agentxavier's NP8660 Review

I purchased from XoticPC on 8/9/2008. Recieved 8/29/2008.
Cost with the paying cash discount was 2,137.88 with no OS.
I live in California so Sager had to ship my computer to Xotic in Nebraska then to California to avoid the $165.68 sales tax. Shipping took a little longer then I wanted because of this.
Here is my Sager NP8660 specifications:

* Display: 15.4" WSXGA+ "Glare Type" Super
* Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 processor
* Windows Vista Ultimate w/ SP1 (I bought this cheap off ebay for $80)
* 4GB DDR3-1066MHz RAM
* Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT 512MB PCI-Express
* 320GB 7200RPM hard drive
* 8X DVD-RW
* 7-in-1 card reader
* Built-in 2.0 MP megapixel camera
* Intel Wireless WiFi, built-in Bluetooth

Design
The notebook is designed with simplicity in mind. There is nothing big and flashy about this notebook. I feel the choice of a Blue power button does give it a coolness factor. I was expecting the display to be a solid black glossy finish but it looks more like a wood like texture finish.

Display
The display is bright and vibrant. I do not notice any sort of graininess especially when playing Call of Duty 4. The display seems crisp and sharp. I do have 1 dead pixel on the left side of my screen.
Heres a screen shot with a big dot I added to show where the dead pixel is.
http://i33.tinypic.com/a83yc.jpg

Touchpad
The design remind of be Audi cars. Carefully crafted with elegance and style in mind. Looking at it it seems to be part of the notebook but it does have a barrier so your fingers dont go sliding off. The pad is responsive to tapping and the buttons respond well.

Keyboard
The keyboard seems to be a bit small for the size of the notebook computer. As reported by others the space bar does make more noise then the other keys but it is not very distracting or noticeable. There does not seem to be any kind of delay when typing. I have not experienced any flexing or elevated keys that seem to have poped up as others have reported.

Speakers
I find the quality of the speakers superb. I did not notice any crackling with the speakers at max volume. The volume is quite loud for a notebook computer. What I did noticed was it seemed to be a little more quiet then I would like for DVD movies but it may have been Media Player Classic. Mp3's and hulu.com played fine and the volume seemed quite loud.

DVD-RW
I like the DVD being on the left side of the notebook rather then the right side. When reading DVD's the reader did not seem extremely loud like others have reported. You can hear it when its seeking but it seems equal to other drives not louder but the same.

Power Brick
I was lucky enough to receive one with a fan. The fan on the power brick is louder then the fan on the notebook computer. Size wise it does not seem that large to me but I am used to the huge xbox 360 power brick. My sister on the other hand asked why it was so large.

Battery Life
The battery seems to last around 2 hours of web surfing and using word. I still need to do more tests.

BIOS
The bios is standard but what I noticed which is nice is it lets you setup your computer for XP or Vista.

Speed
Windows This notebook seems extremely fast. My previous computer was a 3.2ghz P4 with a nvidia 6600 card. This puts my desktop to shame. Huge performance increases. I am able to use Windows Dream scape and can play TF2 without any sort of lag or frame rate slow down.


Heat
I did notice the right side of the touch pad and notebook getting warmer then the rest of the notebook. It is not blazing hot but it does get warm. After 3 hours of TF2 I noticed it did get warmer but not unbearable and I rarely touch the right side of the touch pad and notebook when gaming but when I did it actually felt kind of nice and warm.

Here are some temps after an hour of web surfing on my bed.


After 4 hours of web surfing on my bed.


My highest recored HD temp after gaming for several hours has been 61 but again that was on my bed with bad air flow and most of the vents covered. These temperatures do seem reasonable to me and understandable with so much power crammed in a 15 inch notebook.

Conclusion

The Saget NP8660 is a very impressive notebook. The extremely powerful graphics card and CPU sets this notebook apart from other 15 inch notebooks. The power and simplistic style is perfect for those who want a powerful machine without the flashiness others manufactures offer. Build quality is excellent and seems to have been carefully thought out and crafted. I would recommend this to any computer enthusiast who enjoys portability and gaming.

Pros

* Solid WSXGA+ display
* Fastest 15 inch available.
* Great build quality
* Built in bluetooth/wireless 7 in 1 reader.
* Simplistic design not flashy and distracting.
* Good cooling system for the power inside.
* Comes with a 3 year warranty if purchased through reseller.

Cons

* Heavier notebook but still not as heavy as a 17 inch.
* Power Brink is loud compared to the notebook.
* Does not include any free extras mouse or case ect...

 

Great review thanks a lot. I am very glad you seem to be happy with your purchase. My machine should come sometime next week, so I'll try to post a review like yours to see how the consistency carries over. Thanks again.

 

If the dead pixel annoy you, try to fix it or exchange it within 30 days, I'm sure you would be happy of that Thanks for posting the review. Just few questions: Where did you buy it and when did you order/receive it? You have excellent temps btw

 

Nice review. A few points:

1) Who did you purchase from (Which reseller)? XoticPC does NOT come with a three year warranty (parts + labor) and sends you a free carrying case.

2) You say that the keyboard is a bit small for a a computer of this size... but it's just as large as almost all other 15.4" keyboards (only exception I can think of is the MSI notebook offered through XoticPC and PowerNotebooks which has a numeric keypad, too, but then it must have slightly smaller keys to accomodate that)

3) I agree nearly everything else you say -- this notebook is amazing.

One question -- you say that you can't notice any graininess, esp. during COD4. Not to nitpick (it's hard for me not to ), but this means that you have to be noticing some sort of graininess when you're not playing if it seems less grainy during gameplay. Graininess is less noticeable when gaming in general, IMO, I agree. Myself and others have noted graininess in our WSXGA+ displays, so I'm glad that it doesn't bother you or you don't notice it or genuinely don't have it.

 

Congrats on your machine. It seems great and those temperatures seem great as well. Great review.

I would just like to ask you a couple of things:
1- Where did you get the laptop from?
2- Would you mind doing some CPU and GPU tests?
Use this thread as a reference: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=293249

We are lacking a good review on GPU and CPU thermal profiles.

Congrats again,
M.

 

I purchased from XoticPC on 8/9/2008. Recieved 8/29/2008. I did not get a free case. I have a 3 year labor 1 year parts warranty through xotic. I have never had an HD tv and only CRT monitors so the screen seems fine not grainy to me.

 

Very nice review mate. My e-peen is regretting my choice of the P8600 over the P9500, but other than that I love my notebook. I'm really tempted to call my reseller to work out a deal for a processor upgrade. I know there won't be huge difference, but I think I'm losing sleep over it.

Yeah, I also notice some grain when I'm surfing the web, but it's almost impossible for me to see it when I'm gaming or watching a DVD, so I let it slide. The colors and viewing angles are great.

I'll run some tests for you.

 

Thanks for the review. and as others said, your temps are great, where did you buy it from?

 

Let me guess... you guys have all had a Dell before and now are all traumatized!? Everyone will see a problem if they set their minds at it.

Thank you very much Kevin.
And again, thanks to the OP... one step closer to my decision (and interestingly enough, my specs are just the same as the OP)... I already love this laptop!

 

Nice review agentxavier. It's a shame the dead pixel is apparent (if only it was in a corner or on the edge of the screen...). As livesoft mentioned, try fixing it yourself ( ref), or send it for repair if it annoys you.

A few questions:

• How much did this setup cost you?
• Did you order from within the US? If not, did you encounter any problems with the shipping?

 

The dead pixel is not as big as it seems i painted a dot where it is with ms paint. It does not bother me and I dont feel the need to go through the hassle of returning it and waiting another week for another computer.

Total cost with the paying cash discount at xotic was 2,137.88 no os included.

I live in California so Sager had to ship my computer to Xotic in Nebraska then to California to avoid the $165.68 sales tax. Shipping took a little longer then I wanted.

 

great review. at first i thought the dead pixel was that black dot.

 

Nice review! Just to confirm, these temps are when plugged in? If so, those are some amazing temps since you stuck it on a bed and didn't use a cooler.

 

Yes the computer was plugged in the whole time. Also, it was 75-77 degrees in my house at the time if that makes a difference.

 

Gophn's gonna kill you when he finds out you used your notebook on your bed like that!

you should read the cooling guide:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=263039