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

Solid build.

No SSD?
Why not 12gig of ram at 1333 instead?

 

how much ssd should I get between 120, 180 , and 240 gb are there any speed difference?

 

I would say 240 is a good size + a standard 500 GB in the Optical Bay. As long as it's a SATA 3 you shouldn't see significant differences.

Here is a better deal, a 256 GB SSD for only $230.

 

So happy I finally have something to put in a sig now!

 

It looks like they've fixed the error on their website.

 

I figured these were the easiest things to change when I have some extra cash later on, so I decided to spend more on things that are more difficult to swap out.

 

^^^^True, but remember everything but the screen is easy to swap out on this. And you can still swap the screen, it would just be harder.

 

The cons are listed on the intel site and on this forum. mainly vt-d and slightly higher clock speed is the difference. if your are heavy into virtual machines 3720. if heavy into games then the 3610 should do fine as listed above. As for a point in having the 1866 ram is debatable and is commonly discussed on the other forums.

Easiest and extra cash are two entirely different things to consider. Everything is "easy" the second time. So do it yourself and it will be a learning process then it will all be easy. I've changed out a monitors on other models before and it is more tedious than hard... with other models you just worry about snapping something with too much pressure. Cost of an upgrade is not cheap relative to GPU and CPU which is discussed in other forums. The pro and con of swapping out.. pro: you paid for expensive paper weights... we've all done it, but you can say it is backup incase the other hardware fails... yeah... backup hardware... con: none if you like paying more for what you plan not to use after you replace it... or you can sell the old stuff and that makes everything a pro.

Anyhow congratz to everyone ordering the new IB. I am still dragging my feet as I think most distributers are pretty swamped right now anyhow.

 

To the resellers/owners: Whats the noise level like when just doing normal office tasks/running on the igpu?

I saw a review somewhere that stated this thing idles at 40 dB, I want to be able to use this in public if I want to without drawing ALL that much attention to myself.

 

Have any of you tried fitting a full SSD into the mSATA slot? Like not a 2.5" but I read somewhere here that a 1.8" drive should fit into the mSATA area

 

I dont think that's going to happen. They have totally different types of connections/mounting.

Here is a msata to 1.8" Micro sata converter. You can see the size difference and different connector (msata vs microsata).

 

The connections are 100% different. No way you'll get a 1.8" drive into an mSATA slot. The 1.8" drive is larger than the mSATA cards.

 

A few questions:

1) I'm aware of the temperature ranges on the 150EM/NP9150 as well as the decibel ranges. Is the Sager NP9130/151EM1 similar to this? Do you think/know the temperatures and decibels are higher or lower?

2) Is there anything I should know about the difference between the NP9130 and NP9150? So far, I'm aware NP9150 has a backlit keyboard which is fine and dandy but I don't mind not having. I also know that with both models, you can upgrade the graphics card yourself. Anything else?

3) What would you suggest for a college student gamer/soon-to-be-programmer when it comes to the screen (matte or etc) and the memory storage options? Is SSD something I should get as a boot drive at least? I currently have $1100 to spend on a laptop. I'm bound to get at least around $150 or so as graduation money (knowing my slightly-rich relatives). So say I have $1250-$1350 to spend on this laptop. I'm basically just wanting to know what investments are the most effective in prolonging my laptop's lifespan and performance (other than getting a warranty).

I don't expect anyone actually answering question 3 in the best way possible. Normally making a choice for myself comes first, but it'd be nice to have a second opinion, especially if that second opinion has in-sight and knowledge.

Thanks for anyone who can really help.

 

1) They'll be very similar, if not lower. Under the hood the P150EM and P151EM have the same cooling system and components. The P151EM might run cooler/quieter though since it's got the 670m, which is a lower wattage part than the 675m.

2) Just the backlit keyboard, the external chassis material (plastic on the P151, rubberized on the P150), and the larger 180w power supply on the P150. If you wanted to upgrade the GPU down the road on the P151, you'd have to buy a larger power supply first and also check with your retailer whether or not you'd be voiding the warranty on the system with a more powerful card.

3) You can always add more RAM as well as an SSD/HDD yourself if you want to save the money up front for an upgrade (like the screen, GPU, CPU) that you cannot do as easily/cheaply yourself. In most cases, you won't need more than 8GB of RAM. Workstation tasks like video editing or VMWare might necessitate quite a bit more though. An SSD is the upgrade I'd recommend the most after a GPU for being the single best speed improvement you can get. The GPU helps in games, but the SSD will make everything on the system snappier. I'd say go for either an mSATA + HDD combo if you still need the optical drive, or dump the optical drive and get a fast SSD + HDD in the optical drive caddy. This option means you can buy a cheaper/smaller capacity SSD for the boot drive and then have all the storage you need elsewhere. For screens, I'm partial to glossy because of the quality of the display (and not often working in direct sunlight), but there are plenty here that would recommend the matte screen as well. For your budget, the 95% screens are a nice upgrade, but you might want to put that money elsewhere first.

 

Thank you so much for answering my questions! I plan to get a laptop hopefully by late may (might have to wait until late june or so). Upgrading the GPU doesn't concern me so much as the Nvidia GTX 670M looks to be sufficient enough for years. I'll look into the SSD options since having a flash-based boot drive looks really fast.

I appreciate it! +1 Rep!

 

I have literally no clue why people are complaining so much about the noise level from the p150em - mine is so quiet it's borderline suspicious. Even at full wallop the fans actually seem absurdly quiet to me. Highest temps Ive ever recorded were around the 80 degrees mark with stock clocks in a very hot room while playing some maxxed SC2 (and even then that was the peak, average was still mid 70s in those adverse conditions), and I could barely hear the fans at all! When not doing anything, my machine is practically silent.

Cant vouch for anyone elses lappy, but mines quiet as you could ever ask for, from something with this much juice.

Just some perspective!

Anyone know where I can buy a replacement part - the backlit keyboard, for the P150em? I bought mine from a Japanese reseller, so I've got this awful plastic-y keyboard, no backlight, and that awkward tiny spacebar and right shift button Japanese keyboards often seem to use - not to mention half the shift symbols are all mixed up...

Thanks in advance!

 

Hey all,

I live in Australia which means we get shafted on all tech prices. Have put in a preorder for a clevo P150EM through a local reseller metabox. I just have a few quick noob questions.

I'm considering buying a separate intel 520 120gb SSD for it and ordering my laptop without a HDD. Now I havent had experience installing a ssd but from what Ive read its meant to be fairly simple? The reason is itll basically save me $100 if I do it myself and not through them.

I'd also purchase windows with it so I assume that would be just on a disc but what about the drivers? Do i have to individually update each or is it all automatic with an internet connection?

basically buying it to play D3 and for photoediting so Ive waited for the IB i7-3610, got 16gb 1600MHz ram and the 675m as I figure that should be more than enough to handle anything I need it for.

one ssd would be enough as I plan to use a portable external hdd for all my music and picture storing as well. i'd rather be able to move it around easily to back it up on a few devices so I dont lose my work.

cheers in advance for any replies.

 

Installing a hard drive is easy peasy. Takes maybe 30 seconds - you only need to unscrew 2 screws, as a matter of fact.

No problems.

 

Earlier in the thread, someone mentioned that they didn't think RAM speed made a difference - does anyone think otherwise? I'm about to order the P150, and I'm almost certainly going to go with 16 GB. I'm wondering whether it's worth it to pay for 1600 or 1833, or if 1333 will be more than enough if my capacity is that high.

If it makes any difference (probably does), I'll also be getting the Radeon 7970m. I want to be able to play games at high settings, and ideally this thing will last me a few years. Gaming is probably the most intensive thing I'll be doing, but it's possible I'll need to do some photo or video editing in the future.

 

I would also add for student life if you need to boot your computer up or shutdown it quickly the SSD will help a ton. As in getting to class late for playing too much games but you need to take notes on your computer. Or you fell asleep in class and need to quickly shutdown before your long trek across campus to the other class you are late for. Just the two biggest improvements I've seen with SSD from a pure mobile perspective and less application user perspective. And if you are not a full gamer now... when you become one you will most likely be trading sleep as life doesn't stop.

Edit: gamer unsatisfied with computer sometimes games less than a gamer satisfied with computer... sometimes... staring at your specs and saying you are "testing" for hours instead of doing homework doesn't help the excuse... but it is fun. And good luck with school if you thinking a gaming rig will help.

 

The difference between ram speed will be negligible in real world tests. unless you need it, save the money. I am running 8gb 1333 and see no system hang ups when playing bf3 @ max. Spend the extra cash on an ssd upgrade or screen upgrade to the 95% matte our glossy.

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2

 

Couple questions. Going to be building mine in a few weeks and cannot wait.

So I've decided not to get a processor upgrade in favor of a video and ssd upgrade but I'd be interested in hearing from others who are going the Radeon route whether they're concerned at all about the driver support, which use to be a thing to take note of with ati.

Also, if I get the standard 500gb hdd and then get the hard drive caddy in the optical drive bay, and then buy an ssd from newegg for the primary bay, is it relatively simple to switch the hard drive into the optical drive bay and then load the ssd into the primary and make that my os drive?

I imagine I'd have to reinstall windows but without a DVD not sure the best way...

Thanks, loving this thread.

 

Download the ISO from microsoft. Use the microsoft flash tool to create a bootable usb with the ISO. Just make sure you download the version you have a key for. If not, you will have a 30 day trial.

 

AMD driver support is historically slower than NVidia, but not usually any worse once they're out. As for the drives, it'll take you maybe 10 minutes to swap them between the primary bay and optical bay if you do it yourself. You just open up the primary HDD bay (two screws) and the drive is held in by foam friction pads. Just slide it out. There's also a screw in that bay that holds in the optical drive. Unscrew that and that will slide out as well. Flip out the drives, put it all back, and you're good to go.

If you want to install Windows from a flash drive, use this tool:

Microsoft Store Online

 

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm thinking of having a similar configuration as blueshrike. To confirm, a flash install of Windows requires a USB stick with at least 4GB of memory? I really don't think I'll need an external optical drive so I just want to make sure that I understand how to install Windows after switching the HDD with the SDD. Further, if I want to install Windows this way, should I be buying Windows from Windows' online store? or will simply having the CD key that I will get from resellers allow me to download it from Windows?

Thanks for the help! And I like to think of myself as technologically literate...

 

You need to already have either a Windows install disk that you can use to create the drive, or a Windows ISO. If you have the key, there are places that you can get a full ISO image, but others will have to provide the link.

But yes, if you don't already have a key/install disk, buying from the store should give you a digital download that will work with the tool without issues.

A 4GB drive is all you need to create a bootable disk too.

 

Is taht your 150EM?

 

Ive been waiting to order a P150EM and was wondering if the 8MB cache was worth spending the extra money for if i'm doing alot of encoding and rendering.

Because I need to do a lot of graphic work i was also wondering if I should stick to invidia even though the 7970 looks extremely tempting right now.

 

He's one of our awesome reseller's that frequent the forum. Probably just one of the ones he got in stock.

edit: I asked Myth to confirm that XTU doesn't work on the 150EM. Their reply: "Not yet ". That's right, winky face. I remember Malibal saying that it wouldn't work in the 15" this round either. damn. I didn't have a reason to pick up the 3920, but now I'll have to see if maybe I can come up with another $800 for a XM processor lol

 

Woot, ordered a P150EM, can't wait!

 

That looks like one of the pics on the sager website.

He's probably referring to Prema. You saw what Prema did to the P170HM bios, right? If there are no hardware limitations, he should be able to make anything possible with this. Including XTU. But yeah, after Haswell and once I have money again (I just put down everything I could spare on a P150EM) I may look at buying a used 3960xm if I can get it cheap enough.

 

thanks dude!

 

Couple more questions -

1. Has anyone on here gotten dead pixels?

2. Does the mSATA SSD make that much difference, or is it significantly faster to put an SSD in the main bay? Or is SSD not that big of a deal for gaming / normal applications?

 

Say, does 1600 MHz compile C++ codes faster than 1333 MHz RAM?

 

awakeN, who did you order from? =D

 

I've seen bits and pieces, and some of his other works, but I should probably check it out more in depth. I wont be ordering until like August so im sure things will be fleshed out by then. I was planning on picking up the 1866mhz ram though, just because. I'll probably just stick with a 3720 since I don't need a 3920, but it would be cool to mess with. Tbh though I would probably shell out for a new laptop before I paid a couple hundred bucks for an upgraded processor in a few years

 

Xotic PC

 

I have one right in the middle of the screen.

 

the mSATA SSD is slower than a regular SSD. Loading normal applications and in gaming will be lightning fast with a regular SSD in the main bay

 

1. Many users have experienced them. Hard to tell what % of screens have them, though, because most people join NBR because they want help with a problem.

2. Yes, the mSATA makes a big difference, and yes, a full SSD blows it out of the water. SSD will only reduce load times, not increase FPS, but the difference is very significant.

Dude, he has a sig.

 

isnt the maximum ram speed the 3720 takes advantage of = 1600mhz?

 

I added it after he asked

 

I don't quite understand, whats the point of an mSATA SSD? How does it work?

I've read some of the anandtech article but all I can figure out is that its a 1.8" smaller SSD used to fit in the MSATA bay, but other then that how does it work in conjunction with the main storage bay with either an SSD or a regular hard drive?

 

It works just like any other hard drive or SSD. Depending on which one you get of course.

If you get the caching mSATA, then it works similarly to the Seagate Hybrid drive but instead of 4GB or 8GB of SSD caching, you could get 40GB or 80GB of SSD caching.

If you get the mSATA as a regular SSD, then it works like having a 2.5-inch SSD installed and an HDD as a secondary drive.

All that has changed, aside from the size, is the interface for connecting it.

 

So on Powernotebooks, the "preconfigured for Intel SRT" option shows less usable space for the mSATA drives than the "boot drive" option - why? Doesn't the boot drive option include the OS on?

 

When you use the drive for caching, it removes 64GB or so as a cache for the hard drive (which is system managed). Any space that is left can be used for the system. When used as a boot drive, no space is reserved and you get the full capacity of the mSATA as a primary drive.

 

Oh, whups.

 

if I order sager np9150 right now, when will I receive the unit?

 

From who, and with what specs?

post 300

 

from xoptic pc the unit will include 7970m.