**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

Alright I went ahead and did it.

1) Reapplied artic silver 5
2) Removed the sticker blocking the vent

Ran intelburn test at max and the results were immediately apparent. From a high of 82C with Zalman NC2000 running to a high of 76 without the Zalman running. Will run furmark after a week to give the thermal compound time to stabalize. In the words of borat, Great Success!

 

So, going from the 9280 there is only one thing I can't figure out on this notebook. No fan control? Ive tried everything to get this to go to 100%, I haven't had temp issues, but I really liked having control of the fans...I like being in control with my notebooks..yes, yes!
Otherwise it's great, but yah I was looking at the W870 and was trying to measure how much wider it was, and really it's only about 3/4 inch on either side due to the screen, and really no deeper which is really good. So honestly that is probably the smallest 17'' on the market right now along with a mac pro.

But Mac pro has a shat video card compared, and I don't even know if they have gone to Core i7 yet? They're too bent on being the slim stylish notebook to have the thermal control of Sager...which nothing is wrong with that if you're a Mac. I looked at one the other day and it was beautiful I admit, but I checked the hardware and just laughed a little inside to the guy who was trying to pitch me a line. I said, hold on I have this beast in the car you should see ( of course he had NEVER even heard of Sager). He wasn't sold due to it being at least an inch thicker and a pound and a half heaver than the Mac, but still I can run 8 times more software, and probably runs 8 times faster in any benchmark.
So the guy was just a Mac fanboi from the start, like most Mac users. Hell I compliment Mac for being the best design around, but do they compliment my machine? I swear Mac users won't even acknowledge you even exist if you don't have a Mac too, so bollocks fanbois eh!
The only beef I have with the W870 compared with my 860 is the price, I just didn't think it was worth paying $220 more stock config for the screen size, weight, and the same notebook overall. But I think the W870 looks better in the red configuration...and of course no one carries red except Euro countries.
Also I would like to see a poll Chinny chin chin for dead/stuck pixels...how bad is it really? Well id like to know...maybe it's the LED panels.

 

New Review???

"This notebook appears to have been designed without any intention of making it physically attractive as the exterior is quite bland.'

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5406

 

My replacement unit arrives today - fingers crossed that it is perfect! Here's to cool temps and no dead pixels (FWIW - my first unit's screen didn't have any).

 

BrandonSi, why do you have both W860 & W870?

 

I wish there were more reviews of the 900p screen and in comparison to the 1080p one

 

Well I love nearly everything about this laptop but it's size. I guess when I heard 15.6" screen I was thinking something slightly smaller.
I also have some gripes that I hope can be fixed via patches to the BIOS.
I bought mine from Eurocom after they agreed to knock it down a few hundred to be competitive with other sellers.
I would love to see an update that would fix the issue of not being able to power on the unit from a closed lid state (I'd take a workaround hack if someone has a suggestion about a sensor ) and also would be nice to find a way to keep the bluetooth turned on after restart/shutdown so I don't have to open the lid to enable it.
As you can imagine, both issues are annoying when your main use of the laptop is in a "docked" state.
FYI, I'm in Iraq on a contract job and this thing plays back my bluray ISOs while doing anything else I can think of, and gaming is sweet on it with the upgraded Nvidia card (which is the main reason I chose this platform).
Was also nice to be able to go from XP pro directly to Windows 7

 

Well run the test once more before you do to see if you get 98C again. It could've just been a fluke!

 

how do you like your 900p screen? this was the option i chose, but since it was out of stock when i ordered, i opted for the 1080p.
i wanted the 900p to be able to game in native res for longer but after seeing the clarity, brightness and sharpness of the 1080p i have not regreted my decision. but of course downscaling it to 900p reduces sharpness and brightness significantly ( at least for me).

 

Well I havent received mine yet which I wanted more reviews of the 900p one

 

Haha, maybe for a gaming laptop it certainly isn't up to the Alienware standards in terms of visual appearance. A lot of consumers perceive a gaming laptop to be all laden with features and futuristic, coupled with lights everywhere.

But "bland" design is actually a good thing IMO; heads will turn if I'm carrying a 4kg+ m15x / m17x christmas tree. And in a coffee shop where I spend my time with my old HP laptop, with a WHOA-looking laptop, I'll be hearing,
"Mommy mommy, I want THAT for christmas" *points at my laptop*. Then that kid would tell his/her friends at school, then they ask their parents to buy a gaming laptop and parents money go down the drain and the economy would COLLAPSE! THE HORROR!

*hides in the corner waiting to be poked endlessly by other forum members*

Anyway; YAY LAPTOP TOMMOROW!!

 

the wierd thing about those benches is that the mx15 beat the 8690, the 8760 and even the AW mx17 on all cpu tests.
also the 3dmark scores on the mx15 looked mighty high for a lappy running on an unoverclocked 260.

posted some comments to that effect on the review.
what do you guys think?

 

I was thinking the same thing, it upset me to see the M15x beat both the Sagers, and it has a lower end vid card, the same CPU and Ram at 1066, possibly 1333? Yah, I don't think so. Notebookjournal.de tests their version, which has the 260m and it still beats the M15x in most of the tests. Well I know what my lappy can do, and it doesn't take a (biased?, forgot to mention a discrepancy?) review to tell me what it can do, I can add it all up, and the math really tells the truth here.
As to the comments on the exterior, that is of course personal opinion/preference, but personally I dig a minimalist, modern, non flashy "non-steal me " kind of look. I can really just blend in with the HPs, and dells, while being on a ferrari of a machine and laughing all the way to the end inside, with what seems to be a normal laptop...subtlety is the best policy. Honestly the only thing that I would like to see on the new Sager is some type of alloy as they mentioned in the review, but plastic stays more of a consistant temperature, and flexes less with extreme temperature changes, and of course is ligher. Backlit keyboard isn't necissary, but I wouldn't mind function keys to be easier to see color wise, maybe an orange instead of the dark blue, but I'll figure out where all the functions are, so that will fix itself. I never really noticed the lid to be flexy, hell the guy should review 17''-18.4'' lappys, talk about lid flex, this laptop is pretty good about the flex from what I have seen...it's never going to not flex, it's not made of a block of aluminum and glass.

 

No specific details were given for any of the benchmarks, thus making those tests meaningless. The only credible test in that review is the HDTune benchmark.

 

the benches were conducted in such a way that it made the AW's on par or even better than the sagers. at least thats how it appeared to me...

 

is there any program where i can test turbo boost.
when i use resource monitor it seems the four cores are always running and when i game it seems the four cores are always at increased temps, indicating all four are being used.
i just wanna see one core being overclocked to 2.8ghz. it seems however that the games i play, coh, dow2, etw, dao, nba 2k10 all use multicore technology.
also the editing program i use power director is multi core aware.

anyways of testing single core o/c functions in my i7?

 

use the cput from cpuid website. it is a side gadget that record all those info and if i am not wrong you can keep a log of it too.

 

SuperPi is single-threaded, so you should see it boost up on a single core for sure.

ftp://pi.super-computing.org/windows/super_pi.zip

 

thanks man.
i see core 2 running at 100% while the others are near close to idle

i really cant tell if it is indeed boosting the cpu clocks but it does seem like ...

 

You can get this sidebar gadget directly from Intel to watch boost.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18353&lang=eng

 

The reviews of this notebook state that its height is: 1.65~2.0”. How thick is it when the lid is open? Is it comfortable to use?

 

It was my understanding that's what the two measurements represented. 1.65 open, 2.0" closed. Maybe someone can confirm that.

 

It's actually thinner than I had expected closed and open. Open it's amazingly thin for the hardware inside, and it's quite light also compared to a m15x or anything even close to it's performance. I had a 9280, now that sucker was THICK, talk about almost 3 inches thick closed, and over 2 inches open, plus with the huge rubber feet on the back, 8690 is thin compared.
When you pick it up with the lid closed, there are little grooves on the sides you can grip when you sit it down on a table, I believe the 8760 is built the same way. I like this wedge type design, since it creates a smaller foot-print, and is nice looking also.

Believe me, you won't be complaining about how thick the notebook is when/if you get it, it's really not even noticeable. You'll actually ( well if you're like me ) marvel at how they got all that stuff in there in such a small package. The ony thick part is the very back where the heatsink is, they cleverly designed about an inch of space to be 1/4 of an inch thicker so they could house a bigger heatsink, and in turn it raises the back of the notebook up for cooling, it's quite the design. ( I have yet to hear any review note that... I should make a review for us here )

 

Great.. So the HDMI port on the back of my laptop refuses to detect any monitors or TVs, The cable is fine as it works well with another laptop.. so its either my drivers or it's RMA time.
I installed NVIDIA drivers a little after getting the laptop, but had issues with them so i reinstalled the sager drivers, could this have caused my problem?

 

i have noticed a slight bleed on the left and right side of my FHD screen.
also, the screen doesnt seem to be as black as it used to be when i first got the unit about three weeks ago. of course this could be subjective, just my eyes getting used to the screen brightness.
the bleed isnt subjective though - it is there. just noticed it a few days ago.
i used to have the screen at 100% brightness but have since lowered it to about 66%.
could this be caused by having the screen at 100%? have any of you had this issue?

 

I thought it's the difference between front and back of the notebook...

 

Hi!

Does this laptop (8690) powers on from touch button? I can't find in Sager site images where is power button in this laptop.

What FHD display model does it have? Is it LG, AUO?
I need to know model number.
Please post it! Thanks!

 

auo10ed

the power button is on the right hinge that connects the body to the screen

 

Good idea on the photo jeff! This has come up a few times, hopefully this will put a rest to that question!

 

Thanks for info, then always i have to think about not to put it in backpack with this button downside

 

Has anyone else noticed audio glitches when using normal rca out? I have used multiple audio programs and they all seem to randomly glitch when playing simple MP3 files. It is driving me nuts and my Windows 7 install is pristine! Also, anyone know about a BIOS update coming out anytime soon that gives us some actual control over the units? Or maybe a particular manufacturer has a special BIOS we can use?

 

Not sure if this is the same issue, but you might want to check it out. Seems similar.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=422323

 

Just got the laptop yesterday...it's gonna be my new girlfriend now. Still in process of installing crap innit, no dead pixels yay and everything functions fine.

Only one problem (unrelated to the laptop itself); Anyone ordered the creative X-FI xpress card? I can't seem to get the bloody thing to play through the speakers...the console launcher seems to uncheck the option whenever I exit it :\

 

Congrats, Thisisalamp. How is the new notebook working out for you?

 

I'm crying. It's just too good. Everything seems to be well on par, like the temps are well within everyone's, and the screen is BEAUTIFUL.

Already installed some games but I have yet to try them to see how they match with my previous HP laptop.

Besides that, Windows 7 is a great OS; no clutter and random crap popping out. I do believe the webcam could be a bit better quality though. And still have a problem with the X-Fi but that's not that big of a deal. I think I'll just double click on Dragon Age now...

 

you cannot turn it on if the lid is closed

 

Another question to the owners of W860CU (I still hope that someone will post some measurements): are you using/planning to use a notebook cooler with this baby?

 

no need.
maybe change the thermal paste is all the upgrading ill do with regards to heat issues.

 

That's all I'm doing as well.. Looking into ICD7, but it will probably come down to whatever is on the shelf at Microcenter..

 

Indeed that is a must.

 

It's AS5 from Clevo/Sager right? I know xoticpc mentions AS5 on their site, but I doubt they apply it themselves, so I'm assuming it comes direct.

Maybe I'll buy the ICD7 and Shin Etsu just to run a comparison.

 

I think you have the option to pick from AS5 or stock paste when buying from RJTech or XoticPC.

Yeah, those two come close to each other although the Shin Etsu is a tad better. I have the Shin Etsu They are also hard to "spread" because they are thick pastes, so I go with just dropping a pea-sized paste in the center and let the heatsink do its job.

Soviet Sunrise does apply it by spreading. Even though I heat the tube in hot water, I'm still having a hard time spreading it either by a card or a plastic-gloved finger, it just won't stick to the die of the CPU or GPU. Unlike MX2, which is very very easy to apply/spread in are dies.

 

Yeah, I read about it being thicker, interesting. Hopefully they'll have both in stock so I can test. Unfortunately my wife took the car today to a wedding shower, so I can't run over there.. Well, I could, but I'm not taking the train just to hit up Microcenter.

 

I just bought some Diamond Carat 7. Should be interesting as I've never messed with thermal pastes before...

 

Here is my CPU applied with X23. It's really not that hard once you get used to the process.

 

That's a fine application you have there I tried using a card immediately after applying the pre-heated tube but I'm not sure why it still doesn't want to stick to the die.

 

Not to be a pain now, but won't you have air bubbles now when adding the heatsink ?

 

Yes I will. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5411393&postcount=159

 

I can confirm that I wasted 2.5g of X23 until I finally managed to master applying this paste (good thing I bought two tubes of 4.5g). But you will get there eventually.

I can also suggest to try to gently use a flat, thin screwdriver at the end of the application in order to take out the excess and make the layer thinner. I am quite happy now with the X23 and it does cool better than the MX-2.