Xotic & PowerPC vs. Sager.com

Anyone know why the NP 8660 on Xotic And Powerpc is roughly $100 cheaper when configuring the notebook compared to Sager.com?

Do they leave something out? The warranty at sager is worse as well...

 

Its because Sager charges more than its resellers just like Apple charges more for similar parts etc... Sager's main focus is on shipping systems to resellers, not sales. I someone is dumb enough to pay more on the site, that is just a bonus to Sager.

 

Remember aswell that you will end up paying tax when you buy from the sager website, depending on where you live that is.

I actually asked this question to the people who work at Sager and they simply said "different strokes for different folks". Meaning... Sager.Com boost their prices because they market to the people who are unsecure buying from a seperate retailer. Whereas the the independant retailers want to attract the masses and will take less of a proffit off each model in order to get more volume.

Thanks to the reseller rating for these two companies, both over 9.5 last I checked (1-10 scale), you can feel pretty safe ordering from an independant reseller and save some bucks over ordering directly from sager.com

Hope this helps!
~E

 

Thanks a bunch for the info guys Greatly appreciated

 

EDIT:

BUY FROM XOTIC PC

 

Ok, the BASE price at sager is more expensive because the base configuration at sager includes Vista Premium, whereas Xotic and PNB's BASE config do not offer Vista. If you configure the processors, ram, GPU etc.. the price difference only comes out to be 30. The warranty that is offered at Xotic and PNB is the basic warranty offered at Sager + 3 Year Labor (Which is the fee you would pay for them working on your laptop, and 1 year parts and 24/7 tech support. So you are getting 24/7 Tech support and 2 more years of labor with the reseller.

Sager does NOT SHIP to it's resellers... The resellers get the order for a laptop send it over to Sager and then it is shipped DIRECTLY from Sager to the customer. For almost every laptop the price difference between sager and its resellers has almost always been $10-$40 difference.

Sager also has the same Tax policies as the resellers, you pay tax if you are in the state that the reseller or sager is. Sager does not "boost" their prices, if you call $10-$40 a deal breaking price difference then you obviously haven't seen the other MNC.

 

Minkang's right on the money

 

Wrong... I'm not oblivious to the fact that Sager already has the operating system included in the price...

Here's my lineup: NP 8660

- 15.4" WSXGA+ "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1680x1050)
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- ~Intel® T9600 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.80GHz w/6MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 35 watt
- 512MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce 9800M GT DDR3 DX10 (User Upgradeable)
- ~ 4,096MB DDR3 1066MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (Requires Vista 64-Bit to recognize Full 4GB)
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 320GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Spare Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- ~Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's

Xotic: $2487.08

Sager: $2589.00
______________
Difference: $101.92

That seems to me like alot more than $10-40...

 

Umm im getting 2479 at sager and 2454 and xotic

 

Just to add some more speculation to the mix; I would imagine, and perhaps DarkSmiley can correct me, that Sager chooses its pricing structure in part so that it is not directly competing with its own resellers - because doing so would be cutting off its own nose to spite its face; that is, Sager makes its profit primarily by putting systems together, not by spending time and effort (and money) marketing or selling those systems. If Sager were to compete against its own resellers to the point where the resellers were put out of business, the net result would be a significant drop in the total number of systems Sager shipped, even though Sager would be getting 100% of the sales price, the aggregate annual sales proceeds would probably be less than they are now with the resellers in business.

 

Ah - You're getting 2479 at sager because I forgot to add the extra battery to the list...

Add 110 to that. = 2589

No idea how you're getting that at xotic.

 

Absolutely correct, Shyster! Sager sells mostly through its resellers, so that's where they focus their efforts. Props for cracking the code!

I hope I don't get shot for revealing their inner workings - oh well; I never signed an NDA!

 

One of the other differences between Sager pricing and Xoticpc or PowerNotebooks.com pricing is not only do you not HAVE to buy an OS as you do with Sager, and you also have the opportunity to get a 3% cash discount that is not offered by Sager...on a $2,500 system that amounts to about $75

 

Thanks! Ahh, the heck with NDAs - we don' need no stinkin' NDAs - besides, since I already guessed it, and made it public knowledge, there's usually an out in most NDAs for stuff once that happens (although it would be an interesting interpretive question if the "public knowledge" was only speculation, and whether confirming that speculation on the basis of actual knowledge, but subject to NDA, would fall within the exception for public knowledge, or not ).

 

(XoticPC, Powernotebooks) > Sager.com
XoticPC = Powernotebooks

nuff said?

 

Not "nuff" by a long shot. First, are you comparing qualitatively, or quantitatively?

Second, it depends on the system you're configuring, and what mandatory options you don't actually need (e.g., OS).

I just priced an NP9262 on each site, with the following options:
WUXGA screen
Q9450 CPU
1x9800M GT GPU
4GB RAM
1x320GB, 5400rpm HDD
OS - Sager: _Vista Home Premium; Xotic & PNB: None
2-year parts/labor warranty

Based on that config, I get the following, undiscounted, prices before taxes & shipping:

• Sager - $2,813
• Xoticpc - $2,636
• PNB - $2,696

As the data indicate, Xoticpc and PNB are pretty close together, with PNB being only $60 more than Xoticpc; however, Sager is significantly more expensive than either, being $177 more than Xoticpc and $117 more than PNB.

So, what's to be made of them apples?

 

And it all depends on what you're getting as well. We offer that config for $2,608.99, but, unlike XoticPC or PNB, all our tech support goes through Sager, so you lose out on the domestic 24/7 support.

So basically, Sager sells to its resellers at low prices, and then give them a minimal advertising pice to sell by. All other charges from there are usually do to other mark ups/add ons (like extra support).

Edit: Sorry to tsuzukab, I hope i didn't just rephrase what he said earlier.

 

Me.... because I didn't know back then really what Sager was.... oh well in the future xotic gets my bizness.

 

Well, since you are asking about them apples, let's compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges. When you did the pricing at Xoticpc you have 2 choices for the 2 year extended warranty. One is by Sager, and the other is by a cheaper 3rd party warranty provider that does not have access to all of the Sager parts, most particularly Sager (or Clevo) motherboards, does not keep stock of Sager parts (turn around time will be much longer since they will have to order Sager/Clevo parts), and does not have Sager factory trained technicians to do the work.

Had you compared apples to apples, including either the standard Sager 1 year warranty, or both of them with the Sager 2 year warranty, you would have seen no price difference at all. That of course would have been apples to apples.

As for me, if I were interested in a 2 year warranty I don't think I would have wanted to skimp on $60 (after already spending over $2,600) and take the risk that in the event I had to return it for warranty repair I would have to wait even one day longer to get it back, much less several days, or that when I got it back it wasn't right because someone other than a Sager factory trained technician did the work.

So much for the price of apples

 

Fair dinkum. However, I think even with those suitable modifications, the basic point I was trying to get to is: Not only is Sager not cheaper than the good resellers such as Xoticpc and yourselves, but oftentimes Sager is significantly more expensive.

 

EDIT:

BUY FROM XOTIC PC

 

^--^
Actually to be fair, we are only $5 less than Xoticpc (but that will probably be equalized shortly).

However the point is well taken and correct that we are both considerably lower than Sager, with a better warranty and Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Toll Free Customer Service, a 3% cash discount, and an option to have no OS, none of which is provided when you buy directly from Sager.

Thanks to all of you for your support

 

When I do that configuration on your site DarkSmiley it comes up to $2,703.99, not $2,608.99.

 

Yes, but XPC and PNB dont have _Vista. So thats another 100-150$ added in. The Difference is then 77$ and 17$ right?

 

Again, if you are comparing, please compare with the Sager 2 Year Warranty, not a cheap 3rd party warranty that has the flaws I mentioned previously.

It is true that if you WANT Vista the comparison is closer ($20), as long as you don't want to take advantage of the 3% cash discount which will make the difference even greater.

 

Completely right paladin44, my mistake. I think I priced the WXGA+ instead of the WUXGA. Oh well, I hope my point was taken even if my price was wrong!

 

I guess i wasnt clear "nuff"

I didnt mean price-wise at all, i simply meant PNB and XoticPC are superior to sager.com

The mistake was mine, but i hope were clear now?

 

Point taken as far as I am concerned, and welcome to the forum. Your contributions have been quite helpful so far...thank you.

 

Crystal clear! Thanks!