Some Questions about the Sager 2092

I'm new here to the forums and this is gonna my first laptop, so bear with me. I am planning on getting a laptop for college. I will likely use it for general day-to-day tasks as well as gaming. I've looked at all the options, and to me it looks like the Sager 2092 is my type of laptop. I do have a couple of questions for anyone who has had this laptop before. First, here are the specs:

-15.4" WSXGA+ "Matte" Type Super Clear Ultra Bright Screen (1680x1050)
-Intel® T9300 45nm "Penryn" Core™2 Duo 2.5GHz w/6MB L2 On-die cache - 800MHz FSB
-512MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce 8600GT DX10
-4,096MB DDR2 667 PC2 5300 (2 SODIMMS) Dual Channel Memory
-Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
-200GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
-Internal 4-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO)
-Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965 802.11 a/g/n
-Built-In Multi Region TV Tuner w/ Remote (Standard Remote)
-Smart Li-ion Battery (9-Cell)
-Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's

1. What can I expect for battery life with this setup? I know it says that the average battery life is 3.5-4+ hours, but I'm assuming thats gonna be with the smaller screen resolution, lower power processor, and slower hard-drive. For this, I'm talking about normal activities such as web browsing, instant messenger, word processing, and maybe a little bit of AutoCAD. For gaming I'll be plugged in. This is very important because if I can't surf the web unplugged for at least 2-2.5 hours, I'm gonna have to shrink down one of these.

2. If the battery life is too low, what do you suggest I reduce first. I know that the processing power is a bit high, but I do expect to multitask some, especially when plugged in. I've also heard there is a significant difference between the 7200rpm hard drives and the 5400rpm ones.

3. Do you think I should get this now? I know this is a horrible question, as if you always want to get the best model you're never gonna get one. I'm asking this because I won't really be needing this until mid-to-late August for college and Intel is releasing a new platform soon. I'm wondering if the upgrades are worth it and if they will likely release a laptop of similar or better price and specs by then? If not, should I just get it now so I can get acclimated to my new laptop and all of Vista's snazzy features, as I have not used Vista before?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Joe

 

2) Get the 320@5400 rpm rather than the 200; because of the data density they are about equal in speed and youll get more space and possibly a bit less heat/power consumption.

3)If you need it now, get it now, if not then wait.

 

That looks almost exactly like the laptop I ordered last night. I can't speak to your battery life questions yet but I also went through the decision of now vs. later. I was considering waiting for the m860tu but it's looking like the price will be more like $2500+ vs the $1700 I paid for this. So, yeah, better specs but not lower price. You should see better battery life with the Montevina and it has a more powerful GPU. It really looks like it's going to be a great laptop, better than any of the current 15.4" models you can get today.

Here's how I made my decision: I do play games, but it's stuff like WoW, not really intensive FPS games so the extra money wouldn't be a huge jump in quality of experience for me. Then I also figured ultimately that the extra $800 probably wouldn't translate to much of an extended life for me. I know I'm probably going to want to upgrade from the np2092 in another 3 years. That's about how long my current laptop lasted and it was at a similar point on price/performance/mobility scale back then. I don't see the extra $800 extending that by another 1-1.5 years which it would have to do to justify the investment solely as future-proofing. Mostly I just want it because it'd be the newest and the best. I'm a geek and I like my toys. But I'm also a geek with a big fat mortgage, which encourages me to be a bit more judicious before dropping cash just because something's shiny and I wants it. Besides, I mostly play on my desktop. If I needed a burlier rig for some new game that catches my fancy, I'd put it there. So, IMO, if the type of game you play is a bit more intense and this would be your main gaming machine, maybe waiting for the 860ru with the Montevina and 8800GTX would be a good idea for you. Like you said, you don't need it until August. If you can spare the extra money then it could be money well spent for you even if it wouldn't for me.