*** Official Sager NP8180 / Clevo P180HM Owners Lounge ***

I think I may have posted this point in another thread...NO Clevo/Sager model that is currently shipping has real good volume...imo.

It seems Clevo has never made this a priority.

-

 

I have uninstalled re installed and reformatted a few times as far as the hotkeys the problem appears to be the lighting. The keys are working now just no lighting. At one point they it all worked for a few days... I think I will reformat the whole thing again.

Im not sure but that would explain it. Its not that huge a deal I will use headphones for gaming its just a pain when I want to watch a netdlix show or something like that. I can always plug some speakers into it. Thanks for the insight though that was really what I was wondering is this thing defective or just really quiet. This is my first clevo/sager notebook. I've had asus and lenovo before this one.

 

Sounds like I'll need to order soon or forget it. Shipping limits will be in place on Dec12th and I will no longer be able to send or receive anything heavier than 2lbs. Such is life working in Iraq. So before I make an order I have a few questions.

1. Limited on cash flow at this particular time but I'd like to upgrade later on.
a. Can I easily upgrade CPU's if I go with the base unit? I've heard that the Sager brand is easy to work on and I'll upgrade next year as the 2960 drops in price. I'm not doing a lot of gaming just yet but mainly for video conversion.
b. Should I get the 1600 now (12gb) or stay with 1333? It sounds like the lower cpu and 1600 aren't compatible and when researching the 2960 cpu it recommended 1333 memory. Memory will come down in price but if 1333 will do the trick on both CPU's then I just as well go with 12gb of 1333 instead of 1600.
c. Would it be best to go a bit higher for my CPU now or just wait until CPU prices drop? Not sure why I'm asking cuz you'll always get better performance with a faster CPU but for now I just need to get a system mailed out and I can have small packages mailed out later.

2. What is a normal timeline on shipping one of these? That's another reason why I'm looking at just a basic system with minimal configuration options.
I'm now seeing a delay date until Nov 23 from Sager...are all systems based off that date as well or are there some already at vendors?
I'll need to order up this weekend even though I had originally hoped to wait for awhile. Not sure if PM each vendor is the best way or email. Looking for a military price where possible and I see that Sager has a $100 of now. Shipping costs to an APO address will probably eat that up.

Thanks in advance.

Basic ideas.
Dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M GPU with 1.5GB GDDR5 Video Memory in SLI Mode
CPU Processor 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM Processor ( 6MB L3 Cache, 2.20GHz)
Thermal Compound Stock Standard Thermal Compound
Operating System Genuine MS Windows® 7 Professional 32/64-Bit Edition ( 64-Bit Preloaded ) [$60.00]
Memory 12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 3 X 4GB [$90.00]
Primary Hard Disk Drive 750GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive [$50.00]
Optical Drive Bay — Optical Drive or Hard Disk Drive in Optical Drive Bay with Caddy case 6X BD-R Blu-ray Burner/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software [$175.00]
Wireless Network Card Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Combo Module [$25.00]
Primary Battery Smart Li-ION Battery Pack
Integrated Security Device Fingerprint Reader
Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included in Price
Warranty Sager 2 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty [$129.00]
Carrying Bag Standard Carrying Bag

 

Can someone provide the name of the RAID controller and motherboard model for the P180HM?

 

The RAID controller is Intel based, I believe it is A2A01. The motherboard model in hardware info should show Clevo P180HM.

_

 

Thank you!

 

Has anyone configured 2 SSD hard drives in RAID 0, yet? I am interested to know what the benchmarks look like, if possible. I am considering placing two
Corsair Force 3 2.5″ 120GB SATA III SSD drives in with advertised specs of:

Controller: SandForce 2nd Generation
Sequential Access – Read: Up to 550MB/s
Sequential Access – Write: Up to 510MB/s
4k Random Write (Aligned): 85,000 IOPS

What I'd really like to know is if the RAID controller is good enough to support this.

 

One more question. Does anyone know if there is an NVIDIA 3D screen compatible with this model?

 

At this time there are only a couple manufacturers that make this 18.4 screen size.

No one I believe, is making a 3D screen in that size...
_

 

Ditto on the above question about 1333MHz vs 1600Mhz? Is it worth it? Also, is it true that the i7-2670QM isn't compatible with the 1600Mhz RAM? And does anyone know if Malibal or Sager is the better source? Or are they exactly the same (Sagers)? Thanks.

 

Look at memory types:

Intel® Core? i7-2670QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.20 GHz)

Also, Malibal appears to be cheaper at the moment. I just bought one from them today. They will also ship with no RAM or HD for -$90.

Edit: They are all Clevo P180HM any way you slice it.

 

ftp://usftp.clevo.com.tw/ALLBIOS/P18xHM/

there are some new bios.... any suggestion which one to install?


Name Size Date Modified

BIOS_103.zip 1.8 MB 11/3/11 11:38:00 PM
EC_03.zip 2.0 MB 10/3/11 11:33:00 PM
P18HM10204.zip 3.7 MB 10/20/11 2:51:00 AM


and most important HOW

 

As to how to update your Clevo bios, please check the link below for some instructions.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/416916-clevo-bios-thread.html
_

 

Hey guys, so there is the new laptop P270WM that's coming out with GTX 480 SLI compatibility. I want to take advantage of the Sager discount that will end soon, but then I realized the new laptop that's coming out. However, if the price will be extremely over compared to a np8180 with dual 6990m's per say, I'm going to skip it for now due to limited funds. Do you guys know what the price might be on it?

This is the one I'm writing about.

Clevo P270WM -17.3" 3D powerhouse notebook

 

That link is quite old. The P270WM based laptop from Clevo will not have the 480M GPU. This GPU has been discontinued.

Since there is NO ETA for this model yet it remains to be seen what GPU offering it will have. This will be based on a desktop CPU like the x7200-7280 model is now except it will have the NEW Sandy Bridge E platform.

_

 

I thought I read it was coming out mid this month (November) However, looking at how expensive the GTX 580 cards are, I doubt I'll be able to afford such a thing. Anyhow, I just found out about Malibal and their pricing is attractive, I'll be contacting them soon.

 

anyone know if the usb 3.0 and the express card are on different buses or on the same bus.? Thanks

 

Hello everyone I'm new to the fourms.. Wish I whould knew I could have got additional discounts had I been a member but that's no biggie. I bought a Veda p180hm from malibal on 11/07/11 and it's scheduled for delivery tomorrow, I hope it will be a worthwhile purchase I got it with the 2630qm processor 12gigs ddr3 1333hz ram 500g7200 rpm harddrive big foot wireless killer, x2 ati 6970s crossfire x with windows 7 home and stock thermal paste... Yes I know the stock paste sucks but I have some artic silver 5 at home that I put on all my CPU and gpus. But I look forward to seeing it its really for my wife for school/ gaming.. Star wars the old republic!... But anyways question I have is how well does the backpack it comes with hold up?

 

Yes friend those guys own their really friendly I talked to Matt like 3 days before purchase... And I know I asked alot of questions which let me know these guys were patient.. Their price is the best based on my research also and their configurations own! Might want to check them out like today bro theirs a nice deal going on in their site!

 

This is a little offtopic, but have you beta tested SW:ToR yet? They're handing out keys to the next beta weekend. Just grab one from the link below, register an account on swtor.com and apply the code to get in on it. I was in the last beta weekend and it was awesome. Ran perfectly on my P150HM, which isn't spec'd as nicely as your new rig.

TORgiveaway - Massively

 

Nah, I haven't beta tested yet but lat week they sent I the email that me and the wife will be invited... Hopefully it's this weekend since I'm off for the thanksgiving break! But we also read on the starwars forms that if you've been selected by the site to beta test you should not accept any theirs party invites because it could hender your original key and time that thy will send you. But overall I look forward to seeing how this new laptop will run tw game for my wife... Lol I even upgraded the video card and power supply on my desktop to the pny gtx 460 and corsier gs600 power supply my processer is an amd phenom 1035t running at 3.0ghz on 6 cores and 6 gigs of 1600 ram and I play ultimate settings on any game I touch.. Starcraft 2 for example and never run over 40c under any load... So yeah I look forward to ultimate settings myself!

 

I have the same question cause I just ordered mine 2 weeks ago..and don't have bagpack for it..I ordered with 2820QM, 8Gb 1600Mhz,560GTX SLI,i7 diamond thermal, and professional LED calibration does anyone know if we can change the LED's colors from the vents and backlid?

 

Well I was told by one of the reps that theirs a way to flash the bios and change the bios and change the colors of the deck lid only. However I was actually not told exactly how that works as of yet... But how are you 560s performing. I have mines with the 6970s, and they are rockin Starcraft 2 on extreme graphics with no overclocking I'm gettin like 145 fps and it rarely dips below 100fps! Can't wait to see my wife play some star wars the old republic on it. But let me know if you find out how to flash the bios.

 

I am looking to buy a Clevo P180HM / Sager NP8180. I want to put three hard-drives in the configuration, and I want to know if anyone has had any problems with the laptop overheating. I plan on using a SSD Prime with two HDDs for storage.

 

I have three hard drives in my P180HM (see details in my signature) and no problem at all with overheating. BTW: I frequently run video converting programs which use (heavily) all three hard drives at the same time (Windows on the SSD + source file on one HDD + target file on the other HDD) and this doesn't cause any overheating.

 

Hello I have the same laptop Tom malibal I had a driver issue initially. But reinstalled them and I don't get any minimizing when running any apps or games when I use any of my touch sensor buttons... Now problem I do have is when I take out my battery pack and just leave it plugged up I lose those lights but the sensors still work btw I have the 300watt brick and the crossfire 6970s .

 

Hey, may I ask why you chose the 6970's over the 6990's? Was it a money issue? I'm getting ready to get one myself...thanks!

 

Also please note that Clevo has discontinued the AMD 6970M card. The ones that you see are just stock being depleted. The 6990M is the way to go for a AMD card
_

 

i went with the 6970s from malibal beacuse they were on sale... if your check out thier site you can get the 2 6970s instead of the 2 nvidia 560s which are actually better... if you check out notebookcheck.net the 6970 crossfire aint that much bad as the 6990 crossfire and they have alot of room to overclock the cards... so apples to apples not a noticable difference in performance and they can overclock easily to the 6990... but trust me you wont need it heck all my games run uber on extreme settings... so check out the deal you can get the 2 6970s for stock price! limited supply tho.

 

Hello everyone, I am looking to purchase a new notebook for college/gaming. I was wondering what your thoughts were on the gtx 560m sli. Would you suggest going with the 560m sli or a single ati 6990m?

 

Dude MALIBAL.com and get the 2 6970s for the same price as the 560 sli.. You won't even need to overclock them for any game. But if you hardcore for no reason and u want an extra 5 fps when your already gettin over 100fps feel free to overclock it to the 6990 bro... Save yourself hundreds and get the 6970 crossfire config!

 

Yes this may be the case babyhimi but don't discourage a worthy deal... I mean come the 6990 will be discount ended soon as well.. Are we gonna qq to the next card immediately then for that extra 5-10 fps for no improvement much? When we can simply bump up the cards performance to next generations performance anyways... I'd say get the reasonable deal over trying to keep up with the jones in today's economy... For the small fps gains overall all who are in need if the performance already gettin you 100+fps go with the deal you don't always need the latest greatest maybe 10% faster card be smart and catch the deal if your in need!

 

Well hopefully the 6970 crossfire option doesn't run out too soon! It will be a couple weeks until I place the order.. :/

 

Indeed order soon catch it before it passes like the wind!

 

noob question... i will buy p180hm with crossfire 6970, its necessary the psu of 300W?

 

yes its necessary because when you get the 6900 seriesm cars such as the 6970 and 6990m they pull from 75 to 120 watts name the 6990 pulls 100 watts each so yeah you are gonna need the 300 wait brick... the batt life on this thing aint bad with crossfire disabled.

 

Yes as stated by Klo045 it is necessary. The 220W would not allow you to really game or bench for that matter.
_

 

Hey which games have you tested where the 6970's give you 100fps and is it with everything on highest settings? AA too? What resolution?

I'm mostly interested in Battlefield 3 at 1080p. I've seen that one 6990 has 40fps without fraps according to youtube videos, but wonder what two would do with settings all the way up, of course when AA is turned down or off the FPS goes way up.

 

I get the listed fps on Starcraft 2 aa off tho didn't change it from presets don't know what it will run like with aa maxed... But the settings I used were extreme settings and those video cards kill it! Don't know what it run bf3 like my bet whould be very high to ultimate not sure as I only play that game on console.. I'm waitin to see how this rig handles star wars the old republic.

 

Once good drivers come out for SWTOR, crossfire 6970-6990's will destroy this game. Meaning 60+ fps everything maxed. As for BF3, it never drops below 40 fps on ultra (including AA) playing Caspian Boarder.

 

I've got my MALIBAL Veda P180HM configured and ready to go in my cart I just need a free shipping discount.

 

You should get a free shipping discount. All of the resellers I know offer it.
_

 

Hmm, nothing yet...I'll be PM'ing a MALIBAL rep as soon as one of them are online.

 

hi, i've registed and i'm posting here just to say one thing,
I own a CLEVO p180Hm and today when i recover my pc from Hibernation, all the led were white and wont change color, the one red in the back was white too, well all but the wireless and the THX ones that ones were purple and green respectively, i rebooted and everything was normal,so I'm posting here to say that i think that there is somehow a way to change color of the leds.

By the way it fits, a little bit tight but it fits, in my old toshiba backpack that was from my Qosmio F50

 

Hi, what specs did you get it with? Price and what source? Also, how are you liking it so far?

 

I was going to buy Sager NP8180 with dual Radeon 6990 but suddenly found that I can buy Alienware M17x with dual GF 580 for the same price. At the moment I'm using Dell XPS m1730 and I like it for overall built quality, screen, keyboard. About quality and usability of Clevo I know nothing
Please help me to make right choice!

Here is my wishlist/questions:
1. Which screen (Alienware 17.3" or Sager 18.4") is better in general?
2. I plan to use notebook 3+ years for gaming. Is it possible to upgrade GPU and CPU?
3. If answer is "yes", should I take dual 6990/580 or single card with future upgrade in next 2 years? Will i7 2670QM be able to coupe with next-gen cards? (I heard that new 2012 ATI/nVidia cards is not true next-gen, just renamed current-gen, so I'm talking about real next-gen cards)
4. Near every day I take notebook to work. Weight/size is not a problem for me. My current Dell easily copes with such physical stress. What about Clevo/Alienware?

 

You say that you can get a mx17 with dual 580 for the same price as the np8180 with dual 6990's? WHERE!? Lol

 

My bad
Just mentioned that Alienware propose single card, not dual.
Right now single 6990 ~$60 cheaper then 580.

 

(edit) Sorry wrong thread

 

oke guys i got a BIG problem wth my p180hm.

1 week ago i booted my laptop and the red tribal sign on the back went white/blue. touchpad went white and the touchhotkeys all white and when i push on them they dont change colour but they do work.

after pulling out the bttery + psu and then start up again its all back to normal.
thisis the 2nd time this happens
i asked my reseller BTO and some other support (laptopplus.nl)
and nobody can tell me whats wrong...