Sager Intros 15" Gaming Notebook with GTX 280M

Sager Intros 15"Gaming Notebook with GTX 280M

Sager today introduced its version of the world's most powerful 15-inch gaming notebook, the NP8690. It is a direct competitor to the newly-announced Alienware M15x. The NP8690 features a mobile Intel Core i7 processor and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M graphics card. The full specifications are as follows:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 (1.6 - 2.0GHz)
• Display: 15.6-inch w/ LED backlighting (1600x900 or 1920x1080)
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M w/ 1GB GDDR3
• Memory: Up to 8GB DDR3-1333
• Battery: Li-poly, 42Wh

Port Selection

• 1 HDMI output Port
• 1 DVI-I output Port
• 4 USB 2.0 Ports
• 1 eSATA Port (VISTA only)
• 1 IEEE-1394a Fire Wire
• 1 Headphone Jack
• 1 Microphone Jack
• 1 Line-In Jack
• 1 S/PDIF output Jack
• 1 RJ-45 LAN (10/100/1000Mbps)
• 1 RJ-11 Modem

Dimensions

• Width: 14.75 in.
• Depth: 10 in.
• Height: 1.65 - 2.0 in.
• Weight:: 7.38 lbs w/ battery

Pricing & Availability
The Sager NP8690 is available for pre-order today and will ship in October. The starting price is $1,789 with the standard Core i7 processor and GTX 280M graphics card.

Sager Notebook Product Page

 

World's most powerful 15" notebook...

 

For now.
If Alienware added GTX 280m to the M15x then the race is tie.

 

LOL

The Allpowerful has arrived!!!

 

The best priced, most powerful 15 inch notebook. Not to mention almost 2 pounds lighter. The GTX 280m is standard, not an upgrade, which means the M15x has some flashy lights to cut out if they want to compete in pricing.

Of course, I expect Sager to keep this thing well cooled, but I am anxious to start reading about the tests with these i7's and some high end GPUs (a la HP Envy 15, M15x, the new Dell's, etc).

 

I worry about the cooling system of it though.

 

It'll run cooler than q9xxx processors, and sagers generally have amazing cooling.

 

It's rather heavy, but everything else (including even the price!) strikes me as quite reasonable. The Alienware base config is OK, but it doesn't come close to the Sager and unlike the latter, Dell/Alienware will shamelessly rip you off on almost anything you try to upgrade.

 

I'm dying to see a review for this one... YOU'D better do it quick, NBR.

 

There looks like a 65w TDP cap on the M15x's MXM slot so a GTX280m may never be an option.


The MSI i7 notebooks may end up being a contender if they release more models with better than the GTS250m cards they debuted today.

 

no kidding

This blows the M15x out of the water,

 

both laptops seems to have decent cooling, 15'' laptops with 2 heatsink fans are rarely seen.

 

1333 DDR3 that is awesome if thats standard RAM.

For 3 grand(f you load it up) there is NOTHING comparable in the 15" range (Not even the Alienware)

 

I like the back of this:




Good ports and good cooling.

 

Plus with Dell/Alienware you can forget about any support.

 

I don't know about that claim. The XPS support I've received so far has been fine (granted, I only had one minor issue with the AC adapter). But I don't think I've read any major complaints about Alienware (maybe a random one here or there, but for the clear majority satisfied customers).

 

If this thing cools well, it will definitely be THE BEST 15" gaming notebook, hands down. I'm just glad this has HDMI, unlike the Alienware.

I'm drooling over the laptop...

O by the way, does this have a Clevo model number? Or are Sager/Clevo not the same? I thought they pretty much were.

Edit: Never mind, I see that XoticPC already has this baby as well! It's based on the Clevo W860CU.

Yes, it is standard. I configured this at XoticPC with the 80GB SSD, and I still came out to less than $2,000 ($1,975). If you buy the memory and SSD separately, you can get it for about $1,690. Amazing. This was with 4GB of memory and the screen upgrade. This thing is already a beast... as it is.

 

Nice!
Can I suggest the tittle of the M15x be changed and erased the "most powerful 15 inch notebook"?? Alienware, you were beaten!!!
hahahaha

I like this one better, and finally LED, but god oh no, 16:9!!!

 

I agree with you. But get used to 16:9 lol.

 

lol i just noticed they changed the tittle of the thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hahahahahahahahaha

still, in the business world, please 16;10!

 

The AW doesn't have HDMI? say what!? I wouldn't even buy a notebook without HDMI, considering how often I'm connected to a 32" 1080p LCD

Cooling should be in the league of my own NP5797. They've made a significant step forward from the M860ETU by having dedicated CPU and GPU fans, instead of one doing all the work.

 

Nope, it comes with VGA + Displayport (which can be converted to HDMI)

From the AW Tech Specs:
IEEE 1394a (4-pin) port
Integrated Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 (1000 Mbps)
3 Hi-speed USB 2.0 ports (1 via USB 2.0 / eSATA combo port)
1 eSATA (via USB 2.0 / eSATA Combo Port)
VGA, DisplayPort - Video Output
8-in-1 Media Card Reader
ExpressCard Slot
2 Audio Out Connectors
Audio In / Microphone Jack (retaskable for 5.1 audio)

 

me too
its twin exhausts on each side...
makes the laptop to blast everything behind it with hot air

 

I know, I LOVE where those vents are located. Freakin SWEET!

 

Same here man, playing these games on a series 6 is amazing. I just cant use the regular notebook screen lol.

 

Is it really the most powerful Notebook? I mean it's great with the i7 and all but 1.6 GHz?

 

1.73GHz was reported in some reviews to be around the QX9300.
This should be around the Q9100. THAT is quite impressive, remember TB and HT.

 

apparently these I7 are 75% faster then the Q9000. That is insane. So GHZ speed doesn't matter.

 

Initial reviews, such as Anandtech, show that comparing the two top of the line quad cores, yields little performance benefit. On the plus side, idle power consumption is a lot lower most likely due to being able to power off unused cores and aggressive SpeedStep. IMO, if you have a quad core now, the upgrade to an i7 isn't worth it.

 

I'm worried about the battery life and weight, besides that, drool.
Has anyone carried around a 7+ pound notebook? is it that bad?

But wow an i7 in a 15in, pretty sweet. Vent placement, awesome. HDMI, yay.
And it looks pretty cool too. If I decide to buy this, I'm getting the lowest configuration, then buying upgrades elsewhere.

Forget about the Envy 15, it doesnt even have an optical drive, lame anyone?

 

Off the subject for a moment, but Red Dragon, is it the same girl reappearing in your icon pics all the time, or different ones? Idk, its kind of annoying me because your icon changes so frequently.

Wow, I think I just realized that was too off topic, lol.

 

Well you will be delighted to know that my favorite whitebook reseller, RJTech, just added this notebook for preorder, starting at...$1,199!

This place is easily the best to buy from if you want to save money and buy the components separately!

http://mivasecure.abac.com/rjtech/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R&Product_Code=W860CU

 

The reason for this is the 1.6 GHz is a RANGE, not a set speed. The 1.6 GHz is the speed they use when all four cores get loaded to 100%. It can increase the speed of the cores up to like 3 GHz when not being stressed to 100%. This is the speedstep technology that Sgogeta mentioned.

 

So can we expect a price cut on the NP8660 anytime soon?

 

By Xmas I would expect it to drop a little.

 

Get yourself a decent notebook backpack and that weight isn't as much of a problem.

The Envy 15 doesn't have an optical drive, but then I don't think it's going to weight as much, and with space for two HDDs it's a winner in my book. Also, the staggering 16GB maximum memory; that would come in handy seeing that I max out the 12GB I have on my desktop i7 regularly; but it will no doubt cost a pretty penny. What it does mean though that surely it has 4 memory slots, so you could just whack 2GB modules in and have 8GB for a decent price - something you could not achieve with the Sager.

The lack of an optical drive can be a nuisance, but in practice I use an optical drive when I am at home or the office, and I have external drives for both to reduce wear and tear on the internal blu-ray drive on my notebook. I think that unless Blu-ray begins to really take off, we may start to see more and more machines lacking an internal optical drive in the future.

 

I know that I'd rather have a machine that's 1.5lb lighter and has 2 drives then have one with a blu-ray. Blu-ray USB has been demoed, so that's going to appear for a reasonable price sooner then later anyway (well, reader).

 

I know xoticpc dropped the price already not too long ago of their NP8662.

I've read people saying you can replace the hdd with an optical drive?

 

it's called turbo boost i think.

 

Yeah, the speedstep is what idles the non-used cores. The turbo boost is what it does when it overclocks.

 

I want a review of this laptop, NOW!

 

I agree aw screwed up .... The upgrade to the 260 wasn't wise
base price should include it and the weight is to much ...(case is most of it because of the thick aluminum )


860cu is the first sager I really like the design of kudos and hope they get a ddr5 4870!!!!

 

I was hoping you would like this Moo, I know, that you know, a sweet gaming laptop when you see one!

The Moo approves, hooray!

 

Lol I'm not crazy I would love for sager to offer custom color cases and a form of illuminated keyboard ...( I like colors)

if only sager/clevo went with ati and got that 4870 ( ati fan) I hate giving my money to rebranding lieing people

 

Ah, Moo you think similar to me.

It'll be interesting to see who is the first one to get the 4890.

 

I have seen no plans for a mobile 4890

 

i remember when they were originally talking about there 40nm cards(Months ago) they were talking about both a 4860 and 4890.

Though it seemed that there main focus was on 4860 which was DDR5 and 128 bit.

 

I've carried about 8-10 pounds (including laptop, adapter, lunch, work, and accessories) for a few years now. Not as bad as some people make it out to be. But then again, I march the sousaphone, so I might be a little used to the weight

 

I have a nice backpack so weight does not matter to me, I will have 2 big textbooks, laptop, charger, few cables, other smaller books, full 1 inch binder of paper, and a stick bag full of drumsticks. Personally I dont mind the weight but I am used to caring 25-60 pounds of drums on parade.

 

People just look at the number and complain ... I have text books that weight more then 7 pounds it's just somyhing to complain about

my football helmet was like 7 pounds ...