Sager 8130/ 151hm1 Review

there are plenty of reviews out there but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have another one. I'm going to keep it detailed and hopefully point out things that may have been skipped on.
coming from a 3 year old dv6 to this is a huge change and its might first high end laptop, it really is night and day.
I plan on using this laptop as a gaming rig, movie player, and note taker for classes in what I call the trifecta

fit and finish

The feel of this laptop is great, it feels solid and at 6.8 pounds it's not as heavy a I initially thought it was going to be. one thing I really love about the chassis are the hinges, the screen is smooth and stiff but still easy to open with one hand. If you open the screen at the side it won't flex which is pleasing.
the surface is a matte plastic which I don't mind. I prefer the feel of a glossy finish on my palms but the fact that it doesn't show and marks and fingerprints is a big pro for this laptop. The finish in a almost black grey with a little bit of sparkles in it, the closest thing I can compare the color to is the grip tape off a skateboard.



Some may find the look bland but I really enjoy it as it looks professional and wouldn't stand out from other laptops, long story short it's like a sleeper car, looks plain on the outside but it packs a punch. My friend has an alienware and although the led lights are really cool it's definitely something I can see myself getting annoyed by down the road.

the psu on this is a lot bigger compared to most laptop which adds a lot of weight to the whole thing if you plan on lugging it around, I usually carry it in my backpack and its noticeable but not unbearable.



one good thing about the adapter is that the cord is plenty long so that it can reach most sockets. the adapter clicks into the laptop and it seated firmly so you don't have to worry about it coming out if you accidently tug it.

screen

I went with the stock 60 gamut matte screen as I couldn't justify spending 100$ for the upgrade and I don't regret it for a second. this screen is beautiful, its bright and vivid. you can take it outside without a worry as the matte finish does wonders for the screen. Coming from a HD screen to a FHD is a big improvement that was much more noticeable then I would have thought.

at 1080 websites and writing in general looks smaller which may take some time getting used to if you're not familiar with a 1080p screen. overall the screen is just amazing, with or without the upgrade you all be more than happy.
the bezel around the screen is of a glossy finish, im not sure why but I don't even notice it. the webcam is alright, not great but not bad. its 2.0 megapixel and it does the job, the microphone is located right above the mouse pad.



I took a picture of a few dvd cases to show the colors and details in the writing. You can easily find these dvd covers on the internet to compared with the webcam shot. this is the stock setting for the webcam, and there is a lot you can change ( contrast, brightness, saturation, hue, sharpness,and gamma)


(minimum brightness)

ports

lots of ports, 2 usb 2.0, 2 usb 3.0, 1 ubs/esata port, fire wire, sd/dmmc/ms slot, optional tvtuner port, hdmi, TV display port, headphone, microphone, SPDIF jacks. It's my first time using a usb 3.0 and its great, I hooked it up to my external hard drive and was able to transfer at 140 mb/s !
being only a little over a week old I haven't had a chance to use every port but I did use the hdmi and it works as it should and looks great on a TV.
one thing I really enjoy is that the adapter plugs into the back of the laptop, it makes it a LOT more convenient then my old dv6 which had the port on its side. I use my laptop in different places meaning electric plugs can either be on the left or right side of me which can get really annoying if the adapter plug were to be on the side. Being in the back of the laptop I have no problems with the cord ever getting in my way.
a lot of people don't see the point of the sd slot but I use it for easy transfer from my phone or camera as I prefer to use the sd rather than the usb cable.



keyboard

the keyboard is another big plus in my books. it features a chicklet style layout which I really like, the keys feel solid with smooth movement and almost no sound. there is almost ZERO flex on the keyboard, even when I purposely type hard to test it.
most people don't like the number pad on their laptops which is understandable, its feels like they had to squish it into the 15" layout. personally I like the numpad, the sacrifice of getting rid of the home, pg up, pg dn, and end button has no affect to me as I never used them in the past. the only thing that it honestly interferes with is the right side shift button which takes a bit of time to get used to. I feel like I might be the only person on this but I use the numpad feature at least once a week and I rather use the numpad over the top layout.
the hot keys are okay, nothing to complain about, I don't use them very often so I cant say much about them. one thing I do use is the max fan hotkey which i never need but love to play with.
one little bonus to the keyboard is the wasd control have arrows on them which is a plus for anyone such as myself who is new to pc gaming.
the only gripe I had with the keyboard was the rattle at the arrow keys area which many other users are having. there is a really easy fix to this and gives you a good reason to take the top apart to explore inside. after a few pieces of tape there was no more rattle.


(2 small looped pieces of elecrical tape near the arrow keys did the job)

overall the keyboard is great although there is no backlit keys, it's all business and I love typing on it. touch typing on this is a huge improvement from the normal styled keyboards.



**one month update***



there is visible wear on the mousepad in the center and top right. the feel of it is smooth and shinier, maybe from the oil from finger? doesnt bother me, in fact feels better then it did before.

mouse

the mouse is my only dislike on the laptop, the buttons feel cheap hollow and loud depending where you press on the button. its it not a deal breaker or anything but compared to every other part of the laptop it is a let down.
most people use a desktop mouse so it won't be a big deal. the finish of the chassis continues through the mouse pad which I enjoy, my finger never get stuck and glides easily without any hesitation.
this is the first time I had a fingerprint reader and it's amazing! I love it. It works really well (9 out of 10 times, similar to mt.mysterious' experience) and you can set up all your fingerprints and login to your account with a quick swipe. You can also lock up files and make it accessible through fingerprint reading which is great for certain files. another great feature of the reader is that you can assign applications to each finger meaning I can make it so I open Firefox with my pinky and open skyrim with my left index finger etc.
again the button clicks are the only real con of this laptop for me, the solution for me was to just click towards the middle so it's not as loud or just use a real mouse.

speakers

The other common gripe with the 151hm1 is its speakers. My personal experience with them has been a very positive one, that being said I'm not an audiophile and I'm not too picky with this section of the laptop. Make sure you use the thx program as it will make a noticeable difference in the quality of the speakers.
After tinkering around with the setting I found what I consider the sweet spot and am pleased with the sound. the subwoofer isn't going to shake your desk but it does help with the quality and range of the sound which is better than most notebooks including my old dv6. I watch a lot of movies at home and work so the speakers are nice and the volume is more than enough for me.
I do wish there were independent buttons for the volume control but you all have to settle for the fn buttons or the taskbar which isn't a big deal.



graphics

I won't say much on the graphics because every other review has covered this really well. the laptop comes with a gtx 560m which is awesome, it doesn't hiccup once while playing games. I played sky rim on high, batman arkham city on very high and borderlands on ultra @ 1080 and they all look incredible and play great.
I got the ic paste and I'm definitely happy I got it, I didn't feel comfortable doing it myself so I payed the reseller to do it. If you have experience doing it or feel comfortable doing it yourself I recommend it as you all save a lot of money.
At idle, the gpu runs at 35- 38 C and while running games it reaches 70 C and nothing higher. Even when I blocked the fans by having the laptop on my lap the temperature only gets to 40 C at idle which is great.

fan/ cooling

This video gives you an idea of the fan noise, including the idle noise and the max fan noise, keep mind this video is taken from about an inch away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR2z0-MSPwE (sorry for the phone camera quality)

Sager has a great reputation when it comes to cooling, and I can see why. the heat sink, fans and copper is almost art to me, it looks great especially compared to my old dv6.
the fans run really quietly, when doing simple task you can't even hear it which is really assuring when you're in a quiet and crowded environment like a library or class during lectures.
even while gaming the fans are quiet and won't be noticeable with the sound on.



like I said I have an odd fascination with the max fan hotkey, when it's on full it goes woo wooooo!

http://youtu.be/Nnzw_i4YmKk?t=53s

like I said, the cooling system is great and is a huge pro for this laptop. I feel confident in that I won't have any heating issues, no matter the task.
as a bonus it can be used as a hand dryer

Wireless network card

When i ordered my laptop i didnt do too much research on the wireless card so i went with the stock card. the wireless picked up my router in the basement (laptop in the top floor) and consistently held about 4 bars with very little drop. The only issue i started having was using my schools wifi, it wouldnt be able to pick up in a lot of buildings and when it did it would often drop the connection. so i contacted hutsady at xotic pc and asked him about my options, he told me the only possible way is to buy it from newegg, amazon or any other computer stores. luckily for me one of my local stores (canada computers) carried the intel 6300 that i was looking for. along with the following guide:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...memory-upgrade-guide-sager-np8130-np8150.html

i was able to upgrade my wireless card in less the a half hour without a sitch.

going from the stock to the 6300 is a big leap that is well worth the upgrade. With the stock wireless card i was only able to find 5-6 wifi connections from my house, and with the new 6300 card i was able to find 12-14 wifi spots in range. Along with that i know get a full 5 bar connection at my school in every building without any drops or slowdowns.



Battery

i havent had too much experience with the battery life yet as i mostly use it at home. Im going to start bring it to lectures for note though so i should have more to say on it soon. I was actually surprised with the battery life, most posts i found said the battery would last about 2 hours. in my experience today i found that after 2 hours my battery was at 50 % charge. Of course this was with wireless and bluetooth off, lowest brightness, and on power saver: still i was happy that i could get away with 2 hours. As most of you know the gpu is turned down while on battery as well, when plugged in i could play arkham city on high at 45 fps compared to 10 fps while running off the battery. Its no optimus but its better then nothing. overall the battery life pleased me for such a power hungry laptop and it is a big plus for me when taking notes in classes without electric plugs

Reseller

I grabbed this laptop from Xoticpc, and the customer service was great. buying something so expensive sight unseen worried me but Heidi and Hutsady were really helpful with all my questions. After ordering i received a call from Heidi the next day to confirm my order, she listed off every single part and upgrade before it was made. Its small thing like this that really add up and make you feel confident in buying from them. Their service was great

Conclusion

overall, I'm loving this laptop. it's a huge upgrade from my HP and it exceeded almost everyone of my expectations, id recommend this laptop to anyone looking for gaming or just a higher end rig. I'm excited to use this laptop for what I'm sure are years to come.

WEI is as follows



with the future upgrade to crucial m4 SSD I believe it will be 7.9? need confirmation on that though.

SSD UPGRADE

Well i finally found time to update the review with my newly installed SSD. I grabbed the m4 crucial 128 gb SSD and all I can say is wow, what incredible boost in performance. Everything is much more quicker from booting windows to opening firefox, it makes a huge difference. it is faster, lighter, and quieter and was very easy to install, it took about an hour to do a clean install of windows and update all the drivers, after that it was ready to go. i highly recommend this upgrade for any computer as the price for it isnt too bad and is getting better as time goes by. The only thing thats a con with it is its limited space, i only have about 40 gb left on it because of all the movies i keep on it. I plan on replacing the optical drive with a secound HDD so i can keep my videos and pictures on there. I will update this when i stop being lazy and order the caddy.




Pros-
-matte finish (sleeper status)
-weight
-sturdiness of chassis
-matte finish on screen
-screen brightness
-full hd resolution
-all the ports (especially usb 3.0)
- length of the adapter and the firm plug
-chicklet style keyboard
-numpad (although some probably won't agree with me on this one)
-fingerprint reader and its shortcuts (great for the lazies such as myself)
-mouse pad material (same as the rest of the chassis)
-graphics (560m F**k yeah)
-cooling system (especially the max fan button )
- battery life ( 3.5 hours, possibly even 4 ?)
- intel 6300 wireless card

Cons-
-Mouse buttons (only real con on this laptop)
-no backlit keyboard
- no independent volume buttons
-PSU is heavy (to be expected with a gaming laptop)
-battery life (again, to be expected with a gaming laptop)
- stock wireless card


I WILL CONTINUE TO ADD PICTURES
FEEL FREE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS, I'LL TRY MY BEST TO ANSWER

 

Great review, that PSU is smaller than my Envy, wonder how big is the 180w

 

Awesome review dude. If possible, can you show the webcam quality through a printscreen or capture etc. ?

 

Thanks guys, and good idea jentage, im at work right now but ill be sure to upload some webcam examples tomorrow

 

Hey Mark, would you be able to do short clip of the fan noise in turbo mode (FN+1) in a quiet room (if you are able to)

 

,

Absolutely, ill only be able to record the sound with my phone but ill try to get an accurate sound clip if its possible

 

Thanks mate looking forward to that

 

Webcam example and fan noise video is up under their respective sections.

If you guys are curious about anything else let me know, ill try to answer everything i can

 

Thank you for the review and all the work you put into it. Happy to hear its working out for you! Glad I could help with ordering the computer, I'll tell Heidi thanks too

 

Ty love the push test lol

 

haha thanks, i didn't get much sleep when i was recording it so it seemed like a good idea at the time. hopefully you get an idea of how much air it moves and the noise volume though.

 

Now this is a great review....I love the Push test!!

 

Indeed great push test Thanks dude

 

thanks for the feedback everyone.

I added to the review (both the stock and 6300 wireless cards, battery)

I'll continue to add to it and if there is anything you guys want me to look at in more detail, just let me know

 

Hi I ordered this same laptop but with a 750GB hybrid seagate with 8GB SSD memory; all other stats the same as yours. I want to also use mine for notes at school and was wondering if you have an update on the battery life . I want to try underclocking the GPU and CPU before class along with dropping brightness and wifi. You said after 2 hours you were at 50%? Therefore you could get around 3-4 hours if you ran it down to 0%? I plan on buying a second battery eventually but even in class I can usually score a seat near an outlet. Let me know how things go and if you play Skyrim how does it run!?

 

Hey marko, thanks for the review!

I want to ask you more about the noise of the laptop. I would also want to take my laptop to class/library and so the computer has got to be quiet, even during bootup. You say that it's quiet, but in your video it seems to get really loud. Like a blow dryer. How often does this happen and what is the reality of your normal usage?

 

hey, sorry about the update. to be honest i havent really had to test out the battery that often, but when i do i get at least 3 hours while taking notes/ surfing the web/ torrents downloading in the background. most of the time theres an outlet for me to use so i dont run into any problems with it.

Nice choice on the hdd, i actually just put in a m4 crucial and its night and day, ill update the review with that.

skyrim runs awesome, i havent played it in a while but i played on high with really good frames per secound. Check out Nvidia's website as they can show you the marks you can get. As a bonus they released a beta driver that specifically helps the 560m with skyrim. all i can say is it looks amazing and plays incredibly smooth(version- 295.73).

I also have the new batman game and BF3. I play both on high they run great. Batman and BF3 automatically sets its to very high settings i believe, and i just set them to high so that i can get nice FPS. (batman gets 40 fps on very high when i did the benchmark test)

heres a nice page that compares the 560 to the lower end GPUs

Articles: Introducing the GeForce GTX 560M Mobile GPU - GeForce

Its really quiet actually, the video shows what it sounds like when you press the max fan button. Even when im gaming for hours the fan doesnt get that loud, i just showed the max noise for demonstration. I actually use my laptop in the silent study area of the library all the time and its perfectly fine, almost no noise at all. I can honestly say, you wont have to worry about the fan noise ever


**UPDATE**

added a photo and a video of the SSD installed on the notebook. check out the first page for the photo and description and heres the link for the cold boot time and the shutdown time of it.

http://youtu.be/QhUYP5cxTTE

 

what about web cam quality?

 

Webcam quality is on the low side of average. If you absolutely need a quality webcam, an external will probably be your best bet. The higher end models have better cameras, but the P151/P150/P170 are pretty limited.

 

i posted a print screen of the webcam quality. i took a picture of some dvd covers so you can compare the detail and colours to some pictures online. overall though it is just meh as anthony pointed out

 

Can you post a few more pictures? (Maybe of it running a few games?) I'm in love with the screen!

 

Are you still loving the laptop?

 

absolutely, i have bf 3 and batman installed right now so i can grab a few shots of those for you. just gimme a day or two, ive got a lot of homework.

yea i definitely am. the only thing i regret is buying battlfield 3, its my first time gaming on the PC platform and i SUCK so i just keep getting tossed around in that game haha.

but the actual laptop itself is great, no regrets. I kind of had buyers remorse for a few days when i heard about the 150em just a few days after I bought it, but form my understanding the ivy bridge cpu and the gtx 660m are only going to be minor differences that mostly deal with batterylife (correct me if im wrong though). If you can wait it might be worth it to grab the newer model, but this model is perfect for me and honestly i dont regret getting it.



***UPDATE***

i ordered a hhd caddy off ebay and it should arrive sometime next week. Ill be putting up a quick diy (with a lot of pics) and will document the results from it.

 

@Marko Chaos

Hang in there with BF3, you'll get the hang of it in no time. I actually warmed up on MW3 before getting into BF3....too much running because the maps were huge, great game otherwise.
See you on the battlefield.

 

its funny because im actually really good at call of duty for xbox, the problem is i never played on a keyboard and mouse and itll take me a while to get used to it.

added a quick benchmark for the new batman game

Default HIGH- 1080p res and running fraps




Default VERY HIGH- 1080p res and running fraps




Default EXTREME- 1080p res and running fraps




i usually run the game at 1600x 900 resolution on very high and get 42 fps. tweaking the settings will get you more frames.

Battlefield 3 (on 1080p and running fraps) first mission in the campaign

Very high-
Min-15
Max-28
Average-20.6

High-
Min-21
Max-35
Average-27.8

medium-
Min-28
Max-48
Average-37.3

Auto-
Min-22
Max-36
Average-27.1

Auto setting its mostly set at very high with some features at high.

again, frames will increase with turning down anti alias, shadow texture, etc.

im still waiting for the hard drive caddy in the mail

 

Loooks great! Thanks for the pics!

 

If you don't mind me asking, did you do anything to your processor to get the 7.5 on the windows benchmark? I have the same processor as you and i got a 4.6!!

Thanks.

 

Despite the fact that the WEI is an essentially useless benchmark, your CPU should score higher than that by default. Are you running the latest chipset drivers on there? When you go to task manager > performance, do you see 4 cores plus 4 threads listed? If not you may have something else going on.

I'd recommend running a PCMark test or 3DMark vantage and comparing your CPU numbers to those on this list:

Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - Notebookcheck.net Tech

If they match up, then it's just a silly WEI error.

 

nope, the 2670qm should give you a 7.5 on the scale. follow anthony's instructions and hopefully it ll fix itself up



also i noticed yesterday that the top right of the chasis is making a rattle noise when i type or even just tap on the corner where the gpu fan is. I think the fan or heatsink may be loose? It still rattles even when the fans on full power though and the idles remaining at 36 c as usual, anyone experience this yet?

i took a can of dust off to it but i did nothing so im going to take off the fan and inspect it tonight when i get to work

update- so i took both fans apart and theyre fine, but the notebook was still making the rattle noise. i found out its the radiator part of the gpu heat sink. anyone experience this? any suggestions on how to quite it down?