*** Official Clevo P177SM-P170SM / Sager NP8290-8270 Owner's Lounge ***

188 updates... booooooooo!

 

Nice Deadsmiley! Yeah one of the biggest PITA's is installing Windows, updates, and all the software. It can take hours to get a system staged the way you like it. Just make an image when you're done! Granted if you go back to that image in 6, 9, 12 months, there will still be a lot of updates, but not nearly as many as a clean install.

 

I ended up playing MechWarrior Online last night. It's a different game now. With everything on high at 1080 I am getting around 100 fps and it looks incredible. With my M4500 I had to play at 1200x800 with everything on low to get 20-25 fps, and it would dip down into the teens at times. Now I am amazed I was able to play this game at all because it sucked before and I knew it sucked but *really* wanted to play it.

Played glQruack last night and even though it played pretty well, I could tell something wasn't right. When I shot a monster the blood on the floor looked like frost (it was white). I exited the game and forced the graphics to use the nVidia card and that fixed it. It runs a lot better now too.

 

I updated my Bluetooth driver and I can pair my LG headset. w00t!

 

which specific sager did you get?
and the specs?

 

Sager NP8278-S
17.3" 1920 x 1080, 72% Gamut
i7 4810MQ
32GB
1TB SSD
1TB HDD
GTX 880M
Blueray burner
AC-7260 Wireless

 

oh you ended up with the s version
im maxed at the standard 8278

i wonder if the 860m kepler could max Mech warrior

 

Dunno.

I do know that you should not flash the BIOS with Prema Mod just yet. I did that today and now my 880M is a standard VGA adapter. nVidia drivers complain that no compatible hardware was found. oops...

 

Not entirely surprised, seeing as Sager has to provide their own custom driver since nVidickia is too bothered to release an official 880M driver even though it's launched and they're raking in the $$$.

 

I tried the Sager supplied driver as well with the same result. I am sure it's an issue with the BIOS.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

You'll need an update for the 8xxM series system bios since they are different.

 

I realized late last night that the bios I flashed was for the previous model.

Prema bailed me out by posting up a stock bios for my machine. I now am the proud owner of a Onenote!

By the way, doing a fresh install of Win7. I had reinstalled Win7 because the of the issues I was having not realizing I had done a bad flash. Putting the correct bios back really borked it. I simply misread what was posted and thought it was the correct bios for my system. At least I didn't brick it and I still have my M4500 for work so I didn't create an emergency for myself.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

I have been using my NP8278 for a few days now. Minus the nut behind the wheel issues, I like it overall.

The things I miss from my Dell M4500:

1) No external switch to turn on/off the wifi card.

2) No dedicated docking station. This is really nice for when I am working on 2D CAD (electrical drawings) in my home office. I just pop the laptop into the dock and go. No cables to mess with and I have Ethernet, extra USB connections and of course , 2x DVI connections for my external monitors. The Dell could only drive two displays, so I just closed the lid while docked. The Sager can dive all three displays. I have cable for the HDMI outputs to these so that should work. I am using one external display right now. My desk is too small so I need a larger desk. I am thinking of getting a USB 3 dock. I will still have to plug in the power adapter but other than that it's just one USB connection. That would be nice.

Right now I am looking at a couple of different USB 3 docks.

Bear in mind that my primary usage is business. I have the 880M for when I am not working. It also works better than the old Quadro in the Dell for viewing solidworks models in a viewer.

Overall I am very pleased. I knew the Sager didn't have a dedicated dock available when I bought it.

 

At one point I was wondering if 32GB of system memory was excessive. Turns out that today I used over 17GB with my normal applications and it didn't slow down one bit. With the M4500 I would have to shut things down and reopen them. This was more of a productivity killer than I realized. The CPU got up to 15% utilization as well. Before that wasn't really a problem. I think the lack of RAM was my problem.

Ok, now I am rambling...

 

Yeah I do miss an external Wifi switch, seems odd that Clevo would leave one out, seeing as most of the laptops on the market have one. One shortcut I found was to hit Windows key + X to bring up Mobility Center, then just hit the "Turn Wireless Off" button. Certainly beats opening up several menus just to disable wifi.

Also, depending on what you do that eats up 17GB of ram, it could be beneficial to get faster ram. Apparently faster ram speeds up encoding, and the sweet spot seems to be 2133.

 

Thanks for the tip on mobility center. That was a new one for me.

I an not doing encoding. I run VMs and those take a lot.

Sent with love from my GS4

 

Ya, they list it on their download but once you search you get nothing, but they at least have the beta out and in the past, i can't say i have ever had any problems with NVIDIA beta drivers..
NVIDIA DRIVERS GeForce 337.50 Driver (BETA) BETA

 

Nvidia take time to add each mobile card, in the mean time you can just modify the inf file.

 

i would take the memory review with a grain of salt considering it is coming from a memory maker. a review on another site for example for gaming, showed no difference between 1600 and 2100 and higher as the CPU simply could not use it.

 

The results are definitely real, since an independent review more or less corroborated the results.

As for whether the increases seen are meaningful, that's another story. Faster ram will do very little for gaming unless you're using iGPU. For the most part faster ram is just for number chasing. BUT if 1866 costs the same as 2133, I see no reason to get 1866 over 2133. If there's a price difference, it's up to the end user to decide whether the price premium is justified.

 

Yes there are certain applications that benefit but notice how close the 1866mhz is to getting all the gains.

 

I'm really interested in getting the 8278-S. I have sort of fallen in love with it. However, I am
worried about the audio quality. How do the speakers sound compared to other laptops?
More importantly, to me, how does the "Amplified Headphone Output" sound? Is it a
gimmick or does it actually sound pretty good?

It's the only reason why haven't bought one yet. I saw a couple of reviews putting down
the headphone output of some 2012 Sager models and I'm wondering if the quality has
been improved since then.

If everything sounds pretty decent then I'll be placing my order very shortly...just not with
32GB of RAM, lol. Though I bet 3ds Max would love that.

 

The sound is good with headphones as long as you install the SoundBlaster X-Fi software (installed when it is built and you get the software on a disk). The speaker are OK. I mean, it's a laptop. I don't know of any laptop that will blow you out of the room with quarter sized speakers.

 

Yeah the X-Fi software really makes a difference to the sound. Make sure you choose "built-in speakers" in the advanced settings tab or the sound will come out muffled.

 

Very good. Thanks for the information. I'll be placing my order later this week.

 

Just signing in! I bought one from XMG and I'm very happy with it!

XMG version: XMG P704

 

Hi owners of the p177 or p170, I want to join you guys in owning either of these wonderful laptops. I have narrowed down to either the NP8278 and NP8298. The 98 is 50 dollars more then the 78. My question is which one have better cooling or the both the same? How is the keyboard on both of them? and is the 98 worth the 50 dollars more for the lights? Mainly i need to know which one cools better since i want to game. Thank You.

 

There is a very marginal difference in cooling, I wouldn't worry about it. In addition to the lights, The 8258 will also sport a second SATA bay used for SSD drives on top of the mSATA and primary SATA bay.

 

So i have customized a laptop from you guys. My question is I decided not to get a windows and try to use my old one instead. I will also be buying an SSD from another place. Will all the drivers be installed already on the harddrive so then i can just clone to my ssd.

 

Can't install the drivers without an OS on there to install them with. It'll come with the disk though and you'd just want to install those after you get your Windows version installed.

 

If possible download the latest from the website anyway.

 

Hello can anybody help me with this issue?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/752259-clevo-p170sm-ram-compatibility.html

 

No need to cross link threads, unless you want to annoy the mods

 

P17xSM- A user your Prema Mod BIOS has come:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...18-prema-bios-mod-review-148.html#post9665307

 

I did some browsing after I bought my P170SM-A from XoticPC in regards to getting it to run an external monitor at 120hz with optimus, as I have a BenQ 2420TE. Much to my dismay my DP to DVI active adapter (which works for my desktop 7970) didn't work. I decided to try a DP to DP from Amazon for $10 and sure enough...



Mine is the 4810MQ and 870m and I am loving it!

 

Hello! Little question: Has anybody one with the UK-Layout? because i have seen the german one and its practically the US keyboard, and i wanted to know if the UK keyboard is better...

 

Hello folks. Just want to say thanks for all the information here. I just literally placed my order to Xotic for a 8278-4810-880m with 72% matte screen. I am a gamer and budding photographer and am really excited to have such a nice, bleeding edge machine to replace my Aspire 5560g-7809. Its incredible that I can still play BF4 with a A6 3420m and 7670m but I have outgrown it.

 

Congrats! Let Hutsady or I know if you need any help.

 

Okay, after one.de saying they won't put other keyboards in it i have other questions:
1. Can I use all 3 sound-outputs for the same stereo (e.g. sharing music with friends)?
2. Is the Kensington-Lock just made from plastic?!
3. Can I enable/disable all virtualisation technologies of the i7-4810MQ in BIOS?
4. Is the fingerprint-reader any good?
5. Are the logos on your notebooks just stickers or fixed?

 

You want to output 3.5mm internal and something else at the same time?

Only an unlocked bios can change that.
It works pretty well from my experience.

 

I want to use all audio outputs at the same time for the same signal, like a splitter, instead of 7.1 output

 

You can't set it up as 2, 3 or 4 separate duplicate channels in the drivers. Maybe software could though theoretically.

 

Beginning to seriously consider buying the Sager NP8278-S (P170SM-A). In the last few pages, I've noticed some talk about having to update the BIOS in order to get everything to work with the 800M series cards. Does that really need to be done? I suppose it's not a huge deal, but I'm the worrying type, and I'd be concerned about bricking a brand new laptop. xD

 

It's not required in the least. Purely an option available but as you said does carry risk with it. The machine works just fine as it comes to you.

 

i haven't felt the need to do it with mine yet, granted I am only playing Wildstar but I truly love this laptop.

 

A flash is only required if you intend to overclock the gpu.

 

Finally a proud owner of an p170sm-a and have some questions:
1. My fans never really stop, is that normal? something wrong with the thermal paste?
2. How the hell can i enable VT-x and VT-d in BIOS. I mean the bios is totally crap...

Thanks mates!

 

The fans typically always spin, even if low RPM during idle, they never stop.
The BIOS is pretty limited

 

Does anybody know if the CPU heatsink is available as a part in Europe or what part-number it has?
Also has anybody used 4930mx or 4940mx and could tell what kind of difference the 10W increase in TDP has to temperatures and fan noise.

 

It has a bit of an increase though you usually need a specific reason to get the extreme cpus.