Canada Clevo Buying Experience with Malibal

1. Introduction​

I was in the market for a new laptop and initially I was thinking of getting a Alienware 17R3 but the prices were a little too steep so I was going to just wait till Christmas, and hope that there’d be some special going on. But I suddenly stumbled onto this forum and found out about this Clevo/Sager brand so I decided to give it a try since it was cheaper and many people on the forum had great success with it.

After deciding on the brand, I had to decide which reseller to deal with and what model I’d get.

I decided on the Sager NP8170/Clevo P170HM.
The resellers that I decided to contact were: Reflexnotebook, Fortnax, XoticPC, and Malibal.

2. Reseller decision​

I only contacted those 4 resellers, but that’s not to say that any of the other resellers were bad in any way or anything, and overall all the resellers that I did contact were kind and courteous so it doesn’t mean they’re better/worse than other resellers.

From my small list of resellers I decided to contact them using email first. I asked things about warranty, brokerage fees, price match, discounts, and basically general information that I’d need to get them.

Reflexnotebook – They’re the same as aetsolutions. They were very helpful and went through my questions one by one and providing sufficient information for each question. Response was once per day on average.

Fortnax –I tried to send an email from their website and got some server error, did it again and it worked. They said that this was due to server upgrades that were going on and what not. I’m not holding it against them because it does happen but out of my 5 emails, only 2 got through, and only 1 got reply.

XoticPC – I was originally leaning towards this company even though they were located in the US, and after I contacted Reflex/Fortnax and they too had brokerage fees and what not, it was an even more viable choice. My experience with them was very good as well, getting replied within the day so it expedited things.

After this I started posting on the forum, and asking about the warranty and pretty much more general question. This is when Malibal came into the picture. They were the first to reply to my post (like 5 mins after) and gave lots of information. So I worked up my post counts to 5 and asked them about their discounts and pricing.

On their website they were significantly cheaper than the other resellers although the other resellers could price match and the like so it wasn’t that big of a factor. But they were very quick to reply, I’d say sometimes I’d instantly get a reply even. They also offered warranty in Canada which was a big push in their direction because this was my first Clevo and if for any reason that something went wrong, I wouldn’t want to ship it back to US, not to mention the lost time I wouldn’t have a laptop to use.

3. Laptop Specifications​

PRODUCT Satori P170HM-S1
Display: 17.3" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED Backlit Glossy Display
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 2.0-2.9GHz
Memory: (16GB) 16384MB, PC3-12800/1600MHz DDR3 - $75.00
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M 1.5GB GDDR5
Hard Drive: 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300
Hard Drive 2: 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA-300
Optical Drive Bay: 8X Multi DVD+/-R/RW RAM $-50.00
Wireless: Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N $35.00
Cooling: IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU
Keyboard: English: US & Canada
Power Cord: US & Canada
Branding: None
Build Time: 5-7 Business Days
Warranty: Lifetime Ltd. Labor and 1 Year Parts
Warranty with 24/7 Support (CA)

Removed both HDDs and put in 2 x Seagate XT Hybrids
Was kind of sad, they didn’t have an upgrade for the RAM to the 1866Mhz until a week after I purchased the machine. Wonder if I could trade my current ram in and get those?

4. After purchase​

I made my purchase on Sept 30, 2011.

In total I had some 30 pm/emails with them and in most cases they were kind and courteous minus a couple emails and PMs that seemed like they were yelling at me. One of the PMs basically said DUDE log on your account and check for yourself. It felt kind of like after I bought the laptop the service declined a little but was still good overall.

I also had a problem with the billing because my inital price that got quoted was in error due to my browser, that’s what they said so I originally thought wow this laptop is going to be so much cheaper than I expected so I bought it straight out, then when I got the final bill it was 100 more than I expected. I contacted them asking for clarification and explanation, and they weren’t as kind as I hoped. They just kept saying I’m wrong, I’m wrong and almost saying you got problems, but this was partly my fault I guess so I just accepted the cost and that was that.

Initially, I paid by pay pal and had it sent to an unconfirmed address and they contacted me again asking if I had a confirmed address since they had to send it to a confirmed one. Took awhile to figure out but finally I got it changed to a confirmed address.

Then the waiting game began ....

 

5. Delivery with USPS​

The cost upon delivery was better than expected, 190.62 I believe it was. This was purely tax (13%) for Ontario, and placed on top of the CDN equivalent of the US price.

This was VERY stressful waiting and waiting ... checking every 10 minutes for update at www.usps.com, then finally www.canadapost.ca... But alas 3 weeks later I GOT IT ....

Canada Post Update

2011/10/25 BARRIE Item successfully delivered
2011/10/24 BARRIE Item available for pickup at Post Office
Attempted delivery. Notice card left indicating where item can be picked up.
Item out for delivery
2011/10/21 MISSISSAUGA Item processed at postal facility
2011/10/14 Item processed at postal facility
International item released from Customs for processing by Canada Post
2011/10/13 VILLE ST-LAURENT International item arrived in Canada and will be reviewed by Customs
2011/10/08 International item has left the origin country and is en route to Canada
International item processed in origin country
2011/10/06 International item mailed in origin country


USPS Update

Priority Mail International Parcels Delivered October 25, 2011, 2:03 pm CANADA
International Parcels Attempted Delivery - Item being held, addressee being notified October 24, 2011, 2:58 pm CANADA
Addressee not available - Addressee advised to pick up the item October 24, 2011, 12:00 pm CANADA Arrival at Post Office October 24, 2011, 8:03 am CANADA
Customs clearance processing complete October 14, 2011, 8:55 am CANADA
Processed Through Sort Facility October 13, 2011, 7:39 am CANADA
Customs Clearance October 13, 2011, 7:39 am CANADA
Processed Through Sort Facility October 08, 2011, 6:30 pm ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
Arrived at Sort Facility October 08, 2011, 6:06 pm ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
Processed through USPS Sort Facility October 08, 2011, 7:57 am KEARNY, NJ 07032
Acceptance October 06, 2011, 4:55 pm OGDENSBURG, NY 13669
Acceptance October 06, 2011, 4:29 pm OGDENSBURG, NY 13669
Electronic Shipping Info Received October 04, 2011

So overall, the worst part was delivery time but this wasn’t Malibal’s fault.

 

6. Unboxing!​

The laptop came in a box, inside a box, half expecting another box inside that box hah. Inside contained a shoulder bag which was a pleasant surprised because I didn’t think I was going to get it but the strap broke on the first day ... this was kind of sad and I can’t use it as a shoulder bag anymore heh. It also contained the laptop of course.
Manual, driver, other:


Battery and charger:


Bag:


Inside the shoulder bag had another box containing the user manual, driver disc, DVI to VGA adapter, cloth to wipe screen, screws for the HDD, and something else that I’m not sure what it’s for actually. (Maybe someone can tell me when I upload the picture) Also contained the MASSIVE power brick ... could kill someone with that. I didn’t think it’d be that big.

7. Installation​

I opened up the back and began to install the HDDs, the Secondary HDD got me scared, I thought there wasn’t one but because the HDD bay was UNDER the DVD drive I just didn’t see it at first. I took out the DVD drive and then the popped the HDD in, simple good great.

Back of laptop open:


The Main HDD was kind of weird. There wasn’t any caddy like the secondary HDD, and I had thought there would be something so that it doesn’t move around/wiggle, and since there were 4 screws, I thought Malibal may have forgotten to give it to me. I sent them a pm and they said that the screws were probably extra, and had hoped they’d give me a confirmation that it was suppose to be that but I didn’t ask a question so they probably thought I was just replying for the sake of replying. Hopefully it’s fine and it won’t wiggle out/break.

I screwed everything back into place and went to setup Raid 0, Windows, drivers, programs and the likes. Everything was somewhat smooth. Except the BSOD that I got when I first turned it on. Scared me crapless ... but I rebooted and it was fine.

Oh and the drivers for the wireless card couldn’t be installed from the drives disc, I needed to download it from bigfoot website to get it to work. Thankfully the network card worked.

8. Minor Quirks​

Things that I wish were different but doesn’t really matter/ I can adjust to it.

- The power button needs a little time to turn on. I can’t just push it to turn on. I need to hold for half a second.
- Wish the DVD drive was slot load instead of tray load. Got use to slot load with my old XPS 1530.
- Keyboard is HUGE compared to XPS 1530 heh and the number keys are different than a regular keyboard.
- Wish there was a built in Bluetooth. (If anyone knows how to do that let me know)
- Hard to plug USB into the USB 2.0 port, 3.0 ports are fine.
- Screen is HUGE, and text is small but I can adjust that.
- Boot up time is too fast, no time to get ready!

9. Other​

** Not sure what else there’s to put. If you want any other information like benchmark/temp and so on let me know what program you want me to use/what you want me to do.**

If there’s anything that I missed or is wrong, let me know and I’ll try to fix it up.
I’ve been busy so I haven’t had much time to use my new Baby.

 

Fn+F12 to turn on the bluetooth.

 

I don't have bluetooth so I can't turn it on Was wondering if there was a way to put bluetooth besides getting a usb for it.

 

What do you mean you don't have bluetooth? Bluetooth is almost standard in all laptops. It should have it by default.

There are internal bluetooth cards they are around $20 I think.

 

Thanks for contributing. Great write-up! I also found Malibal can be a little harsh in tone, at least in my limited interactions trying to price a P150HM.

 

Bluetooth is only included in the current models if you purchase one of the wireless cards that supports it (Intel 6230, stock WiFi). The two top tier cards do not have bluetooth, so those laptops won't have it available.

 

Oh I didn't know the Bigfoot 1102 had bluetooth ... maybe should've got that instead oh well

Might've been getting the same guy for my 15 PMs a day so he got impatient at me hah

 

ehm, does the Bigfoot 1102 card really have bluetooth? atleast it isnt mentioned on the "pick up list".

Thanks for the review chapman_w. Just ordered from MALIBAL too, and going to write something up when I get my gear

 

Assuming it's not a typo, the Bigfoot 1102 should have bluetooth. (Although I did a quick search and couldn't find anything relating to bluetooth for the Bigfoot 1102)

I wish I knew that in the beginning then I would've got that instead so I can bluetooth my headset/phone to laptop

 

It doesn't. Only the Intel 6230 does, and it's apparently not that great because the BT radio can cause Internet connection slowdowns and other problems. You'd probably be better off buying a USB BT adapter.

 

Just an update ... I found a dead pixel near the middle of the screen sad sad sad ...

Didn't notice it until recently, anyone know why it could've popped up? and any way to fix/hide it somehow?

thanks

 

@chapman_w
Here is a link
How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor - wikiHow
I bookmarked this link as its not uncommon here

 

It's helpful to have that, but I have to stress, it doesn't always work for everyone - I sent mine in after trying everything on that.

 

On a black background, it looks like a white dot, on a white background, it looks redish. Lime background looks black.

Would this be a stuck pixel? and possibly be able to fix?

I'm trying to use the undeadpixel program. How long should I let it flash for?

It's been like 50 days since I placed my order, and like 25 days since I got it. Would I still be able to get it fixed?

 

Any canadians have experience with financing through Malibal?

 

What kind of shipping method did you pay for? And how much was it??

 

FYI, they have an office in Ontario. It's located on border and seems to be responsible for sending out parts for Canadian customers.

 

Wow, three weeks shipping to Ontario?! That is quite dreadful. I hope I won't have to go through that.

 

also curious which shipping method you used

wondering if the ~$190 for taxes is on of upgrading the shipping method from ups standard.

seems to be some conflicting information I am finding. I didn't think we paid duties on laptops just taxes (13% hst (pst+gst))... Dont want any surprises of paying an extra $100+ to upgrade shipping to also pay 13% when it arrives. I understand there is no way around these fees and I am not trying to get around the system just understand how it works so I can get a better idea of the final to the door price.

 

The only shipping method which has a large brokerage fee is UPS Standard to Canada. With that method, the brokerage will probably be around $100 - so it's best to opt for either UPS Expedited / Express or USPS.

If you select UPS Expedited / Express or any USPS Service, you should only have to pay for the shipping costs plus your local GST/PST/HST once the laptop arrives.

Note: I believe UPS started charging a $10 brokerage fee even with Expedited or Express Service.

 

I chose USPS since I figured it probably amounts to the cheapest shipping option and I will know how much the fees should be upon arrival (taxes and maybe a small less than $15 brokerage fee).