Thinking of getting Sager NP8690, couple of questions.

I looked in the owners lounge and didn't see this answered.
Just to confirm, this machine will be able to upgrade to the newer nvidia cards when they come out? Or is this unknown at this point?

Also, for games like WOW, Aion, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and the Old Republic MMO coming out, will this lappy be able to max out the graphics?

 

The slot is MxM 3.0 which supports over 800mhz memory, so you will be able to upgrade the card in the near future. The only lappys without Mxm 3.0 are the np579 series and the older laptops that now have the option for the gtx280m instead of the 9800m GTX, which was the older slot version.

The 8690 will smoke those games, lots of processing power for the MMOs and Starcraft, and plenty of Video power for now, even at 1080p. And MMOs are always scalable to reach a broad audience. Few developers want to alienate half if not more of their target audience...everyone has seen what games like WOW can do with a clever engine that is low in Poly count, yet still looks good at high resolution with some AA stacked in there. Old Republic is what is called " Stylized Reality " and that engine is very customizable, and can look great even with settings at low. Aion is running like a champ on my friends' desktop, and he's running a 9600 GT ( 64 Sps... so like a 9800m GTS ) and a Pentium D 3.2ghz dual core, so you won't have an issue there.

 

Thanks for the fast response!

I'm so close to just pulling the trigger on one of these. . .

 

Do it man, I bought a 9280, and I go to sleep every night thinking... man I should have payed 400 less... gotten a 7.55LB laptop ( instead of 12.55LBs ) and a nice sleek design like the Clevo 860TU ( Np8660/2 ) the same video card.. and just a tad less CPU power! So yah... get it, dont tell the 8760 guys I told you this but... the 8690 is better!
Naw they're both great.. but for the same exact power... you mide as well get a ligher, more portable, better looking ( IMHO ) laptop. So far ... the 8760 that Anandtech reviewed had a pretty low end screen in it, and if you check out the review on the 8690 at www.notebookjournal.de .. go to the top 10, then gaming notbooks up to 16.4'' and it's the first laptop there... and they liked the screen.
The only reason I didn't buy the 8690 was the screen aspect ratio... I can't stand the fact that I might have to sacrifice screen size to run 4:3 ratios... and then some games don't support 16:9 over 16:10 ive seen.

 

Wouldn't Clevo have to release a bios update or something in order for the GPU to be upgraded? Or is it just as easy as taking out the 280m and slipping in the new nvidia card (whenever it comes)?

 

I think that only has to happen when the slot type changes? I don't know for sure, someone will confirm. Even so, the Bios update would eventually come, since they would start shipping those models with the new video card at some point.

 

Hmm, true. Well, I know Eurocom sells laptop vid cards so when I get my w860cu, at least I know I'll have the option to upgrade.

 

What about heating? Would a different card change the temperature of the laptop under load?

 

For better or worse, yes.

 

PULL IT!

The laptop you're eying will laugh at WOW, so I'm pretty sure that you can max out WOW without any trouble. As for Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2, yes, you should be able to have the graphics settings for those very high. Blizzard did say they want those games to play on a wide array of low-end machines, and the game engine for both games is based on DirectX 9.0c. You shouldn't have to worry about a thing. I'm not sure about The Old Republic MMO, however.

Regarding upgrading the GPU; it all depends on if the newer model(s) are MXM 3.0b compliant. All you can do right now is hope they are.