Sager vs. Alienware

So as my Alienware starts having some problems with hardware or software (I am getting very random shutdowns/restarts either because of a virus or hardware failure, do not know) I find myself looking at the laptops I decided against because I had not heard of them.

I noticed this:
custom gaming laptops - Welcome to Sager Notebooks

So why would anyone buy the Alienware m14x over this laptop unless the 15 inch screen size was too big? That 15 inch laptop has the same i7 and a GTX 580 GPU. That is INSANE compared to the GT 555m. Am I missing something here or what?

Are there reasons Sager is better or worse than Alienware?

 

Sager are barebone notebooks and hence just "less of a brand".. that's really it.
Building quality might be less as well but they're generally more bang for your buck then an AW (Unless you get a really good promo deal).

When buying an alienware you're normally doing it because you specifically want to have an Alienware and not just any laptop

It's like Camaro vs. BMW..

 

Specs look good but the laptop looks very uninteresting. I know it's not all about the looks but that laptop looks very bland.

As the poster mentioned above, it's like a Camero v BMW. A Camero looks like a beast but the BMW will probably out perform and out last it.

 

Thats the blandest looking laptop ive ever seen, i dont care if it has a flux capacitor in it, i still wouldnt want one.

 

im seriously wondering

the m14x is the only laptpop i would consider portable enough to call a laptop, everything above that is a desktop replacement

another factor for that reason is that the 555m in the m14x is the strongest one of all the variations of the 555m, and its also the strongest GPU that supports optimus..

The Sager Laptops with stronger gpus are huge and bulky and they dont have a very good battery life...

I mean, if you just wanna play get a desktop and a cheap netbook, i juts wanted a powerful laptop and thats what the m14x is

 

True except the m14x AND the xps 17 are the strongest variations, both having 192bit memory interface and the same default clocks. But get where your coming from.

 

alienware has the flashy "look guyzzz i am gamerzzzz"!! lol just kidding, it's really just a matter of preference, some like the "bland" proffessional look of the clevo/sager, others likes the bling of alienware.

the np8150 and above are more of desktop replacements than a portable laptop because of the size and weight (mainly used as a desktop but provides an easy portable solution when you need to bring it somewhere).

the m14x given it's size, weight and extended battery life is a lot more mobile, so, also you're buying the premium of owning an "alienware" and everything that comes with it.

so...if you find yourself always on the move and need a laptop with a long battery life and ok graphics card then go for the m14x.

otherwise get the m17x or sager np8150/8170 for the muscle and random portability situations

 

I game and work at night quite a bit, in the dark, so the backlit keyboard of the m14x is very useful to be. A 15.6" is also just a bit too large for my tastes.

In terms of power to price ratio though, a sager would beat an equivalently priced m14x hands down.

 

Oh yeah sagers doesn't have a backlit keyboard, speakers are mediocre same with the touchpad.



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yes but if you want real power buy a good desktop and a cheap notebook.. no need to waste it on a bulky gaming notebook (which costs tons more)..

there are only very few people who seriously need a desktop replacement, the ones that travel often

 

This is true. But also some people want the confinement of a gaming notebook to save space etc. even if they dont travel.


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then build a htpc (very small pc), which is still tons stronger then a gaming notebook.. if your planning on buying a strong gaming notebook you dont have alot of battery life anyways (who needs about 1 hour of power only??)

 

Its thicker than my ASUS G72 (which is already like 2 inches thick), it has a shorter battery (5.5 hours vs 2.5-3), not as well made build quality, less features (2.1 speakers vs average stereo speaker setup; mediocre touchpad; not even backlit keyboards; no optimus support), no accidental warranty, small brand company which people may not like (at least they know it'd be harder for Dell to go out of business than XoticPC), and like other people said, it looks average. The m14x is nicely made and looks pretty good depending on your tastes. The sager makes up for all this though with killer performance. You will pay for that performance though (in heat and battery; I saw a review on notebookcheck and they said a 15.6 sager witha GTX 580M only lasted 2 hours browsing the web with all power saving options on). Its all a matter of preference (portable desktop with amazing performance vs real laptop with good gaming performance)

 

It really depends on how you'll use the hardware you have, like mine for example. 90% of the time my sager will be on my desk with a gaming mouse and keyboard attached to it. The 10% requires me to bring it to meetings and presentations where I usually need it to run 4 or 5 vmwares with 2gig each.

So instead of upgrading my desktop and buying a netbook I just bought 1 machine that would do most if not everything I need (wouldn't even bothered getting more than 8gig of ram if not for those vmwares running)

So really it all depends on what you need it for.

And you won't really play games with it while on battery so it's a given it'll be plugged most of the time being a desktop replacement and all.

As for the cooling, you could check out the reviews on the sager section.



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I actually seriously looked at the sagers for a while....till I got 30% off on this rig They are pretty good laptops, but they don't have some of the features that the alien wares have. One thing the alienwares have is more battery life. The Igpu really helps here and i shut off the lights, the discrete GPU, and downclock the processor, I can get over 4 hours of life in a pinch. The other thing about alienware is the warranty (if you buy it). I got the accidental damage warranty and My screen got issues. They overnighted the parts and then the tech is coming to my house to replace it. I'd like to see somebody with a sager be able to do that

I will admit that your paying more for the alienware, but you also get more features the sager doesn't have. I might end up buying a sager just to compare it to alienware down the road though

 

Lets look at gaming performance. Battery life is not something you need a lot with these systems. The mentioned Sager should performs way beter then the M14x specwise.

Asking about a Sager in a Alienware forum isnt going to get you lots of vote's for the Sager.

If you like the Sager design go for it, same goes for the Alienware.

About your restart problem have a look at the memory. Leave one dimm in and see how it goes. If it fails again take the dimm out and place the other one in. See how it goes.

 

Exactly, at the end of the day go with what YOU like and what YOU are willing to spend not what everyone else likes.

 

Why not? An M14x is not a DTR, its a portable gaming system. Hence the battery life is very important. DTRs are M17x-R3/M18x territory and even they have incredible battery life for their sizes. Alienware just does a better job overall.

 

Go to the Alienware forum, ask why the m14x is better. Go to the sager forum, ask why the sager is better. Compare the two, make your decision, and spend moneys

 

that may be true about the m18x and its sager equivalent, but systems like the m14x and m17x have portability. its not all about gaming performance for some people like me.

 

Not sure if you can game on battery with a M14x, I dont own one. (yet) But yeah its not a DTR and better battery life is always a good thing but not a must if you use the system purely for gaming. Dunno what OP wants.

Alienware does a very good job yes with al the extra's you get and the warrenty Dell offers. But to be honest Alienware can do better then what they offer now in the M14x buts that another discussion.

@Bigtonyman: Yeah I understand what you are trying to say, hell I never played a game on my Alienware

 

If you just want a rig for gaming get a desktop, if you travel alot and absolutely need a DTR because you move often, get one..

if you want a middle-to-upper class powerful laptop that you can actually take with you without depending on power socket, get the m14x..

portable gaming though is only possible at very limited rates since battery technology isnt advanced enough to provide enough power for those powerhungry GPUs and CPUs (at load)!

if you want something compact, just get a htpc and a small monitor, thats tons cheaper and tons FASTER then any *gaming laptop*.. i mean its pretty sad that highend laptop GPUs barely reach middle class desktop gpus

6990m = 6870 580m = downclocked 560 ti..

lets be serious, you cant have huge expectactions to powerful laptops, and if you get the pimped out ones with the "high end GPUs" you only have to worry about battery life, heat and upgrading (which is very complicated in most cases even if MXM)... the price you have to pay, even for sager laptops is way too high for the perfomance you get.. they should atleast (!!) have something like optimus so you can actually use these systems as a laptop...

Comparing the m14x to other portable laptops, its simply the best of its class

 

You have to remeber here, that the m14x is 14inch and the sager 15.6 ... that's alot of space and of course can get more power. But the main thing that you would want a m14x is portability. Why else game on a 14 inch screen ?

I havent seen a laptop this size with as good specs and a good price. I love the m14x.

But I gotta say, if id have a bit more money , i'd buy an m17x or the Sager for sure. But then again, im a student at university.The m14x is flashy enough, dont need to get a 17 inch in class or the Sager without optimus that would only give me 2 hours of battery. m14x for me is really a student made gaming laptop, and well made at that.

 

Lot of misinformation about the 8130/8150 in here folks.

The Sager's dimensions are 14.8"(L) x 10.08"(D) x 1.38-1.69"(H) 3.09kg(W)

The M14x's dimensions are 13.27"(L) x 10.17"(D) x 1.49"(H) 2.92kg(W)

Now you'll see the difference is very little when you compare the notebooks side to side, 1.6" wider is your only real difference between the two notebooks.

If you want something comparable to the m14x but in 15" form look at the np5165 for that, optimus 555m w/ a 1920x1080 screen.

Sager's do offer accidental damage warranties.

Don't forget there's the new Envy 15 for portable gaming
14.9"(L) x 9.6"(D) x 1.1"(H) 2.86kg(W)
7690m (rumored) + quad core + IPS screen

Edit: Please remember the Sager 8130/8150 have 560m's by default which are not normally paired with optimus but are a good bit faster than the 555m in the 14x

 

ive had a sager first because i also compared dimensions, but it turned out to be simply too bulky and long to carry around.. also it didn fit in any of mybags, and dont forget the huge ac adapter !

the m14x though fits nicely in my bag even witg the neoprene sleeve..

my opinion is always try before you buy and thats what i did with the sager

oh and the sagers 555m is a weaker version of the 555m, it onl has a 128 bit bus (really limiting factor) so while it may have optimus and a higher res and gamut screen, the crippled 555m doesnt have enough power for full hd (the m14x 555m fits nicely too the hd+ display)

EDIT: Btw the new envy 15 features the 7690m which is basically a rebranded 6750m (which is weaker than the 555m in the m14x), similiar to the rebrand of the 5650 to 6550 (minimal higher clockspeed).. And its not made in 28nm, only the high end cards are..

But you are right, there is the dv6t which features the 6770m which is amd's equivalent to the 555m in the m14x.. but these are 15.6 notebooks.. i was considering buying one of them, but the build quality and the mediocre screen (in germany we only get the 768p hd ones -.-) brought me to the m14x

 

The 7690 IS NOT a rebrand, it is a new 28nm GPU with immature drivers (referring to the benchmarks) please don't call it a rebrand when it's clearly not.

 

which benchmarks do you mean??

I would be very interested in them!

In the hp envy 15 thread ( for the new one) they claim that its a rehash (28nm) of the 6750m or 6770m but say there arent any benchmarks yet

btw sorry, i though this would be 40nm because it only uses 128-bit bus, which astonishes me since that limits the card severely in its power -.-

also the core clock wasnt that much higher than from the 6770m

 

The HP benchmarks are mostly useless as half of the benchmark names are incorrect. So we don't really know what the actual performance of the card is, it performs around a 5830/6770 right now, but that could change, 128bit gddr5 isn't that limiting in memory bandwidth, though.