W870cu owners, what would you CHANGE??

Now that you've been running the thing, in retrospect is there anything you would have changed while ordering your machine? Or perhaps you DID change something after the fact? Or maybe your totally satisfied with the way things worked out? Hows about a wishlist of things, maybe even things not offered in this model that should be? I am currently in a holding pattern,
finger on the trigger waiting to purchase, just seeing how everybody else is doing Whats up?

 

A better sound system,battery life and lastly a backlit keyboard would be things i would like ... These are not things i am losing sleep over but would be nice to have ...

Overall though i am very happy with my purchase and i have really had 0 issues with my machine ... Its very plain compared to some of my last machines but at the end of the day it does exactly what i want it to and thats what counts most ....

 

Right with Quad: Better sound, better battery, and a backlit keyboard. A second USB port on either side would be nice too. And Bluetooth that was always on. The last two are pretty damned nit-picky though.

Overall, I could not be happier with this thing.

 

Thanks for the responses so far. Having owned laptops with friggin desktop processors in em' since 2003 I think Ive resigned myself to poor battery life. Until the cold fusion batteries come out, I think we are stuck As for sound, I find myself using headphones more than listening to the speakers, though I have an HP with Harmon Kardons in it that dont sound bad. Backlit keyboard would work for me, but seems like just one more thing to go wrong.

 

Agreed. Zero issues. Best all around laptop I've ever had, and I've had some nice ones.

Would also like a backlit keyboard and better speakers, as well as an easily accessible mute button, but their lack does not diminish the excellence of the product. Revising the BIOS to facilitate overclocking would make the 8760 almost perfect. Hey, a guy can dream. Highly recommended.

 

speakers, backlit keyboard but other than tat this is the best laptop i ever have kudos for sager and clevo! wish clevo would make it available to change to a backlit though really nid it at night

 

Agree with The Revelator.

I would say the 8760 cooling system and default dual HDD support (w/out sacrificing the optical bay) in a nice compact 8690 footprint (thinner, of course).

Oh! A feat of engineering that produces a much, much smaller power brick!

 

Would you guys pay an extra $200-$300 for an RGB LED option?

 

I dont think i would pay that much for RGB but if it were an option for say $100-150 more i might consider it ... The one i had in the M17x was amazing except for the eyestrain i had everytime i used it for any extended period of time ...

The screen in this machine is fantastic overall though...

 

Like others have said. Better sound, better battery, and oh yes RGB! This may be one of the longest I've owned a notebook in years. I think by Q3 or 4 I'll opt for a 940xm with crossfirex or SLI in a beast, but till then this system ROCKS!!

 

I wouldn't. This screen is excellent to my eyes and for my purposes.

 

I wouldn't change for the RGB LED as well, this screen is much more comfortable for the eyes, actually, I still have to turn down the contrast bit to be comfortable enough, RGB LED is simply too straining for the eyes in long usages.

The only improvement I really want is better battery life though, yes it doesn't really matter that much when plugged in, but another 1hr battery life when not plugged in would be great sometimes.

 

Agreed better battery life, I get about 40 mins at idle!

the track pad is also poor, clevo why not spend an extra dollar per machine and put in a decent one, its not a $500 laptop!

Also the speakers are terrible, whats the point in 4 speakers and an alleged sub when they still sound dreadful! My m11x sounds better with 2x1w speakers. I love the laptop but clevo do cheap out on luxuries. They might have well dumped the extra speakers and used the space for decent media keys or something

 

not sure if the trackpads are the same as those on the 860, but personally, I find the trackpads to be far better than the track pads of any laptops I've used in the past, maybe it's just personal taste, or maybe it's because my previous laptops have even worse track pads.

 

I don't really use the touchpad very often, but the one on the 8760 seems pretty decent to me. I've certainly seen worse.

 

The latch on the back is the only thing I would change on it. Otherwise a very solid notebook.

 

I've seen pics of this 'back door', trying to figure out the logic behind their decision to include this 'feature'. Is that the jack for your internet back there??? Appears its over the power jack as well! For a non nuclear powered laptop with a battery thats more of a novelty than a practical power source, plugging the thing in most of the time is a given, soooo whats with that friggin door???? I cant imagine being at that business meeting where some designer said " HEY LETS COVER SOME OFTEN USED STUFF WITH A DOOR, CUS WE KNOW PEOPLE HATE LOOKING AT USB PORTS" and all the people sitting around the table said " YES, THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA, AND IT WILL KEEP DUST OUT OF THE POWER JACK WHILE YOU TAKE IT OUT OF YOUR BACKPACK." no no no, that just cant be

 

Personally wouldn't change a thing. Love this beast

 

Moment i got mine out of the box i popped it right off ... Problem solved and you can always put it back on at anytime....

 

I cannot believe how some in the Alienware forum say the W870CU is very cheap feeling and looking. Granted the the M17x is solid machine, I know, I had one last summer, but they weigh a lot more and are harder to work on and to upgrade! I'm happy with the feel and design for it's weight and size! At least until Q3...

 

Because they like to know that what they paid extra for is worth it even though it probably isn't. If you tell them M17x is heavy, they will ask you to get some muscles, while during the times of D901C where it's totally owning any alienware in terms of specs, and if you tell them about D901C, they will say it weigh like a truck. Ironic yes.

 

Wow, lol, yeah i have a m17x and i get sick and tired of freaking people like 5150 joker who whines and complains about Asus and Clevo this and that and they suck blah blah, man does it really me off after a while. I feel the weight of the m17x is just way too much, i know its the best one ever made, but again its preference, and plus the Sagers build quality don't suck at all, neither does the G73JH which i have, its really good, i can carry this around with some books and go to class and i don't experience anything that hurts me or give me asthma, yes it the M17x is so heavy and i walk to fast my chest hurts. I don't mind having alienware that is lighter, and more conservative looking like these machines and also please put a black lit keyboards freaking Clevo, so behind we are here cmon.

 

Couple of points to make:
1. This is my second Clevo. I had a M570RU-U w/ 8800M GTX before this. This one's actually lighter than the M570 was(checked when I pulled it out of the box).

2. The screen is brighter, clearer and shorter(the only thing I don't like about it). This 1920x1080 craze is lame. I want my 120 vertical pixels back!

3. Like has been said already, the speakers are laughable. But with HDMI and standard audio ports, that's minor.

4. Battery life is pretty bad on this. But when you're considering anything in this class, are you really that worried about battery life?

5. Lastly, the performance is otherworldly in comparison to the M570. The number of tasks I can do simultaneously is kinda sickening(realized what I'd been missing ).

It's an outstanding laptop for what it's designed for. I've also owned 2 XPS laptops (Gen2 and M1710) in the past and frankly shiny lights are overrated. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for unabashed performance in a 17" form factor. Hope that helps you make your decision.

 

Periods are your friend

I contemplated getting one of these over an M17x, but I opted for RGB LED and a metal build. The pricing of these is awesome for the performance though, and if AW ever goes to plastic I might look into getting one.

 

Maybe you should spend your money on a gym membership rather than worry about what I say about Clevo or Asus.

P.S. I'm pretty sure hemi was referring to sleey0 since I never owned a W870. I did have a W860 in my possession once and I do agree with what sleey0 said.

M17x's direct competitor is the X8100, not the W870 or D901C even though comparisons are often made (W870 vs M17x). Taking that into account, the X8100, though entirely plastic, still weighs 12 lbs--so much for the weight argument.

 

Wasn't talking about now, but when D901C was the most powerful notebook around and X8100 wasn't even out yet, when compared with Alienware's 17" with 9800M GTX SLI and only mobile CPU, with a lesser weight because it was plastic then, Alienware users will always say that they won't ever buy it because it's 12lbs, and now m17x is just as heavy but no one ever mentions the weight anymore.

 

Back then Alienware was using Clevo rebadges. Things are a lot different now plus you specifically mentioned M17x.

 

I think it was Area 51 M17 I was comparing with D901C, the M17X i mention is the one now, which has the same weight as D901C then.

 

Being new and naive to gaming laptops, i almost got the m15x, but when i saw the 5870 upgrade in W860 and the hugh amount of price difference, i went for the clevo. But id have to say Alienwares are a much nicer rig, built wise clevos are better. I ask why the high price difference, and i get the answer, you pay for the lights. are lights worth $500 more with a video card that has around 60% less performance?

 

Well, the looks are subjective I guess, I don't mind paying 300-400 more for the m15x if it has a equivalent 5870MR just for a metal body, but the lights and the design turn me off.

 

yes they are, id say a backlit keyboard would make this laptop a professional powerful looking one without over doing the looks. and i have to agree with you, yes i would be forcing to convince myself that it is worth what i paid for if i had chosen the m15x. But obviously the 260m gtx is just below par at the moment. The m11x is though an amazing machine for the price.

 

My biggest gripe is power play not working properly. Also the 5870 fan noise could be quieter. I get 39-41c gpu temps..lot of head room there and I think the fans could easily be toned down if there was a bios fix.

Not a fan of the keyboard...I'd say battery life, but this is a desktop replacement after all. Also Silent Mode button doesn't seem to work right on mine.

 

Like everyone said before me, this laptop is wonderful. I have had nothing but joy from it. If there were things to change, it would be these minor points:

1) Speakers - I feel they could have had a little more ummph but with all the headphones, hmdi ports, other audio options, this is minor

2) Webcam - This is probably minor too, due to the fact you can have external webcams. However I would have to say that this is more of a disappointment due to the fact you have smaller and cheaper laptops with webcams that are 10x better than the one that's in the machine. If they were worried about pricing having the ability to have different options would have been nice

 

I think the webcam is great, and it's a standard webcam, exactly the same as most other notebooks are using, don't know which notebook has webcam 10x better.

 

Well 10x is overdoing it, but the webcam still seems weak to me. I had a Gateway P series laptop and that has only a 1.3 megapixel cam, however the pic from the cam seemed to have come in slightly better for me. It could be something driver or software related, I'm not sure.

 

Great overall laptop, I do not regret this purchase at all. I would echo what others have stated but in the following order: 1) Battery Life (non-existent in this laptop), 2) Sound (had to purchase external speakers), 3. Better Keyboard, backlit would be nice. 4) Dual Video cards would be the icing on the cake.

 

2 hours battery life!
16:10 screen -> 1920x1200 resolution!
4kg in weight (it's 4kg now which is the maximum it should ever have).
Speakers should be a bit better.

Keep the same pricing.

 

Well, when I first started this thread some months back, I started some other threads on the g-73 boards, trying to figure out which machine to go for. After weighing in the pros and cons of both and listening to what was going on with owners of both, I decided to go with the 820 quadcore version of the W870. ( a Sager actually from Xotic) The only sticking point I had with this machine was the lack of 1920x1200, but hell I'm sure I will get used to the shorter screen. Too bad there isnt a matte screen option. Now if the darned thing would just get here before this piece of crap HP totally dies on me ( I get the blue screen of death half the time and one of these days wont recover), then I will be all set!

 

From the first glance I would change battery SHAPE so you can remove it and still use that laptop.
And redesign ports at the back.
And the keyboard could be better aligned with numpad separated from main keys, along with separate PageUp/Down, Home/End keys.

 

Oh yah, another thing I would change is for the GTX480m to be compatible with it

 

After reading this thread, I believe this is the summary (in no particular order):

1) Improve speaker quality and volume.

2) Improve webcam clarity and resolution.

3) Increase battery life.

4) Add backlit keyboard (configurable would be a plus; not just on/off).

5) Add matted screen as an option.

6) Add RGB LED screen (some prefer).

7) Redesign device port locations and remove rear access door.

8) Improve trackpad (use Synaptics instead of Sentilic touchpads).

9) Use USB 3.0 ports for all USB ports since they are backward compatible.

10) Quieter cooling fans.

Any other changes you would like to see on this laptop?

 

Yeah.. Definitely quiet fans would be GREAT improvement...

 

16:10 resolution and the same price. ).

I am sure they could add all those things in a future laptop, but the price will jump by a few hundred bucks for sure .