screen or the matte type?

 

Every processor below the 2630QM (as in 2620 down) consumes 35W and down as we get less powerful. The Quad processors consume 45W, with the exception of the 2920XM which consumes 55W.

In terms of battery life, I am positive that this will increase it, but I have no idea by how much though.

For the screen, glossy screens have more "pop" to them. The colors look better and fuller. The downside is the glare from lights, which could get annoying if it common in your areas. Matte screens are getting better, but in my opinion the matte are still not as vibrant as the glossy because they have to do well in lighting situations.

 

I simply disagree with your statement regarding screens, though I understand where you are coming from. In the recent history of laptop screens, the majority of options are for either crap glossy screens, or in some rare cases crap matte screens. A crap glossy screen seems to have the advantage of having more contrast than the crap matte screen, but if you can actually get a good or great matte screen they beat almost all glossy screens. The reason for this is because the idea that glossy screens have more contrast simply because they are glossy, is a myth. A simple way to come to this conclusion is to look up the best monitors you can buy for your PC. the VAST majority of them (IPS panels) are all matte finish. I dare you to look them up, Eizio, NEC, HP, DELL etc. all use matte finishes for their professional grade monitors that have superior color quality, contrast and gamut. In fact, arguably the best laptop screen out there is the HP IPS option on their Elitebook which is also a matte finish.

At the end of the day, if you can get a good quality matte screen it will probably beat out the vast majority of glossy screens. With regards to Sager a few of the resellers are selling a great matte screen (the one in my sig) that will beat the pants off of the majority of glossy FHD screens out there.

 

Well I'm not too familiar with Matte screens, But would the stock Matte screen that comes with the 8130 be good? or am I making a bad decision?

 

True. I was comparing the what the 5160 and 8130 would have. When comparing stock Sager screens on these machines, the glossy will have better look to it. Like you said, the DC2 on HP w/ matte is a GREAT screen, but its a pretty expensive upgrade, and obviously the best. I doubt that Sager is including anything even close to that. The screen upgrades offered by resellers are great, but no IPS Dreamcolor (as much I want the 16:10). Again this is referring the stock screens and the upgrades for these machines, not $500 and up upgrades offered on business class machines.

 

Anyone have an idea as to what the real world battery life on this laptop is... as in hours? I plan on using it at my class, at work and so on, so around 4-5 hours will keep me very happy

I have a Qosmio F60 right now which is primarily made out of plastic and creaks all over the place... what is the material this is made out of?

 

Remember though that's the maximum that the processor could consume. At idle/low workloads the processors will consume much less power, so the power savings for web browsing/office work may be much less (or even non-existent.) Still waiting for i5 vs i7 sbridge battery life numbers but we already know sandy bridge quads use a lot less power.

The two times I've used it off the battery I've gotten around 3.5 hours out of it, doing web browsing and typing. One time was on Remote Desktop though, so the wifi was constantly being used. I do need to use it a couple more times to get a better idea; you might be able to squeeze more out of it (think you can hit 4 or so).

 

Really looking forward to those comparisons!!!

 

thinking about getting the np5160 instead of dells xps15..... any good 560 reviews/videos out there ?

 

I'm a big Clevo fan with my 8150, but this generation I'm not sure getting one over the XPS15 is the best buy since you can negotiate the prices to be comparable and the XPS 15 will have the better warranty, simply because Dell has a local presence and their tech support is easy to talk into giving you parts. Personal preference though.

 

I'm interested in this laptop primarily for gaming. Is it wiser to get the lower resolution screen so that the GPU isn't overworked?

 

Yes, the lower resolution will give you a chance at gaming with the screens native resolution. The GPU simply is not powerful enough for the higher res.

 

Is this laptop with the lower res a competent gaming machine?

 

Let me ask.... what standard do you hold, to consider it competent?