Sager NP7280 Review 3

Well, got the computer back after a second RMA and here's my follow up report.

1. Sagernotebook which handled the PCTorque purchased machine via RMA had me ship the machine to them a second time. You may recall I had constantly failing CMOS that forced me to open the machine, remove the CMOS battery for a few minutes allow the CMOS to reset. Otherwise the machine would try to boot but couldn't.

2. In both RMA's, they didn't charge me to ship. The first time they say they found nothing and the machine passed, they replaced a memory chip. All this did was nothing as it came back with the same problem. through all this a guy named David stood by me the whole way, keeping things personal. A huge distinction from the impersonal and generic, and very unhelpful conduct I've seen and heard of with other businesses after a sale is made.

3. The second return, I suggested they change the motherboard or give me a new computer. they agreed to change the motherboard. Made me wonder why in the heck didn't they do this to begin with. When it came back, they had also changed the Apacer memory modules with Samsung modules.

4. Receiving the computer back for the second time, my accumulated frustrations and the fact the mess had put me 2 full months behind my work schedule caused me to doubt the repair. Consequently, I placed it on a living room desk while continuing to use my NP9261. I did this while firing up the NP7280 once or twice every few days to see if the CMOS problem returned. After about 2 weeks it hasn't failed. Finally, today I brought it into my workroom to replace the NP9261. I've hooked it to the LAN, scanner, HDMI monitor, USB hub, and a few external hard drives. I'm using it now. I still don't trust it completely so will use it for mundane tasks for another week before using it to work on my projects as originally intended. But I can say as before, when it was working, it is just a dream machine to use. A darn shame I had the problems I did.

SAGERNOTEBOOKS: The way they handled this has been extraordinary for me, and people I know who dealt with other businesses. Next time I will probably buy from them though I retain a soft spot for XoticPC based on past experiences. I've never gotten a bad machine from XoticPC and kick myself for not ordering this one from them instead of PCTorques. Not to beat up on PCTorque as this might have been an atypical incident for all I know. However, you can't take lightly the above and beyond the call of decency of Sagernotebooks in my post sales experience.

NP7280(2) suggestions revisited: Return the memory modules to the bottom of the machine for easier access. having to remove the panel hinge cover, then the keyboard, then a metal plate to access the modules and CMOS battery is silly. What's more you have to remove the keyboard which puts the keyboard ribbon at risk of being torn. Replacing it is a pain. Plus the screws to each component mentioned above are tiny things easily dropped an lost. I lost some (since replaced, thanks to Sagernotebooks) despite the fact I placed the machine on a large towel meant to catch any dropped screw by disallowing them to bounce. Two did anyway and vanished. memory is the one thing most of us will upgrade so making this DIY act so potentially dangerous is really silly.

Dump the fragile HDD trays and allow HDD to be installed in same manner that third HDD located beneath the notebook battery is installed. You basically just slide it in place, install 1-2 screws and you're done.

Please, please bring back the metal decal look that used to be on the top panel of the machines that said Sager. Circa Sager NP9890. It's so macho, exude being heavy duty and industrial, so one of a kind thing.