ForTnax One of Canada's premier Sager notebook resellers

Haven't been to this site lately and noticed there is a section for reseller reviews . Also noticed alot of Canadians asking questions on where to buy Sager Notebooks. I just wanted to share my experience to help other Canadian buyers wondering or unsure of how to get a Sager in Canada.

I contacted Dimitry of ForTnax and he responded quickly to my questions and gave me the differences of the 7280 and the 8170. I do alot of cad work for my company so I weighed both machines and opted for the 7280.

My purchase specs are below


Standard Carrying Bag
1 No Additional Battery
1 No Additional Power Adapter
1 Fortnax LifeTime Labor and 3 Year Limited Parts Warranty
1 New! Microsoft Office Starter 2010
1 Fingerprint Reader
1 No TV-Tuner
1 Smart Li-ION Battery Pack
1 Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1102 - 802.11A/B/G/N WLAN
1 8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
1 No - RAID Storage
1 No 3rd Hard Disk Drive
1 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Secondary Hard Disk Drive 500GB 7200rpm
1 500GB 7200rpm SATA Hybrid Hard Drive with 4GB SSD 500GB 7200rpm
1 12GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz - 3 X 4GB (with i7-990X Only)
1 Genuine MS Windows® 7 Professional 32/64-Bit Edition
1 IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
1 Intel® Core™ i7-990X Processor Extreme Edition(3.46GHz, 6.4GT/s)
1 Dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 485M + Additional AC Adapter & Converter
1 Guaranteed no dead or partially-lit pixels for first 30 days
1 17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with Super Glossy Surface 17.3" Full e
1 Sager NP7280 Base Configuration


A couple of weeks went buy and I was contacted by Dimitry stating that Sager was making a motherboard change to the 7280 and delivery will take a little longer. I had no problem since I was still using my Asus G72GX and was working fine. Always when you buy a new toy you always want it now but I knew going into this when purchasing a high end laptop it will take a little longer for configuration and testing.

I was contacted by Dimitry on May 24, 2011 and told me the laptop was shipped accidentally to his office and not to my home. It was no problem for me since I was working away from home and asked him if they could ship the laptop to the city where I was working. He said no problem and I wasn't charged for any additional shipping charges.

So to recap I ordered the Laptop on May 4 and received it in my hands on May 30. When I opened it up I wasn't expecting it to be so big. It is truly a monster of a laptop and I still am amazed how they could pack everything into the chassis and performs so great. Every time I pull it out, the topic of conversation is about the laptop for the next hour. I don't mind that it is not that portable, it is a desktop mobile workstation. I have a tablet when I am in the field.

So 6 months later it is still running strong. In that time my company has bought 6 acer laptops from staples and 4 of them have already been on warranty for fixes to bad hard drives to overheating issues. This laptop cost a pretty penny but I know when I put a game on this machine can handle it.

Once again thanks to ForTnax for the service and helping a fellow Canadian out that lives in the middle of nowhere. My next rig will be purchased from them but I don't think that will be too soon.

 

Fortnax = free shipping to Continental US and 50 dollar shipping canada no? - Also more expensive than most other Sager/Clevo dealers.

 

Shipping comes from Sager and that is their cost not ForTnax. Also the prices are in Canadian Dollars. Last time I checked 1 CAD is 0.95 US. Please do your research before dumping on my thread, or make your own thread.

 

you can actually get the same model and same configuration at malibal for about $1000 less. They also have service centers in Canada. If fortnax pricematches, you should look into this and potentially get some money back

 

I did not specify my price paid. My config is not even offered anymore, and I was given a discount after purchase. You are trying to compare apples and oranges with a US reseller and a Canadian reseller. If I bought a Laptop from the US I would get charged a exchange rate for the dollar value and they charge you more than the going exchange rate. Heck last week I bought a game off steam for $15.99 and got charged $17.76 after exchange rates. So my charges could have been from $600-800 dollars extra on exchange rates.

I have went cheap before and got burned. You also pay for service and that's what I received. I am happy with my purchase and that is all that matters.

 

I was looking at current prices. Though you're right, sorry for dumping . But yeh similar configs are literally a thousand dollars apart.

 

No prob, it's all good. I might have came across harsh and I apologize also. When I bought mine the Canadian dollar was worth more so I actually did compare then and the prices were really close ($50-100). At least the dollar is close 3-4 years ago it was 1 CAD - 0.80 US, That was a killer for buying anything.

 

Hello Kubie

I'm also land surveyor
I working in road building
I actualy use a dell M4500, autocad map 3D and covadis ( GEOMEDIA SA: éditeur de logiciel topographie cartographie VRD SIG sous AutoCAD - COVADIS EdiCAD AutoPISTE Saphir+)
my apps is very simular to yours

can you share your experiance on sager 7282 for surveying tasks ?

no problem with 485 M ?
...
any tips / recomendations ?

Best Regards

 

One question is do you work out of your truck or do you work in a site trailer office? The reason I ask is The battery is useless for this workstation. The best time I made was 29 minutes on battery. Don't let me get it wrong it is the most portable desktop solution but you are tied to a power source.

I use Trimble Business Center and Autocad Civil 3d. I mostly create digital terrain models based off civil designs and export to Trimble. From there the field personnel can use the DTM and layout in field applications. Also with Trimble for topographic surveys, the field guys can create lines with Trimble Access(ex. sat crest lines toes lines). From there I can import the lines to autocad and it saves me a lot of hours creating surfaces for volume purposes.

I haven't had a problem yet with the 485m's with autocad. I just cannot unlock the extra features that you need the quadro for.

To me this workstation is overkill for work. I probably could have bought a NP8170 and still have been fine for cad applications. But to me since I game a lot, you still need a power source to get the full potential of the hardware. Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Dues Ex, Formula 2010, This is what this machine is built for. I can max out almost everything and still get great FPS. If you move around alot and gaming is your second option, then get the 8170. Also there is a new replacement coming out for the 7280 so you could always wait for that.

Targus Blacktop Deluxe 17? Laptop Case w/ Dome Protection | CPT401DUS
I use this carry case for it when I fly and It can hold the laptop, one power adapter, my bose headphones and mouse with any paperwork I need.

If you have anymore questions feel free to pm me.

Thanks