**Official Clevo W24AEU / Sager NP2240 Owner's Lounge**

This Thread Will Open At 12:01am.

 

Fail

I don't understand what this laptop is...

No GPU, 720p screen...it's almost as if it mocks us.

We built an 11" laptop with a 650m, and a 15" with a 675m, but heaven forbid you would want some sort of Goldilocks-like middle ground!!!

 

These are simple cheap business grade laptops. Remember that Clevo as a company designs and builds many many more of these types of laptops than the P series

 

I know...but they could have had a serious M14x contender on their hands.

It's clear they were trying to take on the M11x this round, why not attack both?

 

My thoughts exactly. An in between would have been ideal for me and I would've bought it hands down without looking back.

 

For all we know, Clevo could be testing to waters to see if there is even a market for a 14-inch laptop.

My own opinion, and with no bearing and in no way the opinion of my company, is there really much of a market for a 14-inch when what seems to be the most common for middle ground is a 15-inch?

I guess we will have to wait and see if it proves to be something.

 

But I - a person who would have easily bought a 14" 900p laptop with a dedicated GPU - will not be buying this 14" 720p laptop with no GPU.

How will they realize there is a market if the people most interested in it don't buy it...?

 

It is possible to upgrade the display in this laptop to achieve better resolution? Also is there any news as to the expected battery life of the laptop?

 

If it had a dedicated gpu, my god, i would've picked one up instantly too. :/

 

I'm considering picking this one up for the wifey. I would expect more information about battery to be released when IB hits. Since it will include the new 4000 gpu. I just would like to see a screen upgrade option.

 

I understand that this is a new model but I find it odd that there are no reviews for this model at all. Like none. Even the System 76 linux flavor... for the open source hippies.

Well I bought one for work from XoticPC a week ago and when it arrives you all can expect an exhaustive review... or at least an un-boxing and "initial thoughs" video on the the YouTubes.

 

I look forward to it. Was planning on getting this for on the go use myself but want to see if it's worth its price.

 

If you look at prices you're only saving about $100 by opting for the bottom of the barrel. For that you get a very poor screen with no option to upgrade, Intel graphics only, and lotsa corners cut everyplace. With the cheaper laptops most of the price is in the cpu and hd so the savings are from quality compromises. Buying components used is a far better way to shave money off a purchase imo.

 

Well it's been two weeks and no sign of the 2240 yet. Hopefully this week.

This machine should offer plenty of horsepower for use at work:
-Microsoft RDC
-Light CAD work
-Crestron/RTI/Extron/Gefffen programing
-Obligatory email and internet use

The SSD and fast RAM should make this thing very usable.

I cant wait.

 

I'm stricken with the unfortunate luxury of living in California. Unfortunate on account of our sales tax. So the laptop, which stated at the Sager facility on southern California (which I know to be a [2] day UPS ground trip) set off to XoticPC's Nebraska facility to avoid sales tax in California. [4] days there and [4] days back, adding 8 days to the arrival time. (a common complaint that I have observed with other customers of XoticPC

Is it worth saving almost $70 to add the additional week worth of wait time?

I had a budget of $800 to buy computer for work, so the way I outfitted the machine I bought cost $827. (upgraded to the Ivy Bridge Core i5 and Win7 Pro) I wasn't to too afraid to put in the extra $30 which was essentially the price of shipping. What I didn't want to do was spend $100 of my own money. Had I wanted to do that I would have upgraded to the Core i7. (sigh)

So here I wait. Coming up on weak three since I placed the order, waiting impatiently.

<rant/>

 

Did you finally get it? Any reviews please? I am planning to buy this and could not find decent review and youtube video for this model...can't believe...Thanks in advance!!!

 

Does anyone else own this machine? I'm thinking of building one up for my wife... I'm curious to know more about its battery life, weight, keyboard feel, etc...

 

I finally received the Laptop!

Three weeks in waiting and it arrived. XoticPC has a very strict and rigid billing and purchase-funding process. Any deviation from this will (in my experience) lead to processing delays. NOW my review.

The Specifications (stock form)
Core i5 (2.5 Ghz)
4 GB (1600 Mhz) RAM
500 GB 7200 RPM hard drive
8x DVD/RW
Windows 7 Professional

I've been working solely with this machine for the last two solid weeks and summed up thus far is, "it's 'aight". Having only worked with Apple MacBook Pros and Lenovo ThinkPads before, the bar for build quality and performance is set extremely high.

I've never purchased a Sager branded product before so my all my preconceptions came from reviews of other Sager products and the YouTubes. When I held the laptop for the first time, out of the box, it was clear that this is an entry-level/budget-class machine.

The build quality of the NP2240 is decent. It's all plastic construction makes the laptop feel... (how to put this...) "less premium". It's clear that the plastic case is trying to mimic the brushed aluminum cases of more premium laptops. The top case (display housing) does have some flex, but that's to be expected at this price point. Also, the faux aluminum finish scratches very easily. Just slipping it in and out of the laptop sleeve in my backpack has left a few small but noticeable scratches on the the exterior of the display housing.
The bezel around the display is glossy black plastic, inherently a fingerprint/dust/animal hair magnet. My boss left a nice greasy fingerprint on the bezel of mine which I didn't clean off for a few days and when I did, there were little pin-point divots where the finger print was. Permanent damage I suspect... and don't wipe the glossy finish with anything less soft than a microfiber cloth or scratching will assuredly occur. The display hinges are good and tight, but I expect them to loosen up and become less good over time.
The palm rest and keyboard surround are the same faux brushed aluminum material as the display cover. Thus far it's been very comfortable to type on.
The keyboard is fantastic. As I mentioned before all my previous experience is with newer apple laptops which employ very good keyboards and ThinkPads which have excellent keyboards. This combination standard/island style keys works well. The track pad is a different story entirely. I hate it with a fiery passion. The Synaptics branded software fight mercilessly with the Windows driver so out of the box the thing was near impossible to use. I ended up just turning the Synaptics software off and now carry a USB mouse around in my backpack.
The only display option on this model was a 14' glossy LED LCD with a 1366x768 resolution. It's usable, but not great. I use the laptop outdoors often at work and despite what people have told me, matte is the way to go if you're ever going to use this machine anywhere outside of the office/home. I would have gladly paid $100 out of pocket for a matte display upgrade. (Have the same complaint with my MacBook Pro.) Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics are the only option on this laptop. I don't run anything more intense than 2D CAD and Crestron programming software. It does well at that so I don't mind. If I had the option to upgrade, I probably would have.
The battery life is a huge gripe of mine. XoticPC claims a battery life of 4-5 hrs with the included 6-cell battery pack. I've seen 2.5 to 3.5 depending on my tasks. If I can find a 9-cell battery for this model, I would purchase one down the road.

It's a pretty good decently priced home/office windows laptop.
That's my opinion thus far.

I almost immediately upgraded the RAM to 8 GB. The hard drive will be next. I'll be purchasing a 240GB SSD for this machine and will be moving the standard 500 GB to the optical drive bay. A nice option in my opinion.

Thanks guys.

EC

 

Thanks for the review. Food for thought. Nothing really disqualifies it for my wife, the glossy bezel does sound annoying, though. Right now she's got a shiny black HPand boy does it get grimed up with fingerprints, mostly from our daughter but messy looking still.

 

So I've had a while to work with the Sager NP2240. I'm losing my faith in Clevo and Sager. It's true that this is an "entry level" laptop, but the quality and construction are awful. The display has a lot of flex which is very worry some as I use this portable computer as... well, a portable computer. I constantly worry about bumping it into anything when it's in my backpack. When the laptop is closed and I apply the slightest pressure to it, it flexes a lot. The keyboard is really flexy as well. I'm not a keyboard-pounder by any stretch, but when I touch type, I can see the upper left corner of the keyboard lifting in it's tray. The trackpad is still a nuisance, and the buttons feel and sound cheap.
The wireless network connection is riotously bad. I can be 12 feet from the router and the signal will drop. (I checked the router with other computers and mobile devices) The function keys to adjust volume and brightness seldom work. When they do, the transitions are jerky and exaggerated. The sleep function works very well. It's getting the unit to wake up that is the issue. I've used the "sleep" keyboard shortcut a hand full of times and the computer has require a hard restart each time. Perhaps these are driver issues?
The display is pretty bad as well. It's color reproduction is a joke. I suppose this is why xoticPC offers color calibration with all of the computers they sell. A good viewing angle is also hard to manage. Too far open and the screen washes out. To far closed and colors invert. I should have carry a protractor around to find the "perfect 130 degree viewing angle" all the time now. The camera is also pretty much useless. (In this case the computer may not be to blame. Maybe I'm just spoiled having use fancy Logitec 720p webcams in the past.)
I had high hopes for the Clevo NP2240. I assumed (wrongly I imagine) that as an "entry level gaming PC" that it would be worth the premium that it cost and well reasoned straying from the IBM/Lenovo/Apple laptops that I've been loyal to in the past.
It was a bad plan.

 

Surprises me that you expected anything of the sort and I do hate to say I told you so. What did you figure from a $650 laptop where the processor is a third of the cost? Don't know what you mean by premium either. An HD 4000 laptop from Lenovo or Apple with a good screen'll push you over $1000 easy.

 

I drank the kool-aid and believed that Sager was a premium brand.

I guess I misjudged the Sager name brand. I read/saw nothing but good things about them. xoticPC made it seem like Sager was the brand to have, but I guess they're paid to say that. It didn't cost $650, more in the area of $800.

 

Right well the i7 would have got it higher... with any laptop manufacturer the low end is pretty bad. Goes for MSI, Lenovo, Asus, etc etc. One problem with purchasing a Clevo on a budget is that there's no way to break into the high end. With other companies you can try refurbished (see refurb.me for example) or camp Amazon and Newegg for deals. Too late to return I guess? Woud lose about $40 in shipping I think.

 

Hey guys,

I am seriously considering one of these laptops. To mainly run linux and process MRI datasets. I have 3 questions.

1. Why can I not find any reviews?

2. How big is the ac adaptor?

3. With 16GB of ram, the i7, and 2 x HDD what kind of battery life should I be expecting?

Thank you in advance

Phad.