Should I cancel my Sager 2090?

Here is my situation: I ordered my Sager 2090 on July 15th from Xoticpc. A couple days later I receive an email saying that my Sager is on backorder. When I ask when my Sager will be shipped, I am told in at most 2 to 3 weeks. That's fine. Three weeks roll by and I call Xoticpc to see if my laptop is going to be shipped soon. The lady I talk with tells me they have no clue when they will be able to ship my laptop. She did not even want to give out an estimated delivery date, but finally threw out "at least 2 to 3 weeks." Holy crap...

The thing is, I start law school on August 20th and was hoping to have my laptop by then. Having a laptop for law school is practically a necessity and I will be at a severe disadvantage without one. I guess I would be more inclined to wait, but I don't even have a set date of when I will receive my Sager...it could be August next year for all I know.

Given my situation, what is everyone else's opinion? Should I cancel it? Should I Wait? Does anyone have any insider information? Is it possible to receive it before the end of August? Any input you guys can give will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Did you order the WSXGA+ screen? I think those will take a couple more weeks to come in, but the WXGA screens are more readily available from what I've heard.

But yes, in your case you might want to play it safe and order a different laptop.

 

switch to the WXGA and you "should" get it, but call them first...

 

Here is what I got:

1x Sager Notebook NP2090-V Elite
- Warranty: 3 Year Labor* 1 Year Parts Warra
- Operating System: ~Windows Vista Home Premium 64-B
- Fingerprint Reader: Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- AC Adapter: 110/220V 120W Auto Switching AC
- Battery: Smart Li-ion Battery (9-Cell)
- Wireless Network: Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 496
- Speaker Systems: Integrated System Speakers - Inc
- Sound Card: Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audi
- Camera: Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- Memory Card Reader: Internal 4-in-1 Card Reader (SD/
- Primary Hard Drive: ~ 160GB Seagate Momentus 3GB/S S
- Optical Drive: - Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti 8X
- Exterior Finish: Standard Finish
- Ram: ~ 2,048MB DDR2 667 (1 SODIMM) Me
- External Monitor Video Adapter: None Standard
- Video Card: 512MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce
- Processor: ~Intel® Core™2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz
- Dead Pixel Policy: Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- Arctic Silver: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- Display: 15.4" WSXGA+ "Matte" Type Super

 

What's the difference between a WSXGA+ and a WXGA?

 

WSXGA+ is the screen with a resolution of 1680x1050 the WXGA is the lower resloution. I would cancel it. I waited since July 6 for the same computer. At the end of July I was told it wouldn't be shipped until late August. Do not wait on this computer there are better ones out there. Try the Asus G1 S or the Inspiron 1520.

 

WXGA is 12 x 8, wheras WSXGA+ is 1680x1050. Short answer, the differences will be in resolution (definition of WXGA and WSXGA+) and, in this particular case, matte screen on the high resolution and glossy on the lower WXGA.

 

Gah, I don't know what to do! I'm so torn...

Thanks for the input guys.

 

Well I ordered on June 6th and I will be receiving mine tomorrow. Thats the kind of time frame you are probably looking at.

 

I canceled mine after 4 weeks. The HP is a good alternative. Dell has been having both delivery and quality problems as of late.

 

I wish I would have known the shipping time was so ridiculous before I wasted my time. Now my choices are pretty limited cause of my time fram. Now I just may have to buy a laptop in person instead of online.

 

WSXGA+ screens are a bit unavailable right now from what I can see. I ordered my NP2090 on July 11th (with WXGA screen) and it arrived yesterday. Try calling XoticPC and ask them the availability of WSXGA+'s and when your particular order might ship. If it's going to take too long, ask them to switch it to WXGA. If still it'll take too long or switching is not possible, try opting for the Dell Inspiron 1520, Asus S96S, or HP dv6000t/dv6500t.

 

Given your situation here is what I'd recommend. Send a message to Justin (giving him all the stats of when you ordered and what you ordered) and see if he can provide you a better answer than the lady you spoke with on the phone. Keep looking for alternative notebooks, and if you find one you like be sure you can get it in time. You can cancel your order any time before the notebook ships, so I'd hold off on canceling until you find another notebook or know for a fact that it will not get to you in time.

Overall your first week shouldn't be to intensive with computer related work. For the first week you could probably make due with a flash drive and a lab/classroom/library computer to get by. If you settle for something less than you originally planned you may end up kicking yourself later.

 

I ordered the Force 3297 from XoticPC which is basically Xotic's version of the Compal IFL90. I ordered June 26 or 27 and was supposed to receive it in 2 weeks. Two weeks roll by only for my order to be pushed another two weeks. I leave for college on August 17th. Instead of the Compal with WSXGA+ I had Justin at XoticPC change my order to the ASUS G1S and am glad I did. It's an amazing notebook and I can game, browse, outlook, play music, burn a dvd, and have Dreamscene running too...ALL AT ONCE!!!!!

My order change took 12 hours to go through and within a day, my G1S was shipped out. Took one week to receive it all configured.

 

CANCEL NOW!!!! bump me up in line!

 

LBThorn, I would find it a bit amusing to see someone in law school going to class with a G1S.

Proboscis, I would say start looking around to alternatives that would probably ship right when you order. Therefore, if you don't hear news yet like somewhere around a week before you need it, you would be able to cancel, order your alt, and get your alt in time.

 

I waited 5 weeks for my wsxga+, got it august 2nd...worth the wait.

 

So...Is it a crime to look and be unique in an environment where eveyrone has such a classy laptop? Law school doesn't mean you can't have a G1S. Sure it might look funny to some, but then again, you can slap em in the face when ya get the grades and honor all while playing some Halo, CS, Fear, etc.

 

lol halo, CS & Fear?? G1S is overkill if u ask me lol anyways if you can handle it... wait. it's definitely worth it!

 

I ordered the sager 2090 on July 18th with the wxga screen, called xotic today for an update and they said it would ship out next week.

 

I was told the same so cancelled and ordered from micro express, the only thing I sacrificed was the 1 2gb sodim, which sucks because I probably will upgrade in 2 years and will have 1 extra gb lying around and also I only get vista 32(I think) so when I get more gigs I will have to get vista 64.

My wxga ships on friday...

 

Really? I ordered myne the same day! Im Pumped!

 

Waitaminit,I ordered on the 16th and was told by 'the lady on the phone' from XoticPc that I'd get mine only late August.And mine is a WXGA.
I don't know what is going on.....
I've been playing crappy games on a GeForce 3 64mb on my ancient desktop for four years and its simply maddening that I'm so close and yet so far from getting a decent laptop to occasionally game in my dorm
Everything said and done,I'm in the same boat as Proboscis...
However,I start school on September 19th....so what say you fellas?
Do you want me to wait this one out or cancel?

 

I'm going to have to cancel mine today too. I ordered the 12th, and was told from reps of PNB on the phone that I just made the shipment deadline. Then I call today and find out that I didn't, and there was no real ETA except for late August-sept.

I'm probably going to get the Asus G1S. What are others getting?

 

I would like to ask people that are thinking about canceling their 2090 order. What would you get instead? I have looked at the other choices and IMHO there really is no other option (Assumming you can wait). Granted each person will have their own needs and wants. Here is mine, just wondering what other people are thinking.

2090 Cons
1) Shipping date is left to the gods.
2) How can you have a 8600gt and only provide VGA, no dvi?
3) Some Driver Issue? (seem kinda minor driver issues)

Vostro 1500 Cons
1) Glossy screen
2) It is a dell (hahahaha j/k)
3) 10/100 ethernet .............
4) More expensive
5) Only VGA port
6) Different part numbers for bluetooth depending on OS .... go figure (may be wrong about this)
7) Delayed shipping a lot too

Dell D620 Cons
1) Different part numbers for bluetooth depending on OS .... go figure (may be wrong about this)
2) More expensive
3) It is a dell (hahahaha j/k)
4) Glossy Screen
5) Only VGA port
6) GFX card may cause problems in games since it is a workstation laptop
7) Delayed shipping a lot too

G1S Cons
1) Battery life sucks
2) Theft magnet
3) More expensive
4) Glossy Screen
5) HDMI has no sound passthrough

C90s Cons (4 & 5 may be wrong, just my observation)
1) Battery life sucks even worse than G1S
2) More expensive
3) I believe Glossy screen only too
4) Driver mess (more than np2090 i think)
5) Questionable build quality (how sturdy can a laptop be if you can remove the whole bottom piece just to get to the parts)

Asus S96S
1) 1200 x something resolution only on a 15"
2) Glossy only

P.S. Yes I put a lot of weight on battery life and matte screens and screen resolutions. The dvi and/or HDMI and gigabit ethernet are things I expect on a laptop of this caliber.

 

I say get the G1S considering your situation. its basically the only real laptop to compare in specs with the 2090.

 

I think you can select between the G1s, Vostro 1500, Inspiron 1520, and the ASUS S96s if you are willing to drop the GT for a GS

Keep in mind though that the dells only have the inferior 10/100 ethernet. but if that doesnt affect you as much then you still have a wide choice compromising quality/parts...

I still say that you should look into other resellers that arent as "popular" as Sager/PNB/XoticPC if you really want the IFL90 (Sager NP2090)

 

I like the 1280 glossy so I guess I have more choices. In addition to the ones you listed, I'm also considering Acer and HP.

 

Who is Micro Express? Sounds like we should all drop PNB and Xotic and go with someone who looks out for their customers?

 

You ordered today and it is shipping this friday? I ordered from xoticpc and I have been waiting a month for my laptop to ship. Maybe I should
cancel and order from there. Xoticpc keeps pushing the ship date back.

Edit: Going to cancel my xoticpc order, I could be waiting till September. That is far too long.

 

Going to cancel my xotipc order

 

http://www.microexpress.net/prodcustom.asp?linenumber=157

 

Has anyone tried to ask for a rebate for the wait?
When I called xotic a few days ago, they said the next shipment will arrive to xotic on 8/20. Tack on up to another 2 weeks for testing and shipping before it gets to you. That would've been over a month for lots of folks, including me. I just found out that Dell gives rebates to those who have long waits. The 2090 sellers should, also.

 

Its not that. Its probably just that there are just so many requests on PNB and Xotic's front that they cannot get their parts in time. Keep in mind that there are a lot more people that ordered from those two resellers that are outside the NBR forum world. Micro Express does have a lower customer satisfaction rate compared to PNB and Xotic so maybe it was less appealing to people hence the shorter wait.


So it seems like PNB and Xotic looks out for their customers more...Its just that they cannot magically create IFL90 barebones to assemble and send.

 

yesterday, if you call today to microexpress you could still be includedi nt he next shipment, imo, or next week(apperantly they get weekly shipments) for the WSXGA.

 

It's not at all an issue of looking out for their customers. Xotic and PNB have been phenomenal considering the circumstances. The delays aren't their faults. The truth is, it's not even the ODM's fault (Compal). The companies that manufacture the parts for Compal dropped the ball. The resellers (PNB and Xotic) have really only been able to give estimates at this point, and that's only when people keep bugging them. The real answer is that they don't know, but it should be soon.
What happened was (and this is my understanding, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) that the parts companies failed to make many of the parts necessary for the IFL90, so Compal said "Screw it, lets start making some Dells while we wait." The parts finally got in, and Compal was partway through the Dell order, and had to finish that. Compal was able to make a bunch of WSXGA+ IFL90's, and ship them out to Sager/PNB/Xotic. I believe we're waiting on Compal to put together some more IFL90's (both WSXGA+ & WXGA.. or whatever if it is the rest of you ordered ) and send them out, which is why our lovely resellers can say "probably 2-3 weeks." Because it Should be probably 2-3 weeks. I want it to be clear - the resellers are not even partly at fault.

 

o rly?

I would like to see the results of this. I'm extremely doubtful that they somehow get weekly shipments while PNB and Xotic don't? (Please prove me wrong if it will get my laptop here faster..)

 

I know someone else was told this as well and their laptops have already shipped, including one who ordered last week!, look in the compal forum...

 

=O zomg. I shall investigate immediately! ::throws on cape and leaps out window::

 

I ended up switching to an Asus S96S which I should have in my hands tomorrow. Another con with the laptop is that it has a Geforce 8600m GS instead of a GT. There's a significant difference between the two. Hardcore gamers that play lots of FPS games should probably get a different laptop. I play some FPS games myself, but I'll stick to a desktop for those.

Besides the video card issue, the S96S lacks an integrated fingerprint reader. Overall it's a pretty close match to the Sager NP2090 in terms of base specs.

 

All you people bashing on PNB and xotic for their shipments and stuff... I remember reading somewhere that the reason Micro Express is getting weekly shipments is because of racism (language barriers). The people at Micro Express speak Chinese and stuff. I assume people at Compal are big on Chinese. This is just something found reading here in these forums. Not sure where.

 

While the delay in the systems is not their fault. They should keep their customers updated on the shipping status as things change. It is NOT fair to take money from a customer tell them it will be 3 weeks then when that final 3rd week rolls around NOT bother to call and tell them that the delay was more than they thought and it would be ANOTHER 3 weeks. Keeping your customer informed = keeping a customer happy, and is a good business practice. Not telling a customer of increased delays = Acting like your trying to cover something up (whether you are or not) and makes it seem like you really don't care about the customer.

The only thing that seperates the Clevo resellers is their care and commitment for their customers. Otherwise they are as good as another.

 

Thats the problem, they dont know when they will recieve the shipment, thats why they say we "expect" for the item to arrive in 1-2 weeks. And when u purchased there was no given time, it said Pre-Order.

 

Again, all the customer expects when something like this occurs is to be kept in the loop. Every week send the customer an update....i.e. We still are waiting for the shipment from Compl. At the present time we expect to receive it in X weeks. Etc....

Just good business, and with auto-email senders it's not rocket science or costly.

 

What about xotic? From the emails I was getting, it definitely showed that they weren't native English speakers, either.

 

Alright, I can see where you're coming from, and while I do agree with you that it would be nice to receive some kind of notification automatically every week or something, I think Xotic and PNB are trying to run a business without much automation. Some people might find a weekly update on their order spam, or at least they don't want to go down that path. I know that they are more than happy to give you updates via phone/e-mail, if you ask them. When I ordered Donald suggested that I give a call in a few weeks to see what process it was in to make sure it arrived on time (that way I could change UPS if I had to). My experience has been positive - maybe you could ask them to update you once a week?

 

I own a D901C, METAPOD. It does me just fine. I was only commenting on the resellers inability to keep people that had ordered the 2090 happy by keeping them informed. Obviously there is a problem, while not a perfect solution, keeping the customer updated is the best (and only atm) thing they can do to keep the situation from deteriating.

 

This post got quite a few replies. Thanks for all the feedback guys. Well I think I am going to go ahead and cancel my laptop and buy one from my local Fry's Electronics (since I'm strapped for time). I was checking a few laptops out there today and ran across a few laptops that didn't seem that bad. Tell me what you guys think of these deals. Here is the post I made:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=153367

 

I ordered mine from xotic and have had great communication from them regarding the event. I checked with Justin on e-mail prior to placing my order the last week of July and he said while they couldn't know for sure when the next shipment would be, based upon their outstanding pre-order it seemed as though I would definitely make it in the next shipment without even knowing the size of it, and if they had to estimate it would arrive mid to late August.

When I placed my order I made a comment about receiving an update regarding shipping if anything changed in the comment box and I recieved an e-mail and a call from Amber the very next day regarding the shipping. She informed me of their best guess regarding the shipping which was against a mid to late August arrival and asked me to feel free to call or e-mail them at any time regarding the shipping if I need any updates.

I don't expect them to call me every time something changes. They have forums on their website where they have been posting updates if something changes (and daily answering that no further information as been gained yet regarding the constant requests for information there). The support has been great and after speaking to them on the phone (not just e-mail) and contrary to what Baconfat believes from his e-mail experience, after speaking with them they all seem to speak very fluent English so far and sound like English native speakers without a doubt.

This support experience goes far and above anything I have ever recieved in the past from companies like Dell where I spend hours going through tech support and don't receive even phone support after purchasing a product unless I purchase support separately. Whenever I need information from xotic it takes a 2 minute phone call or e-mail and I always get a prompt response.

I can't speak for the other re-sellers as I didn't order for them, but if anyone is having a customer support problem with xotic it seems like they may not even be trying to initiate contact. They can't know you expect information if you don't pick up the phone or send an e-mail. Not everyone wants a company they purchase something from to give them regular updates and pester them, especially when it is to say that nothing new has been learned yet.

I just expect a confirmation when the product is actually in hand and will be shipping so that I can be available to sign for it on arrival. Other than that if I need information I will pick up the phone.

I will be keeping my order outstanding. My deadlines might not be quite as strict as some others who are off to college and I may have to go a few weeks without a laptop as I am selling my current one, but even as someone that travels occassionally for business I can plan accordingly with little interruption and would prefer to wait for what I believe to be the best product for my needs at the best price.

 

I received my 2090 yesterday from XoticPC. The entire experience of waiting was not a favorable one, and as Wu Jen pointed out, reflected poorly on the company's ability to inform it's customers. I initially had ordered a Force 3660, but called them a few days before it shipped and asked them to change it to a 2090. They handled the change very well, which I appreciate, yet I received no contact from after the final invoice of the new Sager order. For about a month, I had no idea which laptop they would send, if it was the Force 3660 or the Glossy screen 2090 (I called and asked them to change it to Matte). Repeated attempts to contact them and find out what was going on were ignored and not addressed. This wasn't even an unanswerable question- we weren't asking when the 2090's would start shipping, which many people have pointed out may be out of Xotic's control. We were just asking what they were shipping to me.

In the end, I received the product I ordered after all the changes. They delivered well, and I appreciate their responsiveness to changes, yet their customer support was very lacking, especially for such an expensive product. I'm hoping that once the 2090 madness dies down, their post-sale support is as helpful as others have described it.

P.S. For note; I ordered the Sager 2090 on July 11th from Xotic, changed it to a Matte screen on July 12th, received an invoice about the order on July 13th, and finally received the laptop on August 8th.

EDIT: I don't mean to sound overly negative. In the end, they did handle my changes flawlessly and I received the product in a decent time frame given the back-ordered circumstances. I just think they haven't been handling the whole ordeal with regards to customer support as well as a company in their position should.