Testing new Sager system

Monday December 2nd my new Sager NP9150 Special Edition (aka Clevo p150em aka p158em) should be arriving.
My plan for setup and testing is as follows (if I'm missing anything let me know):
(This might be a good reference for other people with new systems to know what they should do to setup and test their new system). (If Sager, Clevo, or the system builder were lax in assembling the system its better to know right away and get it shipped in for warranty support before your system has a bunch of personal information, important irreplaceable files, or things you just don't want other people to know you keep on the computer).

Create a new user account (separate from the administrator account in case the new user account gets corrupted).
Go to Microsoft's website to download and install the update from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 8 Professional. (Preforming a clean install instead of updating Windows 7 to cut down on the chance of compatibly problems Windows 7 leftovers may cause).

(I've ordered a Crucial 256gb mSata drive separately, and it will not be arriving for another week or two. Should I pre-set any setting in the BIOS before preforming the Windows 8 update, or is it a wasted effort where I'd be forced to preform a clean install again when I install the drive?)

Download (or install off the driver and utility cd/dvd -which is hopefully included) the following:

Realtek HD audio driver:
Realtek

THQ audio software:
(off the cd?)

Intel drivers:
(anything detected by their automated program, but most importantly the HM77 express chipset driver,
GMA hd/4100 gpu driver, and Advanced-N 6235 driver)
Intel Download Center (running the Intel Driver Update Utility)

Nvidia 680m gpu driver and HDMI driver:
NVIDIA Driver Downloads - Automatically Detect NVIDIA Products

Windows Media Center pack (while its still free):
Add features - Microsoft Windows

Illuminated keyboard software and driver:
(off the cd?)

Fingerprint reader software and driver:
(off the cd?)

Install MSI AfterBurner or HW Info:
(to check temperatures)
MSI Afterburner
HWiNFO64 Download

Install Belarc Advisor or Sisoft Sandra:
(to check that the correct hardware is in the system, and to see what other drivers may need to be looked for)
Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit, for software, hardware and security configuration information on your computer. Software license management, IT asset management, cyber security audits, and more.
SiSoftware Zone

Check for dead/stuck pixels:
(This could cause regrets. If you find one or more you may wish you never knew).
LCD Dead Pixel Test Backgrounds

CPU-Z:
(To check/test CPU)
CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

GPU-Z:
(To check GPU)
GPU-Z Video card GPU Information Utility

Potential downloads:
(but not necessary since the preceding programs already tested the CPU and GPU, and HTWingNut, awakeN, and many others have already reported on these in their reviews).

3dMark11:
(to test graphics card)
3DMark - test your graphics card with the gamer's benchmark

CineBench:
(to test CPU and to a lesser extent GPU)
MAXON | 3D FOR THE REAL WORLD: Overview

PCMark7:
(to test overall PC)
Download PCMark 7 - Complete PC test for Windows 7 | PCMark

HD Tune:
(for testing hard drive -use for HDD not SSD)
http://www.hdtune.com/

More optional programs:

Microsoft Security Essentials:
edit: (Windows 8 isn't compatable with Security Essentials. In Windows 8 Windows Defender takes on the virus protection that Security Essentials previously provided.)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download

Spy-bot:
(To protect against spyware and ads)
http://www.safer-networking.org/

Spyware Blaster:
(To protect against spyware)
http://www.brightfort.com/spywareblaster.html

Malwarebytes:
(To protect against malware)
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebyt...4572.html?part=dl-10804572&subj=dl&tag=button

A browser:
(If you want an alternative to Internet Explorer)

FireFox:
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

Chrome:
https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/

Opera:
http://www.opera.com/

A e-mail program:
(If you want an alternative to Outlook)

Thunderbird:
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

Who Crashed:
(In case the system crashes, and you need to troubleshot what caused it)
http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed


Did I miss including anything important?

 

I might add that for those who are having their first ssd system, or simply upgrading to ssd, Sean's guide is pretty complete to optimize your ssd. Of course you might want to ignore the part about how to install windows : Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDs .

 

congrats on your order. sitting waiting for the delivery van already i bet

just in case for other new owners id better point this out.
if you ordered with an operating system already loaded then you will be good to go out the box.
if you want to reinstall your operating system then the drivers have to be loaded in the order they are on the included disc otherwise some drivers will conflict with each other or just not work.
the graphics driver already loaded will have been tested by your supplier and be an OEM release so its advised not to upgrade straight away. i updated to the latest whql a week after getting mine and had quite a few problems with games so be warned.

also a lot more useful software in my signature below.

 

Wow, you've really done you're homework!

A couple of suggestions, if I may:

Belarc is okay. I would recommend Speccy or SIW for collecting system information (SIW is my preference, although Speccy has one or two pieces of system info SIW does not provide, such as DRAM frequency).

SpyBot is also just okay, in my opinion. It has a very high detection rate, but has a tendency more than anything else to detect false positives (such as Windows Firewall, which may or may not have been remedied in more recent versions). For detection, I use SUPER Anti-Spyware.

From there, it's a matter of preference. I like all the browsers for different reasons. If you go with Chrome, consider one of the more privacy friendly alternatives of the Chromium project, such as Dragon or Iron.

Other than that, enjoy!

 

^^SUPER Anti-Spyware

good software but beware of where you download this from as there are quite a few sites advertising this and its actually a virus.
this was a very big issue just over a year ago and documented on here a lot by people that had downloaded it in good faith.
hopefully the makers have managed to get these dodgy sites closed down.

 

I've always ran it off of Hiren's Boot CD, so I never knew! Thanks for the tip. I recall a similar problem with Trillian, where a lot of users were being exposed to spyware by installing the program.

 

Hirens boot cd is the best and highly recommended to everyone.

that virus was a to get rid off. it was like a octopuss and as soon as you deleted one part it would spread by 6-8 times and infect other parts of computer.

 

Well if you can't trust file hosting sites to provide legitimate software downloads, who CAN you trust?

Is there a blacklist of the mirrors producing the virus?

 

OP:

Have you received your laptop yet? I just received my NP9170 and finished updated drivers yesterday. All my games are running slow with max FPS of 31. Did you have to do anything special outside of creating profiles in the nVidia control panel to get your GPU functioning correctly?

 

Yes, I recieved my NP9150 on Monday. I'm still in the process of tweaking and configuring it to get it running the way I'd like. (I recieved an ssd a few days ago, and re-installed a clean Windows 8 OS on it). I haven't done any gaming on it yet. As far as modern games go I don't have too many at the moment (I have Diablo III, Witcher 2, Syrim, and just picked up a new copy of the old Batman Arkham Asylum game of the Year Edition). If you want me to test any of the above mentioned games, demos that I can download free, or any of the benchmarking programs listed in the original post let me know which, and what conditions to test it under then I'll let you know the results.