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

Sorry for my late reply on this matter, but I wanted to give it ample listening time before I made my judgments. Overall the sound card is pretty decent. Like many others they use a Realtek high def audio card. Unlike most other laptops in this category you do get an S-pdif digital output which I found refreshing and after I have spent more and more time with this unit I feel it is getting closer to becoming my new portable unit.

To be fair to the recording and also to have unified test data that everyone could actually listen for themselves I used the three MP3's that come within windows 7 media center. The samples are Kalimba by Mr. Scruff, Maid with the Flaxen Hair written by Richard Stoltzman performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Sleep Away by Bob Acri.

Starting with Kalimba this is a semi electronic mixed song. It has a decent range of drum kicks without being too muddy on the bass so it was a decent representation of how balanced the Audio output was. With the Grados the audio card easily powered them and the sound was pretty much as I expected it to be. It was clear, the low bass representation was there and it didn't roll off the highs before they were supposed to be naturally. With the Ultrasone edition 8's as I expected the audio output started to show its flaws. Keep in mind that these headphones are not forgiving and will show pretty much any flaw of the recording or the source. I forgot that the impedance of these phones is only 30ohm which the headphone jack was able to power with enough volume. It just didn't have the power or clarity to full give me the complete bass impact that this song should have. I understand that listening to a set of headphones like this through a computer jack was never the intended form so I won't go any further in speaking about that.

In orchestral music like the Richard Stoltzman piece the headphone output was able to power both headphones with extreme clarity and I was actually quite surprised at its ability to accurately portray the extremes of dynamics and tonal balance that most orchestral pieces present. Instrument separation was better than I expected it to be on the Ultrasones and with the Grados I was sitting up on stage with the players as I listened to the oboe and other instruments weave in and out. One of the things I was most impressed with was the lack of noise in the background on Orchestral. The normal hiss you hear in the background was absent on both pairs of headphones.

Going to the Jazz piece by Bob Acri I was a little less impressed with its ability to present definition between bass notes on the Ultrasones. This isn't a huge surprise but it was actually worse than I expected it to be. All of the notes on the upright bass just blended into each other. There was almost zero separation. It just doesn't seem that it had enough oomph to give the higher end cans what they wanted. The Grados on the other hand were more forgiving. The highs were clear and sparkling, there was separation between bass notes and the mids were forward and present like I expected. Once again I was sitting directly in front of the musicians as I expect to be when listening through the Grados.

When connecting the output to my pre/pro and speakers the sound was balanced and many of the problems with the Ultrasones slipped away. I was looking for any hum or noise in the signal which was not present and the audio was exactly as I expected, clear and clean.

Overall I would say as long as you aren't listening to unforgiving headphones like Stax or Ultrasone, or high impedance headphones like Sennheiser the output will please you.

Please feel free to email, call or PM me with any questions you have.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph L


By the way I am running the video battery test right now and will let everyone know what my findings are in about 30 min I would guess. I am streaming full screen video on netflix right now at the balanced battery setting with screen brightness in the middle of the two extremes.

 

Also, for anybody who's wondering (as I did get emailed a question about this), the Realtek chip is using the ALC888 codec.

 

Video test-netflix streaming

Began 9:05 am
Shut down at 6% 10:48

I streamed netflix, full screen at balanced battery settings with medium screen brightness.(At this brightness level there was zero loss of image quality) Even when streaming HD video it did not switch over to the dedicated card. This isn't a surprise I'm just saying for those wondering.

Next I will charge back up and run it with screen brightness all the way down and battery save mode on. As well as the optimus technology toggled off. When I have those findings I will edit this page.

 

@gugarci

Bubbasticky is absolutely right.

@Joseph@XoticPC
I believe the sound may not be better than N53/SonicMaster, which Asus claims BEST EVER audio in a laptop !!!

 

We will have to see. I will do a review on the new MSI GX660 soon who also claims their Audio in partnership with dynaudio is also the best ever....well see.

 

Hey guys, my NP5125 review unit just arrived, I will open it up later this afternoon and hopefully find a quiet place to take a video.

 

Congrats. Plz try to post some pics of high resolution.

 

BTW, XoticPC still have FHD option in stock right?

 

who/what are you holding them for?

 

What does any company hold stock for? Future customers

 

oh the guy i did live chat with at xoticpc said they were backordered...

 

Phase 2 (Sent for Custom Building / Testing / Burn In & Final QA) 3-7 Business Days

Getting more and more excited!

 

Here are some high-res pictures. Our professional photographer takes better pictures than me, but those won't be available until the full review is live.

I also created a short video so I will make that soon.

And then I have to get back to actual work.

Edit: Video is posted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68wVI6ODUFo
Note that it's only intended to be a general video and is NOT a review - just a first look. I need more time with the notebook to make any conclusions about it.

I recorded it in 720p, it should be available in that in an hour or two when YouTube finishes processing . . .
Edit: 720p now available.

 

Good shots Charles screen looks very nice.

 

I have to say, the 1080p screen is fantastic. Very bright, clear, and the contrast is excellent. The newer Sager notebooks (NP8690, NP8760, NP8850, and this NP5125) have very high-quality displays.

And of course, the 1920x1080 high resolution greatly helps productivity. I have 1366x768 on my HP (albeit it has a 13.3" screen) and doing more than one thing at once or working with applications that require scrolling is just a nightmare.

I may take out my Spyder2Express screen calibrator and try it on the NP5125's display to see what it corrects.

 

Second battery test

Methodology
Optimus off, forced integrated GPU to control video playback
full battery save mode on
screen brightness all the way down

Start 2:16
shut down at 6% 4:25


Not fantastic, but for an i7-620 with the lower capacity battery I guess we will take it.

 

Thanks for the video, Charles. I can't wait to get mine.
Do the keys rattle or were you only describing the noise it makes?

 

The keys themselves are rather sound; the keyboard unit itself seems to rattle just a bit when typed on. I tend to type a bit harder than most users (that's what an IBM Model M does to you I suppose); using normal pressure there is basically no rattle.

 

Thank you Charles for the images and the early video.

From the pictures it seems that the body is made of hard plastic. What about the heat of this laptop ? Keypad looks nice but no dedicated Home, End keys (its quite useful while coding, but we can live with it). I may be wrong, but there is a unused vertical space just above the hinge and actual screen display.

I think nVidia Optimus technology automatically switches between IGP and dedicated graphics, then providing a separate button to switch graphics means giving option to user to choose as per needs ?

Again, Is it (NP5125) a 15" version of Sager NP7110, 17" laptop ? From looks and features seems both the laptops are exactly same only the screen size differs.

 

Hmm.. I'd like to ask about the Hybrid HDD. There shouldn't be a problem if I partition the HDD for dual boot, right? (7 and snow leopard, specifically)

 

Yes, they're basically the same laptop in different sizes.

 

would i have any reason for getting 8 gb of ram (or 6 gb for that matter) over 4 gb?

 

unless you do video editing/CAD, i think 4gb if enough

 

To those of you that have this notebook so far can you tell me, how does the GPU + Full HD screen cope with gaming? Im a little concerned that the 330M GT isn't "high performance" enough. I'd never expect high out of a 330M GT and that was BEFORE adding a Full HD screen into the combination

 

GT330 is indeed not a top range GPU, but I guess for gaming, I'd just do 2/3 workaround options:
1. Run it windowed.
2. Lower res but high detail.
3. Higher res but low detail

Notebookcheck has a lot of sample of laptop using 330 though
Notebookcheck: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M

 

Hmm interesting
Cheers for that VZX, that'll be my bedtime reading for the next few nights!

I've noticed on the Clevo website it actually lists a 1600x900 screen
That might just be the answer im looking for...providing that screen comes over to the UK

 

The 1600x900 version is currently not in production.

 

Typical haha
I'll have to use my 5 inches (the space between my ears ¬_¬) to come up with some more justification of buying this then!

 

I'll test this theory to make sure, but running games in 1600x900 on the 1920x1080 screen should be fine since it is the same aspect ratio. Also, once you're involved in the game you are not going to notice any blurriness anyway . . .

 

Charles, Is 900p is best for a 15.6" laptop if we have to use it for work/internet (no gaming) ? Because I read some where that in a 15.6" laptop 720p is too less and 1080p is too high resolution.

 

Naw you can see in the video that the 1080p resolution is fantastic. You can always increase text size within Windows if you get annoyed at all. Personally, I think it's awesome to have more screen real estate to work with.

 

This screen resolution thinking that a lot of you have is weird to me.
You pay a little bit of nothing to have the higher resolution screens and yet people seem to by choice be looking for lower resolutions.

You can always lower the resolution but you can not raise it. It is almost a ripoff to buy a low resolution screen, especially if the screen is topnotch like this one is said to be.

For gaming the resolution being down will have almost no visible difference, at least to those that are not actively looking for the difference.

While yes in the GUI of Windows and I would assume any other operating system you can see a large difference in sharpness and overall visual quality you have no reason to turn down the resolution as you can turn text size up. Unless you use your laptop for nothing but gaming | extra screen real estate > all |. If you do use your laptop for nothing but gaming, this is the wrong laptop get an Alienware or one of the 200lb Sager gaming ones.

If you want a laptop that can do it all, weighs under 1 metric ton, could fit in an aircraft, doesn't look like you are carrying a billboard under your arm, can last for a few hours instead of a few minutes on battery power, won't set fires, and can still game reasonably well then this is the laptop for you or at least from my understanding.

 

I'd personally say it's different from people to people as they progress.
I remember using 640x480 resolution on 15" monitor in 1995. It was OK until 1997 I can't stand resolution lower than 800x600. And soon 1024x768 was the standard for my eyes. All in 15" desktop monitor. Then my eyes progressively demanding more work space and getting used to see smaller/finer text. I used to have dual 17" with 1280x1024 resolution to work on everything (browsing,coding, gaming, watching movie at the same time). Everytime I move to my laptop I always said to myself "ughh... this is too small of workspace, I need to click on so many places"

I already have a 1440x900 screen on my 14.1" ASUS A8Js, so getting any laptop with 1366x768 screen resolution is a big no no.

As for gaming using laptop. I already generalized that if I were to use that, I need to keep in mind that:
1. The GPU of the same chip is about 20% weaker in mobile series than in desktop series
2. I need to tolerate weight and size much more for "good performing" gaming laptop. The additional size and weight of gaming laptop could be 500g~1kg heavier than the mainstream laptop of the same size
3. I haven't researched about this, but given the same not-so-high budget, you could buy yourself an inexpensive SLI/Crossfire setup on desktop for longer longevity machine that can play future titles.

 

I got one but RJ Tech will replace the screen with 1920x1080 screen.

 

Really odd, as I was told that Clevo doesn't yet have these in production and I know RJTech gets their machines from the same distributors we order from. Maybe Clevo shipped them a test model by accident and it got passed on to you as you originally ordered a 1080p screen, right?

 

Guaranteed. In January 2009 I built a machine for $900 and it runs everything maxed:

Intel E8500 3.0 GHz OC'd to 4.0
Arctic Freezer 7 Pro cooler
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P motherboard
eVGA GTX 260 core 216 (also OC'd but I forget the clocks and I'm not at home)
4 GB OCZ Reaper 1066 MHz DDR2
2 x WD 640GB HDD Raid 0
Coolermaster CM690 Case

It's amazing what you can build for very little cash now. I remember my $3000 IBM Aptiva piece of crap.

 

Charles,
You mentioned in your video preview that the plastic backing on the screen was a bit flimsy. For me, this laptop is going to have to survive being carried from class to class in a backpack or messenger bag on a day to day basis. Would you say it is flimsy enough to cause concern for durability? Thanks!

 

I can help answer that having had a sort of overall flimsy laptop.
Get a nice laptop style backpack or messenger bag from a good company and you will likely be fine.

I originally went Targus and have never looked back.

 

The back feels flimsy is because it is user removable, how to remove is described in an attachment that should be in the same plastic bag with the manual.

NP5125 is a 5 piece case design the back cover can be removed by just removing the 2 top screws and it slides right off so it may feel a bit flimsy but that’s only because there is an extra layer under it.

 

I don't have the unit in front of me right now but I will say that the build quality of the NP5125 is "not bad". Once I spend more time to it I will have more to report.

 

This what I got from everest AU Optronics B156RW01 V0
Monitor ID AUO10EE

Googled it and came out as 1600x900.

Emailed R&J Tech yesterday and said to send it back for replacement.
Great customer service email was sent fast and I asked for a prepaid label
and was sent one via email out the same day, sent the laptop today.

Will report back when it comes back.

 

Found these if anyone is interested:

 

Yeah thanks for these! As a designer, its nice to have some decent, high res photos of a laptop that are already cut out.

 

Thank you for the really high resolution press released pics.

 

If you want the originals (tiff files at 40-60MB a piece, but highly compressed to rar) get them here

 

Can anyone answer my question about the GPU? I'm not sure if it can "turbo boost" to 16x.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/499301-sager-np5125-24.html#post6530397

 

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm thinking about getting a Sager NP5125 and was wondering what the back-to-school deal on Xotic is (not sure if it's different for each laptop, which is why I'm posting it here). I tried live-chatting them (which didn't really seem to be live chat, just email) and haven't heard a response back. If there are any other places to buy it with an even better sale, that information would be appreciated as well.

Also, I'll be gaming with SC2 and other more modernish games. Would people recommend the IC Diamond Thermal Paste if I'm a little wary of doing it myself? I've built desktops before but never messed with a laptop's innards.

Thanks a lot!

 

I would definitely recommend IC Diamond thermal paste for the best temperatures on your laptop.

 

I'm wondering if overclocking an optimus enabled GPU would be any different than the one with just an IGP (w/o optimus).

 

Try sending a private message to Justin here on the forum:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/member.php?u=27368
They also have forums over at their website so you can check there as well.

If you find the lowest price at one place but want to buy from another, a lot of vendors will price match so make sure you ask about that.

You mean the PCI-e link speed? I will check when I get home. It should be at least x16; maybe GPU-Z is messing up since it is an Optimus-enabled notebook.