NP8130 Review (In Progress)

I bought a NP8130 from Powernotebooks on October 1, 2011. On October 13, 2011 I took receipt of this laptop and I had to wait till the next day to open it. I won't bore you all with why I waited, but I'll start with the spec sheet.

• 15.6" Matte Screen
• Intel Core i7-2670qm 2.2GHz - 3.1GHz / 6MB L3 Cache
• 16GB DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM (4x4GB) @ 9-9-9-27
• nVidia GTX 560m 1.5GB GDDR5 / 192-bit
• 120GB Intel 510 SSD (SATA III)
• Blu-Ray ROM / DVD Burner
• No OS (I bought Win7 Pro x64 through my college)
• 3 Year Parts and Labor Warranty

Front Ports:

• IR Port
• Battery Charging / Charged Light
• Power On / Off / Standby Light

Left Side Ports:

• CATV Jack (Blocked)
• Gigabit Ethernet Port
• 2 x USB 3.0 Ports (You have to install USB 3.0 Driver to get their full functionality)
• USB 2.0 Port
• Firewire / IEEE 1394 Port
• 7 in 1 Card Reader (SD cards go here)

Right Side Ports:

• Kensington Lock
• USB 2.0 Port
• Headphones / Microphone / Speakers / Digital Inputs
• Bluray / DVD Burner

Rear Ports:

• e-SATA / USB port
• HDMI Port
• DVI-OUT Port
• AC Adapter Jack

It arrived VERY well protected, triple-boxed with packing peanuts EVERYWHERE (which as effective as they are, is about the least environmentall friendly packing method there is since they don't biodegrade... oh well, i'll reuse them). The body itself is covered in a slightly gritty plastic on the palmrest, back of he screen, the bottom, etc., and the mousepad is integrated into the palmrest. Coming from an NP8662 where everything was aluminum and the mousepad wasn't part of the palmrest, but had a groove big enough to catch skin in, this is an improvement of the highest order... no longer do I have to worry about snagging skin in that area, or dust getting into the computer. This relative sealedness carries over to the chiclet keyboard, which is nicely sealed and although it will never substitute for a proper mechanical keyboard (think IBM XT or a Razer mechanical keyboard), it's a clear step up in performance from the 8662. I don't feel that I'm going to get a crunch as keys grind into each other, and I can type much faster on it since in general, the keys just bounce faster, there is less force needed, etc. I will say though that it takes a bit of getting used to at first coming from a traditional laptop keyboard, but the learning curve is small and the ability to touch-type is greatly improved. (Remember, this is also my school laptop so it has to be adept at both gaming and the more corporate and menial tasks of computing).

The mouse on this computer is a great improvement over the NP8662 in some ways, but the technology of touchpads / touchscreens also plays to its detriment in some situations. I am happy that the pad is not perfectly smooth, since to me, when the trackpad is too smooth, i get the feeling my finger can just slide across without precision. This pad gives just enough grip to feel reassuring, but doesn't feel like the sandpaper-texture I've experienced playing with Alienwares. Perhaps this is the 8130's plastic chassis playing to its advantage in this regard. However, even though this is a marked improvement in trackpad performance, occasionally when i use the pad, what may be viewed as a movement of the cursor by me is interpreted as a mouse gesture (multitouch, zoom, scale, etc.) by the computer... perhaps a bit of oversensitivity by the driver, but not world ending. If I have to take notes, I just turn off the trackpad until I need it. As for the buttons, they are VERY responsive, very well-calibrated and the fact that the left and right buttons have a different tactile feel to them means that there is no question as to which button I have pushed. In contrast to my NP8662 which has a decent left button, but a very, VERY stiff (almost stuck) right button that has plagued it since day 1. Having two easily functioning and touch-different buttons makes it easier for me to know that what I have clicked is in fact what I intended to, and the fact it's not stiff means I don't have to go into "caveman mode" to accomplish a task.

The build quality of this machine is much, MUCH better than my old NP8662. Even though the bottom plate is only held in by 4 screws, I gather there is a stronger frame to this computer than to prior computers I have owned (see signature for them). There is no chassis flex, VERY little screenback flex (and it doesn't affect the image), and hinge-flex is non-existent. The latter seems to be a sager trend as my NP8662, even at 2 and a half years of age, has no hingeflex. I need 2 hands to open it, and one hand to close it. Keyboard flex is ZERO (same as my old Sager), but this keyboard feels more assured to the chassis, and that's because under the keyboard is a pretty robust bit of metal that provides a platform for the keys to rest on. To me, as a student who types notes at about 70 to 80 wpm, this is just as important as how much power the GPU has. If the keyboard isn't useful for note-taking, it could have dual 580m's, but I won't buy it. The biggest improvement however, is in the outlet plug quality. My NP8662 has always had a niggling infidelity where the plug wouldn't be seated all the way in... a small movement and it'd fall out, often without my realizing it until the battery was just about depleted. The NP8130's plug, on the other hand, snaps in with a small but reassuring "click", giving the impression that it's not going to fall out should the cord be jostled by other students tripping on cord, or if I move the computer while it's still plugged in, or whathaveyou. If the NP8662 served as a starting point for 15" gaming rigs that think they're desktops, then the NP8130 (and presumably the NP8150) serve as evolutions of what happens when you take the time to ensure build quality matches gaming and performance quality. Well Done Sager for that.

I know a lot of you are begging me to get to "gaming", but because to me a laptop is more important in its academic use, I'm going to cover that first. Amazingly, for all the power that this computer possesses, putting it into powersaver mode, screen at 1/8 and just typing away notes yields 3 hrs and 2 min of battery life. That's enough for me to go through 2 back to back classes and save my work! While this may seem like a lot considering the quadcore, the 560m, etc., I have to knock off a few points on Sager for not incorporating the Optimus technology to allow the computer to run on the CPU-only when the GPU isn't needed. (Come on, do I really need a 560m to type out an essay on LibreOffice?) If Optimus were implemented, I gather battery life would be closer to 4.5 to 5 hrs, more useful for the average student who has a high-powered computer. At the same time though, I do hear rumblings that Optimus and other GPU / CPU switch technologies can cause glitches in games (game doesn't know which to run off of) and perhaps Sager is mitigating this by just having a GPU that is on all the time. Smart for the intended market, but college gamers may also want the option of turning off the GPU when they have a 2+ hour note-taking session and nowhere to receive AC power. I think what saves this computer and its NP8150 / NP8170 brethren from being relegated to "foldable desktop" status is the fact that it has an LED screen, which is not only brighter at lower settings than the LCD screen my NP8662 possesses, but uses less energy to do so. Otherwise, battery life is largely equivalent to the 8662 when it was new, ~3 hours. However, in an academic setting, this computer has added benefits for the student in its general "I'm a throwback to the 80s!" appearance. How many times have we seen students with Alienwares have difficulties avoiding the ire of a professor because of the general design and a glowing alien head with a side order of laser-light show? Even MSI's GT-6xx series offerings suffer from a milder form of this. Remember, us gamers-in-university want our professors to see we are actually TAKING notes on our rigs and don't have to constantly worry about us. By having nothing more than dual-fan-vents out back and a simple "SAGER" logo (that can be omitted upon request), unless your teacher actually KNOWS what a Sager is (and has caught a Sagerite gaming in class), this computer will do no worse for wear in the looks department than a Dell, Toshiba, HP, (insert brand here). If you can keep your fan noise down, this is a completely usable machine in an academic setting. The same applies for work. Keep the fans down, don't play games, and 99.9% of bosses won't suspect that your Sager is fully capable of gaming at high settings all day.

Cooling on this laptop is nothing short of legendary, and that's a trait that carries over from previous Sagers. With a true-dual exhaust and a dedicated fan and cooling pipeset for the GPU and a dedicated fan and cooling pipeset for the CPU, and with heatsinks and pipes covered in copper, it doesn't take much to know that Clevo designs their computers with intense cooling in mind. The 560m, and the NP8150's 6990m / 485m / 580m are intended for 17" laptops, however the cooling is such that they not only fit in a 15", but they don't require the fans to be running at full speed 24/7. (As I mentioned earlier, this helps the "I'm an incognito gamer" image.) Cooling is further improved by a factory-install of ICD7 on the CPU and GPU for improved cooling at the paste level. Now I know that a lot of people may shirk at the $40 upcharge when a single tube may be good for 2-3 applications (it's a great profit maker in that regard), but I'm admittedly a klutz and I'd rather spend the $$ and do it right, but also practice on my old computer first (this way if something goes dead, I'm not in deep trouble and I can try again). However, when gaming the fans do kick in nicely, shooting a sensible jet of air out the rear of the laptop (which is what's supposed to happen). Even on lower settings, the wind is feelable. However if one is running furmark as a torture test, or gaming for long durations at high settings / heavily overclocking the GPU, Fn+1 is the "magic key sequence" that allows for the fans to pulse at maximum speed, further increasing cooling ability or just when you want to ensure the fans clean out what's inside.

Use-wise, the combination of 16GB RAM / 2670qm / Intel 510 SSD provides a balanced experience. While some people may go "the CPU and RAM and GPU are key", having the SSD not only improves startup of Windows and applications, but it makes the overall feeling of loading applications quicker. How many times have you had a gaming rig racing about its hard drive and you're complaining it's slow? Odds are its storage and nothing else. The downside to an SSD is that it costs about $2.50 / GB, but I find it OK considering I keep 1 or 2 games and that's it on the computer. If I want files, I can always hook up my external hard drive. As far as 16GB DDR3 RAM, yes it's overkill for a laptop (or desktop), but at the time I purchased it there was a special for a $50 upgrade from 8GB to 16GB and I couldn't pass it up. I look at it as future-proofing and it's better to have memory you'll never need than to have to use the SSD - or worse the HDD - for a paging file. The 2670qm will truly come into its own as games and apps become increasingly multi-threaded and quad-cored. So I look at this as a means of having a high performance computer that is not only ready now, but ready for the next 3 years of service that I expect to extract from it. The ONLY thing I wish was that SSDs were cheaper so I could have eked out the 250GB SSD (which is even faster and possess double the storage). My one reservation with 16GB DDR3-1333 RAM though is that the memory management from Windows 7 to Windows 8 seems to be drastically improved in the build 8102. Win 7 likes to use 1.5 GB of RAM for its startup and work from there; win 8 on my XPS m1710 idles at just over 800MB used. Perhaps the 16GB was overkill, but much like insurance, it's better to have it and not need it than to go "uh oh" in photoshop. Very stable, doesn't crash / go to paging file (I turned mine off since it doesn't even exceed 3GB use / 16GB total).

Sound Quality isn't as bad as a computer that has no subwoofer, but I wouldn't call it a DynAudio System, or the system in my m1710. However it does its best with the updated realtek 2.66 drivers instead of the stock drivers on the disc. Where this system shines for me is to put the system into 7.1 mode, and pop in a blu-ray. blu-rays sound phenomenal and with the included PowerDVD, the compute "knows" to put the bluray load onto the GPU for better processing of images. The sound though, for those who expect to hear lots of "thump", is not going to give "thump" without a LOT of modification to the sound-settings. This sound system is more for the movie-watcher (where sound is already processed for added boom) and the casual music listener. As with most Sagers, this seems to be a general weakspot; focus on a great keyboard, a good mouse, amazing screen, desktop-level CPU and GPU, but completely disregard sound. The Sager's achilles heel is this, and as such without an external system it's not ideal for audiophile-level listening nor is it ideal for sound-intense gaming sessions (ie: shootemups and even car racing games whre you may want to hear where your opponents are). Fortunately, the digital-out and other ports are there so that you can put the necessary speakers directly into the system instead of an x-fi card or converter. (Onboard 7.1 card with 24/192 ability is a good thing.)

My view of the 560m as a gaming card is that it can be viewed as two perspectives. It can either be viewed in an NP8130 that's basic as the best gaming bargain in history ($1,000 for an NP8130 with this card is an amazing thing), or it can be viewed as not quite up to gaming, but ranks as a high-performance card great for media. I take both views. As I mentioned earlier, this card in Blu-Ray is PHENOMENAL for GPU computing of 1080p; it only gets about 40% usage (while the CPU rests and just runs the program). However, for the one game I play (Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed), I can't quite use the "special effects of ULTRA!" mod at 1080p, but with all settings at high and no AA, I average anywhere between 45 and 50fps at 1080p. This is a MARKED improvement over my NP8662, which could only muster 1680x1050 at medium settings (and low for the car details) and would occasionally get quite hot (often hot enough I couldn't put my hand even momentarily on the fan vent). On the other hand, the NP8130 maxes out at 70C (which thankfully is very low and within thresholds) and if I want the card to stay even cooler, I can always turn on "Max Fan" (Fn + 1) if I don't want the card to get hot (fans remove more heat in maximum mode). Benchmarks in Passmark and 3Dmark (06 and Vantage; I haven't done 3Dmark11 yet) are positive as we can see in the links. But if I was saying as to a gaming card, for $1000, it's a monster card. I may have had a different opinion after only being able to play at HIGH if this card were in a $2,500 or $3,000 NP8150 - and in that case, I would have kept the CPU basic, kept my SSD, and used the difference towards a 6990m or a GTX 580m to get the most for my performance dollar.

*More Here*

Benchmarks so far.

3Dmark05: 19596
3Dmark06: 14520
3Dmark Vantage P-Score (PhysX On): P10046
3Dmark Vantage E-Score (PhysX On): E36271
3Dmark Vantage P-Score (PhysX Off): P9301

3Dmarks for Reference:
3Dmark05 (NP8662): 16407
3Dmark06 (NP8662): 10376
3Dmark Vantage P-Score (NP8662 - PhysX on): P4978
3Dmark Vantage E-Score (NP8662 - PhysX on): E11532

As we can see, especially as benchmarks become more demanding from a gaming point of view, the increase in scores goes from about 25% in 3Dmark05, to about 100% in 3DmarkVantage P-Score, and over 200% when Vantage is in "E mode"

Passmark: 3,454.8 (See Attachment)

CPU-Z Validation

Windows Experience: 7.5 / 7.6 / 7.2 / 7.2 / 7.8. Score: 7.2 (see attachment)

More to come as I test and review further.

 

Nice Review and build! I have a couple of suggestions though.

A) Add sections to the review so it's easier to read.

B) Shorter paragraphs would also make it easier to read.

C) Post the pictures in the actual review instead of thumbnails (this can be done by first uploading the images to an external site). I'd also suggest posting comparison pictures of the P151HM1 and the other laptops you own.

It is obvious that you spent a lot of time with this review, and I wouldn't want it to go unnoticed

 

A) Sectioning is there, it's just LONG SECTIONS

B) I have to edit it, admittedly. I tend to write objectively and I am going to edit it.

C) I'm going to post pictures in my review as well via my FLICKR account. First though I want to finish my midterms and the review. I have some shots comparing it size-wise to my NP8662 and my XPS m1710, and I'm going to put up some benchmarks from my mom's DELL m5030 as comic relief (yes, they're funny).

Jaso

 

Thanks for the review, looking forward to the comparo pictures!

 

Great review, very thorough. Thank you for posting your score on various benchmarking tools too, that really helps out when it comes to making decisions about which model you'd like to get

 

OK, I found the NP8130's weakspot. The 560m cannot for the life of it run folding v7. This is a fault of f@h, NOT the computer, but it should be noted that for such a fast computer, it can only run on the smp mode, not the gpu mode. I really wish it would do that.

 

Awesome review! Actually read it all.. took a while, get some pictures in (would be a giant break), it a heavy read though..

 

Okay I feel dumb now D: folding v7? f@h? smp? What do these mean? I'm a bit of a newb when it comes to notebooks but I've been combing these forums for days and this is the first time I've heard these terms .-.

 

Best I can do for you.... http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/630741-nbr-folding-home-team.html

 

He's just referencing Folding@home which is a distributed computing program that uses hundreds or more computers to do protein folding calculations.

Folding@home - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are a ton of distributed computing programs out there (like SETI@home for example). The goal is to make it cheaper for simulations to be run, by having people use their spare computational power to do the work at home. This alleviates the need for supercomputers and potentially provides quite a bit more power over a large user base.

List of distributed computing projects - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Thanks MALIBAL! +REP.

Anyway, this is a FOLDING monster so long as you keep te GPU away from folding. The GPU saps about 60% of the CPU's power, but it is not strong enough to compensate for this loss of ppd. This is a shame because the CPU can top 20k ppd if left to its own resources (the 2670qm, I gather the 2860qm would be able to crack 25k ppd). But what has continued to amaze me about the computer is that I have begun to beta-test Project CARS, and being able to get 50 fps with all settings on high, noAA/AF, leaves me to believe that this computer may be more than just the "cheapo" NP8150.

Even two months on, and many trips to school later, the NP8130 has proven itself to be as adept a road-warrior as it is a gaming machine, accompanying me to class and being the workhorse for papers, presentations, note-taking, etc., I have become used to the keyboard (chiclet style) and have noticed that as one uses the mouse, the gritty texture gives way to a very glassy under-layer that is rather enjoyable to move about on without feeling cheap or "cost-cut" if you will. So for those of you who were crying that the trackpad feels like hell, keep wroking at it, it'll eventually give.

The ONLY thing I wish this computer had was a 485m (Yes, STILL... because for folding it would allow me to use the GPU to compensate for loss of power when running the GPU / SMP consoles at te same time. Those of you who seek to do folding, please get the NP8150 with a 580m to maximize PPD. It looks te same on the outside as the 8130 (barring the rubber finish), but it has much more power under the hood for folding and truly intense gaming. However, that's my only problem with this computer's internals.

So after 2+ mths (almost 3) with this computer, I can say that this is a great computer for tasks ranging from daily schoolwork and as a laptop at work, to a gaming rig that will play most games on high (not ultra or anything), and then when its gaming life is over, will still make an excellent home theater system that can be connected to the 1080p screen in your house and make a most excellent blu-ray presentation player. (I *HOPE* the GPU is strong enough though to handle 4k, if early 4k movies such as Sintel are any sign.... we're going to see GTX's having to also be used for movie playback).

Jason