**OFFICIAL W860CU/NP8690 Owners Lounge**

I use playing cards, haha.

 

hey ChinNoobonic does this driver make the touch pad less irritating ? for mine is too sensitive and even when using only one finger, the touch pad can go haywire . Which is never a good sign. I end up using a mouse instead

 

Yeah and anyone gotten SSD yet ? and a question does that boost performance ?

 

Magic "The Gathering" cards != playing cards..

I kid, I kid..

 

Hi, can anyone please comment on the fan noise on the np8690? I was initially sold on the np8760 because of the larger size, but am now leaning towards the 8690 due to the following excerpts from the recent notebookreview.com reviews. The first is the 8690 and the 2nd is the 8760.

Heat and Noise
The cooling system is the foundation of any gaming notebook. The NP8690 has one of the most effective cooling systems we have seen to date. Hot air is exhausted by two large fans through oversized vents on the back of the chassis; the copper heatsinks are visible within. Even under full load for extended periods, the surfaces of this notebook including the bottom do not get more than lukewarm. The noise factor is surprisingly low as well; the fans are audible at idle but unnoticeable. Under full load the fans ramp up but do not have an annoying whine; it mostly sounds like a rush of air. All internal components are kept well within their maximum rated temperatures.

Heat and Noise
A hefty cooling system is essential in a notebook with such powerful internal components. The NP8760 has three fans that exhaust warm air out two vents on the back. The need for extensive cooling unfortunately means the NP8760 is quiet noisy. Fan noise is pronounced even at idle, however only increases slightly under load. Regardless, quieter fans would be appreciated.

I wonder why the np8760 would be reported as being louder, even though it has the same internal components as the 8690.

 

Regarding fan noise, I posted the same question here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=439967

 

"Fan noise is pronounced even at idle, however only increases slightly under load. Regardless, quieter fans would be appreciated."

My NP8760 does NOT have pronouced fan noise at all, especially at idle...

 

For my current c2d, I use Rmclock to undervolt each multiplier and activate the LFM. Is that neccessary/doable on these i7 cpu's?

 

fan noise and the way the M button works is different to previous Clevos.

one other minor issue for me. THe M86TU would run on airline power with the battery out. The G860 won't which is a bummer for me as I fly alot.

 

if u want battery life you can always get an apple and be a girl.
if you want a beast get a sager.

but on a sidenote it would be nice if sager did release a 6 or 9 cell battery for those guys who need the extra juice. for me though,its never been a problem. i travel quite often too but finding an outlet has never been an issue.

 

Just got mine today! I think I'll write up a review in a few days time but I picked up MW2 on the way home and gonna be a hermit for a while

Fan noise isn't too bad at all, definitely audible...but not annoying by any means. I did, however, find a dead pixel

Any remedies for them? Or will I just have to deal with it.

 

Just put in an order for mine (tho it's the Malibu--which is the Clevo? well, all the same anyway).

Sincerely hoping for no dead pixels and quiet fans. Seems some folks get louder fans than others, or maybe it's perception.

 

whats a malibu? are you talking about the malibal satori?
what reseller did you buy it from?

 

Ha, sorry. I can't believe I typed Malibu. Must've been distracted.

Anyway, it's the Malibal Lotus. Clevo whatever it is (the one that's exactly the same as the Sager NP8690).

 

haha yeah its the same.

heres brandon si's review of the lotus and malibal if you havent read it yet.
more stuff to get you dreaming

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=433781

 

Just got my notebook. And as of now I can't find a single thing wrong with it. In my opinion the fan noise was way over hyped and in my opinion is not very loud. You can barely hear it at when using the internet and is not annoying at all. At load, you can hear it but doesn't have any high pitch noise that would be annoying. I have heard people say it is louder then my desktop and I can't imagine it. Unless you built your computer using very quite fans and made it to be quite rig using SSD's, etc I can't believe it. As of the people talking about the lack of quality in the speakers, I can see where you are coming from but for laptop speakers they are better then the ones I have used.

I have looked for dead pixels and haven't found one yet and the screen looks amazing. As of now I haven't found anything I really dislike about it. This is my first Sager and won't be my last.

 

You said it so well! This FAN NOISE is WAY OVER HYPED!! Mine is smooth and very quiet compared to my recent laptops. If you have loud fans you have a defect period!

 

^ You've got the same setup as me. And you're right I haven't found anything to hate on...yet.

I really am liking the keyboard, really crisp throws with the keys.
I personally don't see me using the keypad too often, so thats why I hit numlock and it lets there be a dedicated home/end/pgup/pgdn key which I remember someone complaining about.

 

among the cons listed in the nbr review of the 8690, the only things i can agree with are the battery life and keypad layout.
i do a lot of work with numbers also and using this new keypad is difficult, but not intolerable. it does cut down a lot on my productivity but i guess ill just have to learn the new configuration.
as for the other cons and comments, many owners and websites have cited different observations, such as fan not being loud, and the 8690 being faster by at least 1000 point in 3d mark 06 (notebookjournal, notebookcheck) than an AW mx15.
imho this is the best top end 15 incher you can buy atm.

 

Correction, it's a stuck pixel (red). Rubbing didn't work :| How do I get rid of this bastid

 

Weird, I installed the vid card drivers off the CD from Clevo, yet I have no control panel, so I tried to install them off of nVidia's site and they won't work?? Can anyone link me the newest DOX vista 64bit driver? This is so strange, maybe if I get a driver that someone has used for the 8690 it will work.

 

http://lifehacker.com/software/lcds/fix-your-lcds-dead-pixels-152062.php

Try this method for a stuck pixel.

 

why did you have to reinstall the gpu drivers in the first place?

 

Why don't the latest WHQL drivers work?

 

I don't have the control panel, I can't tweak any games.

 

you mean you got your laptop and the nvidia control panel was not working?
that is wierd.
werent you complaining of some graphical anomaly ( aside from the cp) as few posts back?

 

Any one planning to get a SSD for this baby ? Got any thing to introduce ?

 

OK, I get the feeling that I'm missing something simple here, like how this touchpad is designed to work, so this question may make me a noob. Nonetheless, I will ask this: Why can't I use this pad to scroll? If I try to scroll and my finger is in just the right place, it will slowly scroll down, as if the down key is being held down (though possibly slower). But is there no way to get the smooth (and much quicker) scrolling of a Synaptics pad on this lappy?

This might be a showstopper flaw for me if there is no way to get quick vertical scrolling on the touchpad, since I do web development work.

 

i had the same issue also when i first started using the laptop.
but i have found out that the right scrollbar in the touchpad is around one cm to the left of the edge.
if you place your finger at the very right edge it will not scroll.
with regards to sensitivity, i think you can change this using the setting app of the touchpad. i wouldnt call it very responsive though and i use my mouse a lot.
also the touchpad recognized multitouch gestures which may be of use to you.

hope that helps

 

finally got that stubborn stuck pixel to go away! so happy about that...because I had tried maybe 20 times before it started to flicker and then finally went away.

 

sweet
what technique did you use

 

compared to other machines with the same cpu power and other clevos this machine is alot louder than previous models. The M button on previous models made the machine silent. On my 860 it speeds the fans up. THe fans also tend to move around in speed terms, one minute slow, next minute med, next minute high...

Neil.

 

Well at first I just looked up in google for 'stuck pixel fixer' and I had tried the flash applets in the first few search results. Nothing happened even when combined with rubbing with a cloth and my finger.

Then someone on here linked me to a vid on youtube for a stuck pixel fixer and I started rubbing, with a cloth masking a skinny capped sharpie. At first it started to flicker and went away momentarily...but came back. I kept at it with a bit more pressure and it finally went away. I'm not sure if it was that youtube video itself or just after going at it many times. But if you have a stuck pixel, be persistent, but gentle with your screen!

 

same, the fan speed keeps going up....... then down........ I think something is wrong with my fan. Particularly my CPU fan, which the motor or some weird noise is louder than the air coming out from my fan.

Comparing the fan noise to my Dell inspiron E1705 (i know, old school), the fan noise is on par but this one has a annoying motor-like sound in it.

You guys know where I can buy or replace the fan that fits into this beast? Cuz, I love it but that weird motor sound + the fan noise gets kinda annoying.

 

I wonder if a lot of these just ship with messed up fans. Most reports say they're quiet or describe their noise as a whoosh of air. Then others say they're loud and whiny. A youtube video recording has them being very whiny sounding, not whooshy. I think it's just too much difference to chalk it up to personal experience.

Anyway, I hope I get the quiet fans on mine! Whooshing air is fine, but loud whining noise is not. That stop and go, stop and go stuff sounds annoying, too. Aren't there programs that control the fans so they stay more regular?

The CPU fan on my desktop was actually doing that recently. Goes fast, goes medium, fast, medium. Ugh. I finally just opened the case and put a little fan on the table, pointing right into the case on the CPU and the GPU. Can't do that with a notebook, though (and shouldn't have to with a quality machine as opposed to my desktop that I assembled myself very poorly and haphazardly).

 

Thanks, the multitouch does help a little bit in that I can scroll by page rather than by line, but it's still a very far cry from the functionality of a Synaptics touchpad. I imagine I'll probably overshoot it more often that I'd like.

I'm not sure if I can really deal with this. We'll see. Y'know, in spending well over $2000 on a laptop, I'd expect that they wouldn't ship a crappy knockoff part on something so essential.

 

I'm ambivalent on the trackpad situation.. I admit that it does suck and I hate it myself. However, I would never dream of using it unless forced to, I always have a mouse around.

I would probably recommend buying a nice mouse.. The last company I worked for was 80% web development, and I never saw the developers use a trackpad.. I'm not saying you're wrong for using a trackpad, it's certainly up to you, but I don't think it's critical to web development.

There is something to being said for spending money for top of the line and not being 100% satisfied with it, so I definitely understand where you're coming from.

 

Can you post the link to this vid (again) please, caus I can't seem to find it.

 

The track pad doesn't work exactly like the one I have on my ThinkPad, it's more like press toward the bottom for it to scroll down and lift your finder when you want it to stop. You don't have to slide your finger from top to bottom and doesn't work right if you try to do that.

 

So far I am seeing great temps around my replacement laptop, CPU and GPU max temps are around 75C. Very happy now! Thanks Justin!!!

 

That's great news. I remember u were one of the few who ordered it early right? Why did you exchange it again?

 

Awesome! That is great to hear! If there is anything I can help with don't hesitate to ask

 

I was wondering if anyone is using the Express Card slot and what for. I was looking around at what I could put in there and was wondering if any of you guys have any ideas of what to put in there. So far I was looking at a TV Tuner but am looking for more ideas.

Thanks
Shawn

 

in a way youre correct.
but if you were to get the same specs from a name brand seller youd probably have to add 500usd at the very least.
so as for me im happy with what i have, and i do have a wireless mouse for navigation.
but like you said, you want the best in a notebook thats top of the line.

 

Could you post an little more detail on the mousepad and how it behaves? I know I use one alot when not gaming.

 

My GPU temps were very high, now they are normal

 

Has anyone tried the new BIOS out on Sager's driver site for the NP8690?
http://74.212.252.103/pages/notebooks/download.cfm?ProductType=8690

BIOS BIOS update 1.01.04s 10-Dec-09 1669 KB
http://74.212.252.103/Sagernotebook/misc/869bv104s.zip

Also I believe there is a new version of the Intel® Turbo Boost Technology Monitor
Ver:v1.03 Date:11/20/2009 Size:18824 (KB)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/T8C...etup.exe&PrdMap=&strOSs=&OSFullName=&lang=eng

And does anyone know why the latest NVIDIA Notebook Drivers 195.62 WHQL won't detect the GTX 280M in our NP8690?

 

how high???

 

Bought an X-Fi notebook for the express card slot. Didn't regret my purchase; cept it can't play through notebook speakers for some apparent reason. Got myself some external speakers that plug into the card, and all is well

 

That's because the .inf files only mention the GTX 280 not the GTX 280m.

Try finding here:

195.62 WHQL