LPC-Digital Review

Hello everyone,

A few days ago I ordered a Sager NP9170 from LPC-Digital. With all the help I have received from everyone here I think I owe you guys one. Hence I made this thread and I will also make a review of the NP9170 with unboxing and stuff!

So, I am separating the review into several sections (These aren't links as I don't have a clue how to do that):

InitialContact

The Questions + Answers Phase
Close to ordering and then problems
Ordering
The Website
Overall

Initial Contact

I am a highschool student, so buying something expensive like a laptop doesn't come easy for me (especially since I am getting it with my own money) As a result, I immediately gave Larry a swarm of questions.

I received a short e-mail basically asking if we could talk over the phone. I personally would have appreciated a bigger response, but he was very helpful on the phone and we had a conversation that almost lasted an hour.

My Rating: 8/10

The Questions + Answers Phase

In total, Larry and I e-mailed each other 42 times. Needless to say, I ended up playing the annoying teenage customer roll (Not something I was planning on, so sorry) and I came close to ordering several times and then backed off.

As with the initial contact, Larry seems to prefer phone calls. I am not really sure why, but I guess it takes him a long time to type or something (he ends almost every email with "...") but he is very helpful on the phone. He was able to answer almost every question I had and did so respectfully as well.

Averaged out, it took him around an hour to respond to e-mails, and he would do so throughout the day (even in his time zone, not normal times)

My Rating: 10/10

Close to ordering, and then problems

After sending around 20-30 emails back and forth, I was about ready to order when I noticed the 7970M scandal. I didn't really want to deal with any problems so this was startling to me. I ended up calling Larry (Again!!!! ) and he was considerate and understanding about the problems and apologized (even though it really isn't his fault)

My Rating: 11/10 (My thread, My rulez )

Ordering

After spending a ton of time (Probably adds up to several days) thinking and researching, I decided to go with this configuration:

Product Quantity Unit price Subtotal
Sager NP9170 (Clevo P170EM) 1 $1,629.00 $1,629.00
Configuration:

Product Amount Unit price Subtotal
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 4 X 4GB - Free Memory Upgrade Back to School Special! 1 $0.00 $0.00
17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with MATTE Surface (1920 x 1080) 1 $30.00 $30.00
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz) 1 $0.00 $0.00
750GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive-Free Hard Drive Upgrade Back to School Special 1 $0.00 $0.00
Genuine Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition ( 64-Bit Preloaded ) 1 $80.00 $80.00
Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 with Bluetooth 4.0 (Dual Band) 1 $50.00 $50.00
NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 675M 2GB GDDR5 1 $100.00 $100.00
Subtotal: $1,629.00
Order discount: $50.00
Total cost: $1,579.00

I called him in the morning (Around 6:00 AM his time) and he helped me through the ordering process. Overall, it was quite easy and overall satisfactory.

My Rating: 10/10

The Website

As with any reseller your first impression of them will be their website. Needless to say, if the website is junky there is a good chance that other parts of the business will be too.

The website for LPC-Digital is much less flashy than that of the other resellers, but that isn't a problem. In my initial scouting out of the resellers here is what I found:

XoticPC:
Although nice and flashy (With an interestingly animated front page) there are many dead/abnormal links. After going through a web-design class in school I am thoroughly annoyed by these. however it was still well designed and easy to navigate.

Malibal:
The website gives a good first impression, but a horrible second one. The names of their products are messed up and misleading so it is hard to find the laptop you are looking for. Also, the navigation can be a bit tricky.

Mythlogic (although not a reseller, they still were considered)
A decent first impression, but insanely hard to navigate. It took me at least 3 times as long to find the laptop I was looking for, plus the end result (Very high prices) was disappointing after the good things I heard about them on the forums. Overall (They are a great business, I don't want to slap them too hard) I can tell they are very reliable and proud of their work. If I had the money, there is a decent chance I would go with them. However, said plainly, delete the website and make a new one.

Power Notebooks:
I didn't spend much time on this reseller's website, but it is easy to navigate. However, some of the icons, links, etc. are either positioned strangely or have somewhat low quality images.

LPC-Digital:
The website is much less flashy than the others which made me a little nervous at first (Based upon what I had seen with the other resellers). After investigating a bit, it is definitely the easiest website to use. The dimmer colors help a lot with the legibility of the text, and the text is colored appropriately with what is around it. It could be polished a bit more, but it is very good for a 2 man (One guy plus his secretary) show.

My Rating: 9/10

Overall:

My experience with Larry and LPC-Digital in general was very good and I fully intend to work with him for my next laptop (or at least upgrades to the one I will be getting in a few days). I would happily recommend him to my friends and family and I already have (I have a friend who is an engineer and plans on getting a very good laptop in a year or two)

At no time did I feel that he was pushing me to order. In fact, he directly and pointedly avoided doing so. (After some things I went through at normal stores/electronics stores I really appreciated this)

Overall Rating: 9.6/10

+rep for someone who can help me link the stuff

I will also put up a review on the laptop when it arrives.

 

To create a link:



Or highlight the text and click the globe-with-can-pull-tab icon.

 

I do know that, I mean the in text links. I know how to do them in Adobe Dream Weaver, but not here.

 

If you mean anchors, the best way to find out is to quote another post that has them. The anchor code isn't listed on misc.php?do=bbcode.

 

You'll have to code them.

Anyways really nice review, especially the 11/10 rating haha

 

My latest attempt at coding them is up (I thought having it there might help)

Thanks!

 

How are you enjoying the 1202? Is it good?

 

Don't know yet, I don't have the laptop yet.

 

Ah okay
10char

 

Got my NP9170 today (I am typing on it right now) and you guys should be seeing a review, unboxing, and maybe even a video review on the main Sager/Clevo forums soon!

 

Great to hear!! Can't wait

 

I should get it up tomorrow or Sunday. Possibly minus the video review, but the unboxing is done of course (I am typing on it right now)