What to do after Unboxing?

Thanks for this thread. I will be getting an 8130 soon and was hoping to find a guide about what I can do to make sure everything works when it arrives. This looks like it should do the job perfectly!

 

Awesome thread, used almost all of these steps when I got my P150HM today.

 

@mountainlifter_k

I see the monitor defect clearly. From the image you uploaded, it actually looks like a small ghost . Kind of makes you wonder what they were doing with that screen before it was installed on your laptop, doesn't it...

 

Thanks for the thread! This will help me out on any laptop purchase i'll make in the future.

 

The bad panel was an LG. After RMA they sent me the AUO in my sig. Alls well that ends well.!

 

Great thread! Can't wait to get my new lappy. =)

 

After spending the past week plus dealing with repeated BSODs and many many full reinstalls on my brand new 5175 I would add the following two things:

Download and use memtest86 to test your memory.
Download and use either seatools or smartmontools to test your hard drive(s).

My 5175 came with both faulty memory and drive. Not only that but Sager will not extend the 30 trial so I will have no opportunity to test the rest of the system within the 30 day period. I will be shipping back the entire laptop tomorrow hopefully. Time to start shopping other brands.

Mark A.

 

Wow... Bad RAM and hard disk? Talk about bad luck. I assume when you say "30 day trial" you are actually talking about the 30 day return period. With the issues you are having, i would take advantage of the 30 day satisfaction guarantee (if you got it from a reseller) and send it back. Then order a new one. But I gotta say, it's pretty rare to have failures of 2 separate systems like that... Did you re-seat the RAM? Re-seat the HD?

On a side note, my NP8170 arrived Tuesday and has been working great. To get the new CPU, I had to create a new order which was done on Wednesday. Had the laptop in my hand Tuesday morning. GREAT JOB Xotic PC!

 

Yep and Yep. The laptop was great for about the first week and then everything started failing.

I am in fact sending it back. I tried to avoid that by asking Sager to extend the 30 days satisfaction period to allow for the RMA on the drive and memory to be completed and installed so that I can make sure that the rest of the hardware is fine. Simply wanted 30 days without a hardware failure. XoticPC agreed that this was fair and asked Sager but Sager told XoticPC that there would be no extension. So bye bye laptop.

As a long time Sager owner (an older 5160 and two new 3250's) I am quite frustrated in Sager for how they treat a long time customer. Probably not going to purchase Sager again. I am researching my options now. For the time I have sunk into this 5175 I could have purchased an alienware

Yep and Yep. The hard drive failure was confirmed by both seatools and smartmontools and the drive showed several past failures in it's smart log. The memory failed memtest86 tests off a booted cd.

Anyway, glad your NP8170 is working well and so far my kids two 3250's have been fine (I ran both of them through the smartmontools tests and memory tests just to be sure.)

Regardless, and back to the OP's topic, I still think it is a good idea to run basic hardware tests right after purchase to avoid any delay in finding issues. Both software packages are free and in the case of smartmontools are quite handy to run on a regular basis to catch drive failures before the loss of data. I run it regularly on all my servers at work and at home.

 

Great thread!

 

Nice advice. I'll make sure I use it since I'm planning on buying one soon

 

Great guide. I recently bought a P150HM and used these advices to set everything up properly. Specially the link to the dead pixel checker and the benchmarks are always great to have at one site.

 

Heh, am I alone in that I take a bunch of photos when unboxing a new toy, grinning like an idiot and pretending to be a reviewer - recording the unpacking process like somebody might actually be interested?

Good thread, solid advice to make sure you make sure what you bought is all present and working.

 

If you're looking for some free windows apps, take a look over at this thread (also in NBR). It's definitely been helpful to me.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-ever-growing-free-windows-software-list.html

Just got my laptop today, so getting all my fun apps and games installed so we can give it a whirl tonight.

 

Awesome thread! Thanks a bunch

 

Yes we are interested. Many of us here never tire of pics and the unboxing...
_

 

So, I did buy the 8150 in the end, and it's wonderful. I ended up having to go for the GTX 580m, not the 6990 like I had orignally wanted with the 2760 CPU. Anyway, when I tried to run 3D mark Vantage or 11 I get the same issue - it can't find the system info file. After a cursury search on here, I can't see the same issue mentioned - apologies of there is a thread already. I have tried reinstalling to no avail. I had a look at the 3D mark fourms and site and all it says it to install the latest version. Not helpful.

Has anyone else come across the same issue? Is there a fix about that I am too stupid to see? Is it a known issue?

 

Thanks a ton! looking forward to going through this when I get mine!

 

Nice list! I'll make sure to go through it when I get mine

 

Holy guacamole. I love this guide. I will be checking the items as I got after the unboxing. "The Unboxing" sounds like a biblical reference or a movie title. thanks a million Altered Phoenix!

 

Thanks so much!
Did most of you guys buy the dead pixel guarantee option?

 

I just did... I'd hate to have even a single black dot in the middle of the screen. It happened on a netbook I previously owned, it drove me nuts everytime I was watching a movie on it.

I suppose I'll post here in a few weeks with my unboxing experience

 

I'm getting ready to place myself an order, but really am trying to keep my price down, paying for the pixel protection is not something I think I am going to do, but if I end up with a pixel out in the middle of the screen I think I'd go nuts. I'd be willing to pay for the pixel protection after the fact if it meant I could swap it out.

 

Keep in mind that the rate of "defective" (read: pixel problems) screens in a batch of clevo laptops is exactly the same as the rate of defective screens in any other manufacturer.

This is true, by and large, provided we're not comparing the worst vs best manufacturers. It's pretty even all throughout.

Point is: No matter where you buy from, you run the very negligible risk of getting a bad screen.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Hi
thanks for the great info!
I'm preparing everything as waiting for my p151hm1 to arrive.Can't wait!

I think it's a good idea to make a Recovery Disk after installing OS and all the updates and your favorite apps.
It might be useful one day!

If anybody has any idea about Free Apps to create a Recovery Disk, please write!

 

Don't most places come with a 30-45 day policy anyway? I was looking at the P150HM from a few different places and they all have it. I think one even has a 3 year warranty standard and it might be included.

 

Clonezilla - About

 

Good thread, will be using this soon.

 

Thanks for the tips man. Can't wait to use this thread.

 

Very helpful thread - was able to use it for my new P170HM. Thanks guys!

 

joining the bandwagon here, thanks for the info op.

 

Thanks for the info....I'm getting my 8150 today and will def use this!

 

Hopefully receiving my NP8150 soon but I'm a little confused about updating my graphics card driver. It's coming with the 6990m. I'm confused about how to install new drivers, uninstall old ones, and when to use the DriveSweeper program. Any links to tutorials would be appreciated as this is the first time I've tried updating GPU drivers; thanks!

 

Assuming Windows came preinstalled, just go to the AMD site and download the newest drivers or get them from this link:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/573379-clevo-driver-thread.html

Go to control panel > add remove programs. Uninstall any instances of the old AMD drivers. Run the new package you just downloaded. Reboot and you should be all done. It's not very involved at all

 

Thanks. So I don't need to run those programs listed in the OP like DriveSweeper?

 

Not usually, no. I'd only recommend those if you had glitching or artifacting (which would indicate possible driver problems)

 

You should add Microsoft Security Essentials (free, rating 5.0) to your Antivirus software detail.

Also, what is your suggested way to check for dead pixels?

 

Look at a full-screen solid white picture to check for dead pixels and a full-screen solid black picture to check for stuck pixels.

 

So helpful! Will make sure to revisit when my Sager NP8170 / Clevo P170HM comes in. Thanks.

 

Great info, will revisit too once I receive my Clevo. Thanks!

 

Out of interest, has anything changed for this? My specs are in my sig.

 

My NP9150 is in route for delivery today!!!! I can't wait to get my hands on it!!!

 

The Sager NP9150 user manual states to "always completely discharge, then fully charge" a new battery. I am curious if this applies to the battery that comes with the laptop.

This almost sounds like you shouldn't plug the laptop into AC power until you have first run the battery down to 0%.

What is the best practice (battery-wise) after unboxing a new laptop?

 

That's a bit strange. All the other laptops I've owned, recommend fully charging the battery first followed by fully discharging it (until the computer turns itself off) when you first get it.

 

Does anyone have any official word on this?

 

Those apply to the older Nickel-Cadmium batteries. Don't ever fully discharge a modern battery.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Is there any advantage whatsoever to a properly applied application of Arctic Silver versus the option of the IC Diamond Thermal Compound?

 

They're pretty much analogous.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Thank you.

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