Sager NP5160 Review by INEEDMONEY

Reasons for purchasing:
My compal was just old. It runs great, but can't handle today's games. So I wanted a machine that was lite, decent battery, and can handle those games on decent settings. I figure the only thing i'd be playing would be SC.

Specs:
15.6” FHD 16:9 Matte LED 95% NTSC Color Gamut
Intel i7 2630QM (6MB L3 Cache)
IC Diamond Thermal Compound (CPU & GPU)
nVidia GT 540M 1024MB GDDR3 w/Optimus Technology
6GB DDR3 Memory
6x Blu-Ray Read/8x DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive
128GB Crucial C300 SSD
Intel 6230 Wireless Card w/Bluetooth
2.0 MP Camera

Look, Feel, and Build
When ordering my laptop, I decided to go with a skin for an extra $80 so I can’t comment on what the lid looks like. But I can say the skin was well worth it. Very nicely done. It has a glossy finish and wraps around the edges of the lid perfectly. There aren’t any air bubbles, but you can see the Sager indentation (no biggie).


When opening the laptop I was somewhat disappointed. It cannot be opened with one hand; you have to use the other hand to hold the bottom while lifting the lid. Opening the laptop reveals a faint, brushed look on the palm rest accompanied by a good looking chiclet keyboard.

The 5160 is built like a rock. I have not noticed any flex on any part of the palm rest or keyboard. It comes in weighing around 5.3 lbs according to Xoticpc. My old 15” was about 1.5lbs heavier and I can definitely tell the difference. It is very light to carry around in my hand and backpack.

Plenty of ports on this thing. 2x 3.0 USB, 2x 2.0 USB, SATA, HDMI, VGA, Memory Card reader




Keyboard and Touchpad
The chiclet /island-style keyboard is lovely. I was kinda worried that I wouldn’t like it, but I’ve come to love it more so than the standard keyboard that comes on other laptops. Very good response from the keys. There is a 10 key which I will probably use quite a bit. There are some key layout that I’m not use to such as Home and End keys requiring the FN key to use. But that’s just something I have to get use to.


The touchpad is probably the last negative thing I’ll say about that the 5160. It is not the smooth type touchpad that I personally prefer and at times it feels kind of small. Especially the left and right clicks. There is a fingerprint reader positioned right in between the left and right click. I think it would have been better if it was somewhere else on the palm rest. The left and right clicks are at times somewhat hard to click. It’s somewhat hard to explain. The touchpad is multitouch so you can do a few things with it like double finger scrolling. Though do to the rough feel and small size of the touchpad, I think it’s a pain to use.

Because there is a numpad, the keyboard is off centered somewhat. As you can see the trackpad is not centered under the spacebar, and for me, sometimes throws things off when going from trackpad to keyboard. But, again, this is something I feel I can adjust to in time.


Screen & Sound
I decided to go all out and get the FHD Matte Finish screen. I was coming from a laptop that just produced so much glare and it was annoying. The matte finish definitely helps out a lot. When I’m at school sitting near the windows, I’m still able to use the laptop without having to adjust my viewing angle like I use to. I was somewhat worried about the matte screen not getting as bright as I wanted, but I must say that it gets pretty bright.

This picture is with the sun directly behind me. Probably wouldnt put myself in that situation, but the screen does still show up (looks better in person)


Outside with indirect sunlight:



More indirect sunlight while inside:



Viewing angles are also very good. My camera can't capture just how much color is really retained so just know the following angled shots look better in person.





Sound is definitely lacking in my opinion. The low’s are just horrible. Depending on what you're watching the volume may not be loud enough. I know when watching a few minutes of Inception I felt it was too low (even at full volume). When watching an anime it was pretty loud. I never expected much from speakers on a laptop. Invest in a good pair of headphones

Performance (Will Post More Later)
Honestly…haven’t used it too much since I’ve gotten it. Not outside of school work and internet browsing that is. I do have the Intel Quad Core processor and an SSD. The notebook is very snappy. Starting windows usually takes a few seconds and resuming from sleep is almost instant

Only game I plan to load on here is Starcraft. But the 540m can handle a good amount of games ranging from Medium settings to high. Battlenet is down right now, but once its up I’ll post some screen shots with FPS.

3DMark06 score was 7998

Playing Starcraft 2, I was able to play on medium settings at FHD with a frame rate around the high 40s to mid 50s.





Blu-ray playback works fine. Xoticpc provides software for playback.

Temperature
While doing little things such as surfing the web, I sit at around 42C. At the time I'd say the temperature in the room was in the high 70s Fahrenheit. The laptop's temps dropped about around 2-3C in a room where the temperature was in the low 70s.

After playing a game of Starcraft, my temps were in the high 80s. Unfortunately, they decided to put the CPU and GPU on the same heat sink. The turbo boost feature doesn't help at all either. I've decided to disable to see what kind of temps I get.

Here are my temps right after playing Starcraft. I reduced the processor to only run up to 99% so turbo boost wouldnt kick in



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Battery
Battery isn’t that bad. I used the way Engadget and a couple of other sites method for testing battery life: 60% Brightness, Wifi on, looping a video. I got just over 2.5hrs running it under those conditions. For reference the macbook air gets about 4hrs on the same test. So it’s a taxing test. I know I’ve gotten more out of my battery than that. Maybe around 3.5hrs from using just wifi and surfing the web with the brightness turned down to 50%. And that's with integrated graphics

Conclusion
All-in-all it’s a very good laptop. No regrets with my purchase. Hopefully I won't have any later. Only negatives i've had so far are the touchpad and the fact I can't open it with one hand. I've read the temps do get pretty high when gaming. Will find out later with updates to initial review

 

Thanks for the review!

Is the battery life with the discrete card on or integrated?

 

I had optimus running, but that's with the integrated card. I had the power settings to the default "Balanced" setting and I disabled the sleep functions. The integrated card can handle video playback pretty easily so no need for the discrete

 

Nice review and nice pictures!
Thanks!

Complementing your battery results, I got amazed that the screen looks pretty readable even on the lowest bright levels. To enhance battery time I can use it on minimum without any problem.

 

Aw man, that's disappointing. Well hopefully I get the 3.5 hour real-world usage that you're getting, since I'm mostly using this for class note-taking anyway.

 

Do you guys think this would be worth getting or paying the extra money for the 5165?

The only gripe I have with the 5165 is that the GT555M seems to be severely weaker than other models.

Will it still outperform the GT540M?

EDIT: I meant to ask how much more performance you would get from the card and would it be enough to warrant the extra 100 or so dollars.

 

Yeah. I usually keept it at medium brightness.

You should be able to get 3.5hrs doing note taking

It's hard to say. I haven't read any reviews on the GT 555m. I think if you plan to keep a laptop for a few years and do play a lot of games get the best GPU you can.

 

Thanks for the review and info That's a pretty sweet skin I have to say!

 

How's the volume on the speakers? Don't care about the sound quality, but some of these things are pretty quiet even when maxed.

 

According to the benchmarks on notebookcheck.net the 555m is better than the 540m. The other models are going to cost SIGNIFICANTLY more if you want a better card.

 

Very nice review. This most certainly helps out when it comes to talking with customers about the general "feel" of the computer. Thanks INEEDMONEY!

Edit: Also, it looks like there is a marked improvement from the GT 540M to the GT 555M according to Notebookcheck.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

Eh. They are somewhat loud at times. I think when I poppd in Inception for a few minutes I wasn't too impressed. When I was running my anime during test they were fairly loud. (My room was totally quiet at these times)

There's a thread for the Sager 5165 and they were discussing if it's worth it or not. Just looking at SC2, it can handle 10 frames more on high settings.

No problem. I would have done a little more just been to busy to really sit down with the machine. Loving it so far though

 

Sounds like the right machine for me then. I don't get that much time to play games anymore, but it's nice to have a decent GPU just in case, and the Optimus means I won't have to pay the battery penalty. I was considering going with the 8130 just to get the sub, but the 120w brick wouldn't have been fun (and my universal laptop power supply is only 90w). The lack of battery life wouldn't have been fun either...

 

That is one thing I don't like about the 5165 (and Clevo shell it uses) is that it goes to a 120W PSU from 90. I won't be taking my computer on the road as much as I used to, but the smaller power supply would have been nice.

 

just received my laptop yesterday a la xotic.

my specs: i5-2520M, 4gb ram, FHD matte 95% gamut screen, intel 510 250gb, ic diamond

I ordered this before the np5165 came out, but no regrets as I don't do much gaming so I don't think I'm missing out too much for the extra cost. With that said, this thing is blazing fast. Start up time is <30 seconds.

The few negatives I have are: The keyboard/screen are a bit on the flimsy side, but I'm not a heavy typist so doesn't bother me too much. I wish the keyboard was backlit at this price. Also, the fact that u need to use 2 hands to open the lid is a plus to me. It gives it a more solid feel to the laptop.

As said many times before, sound and heat are an issue. I'm using the Logitech Lapdesk n700, which combines speakers with a cooling pad. Sound with this thing is pretty good, although I'm no audiophile, it's pretty loud and has decent bass. I'm also able to lower the temps on the laptop by about 3-5 degrees C.

 

So I finally got around to Starcraft this morning for a little while.

Running on medium setting at FHD, I was getting an average of 50 frames.

Temperatures right after playing were in the high 80's

Screen shots later

 

nice review. can you run some benchmarks? like 3dmark06?

 

For those who are interested on the gaming performance of the NP5160 with the i5 2520M and 4 GB Ram, there is a Brazilian review (in portuguese, of course ) but with print-screens of several games and their frame rate. This one has lower processor and RAM, but it wouldn't impact much on gaming

[Review] Avell Titanium i5 2520M + GT540M

 

Yep I got some screen shots for SC2.

Posted benchmarks and some screenshots. Did this earlier...just forgot to post.

 

Great review. I'm currently between this and the 5165. All I do in terms of gaming is SC2 (multiplayer) and WoW. Occasionally TF2. In your opinion, SC2 was easily playable?

 

Yeah i've only played a couple of games but I didn't experience any slow down on medium setting at FHD resolution. Haven't tested at High, but i'm sure it will slow down.

 

Yeah, it's really down to if you want to play at Medium vs High at FHD or High vs Ultra at 768p

 

Did you reduce the CPU to 99% to keep it cooler, in the power settings?

 

Yes, I did. The temps I posted are with the CPU down at 99%. It helped a lot and the game still ran smoothly.

 

Thanks. Well, I will install anti virus, office, etc etc tonight and let her run.