Official Sager NP8130/Clevo P151HM1 Owners Lounge

True enough - I only test for bad pixels when I know I can get a new screen/laptop without a hassle. When I buy monitors, I buy the ~$7 zero dead pixel guarantee (this is at NCIX). I've used it three times, and boy is that small $7 worth it. They pay return shipping and all - no extra cost to you if you want a replacement. It also makes the $100 no dead pixel service that Sager resellers offer sound like a complete joke!

That all said, I'll be returning my 8130 - it's just not the right thing for me right now. I need something more portable and something I won't feel bad about scratching up carrying around every day (as well as something that won't get all visibly scratched up in the first place). The main factor is the weight and thickness - it's a gaming PC after all. I picked up a HP dv6 in town on sale and it's definitely going to suit me better. I will definitely miss the 8130 though, it's a superb laptop and that screen is to die for. It's just too much laptop for my needs right now. To anyone looking - if you want a gaming laptop and you want power and you don't need portability, this is THE laptop to get (aside a 5160 with the GT 555M if it happens). I just needed something a few pounds lighter and a couple cm thinner. If it weren't for that I'd definitely keep it, since it's such an insane value compared to what you'd pay elsewhere and not even get the same specs.
I wish everyone best of luck with their purchases!

 

YouTube - Seagate Momentus XT

I have the Momentus XT and i will say that I love it. Photoshop and other adobe programs load literally in a couple seconds. I don't have a lot of games so I don't know how it is for gaming but take a look at the video

 

hello everybody, some of you selected the stock wlan card, i would like to know, if is possible, how this card performs, is it any good and what about the bluetooth. i ask this because i am leaning towards this card instead of the intel 6230 because of the building time, i need this laptop as soon as possible, thanks in advance

 

the stock card works well for me. I haven't really tested the distance but the speed is good. The bluetooth also works well. I'm using a bluetooth mouse and i've also connected wii remotes to my laptop using the bluetooth

 

It works just fine, the upgrade is not worth the money, since the speed will be bottlenecked by your isp anyways.

 

guys some questions

whats the max core oc u can do at stock volts using: 1.afterburner 2. precision

whats max volt tweak and max core oc at that? using 1. afterburner 2. precision?

can you post 3d mark 11 and 3d mark vantage scores for those stock and oced settings?

 

stock speed gpu.



overclock 820 shader 1400 memory 1640 shader



stock gpu speed



overclocked.

i benchmark myself this settings!!

 

at stock voltage? can the the volt be tweaked and stable oced further? also using evga presicion can it be oced further?

 

1. 0

2. 0



Afterburner and Precision don't work. They just don't recognize the GPU properly. People are overclocking with Nvidia Inspector. 0.95v is already the maximum.

I still haven't found anything that can control the fan.

 

Hey guys,

I was wondering how sturdy does the sager np8130 laptop feel? I have a dell latitude d630--so I'm wondering how it compares to it? Also--should I really get the dead pixel warranty--I don't want to have to send my laptop back if it does have dead pixels lol!

 

Phase 4 at last! Laptop won't arrive till Thursday. I work till 11pm so first impressions and review will have to wait till Friday or the weekend.

 

you have given me hope, i am guessing mine is going to come when my spring break is over

 

You should get an email Friday or Monday letting you know it shipped.

 

SO I got my laptop about a week ago with no O.S. I installed windows 7 32 bit (got it from my college website) and started using it. I got everything working properly, then a couple of days later when it installed windows updates when I booted it all I could do was open startup repair and it would stay there forever. I turned it off and then installed windows 7 62 bit. I installed all the drivers and everythign was going great, then again I installed the updates and the same thing happened again. I had to do another clean install and now I havent done the windows update fearing it will do the same thing again. Could this be a hardware problem? Has this happened to anyone else?

 

I bought mine without OS also. I installed Win7 Pro 64-Bit myself. I have had no problems with updates at all. Maybe test your ram?

 

When you guys press Fn+1 to turbo your fans, do your fans sort of "start and stop" ?

 

So I ordered my NP8130 last month (march) from PcTorque on the 31st, it's nearly the 20th of april. A few pages back I read someone mentioning that their laptop got shipped out in 2 days from PcTorque, but I guess the majority of people here have also been waiting a long while right? I'm guessing the NP8130 recall over at sager due to the bad bios has really postponed everything by a month... the wait is killing me especially because my old computer is dead and I'm using a backup pc with a total of 30gb hd where I can barely check my email. Hopefully going Sager will be worth it as I was initially gonna grab an ASUS G53JW that probably would have shipped within 1 week.

 

Not intended to be sarcastic, but what recall over bad bios? Did I miss something somewhere?

 

There are two separate things.

1. The entire Sandy Bridge lineup from Intel had a faulty chipset. Intel recalled all the boards including the ones in our laptops. This is the biggest delay in people getting their laptops because there was a shortage.

2. There were early reports of freezing/crashing on the 8130/8150 but should be fixed in the new bioses.

 

Is the ram the only thing that could cause my problem? I don't want to send it back and have to wait again...

 

Sorry should have posted some sort of link in my first post http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/555274-random-freezes-8130-8150-a.html - apparently the jan/feb 8130s, 8150s and 8170s were having very random freezing issues and were recalled. There should be more links in that thread (anyone interested should check it out in case i might have missed/misinterpreted something) but in a short summary from what I gathered the laptops were being sent out with outdated bios that I guess weren't fully compatible with the new hardware. Sager responded that they'll start doing recalls and not to mess with any settings so they could pinpoint exactly what the problem was, while some people updated their bios and according to them the freezing stopped (FYI; updating your bios might void your warranty and even stop your pc from booting up if done wrong).

 

Ah, that clarifies then. Those are old news though. It sounded as if there was some new issue with the bios that led to a recall.

1. There should no longer be any significant delay, if at all, related to SB.

2. Most, if not all, who had orders served post B3 stepping did not experience freezing issues from what I have seen. That being said, it must be noted that the freezing issue is unlikely to be related to the SB issue. And, as some have pointed out, it could be due to bios.

As long as the instructions in the bios thread are followed, it should be a breeze. I updated my 8150 without issue.

 

Yes, I noticed this problem and tried shoving my roomate's flomax into the fan grating but it still does that. Something tells me that the fan speed is programed in cycles that are a couple of seconds each.

 

I thought that this problem could be fixed with a bios update ??

 

I have not updated the bios.

 

I don't believe flashing the BIOS will void warranty. Physical attempts in changing the laptop itself will render the warranty useless.

 

I order mine from XoticPC on March 9th.
It's still in Phase 2.
If this laptop doesn't have such high value, I would definitely have canceled my order.

When I finally get it, whenever that is, I'll probably give my impression of it on this thread, though I'm too lazy/busy to write a full review with pics like MrMysterious

 

Thisisalamp; Yeah you're right.

jieship: March 9th! Two months waiting for a laptop and you have yet to commit suicide, you're my hero. Next week It'll be a month of waiting for me and I'm seriously starting to get annoyed. Someone at Sager has definitely messed something up (they ran out of thermal paste) because a 2 month wait is just not acceptable imo especially for something like a work computer.

 

ordered mine from LPC April 10th, they got it in Las Vegas today and shipped it to me right after they got it... I will get it tomorrow! wooooo

 

Sorry all, I've been busy with final exams. In fact, they're still going on right now, lol...

Just checking in....For current owners: How do you feel about your system?

For prospective owners: What improvements would you like for your 8130? (please do not mention Optimus )

Mr. Mysterious

 

All in all I'm still pretty happy with the system, it has its quirks but all in all it is fulfilling it's duties as my daily work machine quite well.

Positives:

- Machine is very customizable from resellers so you can get it exactly like you want
- Loads of power at a very reasonable cost
- Upgraded matte screen from Mythlogic is gorgeous with great viewing angles
- Port placement on the machine is excellent
- Cooling is excellent, temperatures never get very high
- First machine I've had with an SSD, highly recommended as boot times are great
- Support from Mythlogic has been first rate
- Very compatible with Linux with no Optimus (a good thing for me, I know a negative for others)

Negatives:

- Keyboard is pretty poor. First off the feel is so-so and I dislike the loud clacking noise it makes when typing, really needs a bit of cushioning, Next the inclusion of the number pad is idiotic, just give dedicated Home, End, Insert, etc keys with a proper laptop. Case of Clevo being cheap and refusing to design specific keyboards for different models rather then a one size fits all.
- On my machine, the fan surges on and off every thirty seconds or so which is distracting in a quiet environment
- Plastic chassis feels a bit cheap to me, not seriously cheap but cheap in a way where you think Clevo could do better. I almost wonder if the rough plastic feel is necessary for the rubberized coating on the 8150 to adhere and they couldn't be bothered doing something better for the 8130 then leave it as is.
- Wish the power button was on the outside so you could boot it without having to lift the lid when using an external monitor.
- BIOS configuration options are very limited compared to other machines I've had in the past.

 

I like mine but I wish that the keyboard was fluid-proof.

 

Seems like reaction to the KB is a mixed bag - some like it, some don't. Personally, I like it, and didn't have any problems getting used to it, although I do agree that there is the clacking noise.

Clevo probably decided to use the same KB across the line for standardization. It's one of the reasons why we can get our systems at reasonable prices, though I do think that there is a market that is willing to pay extra for a comparatively better KB.

 

I knew it was too good to be true. My week old laptop was giving me problems with windows, ran a hard rive check, hard drive is damaged... Has anyone had any experience in these situations with xoticpc?

 

For those of you using a hard drive caddy in the optical drive, what external optical drive did you purchase for DVD/BluRay? What about the hard drive caddy? I see Xotic PC sells the caddy as an accessory for $40 but does not list the brand or any details. I decided to upgrade to the C300 SSD and will need to purchase a hard drive caddy & external optical drive. I just want to make sure I purchase decent models that will last. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

If you buy your own caddy you can also purchase an external USB or eSATA enclosure for your optical disk drive. I already have a usb enclosure for a desktop optical drive so I decided to save some $ and buy all my own parts to install a SSD in the optical bay. Everything works great. I did have a problem trying to install Win 7 over usb 3.0, switching to USB 2.0 cleared up the issue.

 

I am going that same route as you. I already have the laptop so going to add the C300 SSD myself. I actually purchased the hard drive caddy from XoticPC as an accessory and that will be shipping soon. I was more concerned about getting a good external optical enclosure but maybe they are all pretty much the same. I did not see many options on Newegg. I might call XoticPC and see if I can work something out on the external as well.

 

I have decided on an 8130 and am now deciding who to order through.

I talked to Xoticpc on the phone and they said Sager just sent them a notice saying due to high volumes, Units are taking up to 14 days to get through phase 2... Arg.

I've heard about PCtorque getting orders shipped a lot faster so I called them too. The guy I talked to was very rude and basically said it was dumb question and there is no way to tell until after you place an order. He also said EVERY reseller will have the same ship times as they all order through Sager. But then he said they in 1-4 days.

On the PCToque Ordering page, it says they are expected to ship in one day.




Basically, I am tempted to order from PCtorque, if it means getting the computer that much faster.

But - the guy I talked to was such a jerk I am nervous about ever having to deal with their costumer service.

The XoticPC guy was very polite and read me the update from Sager and generally tried to be helpful.



Anyone know if PCtorque is really getting their orders shipped faster and why?

 

And just for reference, I am not someone easily annoyed by customer service types.

It was a very strange interaction considering I was speaking with a sales rep and the first thing I said is that I am looking to buy a $1500 computer.

 

All Authorized Sager Resellers get all the Sager models from the exact place in southern California. All Sager models are shipped in the order of the confirmed order number Resellers get.
The only way they anyone could ship faster is if they had one or more "sitting on their shelf somewhere" and not factory fresh from Sager...
_

 

Well, I did it!

Just ordered an 8130 from Xotic. They said build time is 10-14 days right now due to high volume. Ah well.

Woohoo!

Now the hardest part begins.


Oh - and thanks for the reply babyhemi...

 

Congrats! Hey, at least you don't have to wait 6-8 weeks like all of us who ordered just before, or during SB recall

Good thing you didn't order from them. The salesperson sounded like he didn't know anything, or just wanted to blow you off. There is absolutely no good reason that he does not know the standard or average lead-time for an order. That kind of information should be at his fingertips, and not only available after an order is placed.

 

Yeah. Well, what bugged me wasn't that he didn't know. My issue was that he acted like I was such an idiot for asking.

He said "I don't even know what model you are ordering."

lol. I was like, well, I can tell you...



Anyway, I'm psyched now and glad I went through Xotic. I got an instant email from them and a status update that my order is now at Sager and in Phase 2.

 

Can anyone help me remove that hard drive? I removed the cover but it doesnt come out easily, is there another screw I'm missing or something? Im scared of breaking it

 

It is in the manual...

 

I already send him the link to the service manual.

I think he's looking for someone with the experience of changing out the hard drive.

 

batman, I know it's in the manual, I already have the hard drive exposed. However, when I pull on it it seems kinda hard, as if a screw was holding it back or something, Im just wondering if I should just pull it with a little more strength or if I'm missing a screw or something. I dont wanna break it...

 

Remove cover then slide the drive out of the laptop while keeping the drive flat against the notebook. Do not lift the end of the drive that is exposed as it could pivot and break the connector. The drive is not attached by any screws, it is held in by the SATA connector and the drive cover only. There is a tab on the clear protective cover for the drive that you can use to help pull it out. Again, DO NOT lift or pivot the drive as that could break the connector.

 

For those placed order at Xoticpc recently, below were my timeline. Hopefully it will help people estimate their dates of shipping (I know, waiting sucks`~).

4/8 (Friday) Phase 1
4/11 (Monday) Phase 2
4/22 (Friday) Phase 4, shipped.

My customization includes CPU to 2820QM, RAM to 16GB, Diamond Compound, 3yr Part+Labor Warranty, and an extra hard-drive caddy (planning to install a SSD, possibly C300 128GB, on my own).

At Phase 2, they told me that it would take 10~15 business days to build the machine. So I was expecting something like 3 weeks before hearing back from them. But at the end, they managed to finish it at the TENTH business day. Awesome! (I never contacted them for pushing nor asking about the order).

 

btw... does anyone know a good fit external enclosure for NP8130's optical drive? Preferable to one that Amazon Prime's free two-day shipping can apply.

Thanks!