**OFFICIAL Sager NP5125/Sager NP5135/Clevo B5130M Owner's Lounge**

Does it charge 10x as fast?

 

I just turned on my NP5125 to install Windows 7 x64 Professional, but I'm getting an error "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu."

Ideas?

 

Nevermind. It sorted itself out.

 

How did you fix this? My friend is having this problem...

 

I restarted the laptop and when asked to install the OS, I chose "Custom" and when asked to format or delete partitions, I only deleted. I think.

 

Delete first, then New...apply...then format the 2nd partition.

 

Something along those lines. Except I didn't make a 2nd partition. I'm running everything off of a single 500gb partition. Bad idea? Maybe.

BTW, posting this from the NP5125. This screen is so much better than the dinky 15.6" 1280x800 screen my old Dell Insprion E1505. It's so bright and sharp and 1920x1080! Oh, my.

The keyboard is a bit flimsy near the l, o, and p keys. Feels like I'm going to punch through the laptop.

 

When you click New it makes two partitions. The 100MB partition is for Windows 7 System Tools and should be left, but not formatted.

 

haha, i wish it did

 

I recently purchased one from rjtech.com. Service was prompt, and I have no complaints with them.

Unfortunately, I am having an issue with the BIOS recognizing the Corsair Force 120 solid state disk that I purchased for it. After completely shutting down the computer, the BIOS never detects the ssd upon the next boot. I have to restart the computer for the BIOS to recognize it.

I have tried putting in an old Hitachi hard drive in the notebook and had no problems with BIOS detecting it.

I also get a BSOD when waking the notebook up from sleep.

Has anyone else had any similar issues with their ssd's in this computer?

 

My XoticPC NP5125 has now been in Phase 2 for eight days. The only things I customized on it were the Blu-Ray reader, the Intel 6300, and the FHD screen. Is this long of a wait expected, or is something delayed that they're not telling me about?

 

Thanks for the info.

Sorry about your SSD, it's probably an inherent problem not something they can fix. Can you try SSD of a different brand.

 

If your order has not shipped already it should be early next week. You are welcome to PM me your Order # and I can look into it for you.

 

Update: everything is pretty good.

I have to say, though. The fan isn't quite as quiet as I had hoped for it to be. For a majority of the time, it seems to be running at a quick enough speed that it is audible. It sounds almost like line-noise from speakers, but it's the fan. It's also fairly warm on the left hand side of the laptop.

The speakers on this thing, frankly, suck. They point straight down so if you're on a soft surface (i.e. carpet, pillow, LAP!) you will get muffled sound. If you're on a hard surface (wood, glass, concrete?) the sound is just "ok." For comparison, I can overpower the speakers in the Sager laptop (full 100% volume) with my Dell laptop's 5 year old speakers on half volume. Half. Pretty pathetic for a $1000 laptop. Also for comparison, the Dell was $600 when it came out 5 years ago.

The webcam isn't necessarily the worst, but I have certainly owned stand-alone webcams (Microsoft NX-3000, Logitech something or another) that faired about the same as the one built in to the Sager laptop. So, the webcam gets a thumbs up from me. I have not yet tested the microphone, but it is located right below the space bar. Strange place to put it, I think.

The power button is strange for me. I'm used to pressing down momentarily and the computer would turn on instantly. The Sager needs you to push and hold on the power button for 1 or 2 seconds for it to register an action is needed (i.e. power on!). Not really anything wrong, but it is different.

I guess that's it for now. Will continually update as I use this thing more.

Oh, have I said how BRIGHT the screen is? It's really bright!

 

Some pictures to tide you over:

Laptop was shipped in this box


Box inside a box!


Laptop and another box with driver CD and charger. Also has a manual, but who reads those?


Laptop! Yay.


Right side ports/DVD drive


Weird... There's a modem


Left side ports


Open her up


Turn it on


Sager NP5125 on left (not full brightness), Dell E1505 on right (full brightness)


You can tell the i5 sticker is a little crooked


Better pictures may come later.

 

Thanks, but it shipped on Saturday after all with an expected delivery of September 9. Here's to the longest 4 days of recent memory

 

I just tried Bad Company 2 and the there is a problem like mentioned before that it kicks you out for optimus technology, or whatever problem it's detecting.
I got around 28-30fps on medium settings, however I'm not sure which settings to try lowering to get better performance, AA or what else to what settings ?
I tried it on 1080p resolution though...

I'm downloading Crysis on steam right now, wanna see how it's gonna look on 1080 screen

 

I recently bought this laptop and have been having trouble installing the 64-bit version of ubuntu 10.04. When the computer starts booting off the cd, it seems to be loading fine ("ubuntu" displayed with 5 loading dots beneath) but then comes to a command prompt-like screen with some version info and an error message that reads:

mount: mounting /dev/loop0 on //filesystem.squashfs failed: Input/output error

I have downloaded the file and performed an md5sum check (file was correct and uncorrupted) and even burned the iso image onto 2 separate cds to see if the transferring the image to the cd was the problem (got same error both times).

I haven't tried running the 32-bit version yet, but i should be able to get the 64-bit version to work, shouldn't I? If the 32-bit ends up being a fix for this, I'll go ahead an burn another cd, but I really want to find a solution before I go waste another cd.

Is there anyone who's had this same problem or could point me to another page with a solution? Thanks in advance.

If it helps, here's the specs of the laptop:
- i5-450M processor
- 4GB ram
- really nothing else that might be significant, just the base laptop for the parts that matter

 

well since i got the regular HD screen, bad company 2 runs amazingly at med-high settings, its awesome and yes that problem is a huge irritant...

 

Does anybody know if darkpcs.com is equipping the d15 with the 62.16 WH battery as standard?

 

Just figured out how to make it work. Installed Ubuntu using a flashdrive and it installed without problem.

 

I have been comparing prices, and I don't think I saw darkpcs increase the laptop cost like xoticpc did when they started using the bigger battery as stock, so I doubt darkpcs has it.

 

Early next week my order will ship. So hopefully some time next week I have my laptop.

 

Crysis ran at 1600x900 on high settings 10-15fps Medium settings was around 25fps.

 

I sent an email to Shane to doublecheck. I'll let you guys know what he tells me. Did you end up ordering yours from xoticpc?

 

To all you guys running crazy resolutions:

Although 1080p does look nice, I would not try to run too many games that way. I think you'd be better off turning up graphical effects, and lowering the resolution.

Personally, I found 1280 by 720 is adequate for most games, and permits a smooth, high quality experience.

Haven't run it with Crysis yet, but have tested with Borderlands and Bioshock, which both taxed my previous 8600m gt pretty bad. MUCH better experiences on both of them. Aside from the resolution (1280 by 720; looks good though) the other settings are turned up and being handled well.

 

Yeah I gotta check out few resolutions and see which ones are best for specific game. Starcraft 2 for example was fine on high settings with 1080 resolution. Bad Company 2 run ok on medium settings with 1080 resolution, but I think the resolution will have to be turned down for smoother gameplay.
Crysis is a freak and needs to be tweaked one way or another for smooth gameplay.

 

anyone has any input btw how this laptop compare to lenovo Y560 ? Lenovo - Laptops & netbooks - IdeaPad laptops - Y Series - Y560 I think the 5730 is superior gpu just never seen or used lenovo laptop before.

 

The Lenovo y560 also has the new i5-460M (on their USA site), but screen issues and overall build quality make me wary of buying it. I'm trying to decide between purchasing it, the np5125, or other sub $1000 laptops.

 

How would you rate the image quality at the lower resolutions?

Yes, Xoticpc. They did the price match thing with darkpc's free shipping, and the timing was perfect that I get the stock big battery, and maybe should've kept the $60 dollar extra deal, but dropped it to bring the grand total to about $954 for pretty much the works.

1080p
62w battery
IC Diamond
i5-450m
4gb 1066
intel 6300
500gb 7200 rpm
1/3 year warranty
and a case

 

hmmm, what are the temps you guys are getting while gaming ?
on the i5-450 after not much gaming the cores heat up to around 87c...

 

I imagine your temps would be lower because of the larger laptop. And from a quick google search of "max cpu temperature", that seems to be too high and unlikely accurate.
Can you overclock it? and how do you rate the image quality of lower resolution gaming?

 

I've been playing games for a couple of hours and the laptop is barely warm. Haven't actually checked core temperatures, though. But at any rate, notably cooler than my previous dell under such situations.

And as to image quality at 1280 by 720, I pretty much don't even notice after a few seconds of playing. What I DO notice is if the framerate drops to 30 or below, or if that lovely dynamic lighting doesn't show up, so again I think dropping the resolution is the way to go.

Good to hear it can power through 1080 for StarCraft 2 though. Looking forward to trying that one out.

Anyway, if you go below 1280 by 720, I think it starts to get a little chunky, but I'm pretty happy with that resolution. There really can't be that much on the screen to look at at once in most videogames, so you don't really need much higher.

 

I'm considering this laptop but my main worry is that latest Ubuntu will not be able to use the NVidia card. Right now I couldn't care less about Optimus, I just need an NVidia card because it simply works (compared to ATI). Installing NVidia drivers manually or doing some other tricks is not a problem.

Is there a way to disable the integrated graphics card from BIOS (select which one to use)? Or can someone actually confirm that the GT 330M works and performs as expected so it's not like it detects the GT ok but would actually be using the slow integrated card?

Thanks!

 

Guys, don't install ubuntu 64 bit, it's unstable and not recomended, it sais so on their site.
I think that linux 32 bit does support more than 4gb ram so no problen there.

 

windows 7 is the best compatible option =)

 

there is no issue with optimus, it switches correctly whenever its needed, its never displayed the wrong graphics card being used for me, when i launch a game, te graphics switches and i can def tell that its the GT card working

 

I ordered the integrated bluetooth but can't seem to find it. There is a "bluetooth file transfer" but that's it. No place to add bluetooth devices. At least not that I'm finding. Am I missing something?

 

Also, I'm finding the scroll function on the track ad very hit and miss. Anyone else finding that an issue?

 

try hitting fn+f12 (bluetooth switch)

 

That did it. I wasn't hitting fn with the F12. And after it was on, the "Add Bluetooth Devices" became visible.
Thanks.

 

Kinda. I'm finding that the track pad is either slightly wider than what I'm used to, or slightly further to the right relative to the spacebar than I'm used to. As a result, I keep trying to use the scrollbar about an inch away from the right side of the pad, which of course doesn't work.

Every time I deliberately aim for the right side of the track pad, however, it works solidly.

ALSO ABOUT THE WEBCAM: To those who think the quality is unbelievably crappy - it is, at first. I recommend running the icon on your desktop called "Web Cam Installer 3.23". It's actually a config menu. From there, go to Options - Video Capture Filter - Video Proc Amp tab, and turn "Gamar" all the way up.

Personally, this has changed me from looking like a zombie to just a slightly staticy human. Much better I think.

 

I've played on the camera again, apparently, you need to turn off auto-exposure to get 25fps on it, but the captured color will become more washed.

 

Man we were promised a review for this on notebookreview a while ago

 

If you choose to upgrade the wireless card to the Intel 6200 or 6300, does Sager actually put in a second or third antenna? Seems like a dumb question, but I wouldn't put it past a reseller to give the option of a component upgrade without including the proper complementary hardware.

I'm trying to decide between the stock wireless card or the 6200.

 

The Sager NP5125 supports both cards, so you will get 3 Antennas with the 6300 and 2 Antennas with the 6200.

 

I have the same question, is there a way to force it using GT 330M?

I know about a button that switches between integrated and Optimus.

Thanks!

 

i dont think thers a way to force it to use the GT card, only able to force it to use the Intel one and have it change on its own.

 

Hey guys,

'been skimming this thread since Friday or so; order my NP5125 from Sager's site on Saturday. Very excited!

On topic:
1) Has anyone order from the actual Sager site recently? IT says the 1080p screen is on back order with an ETA of "early September"... We'll, it is early September. Does anyone know when I could expect mine to ship? Are they coming in and going out steadily or do they have no screens at all?

2) (Dumb question), do the DarkPC and/or xoticpc versions come with the "Sager" logo? (I know it is stupid, but that's one of the reasons i ordered from Sager.. )

3) I ordered with the 6300 wireless card (from xoticpc's YouTube review it sounded like that one was worth the money), has anyone been able to try out the 6300 and compare it with a standard 1-antenna?

4) Has anyone tried using the mic yet? For Skype or TS/Vent or in-game? Any reports on its quality?

5) I heard ( NotebookReview's article) that there may be some issues with the Intel HM55 Chipset imparing the 4k random read/write on SSDs, has anyone experienced this?

6) From the specs I only see "SATA hard-drive" does this imply SATA I or SATA II? And which-ever it is, can I assume my eSATA will run the same?

6.5) What do you guys recommend for external hard drives: USB 3.0 or eSATA? They both seem plenty fast. Is there any reason to use one over the other?

7) I skipped the blu-ray player on mine with the thought that i could buy a blu-ray player later (hopefully when they are cheaper) and put that in manually. Has anyone attempted swapping the optical drive on this thing? Is it as painless as the RAM and HDD seem to be?

8) Durability. I plan to do traveling and plenty of schooling with this thing; does the chassis feel solid? (It looks solid from the pics and xoticpc review)

Order specs:
i5 450, 1080p, IC Diamond, 4G, stock 320gb @7200 (will swap to SSD and use external for storage (it's got eSATA AND USB 3.0!!!)), stock optical, 6300 wlan

Cost:
$1,014 (+ $189 for Vertex 2, 90gb from TigerDirect)

 

2) Mine is from Xotic and has the logo. It's fun seeing people's faces flash with a little bewilderment when they see it in public. They think it's a ghetto piece of crap .. if only they knew

3) I got the 6300 and am picking up networks from ridiculously far away. The speeds have been amazing and stable.

4) The mic is pretty solid. I was on Skype today and could be heard from across my apartment clearly.

8) Yup it feels fairly solid. I flew across the country with it a couple weeks ago when moving to Vancouver and have been traipsing around the city with it while apartment hunting. It's not aluminum solid but better than my previous Dell, that's for sure.

I can't address your other questions but this is turning out to be one awesome machine.