Who to buy a Clevo from?

First of all, I did read the sticky, but it barely has anything other than contact information, and I'm looking for some subjective opinions from actual owners.

Anyways, it seems there's 3 main resellers, so I'll start with those:

Sager: Seems like the best (and most popular) option, but do they sell to customers outside the USA?

XoticPC: It would appear that international warranties require the buyer to pay to ship the laptop all the way back to California. That could be quite pricey.

Eurocom: The base system is the cheapest, but the options cost by far the most. A fully decked out system from Eurocom costs 50% more than the equivalent system from Sager/XoticPC.

Of course, if there's any other reputable resellers that NBR members have experience with, please let me know.

 

Whoever gives you the lowest price and has a solid reputation. It's the same notebook. Negotiate over the phone.

Personally, I prefer R & J Tech's barebones, and simply pop in the cpu, ram, hdd, and operating system myself. It usually ends up being a lot less expensive.

 

Where are you from ?

 

With the unbelievable prices Intel charges for retail boxed laptop CPUs, I have to wonder if there's any savings at all. The only way to save money would be turning to ebay and buying a CPU ripped out of someone else's old laptop.

Ironically, the model that supports LGA1366 might be the cheapest by far if I do go this route.

Canada

 

Xotic.. through all of my research and reading...

http://www.xoticpcforums.com/

No, I have not bought one from Justin..

No, I dont work for Justin..

No, I do not now.. nor will I ever benefit from saying this..

The other route.. if you want a barebones and want to build it yourself..

R&J Technology
http://www.rjtech.com

If you are not a Ninja / Pro.. dont bother R&J.. they are serious builder types not for retail to NOOB's.. like me.. maybe you are a Ninja / Pro and they would work for you.. depends on your skill set.

I hope this helped..

Be well, JW

 

You can still order a complete notebook from RJTech, but it will cost more. However, you do get a very liberal one year warranty and tech support from people that know what they're talking about and won't avoid you like Sager. Also, the notebooks come badgeless.

 

I aked Justin if he could put a D900F MoBo in an 18.4 inch frame / laptop and if I could have sli / crossfire with it.. I of course will send it out to you for cooling mods and tweaking as I am a loser noob with no skill set.. but I am smart enough to know who is GREAT!

Ha.. double Ha!... in my best Stewie vioce..

Be well Soviet Sunrise and you are welcome for the laughter I just provided.. You have to be laughing at me.. for my creation.. But if he could or would.. that would be a laptop to be reckoned with..

JW

 

Can a D900F motherboard "fit" in an 18.4 inch chassis? Yes it can.

Can you have SLi with it? No because there is only one PCI-E slot and the motherboard cannot supply enough power to a desktop i7 and two top shelf GPU's.

Can you have Crossfire with it? No because the system BIOS does not support Crossfire, nor can the motherboard supply enough power to a desktop i7 and two top shelf GPU's.

Are these last two questions valid? No, they are absolutely not valid.

Does it debunk the entire theory of creating a desktop CPU/twin GPU notebook? Yes it does.

Are you a loser noob? You're a noob, but not a loser. So no.

Am I willing to mod the only desktop CPU/twin GPU notebook in the world? Damn straight I am. I just had a dream last night. I found out how to make my M570TU cooling overhaul even better. However, because I no longer have my M570TU, I will need to wait until I purchase the W870CU to make my dream come true. It will yet again be revolutionary.

 

You are the Man!

I think you could build it.. I think if you had enough time and money.. you could build a 40,000 benchmark laptop.. that ran cooler than a desktop..

I have seen and read enough of your stuff to know Genius when I see it.. and I think you would Love! building it to boot.

Thanks as always you are a GREAT! sport, JW

 

You must be a blind man.

 

I saw what you said.. but money no object and time not an issue.. with a jig saw to cut up a desktop board to squeeze it in.. with a 50lb power brick..

it is like a 1,000 horse power Viper with twin turbos.. it can be done.. with enough skill and love put into the car.. I think you could do it.. custom build to be sure.. but you have a real love for computers.. and thus your talent grows when you tinker.. I am trying to catch up..

Give me a couple years.. I will learn a lot.. who knows when I learn more maybe I will build something crazy with you.. I will learn how to squeeze in a D900f Mobo.. into http://www.gscreencorp.com/ I would like an dual 18 inch screen.. and you can beat me over the head when I get to far out of what is reasonable..

We could be the custom builders of laptops for the truely extreme..

Who knows.. my dreaming with your common sense and skill.. might be a good partnership..

 

Both XoticPC and Sager ship worldwide. I have emailed both, and they do ship worldwide, although it does cost quite a bit. Eg: $250 USD to get a laptop shipped to Australia.

Unusually enough, I got emailed by Justin from XoticPC when I asked where they shipped...

 

I thought we already voted and Justin won hands down and easily over the rest?

Sorry.. I didnt mean to go off topic.. but I thought the problem was solved.

Be well.. and my bad..

JW

 

Absolutely not. I would never align myself with people that cannot see through my signature sarcasm. You are starting to remind me of this guy. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4922969

I'm not exactly fond of your automobile analogies, but this one doesn't follow suit. There is an upper limit to where one can go with modifying machines, but in most cases, there is an unavoidable contraint that even the best engineers cannot penetrate without recreating a brand new foundation, the motherboard, to have it be compatible. Hell, I wouldn't even do something that drastic to my 'Vette C6; all I have done on it was pleat the air filters. It would be much easier to pay Clevo to engineer a desktop i7/twin GPU notebook, but it would end up being the size of a desktop already. The market for such a system just doesn't exist. You're probably the only user in a small boat of aspiring enthusiasts that dream of a system like that. With the kind of money, you can build the fastest i7 desktop with Nvidia's Tesla GPU. You can run Crysis at 60fps on a 1920x1080 monitor maxed out all the live long day with a Tesla.

My fingers are tired. Please refrain from posting anymore speculations regarding a desktop i7/twin GPU notebook. That dream is dead. Get a Clevo D900F, M980NU, or build a desktop.

 

"turning to eBay", "buying a CPU ripped out of someone else s laptop?" Who do you work for? Seriously, which company do you work for? Save the exaggeration and semantics.

$100 P8400 (ripped out of someone elses laptop!)
$20 2GB Stick of RAM (new)
$30 Hard Drive ( (ripped out of someone elses laptop!)
$10 Wireless Card (new)
----------------------
$160 + barebones.

What does this mean?

It means that a barebones Clevo W860CU (1920*1080 LED, 280M GT) with these parts costs $1379.

That same Clevo W860CU from your favorite reseller cost $1700+.

 

Sorry.. it is Staurday Night.. you are a professional.. I am a Noob.. thus your knowledge and skill of your profession... does not suffer a dreamers perspective of what could be easily.. for that I am truely sorry..

I will not bother you again with dual screens and dual GPU's with a desktop mobo in a laptop again..

Please forgive my ignorance.. please forgive my lite hearted dream.. please forgive my trying to have some fun.. you are a pro.. I am a noob..

I am thankful for the time you have taken to clear up my (and maybe others) mis-conceptions of what is possible.. in a laptop.

Once again thank you for taking the time to engage with the less than, JW

 

I am not a professional. You are not a noob. We are simply both people still learning in the world of notebooks. I just know that you can't throw all the money and time at something to get what you want. There needs to be a lot of compromises and re-engineering done to achieve something near what you are dreaming of. I am not capable, nor willing, to undertake such a task because of this barrier, and part of my morality that detests desktop CPU's in notebooks.

I would be much more comfortable if you would drop the master/apprentice kind of mentality and come down to my level and just talk to me like you would anyone else. I appreciate your thanks, but come on man, from the way I see it you're putting a lot more emphasis on what a person has achieved and where he stands rather than what he can offer and how both can learn from the experience.

 

To get back to the OP, an often overlooked Clevo reseller is Malibal. They've got the lowest prices I've come across on the latest Clevo models. Warranties differ from reseller to reseller so it's always good to check that as well.

 

Oh please, try harder next time you decide to troll. As if a P8400 would even fit in a laptop mobo with an mPGA-989 socket. *Yawn*

I'll take a peek at Malibal in a moment then

 

You should look up how much performance gains you'll get out of a i7 vs a p8400. Again, no need for the "*yawns!*" unless you're 13.

$100 P8400 (ripped out of someone elses laptop!)
$20 2GB Stick of RAM (new)
$30 Hard Drive ( (ripped out of someone elses laptop!)
$10 Wireless Card (new)
----------------------
$160 + barebones

Clevo M86 Barebones (wsxga+, 260m gt) + Parts = $1139 or $1039 and choose processor.

NP8662 from reseller = $1309+

For the difference you can get an extreme core 2 processor or save a bundle of cash on a T5800 which has great price/performance as I've bought them as low as $28 on eBay.

 

Peon, Xoticpc pays one-way shipping from canada if you need to send it for repairs. That's why I went with them even if I'm in Canada.

 

I recommend you buy from these places: Powernotebooks, XoticPC, R&J Tech, Pro Star.

I recommend you DO NOT buy from these places: Eurocom, PC Microworks.

 

I second that. Oh and btw, why do you hate Eurocom so much Crylo? Did you have a bad experience with them, or is it just because of other people's bad experiences?

 

Both, I've also had bad experiences with them too, I know first hand the sneakiness and illegal practices of Eurocom, particularly the president of Eurocom, as he has also lied to me and insulted my intelligence on a few occasions. After months of BS back and forth I had my issues resolved at their expense, but it was like pulling teeth, I never want to go through that or deal with them ever again, and I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I went through either.

 

Stay away from Eurocom. See my sig to find out why....and if you are in Canada, the dollar is currently strong so buying US wont be that hard on your wallet. ;-)

 

...while I had them resolve my issue at MY expense... the company president should have offered to resolve this at his expense.

 

I'd go with XoticPC. Just remember to prepare yourself to pay a big fee of import taxes because you bought the machine from a company in the USA. There's a post around here somewhere detailing how you can pay the fees before the machine even reaches the border so that you don't get dinged at the door to pay.

 

Actually, there aren't any duties on notebooks shipping from the US to Canada, however - you still have to pay GST, HST, PST taxes (typically 5%-13%) depending on where you live in Canada.

If you have a UPS account, they have a pretty cool tool that calculates an estimated landing cost: https://wwwapps.ups.com/tradeability/bridge_cont?loc=en_US

The tariff code for notebooks is: 8471.30.00.00

Also, you might get charged a small brokerage fee, depending on the shipping method you select, see pricing here: http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipping/cost/zones/customs_clearance.html

 

How about which retailer offers student discounts?

 

MALIBAL Veda series... nice.. very nice.

Now if only the laptop builders would give me a i7 (real one, not a mobile one) and sli / crossfire in directx11.. ssd's like an SLC option would be nice as well.. the trim firmware should be out soon(ish) for the Samsung.. maybe a make or break moment for them.. from an educated purchsers perspective.

But very nice laptop.. even better review.. I have visited your site.. and honestly I would buy from Justin.. not becuase you site is not great.. becuase it is great.. and you seem nice.. but Justin has been around here (in NBR) for a while.. and his chatrooms make the difference for me..

But having said all of this Murphy's law will take over.. and I will be begging you for a laptop in the near future..

Keep posting.. engage the Noob's like myself and answer silly questions.. maybe show us you personal rig modified.. or how you made it better.. if you are the computer lover I think you are.. you may win over quite a few people this way..

Just trying to be honest and give you some good and real feed back..

I hope I did not offend you.. I hope that I helped.. I followed the banner here to find you.. I did Google before hand ad find you and some responses from past prucahsers.. it read well.. save the fact that the purchasers had 1 to 3 posts and thats it among themselves.. I think there is another Malibu Computers as well... http://www.malibu-computers.com/

Which people (like myself) may get confused by..

Once again I hope this helped.. that was my intent.

Sincerely, JW

 

Clevo will probably offer one in the near future, when there is a desktop i7 revision with a lower TDP, maybe in an 18.4" chassis. If they do, I hope it has a back lit keyboard.

 

Regarding badgeless, I've seen an MSI that literally had a hole in the back of the lid so someone could make their own badge. Does RJTech/Clevo do that or is it just plain with no symbols?

 

You can get them with no badge, totally plain jane.

 

It depends on the model. The W870CU and W860CU I know are both plain with no logos or lettering. There is no recessed area for putting on a badge.

 

Thanks guys. I thought that MSI looked pathetic.

Now if someone could find a deal on a i7-920XM we may have something here.