Should I stay with my NP9150?

First off, I'd like to thank this forum for being an excellent source of information when I was deciding upon a powerful laptop. This may seem strange given the following information in this post, but I am truly thankful to this community.

I recently (around July 27th) recieved my Sager NP9150 (i7 3610QM, Radeon 7970M, 16GB RAM, 750GB 7600 RPM HD) from GenTech PC.

I mostly have used it for media conversion, gaming, and compiling large amounts of code (the Android OS), and it's performance has been excellent, especially compared to my last computer (Macbook Pro late 2008). However, I have had a bad experience with the keyboard: missed keystrokes are common on several of my keyboard keys (in particular the "2", "3", "o", and "?/" keys) have caused me to rethink my purchase. I spend a fairly large amount of my computer time programming and typing, so this is a large problem for me. I have also had problems with the 7970M graphics card in Ubuntu (ATI/Intel hybrid graphics cards aren't as well supported as nVidia/Intel hybrids), which have been frustrating.

These problems have caused me to seriously consider returning my NP9150 and replacing it with an MSI GT60 (about the same price as the NP9150 in my configuration). Before I make a decision, however, I would like to ask for the opinions of the members of this forum on this matter. If I decide to return my NP9150, I'll end up paying a $300 restocking fee, which is a nontrivial amount of money for me. However, it may be worth it for a better keyboard, a GTX 680M, and dual HD bays.

So, questions or opinions are welcomed!

 

If it is a Sager, then Sager has a 30 day money back guarantee (that's 30 days from ship date) you only pay for return shipping, so check with your reseller on that. There should be NO restocking fee on a Sager laptop. I also have missed keystrokes and it is a bit annoying but I don't use mine much for too many serious productivity tasks. I wish I could tell you that a replacement keyboard or the alternate SteelSeries keyboard would help but I don't know that is the case.

The GT60 is for sure a great machine as well, but not sure if it has similar missed keys.

 

I am considering a NP9150, but by "missed keystrokes" do you mean that, while typing, because of the physical design of the keyboard you dont press the key down all the way, or do you mean that you press the key all the way down and due to some hardware / software issue it doesnt register?

 

It's mainly when typing fast sometimes a key won't register. It has actually improved the more I use it though, so I think it's getting used to making sure you depress hard enough and in the right spot. I type about 80WPM and at first lots were missed now there's only one now and again.

 

Since you came from a MBP, is the non-chiclet style keyboard another factor for typing problems? (Unless you got the steelseries chiclet keyboard installed)

 

That certainly could be a factor, along with the differring keyboard layout. However, the strength with which I hit the troublesome keys themselves seems to make little difference in whether or not the computer registers the keystroke.

 

I may be in the minority, but I have always used external keyboards and a mouse whenever possible. I rarely use a laptops keyboard. Even when I go to the cafe, i take a roll up keyboard and mouse. So the keyboard on a laptop is a non issue for me.

But if I was having problems with the 7970 and my OS, and $300 would save me a lot of headaches, I would return it and get one that did not cause me these problems. I do not know enough about the OS and these cards to say that the 680m would not be problematic either.