**Official Sager NP5170 / Clevo W170HN Owners' Lounge**

But i also need the optical drive so don't want to give it up for a 2nd HDD.

How often do you use an optical drive? I bet its not nearly as often as you would use a second HDD if you have a smaller SSD as your primary drive. A small lightweight external drive only costs about $50.

Get an 80 or 120 GB SSD and a second 640 GB HDD for the optical bay. Then just connect the external optical drive when you need it.

 

You are right, I only need to use the optical drive rarely but will need a HDD all the time. It makes sense to use the optical bay for a 2nd HDD in this case.

 

Did anyone get theirs yet? I've been waiting for some first hand accounts before I meet with Xotic to check out this in person. I've been lurking on the 5160 thread, since it seems pretty similar to the 5170, and there are several people who have theirs already. I assume it should be any day now for these as well?

 

Not to put anyone down...but I don't understand the advantages the 5170 has over the 5160. Other than the extra screen space and bigger chassis, it's pretty much the same thing, isn't it?

Mr. Mysterious

 

I'll be honest, I'm equally curious why there aren't more people interested in the NP5170 - as you said, it's basically the same with a larger screen! I feel like the 1920x1080 resolution might be a bit much on a 15.6" screen, and if you're using it as a desktop replacement (which I intend to) then a bigger screen's almost always going to be better, isn't it?

Not that I haven't frequently debated between the two computers, and I still haven't decided for sure. The heat/noise complaints about the NP5160 are concerning, and I'm kind of hoping the NP5170 doesn't have those problems at all, that would make the choice easy! But it seems unlikely.

 

Oh yeah, that's right...I forgot that the bigger chassis might mean better cooling. I guess it never occurred to me that a bigger screen would be better because to me, it's all about portability. That, plus I will be hooking my laptop up to a 24" LCD screen, so I don't have to worry about screen size as much as I want the resolution.

Mr. Mysterious

 

It will be interesting to see the thermals from this machine since it is actually larger.

 

Screen real estate is a big must for me. I work on two 20" 1600x1200 screens at work, so when I go home to my current 1200x960 screen it really sucks. I usually have quite a few program windows open, so the more screen space the better. Plus my current machine is already 17" so I am accustomed to this size already.

Funny thing is I originally bought a 17" for the number key pad (4 years ago a num pad was not very standard), but now I don't want to go smaller. Mine's mostly used on my couch, but is essentially desktop replacement so portability is not a big concern. My Targus bag isn't too bulky for me when I do bring it with me anyway.

I'm interested in the thermals and noise compared to the 5160 too. Hopefully it's a big difference.

 

My friends, where can I take a look at high-res photos of this machine? Or any videos are welcome.

 

Not high rez but...

Sager NP5170 Custom Laptop (Built on the Clevo W170HN)

it's better than nothing! I'm sure you can find better pictures if you look around

Mr. Mysterious

 

What else is out there in the 17" size that will compete with this? I'd like to do some comparing. I'm only seeing the new XPS and maybe an HP (not an HP fan) that has similar specs. You would think as the new processors come out there would be a flood of models. Maybe it's just too early still?

 

Alright, I've gone ahead and summed up the 17" Sandy Bridge i7 laptops I was able to find. My main source of info is Laptoping.com, so I included links to their posts and to the actual purchase site, where possible:

$1029.99 Acer Aspire AS7750G, Jan. 6 2011 Laptoping No idea where to buy it??
$TBA Asus K73SV & K73E, Release TBA Laptoping
$TBA Asus G74SX 3D, Release TBA Laptoping
$1849 Asus G73SW-A1, Jan. 12 2011 Laptoping XoticPC
$1195 Asus N73SV-A1, Jan. 14 2011? XoticPC
$1499.00 Dell Alienware M17x R3, Jan. 11 2011 Laptoping Dell Store
$579.99 Dell Inspiron 17R, "Available in the coming months" Laptoping
$899.99 Dell XPS 17 L702x, Refreshed Feb. 22 2011 Laptoping Dell Store
$1099.99 HP dv7t Quad Edition, Jan. 10 2011, Remodeled Mar. 13 2011 Laptoping HP Shopping
$1299.99 HP ENVY 17, Available now HP Shopping
$1599.99 HP ENVY 17 3D, Updated to SB Mar. 2 2011 Laptoping HP Shopping
$2499 MacBook Pro 17", Feb. 24 2011 Laptoping Apple Store

Of the lot of them, I find the Asus N73SV-A1 most appealing (after the Sager NP5170 of course!), though forums suggest it's rather problematic. You can find its NotebookReview thread here (it's technically for the N73JQ, but seems to be used for all): http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-reviews-owners-lounges/524616-asus-n73jq-owners-lounge-87.html.

Good luck deciding!

 

Sager's website now has the NP5170 Backordered Late March ship date from the original Mid March ship date. Not really surprising since the NP5160 was shipping to customers and this model wasn't.

 

I got mine. Will post some photos and more impressions soon. Meanwhile, how should I go about checking the CPU and GPU temps? Is there somewhere in Windows 7 I can check that or should I download a utility for that.

Initial impressions are that it is lightweight for its size and quiet. This is my first lappy with the chicklet style keys. As everyone knows, there is wasted space on both sides of the keyboard, because this is the same keyboard for the 15 inch model (5160). They will take some getting used to. There is an actual VGA button. Is that for manually switching off the GPU to use the IGP? I will have to figure that out.

Whatever the initial drivers for the video were that Xotic installed, flash player was not working right (crashing on fullscreen). For now I turned off hardware acceleration in the flash player settings and that lets me play flash movies fullscreen without crashing the thing. I noticed the first boot out of the box it said windows did not shut down normally the previous time, but that is not too concerning.

I loaded SC2 and played a few games on high setting. I did not actually check the FPS (how do I do that exactly?), but it seemed to play quite smoothly. I turned the settings up to Ultra just to see how it would look. Things just looked more glowy and textured. I presume I would get very bad FPS on Ultra in a multiplayer game, but I only tried it out single player vs. AI. I played multiplayer 2v2 on high settings and it was fine. Fan noise was not noticeable during SC2, but then again a herd of elephants marching through the room could easily escape my attention when I am engrossed in a game.

The glossy screen was pretty typical. If you let it bother you, yes you can see your reflection in it. The glare/reflections were not at all an issue or distraction for SC2 play or web browsing. The full HD large screen in general is excellent for viewing videos and pictures and playing games. As good as any laptop screen I have ever seen.

 

Thank you for the review! That's reassuring that you weren't getting any noticeable heat or noisiness so far.

From the NP5160 thread, it seems people are using CPUID HWMonitor - and for it to detect the 540M, you need to have something 3D running when you start HWMonitor (so that the 540M isn't disabled by Optimus when it starts up).

Yes, for manually switching off the 540M.

Ctrl+Alt+F. Some people also use FRAPS, but SC2's got that FPS reporter built-in.

Pretty sure it'll have the same FPS in multiplayer vs. single-player, maybe even better since your computer's not generating the computer AI? Don't quote me on that though.

Great! Looking forward to hearing more about it.

 

erisalit, thank you for your first impressions, but could you please take some pictures of it and post them here?

 

Thanks for the first impressions, erisalit. I'm glad your long wait is finally over. I look forward to your pics .

The glossy screen won't bother me, what I was wondering is how is the overall appearance of the screen, brightness with AC and on battery, contrast, black level, viewing angle? I'm trying to decide if the 90% glossy is worth the upgrade. Also, I'm not sure how you check this, can you see what the part number is for the screen?

In regards to the GPU/IGP switch, I wonder if it's a toggle on/off or just to disable the 540M? A toggle would be best, that is if the Optimus can't figure out what you need correctly.

 

From the Sager product description, it describes:

• Independent GPU button, support UMA and Optimus mode

That suggests it simply disables the 540M. This post supports that: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/555812-sager-clevo-questions.html#post7173576.

 

That's what I thought. Oh well, hopefully the Optimus works well enough we don't even need the button

 

erisalit, run prime95 for 10-15 min and furmark at the same time. use the HWMonitor to check temps while running. if they get to 100C in that time, just shut off the tests right then.

 

OK, I put my order in for one of these puppies!

Sager NP5170 Custom Built Gaming Laptops
17.3" FULL HD (1920X1080) LED LCD w/nVIDIA GeForce® GT 540M w/1GB GDDR3 - nVIDIA Optimus Switchable Graphics
Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM (2.0~2.9GHz, 45W) w/6M L3 Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
8GB (2 SODIMMS) DDR3/1333 Dual Channel Memory (Only available with QM Processors)
120GB Intel® X25-M SATA Solid-State Drive
320GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200RPM Hard Drive in ODD Bay
No Optical Drive (Getting HDD for ODD Bay)
External USB Dual Layer SuperMulti DVDRW/CDRW Drive
4-in-1 Memory Card Reader (MS/MS PRO/SD/MMC)
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6230 802.11a/b/g/n wireless LAN + Bluetooth™ Combo Card
6-cell Smart Li-ion Battery (62.16Wh)
Windows 7 Premium - (64-Bit installed - 64 and 32-bit CD included)
Full Range Auto Switching AC Adapter
Standard Carrying Case
3-Year Parts & Labor, Lifetime Sager Toll Free Support

The only thing is before delivery I will switch out the 120GB X25-M for either the 120 or 160GB 320 Series SSD.

 

the vertical viewing angle is limited. it starts looking dimmer with pretty much any vertical adjustment, which is pretty typical of most laptop screens I have seen. side view starts to go dim pretty quickly too, but not quite as bad. Maybe 10 degrees of rotation from straight on before the screen looks dimmer.

The screen's overall appearance is really nice. I don't know how else to measure that for you. Brightness is plenty bright. It drops automatically to half as bright when you remove the cord, but you can adjust it back upwards and can probably disable the automatic dim when you go to battery.

Is there a utility you want me to download to test contrast and black level? I will try to get some photos up showing viewing angles.

I turned off scrolling and tap to click on the touchpad because it is annoyingly sensitive when I type. I don't see a button to disable the touchpad, which would be nice. Maybe one of the function keys does that.

I like the power cord connection. It seems durable, unlike my previous Sager that had an awful 4 pin power cord that was destined to die quickly. The power brick seems to be of modest size for a computer this big, adding to the portability factor. More impressions soon.

Ok so now that I am paying attention to it, while merely web browsing the fan came on and the noise of it was noticeable. but it did not stay on long and was not too loud. The speakers on this thing are on the underside near the front. The sound volume at max is not very loud at all. On a scale from crappy to normal to excellent for laptops, the sound on this thing is quite crappy.

there is very little keyboard flex on this thing, none while typing. I have to really press on the keys hard to cause any flex at all. may even try to post a video of that.

 

any special requests on the pictures? what specifically do you want to see? screen angles? keyboard flex? hinges?

 

gpu maxed out at 54 degrees C
cpu maxed out at 94 degrees C
with both furmark and prime95 running at the same time
i started up starcraft 2 to get hwmonitor to recognize the gpu but it didnt work, so I am reading the gpu temp off of furmark

the fan was cranking for sure. still not super loud but probably too loud to use in a classroom or library when it is working that hard, which should be nearly never. cpu temps hover around 40 degrees C when just browsing the web.

the left side of the keyboard got slightly warm during the test. this thing seems very cool compared to other gaming laptops I have used. I don't think anyone will be complaining about feeling the heat through the chassis.

by the way, it was not straightforward to shutdown furmark and prime95. I had to use task manager to fully shut them down, finding the processes that were still running even after I thought I had closed them fully.

 

Erisalit, congrats! What are the specs of your machine?

 

my system specs are:

1 x Sager NP5170 / Clevo W170HN Pre Order () = $1,179.00
Xotic Gear No Xotic PC Gear
Warranty 3 Year Labor 1 Year Parts, Lifetime Sager Toll Free Tech Support
Software Bundle (Not Installed) No Software Bundle
Microsoft Office Software No Office Software
Operating System ~Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's + Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included with OS Purchase
Notebook Cooler No Notebook Cooler
Mouse / Keyboard Accessories No External Keyboard or Mouse
Fingerprint Reader No Fingerprint Reader
Port Replicator / Dock / Adapters No Dock/Hub/Adapter
Spare AC Adapter None Standard*
Car Adapter No Car Adapter
Battery NO Spare Battery
Case Basic Black Business Case - Included
Sound Card Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
TV Tuner No TV Tuner
Camera Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
Wireless Network Accessories No Network Accessory
Wireless Network Intel® Advanced-N 6230 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module + Blueooth
Bluetooth Internal Bluetooth + EDR
Memory Card Reader Internal 3-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS)
Floppy Drive No Floppy Drive
Back Up Software No Back Up Software
External Hard Drive (Back Up) No Back Up Hard Drive
Additional Hard Drive in Optical Drive Bay No Additional Hard Drive in ODD Bay - When Selecting, The Hard Drive is sent in Optical Bay Caddy that will need Bezel Replaced from Optical Drive (When in use Optical Drive Must be Removed)
Primary Hard Drive ~ 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA II 300 - 32MB Cache)
Optical Drive ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
Exterior Finish Standard Finish
Ram ~ 8,192MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS)- Special
External Display Video Adapters No Video Adapter
Graphics Video Card nVidia GT 540M 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR3 DX11 with Optimus™ Technology
Thermal Compound - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
Display 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Screen (1920x1080)-
Dead Pixel Warranty Standard Dead Pixel Policy
Processor - 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)

 

for starcraft 2, 4v4 multiplayer (me and 7 AI players), the max temps on the CPU ranged from 56 to 59 degrees C. Not too bad. However, I am not convinced all the stuff that was running from furmark and prime95 are really fully shutdown. My settings were on medium. Yesterday I played 2v2 and it was fluid. The 4v4 on MEDIUM settings was in the single digits for FPS?! It was unplayable 4v4 once the players started making lots of units. I'm going to reboot and see if it is that bad after everything really does shut down.

 

hmm, seems like the bigger machine doesn't make a difference for temps. oh well, seems like this is a common trend with sbridge machines.

is the case pretty hot to the touch on the outside?

 

the case is not at all hot to touch on the outside

I realized yesterday I must have been playing at 1280x720 resolution rather than full hd. This computer with the 540M cannot play SC2 at full hd resolution with reasonable FPS, not even on LOW settings for the graphics. There seems little point in marrying such a high res screen with the 540M if you plan to play current games with it. This is very disappointing. I may even have to return it.

 

hmm, that should not be the case. i run full HD on medium with 512MB textures and play zealot frenzy fine (which you know stresses the game really bad). It almost seems like you are using the Intel graphics somehow instead of the nVidia chip. Did you accidentally hit the VGA button? It should be orange (which is Optimus mode). And when SC2 is running, the 2nd light to the right of the VGA button should be on and colored orange.

 

oh wow no I thought green was for Optimus on. now I feel stupid. if all else fails read the instructions! it was on my to do list to find out which color of that meant what, but I hadn't gotten to that yet. no wonder the gpu was not coming up on hwmonitor, even with SC2 running. thanks man. I will check SC2 fps again now with Optimus enabled and post the results.

 

ok on high setting SC2 was playable at fhd resolution. minimum fps in a 4v4 (me and 7 AI) game was 31 fps. max temps were 90 C on the CPU and 89 C on the GPU. I will test it on a stand and see if I get lower temps. I played on a flat hard surface.

 

Just few photos from different angles to get overall impression of laptops body and build quality. I don't like photos of any electronic device made by manufacturer, because they look too shiny and pretty as usual... Unnaturally!

 

Thanks for testing erisalit! 31fps on high settings at FHD doesn't sound that bad at all. I'm pretty impressed with that little 540m.

And yeah, it looks like the majority of SB temps seem to be a bit high on most laptops. Hopefully they won't have any major effect on longevity.

 

Thanks for that summary. I configured the new XPS 17 vs. 5170 and the 5170 was only 130 bucks more. So I think based on a small price difference that I'll probably try the Sager this time. I'm still surprised how many on the list aren't 1080.

Good to see people are starting to get them now.

 

I'm replacing my XPS 15, which is exactly 2 years old, with the NP5170. I really don't have any complaints with the Dell other than all the bloatware that comes with it. Although when I priced a similar XPS 17, it came out a little more than the Sager.

 

Macbook with same specs - $2500. (Significantly) More than twice the price of this Sager. I cannot believe people buy Apple products when they get so blatantly ripped off.

 

I have the opposite problem, the Sager pics are low res and crappy angles. Where are the pictures, its been 2 days!

I'm off this forum for the day after this but... I finally have my laptop in production. I misread the email from xoticpc and thought I only had to reply if I had order changes. Turns out (a week later), I was required to confirm the build and payment method. D'oh!

 

I am debating getting a NP 5170 or XPS 17 3D or envy 17 3D (all with SB) and hope to get some advise to make a decision.

I heard good words from envy owners that the fhd screen from envy 17 3D is brilliant (a WOW impression). Would that be the same impression from the NP 5170 owners?

I am able to get at least $300 off from HP which brings the envy 17 down from $1670 (with option of 6+9 cell battery) to $1370 + tax. Would this be a good buy compared to the NP 5170? I would get 6G ram, Blu-ray player, 3D glasses, 1TB 5400 HDD, better GPU (1G HD 6580?) etc.

On the same comparision, the new XPS 17 3D after $100 off would get down to ~$1250 with a 9 cell battery, DVDRW, 4G ram, 3d glasses. Again i am not sure the quality of the overall laptop and screen. Its max ram is 16G vs the 8G on envy / NP 5170. Any comments of this is appreciated.

Would NP 5170 feel cheap or lower build quality?

The new 30% dv7 tqe coupon just announced today make it a very good deals. Unfortunately i really want a FHD screen.

Thanks

 

fwiw, I have an HP dv7 purchased a Jan 2010 and the NP5170. It had issues from the get go and rumors of a defective mobo at the source of those issues (usb port failures and audio wierdness, inability to install Age of Empires III, etc.). The build quality on the NP5170 right away seems more solid. I gave my wife the dv7 and am much happier with the NP5170. Pictures tonight hopefully. I took some shots of it with my wife's Canon Rebel Xti, but need to now upload them. I am not a skilled photographer so don't get your hopes up

 

I though that the $20 to upgrade from 320G to 500G is a no brainer. But it may be just me.

 

I thought that the $20 upgrade from 320G to 500G HD is a no brainer, but that may be just me.

You meant the 510 series ssd, bot 320 series ssd?

 

No, it's likely he meant the 320 series, which is Intel G3 version of SSDs; what is coming up to replace the X-25s and stuff.

Mr. Mysterious

 

No, it's not just you HyT, my sales rep was asking me the same question, lol! Actually, the $25 upgrade to 640GB is an even bigger no brainer.

However, here's the deal with me. Right now I operate on a single 120GB Samsung SSD with unused space. I have very little need for storage. I backup all my critical files on an 8GB flash drive with 3GB to spare. The only reason I'm opting for a second HDD is I may do some video editing down the road and I can use the space for that. If I didn't think I might do that, I wouldn't even get a second drive. (I am debating dropping the second drive and just opt for an external one if or when I do some video editing).

And no, I did not mean the 510 series. I will definitely get the 320 series. It is much better suited for my use, and the price is right........kinda.

 

hmm this is weird, in NL we have:
BTO Notebooks, stel zelf uw Laptop samen. De beste keus voor Gaming, Multimedia en Office doeleinden!

that is as far as i know the same system, but in that system i can't get the Wifi 6300 card and a second HDD in the optical bay
Both i asked if that could be configured, and they replied that that was not possible, but now i see that it is perfectly possible for other W170HN barebones.. What i can choose is a 8 cell 6200mAh battery..

 

Well you can always buy the HDD caddy and install it yourself. Same thing with the Intel 6300...Much better IMO and you gain some experience along the way.

Mr. Mysterious

 

On the NP5170 The option for the 640GB is only 5400rpm and has a 8MB cache. I would rather have the 500GB @7200rpm and 16MB cache.

 

It depends on who you buy it from. Some resellers, as well as Sager, offer a 7200 RPM version. Or you can buy your own and install it. A member here posted a nice step by step set of instructions with photos.

 

Any idea where i can get that hdd caddy?
i just got a reply back from them where they told me that they choose not to have that option. Because they have other machines with 2 drives.... (but then no optimus and that is what i like to have)


EDIT:
Now this is getting weirder...
i asked another Clevo reseller: XNOTEBOOKS Europe about that one, they had that same question yesterday from somebody else, and they where under the impression that using a caddy is not possible
They explicit asked Clevo for this again, and clevo replied to them that it is really not possible to add a second hard drive...
He said look here:

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/prodinfo_2.asp?productid=312

there it says that this "( Factory Option) One changeable 12.7mm(H)Super Multi/ Blu-ray Combo ODD, SATA interface"
so that means it is only changeable to an optical drive dvd/bluray

They said if clevo supports this then they will say that like here:

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/prodinfo_2.asp?productid=307

( Factory Option) One changeable 12.7mm(H) 2nd HDD caddy bay, SATA interface

Here the exact conversation between xnotebooks and clevo:

"

My conversation with Tammy (Clevo) about W170

Tammy, I got the info that Sager offers an additional HDD in ODD bay for
model W170

can this be?

[10:17:46] Tammy Wu / Clevo: no

[10:17:57] Tammy Wu / Clevo: W170 is not possible

[10:18:24] Richard de Greef:
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5170-custom-laptop-built-the-clevo-w170hn-p-3
000.html?wconfigure=yes

[10:18:28] Tammy Wu / Clevo: P150 is possible but only for new M/B version
but this is not MP yet, estimated In May

[10:19:36] Tammy Wu / Clevo: i do not know how sager can do this on W170
"

So now i am confused, how does sager do this if the maker itself says it is not possible?

Did anybody already received a machine where a caddy was used?

 

Ah okay which re-seller offered that upgrade for that price? I'm still looking around and deciding who to buy from.