**Official Sager NP5160 / Clevo W150HNQ Owners' Lounge**

Yeah, basically seeing how fast your SSD is going using some program (AS SSD, atto, etc), which can increase the wear on the drive. Someone else can explain it better than me, but really its mostly for ego stroking these days.

Essentially, they are comparing how much faster than instant they are then the other guy .

 

How long is the normal turnaround time from ordering to arrival at your home?

 

I got a phone call today from Xotic to confirm my order. They said about 9 biz days for Sager, 3-4 days for delivery to their location and then 3-4 days for it to come back to me....soooo I'm guessing at least 3 weeks.

 

I just pulled the trigger. There's no coming back now.

Mine's suposed to arrive until April 20th.

 

Argh, I am struggling between the np5160 and the Dell XPS 17!

The way I have np5160 config'd is:
-15.6 in screen
-8GB RAM
-i7 2630QM
-gt 540m
-500GB HDD
-no OS included
-no HD webcam
-Xotic PC parts & labor

Cost: $909 (excluding taxes and shipping)

The way I have XPS 17 config'd is:
-17.3 in screen
-8GB RAM
-i7 2630QM
-gt 550m
-1TBGB HDD
-Win7 home prem. included + bloatware >__<
-HD webcam
-super basic dell service plan

Cost: $914 (excluding taxes and shipping)

Pros for NP5160:
1.possibly better build quality
2.chicklet styled keyboard for better egonomics
3.better service plan with xotic than dell

Pros for XPS 17:
1.better GPU
2.double the HDD for relativly same price
3.has HD webcam
4.includes OS for relativly same price

For 14 more dollars I am getting a better GPU, double the HDD, an HD camera, bigger screen, louder speakers, crappy service, crappy service and crappy service.

I am having trouble deciding

 

I am in another country, Hawaii LOL j/k, and it seems shipping is always an issue. I know they have UPS ground, so I will try it.

 

I would go with sager just for the #3.better service plan with xotic than dell, dell has really bad customer service nowadays, I speak from personal experience

 

ya know, I honestly just want something that will last me 5 years or so while allowing me to do moderate gaming. Is it really so hard to find something like that? I am thinking of just getting the sager even if the GPU and HDD are inferior to the XPS 17. sigh

 

IMO, the main advantage you could get with XPS is a better sound system...

I don't expect for its GPU to beat Sagers by far. It will not make any miracle.

And HDD is just the most simple thing to upgrade. Get a nice SSD someday during these 5 years

 

Don't forget the Dell has much better screens, if you go for the RGB LED one.

Mr. Mysterious

 

I had the same struggle with the Dell Alienware m11x several months ago. I was about to order it but found out the nightmare of a hinge problem it has chronically. Needless to say, Dell gave me hell on cancelling my order.

Same shabang here. I am unsure about the XPS's reliability. It doesn't matter if Dell can offer me the best GPU, Best SSD, best everything in the world. If it breaks in a matter of a year or two then all that is meaningless, don't you think?

How is the reliability anyway?

 

Hey guys,
I have quite simple question about NP5160, but I was unable to get it from Xotic so far, so maybe someone here that owns one of those machines can help me. I'm interested in the weight of the power supply unit - how big and bulky is it? I really like the specs of the machine, and I'm about to pull the trigger on it, but if I will have to carry a brick around just to keep it on it's a big turn down. Can anyone weight it, post a picture of power supply, share opinions. Also, any comments on battery life with basic office / wifi use, and gaming ?
thanks!

 

You won't have to worry about the power brick if you're going to use the laptop for four hours or less. I haven't used the machine, but I'd guess that a conservative estimate would be about 5 hours on the IGP.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Have reached Phase 2. Woot!

 

as far as the brick is concerned, its...average?
its about 5 in x 2 in x 1.25 in
i'm not sure about the weight, but about as much as a shoe?
probably more
all in all, nothing objectionable about it, other than getting hot, but what power brick doesn't get hot
I was playing black ops earlier, but forgot to have speed fan running, but qualitatively, the computer gets pretty hot.
the left side gets warm, especially where your left wrist rests.
Ill get speed fan going next time

 

This is not necessarily true because some of the Sager vendors offer a very good 95% color gamut FHD matte screen as an upgrade. its the same exact screen that is offered in the Thinkpad W series.

 

You're right...but it's a very expensive upgrade, quite similar to what Dell charges for their screens. I just assumed that we were talking about the stock configuration for the 5160...

Plus, no one really needs that level of color accuracy except for photographers and video editors. Those people would benefit from buying workstations with professional-level GFX, which the 540M really can't quite keep up with.

Mr. Mysterious

 

The only pros that would need better than a 540m are those that render in 3D as a job and CAD pros. Video, photographers, designers, etc rarely need anything more than an IGP

 

Not sure about what you're saying here. SSDs these days are very resilient to usage and their MTBF is over a million hours http://www.crucial.com/pdf/Datasheets-letter_C300_RealSSD_v2-5-10_online.pdf

As long as the drive is trimming properly you shouldn't have a noticeable wear from a few benchmarks. Or a week of benchmarks.

 

I think it's safe to say that the Notebook Review audience is the type to generally retire equipment before it catches fire. By the time the things start failing, the computers they're attached to will look like Pentium IIIs do today. Worse comes to worst, unless you fail to power on the drive for a decade, it's not like the data disappears. You just can't write anymore.

 

could you possibly post a photo of laptop with the power supply by the side. I tried to reach xotic customer service, searched forums and documentation, but physical specs of power supply are absolutely mysterious. I just want to make sure it's more in the line of new reasonably small dell power supplies rather than old "generic brand" power supplies that weight almost as much as the laptop they powered.

 

Is NP5160 cools good?

 

oh theres no doubt they are much better for "common" users these days. the older ones needed countless tweaks to extend their life, but new gens are pretty much plug and play.

but constant benchmarking will still eat through erase cycles, and pretty quickly, as well as filling up the drive, which can lead to performance issues.

im pretty much reading from:
Guide How it is very easy to cause severe issues with a brand new SandForce based ssd drive

i am by no means an expert how this stuff works! but after seeing a friend of mine try to defragment an ssd, i like to spread awareness .

 

I'm looking forward to upgrade for a SSD when it feels like. Now, for me, it's just too expensive for such low capacities. I still like to carry a lot of stuff on my notebook, as well as running two or three different OS. And I wouldn't give up on the optical drive, the notebook is supposed to be my leisure center (yeah, I don't even have a TV ).

 

Hi,
I was really on the edge for this laptop and wanted to know how the speakers are on this laptop compared to other similar models like the dell xps series, are they "tinny" or are they pretty good for what you are paying for, please give your opinions! thanks

 

Chinnygamer, the speakers on this laptop are much better than the category average, but not as good as the Dell XPS' speakers.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Are they?
I've read such bad impressions... but that's always a matter of comparing to what!

I would like to see the opinions from our fellows here who already got their hands (and ears!) on the NP5160

But I don't think the sound system would be a deal breaker, even though I'm really an audiophile. I would rather go for an external sound system that suites me or some good headphones for mobility.

 

with the speakers being at the bottom I wouldnt expect much.Get some good headphones...

 

so has anyone been able to get 4+ hours with internet surfing and such? I've been only able to get 3.5 hours out of my machine. Notebookcheck did only get 3.5 hours but I'm sure there are ways to stretch it out. Oddly enough dimming the display doesn't seem to make a huge difference. The only thing I can think of is getting a SSD but I don't have the money to spend on that right now.

 

Enabling power saving profile for the processor and avoiding the dGPU to activate?

 

So here is speed fan during the end of one of the missions in black ops.
at halfway the next mission started, which is why temps dropped

so yeah, this baby gets pretty hot
I dread to think what temps would be like with stock thermal compound

i'll get a pic of my brick as soon as i can get my hands on a camera

 

I honestly don't think the temperatures are supposed to get that hot....is the fan kicking in? Is the notebook well ventilated?

Mr. Mysterious

 

Nice, thanks Cocci!!

Do you happen to know at which frequencies the processor was working while in that high temperature?

I think that those SB processors tend to work at their limit (which seems to be T = 90 ºC) and therefore they will manipulate its frequencies in order to keep up the performance (and high temps!). If that's correct, maybe if there's some worse thermal compound (being able to dissipate less heat) it will achieve those same temps but then with lower frequencies...

At least that's my theory to justify almost all SB notebook reaching those same temperatures (within certain accuracy, of course).

 

that actually looks about right, i get similar temps with sc2, though the CPU is a little bit cooler than that for me

 

Wow after seeing those temps i think i might hold back been reading a lot about the NP5160 and i was ready to pull the trigger but when i saw 90C temps I might back down at the moment

 

They are quite common, as far as I've seen data from other notebooks. Seems like a normal thing for those who share the same heat sink for the CPU and GPU.

The Sager 8##0 series should be able to handle better temps, since it has two independent heat sinks and fans.

 

Hmm, <4 hours seems a bit disappointing for an Optimus enabled laptop. That means the 2630 with its onboard and the extras draw up to 20W

 

I am curious to see if anyone who got an i5 for the 5160 would step in and give insight for their battery life.

Then again I could be expecting too much... heard the old i7 quads had <3 hours batter, maybe less...

 

What's the battery rating with the associated runtime? There are at least two batteries associated with this model: 48.84 Wh and 62.16 Wh. 3.5 hours runtime seems to correspond with the 48.84 Wh battery, as predicted here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...levo-w150hnq-owners-lounge-2.html#post7294530

 

The 5160 has the 62.16 Wh battery. Battery Monitor and the physical packaging both say it's 62.16 Wh.

My expectations for battery life were based on anandtech's review on Sandy Bridge:

Intel?s Sandy Bridge i7-2820QM: Upheaval in the Mobile Landscape - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

If you see the numbers you can understand why I'm a little disappointed. Look at the Clevo 5130m, for example. I should be getting more than that at least.

 

Certainly understandable. By those numbers, excepting 300 minutes doesn't seem extreme at all, let alone 240.

 

What if we're being lied to about the battery life >_>

Just sayin'

With a 71Whr battery those laptops seemingly get 5-6 hours of life even browsing online.

 

Phase...3!! Custom skinning

Now i'm worried about the heat and battery life. Moreso the heat. I can deal with 3.5hrs of battery but i was expecting more on the lines of 4-4.5

 

If battery is so low then why not just go for the 8130/8150 models and atleast get some awesome temps and more frames? Cause im really evaluating again, i mean the speakers are much better on the 8130-8150 shells, (i know, I like my speakers ), this is gonna be for uni, so it has to be able to stand up to everything, and for atleast the next 4 years, any suggestions?

 

o ya wat do you guys think, will i actually need a battery with 3.5hrs+ for uni, or should i just go for power wise?

 

Well...price is one thing.

And you do get better battery with the 5160 then with those. These temps...sigh. I'll only be playing SC, and not even that often. But that breaks my heart. Maybe i'll just invest in a cooler and call it a day

 

Is the heat really that big of a deal, or is it just something to expect from the new Sandy Bridge CPU?

 

Seemingly it's common with SB on smaller laptops. I wouldn't be too worried, even on super heavy load like Prime it seems to level off at ~90C when the ceiling is 100C. A bit close for my tastes but it should be okay as long as you don't obstruct the airflow badly. I'll probably keep this thing until Fusion generation 2 comes out in 2012/13 and sell it and get one of those. AMD's Fusion seems REALLY promising.

 

Ah im totally getting this new intel 320 SSD

 

What is the temperature of cpu and gpu if its run with 1366x768 pixel while idle and run under heavy load or playing games?