Strongly considering a 15.4" Sager, but have some issues.

First of all, I am trying to conserve some money. I want to go with the NP8662, but it's more expensive and I don't really think I need a 260M GT. On the other hand, the NP2092 is out of date, i'd say. I would like the newer mobos with an 130M GT, but unfortunately, sager has yet to offer such an option and I need this in a 1-2 months, as I'm going to college (UCBerkeley)

Would i need a cooler for these laptops? I used a cooler back when I had a dv5t but i returned that and sold the cooler. But Sager is known for a well built cooling system, so... Now thinking about it, a cooler would hinder the mobility of the laptop anyway.

If i were to get an NP8662, would a P8600 cpu bottleneck the 260M GT? If so, how about the P9600?

How's the battery life comparing the 75w consumption of a 260M GT vs 23w 9600M GT between the NP2092 and NP 8662. Also considering the NP8662 is 8-cell and the NP2092 is a 9-cell. If needed, would the battery last me through a 2 hour class?

What would you guys suggest? 500$ difference for an updated system with a killer gpu, although lower battery life, lower hdd space (nonissue though), and better wifi lol.

And i've never seen warranty as necessary, ever. I don't really recall any electronic breaking down on me. None of my computers ever used their warranties. I've had some cheap crap break down on me before the first year ended, but that, like i said, it was crap and I didn't bother asking for a replacement. So, should I bother with an extended warranty? Wouldn't 1 year be enough for me, or are laptops more prone to breaking down, especially the GPU frying?

Sager NP8662 (Built on Clevo M860TU) Pre Order ETA Early April
- 15.4" WSXGA+ "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1680x1050)
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- ~Intel® P8600 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.40GHz w/3MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 25 watt
- nVidia GeForce GTX 260M 1,024MB PCI-Express DDR3 DX10 (User Upgradeable)
- None Standard
- ~ 4,096MB DDR3 1066MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (Requires Vista 64-Bit to recognize Full 4GB)
- None Standard
- Standard Finish
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 250GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300)
- None Standard
- None Standard
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi Link
- None Standard
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- None Standard
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Basic Black Business Case - Included
- Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- None Standard
- None Standard
- None Standard
- Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- None Standard
- None Standard
- ~Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's
- None Standard
- None Standard
- 3 Year Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Based Toll Free Telephone Tech Support
(Labor Warranty through Xotic PC)

or

- 15.4" WSXGA+ "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1680x1050)
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- ~Intel® P8600 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.40GHz w/3MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 25 watt
- nVidia GeForce 9600M GT 512MB PCI-Express DDR2 DX10
- None Standard
- ~ 4,096MB DDR2 800 (2 SODIMMS) Dual Channel Memory (Requires Vista 64-Bit to recognize Full 4GB)
- None Standard
- Standard Finish
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 320GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
- None Standard
- None Standard
- Internal 3-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5100 802.11 a/g/n
- None Standard
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- None Standard
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Carrying Case Optional (Select if desired)
- Smart Li-ion Battery (9-Cell)
- None Standard
- None Standard
- None Standard
- Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- None Standard
- None Standard
- ~Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's
- None Standard
- None Standard
- 1 Year Parts & Labor, Lifetime Sager Toll Free Tech Support

 

Honestly, I'm not an expert regarding laptops, but I do know that there ARE other options out there which is cheaper/better (or so to say) than Sager, if a gaming laptop is not what you seek.

More than that, I'd like to ask what is your priority when choosing a laptop? Do you need one with powerful performance? Or one where you do light weighted work on?

That aside, obviously if your priority is primarily battery life, than I suggest the NP2092. Look around the forum, I'm sure many would say that they can approximately 3 hours on high performance with this laptop, needless to say if you were to put it in battery saving mode.

I personally do not think that the P8600 will be a bottleneck (games dependent of course), of course, it's still better to have the p9600. But it's up to you if the extra 3mb l2 cache and .2 ghz is worth the price tag.

I guess the NP8662 will last you two hours or so, but on power saver mode and the brightness toned way down. But I might be wrong as I'm a guy with a NP8660 (9800m GTS), since the GPU of my system is weaker and has lower power consumption than the GTX 260m / 9800m GT. Someone with the 9800m GT might give you a more concise answer.

As for the warranty, after 4 months, which isn't long I know, my laptop is still as good as when it just arrived. But of course, there's always a lemon product here and there, I guess it's a hit or miss thing? with a high probability of hit, since I don't see many threads on failing hinges on the NP8660. I myself had never extended any warranty of any laptops I've bought (one of which was an Acer). You can always RMA if the laptop you've received is not what it should be.

 

I was looking towards a sager because of build quality and price is pretty decent, where else would I find a laptop that can accommodate to what I need? An updated system, preferably with a GT 130M, P8600 cpu, around the 1100$ price range. DDR3 is a plus.

 

If you are using a 9800M or higher a laptop cooler is highly recommended but isn't completely essential, it is mainly needed for gaming or CPU/GPU intensive apps. If you get the 9600M GT or GT 130M you shouldn't need a cooler at all as they don't run very hot.

I used a 9600M GT with P8400 on a M860TU and had around 2 hours battery life, and could get more if I really pushed it.

The P8600 should be great when paired with a 9600M GT but might be a little on the slow side with a GT 260M depending on what you are looking for.

The build quality of Clevo's are amazing and even though I could have paid less for a better spec'd system I have no regrets in paying the extra for a rock soild laptop.

 

need more thoughts

 

If you are looking for a solidly built notebook, then Clevo/Sager is the way to go. What you're going to use it for aside, these things are very well built. You don't see any threads here about peoples' laptop's GPU(s) melting, or having serious overheating issues that affect system stability.

Other thoughts... If battery life is a concern, you may want to forget about a 7200 RPM drive. That is not very battery life friendly.

 

Really? Wasn't considering that at all. How much battery life does it reduce compared to 5400 RPM?

 

GT130M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220522

 

Funny, I haven't noticed the battery life decreases since I upgraded from 5k160 to 7k320. Secondly, no, the P8600 would not bottleneck the 260M. Get a thinkpad if you don't need the 260M, they are much better built and designed, especially you won't feel the heat from the palm rest.

 

I'm so torn between these two. If only there were other options by sager. (!! GT 130M!!! or atleast 9600M GT GDDR3)

 

I have owned Acer, Asus, and Dell laptops, and while one model may be better then another within the same brand I do believe that this NP8660 is the best built laptop I have ever owned...to be honest it is not even remotely close to the others. IMO of course.

 

Would definitely go with the NP8662 if the battery life wasn't an issue. On top of that I'm feeling the GPU might be a waste of money for me though.

Issues with the NP2092: outdated a bit, old, DDR2 for the GPU and ram, built on compal not clevo, has the Fn key before the CTRL key.

Issues with the NP8662: Pricy, powerful GPU that I might not need, thus lowering battery life, increasing heat, and increasing price.

If only there was a middle ground I could compromise with. cough cough a refreshed NP2092 with GT 130M or 9600M GT with DDR3

 

is there a reason you're not interested in the Asus N51Vf-A1? It's got the 130M and a very nice 6mb 2.66CPU. It is about $200 than a similarly specced NP2096. I love Sagers too, but if I only wanted a mid-level GPU, this Asus would be tempting.

 

I wouldn't call the DD2 RAM and 9800M outdated because the new ram isn't showing any improvement at all, and GT260M? probably 10% boost at best.

Look at the m15x when it just came out a year ago, double of price, that's why I called - pricy. You can not complain about NP8662 being pricy, this is just absurd.

 

The Asus is a bit expensive, on top of that it's only running a 6 cell, and a T series processor, thus i don't expect battery life to be good on it. I also don't know the build quality of Asus.

The NP2092 has a 9600M GT not 9800M, thus the GTX 260M is a big increase.

Also, I know the NP8662 is a good deal compared to other things, i'm just saying it's pricy compared to the NP2092 and what I don't need.

 

Arhhhh I was thinking 9800M vs 260M, my bad.

 

get the one with the best battery life, you will need it in college. i have meet so many people with laptops that have a super fast CPU with a killer GPU and they rarely is never used it. i would pick up the laptop from them at a steal then sell it on ebay for a profit, its how i payed for a entire year of college. i even did the same, i only played games on my time off, about 2 days out of the week, the rest of my time i sent studing or just going out and parting with friends. in college your going to meet so many people that you wont have much time to play games anyways. and this is coming from a former high school nerd and overall shy person, dont worry i am already done with college though i need to go back to study something totally different.

i would get the NP8662 cuz of that 9800M gpu and the 15.4 screen size, but instead just bought a sager 2090 from ebay, its the same like the NP2096 but looks different. that 8662 looks like everything i want in a laptop, killer gpu and not too of a size like the 17 inchers.



TL;DR- get a laptop with more battery life cuz you wont play games that much.

 

Ah crap... Now I don't know what to do. I went ahead and ordered one but obviously it's going to take a while to get through... Now i'm might change my mind because of what yotano said....

It might be overkill for my needs and who knows, my lifestyle my change in college. Right now it's easy-breeze through high school and I spend a lot of time on my desktop, but with college, I might be spending more time with friends and doing work.... @_@

 

lies...you won't need to study or do work in college...I think there was only 1 classes I tried in while I was in college and I carried a 3.5 gpa. Of course I'm in the army now, so take what you will from that.

 

~_~ i'm going to Cal

 

You can always have of us here to pry it off your cold dead fingers---

 

well i was gonna get a sager 8662 myself but i held back.
now im waiting on the asus kb series first and see how the two compare.
the asus is considered a budget gaming notebook but it does come with with dual HDD bays, a puma cpu, a 4860 ati card and an led backlit screen
im mainly considering it (asus) because of the price point and the the LED screen which should give tremendous battery life, less weight and most importantly a clearer screen.
if the 8662 had an LED i would get it hands down.
but for your concerns of price and battery life you may wanna check out the asus kb when it comes out next month

 

if you're on a tight budget you could consider the asus g50 series. some nice value there. (think 9800gts for 8-900 new)

 

Technically not a tight budget. I either choose a mainstream laptop for around 1100$ or buy the NP8662 gaming laptop for around 1600$. I wouldn't go with any other gaming laptop, plus the asus g50 runs a 9800M GS not GTS.

 

Don't regret it! Not until you get the machine in your hands. Sager does have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. You can decide for yourself once you get it if you are happy with its battery life and performance.