Update on Radeon 7970m (Sager/Resellers)

How do I get these discounts?

 

Like this

 

It really is sad to see everyone ditching Sager to do with Alienware, but I really can't blame you guys - I would probably do the same if I were in your position. I hope it works out well for you all in any case, though! I really think Alienware makes a pretty decent product - I love my M11x, in any case. One thing I've always been disappointed with are their low-quality screens, though. That was a big reason for me going with Clevo, not to mention other things, well... I don't really need to convince anyone here, I'm sure we all had similar reasons for choosing to go with Sager/Clevo in the first place. Just sucks that it didn't work out for everybody

 

Is there an alternative with a comparable screen to the Clevo 95% within a similar price range? Id get a thinkpad w530 but ive no need for the 2000m

 

I was thinking the same thing. How is the M17x screen compared to the Sager/Clevo high NTSC gamut screens, I wonder? Also, is it matte/glossy?

 

i only see glossy option for the m17x, no matte. i'll be using my next laptop for college so matte screen is a must. sticking with sager unless the delay will be extended farther than june 11th, then its game over for me.

 

I'm on the phone with a Dell salesman now, and he said only glossy is available. Plus they won't sell the M17x without a hard drive and Windows, so no savings there as with Xotic.

Alienware doesn't have a 15" laptop like the 9150. Their 14" doesn't offer a 1920x1080 screen. Thus to go with them I'd have to switch to the M17x, buy a hard drive and Windows that I don't need, get a glossy screen instead of matte, and get a computer that weighs about 3 pounds more and costs about $250 more. I'm thinking I'm better off waiting for Xotic to ship...even if it means I have to face my upcoming vacation laptop-less.

 

I know exactly how you feel! Seems like it's just a bad time to be in the market for a notebook at the moment... I guess I'm just gonna give it a pass, and buy one in a couple of months time or so! And I'm pretty sure this time my decision is final...

 

I honestly might just say F U to technology and buy a macbook pro if that Retina is all its cracked up to be and if it arrives soon.

 

Yes so got the official MALIBAL bad news today, they don't know the ETA due to the bad cards.

Now thinking very seriously of 675M, will probably switch. At least there I know what to expect in terms of reliability and drivers. hmmm

Oh and, hey I jinxed everyone predicting this you're welcome.

 

Also just found out that with Dell/Alienware I'd be charged $127 sales tax (no tax with Xotic), so that makes it around $430 more. Not gonna happen.

 

Then you should consider buying from an AW reseller like PNB. They don't charge the sales tax, and offer the usual 3% cash discount.

 

or you could actually contact a decent sales rep. I got the 7970m with included windows 7 for a little bit more than a np9170 that didnt include win 7.

 

i'd say vote for ban...

 

Went back to 675M. Now lets hope THAT is in stock and shipping. The 52% performance gain just isn't worth the uncertainty to me. Plus i will probably need the thing for work soon.

Was fun

 

Or call 1-800-ALIENWARE (save your config first) and tell them what price you're looking for. Stand firm. Haggle.

I was able to get M18x R2, 3720QM, 7970M CrossFireX, 6GB RAM, 500GB 7.2k HDD, Killer 1103 + BT, 2 year advance warranty (damage protection & all), and Blu-ray for $2650 (+ tax) with free 2 day shipping. I'm upgrading the drives and RAM to the stuff in my sig...had that from NewEgg for my (former) Clevo 170EM.

 

Actually what Sager/Clevo/Resellers should do is offer some sort of special upgrade deal to the peeps that were waiting for the 7970m, so that they can upgrade to the 7970m later cheaper. We'll that would be nice anyway.

I guess another dream.

 

Well OP, you might as well rename this thread the New Alienware Customers thread... -_-

 

Like someone here mentioned, I would have really preferred to get the 7970m. But ah well. I'm not switching to AW though. I am going to stick with the 675m and see how the situation turns out. I'm happy playing at 40fps and there's very few that drop below 30 with the 675. I dn't mind those numbers.

Also, I would upgrade depending on what the situation is looking like around November. I really doubt nv is going to simply give up the high end gpu crown to AMD. They have had almost two months to improve their 680ms and I think they are going to come out with something that is just as good, if not better. I really doubt they'd do worse. Either ways, I might keep the 675m and get the next gen series with Myth using their upgrade plan. Come to think of it, Myth will probably make a lot more money by this 7970m fiasco.

 

Well, then at least you can wait it out until we see a GTX 680M or even a 685M.

 

Thanks for the advice on dealing with Alienware, but I've decided I really want to get the smaller 9150 with the matte screen. My current laptop is a Dell with a 17" glossy 1920x1200 screen, and over the years I've really hated dealing with reflections on it, even if it is sharper than a matte finish. Plus since I've reached the point where I routinely wear reading glasses for the laptop screen, I figure a 15" screen with the same number of pixels is just as good...I'll just use slightly more powerful glasses, and have 3 less pounds to carry around.

 

That's a good call. Mythlogic's upgrade plan is awesome. And those guys rock.

In my case, I'll probably just be re-selling my laptop versus upgrading it. With the 2 year advanced warranty and the "brand" of Alienware it should hold resale well. Then I can jump ship to the next hotness. I'd love to go back to Mythlogic for the 680M or something similar.

 

Yeah you can easily get over 1k after 2 years on that. Well not easily but it is completely possible.

 

Ha...I won't keep this thing for more than 3-4 months. I always have to have the hottest. $1k? Definitely. After two years? Easily. With 10K 3DMark 11 this thing outperforms a GTX 590!

 

That sounds... expensive.

 

It's actually one of the best ways to handle tech. I.E. just sold my MBP last month for about 80% of it's original price. Turns out to be a pretty reasonable rental and I always have the latest.

 

yeah i'm slowly getting to that point as well. This is a work/gaming laptop for me, and work is slowly factoring more and more into the mix.

 

I am on the exact same destructive path... And to be honest its not expensive at all, its really the same cost that you would pay for upgrading it separately i.e. GPU etc.

 

Yeah, it's sad. I'm holding out though. What really is sad is that everyone is jumping ship because of some silly 7970m delays and not because of the upgradeability topic.

Yep, I'm relying on it too. I can't and won't go AW now, the screen would be too much of a letdown and I'm looking forward to this low-key design, plus sager/clevo resellers are too good to pass up. If I bail come haswell (assuming I don't want whatever succeeds the P370EM) I might get AW form PNB but...

It sure is going to be lonely around here with so many people leaving. I've been waiting 1.5 years...

 

On the Sager website, the 7970m says backordered - ETA June 12. I don't know if that ETA is for the next shipment of 7970ms to be shipped to Sager or for your Sager equipped with said card to be shipped to you.
Hopefully the builders receive before or around this time as well.

 

E.Blar, your sig says you have a P150EM with raid 0...but Hutsady from Xotic told me that the P150EM I ordered from them doesn't support Raid 0 at all. Hutsady said the only 15" laptop they offer that has Raid 0 is the MSI GT60. What's the scoop? Is the Mythlogic P150EM different from the Xotic P150EM?

 

i believe because he take out the dvd n put hard disc caddy in

 

That's odd.. why would Hutsady tell you that, he should know better than others that it supports RAID with the new HM77 chipset..

 

No, I was going to do that until Hutsady told me that the P150EM doesn't support raid 0, even if you add a second drove in that manner.

 

I really wish this whole ordeal would get sorted out, I been holding off on this on buying a laptop for college, Going back to school and Im already opting to not have a computer for my first class. And I really just do not want the flashyness of a alienware.

 

You can raid them together using Win 7's software fine in a P150HM, though it's personal opinion whether that's worthwhile. There's no reason the EM shouldn't be able to do the same.

Maybe the EM just doesn't have a hardware level raid solution?

 

The sooner you buy it the sooner you will get it. Waiting until the delay problem is solved will only make you have to wait even longer to get your notebook.

 

Yeah but im worried they will find more problems and ill get a laptop I have to turn around and send back... I have my desktop for now and it sorta gets the job done. My plans are to get rid of my desktop when I get a laptop why im nervous. And I been reading these forums all week trying to figure out who to buy from and the differences and im having a hard time figuring it out. Because they all really look the same. I am gonna create a spreadsheet I think this weekend to try to actually figure out the differences and prices. I really like Mythlogic I think I just wish I could get a little more discount other then the 3% if I pay by cash.

 

I looked in the NP91X0 manual from Sager, and it only shows two dedicated HD slots in the 17" model.

 

You can definitely contact any of the resellers namely Xoticpc, Powernotebooks, Mythlogic, LPC Digital etc. They are all very reputable and offer great discounts for NBR members. None of these resellers will send you a laptop that clearly does not pass proper testing. You need not worry about having to send back your laptop to the reseller due to the recent problems in the AMD cards. These problems were detected during the testing performed at Sager and were sent back. So the worst case scenario will be you having to wait for your laptop due to defects and not you getting a faulty laptop.

You certainly can avail free shipping on Sager/Clevo laptops at Xoticpc, PNB etc and also they give you a 50$ discount for laptops that are configured above 1500$. Getting these discounts is not at all a hassle and you can also price match your config from possibly other resellers and get the best price possible. Talk to each one of them and go with the one who seems most inclined and eager to do business with you. At least that's how I would do. Rest is up to you.

 

The Mythlogic pollux 1612/Clevo P150EM has 2 HDD bays in contrast to only one in the Sager NP9130 offered by Xoticpc and Powernotebooks. Even the Clevo builder Malibal's Lotus P150EM SE also has only 1 HDD bay and hence no RAID options in the 15" models. I suppose that is the reason why people at Xoticpc told you that RAID cannot be enabled.

I suppose you also did post the question in Xoticpc forums and Roland seems to have PM'ed you that it wasnt possible to add a HDD in the DVD bay and use RAID too.

Raid 0 in a Sager NP9150? - XOTICPC Forums

You might still want to look in to this thread as this user seems to be discussing about trying 2 SSD's in RAID in a Lotus P150EM SE.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/660675-p150em-two-ssd-raid-0-a.html

 

They both only offer 1 dedicated HDD bay. The second one is in the ODD bay. The way Mythlogic lists it on their configurator is a bit confusing, but there aren't two dedicated HDD bays on either of the 15" notebooks, only the P170. Mythlogic's Clevo chassis are the exact same as what Sager uses.

 

What's this? Did I miss out on an additional discount? I'm currently waiting for the 7970m with Xotic...

 

Yup my mistake. I am used to seeing the resellers list the HDD options as HDD bay 1 and 2 and the DVD drive options together. Mythlogic does have it different. But still may be they could have mentioned some where that the 2nd HDD is applicable only on selecting the HDD caddy in the DVD bay. Still my mistake.

 

To back up what Gear332 said, I talked with a Mythlogic rep via their online chat an hour ago, and he confirmed the Pollux 1612 only has a single dedicated HD bay...the second one replaces the optical drive in this 15" model. The confusion arises because he said you can still do Raid 0 with two drives like that, whereas Xotic says you can't. And while the Sager downloadable manual talks about Raid 0, the manual covers both the 15" and 17" models, and the latter do have two dedicated HD bays and Raid, so I don't know if the manual is referring to that, or both the 15" and 17".

 

These are the discounts for NBR members from Xoticpc. I am sure most of the resellers here offer similar if not exact discounts. You will have to contact them for these and let them know your username.

Custom Laptops, Gaming Notebooks, Custom Gaming Laptops | XOTIC PC

 

Thanks, Curs3...I'll contact Xotic, although I seem to recall they don't like to stack discounts. I don't think I got the full cash discount because they also gave me free shipping.

One other comment about Raid 0 on the P150EM: One of those links you provided mentioned that an SSD put in the Optical Drive Bay only gets a Sata II interface. Raid 0 with Sata II is no better than a single Sata III SSD, so that's not worth doing. If I want to get over 1000 MB/s in Sata III Raid 0 like on my desktop, I guess I'd have to switch to the 17" model which hopefully has two Sata III drive bays.

 

Chk ur PM Anthony2816.

 

Awesome ill contact Xotic Soon see what they can work out for me...

 

It will only support RAID0 at SATAII speed so no SSD RAID, and you need a caddy for it to work, but the chipset supports it and it's an option on mythlogic's configurator.

You need to PM the resellers for discounts, IMO LPC-digital might be the cheapest.

I know, you need a caddy.

Mythlogic configurator is a bit weird that way, but there are always seperate selections for things like blu-ray and extra HDD's. So P150EM will show 2 HDD's, W150ER will show 3, P270WM will show 4... If you try to order 2 HDD's and anything other than a caddy, sales will catch it and ask you what you want to drop.