*** Official Sager NP8150/Clevo P150HM Owners Lounge ***

So envious of you all with your Sager/Clevo. I've ordered mine on 2 Dec from LogicalBlueOne and still waiting for it.. Hopefully it can come around Christmas as present for myself

 

Why so long? Here in the US these are shipping in 3-4 days.
_

 

how is the battery life while surfing the internet with minimal brightness for a np8150 with radeon 6990m ?
and is it much different compared to nvidia 560m battery life ?

 

just a quick question what are those running 6990m getting for their temps? im getting 55idle and 86 on load.

kinda high i feel?

 

I get about 2-2.5 hours with the 6990m using the default power savings plan. You will probably see a minor increase in battery life with the 560m; if I had to guess, about 20-30 more minutes.

If you did not order/apply better thermal paste, then those temperatures seem normal if you are not using a cooler. If you are using upgraded thermal paste, those temperatures are a bit above average, but still fine - that small difference could easily be caused by ambient temperatures.

 

That is in the acceptable range the factory has said.

Some have found it helpful propping up the rear a tad when gaming and such to allow for maximum air flow.
_

 

For the last few months (with drivers 11.10 and 11.12), or perhaps even as long as I can remember, I've had stability issues with my graphics card, unheard of when using my desktop (which is equipped with a 6990). Simply the frequency of BSODs and those "AMD display driver has stopped working" errors (which are preceded by a brief moment when the screen turns partly black and the machine becomes unresponsive) exceeds that of any other graphics card that I've used before (although it's still fairly seldom). But my real issue is now that I can't even play CS 1.6 anymore. The game first starts, then the screen becomes black (for a split second it becomes filled with tiny checkerboard-ish shapes), the hl.exe process is using 100 % of a single core, and I am notified with that "AMD display driver has stopped working" error. And it doesn't seem like you can download old (and hopefully working) drivers. I've not been playing for about 4 months, so I'm unsure when this problem surfaced. Any possible solution to my problem(s)? Is this graphics card inherently unstable?

 

Idk.. I guess they just work slower during this time of year. Kinda regret it ordering from them, should've just ordered from the States instead

 

Hello everybody! had a crazy idea and needed to get some feedback.

I was thinking of replacing the 500gb hd on the sager with a 120 or 240 gb ssd. I went with the 500gb hd in the dvd slot because i thought I would need the extra storage, but since I've bought it the most I've ever filled it up was 15gb's and i seriously doubt I will ever need that much space. So my plan would be to sell the 500gb hd, buy a 120gb ssd (samsung 470 only 140 at the egg right now). That would put me with the intel ssd for the main os and the samsung ssd for any extra programs everyday files.

The main reason I am looking at doing this is to hopefully increase battery life a bit and not just let all that extra storage go to waste.

You guys think its worth doing?

Thank you in advance!

 

It's not worth doing, depending on the drive you get. The optical bay is only SATA II, so any SATA III drive would be bottlenecked there. While it will speed up your file access to have an SSD there versus an HDD, it comes down to use. Will you be accessing the files there often enough to make the (rather large) expense of getting an SSD worth it? The HDD is basically free because you've already paid for it, so you're not really wasting the space.

SSD's make the biggest difference in booting and application load time. If you're not using that second drive as say, a cache for video editing or storing frequently edited files, it just may not be worth the expense.

All that said, if you have the money and want every possible speed bonus, then there's no downside since you won't miss the 500GB of storage.

 

I'll stick with my ssd, hd combination then, did a little research and power save is just a few minutes and with what you said would be a waste of money. Going to put that money instead into a savings for a gpu upgrade on the lappy when the 600series come out!

Btw. I swear Malibal you guys have some of the best customer service I have ever seen. You guys have always replied to my questions and many other's on here within seconds, multiple times. I kind of have buyers remorse for not purchasing my np8150 through you guys. Thank you very much!!!!

 

This has probably already been asked but I really don't want to hunt for it. How do the 560M, 580M, and 6990 compare as far as performance, stability, and heat?

Thanks!

 

That would take too much data to post here. But you can look it up at Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

How about just heat then?

Also, is there a significant difference between the WiFi cards? (do they affect Internet speed noticeably?)

Thanks

 

I'm considering upgrading my current laptop to the NP8150. My question: How has it been working for you since you got it? Runs everything/most things just fine?

Also, since the DC-in Jack is back, is it a straight or a 90 degree plugin?

Mike

 

The guys at PowerNotebooks are really great also. They answer email questions fast, and I've never had any problems with CS. Luckily I've never had any problems with the laptop, just power bricks and they were fast to replace them.

Mike

 

Heat doesn't change too much between them, the laptop is designed to cool all of them equally

Internet speed is mainly determined by your ISP. However, we've had a lot of customers report good things about the Bigfoot 1103. I personally (Intel fanboy-ism aside) prefer the Intel Advanced N 6230.

Either way you'll get better driver support and more features if you upgrade your wifi (increased throughput, dual channel support, etc.)

 

The 580M I got has the lowest load temps of the last 5 yrs of laptops I've had despite it being the beefiest, only the GMA950 in a dell latitude was cooler. 40C idle, 70-75C load depending on game (75C was MSI kombustor). This in summer too, so 20+C ambient.

Happy I spent the extra 300 bux over the 6990M. CCC has only ever caused me grief, until they fix it I'll only use radeons as impulse second hand buys for obsolete desktops (eg a 4850 I got cheap the other day to replace 8800GT).

Battery life is regularly over 3 hours of officey/web stuff, I was hugely surprised how good it is. Clocks down really low though, but still fast enough.

 

which one have a better build quality the Sager NP8150 or Power Pro 11:36 (MSI 16F2 barebone) ??

 

They are all 100w TDP cards, so heat is very comparable. The AMD cards tend to run a bit warmer at idle because they don't clock down quite as far (and they're just a bit harder on battery life for the same reason). At load though, they're all within a few degrees of each other.

It's a right angle plug from the adapter going into the laptop.

 

Thanks.

Mike

 

Is there a known issue with Far Cry on AMD GPUs? I tried to up the settings and it would either black screen and refuse to load main menu, take a long time to load main menu, or refuse to load into game after selecting a new game.

 

The build quality is very similar and not really a decision point. What separates the two is the PowerPro R 11:36 supports 2 hard drives and your optical drive internally where the Sager NP8150 supports 1 hard drive plus your optical drive, and the PowerPro R 11:36 comes standard with a Matte screen while the Sager NP8150 comes with a Glossy screen.

 

Hey everyone, just checking in after owning this laptop since March.

I'm experiencing a few issues, maybe you guys have been experiencing the same.

The first issue started as soon as I received the laptop, it just didn’t happen frequently enough for me to bother with sending it in and was hoping a driver update would fix it. Essentially, every 10-15 days, the visuals will become glitched and I’ll receive a message saying “your display driver successfully recovered from an error.” If I don’t restart the computer immediately, the screen will go black every 10 seconds until the computer completely freezes. I’ve discovered that after turning the computer off, pulling the batter for about 5 minutes postpones the problem for nearly a week until it happens again. If I do a standard restart without a battery pull, it will happen as soon as I turn the computer on. This problem is hard to replicate as it seems almost random in its occurrence but it has been happening more frequently.

As mentioned, this has been bearable (barely) but now I’ve run into another issue. I noticed that my GPU is running hotter than usual, much hotter actually. I have the laptop on a Zalman ZM-NC1000 running on full fan speed and with my computer idle, the GPU is at 89 degrees celcius. It used to run at 55 degrees celcius under the same conditions. Playing graphically intensive games has caused the computer to shut down as a failsafe measure. This is a huge problem for me and surely this will lead to lower lifespan of the hardware.


I also forwarded this problem to my reseller in hopes that I can get this in and make use of the warranty.


Edit: Just a follow up, managed to find the source of the heat: DUST! Checked the two fans and the heatsinks were clogged with enormous amounts of dust. Temps are back down to a much more reasonable 40 degrees celcius. This won't fix my driver error, however. This much I know.

 

dose the rubberized surface on the np815 peel off with time ??
and is is easily scratched??

 

Hi everyone

I just got myself a new pair oh earphones (Beyerdynamic DT1350) and i'm having problems with the sound output of my 3.5mm jack.
everytime theres some bass in a song the volume decreases dramatically and it sounds really bad. on my cellphone the sound it good so the problem is at my p150hm.

I have tried playing with all the settings in the realtec audio driver settings and the equilisers but nothing worked so far.

does anyone have any sogestions?

Thanks

 

Are you still running the older 270 drivers listed in your signature? The newest stable drivers are 285.62, and I'd go with those as they're nearly 9 months newer. Not to mention that Beta 290.53 are currently available. I also have the 485m in my own machine and I've not seen any issues with the newest stable drivers compared to the originals.

Graphics Driver - Verde 285.62 Driver - GeForce
Graphics Driver - Verde 290.53 Driver - GeForce

It can be scratched as easily as any other laptop surface (plastic, etc), so it's better to be careful with it if possible. Some keep their machine in notebook sleeves when not in use to protect it. I've never seen the finish peel off though.

It seems that there have been some reporting poor sound quality with higher end headphones, but the general suggestion is to try a USB sound card. I think this thread might help:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/577810-sager-np8130s-sound.html

 

I think the 285.62 are producing the infamous kernel mode drive crash for many users (including me) as of now. Googling it will give you a low of hits about it.

 

Well I decided to go for it and order a NP8150 from Powernotebooks.com. This will be the 2nd time I've ordered from them. I just wish buying a car, major appliances, etc was this easy.

My Specs:

Display: 15.6” Full HD 16:9 Wide screen (1920x1080) LED-Backlit Display with Super Clear Glare Type screen
Video Card - GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6990M 256bit w/2GB GDDR5
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM (2.2~3.1GHz, 45W) w/6M L3 Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads
Thermal Compound: IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
System Memory: 8GB (2x4GB SODIMMS) DDR3/1333 Dual Channel Memory
Hard Drive: 500GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200RPM Hard Drive (16MB Cache Buffer)
Optical Drive Bay: Combo Dual Layer DVD ±R/RW CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
Memory Card Reader: 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader (All versions of MS + SD/MMC)
Wireless Networking: Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6230 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth™ 3.0+HS Combo Card
Battery: 8 Cell Smart Lithium-Ion Battery 76.96Wh
Operating System: Windows 7 Premium - (64-Bit installed - 64 and 32-bit CD included)
AC Adapter: Full Range 180W Auto Switching AC Adapter
Carrying Case: Standard Carrying Case
Branding: Sager Logo
Sager Limited Warranties: 1-Year Parts and Shipping plus Lifetime Labor and 24/7 DOMESTIC Toll Free Support (Labor & Support paid by PNB)

Mike

 

Yes, I am using the 285.62 driver. The first issue I noted hasn't happened yet, but I'm 99% sure it will as other driver updates haven't fixed it. If it does indeed happen again, I will try the beta driver.

Guess I should update my sig

 

Yes, please let us know how it goes. We got your back on this for sure!
_

 

Hey,

I made a post earlier that I think would interest you.

Because your headphones are pretty good, I'd definitely suggest getting the FiiO e7 to take full advantage of what they have to offer.

 

I'm wanting to order the P150HM and I have a couple questions. The chassis is rubber and I use a wireless mouse on top right next to the mousepad. The laptop I have now is aluminum and it's easy for a mouse to slide around on the area adjacent to the mousepad and keyboard. How easily and smoothly will a mouse move across a rubber pad? Because rubber isn't very smooth at all.

I have one flash drive and two external drives from a few years ago. They are USB 2.0. Will they plug into the blue 3.0 slots on left the side of the laptop and work properly?

Will Malibal be open on January 2nd so I can call to place an order?

Oh, and very important, will this laptop be able to plug into my 120watt cigarette lighter and charge without short circuiting my vehicle? Malibal doesn't offer a car charger option, which sucks. My AC/cigarette lighter is 12volt/120watt maximum.

EDIT: Hmm, I'm getting a slightly cheaper price for the same customization over at GenTechPC for the Sager NP8150. And they offer a car charger too. Malibal's price is $2853 and GenTechPC's is $2833. The GenTech price quote is factoring in the $65 car charger too.

 

Damn! I ordered a NP8150 from Powernotebooks.com for 1/2 that price. You must have really loaded it up.

 

I play FC2 on my desktop with an AMD video card and I have no problems at all. I'm going to try it on my new laptop when it arrives and it has an AMD GPU.

 

Other than the video porking out on you, how are you liking the 8150? I ordered one last week.

 

Hi, I was experiencing high temperatures (71-75C) even when no software was running on my P150HM. I solved this by turning off the background processes of chrome (it's an option in the under the hood menu option menu).

Only problems with my pc after 3 months are a couple of bsod and sometimes the screen goes black without possibility of recover if the laptop is not used right after logging in on windows.

And using HWMonitor I noticed my battery has already 6% wear. Any suggestion on how to reduce this? Is a poorly performing battery covered by Xotic warranty? Thank you!

 

I did indeed, Mike:

15.6" Full HD LED, 95% NTSC Color Gamut, Anti-Glare
i7-2860QM
GTX 580M
IC Diamond paste
8GB RAM @ 1600MHz
(default hard drive; will upgrade later)
6x Blu-Ray
Bigfoot Wireless-N 1103
Car charger
3 year parts & labor warranty
$2573

I removed the Intel 510 and am sticking with the default hard drive. I wonder if they can remove the hard drive altogether and save me the money. I have a 80GB 320 SSD at home I want to use.

How well does a wireless mouse glide across the rubber part right next to the fingerpad?
And there are four USB slots, right?

 

Btw yes USB 3.0 ports are backwards compatable with 2.0.

There are actually 5 ports USB total. The eSATA on the back doubles as a USB port. The 3rd USB (2.0) port next to the USB3 ports on the LHS is additionally a hi-current port (for powering stuff that needs more than the std 500mA and for charging stuff like phones/tablets) and charges while the lappy is off. Very handy.

And even though the USB3 controller is branded "Renesas" its actually a NEC port - which has some issues with some devices driven by jmicron USB3 controllers. My Vantec external 2.5" hdd enclosure needed a firmware update to work properly.

 

Thank you, Benny. Five is plenty for me.

So for those that own this NP8150/P150HM, how well does a mouse glide across the corner? Ya know, the right hand corner adjacent to the touchpad and the 10-key pad? Because I sometimes use my laptop while on trips in my car and I sit with the laptop on my lap (of all places) and the only place to put the mouse is on the keyboard itself.

 

Hi, I've noticed another problem. My GPU Fan RPM reading is always 0. Any known solution to this? Thanks.

 

What are your temps for your GPU? What do you use to show a 0 RPM?
_

 

Hi,

I was using speedfan.

I've tried MSI Afterburner and it worked fine, now I can control the fan speed. I'm using Sapphire Trixx (which wasn't changing the fan speed at all) to overclock my 6990m.

I've read somewhere

What I've got is a 88C with 775 1020 when running Furmark. I should have the Xoticpc special repaste on cpu and gpu and I think my temperature are way high. The GPU fan is runnin at 100%. Help

 

Your fans must be working good. Those temps are in the acceptable range.

Although running Furmark is not recommended by Sager or Clevo as it is not a realistic, real world gauge for temps.

-

 

Guys, please help.

i have 150hm

im wondering if the optic cable (toslink) alone is enough to get 5.1 Sound? i mean should i to use mic/headphone and spdif ports to get 5.1? or just the S/pdif port?

this is from the manual and confused me:
To setup your system for 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound you
will need to connect the audio cables to the Line-In,
Headphone-Out, Microphone-In and S/PDIF-Out jacks
(7.1 Speaker only).

 

From what I know to achieve 5.1 or 7.1 you need an external sound card no?
I could just be wrong..

BTW what is the TDW consumption on the 6990? Could one upgrade from 6970 to 6990?

 

I think it can only do 2 channels of audio. The setup for 5.1/7.1 lists the following required port configuration:

• Headphone Jack = Front Speaker Out
• Line-In Jack = Rear Speaker Out
• Microphone-In Jack = Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out
• S/PDIF-Out Jack = Side Speaker Out (for 7.1 Surround Sound Only)

S/PDIF only has to carry 2 channels of uncompressed PCM audio at a minimum, which would make sense if 7.1 is using it for surround sound on the side speakers.

They're both 100w TDP parts, so it's a pretty easy swap from one to the other. You may or may not need a new heat sink on the new card though, but most retailers will sell you the new card + heatsink anyway.

 

Anyone running Corsair Force GT SSD in their NP8150 laptop so far without a hitch?
I want to make sure the Corsair SSD is much stable now with the latest firmware for NP8150 before I get one of these for my laptop.

 

Totally not worth the money. You'd spend $490 for a 10-15% increase in performance, which you could already gain from an overclock of your 6970M.

The infinitely smarter move would be to play wait and see on whether the upcoming 7900M/7800M will be compatible with our current-gen machines.

 

Hi,

Recently got my Sager NP8150 about a week ago, and am very satisfied with it.

However, i've noticed that the top of the lid (specifically the area closer to the webcam) gets somewhat hot. It's not burning or anything, but it's worrying to feel when I've never seen this happen on any other laptop. In fact, it is hotter than any other part of the machine, including the vents, which is extra worrisome. Does anyone know what's going on here, and whether or not I should be taking action?