Official Sager NP8130/Clevo P151HM1 Owners Lounge

Are you sure this is not an issue with those particular headphones?

Mr. Mysterious

 

yea. Like I said, they are pretty nice and have built in bass boost that is usually almost too much.

 

It should be FN+F4 I think.

 

If the FN+F4 button doesn't wake the laptop up then from my experience with several laptops is that a reinstall of Windows 7 will sometimes solve sleeping issues. I have no idea what's the problem but the same laptop that does not properly wake up from sleep could wake up fine after a fresh install sometimes.

 

ya, even if I press FN+F4, the laptop itself still sleeping. The weird part is when I press any button, there are sounds but the screen remains black.

I don't really want to re-install my windows.

 

what music player you using?

and did you installed Creative THX?

 

Got mine today!!! I love it and it is a beast : ) No problems whatsoever!


Quick question: how do you access the BIOS? Pressing F2 at startup does not seem like a typical BIOS screen.

 

How do you guys think this would handle the 470m?

I have a 180w adapter and w860cu heatsink to try. I am thinking about getting one for 599$.
Would anyone have a cheap CPU to sell me

 

Ordered mine on 4/10, and got it in Mongolia 4/28. It's fast, graphics are nice, but when I first started installing Windows, the DVD-ROM was extremely loud, after installing bunch a games, watching movies the sound now is back to normal...

I have a question, sometimes when I'm playing games the graphics start to become real laggy, almost impossible to play... is there like a performance mode thing? if there is, how can I turn it on?

 

First of all, are you plugged in on AC adapter? Because it declocks down when not connected.

Second, you can try High performance mode on your battery settings.

 

That would not be worth the money.

 

Have any of you guys gotten a BSOD yet? I've gotten about 3 or 4 since I got it. I would like to get more info about this.

 

So how are people doing with the 460m - is it running all your games in ultra okay? From what I see on notebookcheck.net the 460m can handle most games on ultra with more than 30+ fps except crysis 2 - are you getting equal fps or able to play on ultra smoothly. What about heat? I'm guessing the 460m would run much cooler than the 485 or 6970 right?

 

No BSOD here, try running Memtest to check your ram. If you get no errors then do a clean install of the OS.

 

Do you think the rated output of this Power inverter would be cutting it too close to be able to game while a passenger in a car?

Newegg.com - Rosewill RCP-E150C 150W Can Sized Silence Car Inverter with 1Amp USB Port

 

I have done a lot of fooling around with this issue.

The problem is independent of the music player or thx and my headphone hardware.

My headphones sound great with very rich bass on any other device.

With the 8130, the headphones sound like a tin can. Its like the none of the lower frequencies are being outputted.

The strange thing is, when I plug speakers in, the sound is fine - the bass is there.

I can't figure this out.

Is it possible the audio driver is somehow detecting that I am using headphones and adjusting the sound profile? This seems very unlikely.

 

Anyone know a way to add an equalizer to the Realtek driver?

An equalizer that would affect global sound?

 

None here, after obsessive use for about 2 weeks.

 

Is anyone besides me getting the weedwacker treatment from their laptop's fans?

 

When my fans crank all the way up, there is a slight whine to them.

Otherwise, its more of a white noise whooshing sound.

But they do seem to run just about all the time - even when sitting for long periods with the screen off.

 

still the questions: what music player you using and did you installed THX?

If you have THX then you will not have an equalizer in Realtek Audio Manager.

 

WOW! So the headphone sound quality on the 8130 is absolutely horrid. How can I fix this - theres absolutely no bass. This is a huge problem as I literally listen to everything on my notebook with headphones. My friends 5 year old dell studio has exceptional sound compared to this - and yes drivers are updated.

 

I have messed with both the equalizer without thx and then with the thx equalizer and it still sounds like crap. In fact the thx equalizer sounds even worse - if you crank up the "speaker" setting in thx which I'm guessing is the bass, it sounds like the bass coming from a cellphone.

Botfly - we got our comps at the exact same time which makes me think maybe somethings wrong with ours cause I can't imagine people not noticing this. And so far we are the only ones complaining. By the way I have bose tri-ports which basically make everything sound amazing.

 

I have tried itunes, wmp, VLC and winamp. Its not the player.

I do have THX installed and I have tried adjusting all the settings, disabling, and even killing the process.

Also, there is no reason THX and a multi-band equalizer are mutually exclusive.

 

The really weird thing is, it sounds great when I use the same output to a full stereo or even desktop computer speakers.

It really sounds like the sound profile is altered when headphones are plugged in... but I don't see how that is possible...

 

Uninstall THX and uninstall your audio driver,

then re-install audio driver ONLY.

THX only messes things up.

Of course THX and equalizer are not mutually exclusive technically. But that's how the Creative THX software's written. Blame Creative.

 

I'll try that, thanks.

The weird thing is that the same port with the same type of 1/8th in jack works great when playing through speakers or a stereo.

I would be tempted to say it was a hardware issue if it wasn't for this - the like there is an incomplete connection or something.

 

Have you tried new headphones? Did you switch the audio mode from laptop speakers to headphones? Did you press the "off" button in the THX window?

 

I have tried every setting on the computer I could find. I did not try another set of headphones. But I did try my headphones on other devices (smartphone, ipod...) and they sound good, as they always have.

 

Why Geforce GTX470M? I thought AMD Radeon 6970M was only around $550?

 

Well I can't find a place that will sell the 6970M, and I've looked pretty much everywhere.

I'll buy it in a couple of years though, by then it should have gone down to about $200, much more palatable.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Hi All.

I've just ordered an 8130 after two or three weeks of deliberation, and really appreciate both this thread and mrmysterious66's review, as these were very significant sources if information for me.

This choice pushed my budget quite a bit further than i originally planned, and in truth this is the first time I've built or bought a computer in over a decade that wasn't just the cheapest thing I could live with.

So I need this to last awhile - but I ordered standard thermal paste to save the $40.

With that in mind, and having lost my previous laptop due to thermal issues a year ago:

Under Linux, what's a good way to perform a stress test that will give me an idea of whether my temps are acceptable?

What are acceptable temps these days under load? (CPU/GPU)

Does Sager use Arctic Silver by default? I've heard conflicting reports on this.

Do they tend to be sloppy with this? IOW, should I plan to just open things up and replace the existing compound with lovingly and sparingly applied AS upon receipt?

If I decide I need to replace the thermal compound, will doing so void my warranty? (If so, I'll want to stress test ASAP when it arrives, such that I can RMA it immediately if temps seem out of line...)

Thanks for any response, and also for the great thread!

 

You don't need to worry about the temp with stock TIM. It performs really well.

I just replaced mine from stock to AS5. The stock TIM is quite thick so cleaning will be a big problem if you want to do it right.

edit: The uncured AS5 temp is around 1~2C lower than stock TIM. After 200 hours curing time should be around 3~5C lower. Just to give you an idea.

 

For those of you are going to replace TIM by yourself,

I would suggest you remove this black plastic sheet on NVIDIA GPU.

This plastic sheet traps TIM residue and cleaner inside. Also preventing a tighter contact between heatsink and core.

 

If I decide to replace it, will doing so void my warranty? If so, I'm not going to mess with it unless there's a problem.

Thanks for the info by the way!

 

I don't think you'll void your warranty by replacing the thermal compound.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Aikimox on these forums has it. He's the reseller for Fortnax where I bought my 8130
http://forum.notebookreview.com/member.php?u=235434

I remember he made a thread about getting 6970Ms in stock.

 

I wouldn't have thought so either given the apparent target demographic of these machines, and the fact that they are based on Clevo barebones kits. OTOH I'd fully expect to void my warranty the first time I started mucking about inside an HP or etc, so wasn't entirely sure.

Thanks again for your great review! Though of course it was partly responsible for blowing right past my budget -- leading me from the 5160 or 5165 that I was considering right up to the 8130.

Can't wait for it to arrive...

 

Lol, thank you, and I'm sorry? Yeah, I was in your shoes as well....originally aiming for the 5160, but then thinking that I should go for it, so I went ahead and got the 8130.

It was out of my budget too! I had to take a "loan".

Mr. Mysterious

 

I think the question here is if everyone else has the same quality of sound just don't notice it as much as we do. I strictly use headphones with my notebook so this is a huge deal for me - I am already returning mine for the np8150 but I'm considering not getting either cause of this although I love everything else about the notebooks.

Have or can other people test the sound by just listening to an ipod or other computer in comparison with the np8130. If you have the same problem as us you'll notice a huge difference.

 

The differences in sound as you few mentioned is noticeable, significantly noticeable.
I had the same problem as you few described after installing Creative THX. I solved it by uninstalling THX and Audio driver then reinstall Audio driver ONLY as mentioned above.

The HD Audio codec in NP81x0 series (Realtek ALC892) is actually pretty good for integrated audio solution. And ipod doesn't offer great audio quality either, maybe you are just get used to the equalization that ipod has.
I don't think you will get significantly better integrated audio solution with other laptops.

Frankly if you prefer better audio, get an external firewire or USB audio interface like Tascam US-144MKII.

 

I have 8gb of memory in my current Sager NP8130 config and want to expand to 16gb. I currently have Samsung memory (2x4gb) - see attached. I was reviewing options at Newegg and was thinking of going with 2x4gb GSkill to add to the current Samsung. Would one of these be a better option to match to the existing Samsung?

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-8GBSQ
or
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Laptop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSQ

Is there another brand that would be a a better option? Matching Samsung is almost twice as expensive for each stick of RAM which seems crazy. Thanks in advance.

 

Umm....both of the choices you have presented are the same...One is just 66Mhz faster. That's not going to make a difference in real life experience.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Hi guys. Been reading this thread for a few weeks now. I decided to take a risk and buy one of these sweet looking laptops as It's time for an upgrade. However, I've been burned thus far.

Received it about a week ago tomorrow, and has been nothing but a headache since day 1. Simply put, when it starts to do anything video-card related, it either freezes up, or the screen will do the funky jig for a minute or two and come back with the dreaded "you're display adapter Nvidia has recovered" or some such. Sometimes I get lucky and it'll run fine for an hour or two. But not often.

Things I've tried:
Nvidia driver updated
Rapid intel storage updated
USB updated
Audio updated "cause of that weird audio stutter it does when it freezes"
Bios updated "it's worse, if anything"

I'm really at a loss at what else to try. I've already sent out a ticket to my reseller for advice, but I thought you guys may have some other suggestions to try?

P.S. I am slowly reading this entire thread- so I'm not fully up to date on what to try. It does make me feel a little better to know that I'm not alone with this issue, however!

 

ask for an exchnange.

 

Alright, after much fretting and debating I think I'm about ready to pull the trigger on an NP8130 (Special thanks to Mr. Mysterious for his review, which was very nice). The last thing that I'm trying to decide on is the hard drive. I've pretty much decided if I'm going to buy an awesome computer, then let's really make it awesome, and get an SSD. (I know it won't improve gaming frame rates, but I like the sound of faster boots/load times, and I'm hoping to eek a little more battery life out of this monster). I don't have a ton of experience with SSD's (this will be my first), so I had a couple questions:

The issue of a limited number of writes scares me a bit. How long can I expect a 300Gig SSD to last with typical usage?

Is there a meaningful difference between the SATAII/SATAIII drives. I know I can go look up the numbers, but I wanted some subjective feedback. My gut instinct is that difference will be marginal compared to difference between the SATAII and a HDD.

How do people feel about the Momentus XT hybrid drive? It seems like a nice compromise, but I'm guessing its performance won't match a full SSD.

 

The headphone audio being crap is caused by the built-in amplifier being too weak. Hook it up to a headphone amp.

 

this is too. But getting a USB audio interface is quite cheap. And NP8130 has SPDIF/Optical output which is quite a rarity in laptop world.

 

What does that do?

Mr. Mysterious

 

that bypasses the integrated audio DAC and transmits digital signal for an external DAC, which generally has much better quality than integrated DAC.