previous MSI owners please give your opinion

I've been really wracking my brains about if I should get a Sager or MSI computer for the last month. MSI has a better keyboard and speaker system (and I do use it quite a bit, don't like headphones unless I have to), but you get a much better video card at the $1100 price point with Sager (770 vs 765, 20% speed difference), and you also get a screen upgrade that is more than three times less expensive. I was wondering if anyone who currently owns a Sager machine but previous owned an MSI machine (or currently own both): was it worth switching? (cross posted on MSI forum for different viewpoint, hopefully this doesn't annoy anyone)

 

I've got a MSI GT725, which I still use a bit depending upon where I'm at, but it pretty much sits in a fixed position(17" is not really portable IMNHO).

The 725 was getting to the point where I was wanting to upgrade it a bit, but most of the limited options were fairly expensive so I had earlier decided to only replace hdd if necessary and maybe increase RAM IF I could find it reasonably priced.

Long and short haswell came(what I was waiting for for power management improvements) out. I had previously looked at Sager/Clevos before I purchased the GT725 and looking around at the time, the 15.6" Sager NP8250-S fit the bill for me, which I ordered.

Sound: don't ask me as good enough is good enough for me and I have low expectations as far as sound on notebooks. Anyways to me they're about equal. Not great. Not awful. i.e. they get the job done. Ask an audiophile for something more.

Screen is WAY better than 725, but we're talking a 4+ year old panel(can't recall mfg ATM) v. something newer.

Keyboard: Well on the Sager the Fn button is in the most assinine position possible while the useless windows key is where IT SHOULD have gone. Beyond that at first I didn't care much for the Clevo kb v. the 725's kb but now after a few weeks of lightish use they "feel" about the same.

Build: Seem about equal, but the Sager feels a bit cheaper as it's all plastic v. portions of the 725 casing being machined aluminum.

Upgrading: My MSI was a retail edition, so it was plastered with warranty void all over the place, and it was fairly difficult to get lids off the various compartments. The Sager OTOH you can pretty much do what you and at least on the 8250 it's all pretty easy, i.e. free tip IF you end up with a Sager/Clevo cut corners on things like hdds/ssds/maybe RAM IF you can get better pricing online/somewhere else as it's dead simple to install those items on your own if you know anything about computers, but you'll probably want/need to be able to re-install the OS esp int he case of an SSD install.

In cases where 2 of 4 RAM slots are available Sager at least installs the shipped RAM in the more difficult to access under the kb slots, which BTW is also where the WiFi card slot is likely to be, so the "easy" access remaining 2 slots would be the ones usually accessed in the main component bay. I added 2x8GB, msata SSD, and the new 7mm 1TB WD blue 5400RPM hdd to my 8250 about a week after receiving it and it took probably, half an hour to do. Then an hour or whatever to re-install win7 and drivers, and then I had to re-setup all the apps that I had/wanted installed again, i.e. moral is don't go crazy setting up base system if you're upgrading hdd/ssds... (In my case I hadn't expected the 1TB drive to be available so soon and decided to try an msata SSD pretty much as an afterthought... ...and the extra 16GB when I was shopping for RAM to upgrade my desktop, as I found it at a good price...)

 

You might want to move this over to the MSI section.

 

Not really. He's looking for MSI v. Sager(/Clevo do they ever use anything else?) general/random comparison... I'm not really sold on how helpful it will be though as my MSI is almost 4.5y old, while the Sager is practically brand new...

 

I got a sager np9150 and was debating on getting that or an MSI ge60. Over all I got way more bang for the buck with the sager and honestly I love it.

However, the only thing that annoys me is the size of the psu. I travel so in the end the 180w psu pulls more then my 150w converter in my jeep. The MSI would have been a little lighter and more travel friendly, but again moving up from an xps m1530 an MSI or a sager would be huge.

I did a whole point to point on the two machines and the ability to upgrade and get exactly what I wanted from the sager closed the deal for me.

 

In the end, opinions are going to be subjective and you'll wind up sacrificing something either way. You'll have to weigh in what is more important to you. To be fair, I think you're getting more value out of the Sager/Clevo with the screen upgrade and video card, even if the Onkyo sound system pales in comparison to the Dynaudio.

 

So other than the built in speakers and the included OS, MSI offers no advantage over an equivalently priced Sager? I guess that makes my decision a lot clearer now. Thank you!

 

Don't get me wrong - I like both, and the MSI machines are quite nice. It seems to me like the bigger advantage(s) - when weighing the value, at least - come from the Sager, is all.