*** Official Clevo P150EM / Sager NP9150 Owner's Lounge ***

How is the sound quality through headphones? Is external USB sound card worth getting or built-in does the job?

 

1) Is this due to chipset or bios?
2) That's what was posted in the old user manual thread...
3) I meant it has one more total usb3 than P150HM.
4) HM has 2 usb2, 2 usb3, and 1 eSATA/usb2, so 5 total. EM has 1 usb2, 2 usb3 and 1 usb3/eSATA, so 4 total. The ports are in the same places, but one usb2 is now usb3/eSATA and the old usb2/eSATA is now displayport. And if you really meant mSATA and not eSATA then the P150HM has a usb2 port there too.

 

1) bios
2) hmm no im pretty sure it SATA-II
3) oh
4) yeah misunderstanding, forgot HM had a eSATA/USB 2.0

 

I'm certainly no audiophile, but to be completely honest...that has to be my only gripe so far with this Sager. Now, others may have better luck with the THX tweaking, but I've tried every headset I own, from my Astro A40 to my creative sb earbuds...and the bass just seems to be really lacking, giving the sound output a little less punch than I would normally enjoy. I've completely disabled the THX options, as the 'crystalization' option makes the highs stand out even more than normal, given the lack of punch from the lower channels.

Others here may have better luck with the tweaks, but seeing as I haven't noticed anyone else complaining about it...I would take my findings with a grain-o-salt at this point.

I'm going to try setting up my astro mix-amp today to see if that helps any and will post any further impressions.

 

1) That's what I thought. But that means it's technically possible with Prema's help, unlike hardware limitations.
2) Checking right now. EDIT: can't find the thread, I knew we should have linked to it in the OP. I can't dig it up with a search because my 3ds is not loving the search button right now. Could any resellers please chime in on this?

 

Should be receiving the 9150 from XoticPC tomorrow sometime, as long as the wife will be home to sign for it.

I am looking into upgrading to a Corsair Force 240GB SSD or the Crucial M4 256GB
Newegg.com - Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F240GB3A-BK 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

I am pretty sure that I can live without the extra 16GB of space, is there a difference in speed with these two drives? I know once you go over the 120/128GB something is different with the SSD, I just didn't know what.

Any explanations would be great!

 

Of the two, the Corsair appears to have much faster write speeds. But the Crucial also has a lot more reviews. I'm not sure what you're referring to with differences over 128GB though.

 

sooo. now that it's officially april 23, when can we order with ivy bridge??

 

Here's the thread. I can't open the PDF at the moment because Reader wants me to reboot first.

April 23 is just the unveil date, they're not allowed to be sold until the 29th still IIRC. And the unveil probably won't happen until after the sun comes up in California, so another...6-8 hours, at least.

 

I'm planning on purchasing a Sager np9150 in a few months and am wondering if it's worth it to go for the 675m versus the 670m. I know the 675m has better performance but I'm on a poor college student's budget and and trying to keep as close to my budget as possible. Can someone who owns a 9150 give me some advice?

 

The $100 extra for the GTX 675m get's you about 25% more graphics performance. If you need the extra graphics performance it's one of the best upgrades you can get.

I'm also a semi-poor college student; luckily I have a job right now and am getting financial aid next semester haha.

I'm going to get the 7970m though; it's 30-40% faster than even the GTX 675m. It's an insane card; powernotebooks already has it for sale in the P150EM, others will follow. It cost $100 extra over the GTX 675m, some stores might charge a little less.

 

We'll I'm mostly going to be playing games on the laptop along with some Photoshop work possibly so I'm not sure off the extra 100-200 would be worth it

 

here you go, stealing my joy after just ordering .

Looks like my upgrade money will be going here instead of IB. IB is nice, but not as nice as a massive shot in the arm FPS wise.

When I install this card, I'll lose optimus correct?

 

lol

Unfortunately correct, no Optimus. Optimus is only on NVIDIA based cards.

 

Does AMD has switchable graphic like nvdia ?

 

I updated the user's manual page to reflect the latest specs from the updated user manual

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/649949-p1xxem-user-manuals-posted.html

 

Hey Justin, i see the website was updated with an option to preorder the 7970m, when do you expect ivy bridge to be a select-able option.

Also, do you expect ivy bridge to match sandy bridge pricing?
2670QM = 3615QM
2760QM = 3720QM
2860QM = 3820QM
2960XM = 3920XM

These three seem to line up on intel's pricing sheet with their sandy bridge counterpart.

 

Do you know how late in May? I'm leaving the country for 3 months on May 20 and not sure if I can get it before that day?

 

Oh you..... son of a gun! Thanks, great thread indeed +1 REP for update

 

The Intel Embargo lifts on the 29th, expect to see them 1 minute after midnight.

We unfortunately don't have an exact date but as we get closer the ETA should get more precise. Feel free to email any of our sales staff to check status or PM any of us here on NBR.

 

And which timezone will that be? *marks calendar*

 

We are in CST.

 

I'm in the same boat, and I really want the 7970m especially for a mere $100 more with a 30-40% boost over the 675m which I currrently have.

Can anyone from Xotic explain how I would go about trying to get this upgrade, I know I could use the 30 day return policy, but I would just like to switch out the card while keeping the rest of the specs. I don't want to go through the whole ordering process, although Xotic made it quick, seamless, and painless while being extremely polite and helpful.

Also thanks to all the folks at Xotic Hutsady, Justin, and Amanda for getting my Laptop to me in 2 weeks, especially with calibration. They were forecasting a delivery date around 1 May, and it's a week early. I will definitely refer all my friends/co-workers to you all for ordering!!!

 

nakoni47, you can send an email to our service department about getting the computer set up to get the 7970M. Since its still about a month away you can just keep the current computer then send it in once the 7970M is in stock. Our service dept can set that all up for you.

And you're very welcome about how soon the comptuer got to you, hope you're loving it!

 

I see that the extra money to update to the 7970 from the stock config is $200. If I buy the laptop now and upgrade later, how much will it cost? Is it gonna be faster to upgrade later than to build the laptop at that time?

 

I'm curious as to why the 7970m is so much more expensive on clevo compared to alien ware. Overall alien ware is a lot more expensive, but on just the 7970m the price it $100 less than the 675m.

Also, I noticed that malibal, xoticpc and power notebooks have identical pricing. My spec'd out computer ended up being the same on all 3, like down to the penny.

Edit: nm, just checked their site, they've finally updated the pricing to have the 7970m $50 more expensive then the 675m

 

You'd probably be looking to spend $500 or more (no way to know exactly until it's released, but that's been the average for most high end AMD cards) to buy the GPU separately. You could always try to sell the old card to recoup some of the cost, but in the long run it's cheaper to buy the GPU you want in the machine when it's new.

 

I remember reading somewhere that the Nvidia prices are a bit inflated when dealing with Alienware so that explain any differences.

 

Yea I would say that if we could all "Peek behind the curtain" and see the real prices for each video chip that Clevo, Dell etc pays for it, I bet you would see that while Dell probably gets a little better price on AMD stuff their nV stuff is more expensive, so its really just shell games with money and I'm sure they knew that it was coming, so then they start the 675m off high so they have a "spot" for the 7970m when it comes out if they are looking to push it more over the 675m. Makes sense.

 

Man I'm pretty disappointed. I was hoping to be ordering the IVB and 7970 next week. Even more disappointed at the $200 price tag of the gpu. Guess I'll be ordering next week either way and getting the 675 Also I was under the impression that the AMD cards had graphics switching as well but I saw Justin from Xotic said no.

 

wait, I thought AMD cards also have graphics switching as well:
AnandTech - Mobile GPU Faceoff: AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics vs. NVIDIA Optimus Technology
AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics vs. Nvidia Optimus - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

I also thought the new 150 was going to allow XM CPU overclocking finally. Guess not

 

No switch graphic wow that major turn off

 

I think he just meant that switching from nvidia to AMD cards will lose the Optimus, which is exclusive on nvidia cards only, but AMD would have their own switching method for the 7970m: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/657921-alienware-m17x-r4-2.html
Btw, my friend said that nvidia has physicX technology, which is a program that calculates physics and it would have a lot in games that have lots of physic caculation. However, AMD cards don't have that. Is that true? Is this a big advantage of nvidia over AMD cards?

 

Mythlogic said they got gfx switching to work with AMD cards. You can switch you just can't use Optimus which is only for nvidia cards..

Physx is only for nvidia cards. How important it is, that's up to you...
PhysX FAQ

 

Update: I'm fairly sure Xotic just added this option some time today, bc i've been staring at the configuration page for the past week lol.

The AMD Radeon HD 7970M (2048MB) GDDR5 DX11 is available on the NP9150 for $200

Happy Buying

 

So what is the verdict here? Does the AMD solution offer some/any form of graphics switching, dynamic or otherwise?

This is the one and only selling feature for me as I really want more battery life. Not to mention we are all paying for functionality(the IGP) that we cannot use if not.

 

I have a question regarding mSata SSD. Seems like both P150/P180EM does support mSata SSD only up to SATA II speed. The ANANDTECH is talking about new C400 mSATA which reaches 500MBps READ / 175MBps WRITE.

My question is: Is not this C400 mSata drive useless in both machines as maximum bandwich of SATA II interface is 300MBps so READ speed will be cut down about 40%?

Thank you!

 

Yes, yes it is. Sadly... The C400 is too powerful for the this particular mSATA

 

I'm planning on ordering a p150em/p151em in the start of May, will I be able to do a special config by having a p151em with a 7970m? Is this possible?

 

150em yes...151em no

 

See http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/658696-does-optimus-have-significant-impact-battery-life-2.html for some info. It looks like the card has the capability, it all depends on whether it gets implemented.

 

Optimus is for Nvidia only. Please do some research before blindly making posts. You could put a 7970m in a P151EM, only if you swap out the 120W power supply with a 180W power supply; which will basically end up costing as much as the P150EM anyways. So really you might as well spend the extra 1-2 hundred and get the P150EM.

 

I am really not sure who that research part was directed at. If it is me then you need to do the research, not I. AMD has two, an old and a new, ways of implementating switchable graphics. The old way was called Dynamic graphics used by Sony and a few others, the new launched with the 7000M series is called Enduro. My question is if the 9150 will be using either, as no reseller lists it, only Optimus.

 

No I was directing it towards Slane who still seems to think that Optimus is for all graphics cards lol.

 

I think it's up to the graphic card that you choose. If you choose the 7970m, I think you will have the Enduro. Else, if you choose the nvidia then you will have the Optimus.

 

If I made the customization such as changing graphic to radeon 7970 or screen. Will it increase the original weight? or stay the same?

 

The thread he linked also has info on the 7970m. Did you even read it?

 

Stay the same (unless we are talking milligrams, might be a bit more or less, cant say mate) but basically you by ordering a better screen and/or GPU you exchange it for the stock one, so nothing there.

 

I wonder if I choose a 95% gamut screen, is it necessary for calibration?