*** Official Clevo x7200 and Sager NP7280 owners lounge ***

First of all, sorry about the long post, but I need to make a decision right away, and any answers to any part of this would be extremely helpful.

I'm considering the x7200/np7280, but haven't pulled the trigger. I'm not a gamer, but need bigtime power and occasional mobility to run Adobe's CS5 Master Collection for video and multimedia production.

I'm considering a system with the 980x cpu, single 460m, 1 SSD system/software drive, 2x 500Gb hybrid HDDs for data, and BD burner. I've read much of this forum and some of the independent reviews, but still have these questions:

1. Two monitors? With a single 460m, can you use the HDMI and DVI outputs simultaneously with 2 external matched monitors (this a great setup for video editing)?

2. Max mem? Everyone lists it as 12Gb, but could it go to 24 with 3x8Gb when they become available/affordable?

3. HDMI in? Anybody have this? Why?

4. 4 Gb ram card? Clevo seems to offer this... anyone have it? Does it behave like ram?

5. Service? I'm interested if there are any vendor differences. With my current HP mobile workstation I get next business day on-site service. This is nice when you depend on your lappy to make a living. But HP doesn't offer mobility with this kind of power, and Clevo/Sager doesn't seem to have nearly as responsive service offerings... the ship it in ship it back looks like it'll take a week at least?? I really want the Clevo/Sager power, but am nervous about service. These things are so modular, it would seem with some phone diagnostics, with the seller sending me parts, I could fix most problems without shipping. Does anyone have experience with this, and is a Sager branded machine or Clevo my best bet in this regard? (I'm considering PCTorque, XoticPC, AVADirect, etc.)

6. PPBM5.com? Does anyone edit on Premiere Pro CS5? PPBM5.com is a benchmarking site for it? Has anyone tested there? (I think this machine would be a surprising entry on the list, since 99% of the machines are desktops!!!) Anyone? Am I going to have to be the guinea pig?

7. Noise? How loud is this thing, really? I don't need silence, but some reviewers say you can hear it in the next room over, really??? I know it depends how hard you're pushing the machine, but I'm interested to hear from you owners on this.


Please jump in on any or all of this,
Thanks!

 

One of the first things I did was go into the sound settings of Windows 7 and set the output to enable all of the speakers. It was set to two speaker out of the box. I can't say for sure if this "fixed" anything because I did not think to test the sound before I did this. However using the audio tool provided in the drivers (should be in your tray, orange speaker) I have verified that all of the speakers are working. If I was at home I could provide more specifics but hopefully this helps.

 

I don't think any of the x7200 based models have this. At least I have not seen one.

I'm sure they would all tell you they have great service.
I have not seen anyone offering on site service for these models.

Without dB readings the feedback you'll get is subjective. My subjective opinion is that it is noisy when compared to most other laptops at idle or low load but probably is quiet compared to some at full load. This is because the fans in this thing are bigger than what typically comes in a laptop. Therefore, at full speed, they don't seem as 'whiny' or high pitched.

 

From the specs on Clevos website...
Three Mini Card slots
- 1st for WLAN with PCle interface
- (Factory Option) 2nd for Turbo Memory or TV tuner with PCIe interface
- (Factory Option) 3rd for HDMI-IN module with PCIe interface
But you may be right, not sure if anyone in the U.S. offers it? They list that "turbo memory" thingy too, which was one of my other questions... what's that?

I haven't seen this offering either, so I'm trying to determine if I can live with with what is offered... it partly depends on how cooperative Sager/Clevo are with helping you fix it yourself vs. having to send it in for a week or so...

Appreciate this feedback. Of course a dB reading would be great, but subjective answers are helpful too, especially if you can relate them other systems like you did. Anyone else?

 

Now,

upgraded from I7 950 to I7 980X! GTX 460M SLi overclocked to 800Mhz GPU/1400 Ram! Absolut stable, no troubles!

Results:

3DMark06: 22262 ;Link: Result

3DMark Vantage: 19620 ;Link Result

3DMark11: 3670 ; Result

Think its not so bad for only the 460M´s!

Regards

 

Very impressive... do you have 12Gb ram? Wonder if 24Gb is possible?

 

Is that stock speeds? If so 16k on the GTX 460m SLI is great.

 

Hi!

12GB no, only 6GB Kingston HyperX!

Regards

 

No, overclocked to 800/1400! But no troubles, its not the limit for the 460M!

 

Was gonna, that is a great GPU score haha

 

The fans are louder than on my alienware (9750), but as mentioned not as whiney/annoying sounding. The more annoying part about the fans is that they constantly go on and off, on and off, even when the PC is just on, not being used. I think there is a setting to put them on all the time, a waste, but probably less annoying.

Oh did I mention the power cord is too short :-O

 

I'll second this as well. It's short to a silly extreme really. If I am at my kitchen table there isn't enough slack to place the brick on the ground and run the cord to the back of the laptop.

I'm taking a different view on it and learning to love my brick. Big is beautiful.

 

Does someone else experience problems getting a 5.1 headset to work properly? Problem is the Mic in and the Subwoofer out are assigned to the same jack so you can either have the mic or subwoofer but not both.

If there's a fix or workaround i'd appreciate it very much if you'd explain how to get it to work

 

You can try to get a USB mic.

 

I know I could but I didn't buy a 5.1 headset for quite some money to use an USB mic just because Clevo messed up this one lol.

 

anyone having blue screens with the gtx460m sli ... every now and then
my screen gets blue then black and nothin happens until i force a shutdown :S

 

So if I'm reading you correctly, the fans are a little noisy and overly cyclic, but not so so much you've decided to returned the system... right?

And, the cord does sound irritating... I always put the brick on the floor with my current laptop. But again, you're keeping it? Actually, it seems this issue would be solvable... I'll work on a fix if I get one.

 

Not sure I like the intel SSDs offered in most of the configurators. How hard is it to order with a basic system drive then immediatley replace it with an aftermarket SSD, say something by OCZ, on arrival? Does that affect the warranty or cause problems in some other way? Is it as simple as copying everything from the shipped C: drive to the new SSD, shutting the computer off, and swapping it in? It's got to be harder than that, doesn't it?

 

It is harder than that, but not as hard as you think. All you need to do is put your SSD (which I assume is the boot drive) in there and reinstall windows. You might also want to format the hard drive that comes with it.

 

So all Sager(retailer?) does is install Windows on the system harddrive... they don't put anything else on that drive? Do most of the retailers provide the discs for this if you order the computer with windows installed?

 

Yes, resellers install the hardwares and softwares (OS and drivers). Big brands often put bloatwares on the computer, which are very annoying. I don't think any sager laptop has those.
Normally they will include the windows (if you buy it) and driver discs. It is however still good to remind them in case they forget.

 

So these only have 3x 3.5mm jacks for audio? Makes me like my alienware that much more....we have all 4 showing so do not have to make that compromise.

Not trying to troll, but did not even think of that when looking at this notebook. My Z-5500's can plug right into my Alienware with the 3 cables

edit: looked at a picture, so you have the 4 but they cannot be tasked to 5.1 output? or if so the sub and mic conflict? Because typically the sub channel is also where the center speaker sound comes from (remember there are 2 channels per 3.5mm jack - thus stereo)

 

It's not likely going to bother me since I don't have a sound system.. I either use headphones or headphones
Well I have an audio interface so it's ok for me.

 

Can someone please tell me why CPU-Z says my 480m has -2GB of memory?
Also I have had chronic problems with my RAM being allocated for hardware use, as well as video card related blue screens. Have been dealing with this since I purchased the computer.

 

i was talking to a sager tech at powernotebook 2day and he asked me 2 send him a file found in windows i was having BLUE SCREENS every now and then .
he connected the issue to the usb 3.0 drivers so he suggested i reinstall them again and thats wat i did .. so far no blue screens .
hope that helps

 

Right. I love the system overall. The only thing I hate is the cord. I'm hoping an aftermarket version comes out that is longer.

 

Guyyys, how long does it work from battery?)

 

I ordered from Xotic, and they only include an operating system if you specifically order it. I didn't, since I had a version from my old dead laptop. So it only came with a drivers disc.

 

same here ordered from powernotebooks really nice people,
only driver disk and cyberlink software

 

Not very long. Think about a time that you owned a laptop with a battery that was worn out. It's that short. I can surf the web with my coffee on a Saturday morning for maybe 1/2 hour to 40 minutes. You learn to love the brick and the fact that you own a hulking monster of awesomeness.

 

Yes there are 4 jacks, headphones, mic, digital out and audio in by default. You can task em to 5.1 output but you're losing the mic then because unfortunately sub/center can only be asigned to the mic jack. It absolutely makes no sense to me why they used mic in for sub/center and digital out for rear speakers. They should have rather made it vise versa

Am I really the only one being annoyed by this a lot?

 

just got my xoticpc phase 2 email

also received 2 120mm fans today that i'm going to place in the lapdesk i built

is there any area in particular that the fans should be placed to optimize cooling (front? back?)

Ergo, should I wait until I have the x7200 to cut the desk/place the fans?

 

Might as well wait. But since the laptop already has its own fans for intake, the majority of the benefit from laptop coolers is not the fans on them but rather that they raise the bottom of the laptop allowing for a lower impedance airflow into the intake fans on the bottom of the laptop.

I have confirmed this with my M17x and a Cryo LX where just setting the laptop on the cooler with the fans off still gave about 90% of the cooling benefit.

 

so a little elevation then as well? would some rubber nubs on the bottom of the laptop be enough?

i don't know what the x7200 comes with as far as that goes.

 

Rubber nobs would get annoying. Just make a raised platform with a mesh bottom that the laptop can sit on to allow for good airflow.

 

A wonderful surprise this morning...my BEAST arrived early!! I have been staring at it for about an hour now I have to wait for my OS (Win7 Ultimate) in the mail so I can't do anything with it yet. Is there anything I should know before I install my Win7 upgrade since it came with no OS pre-installed? Also, any tips advice about drivers or other quick fixes? I am going to re-read this forum tonight at work cuz I saw a work-around about install the OS update and some speaker fixes. I am sooo excited. Can't wait for the mailman now.

 

Here is a whole thread dedicated to downloading Windows 7 legally So you can download it and burn it to a disk now then when your Key arrives just use that to activate it ... No need to wait for the mail to arrive .

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

 

One thing you can do is regularly check the driver update page below in the link.

Software Upgrade

BTW, The new bios posted today is not new it is the same version. It just flashes it differently, new flash tool....
_


___

 

Why don't you just cut holes or slots of wood out of the top of the table below where the x7200 sucks in air? That wood looks thick and strong enough that you could saw out big vents with no problems.

 

yeah it's pretty thick, which is why i'm cutting holes for the 120mm fans that i bought - all the wiring should mount neatly underneath; there's some cleats underneath it to make the legs sturdy which will make it easy to mount a thin piece of wood to cover everything so nothing is hanging loose

 

@ Quadzilla and babyhemi

Thanks for info. I will do. Really excited cause mailman was empty handed today! lol

 

Woohoo! Placed my order for the Sager NP7280:

i7 980x
12Gb 1333
IC Diamond Thermal
dual 460m SLI
Blu Ray Burner
500 Gb Hybrid boot
2x750 7200 data

Went with XoticPC. Sales experience was great. Paid $49 extra to expedite the build, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm a self-employed multimedia producer and need it for work. I need serious horsepower with occasional mobility. 75% of the time this beast will sit at my desk and I'll most likely use it as a "box" with an external monitor or two, a keyboard and mouse. The other 25% of the time I'm on the road with clients editing on site.

Currently, I travel with an HP mobile workstation and two external G-Raid drives. The 7280 should eliminate the need to carry the extra drives and their PSUs, so I don't see the weight factor as an issue at all.

Video editing and processing require a lot of computer horsepower, and the specs on this thing are awesome. I shopped the HP and Dell workstations, and there was no way I could get the horsepower of this computer from either company. Plus, their prices were higher!

On the flip side, HP and Dell have good service offerings with next-business-day on-site repairs. I couldn't find anything to replace that with Clevo/Sager. So that's my biggest worry... if my system goes down and I have to send it off for repair, it could take a week or more to get back in business.

I hope with this forum and manufacturer phone support to be able to correct problems without having to ship it to Sager. Of course I realize there could be some issues where it can't be avoided. Most of all, I hope to have zero problems, then service will be a non-issue!

This forum has been very helpful with my purchase decision. So, a BIG THANKS to everyone who has posted. I think I read most if not all of the 225 pages and counting.

Hope to add some value in return when I get mine.

Can't wait!

 

For the people who order the X7200 with GTX 460M sli you won't be disappointed i receive mine yesterday from LPC DIGITAL(®) and do the usual testing the GPU's during furmark stability test never pass 64C Max temp

Also run a crysis benchmark 1920x1080 very high and i get 27 frames score almost like a desktop 480 stock this is a keeper

 

Very nice Speedy

 

I have questions about your system and benchmark setup Speedy.

What CPU?

Do you OC?

What benchmark settings other than very high?

My system is 460 sli with the 950 CPU. No OC. At 1920x1080 8x AA very high I get 20-21 avg fps in the GPU benchmark. This is with the 259.51 driver that came with my laptop.

EDIT: With no AA I get 25 fps

 

Hi ,

CPU= i7 980X stock clocks

Crysis 1920x1080 no AA Very High 27.5 FPS

And the driver is 265.90 from laptopvideo2go.com

Edit: GPU's are stock too



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welcome back to the club speedy

 

Thanks guys

 

Hi Speedy,
have you used a special .inf for the 265.90 from laptopvideo2go.com?

Can you upload (Rapidshare/Netload/ ect.) the driver?

regards chrack2

 

just download the driver from laptopvideo2go and the modded inf. copy paste the inf. file to the main driver folder before you install then go to device manager-update driver- browse my computer-have a disk and point to the modded inf. you paste before that work for me