First Impressions of my Sager 8150

Packaging: I received my Sager 8150 yesterday that I ordered through Xotic PC. After receiving the box that contained my 8150, I noticed right away that it was shipped in the Sager box (from the factory). No real fancy graphics or anything to note its contents, except for some simple verbiage on the box; I think it was Sagers motto or something. All boxes and packaging look very generic. It was very well and carefully packaged; all in all I was very pleased with the shipment process.

Initial-Inspection: Once everything was taken out of its packaging, I carefully did an inspection. I’m very particular with my things and the slightest blemishes bother me no matter how small. I feel when you buy something brand new, that’s how you should receive it. To my liking and thankfully, everything was in perfect condition.

Size/Weight: I was initially surprised about how big the 8150 (15.6) was. I guess going from a Lenovo x120e (11.6), Acer Aspire 11.6, and a Blackberry Playbook (7in), it should be a change of pace. It’s been a while since I’ve had a 15.6 laptop. The weight feels a little heavier than expected, but sturdy. Definitely not the ultra mobile laptop lol. The power brick is……….well a brick lol.

Fit & Finish: The quality of the laptop I feel is top notch. No gaps or spacing in the frame. It was glossy where it was supposed to be (without smudges) and sleek/clean in others. The Sager branding actually does not look to bad. The 8150 feels good in the hands and I’m very happy with the quality. Screen was smudge free and after careful inspection (staring at it for about 30 min lol) I have not found a dead or stuck pixel. I do not care for the rubber finish on the mouse/touchpad. The overall rubber finish is not bad but will collect dust very easily. Should be easy to clean and would rather be wiping that off then finger smudges every day. The layout of the ports on this machine I feel are perfect. I would of liked one more USB port on the right though.

Hardware: I did receive everything I ordered in the laptop. I have tested everything (CPU, Blu-Ray Drive, HD, Speakers ect… with the exception of the graphics card (have not played a game) and a few ports. Everything tested works great and I’m excited to get to know my machine better over the next couple of weeks! The speakers were actually not bad; I was expecting worse reading some of these other threads. The sub woofer on the bottom is hard to hear though. Two things of note and one I already mentioned…..the keyboard is well…..not a Lenovo but I have not heard any rattling or flex; the mouse pad/touchpad is not the greatest….not sure if it’s the material used, but the cursor tends to jump around every once in a while. I will be using an external keyboard and mouse though, so not a big deal for me.


All in all I’m very happy with my purchase so far…I will try and update this over the next couple of weeks to give more detailed info and maybe some benchmarks.

 

Thanks for the mini review, always good to get user reviews.

 

Thanks ksimm033 , Did you find any evidence that your machine was tested by the vendor before it was shipped to you? (was windows activated, were there any user accounts setup , etc) I always assumed the highly touted etailers here did some testing before shipping. TIA to any responses

 

The only evidence I have of the laptop being tested is that you can tell the power brick was used, because there was a little dust around the rubber stoppers on the bottom as well as underneath the laptop (nothing of real note though, run your finger on one of the rubber things and the dust is gone). Also windows was installed with all the drivers that were appropriate for my hardware. Not sure if they did any extensive testing but I can tell the laptop was at least turned on with all parts/drivers installed.

 

Sounds like the computer got to you just as expected, great to hear!

All computers do go through a Burn In to make sure all the components are working as they should be.

Once you get a chance to fire up that 6990M let us know what you think.

 

Good to hear, ksimm. Did you get the 95%-gamut matte screen? If so, I just ordered the exact same config (BD, hybrid drive, etc) from xoticpc last week and am waiting for mine to finish the build/test phase. About how long did it take from ordering it to receiving it? I can't wait to put mine through it's paces.

Hutsady, a quick question, I ordered mine without an OS, do you know if they burn-in with a boot cd or something similar if there's no OS ordered?

Thanks for any info...

 

When an OS in not selected we can't do a full testing like we do when an OS is installed. We can still verify everything is working as it should through the BIOS but cant stress test

 

Will do thanks!......Skyrim will prob be its first test this weekend......work......girlfriend......kids.......I got to drop one.......or two lol jk.

 

No, I did not get the upgraded screen, though I would not think that would prolong shipment on your laptop since Sager installs them and not Xotic PC (At least I remember reading that in a thread; that Xotic only installs the upgraded 17 inch ones at their wherehouse). I put the complete break down/timetable in the resellers review threads. I think I ordered late on the 20th of DEC and it shipped on the 28th or 29th. That's with Holidays in there too. Not bad for not having rush shipping.

 

Thanks for the info ksimm, I wouldn't expect the screen to add much time, but mine would probably be on a similar timetable as i ordered right before the new year, so with new years weekend in the middle i can probably expect it to ship out next week sometime.

Thanks to hutsady for that info as well, that's too bad but not unexpected. I was hoping they would do something, but I was planning on doing some testing/burn-in when I got it anyway so no big loss (unless of course something's wrong).

Editing to add a question for hutsady: will the laptop be shipped to you guys before it comes out to me? specs are 8150, 2670QM, 6990M, 8GB 1333, 500GB hybrid, 95% gamut matte screen, 6230 wireless, blu-ray reader, thermal paste. Thanks again.

 

Jrbatche2001, the specs you have listed there wont require it be shipped to Xotic, it will go strait from Sager to you.

 

Great, thanks Hutsady.