**UPDATED JUNE 12, 2012 *OFFICIAL* Sager News Thread

This thread will be periodically updated by Sager with news and other new information about their products.

EDIT: FYI do NOT make posts in this thread. Thank you.

 

The Sager NP8170 system will be split into 2 internal models, one with an NVIDIA GPU and the other with an AMD GPU. Note that these two models each require their own system version and GPUs will NOT be interchangeable. So, if you order an NVIDIA GPU system you will not be able to swap to an AMD GPU later, and vice versa.

System Freezing Issues: With help from many of , users, we have been able to sort out all the issues that were causing system freezing, and have worked with Clevo to resolve them. To just share some quick facts – since the B2 to B3 chipset revision, sager has shipped over 3000 units and we have only received one freezing system report, and that was a notebookreview forum user. Even this isolated incident was resolved by our latest BIOS revision.

We understand that many of other users on the forums may be experiencing issues still, but these should be on the B2 revision systems that are still due to be recalled. We are working diligently to provide recall program details in May-June’11, and assure you that your unit will be returned without freezing issues. We appreciate your patience.

Screen: We have read some user comments on our stock LCD screens. These stock screens are quite high quality, and are the industry standard. However, we understand some professional users may desire an upgrade to screen options with a higher NTSC color gamut. Unfortunately, these screens are in relatively short supply, and Sager is unable to offer them as a regular option. Some of our resellers are able to secure these screens on the secondary market, but please be aware that those screens are not covered by Sager warranty but rather by whatever warranty terms the reseller offers.

 

1:
Reducing blue-tine on LCD panels (coldness) in windows 7

1. Right click on an open desktop area then select screen resolution by left clicking
2. Left click on Advanced Settings
3. Left click the Color Management tab
4. Left click the color management button
5. Left click the advanced tab
6. Left click on calibration display
7. Left click next on the Welcome to Display Color Calibration screen
8. Left click next on the set basic color settings screen
9. Left click next on the hot to adjust gamma screen
10. You may adjust or leave it as default (recommended) then click next on the adjust gamma screen
11. Left click skip brightness and contrast adjustment
12. Left click next on how to adjust color balance
13. Select the blue slider bar with the mouse, sliding it all the way to the right then use the keyboard left arrow key to move the slider right to left till the blue tint is lowered to your liking. ​

This will reduce the blue tint and give you a warmer color temperature

2:
As Sager begins to ship our NP8170-3D this week we would like to let our users know that the 120 Hz 3D panel selected has its NTSC Color gamut rated at 72%.

3:
Notice to Sager Customers that has purchased NP8130/NP8150/NP8170 and received their unit before the Intel chipset revision, Sager has begun our recall process early this month, and we have informed our dealers to send notices to customers to contact Sager Techsupport department to get their system motherboard serviced to the new B3 stepping chipset.
If you have not yet receive a notice from Sager or your point of contact, please contact Sager Techsupport to setup your RMA process.

 

Sager has evaluated color calibration many times in the past and has gone against pre-calibration every time.

Reasons:

1:
Color calibration should be done in the correct working environment, sager factory cannot simulate end customers lighting and shadow conditions.

2:
As laptop LCDs does not have the same luxury as a TV or a desktop monitor with access to color setting / service color setting. The calibration are done by software, since the changes are not stored by the screen firmware directly, the calibration setting may become null or incorrect due to device driver changes or OS overhaul changes from one major version to another.

3:
End-user has lack of access to recalibration when environment condition changes , and lack the capability to create multiple color profile in different usage locations or environment condition.


For the above reasons Sager firmly believes that Customers should make a small investment for a color calibration device for a more accurate color calibration, as well as access to more features that may be provided by the device.

However we understand that not all users would like to invests in such device, therefore starting next week. Sager will begin to provide monitor color profile at our support page located at custom gaming laptops - Welcome to Sager Notebooks these profiled are provided as a 2nd color option for customers to try with their system, as these are not calibrated at the users location, these file is to be used as is or use as a gauge when making further fine-tuning. Sager recommend customers to use the GPU control panel or windows color calibration provided by windows 7 (windows orb -> type in dccw.exe in the search / run box and enter) to make color adjustments to the users liking or to invest in a color calibration device for the best experience possible.

Color profiles will be added to sager support page as we create them in the coming week for the current and future models.

To load the downloaded color profiles without the need of a 3rd party tool please do the following.

You have two options in getting the profile loaded:

Option1:

Place the download file in C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color\

Click on the windows orb and input dccw.exe in the search / run box and press enter

Click next 4 times

To reach the brightness and contrast page.

Click skip brightness and contrast adjustment

Click next 2 times

Uncheck Start ClearType Tuner before clicking Finish.

This will create a generic windows color profile named “CalibratedDisplayProfile-1.icc” located in C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color\

You can now rename your download file to CalibratedDisplayProfile-1.icc and overwrite the windows generated file, and reboot.


Or you may use option 2:

Place the download file in C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color\

Click on the windows orb and fill in dccw.exe in the search / run box and press enter

Click next 4 times

To reach the brightness and contrast page.

Click skip brightness and contrast adjustment

Click next 2 times

Uncheck Start ClearType Tuner before clicking Finish.

Click on windows orb and fill in colorcpl.exe and press enter

Select the file you have downloaded and placed in C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color\

Click Set as Default Profile

Close and reboot.

Now you should have the color profile loaded without the need of a 3rd party profile loader.

 

First, we would like to say sorry that we took so long to post in this topic. It was a long weekend, and we wanted to give time for users to make their comments.

Second, we would like to clarify why Sager has voted 'NO" on the thread titled "No more Clevo for me...." poll. It is simply because Clevo has never supported an end user directly and they shouldn't. In the past, when they have made their base BIOS available to the public, it has caused nothing but trouble -- from simply wiping out customers’ windows activation status to bricking systems due to missing customization tweaking. Sager stands 100% behind Clevo in its decision to remove their standard base bios from their public servers.

Those of you seeking support should seek support from your point of purchase, and the retailer’s will come from their supplier and Clevo. Therefore again the poll is simply invalid as the HM model is marked EOL as it should be. This does not mean your support resources for any bug and trouble issues have been cut off. We hope that any users that voted Yes in the poll understand this.

Sager has always and will continue to give our users our 100% attention to any issues reported to Sager, and give it our best efforts to resolve issues. If we can’t do that in house, we pass the issue to Clevo and in return Clevo will give Sager their upmost support to reach the goal of satisfying our customers’ needs so long as the issues can be resolved without any limitations or unacceptable side effects to the user experience.

Now we come to the main topic -- AMD 7970m support on the p1x0HM series. Many of you may have received a reply from Clevo the last few days saying that the 7970m is not supported on the HM series due to a chipset / design limitation. This is true. If you reread the Sager news thread you can see that the HM series (Sager NP81x0) was originally released with the NVIDIA cards, then later added the AMD lineup.

At the time of release there were limitations that forced us to create an alternate internal model number due to an inability to swap between NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. This limitation was caused by the LCD panel as well with the way the motherboard was designed to double validate for standard and 3D panel. The AMD GPU thus requires special non universal timing to the LCD panel that caused significant side effects if GPUs were swapped (e.g., GPU running at full speed all the time, no power management, flickering or fuzzy output) without matching SW / HW tweaks.

The tweaking requirements are different depending on mother board revision and LCD panel. With so many combination of the HM series hardware, we simply cannot give an answer quickly until we are able to get the card tested on as many main board and panel revision and combinations as we can. After that we will be able to determine if an upgrade package can be offered. Just a couple of simple examples of what might be needed which includes LCD EDID firmware updates (which require the unit to be sent in for support because special HW tools are needed) or mother board revisions.

Also you should be aware at this time there are open issues with the second batch of AMD 7970m cards. Both Clevo and Sager are swamped using most of our resources on getting the 7970m back on track Once that is accomplished we will be able to begin our research and testing of the HM series in regards to the 7970m.

The good news is that there are no quality concerns with the first batch of AMD 7970M cards. Many of you should already know, but we just want to stress once again that the first batch of the AMD 7970m received and shipped by Clevo has passed all Clevo and Sager QC with less than 1% fail rate. Please take comfort in the fact the unit has proven to be remarkably stable and enjoy your AMD 7970m. Obviously, with the rigorous tests the unit has passed, there is no recall planned.

The second batch received by Clevo was different and extensive Clevo QC revealed a 20% fail rate. The remaining 80% of cards passed without any issues on standard QC as well as extended QC.

In the case of the AMD 7970m card, Clevo has chosen an extremely careful approach to deal with this new batch of cards that has displayed a failure rate that is both high and strange. That is why they took their quality control process to another level. It's also why they have been working closely with AMD to find a solution to this problem. Clevo could very easily have shipped out the 80% of cards that passed through their QC testing, but instead they chose to hold back all of the cards until they can get to the bottom of this problem with this new batch. The bottom line is that shipments will not resume until Clevo can give customers complete confidence in the product they purchase. While it may be an inconvenience to some users, the decision was made with the best of intentions and with the goal of delivering the best product possible. We applaud Clevo for taking this issue so very seriously and for working so hard to make certain our customers receive the kind of quality product they deserve.


Thanks again for your patience.

 

News: 6/12/2012

Sager has completed our testing of the AMD 7970M on Sager models NP8170 & NP8150. We are therefore pleased to announce the availability on an Upgrade Kit for these units (special conditions apply). Pricing will be different between Sager and non-Sager brand units. Please contact Sager Techsupport at [email protected] for more complete upgrade kit and pricing details.

The following conditions apply:

NP8170 (P170HM) w/ NVIDIA GPU + 120hz 3D LCD Panel AMD 7970M is not supported.

NP8170 (P170HM) w/ NVIDIA or AMD GPU + Hannstar LCD Panel, AMD 7970M is supported.

NP8170 (P170HM) w/ NVIDIA or AMD GPU + LG LCD panel, AMD 7970M may or may not be supported, special EDID Firmware may need to be flashed to the LCD panel. Sager can provide this firmware update as long as the user pays for both way shipping & labor.

NP8150 (P150HM) AMD 7970M is supported, please contact Sager Techsupport for AMD 7970M kit pricing and details.