need help deciding please, new to sager!

I have a powerbook g4 for right that Im about to sell and I think I have narrowed it down to the sager np9280 or np5797, or possible the np9850. I am still considering a macbook pro as well. I am concerned about the quality of sager and how long it will last. Between the three listed above which would be best for portability/battery life with the ability to game, run cpu intensive applications such as adobe cs4, 3d studio max, auto cad programs, and data logging etc. I would like to keep the price below 2800 if possible.

 

can anyone give me any suggestions?

 

i am undecided and i would also like to know the best place to purchase a sager?

 

i would go for np5797...
it has longer battery life...
np9280 have SLI 280m , and np9850 have i7..both are power hogs and cant be brought around without having AC plugged in

 

Please fill out the FAQ

Then I will suggest the best one for your needs

 

General Questions

1) What is your budget? 2600

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

a. Netbook; 10” screen or less
b. Ultraportable; 11" - 12” screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

a. Like: sager
b. Dislike:

5) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook? everything from school to work to play, adobe cs4, 3d studio max, auto cad programs, games, etc, data logging

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both? both

7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games or types of games? all type of games

8) How many hours of battery life do you need? as many as possible lol

9) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK? as long as i get to see pictures

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc. windows and unix/linux

Screen Specifics

11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?

a. WXGA – 1280x800 or occasionally 1280x768; For people who like big text and icons that are easy to read. Less stuff fits on the screen, which translates into more scrolling.
b. WXGA+ – 1440x900; A modest bump over WXGA. Text and icons are a bit smaller. A little more stuff fits on the screen.
c. WSXGA+ – 1680x1050; The middle ground. Again, text and icons are smaller than WXGA+, and more stuff fits onto the screen. Good for having applications open side by side, like a web browser while playing a video.
d. WUXGA - 1920x1200; Very small text and icons, that can be hard to read. Lots of stuff fits on the screen, which means less scrolling. Good for applications that require a high level of detail like CAD or Photo Editing.

12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? which ever is better for my application

Build Quality and Design

13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you? yes somewhat

14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last? as soon as i figure out which one i want im going to place an order, i would like it to last at least 3 years
Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 500GB? Do you want a SSD drive? i would like to upgrade to an ssd once they are cheaper and better but i do need 320gb+

16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive? dvd burner is fine

 

im pretty sure ive narrowed it down to the 9280 and the 5797. i just cant decide which one. =/

 

could you narrow it down by telling us what part of the world you are from. (im at work so pics are blocked so if your flag does appear above ignore this post)

 

im from los angeles, ca in the usa. i am going to make my purchase from rjtech.com as they are in driving distance and i could just pick it up after i order it. im pretty sure im going to go with the 9280

 

im still a little undecided between the 5795 and the 9280. if i were to get the 9280 i would get the lowest core i7 and if i were to get the 5797 i would get the q9000. also with the 5797 do people usually get the turbo memory 4gb? anymore opinions would be greatly appreciated..

 

I would consider the M890NU or the Alienware M17x... Either one you can get with 2 280m's SLI, 1900x1200 or x1080... and I yes I know it's not an I7 but the normal Quads are just as good for your purposes, an for gaming even a high end dual would be just as good... both of these systems also include the intergrated card as well... I personally recommend the M17x, and BTW I can get 3:30 and up on the intergrated cards and lights off... then I switch over to my 280m's and max out any games highest settings at 1900x1200!

 

the m890nu is slighty too big for me and for some reason alienware is just not appealing to me. they would be slight too expensive as well. between the 5797 and the 9280 which would be a better choice? if i get the 9280 i would get the base core i7 with 6gb of ram. if i get the 5797 i would get the q9000 with 4gb of ram and the 4gb turbo memory. i also like the fact if i order from rjtech i have the option not to get an os install as i already have vista ultimate 64 bit.

 

Hi mufasis. I purchased my M570TU from RJTech and so far it has ate through all of my MATLAB arrays and some AutoCAD. And that is with my QX9300 clocked at 1.6GHz. You will not be disappointed with either system.

 

did you get your 5797 with the 4gb turbo memory? i guess it really comes down to the i7 920 with 6gb ram or the q9000 with 4gb...

 

Yes I did. From reading your questions form, it seems that you are leaning a bit more on portability. If you don't mind shorter battery life and a chunky system with an even chunkier power supply, the D900F is right up your alley. Otherwise, the M570TU will do everything the D900F can do, but in a smaller package and less storage expandability.

 

how much shorter is the battery and how much more power will the 9280 take? does the turbo memory really do anything? how do you use it? i cant decide between the two im so stuck lol this is terrible....from what i know the core i7 is the future and its a lot more powerful than then quads.

 

Run a search for "battery" in the D900F thread and you should get a few results. It seems the battery time is less than half of the runtime of my M570TU. Intel Turbo Memory acts as storage for programs or whatever you put on it. You can pull stuff faster off the memory rather than pulling it off the hard drive. Personally I don't use it. I disabled my turbo memory card.

Both the M570TU and D900F cannot upgrade to a faster CPU in the future as newer CPU's will need a different socket.

 

wow that is short! im still confused on the turbo memory and how its used?

 

Sorry, I was editing my post. I added an explanation for Turbo Memory.

 

i thought that i could upgrade to a better core i7 or quad processor that is the same socket? also i called rjtech and they said that their d990f isnt sager branded, is this true?

 

does anyone have a recommendation as to go with clevo or sager branded?

 

It doesn't matter how they're branded, they're all Clevos. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

 

you have answered your own question by saying the M980NU is too big

get the d900 then

 

NP5797 is portable enough, has decent battery life (2 hours at 100% brightness with a P9600), and will rip through games with ease. The build quality is solid, keyboard is comfortable, and the screen is good, but the speakers are too quiet, only complaint. With a QX9300, 280M, and support for 8GB DDR3 RAM, I see this lasting a while.

 

why in your sig do you want to trade the sager for a macbook pro?

i guess im really having a hard time deciding between the portability versus the power of the 9280 and the core i7 versus the q9000

 

To be honest, I'm not sure why. But it would be interesting to try something new, I've never owned a Mac. The 17" is at least of similar value, and the design is impressive. What, 6 1/2 pounds and only an inch thick?

 

Of course you can still upgrade to a higher tier CPU of the same socket. What I mean is you can't upgrade to future platform CPU's.

RJTech never sells any Sager branded Clevo's. They are a direct Clevo importer that sells Clevo's as they come in. No rebranding, no rebadging, no renaming. You will be getting a blank "incognito" notebook with the "Style Note" badges that you can stick onto the notebook if you so wish to.

 

well a macbook pro was my first choice until a friend recommended sager. i love the design of apple but the specs on the clevos are so much better no? also a few people in the apple forum said that xp runs like crap on it. if i go with the d900f or the 5797 ill end up dual booting vista with openbsd. but im still stuck between the two sigh. how much better would the core i7 920 with 6gb of ram be versus the q9000 with 4gb ram?

 

We have already told you everything you need to know about the systems. If you are still indecisive about this, then I really have nothing else to say.

The only reason why people buy the D900F is because they need the powerful desktop CPU and storage expandability. I have friends who are running pro apps on T7xxx's and they are still coming along just fine. The Q9000 will serve all your needs while maintaining portability and decent battery life for light work. The GTX 280M will support all of your games games and CAD. You also have the option to upgrade to 8GB RAM once prices fall. The way I see it, based on your needs, the M570TU would satisfy that as opposed to the D900F which only gives you raw CPU horsepower.

 

soviet i just have one more question, when you purchased your computer through rjtech what warranty option did you go with?

 

I went with the basic one year warranty. In the past six years, I never needed to send any of my three Clevo's to RJTech for warranty service as I do all of the warranty work myself.

 

what kind of work did you have to do?

 

well if any individual part goes wrong you simply replace it, a cpu/ram or hdd is an easy repair, a screen is a tad more difficult but still very simple. The only thing that you really cant fix on your own is a motherboard issue. Clevo/sager is the tippmann of the laptop industry.

 

I replaced a faulty Crucial stick on my D400V. I upgraded the 1680x1050 panel to a 1920x1200 panel on my M38AW. And I upgraded my 9800M GTX to a GTX 280M as well as downgraded my hard drive from a 500GB 7200.4 to a 250GB 7200.4 on my M570TU.

1337 post!

 

well ive decided to go with the m570tu, thank you soviet for the great advice. i think the portability is more important then the all out cpu power and this laptop is still awesome. there is one more thing though maybe you could help me with and thats selecting the processor. on rjtechs site they have them all listed here is the link. i was thinking maybe i could find a better processor online cheaper and install it myself?

https://mivasecure.abac.com/rjtech/...&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=M570TU&Store_Code=R

 

You can buy the M570TU without the CPU and buy a Q9100 on eBay. http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Intel-Quad-...in_0?hash=item3ca449509a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Many users have bought from this guy and have had very good experiences. It is also far cheaper than the OEM Q9100 and Q9000 that RJTech is offering.

I would recommend you a QX9300, but they are in very high demand right now and the prices have skyrocketed, no thanks to the Alienware forum.

 

thats what most people who buy from rjtech do, myself included, except i got an m860etu

 

so the processor is a stand socket 775 correct? same as a desktop cpu? ive never worked with custom laptops but i have built my own desktop thats liquid cooled.

 

just curious but the m860tu is the same as the m570tu except smaller correct?

 

The M570TU and the M860TU use socket 478. The M860TU is smaller than the M570TU and is equipped with the less powerful GTX 260M.

 

Basically, yeah. m860tu is for the more portable minded peeps.

*some minor differences are:
m570etu can be configured with the QX9300 cpu and GTX 280m, where as the m860tu can only go up to a Q9000 or T9900 and GTX 260m

Other than that and screen size, they are exactly the same.....

 

so is that processor from ebay used or whats the deal with it? why is it so cheap?

 

It is cheap because it is an ES CPU. Also, the Q9100 is not in heavy demand as it used to be back in December. The one I linked you to is a QGMU Q9100. It is identical to the OEM. It usually takes about a week for it to leave Hong Kong and arrive at your doorstep, but it is worth every penny.

 

Ehhh i woud go with the 9280. To be honest it will be faster with cpu tasks but will be harder to carry around. Its a nice computer from what i have heard. I would take it over the 5797.

 

whats es mean? on the ebay site it says shipping takes 3-4 days. i think this may be the route to go as its cheaper and better then the one i would get from rjtech. i think i might also get the lappy with no memory and pick some up from new egg, any suggestions? can the m570 use ddr3/1333 or just the 1066 cause at rjtech it says i can buy the 1333

 

yeah the core i7 is nice but its so big and i think for me portability will be an issue in the future due to school and work.

 

ES is short for engineering sample. I covered a lot of it in this thread starting with post #29. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=402927&page=3

3-4 days is for shipping from Hong Kong to whichever country the CPU is destined to. You also need to take into account the time your CPU will be in US Customs for inspection, and the time for USPS or other courier to ship it domestically to your doorstep.

You may use 1066MHz or 1333MHz memory. If you choose the latter, it will just downclock to 1066MHz. When choosing memory, just go with the one that is cheapest. Almost all brands have a lifetime warranty anyway.

 

im a little hesitant to purchase this chip as it only has a 7 day warranty. is there any place online that sells it new for cheaper? how much better is the q9100 then the q9000?

 

In terms of raw speed, the Q9100 is 13% faster than the Q9000. Though the large onboard cache will make up for even more.

The CPU is one of the last components to fail on a computer. When you receive it, it either works or it doesn't. It doesn't matter if it is an ES, OEM, or retail. I have yet to see someone report of a CPU dying on them throughout their time of ownership providing that the CPU is operating within it's rated specs.

The seven day warranty that Shirley offers is insurance for any chance that the CPU comes DOA. However, there are zero users on NBR that have received a DOA CPU from Shirley. I'd say you have nothing to worry about. Also, the ES Q9100 that Shirley is selling is new. If you buy it, you would become the first owner. Shirley just tests the CPU to make sure it isn't dead before he ships it out.

In short, if you want to save a lot of money, buy the CPU on eBay. If you don't want to save a lot money, buy the CPU from RJTech.

 

hey soviet thanks a lot man! you have helped me so much in my decision. ill be ordering everything tomorrow and ive decided to go with the q9100 from shirley. anything else i should consider before placing the order?