*** Official Clevo P151EM1 / Sager NP9130 Owner's Lounge ***

Thanks for the Info! Once I recieve the laptop I'm going to put it through its paces in windows, and then try my hand at Hack. I should have ordered the mSata drive so I could not half to split my drive and play the stupid MBR/GPT games. *facepalm*

 

mSATA drives are fairly cheap and easy to install as aftermarket upgrades, so you could consider getting and installing one yourself if you think that it's a better (or less painful) choice than dealing with multiple partitions on your main drive.

 

First, let me say thanks to all those that have posted useful information about the Sager/Clevo laptops, especially the NP 9130. I ended up buying one about a month ago and I really love this laptop. For anyone interested, I've written up a review on my blog with pictures and everything!

My Review of the Sager NP9130 (Clevo P151EM1) Laptop | | incredipixelincredipixel

 

I actually just found a decent price on a 120GB OCZ Nocti for 149 on Newegg, Most likely will pull the trigger on that, but for the sake of due diligance, is anyone here aware of any better deals regarding mSATA SSDs?

My Laptop went into production (Xotic) a few days ago, I'm excited!

On another sorta relevant note, an article regarding the (POSSIBLE) Macbook Pro upgrade has shown that the newest model is running the Kepler based GT650m. If thats the case, I shouldnt have to worry about the 670 being supported. Great start to a day!

 

A few thousand words (and a few hours of gaming) later, my keyboard is starting to shine...

 

In a good way? As in, I'm starting to love it or it is already showing evidence of use?

 

I am going to buy the NP9130 soon and I wanted to know whether if I bought the Intel Ultimate-N 6300 wireless module if I'd still be able to install and mSATA SSD.

Also, is the keyboard good enough to play Starcraft 2 with?

Thanks.

 

The keys were too spread apart for me for SC2 but the system itself is over Jill for SC2 as well. Granted with the 95% screen it looked amazing.

 

Why wouldn't you?

Shouldn't be a problem if you want to buy both and install a mSATA later or at the same moment, these two things do not interact or have any connection whatsoever

 

I think you are mixing up the pcie x1 with msata; jaug1337 is right, you shouldn't have any problem putting both in your 9130.

@w00pw0p: its evidence of use... considering I have only gotten it for not long, the keyboard seems to wear quite fast. I've been using a mechanical keyboard for my gaming before this (for more than a year), and the PBT keycaps still feel the same way they were on the day I first bought it. The 9130 keyboard feels like ABS though, they tend to shine easier...

On a side note, I would love to see the keyboard come without markings or at least engraved (black on black) keys. Its probably just wishful thinking though x:

 

Has anyone tried overclocking their 670M? Would love to see benchmarks and temperatures.

Considering that overclocks of 660M are reaching 670M performance, I feel that having the better named card, we should be able to perform better than a 660M.

However, there aren't even benches for the stock 670m on the 9130, so this is probably wishful thinking too x:

 

Hmm, thanks for clarifying. Personally, I don't generally mind if they look used but could you comment on the ease of use? I'm basically committed to the 9130 due to price constraints and overall I'm pretty stoked about it but if the keyboard was terrible, that might drive me crazy. I'd go take a look at a demo model but the closest reseller is 2 hours away and with the gas money there and back, I could probably get a mechanical keyboard anyways haha (cheap one mind you).

Do you think it would be comparable to a macbook keyboard? They're not terrible IMO.

 

This is my first laptop in years, never had the need for a laptop until now, so I cannot really compare to other notebooks/macbooks.

However, I have been typing a lot on the keyboard recently and I would say it doesn't really make a difference; just another chiclet keyboard. I firmly believe that its the skill of the typist that matters, not the keyboard. Once you get used to it, its second nature to type on.

 

Cool, thanks for the insight. I know it's something that regardless I'll end up getting used to, but I used to loathe chiclet keyboards. Of course, this was a few years back but personally, I didn't think any of them were any good back then. So I am a bit hesitant but there just isn't another option at this price-point that really interests me, so this one it is! Now just waiting for exams to finish to place the order

 

Regarding GPU upgrades for the P151EM (and the P151HM) here is Sager's most recent statement:

So according to Sager we are limited to 75W GPUs... Or we can make the upgrade to a 100W GPU and risk reducing the notebook's life span significantly.

 

Get the longer warranty and put back the original GPU before shipping it back?

But seriously 25w isn't that big of a difference there is no way they built boards that wouldn't support even this minor increase in power draw.

 

I think that too, but I don't intend to make the upgrade any time soon, so I've time to use the notebook the way it is, see if I need the upgrade, and next year I can choose if I'll upgrade or not, or maybe I'll just sell the notebook and buy a new one with better GPU.

 

I know a lot of people want to upgrade to cards with an 100 watt TDP in the future, but i'm hoping I can upgrade to a gpu with the same TDP as the GTX 670M in 2-3 years. Do you guys think some of the high end cards of the future (like a GTX 860M or 870M or whatever they call them) will have a TDP that is less than 100 watt? I don't want a bigger power supply.

 

Hard to say, depends on how the technology evolves... They may choose to favor 100W TDP to get more performance into this class (x60M and x70M) of GPUs. Or new architectures may reduce power usage giving us some room for increase in performance while still using 75W TDP GPUs.

 

My guess is there will always be more powerful cards that will require a larger power supply. What I'm hoping for in the future would be to upgrade to similar cards to the 75W GPUs that we have now but with an increase in performance 2-3 years done the road.

 

My guess is that there will be 75W GPUs that would work with this system in the future. It's up to Clevo/Sager/ProStar/Eurocomm to make it a reality.

 

Eh, Technology these days is all about miniaturization. They will get smaller or have the same size and use a smaller amount of power. The problem in this case would be BIOS upgrade on the actual machine to run these cards. If the EMs follow the same fate as the HMs and do not receive support within a few years, that would be BAD.

To avoid this you should ideally go with mythologic or malibal who are custom builders. I think they use their own BIOS.

 

wrong forum. my bad

 

My P151EM arrived earlier today!

I'm quite happy with it thus far; it's very solidly built, the keyboard is quite nice to type on and has little flex, and the 670M runs quite well - I was able to run Trine 2 (which is fairly demanding) in 1080p on the highest settings with no noticeable drops in framerate. It is, in general, extremely fast - boots Windows 7 in very little time (it spends more time on POST than it takes for the OS to get to the log-in screen), opens most programs extremely quickly, and thus far hasn't left me waiting for anything but installing programs. The SSD is probably responsible for most of this.

The processor is currently idling around 30C; during gaming, it got up to 75C, and while encoding 720p video (running all four cores around 100%) it got up to around 70C, with the fan kicking in at that point and keeping the temperature stable. I did get the IC Diamond thermal compound upgrade, though, so I'm probably seeing slightly lower temperatures than people with the stock thermal compound would. I'm not sure how to check the GPU's temperature (it was visible in HWMonitor for a bit, but after rebooting it no longer is), but if someone can point me at a tool which is able to I'll post temperatures after running Skyrim (or some other graphics-intensive game) for a bit.

The fans are fairly loud, especially in a quite room, but closer to a quiet desk-fan than a vacuum cleaner or hairdryer. They're easily overwhelmed by the noise of the keyboard - I may be putting more pressure on the keys than expected, or typing faster (as the noise lessens when I type slowly), but it's very obvious that I am typing. The space bar seems to be responsible for most of the noise. It's not unbearable, but I think that I'll be avoiding doing lots of typing in libraries. Due to the positioning of the trackpad, the cursor does move around a bit while typing, but thus far it hasn't registered any clicks, and as fn+f1 turns off the trackpad I'm not too worried about it getting irritating in the future. The texture of the trackpad was initially somewhat irritating - high-friction, with it taking more effort than I would like to move the cursor - but after a small amount of use it has become fairly low-friction and very easy to move.

I have a 95% color gamut matte screen, and I'm quite happy with it thus far. Colors are very vivid, and it doesn't seem dim or washed out, as I've sometimes heard people complain about matte screens - it seems to have no downsides in comparison with a glossy screen, while having the fairly major advantage of not turning into a mirror when you look at it the wrong way. It compares very well to the screen on my previous laptop, and in fact to most screens I've had experience with. Not having a stock screen to compare it to, though, I can't say if it was necessarily worth the cost to upgrade, especially as I'm not planning on doing anything that requires extremely precise colors.

The optical bay hard drive caddy is somewhat concerning, as it lacks a screw to hold it in place (while the caddy itself has several screws to hold the drive in, and a place for a screw to prevent it from slipping out, the chassis doesn't seem to have any way to secure the caddy in place). This might be an issue while travelling (if jostling results in the caddy slipping slightly out), but it will be easy enough to check before starting the computer. Removing the keyboard is also a rather circuitous process - it requires removing the backplate and then using a screwdriver or stick to push up on the speaker grill, popping it off, at which point the screws securing the keyboard in place may be removed - but as doing so was only necessary to replace the original RAM (I'm now using 4x 4GB sticks of 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance), I don't expect this to be an issue.

EDIT: The built-in speakers give me a headache within 10 seconds of listening to music but are fine for other purposes, and Skyrim defaults to Ultra settings but doesn't run amazingly well (30-50 FPS just wandering around, would probably drop even lower in combat), so I'll probably play around with the settings a bit to figure out what it runs well on. The laptop is fairly bulky, but less so that I expected; carrying it around in a backpack isn't particularly irritating, perhaps comparable to a single large textbook (it's also less dense than a textbook, so it feels lighter). It barely fits in a laptop sleeve designed for 17" laptops, mostly due to its thickness.

Putting it on a cooling pad doesn't have much of impact on its temperature, but is worth it because it allows me to use it on my lap without any of the air intakes on the bottom being obstructed or the vents making my knees heat up. I had previously thought that the power cord plugging into the back of the laptop would be a bit awkward, but it actually works very well. The edges of the screen attract dust and fingerprints, but the screen itself and the palm-rests do not.

 

Whoops, accidentally double-posted.

 

@Sorbus: Optimus turns the dGPU off when it is not needed, hence you will not be able to see it in HWMonitor. After starting up a game, however, you may start HWMonitor to see the dGPU monitoring options.

For installation of the HDD caddy, you are supposed to remove the screws and the securing extension at the rear of the ODD drive. Look at the User Manual to get more details, I'm too lazy to describe the process. You should also look into changing the faceplate of the Caddy if you haven't done so; the stock faceplate is flat, while the ODD is contoured following the chassis of the 9130.

 

Hi all,

First time poster here. I received my 9130 from (used XoticPC) on Monday.

Specs: i7 3610M, 670M, 8GB, 120GB Crucial M4 SSD, matte screen, no decals

Overall, I’m very happy with the laptop:
- Boots/loads are extremely fast
- Very quiet
- 670M runs everything I throw at it at 60+ FPS at fairly high settings (Diablo 3, Battlefield, SWTOR, etc) using the 340.48 drivers that came out on Monday. I had to get a modified INF file to get them to install – not sure how many others experienced this issue. Very impressed with this vid card
- Build quality is solid
- Love the look of this thing – I chose the no decal option. Too many laptops these days are over the top. I’m glad the Sager is more of a minimalist look and feel
- Great keyboard feel

Only issue I am having (minor):
- In addition to gaming, I use my laptops for work with heavy emphasis on using Excel. There is no way to use the page down / up / home / del keys without either a) using the function keys – they are “functioned” to the arrow keys or b) disabling the num lock and using the page down / up / home / del keys on the num pad keys. Overall not a deal breaker, but can get pretty annoying to get used to if you’re a heavy keyboard shortcut user and are using a desktop concurrently with the laptop. This is clearly evident from the screenshots of the keyboard but I didn’t pay it any mind so just something to think about…if you look at a picture of the layout you can see what I mean if you are confused by the description
- Trackpad feels a bit rough to the touch as it’s literally made out of the same plastic material as the outer shell of the latop. It’s going to get some getting used to. At the default windows CPI/pointer speed settings the trackpad/pointer speed feels very slow/clunk and does not allow your fingers to glide smoothly. Not sure if others are getting that feeling? Of course turning up the pointer speed and enhanced mouse precision on will make the trackpad scrolling faster but will significantly screw up accuracy/precision with a mouse (since the golden rule of thumb is to keep it speed at default Windows setting i.e. notch 7 and have precision turned off) so you will have to adjust the settings back and forth. This is probably the biggest issue for me. For the majority of users who bought this laptop for strictly gaming and will typically use a mouse with it most of the time it should not be an issue. I’m also not sure if it’s just my particular one or if it’s the same for everyone
- My 670M seems to power off when the power cord is not plugged in (tested this while in a game). Anyone know how to fix this? Not a big deal since I probably won’t game on the go without a mouse and you need to keep it plugged in regardless for any serious gaming session given the battery life (issue w/ all gaming laptops as you know)

 

@mljs54:

- You can always use an external keyboard (with mech switches) if it really bothers you and you aren't on the go.

-As for your GPU issue, it's a setting within optimus, I think you've set it so that 670M ONLY if you have AC power, you should be able to change it back.

I'm jealous! LPC-Digital said my order was sent to Sager on Monday and I can't wait!

 

You do realise your gpu is 2 and a half year old revised technology hence why the 7970m takes less watts then your 670m to run and is twice as fast. The 680m should take in theory less electricity then your 670m and outperform it by double.

When nvidia maxell comes out basic discrete cards like gt 840m 25w card or something should trounce a 675m so a 50w card should double or treble your performance.

 

I'm disappointed that nvidia didn't use Kepler for the 670m... because my budget was $1200 and I couldn't afford the 680m (the 7970 I would consider, but I've always been on the green team because they are more reliable with their drivers, I'd go red if AMD dedicated more time and released better drivers - comparable to nvidia)

on another note, mines shipped out last night from CA and eta Tuesday in Seattle.

thought it'd take a week longer... so I didn't jump on the $170 m4s last weekend... now I regret it I need one

edit: this lounge is small that's why I've been surfing the np9150 thread...

 

You should have got a gtx660m as it outperforms the 670m on some dx11 games and takes half as much electricity to run.

Anyway if nvidia maxwell is really powerful then a 675m should get out performed by the most basic card. If nvidia didn't rebrand and actually had kepler 670m like desktops 670 then funnily enough the 670m should be twice as fast as your current 670m because a gtx660m just to perform similar to a 670m is like using the same power consumtpion as a fermi gt555m. My point is a gtx660m takes similar power consumtion to a gt555m. Nvidia to cater the 670m or 675m had to basically have cards likee 640m 650m 660m all bunched up together.

 

I dunno... BF3 seems to get better FPS, but yes, lower power consumption + more batt life i guess:

Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

kinda sad they didn't use kepler... But as long as it can hold me over for 2 years i'll be fine (well I got a 570 in my desktop so that'll be okay as long as I'm at my desk)

 

Yes kepler would improve battery life during gaming, but I don't think it would affect the battery life during non intensive tasks because of optimus.

 

True, but you still get architectural bonuses of kepler . In any case, how are you liking your 9130? I also ordered from LPC and getting it within the next 2 days (although i need a 830 deal)

 

Not here yet....its being built at the factory lol. Hopefully it will ship Monday.

 

Hey guys, I hope I am posting this in the right spot but, I am looking to purchase the NP9130 by Sager. I am an engineering student and I will be using this notebook for the next two years. I was wondering if it would be fine for running some of the programs I will be using such as student edition solidworks and CAD without a problem. Also, I want it for Diablo 3 and Crysis. Is there maybe another notebook I should consider instead?

 

well, I just got mines! so if anyone wants pictures or the like, let me know! Installing windows right now (accidentally installed 32-bit windows in the first place... didnt know i had both isos in my external hard drive) but i'll have to do it again when my 830 gets here early next week or possibly saturday.

Initial thoughts: LOVE the material and the scree looks nice. The pillowed look of the back of the screen is nice. Keyboard really feels hollow, like I'm typing on top of a metal mesh (which i probably am). If typing... almost paramount to turn off touchpad because of the included numpad (boo) pushing the keys to the left. Not a fan of where the direction buttons are... keep pressing up when i'm trying to hit right shift and i end up inserting text in the middle of the line above. Power button was hard to find (it blends in the with the spreaker grill and took me almost 5 minutes to find... three of which was complete facepalm at not being able to find the power button). Built in mouse buttons are meh, not a fan of their placement as they're actually lower than the surrounding palmrest and it's not on the edge. Also, mines didn't come with a Nvidia sticker they must've ran out... although i remove all my stickers any how (come to mind, there's no FullHD sticker either D:... I guess i'm used to Sony and their awesome stickerness)

 

This will play those games fine, no problem and AutoCAD will run fine, as you are a student and really, nothing needs more firepower than gaming (and those two you mentioned arent very demanding either)

 

Hey guys ! Just wondering how would you compare this to MSI's GE60? It has the GTX660M and is almost1.5 lbs lighter!

 

i just received my np9130 from xoticpc, i wrote a more in depth review of it as there didnt seem to be many, i will be uploading it later, but for a quick reference, coming from my 4 year old gateway FX laptop this is a really nice upgrade, even without the 670m being keplar based the battery life is pretty good thanks to optimus which didnt exist in the previous generation of np laptops.

 

I returned my np9130 and seriously considering getting an MSI GE60. Exact config as a np9150 I ordered as a replacement minus the 670m card and the backlit keyboard and is 300 cheaper as well. I'm going to test drive the np9150 if I hate it as much as I hated the np9130 I'll return it for a Mai ge60 or Lenvo y580.

 

Why did you hate the 9130?

 

The keyboard I couldn't stand too widely spaced. The fn keys were is horrible spots and couldn't remap them. The speed and screen was amazing. The temps were great. It was pretty big and heavy though. I hope the new keyboard is alot better.

 

The keyboard is widely spaced? For me it is too closely spaced, they tried to cram a numpad and it's crimping the other keys. Otherwise, I agree, the FN keys are in an annoying order, i put my laptop to sleep trying to lower the volume (who puts a sleep key between the mute and vol down?) and the right shift if annoying beyond belief

but it plays BF3 well, medium at 1080p (I need 60 fps). However, halfway through playing I think the GPU reverted to intel... which was troubling to say the least. I saw the Nvidia GPU core clocks go down with my afterburner OSD. It only happened once last night so i need to retest.

Hey guys, what drivers are you using for the 670M? I'm just curious

 

Was also considering the ge60 because its somehow in my price range but the 660 to 670 is a huge jump according to some people. Is the turbo mode in the ge60 used to overclock? I love the fan control on the ge60 also


Currently:Macbook unibody 13.3 late 2008.
Getting a 6165 or a 6110 as soon as i see reviews when playing games!

 

MSI isn't even an option for me.
I need legacy firewire support and Sager/Clevo are the only manufacturers I've found that still support it with modern upgrades like 16GB RAM and Ivy Bridge (I'm looking at you Lenovo!)
Not to mention the upgradability and bang for buck price, I shan't be leaving Sager's side for awhile.

 

There is a lot of issues on the np9130 keyboard. The tiny enter key on the numpad. The shift key. The fn keys. I didn't really like the feel of the keyboard either. The size/weight and the keyboard are the two worst things about this model.

The MSI ge60 with the 660m isn't very far behind the 670m. Takes a lot less power to run. You can OC the 660m to stock speeds of the 670m. But the 670m can also OC to much higher then the 660m OC.

FireWire is a very specific port request for a very small population. Most people would not rule out the ge60 for that reason alone.

Size/weight, keyboard, dual fans vs 1, and 660m vs 670m are the only major differences on these models.

Like I said before get the np9150 over the np9130 or the MSI ge60 over the np9130. This model isnt what you think.

 

Very valid points.
I was just remarking on the fact that Firewire is required for my work as an editor and a videographer. If I don't have that port I cant capture footage, and then I don't eat.
And I do like to eat!
Eventually I will upgrade my camera but it is slow growing here in Jamaica, we still have SD for all our stations lol

 

Does the MSI have an express card slot? if so, you can always get an adapter for it... I'm actually quite disappointed that this laptop doesnt have a express card slot... not even the 34mm... I mean my 13" VAIO had one... and that was small as heck. With all this thickness and all the free space on the left hand side, why not include one.

 

I just checked out the specifications for the MSI GE60 and it is a complete joke as far as I am concerned!
No eSata, no firewire, only 2 USB 3.0 ports and no there is no express card slot.
As far as I can tell it also does not have an mSata slot so I cant have 3 drives in the body.
The 9130/9150 is a much better deal in that regard.
For mobile editing the GE60 is a non-starter for me.


You are right about the gradual phasing out of the express card slots.
I dont see why they couldn't have kept it, updated it and continued to use it now. I guess we'll never know.