LPC Digital - Sager NP8278 - Special Edition! Clevo P170SM-A | NotebookReview

First Sager I have ever ordered and first time ordering via LPC Digital.

I am a 50 y/o IT professional with a serious addiction to photography and BF4. I was looking for a laptop with enough power and screen space to game on and do graphics/website work (ZBrush, Lightroom, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.) It needed to be sturdy enough to be taken on the road and capable of being hooked up to multiple external displays and storage. I also did not want to buy something that technologically would be left behind inside of 6 months and most importantly, not look like I stole it from a teenager - no interest here in rainbow colored keyboards, neon logos, or a spindly chassis.

My previous laptop (aka dinosaur) was a company-provided Dell Latitude E6400 ATG.

I compared the several usual newbie sources: local BestBuy, Dell/HP/Lenovo/Asus online. Some younger friends suggested CyberPowerPC (I soon realized I am too old to carry a laptop emblazoned with a FANG logo). Toms Hardware pointed me to MSI and Sager as excellent options and led me to Xotic and GenTech. Another Google search for info about Sager brought me to good reviews for Larry and LPC Digital on these very forums.

After three solid weeks of searching I fell in love with the Sager NP8278 Special Edition. Solid construction, simple elegant looks. Big screen and a video card that should be able to handle anything I throw at it game-wise. Fast OS drive, enough storage to last me on the road and upgradeable when needed later.

Reseller prices varied wildly, some had very limited options, but it eventually came down to either XoticPC, GenTech or LPC Digital. All three exactly the same options and pricing was within $50-$75.

After a couple after-hour calls - didn't realize the time difference between the various locations - I hung up after getting the obligatory "Our offices are closed..." from the last call of the night, LPC Digital. Within a couple minutes I got a call back from Larry and he offered to help me out even though it was after closing time. He answered all of my questions regarding the timeline for the order, some of the various options (quantity of RAM, which video card, Bigfoot vs Intel, etc.) He offered either a $50 discount or Free Rush services. Since he was willing to make the effort to answer ALL my questions after he could of gone home for the night I opted to order with LPC Digital.

My order
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> Sager NP8278 - Special Edition! / Clevo P170SM-A
> 17.3" Full HD LED AUO B173HW01 V.4 90% NTSC Gloss
> 30 day Guaranteed no dead or partially-lit pixels
> Intel® Core i7-4810MQ Processor
> IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU - Free Upgrade Special!
> 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz (2X8GB)
> NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 880M with 8GB GDDR5
> Crucial® 240GB M500 Series mSATA SSD (OS Drive)
> 1TB HGST Travelstar 7K1000 7200 RPM SATA (1st HDD)
> 1TB HGST Travelstar 7K1000 7200 RPM SATA (2nd HDD)
> Non-RAID Storage
> Genuine Microsoft Windows® 8.1 Professional 64-Bit Edition
> Intel® Dual Band Wireless-N 7260 802.11ac (w/Bluetooth 4.0)
> 6X Blu-ray Reader/ 8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive
> 8 cells smart Lithium-Ion battery pack 76.96Wh
> Integrated Fingerprint Reader
> LIFETIME Limited Labor and 2 Years Premium Parts Warranty
> Sager Branding
> FREE UPS Ground

My timeline (As of this post)
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> April 29 / ~6:00PM - Ordered online via PayPal with 2 day Rush Service
> April 29 / ~6:30PM - Payment processed
> April 30 - Order sent to builder
> May 2 - Final testing before shipping

LPC Digital - Sager NP8278 - Special Edition! / Clevo P170SM-A

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