17.3 Gaming Laptop

[magibeg]

Hello,

So my laptop is getting a little bit long in the tooth (Asus G71, core2, 260m) and I was thinking it's about time to buy a new one. It is also of special note that I live in Canada. So the top 3 brands i was looking at were Asus, MSI, and Sager/Clevo. I'm giving myself a budget of around the $2k mark after taxes. Not overly strict, would prefer to spend less but willing to spend more if it's really really worth it.

The Sager one i can customize to a great degree. The one i was the most focused on is called the special edition and has a few free upgrades that make it a slightly better deal. Even have the option to put in a 780m for +$400 but I'm doubtful the gains are worth it. I configured it like so:

Sager NP8270-S Base
1 x 17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with Matte Finished Surface (1920 x 1080)
1 x NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 770M GPU with 3GB GDDR5 VRAM
1 x 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor (2.40GHz), 6MB L3 Cache
1 x IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU ("free" upgrade)
1 x Genuine MS Windows® 8 64-Bit Edition
1 x 16GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 8GB
1 x Crucial 256GB CM4 Series mSATA SSD - Preconfigured as an OS Drive (Primary Drive C)
1 x 750GB 7200rpm SATA2 Hard Drive CA$0.00
1 x 6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
1 x Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module ("free" upgrade)

Subtotal CA$1,882.13
Grand Total CA$2,126.81 (after shipping and taxes)

http://www.reflexnotebook.ca/laptops-notebooks/screen-size/17-displays/sager-np8270-special.html

So that's my current top pick so to speak. Asus and MSI offer similar models at roughly the same price point but any sage TPU knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fourstaff]

Ill start with the MSI GT, and then look around. Lenovo have good things too if you can get them

 

[Jack1n]

MSI GT Series GT70 2OD-064US Notebook Intel Core i... - Not sure if new egg ships to Canada and im also not sure how much it would be in Cad Dollars but here are some pros and cons.
Pros:The 780m is about 33% faster than the 770m,4gigs of additional ram (not that you will probably need it)
Cons:No SSD.
You might be giving up on an SSD with this laptop but i think the 780m is worth it.

 

[magibeg]

MSI GT Series GT70 2OD-064US Notebook Intel Core i... - Not sure if new egg ships to Canada and im also not sure how much it would be in Cad Dollars but here are some pros and cons.
Pros:The 780m is about 33% faster than the 770m,4gigs of additional ram (not that you will probably need it)
Cons:No SSD.
You might be giving up on an SSD with this laptop but i think the 780m is worth it.

Well did some looking around and I don't see any here in Canada in that price point. That being said I could do this to the Sager:

Sager NP8270-S Base
1 x 17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with Matte Finished Surface (1920 x 1080)
1 x NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M GPU with 4GB GDDR5 VRAM
1 x 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor (2.40GHz), 6MB L3 Cache
1 x IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU ("free" upgrade)
1 x Genuine MS Windows® 8 64-Bit Edition
1 x 16GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 8GB
1 x Crucial 256GB CM4 Series mSATA SSD - Preconfigured as an OS Drive (Primary Drive C)
1 x 750GB 7200rpm SATA2 Hard Drive CA$0.00
1 x 6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
1 x Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module ("free" upgrade)

Subtotal CA$2,283.38
Grand Total CA$2,580.22 (after shipping and taxes)

The closest to the MSI I could find on newegg.ca and ncix.com was this:

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=84163&vpn=9S7-176315-040&manufacture=MSI%2FMicroStar&promoid=1065


I also hear that having an SSD is almost life changing in how you compute.


So for a roughly 30%~ gain in graphical power it would cost me about $450 more. Realistically that's not all that bad.


Does anyone have any information about the quality of MSI vs Sager vs Asus?

 

[Fourstaff]

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=84160&vpn=9S7-16F411-003&manufacture=MSI/MicroStar&promoid=1065

This looks ok decent but can't see other specs

 

[magibeg]

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=84160&vpn=9S7-16F411-003&manufacture=MSI/MicroStar&promoid=1065

This looks ok decent but can't see other specs

Ah yea but it's a 15.6 inch though it looks like. So I take it MSI has an excellent reputation.

 

[Fourstaff]

Ah yea but it's a 15.6 inch though it looks like. So I take it MSI has an excellent reputation.

Not excellent per se, but serviceable. Keyboard is a bit flakey (NKRO problems) I heard.

 

[shovenose]

Yes, SSDs are awesome, you definitely want one.

 

[Jack1n]

Well did some looking around and I don't see any here in Canada in that price point. That being said I could do this to the Sager:



The closest to the MSI I could find on newegg.ca and ncix.com was this:

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=84163&vpn=9S7-176315-040&manufacture=MSI%2FMicroStar&promoid=1065


I also hear that having an SSD is almost life changing in how you compute.


So for a roughly 30%~ gain in graphical power it would cost me about $450 more. Realistically that's not all that bad.


Does anyone have any information about the quality of MSI vs Sager vs Asus?

If you can afford it i dont see why not.

 

[magibeg]

If you can afford it i dont see why not.

It's not really about affording so much as trying to be reasonable with the cost/performance. Benefit of being mid 20's with a good job and low attachments i suppose.

Does anyone know anything about Sager/Clevo?

 

[Jack1n]

It's not really about affording so much as trying to be reasonable with the cost/performance. Benefit of being mid 20's with a good job and low attachments i suppose.

Does anyone know anything about Sager/Clevo?

Apparently all their laptop's are manufactured by Clevo, which is a taiwanese based OEM manufacturer,and Sager(a California based company) brand it their own.
If your worried about the quality it seems to be alright,any laptop could break/last for years.

Edit: Apparently Clevo also makes laptops for Alienware,Dell and HP.
Source: http://www.xoticpc.com/laptop-manufacturers-really-makes-laptops-ip-11.html

 

[kiddagoat]

I am currently the owner of a Sager NP8690. I have owned mine for a bit over 3 years. I can tell you this much, as far as quality of build and longevity, nothing will touch a Sager. You can pretty much upgrade anything in them as far as CPU, GPU, RAM, wireless, etc. Other than the motherboards, you can really do whatever you want with them.

I started with a stock model about 1.5 years ago I upgraded the CPU and the GPU in mine to how it sits in my system specs.

I will vouch for Sager all day over all the other brands. ASUS are good until you have issues with them. Their customer support is horrible at best. I deal with them on a daily basis as a service technician. It is always a fight to get parts or to even get a bit of help from them.

MSI is a good company but their models really do not have the modularity of a Sager.

My next laptop will be a Sager and everyone there after will be. I am very very impressed with them. Never have had an issue.

I do not remember if they ship to Canada or not but XoticPC is the place to order from. Justin and Joseph are top notch.

Mythlogic and Eurocom are good too. Eurocom is who I goto for upgrades after purchase. They are excellent in that area.


I would look at a NP9570 or NP9390.

 

[magibeg]

I am currently the owner of a Sager NP8690. I have owned mine for a bit over 3 years. I can tell you this much, as far as quality of build and longevity, nothing will touch a Sager. You can pretty much upgrade anything in them as far as CPU, GPU, RAM, wireless, etc. Other than the motherboards, you can really do whatever you want with them.

I started with a stock model about 1.5 years ago I upgraded the CPU and the GPU in mine to how it sits in my system specs.

I will vouch for Sager all day over all the other brands. ASUS are good until you have issues with them. Their customer support is horrible at best. I deal with them on a daily basis as a service technician. It is always a fight to get parts or to even get a bit of help from them.

MSI is a good company but their models really do not have the modularity of a Sager.

My next laptop will be a Sager and everyone there after will be. I am very very impressed with them. Never have had an issue.

I do not remember if they ship to Canada or not but XoticPC is the place to order from. Justin and Joseph are top notch.

Mythlogic and Eurocom are good too. Eurocom is who I goto for upgrades after purchase. They are excellent in that area.


I would look at a NP9570 or NP9390.

Xotic doesn't ship to Canada, reflex to my knowledge, is the only place in Canada you can get Sager notebooks from. I just happened to encounter it by fluke. Good to have such a positive review on it.

 

[Rekkapena]

I have MSI GE70 and I'm very happy with that computer. Not so expensive and Rolling BF3 in medium settings fine

 

[magibeg]

Thought I would update this to add closure and bragging rights to this old thread or for someone who searches the forums for a similar thing i went through.

Sager NP9380 base SPECIAL
17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with Matte Finished Surface (1920 x 1080)
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor (2.40GHz), 6MB L3 Cache
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M GPU with 4GB GDDR5
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
16GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 8GB
Crucial 256GB CM4 Series mSATA SSD - Preconfigured as an OS Drive (Primary Drive C)
1TB 5400rpm SATA2 Hard Drive
6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
Intel Dual Band Wireless -AC 7260 AC + BT Combo Card Module
Genuine MS Windows® 8 64-Bit Edition

Subtotal CA$2,433.18
Shipping & Handling CA$0.00
Grand Total CA$2,749.49
HST-ON (13%)
CA$316.31
Tax
CA$316.31
Amount in US Funds(For Reference Only) $2,569.62

Now I play the waiting game....

 

[neopisha]

I am about to purchase a Sager notebook. I have read many reviews and I have compared so many of them. At last I narrowed the selection to NP9570 and NP9390-S.
Does anyone have some real experience with these 2?

Pros. for NP9570 are DVI and DisplayPort and Express Card Slot which I plan to use with a 3G/LTE modem. There is 3 hard/SSD bays. Cons are there is no mSATA option available, desktop CPU which draw more power than mobile i7-4930 extreme versions. Also the cash size and number of cores is higher in 4960X.

Pros. for NP9390 are mobile i7 extreme CPU which draw less power. Also it is more stylish than NP9570 and lighter than it. There are 2 mSATA and 2 hard options. Cons are there is no express card slot but I can use a USB modem.

I am not much of a gamer and using the staff for heavy simulations. Temperature is a form of concern, but I could not find any real data about NP9570.

Anyone has any information about these 2?

 

[Frick]

Thought I would update this to add closure and bragging rights to this old thread or for someone who searches the forums for a similar thing i went through.

Now I play the waiting game....

IC Diamond, that wonderful paste that seems to scratch components?

@neophisa: I have no info on them, but would those simulations benefit from the extra cores?

 

[neopisha]

Frick, I have a desktop with i7-3930 hexa core 12M Cash and an old Dell Latitude. Of course the NP9570 with i7-4960X hexa core and 15M cash is the best choice for computing. But I don't know it worth it. 4930MX and 4690X are the same in price. I am worried about wattage and temprature. I see the NP9570 has double fan for CPU, but I need some real information. Temperature in Dell Latitude rise in some cases I an not place my palm on it! For NP9390 I read http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-EUROCOM-X7-Clevo-P375SM-Notebook.102312.0.html and there is good graph for temperature. But I could not find any analitic data about NP9570.

 

[Kaynar]

FYI most MSI gaming laptop come with TRASH ram. I don't remember the very complicated name of the manufacturer because I saw it last year. I had to replace the 8GB ram of a friend's MSI gaming laptop last year as the ram became defective in the first month. But anyway a 1600mhz 13-13-13-xx must be changed even if its not defective Bought him some 9-9-9 corsair's. The good thing about MSI is that they are quite cheaper than Asus gaming laptops offering the same thing and their cooling capacity is excellent, although I don't like the plastic of the laptop, its too shiny/reflective. All the addons of the laptop are useful (button for instant high speed fan etc).

It is said above you should avoid IC diamond, well I haven't had this problem after 3 years of many application of IC diamond on the same 2 CPUs I own (10+ times applied/removed). However I think this is not a thermal paste to use on a laptop. You should use Artic Silver 4 because it is proved (search in google) that this paste does not get dry as fast as others (meaning in 5 years this is not going to be dust sitting between the CPU and the heatsink) and you would rather never touch that part of a laptop.

Anyways, if I needed a laptop and had the chance to buy a Sager or Clevo, that's what I would pick. Recently bought a 15" cleevo with i7 that weights <1.5kg and has IPS screen, 240gb ssd and fast 8gb ram for 700GBP (should be 1000 USD?) which is a fantastic price. Not to mention the quality of the Clevo case is brilliant and windows comes bloatware-free.

EDIT: as said above, it is also true that Clevo makes some parts of Alienware laptops.

 

[Solaris17]

meanwhile at msi QC (tore this system apart today for a jack replacement)

 

[Chetkigaming]

Go for asus Rog nbooks because they have nice 3d display(120hz 2d available) avrg 2k $

 

[xoticpc]

Xotic doesn't ship to Canada, reflex to my knowledge, is the only place in Canada you can get Sager notebooks from. I just happened to encounter it by fluke. Good to have such a positive review on it.

Just to clarify; we do ship to Canada and to most countries throughout the world as long as those countries accept US imports

 

[yogurt_21]

* accept US Imports.

Magibeg hows the Sager treating you a few months short of a year later?

 

[xoticpc]

* accept US Imports.

Magibeg hows the Sager treating you a few months short of a year later?

 

[magibeg]

* accept US Imports.

Magibeg hows the Sager treating you a few months short of a year later?

Amazing. Exceeded all of my expectations. It runs much cooler than I could have anticipated and I've had 0 Issues (my old Asus ROG had some overheating issues at times). Right now it's acting as a desktop replacement (easily double the performance of my old Q6600 with 7870) and have it hooked up to a dell IPS 1920x1200 monitor. It has actually pushed back when I plan on building another PC because it has been able to run everything i throw at it with complete ease.

Unless something completely unexpected happens my next laptop will also be a Sager. No this is not an ad, just really happy with it lol.

My friend also bought one the same day I did (exact same model, specs, etc, basically just had me order 2 of the same system) and he has also been happy and problem free.