**Official Sager NP5160 / Clevo W150HNQ Owners' Lounge**

This is entirely possible. He is of the SC2 variety.

It's in the budget, so I'm gonna go with the np5160. Yay for decisions.

Final question (probably ): When it says "Additional Hard Drive in Optical Drive Bay" does this mean that the hard drive is taking the place of the CD/DVD player? Isn't that what the optical drive bay normally holds?

 

That is correct. It will take the place of the cd/dvd drive. That's why I mentioned you can order it with just the cd/dvd drive and the ssd then buy the 750gb hard drive yourself here and this hard drive caddy. You'll have everything you need right there while saving a few bucks.

 

Other than the video card upgrade, which is mostly irrelevant for UXD and I, the 5160 also has a 1600x900 screen upgrade over the 3250 1366x768. That's the reason I spent the extra $60 for the 5160.

Also the 3250 is like 1/2" thicker

 

I've got another question. It says "Expandable up to 8GB DDRIII 1066MHz" and then "Up to 1333 MHz System Front Side Bus Speed".

Why are people buying 1333 (PC3-10666) sticks when only 1066 is supported by the motherboard? Is the i7-2630QM 1333 FSB?

 

So they have different chassis?

Any other notable difference (keyboard, speakers, weight) between them?

It is odd, the NP5165 seems to use the very same chassis as the NP5160 (despite the GPU of course) and this is the one that maybe would ask for remodeling or something...

 

what does it matter if everyone's getting the 1920x1080 screens? also its a little under a 1/4" thicker not 1/2". The upgrades cost roughly the same on both models.

 

Did anyone get the dead pixel warranty with their 1920x1080 screen? Why wouldn't dead pixels be covered in a regular warranty?

Edit: And thanks for those links McToon. That's what I'm gonna do.

 

I have got a stuck one! Right near the center of the screen!
I have a 1080p glossy screen.

But my warranty covered that, so not a big deal for me. I got mine from a brazillian reseller.

 

I didn't have in the budget for a 1080p matte screen so going with the 5160 gives me a 1600x900 matte screen for only $60 more. So not everyone is getting the 1080p screens.

 

Anyone know the answer to this?

 

Doc:

• Two 204 pins SODIMM sockets, support DDR3 1333/1600MHz (Real operation frequency depends on processor)

• 
  Expandable memory up to 8GB, depends on 1GB/2GB/4GB SODIMM module (1600MHz is only support 2GB memory module)

So 1600MHz but only wih 2GB mem module. Otherwise 1333MHz is the best.

 

It supports 1333 all the way up to 2x4gb and 1600 up to 2x2gb. Also 2630QM and under are all fsb 1333 the 2720QM&2820QM are fsb 1600.

Source:
CLEVO - Products

edit: haha beat me to it Pavel15!

 

I already bought my Sager NP5160, now only wait for delivery.

- Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM 2nd Gen. (2.9GHz, 45W) w/6M L3 Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads
- 15.6" Super Clear Glossy FULL HD (1920X1080) LED Ultra Bright Wide Screen
- IC Diamond Premium Thermal Compound
- 8GB (8192MB) DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM
- 500GB l 7200RPM I SATA II-300 (16MB Cache Buffer)
- Panasonic 6X BD-R/8X DVD+-R / 2.4X + DL Super BLU-RAY Reader with Software
- Intel® Advanced-N 6230 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module Bluetooth
and more... ;-)

 

Oh I did, sorry, I worded that wrong. The drives are in the optimal places.

No thanks to apps loading faster? They don't only load faster, they run faster (assuming you are moving data around a lot).
Everything I do is faster because of my SSDs. I am a power user and am constantly opening new browser windows, closing all of my browser windows, opening dozens of small apps, closing them all, creating, loading, and saving hundreds of different kinds of files a day, and restarting my computers (to different OS installs). Being able to go from one OS to another in under a minute is really helpful for me.

Longevity isn't an issue. If you configure it right it should last plenty long. My SSD only holds my OS, application installs, and commonly used documents (which are backed up on Dropbox). I keep all the installers, music, games, videos, and other large media files on my disc drives. If my SSD dies, I just get a new one, do a fresh install, resync my docs and I'm ready to go.

I don't view it as an expensive upgrade because you only need a small one to get a huge performance boost. Mine is only 64GB and it holds everything other than my media and games.

You really should try one, it makes a world of a difference. I'm not the only one who is saying that a SSD is the best upgrade you can get. Hard drives are the most common bottleneck, so it only makes sense to put some money in that before spending extra on a better processor.

 

Thanks for the response you two. I reped.

Those of you who bought a read only blu-ray rom from xoticpc, did it come with software?

 

Does this system come with an "always on" USB port for charging devices even when the computer is off?

 

I'm seriously considering buying this machine as I don't game much and wouldn't benefit from the GT 555M. One thing I keep hearing about this notebook is that at random, fans would come up and would be extremely loud. Also, when you watch a movie on your laptop, does the fan noise get louder than the movie itself? What's the general opinion on these laptop speakers? low volume? tiny? And finally, anybody here with the default 1600x900 screen? impressions?

Thank you

 

I have pretty much the same usage as you.
The speakers are bad for music or any movie with some good sound atmosphere. But just for dialogs, it is quite clear (and just for it!).

Just yesterday I was watching some episodes of two and a half man on it, on the internal speakers, and it was fine, the volume bar wasn't even on higher levels. The fan never disturbed me, even in that situation.
During rmvb playback, it used the nVidia GPU which is quite unnecessary I may say and just some source of heat. I would configure it to use Intel iGPU on these circumstances, although it haven't bothered me yet.

 

My lappy just arrived and I have to say I'm very pleasntly surprised. Build quality is lacking in some respects - main bottom cover requires a bit of force to put it back in, the VGA switch seems to be a little bit too deep, and the touchpad scratchy area seems to catch a lot of smudge (or maybe it's my fat dirty fingers ). Power supply is reasonably sized (I had questions about it earlier, I will weight it using the postal scale and post it here) it's not a standard 17inch desktop replacement brick.
Temperature-wise I ran the laptop for around an hour running WoW on high (not ultra) settings running around 60fps, cpu & gpu climbed to 70-85 range, however the machine laying on the lap didnt feel like burning coal, although the air outlet kept my hand nice and warm. I've replaced the stock thermal paste with Arctic Silver 5, not sure how much impact it had, but it seems to be working fine.
With regard to battery life, laptop has been running for 3.5 hours already and still has 35% remaining.
(i7 2630, 8gb ram, 120gb kingsont ssd, bd reader, 1920x1080glossy)

 

Thank you for the response, as I had the same questions as the guy you answered.

A few other things for the current owners if anyone wants to lend some info:

1. LCD - Did anyone get a 1600x900 matte screen? If so how happy are you with it? After my last laptop having a glossy screen (1200x800) and using matte daily at work, I definitely prefer matte. I plan on going w/ a 95% gamut screen in the future though but was considering going to the 1080p glossy screen for the time being for the upgraded resolution and see if I may like it. Typical environments are going to be office (bright flourescent lighting) and home (low, controllable lighting). Outdoors not so much but possible. Has anyone had any excessive dead pixels? Also what are the gamuts on the 900/1080p screens?

2. 5160/5165 - I know everyone wants the 555m gpu, but for someone who isn't an avid gamer (sc2 is the only known possibility of playing right now), is there anything the 540m is going to limit or hold the machine back on? My primary usage is going to be 1080p movies to a HDTV w/ some photoshop editing. Ive hears of the 128vs192, can anyone post a link or help with what the noticeable differences if this is? If I plan to go to the 95% gamut screen in the future, is there anything about the 555m that will increase picture quality (again, for someone who isn't an avid gamer) I do stick with the 1600x900 screen then the cost of the 5160 is far more attractive assuming the 840m isn't going to limit me on anything.

2. Weight/Build - Coming from a 6.14lb HP DV66xx lappy, the 5160 appears to be slightly more portable. How solid of a feel does the machine have to you guys? I know the lid has been reviewed as a little lightweight for some.

Although Im looking for function over form Im afraid of spending $1k on a laptop that Im constantly trying to justify to myself as not being a "cheap" looking machine. I.e., clanky keys, creaks, bad hinges, etc. Does the machine have a good look/feel to it, especially to people who are used to seeing HP/Dells w/ no idea who Sager/Clevo are?

3. Warranty - How is Sager to deal with on any warranty issues? For XoticPC purchasers, did you go with the upgrade for the 24/7 tech support or is Sager pretty good?

If you guys had anything to change or option specifically you wouldn't have gone without on your purchase, what would it have been?

Thanks in advance guys

 

Since you're only playing SC2, here are some benchmarks (in FPS).

Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech
Low Med High Ultra
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 234 63 46 24
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 179 52 36 18

I believe these numbers are all in 1366x768, which should be plenty for gaming purposes. However, the GT 555M could definitely afford to turn up a few more settings or play at 'high' at 1080p no problem.

 

I can't help you about the screen, but about the GPU it seems you won't have any trouble with the 540m. I can't say for sure, but it seems that the 555m is also coming with 128-bit bandwith, but if you're not that gamer type (just as I am not) it wouldn't really matter that much.

About the feel, I've came from a Dell Inspiron and I can say that it is much more solid than that. The lid maybe feels a little floppier, but I won't say it is critically delicate.
On the overall look, the buttons and leds (awful choice of colors btw) are a bit cheap looking. The buttons below the touchpad also feel cheap. But the keyboard is great (solid, responsive) and the touchpad is also better than my Dell's (despite feeling coarse on the first days, now it seems smoother).
On the overall, I'm satisfied on the build quality, it is great on the most important points (solid body, keyboard) and has some less important drawback like the touchpad buttons and the leds colors and positions.
It does look a lot simpler (not necessarily cheaper) than fancy Dell or HP ones.

Also, a great collection of ports, I don't think you can find a notebook with that much connections with Dell or HP. At least not here in Brazil.

 

Yeah it comes with the driver CD and the PowerDVD CD

 

I am coming from 2 toshiba's that i have owned in the past that were more expensive right off the bat that the Sager is. I can bet my life on it that the Sager is better build quality. The keys feel tight and precise and have good travel once you use it a few times.

The Trackpad, i am not a huge fan of. Its very rough to start off with, but as you use it, the black coating on it sort of fades (well atleast mine is), so it becomes smoother but is something that needs to be improved.

I would have liked the volume buttons to be invdidual, but they are coupled through the FN keys, which was a little awkward to get used to.

I personally could not find any creaks or rattles at all with the laptop. I have must some pressure towards the touchpad area, near the vents and so on, but never heard a single rattle.

My suggestion with the screen is, If you are really really tight on a budget, then get the 1600x900 screen, otherwise definetely upgrade to the bigger screen, you will see wonders with the amount of workspace that you have.

 

How would compare this to the dell xps 15?

 

My machine will finally arrive on Monday!!!

 

Does anybody have an idea is Sager NP5160 / Clevo W150HNQ = Kobalt GS150?
Is there any other suppliers in the UK? Just for comparison.

 

@matu73:
Yes, I think it is the GT555 variant of the clevo W150HNM. It has the exactly same look (key board, optimus button...)

Can someone who already has the computer (with a GT540M) help me making a quick test ?
If someone has Half life 2/Portal on steam, can he test it in 1980x1080 in high settings ( with this settings please) and tell if it runs smoothly ?

Thanks in advance !

EDIT: I have now an idea of performances with this benchboard but what we don't know is with which resolution. So if someone can test, it would be great !

 

Thanks. Those numbers are confusing me.

 

Those settings should be fine. I maxed out everything on a 9600m GT @ 1680x1050 resolution, which is much, much lower on the rankings for notebookcheck.

 

I plan I purchasing the NP5160 soon, and I was wondering about the quality of the 1600x900 stock matte screen. (Resolution doesn't matter much to me)

I can't afford to upgrade to the 1080p screen, and I'm worried about the glare on the $50 upgraded screen. Is the stock screen dim? low quality? or around 720p

 

I'm going to wager the stock 1600x900 screen will be better than any 15.6" 1366x768 screen in every aspect. I have yet to see a screen with low resolution actually have good brightness or viewing angles, so you are probably somewhat safe with 1600x900.

 

Hi all -- I was directed here by the SlickDeals tech support forums. I recently bought this exact laptop, and I've been a little surprised with the fan speed and temperatures.

I received this laptop on Friday and have been mostly satisfied with it, but I'm a little surprised at the behavior of the fan. It runs at an audible level about 98% of the time the laptop is on, even when idling for a long time. I've never experienced a laptop with such consistent fan activity, and it had me wary about both the temperature of the computer and the long-term wear and tear on the fan itself.

At the recommendation of others, I installed a monitor for the system's temperature, and found that even while idling or doing very basic tasks like browsing the internet, the CPU temperature sits around 43 degrees Celsius. The fan runs audibly until the temperature cools to around 40 degrees Celsius, at which point it slows to silence -- however, as soon as that happens, even while idling, the processor temperature quickly (over one or two minutes) accelerates to 55 degrees Celsius, even while doing relatively little, at which point the fan clicks back on at an audible level.

For reference, the relevant specs are:
1 x Sager NP5160 / Clevo W150HN
Display 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
Processor - 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
Thermal Compound Stock Thermal Compound-
Graphics Video Card nVidia GT 540M 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR3 DX11 with Optimus™ Technology
Ram ~ 8,192MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS)

I'm uncertain if this behavior is normal or not. Is this normal? Does anything need to be done? Does this match others' experiences?

 

[Phoronix] NVIDIA Optimus Unofficially Comes To Linux
Contact him using twitter martinjuhl (martinjuhl) on Twitter, he's seeking help for testing on different laptops (Optimus support on clevo W150HNM doesn't look like such a bad idea !)

 

I was in your same position, can't afford the 1080p matte but want more than 1366x768.

Apparently these 1600x900 matte screens are something new they just recently started offering on this notebook. Therefore there is little information. I should have my laptop in under 2 weeks so I can report back what I think about the 1600x900.

 

Working on my review now. Should have it posted later tonight or early tomorrow

 

The only the glossy 1080P is not bad at all... unless of course you are going to use it beside a brightly lit window all day long or outside

 

i personally think this is way better...

 

My machine came in today!

The only thing I'm KIND of disappointed in are the speakers, but it's alright.

This machine is blazing fast!

I only have 1 question, whats UMA mode? Like when I read the instructions, it said if the VGA button is orange it's in optimus mode, and if it's green it's in UMA mode.

What's UMA mode?

 

UMA is forced integrated gpu mode. basically it disables the nvidia gpu.

 

Thanks bud!

Do you know how to disable optimus?

 

That button is what disables it. The NVIDIA GPU is not connected to the display at all. As long as that switch is engaged, the NVIDIA chip will never activate.

 

Finally threw up a review. Still not finished with it yet

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...ger-np5160-review-ineedmoney.html#post7475992

 

Newegg has the Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5" Internal SATA III (6Gb/sec) Solid State Drive for $99.99 Free Shipping after Coupon Code: EMCKEJK36 (Exp 5/11). Tax in CA, NJ, TN.

Newegg.com - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Just picked up one!

 

Newegg is sold out for now.

 

Back in stock

Never mind coupon seems to not work

 

So mine came in a couple of days ago, and my first impressions were all positive, with the exception of the speakers, but I didn't get this for the speakers. now I am having a problem with Optimus, when I try to play The Witcher, where it won't switch to the 540m while playing. I know you can go in an manually tell it to run it on the 540m when it is booted, but when I load up the exe. for The Witcher, it says that it is Tony Hawks: American Wasteland. Is there anyway yo fix this right now, or is waiting for better driver support my only bet?

 

Can you right-click on the .exe and select the GeForce GPU? Also, do you have the latest drivers installed? You can download them straight from NVIDIA. Here is a link to the Win 7 x64 version.

 

I had updated the driver to the latest on on sager's site, but just went and installed the newest Nvidia one. when I ran it after that, and it still didn't switch to the 540m, so I did what you suggested, and went to the exe and right clicked it. when I pulled it up it said it was defaulted on the 540m, but I clicked it again and ran it through, and now is working. My thought is that the Nvidia setting page was just thrown off by the whole Tony Hawk title, but I find it odd in the first place that it thought that at all, I don't even own the game. Thanks for your help.

 

Does anyone know where I can find a color profile for the B156HW01 V.4 (1080p matte 95% color gamut display)? I don't know how well I'll be able to calibrate the monitor on my own with no tools once my np5160 arrives.