Upgrading Sager 8275-S?

Hi, I'm sure these questions have been asked before but I am having trouble finding clear answers. I'd be thankful if someone had an answer or a link to re-direct me.

1) What parts, if any, can be upgraded with the Sager 8275-S. And, assuming they can be upgraded (I believe at least the GPU, RAM, and HD can), how far can they be upgraded? What does the motherboard support?

2) At Xotic PC, they offer the following for the same price:
* 750GB 7200RPM [SATA II - 16MB Cache] (SKU - HDD099)
* 1TB 5400RPM [SATA II - 3GB/s] (SKU - HDD098)
Are the performances of these two drives similar? I'll have a primary SSD at 250 GB, and I have a few external 1-TB hard drives, so I'm not overly concerned about space. The 750, if it's faster, would be fine for me. But I'm not going to say no to a larger hard drive if performance is even.

 

If you look at the base 8275 you can see exactly what is upgradable. If it's listed with choices, it can be done. Pretty much he only thing that people want to upgrade but can't is the audio. We can only guarantee what is currently offered as compatible, but in terms of GPU it's possible the next gen will be compatible, just can't say for sure until they're released and we get final word on that.

For storage, you won't see much difference between the two drives outside of transferring data to and from it. The 7200 RPM is quite a bit faster in that respect, but if you're not going to do that so much, or you don't care how slow/fast it does so, then either will be fine for you.

 

1. Check a reseller and see what options are availible. This will give you an idea of the basic upgrades.
2. No, performance is not the same as 7200rpm is faster than 5400rpm, also data density is different. But the 7200 should be faster. They also have a 1TB 7200 drive, ask if it is in stock.

 

Thank you for the responses!

With the CPU, I was curious because it did not say "user upgradeable" at Xotic, while the GPU does. This is why I assumed I would likely be unable to upgrade the CPU. Thanks for the additional info that we don't know yet if the next generation of GPUs will fit.

With the drives, I'd been reading around and people were saying they can't tell the difference between 7200 and 5400. It may be testably different, but in real-world application they were saying it's too insignificant to note. Further, they were saying the 5400s use less energy, and I thought that might result in a (very slightly?) cooler temp, which could be an advantage.

There is a 7200 1TB drive in stock. It's only $20 bucks more, but as I noted I have enough storage as it is. I'm only choosing between the two I listed because they come with the package.

 

Hate to repeat myself, but it's going to be just like I said.

you'll notice no difference if you're basing it off pure storage use. If you are transferring data back and forth across multiple drives the simple matter of the fact is that the 7200 RPM spins faster and therefore transfers data faster. If you don't plan on doing that, the 5400 RPM is great for storage. If you don't need the space and you want the speed just in case that's a usage you end up doing, nothing wrong with the 7200 RPM. Not much difference in temp or power draw in my opinion.

 

Well, I appreciate the repetition! Thanks again. I'm really happy to have learned about this forum, Xotic PC, and Sager laptops.

 

Keep in that upgrading the cpu or gpu will be expensive. Best to get what you need now rather than planning to upgrade a year from now.

If space is not an issue get the 750GB 7200 drive. Better to have the speed than to wish you had it.

 

Yeah the small file transfer boost the 7200RPM offers makes it a nice increase.

 

I'm not sure what you mean. Why would it be more expensive to upgrade further down the road? My (potentially flawed) logic is that parts will become cheaper over time. I save $200 by opting for the 8970m versus the 780m now. But maybe a year or two down the road the 780m, or even a subsequent generation card, could be likely found for less than than $200. Or are you suggesting that I'll probably ditch the laptop in a few years, so you're only looking at the next 6 months?

As for the HD, I waffled and waffled and waffled and finally went with the larger 5400. The difference between the two seems so minimal. I found one post where a guy hooked up a 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM drive to his PS3 and found maybe a second or two improvement from the 7200 in loading times, with the 5400 being maybe a few degrees cooler. Noise and energy levels are apparently similar. Since they seem so close to identical, I guessed capacity is the only real difference. Again, I'll have a 250GB SSD so I'll be primarily using it for Windows, music, games, Unity, UDK, etc. The HD would be for back-up purposes, if anything. If it's working in the background, like a back-up operation, I can't imagine I'd notice a time difference, especially if it's as minimal as it sounds.

Am I totally wrong? Let me know while there's still time, haha.

 

In the normal computer market you're exactly right, parts become cheaper as they are phased out. For laptops though, the parts are more specialized, designed to work in specific models, and not generally interchangeable. So as time goes on, those parts become scarce and the people with those laptops don't have the wide market to choose from like the desktop market does. Law of supply/demand kicks, lots of demand for scarce parts, makes the GPUs either stick around the same price as they were new or possibly even more expensive. Always a good idea to get the GPU you want and skim in other areas that are easier and more cost effective to upgrade down the road.

BTW... loved the creativity you showed in the comments you left. Very nice work.

 

As Derek said, the prices may not drop like other electronics do. So a gpu may be $600-$800, which is a big part of the cost of a new notebook. But some do get lucky and find good deals on older parts. I just wouldn't count on it.

 

Especially MXM GPUs and mobile CPUs don't shift in value very quickly.

 

Oh, that makes so much more sense to me. Thanks again for the response(s).

As for the creativity, I did my best, haha.