Yeah, I've had HDs crash before. I've had that laptop for a couple years and I really didn't shake it at all. But I contacted Dell about it, they'll send me a new one. I really just wondered what other laptops people liked.
Yeah, the original hard drive in my Inspiron laptop fubarred after about a year and Dell sent me a replacement IBM Travelstar, which has been in it for going on 1 1/2 years now. No biggie, hard drives croak occasionally. That's why I get the 3 year warrantee on my laptops. Besides the hard drive, I've also had the cdrw, the battery and the backlight in the lcd screen die. I had to send the laptop back to Dell for the lcd, which they paid shipping both ways and picked up from and delivered to my house. The only part they didn't cover was the battery, which I was able to swap out with on a work computer.:eek3:
i know a lot of you guys tout the superiority of the sager/powernoteboks, but what exactly is so great about them compared to other companies? i figured i'd ask you guys for real world experience.
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Geeky1University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
All of the people raving about the quality of the service? They're not insane... they're right.
Computers.
The Sager notebooks are the closest you can get to a desktop computer while still having something that can be taken with you relatively easily, and can run on battery power.
They're well built, well designed machines. I've had no problems with mine that were not my own fault.
The PowerPro notebooks that powernotebooks sells are also great; my mom has one, and it's been problem-free. They're also extremely well built, and are significantly more practical as notebooks than the Sagers are.
yeah, i've gotten the impression that sagers are more "desktop replacements" and powerpros are more travel-friendly. good quality construction is nice, as well as long battery life.
Yeah Ive got an inspiron, I threw a 7200rpm hitatchi drive in her. That boosted the performance 10 fold.
But yeah I agree with the others, those sagers look like some nice machines. Id get one of those before another dell. I had to get a dell cause i went threw my employer and they have a discount plan with dell.
hrm, sagers are pretty heavy and have terrible battery life. too bad everything else about them is fantastic... they're gorgeous machines.
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Geeky1University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
edited November 2003
The battery life isn't that bad. For normal use (word, internet, etc.), I get ~2-3Hrs/battery, with a 2.4GHz P4, 512MB DDR, 40GB/4200RPM, 15" UXGA, R7500m 64MB, and an 8/4/8/24 combo drive.
Battery life while gaming can get BAD, depending on how 3d intensive the game is. The worst I've seen is 45 minutes/battery. However, for normal use, 2-3Hrs is average.
oh nice, on the sager website pretty much all of their notebooks are listed as getting 1.5 hours, twice that is almost in acceptable territory. i'm a stickler when it comes to battery performance, i hate the thought of having a notebook that has to be plugged in all the time, i think it defeats the purpose of their existence.
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Geeky1University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
edited November 2003
2 hours is closer to normal than 3. I've seen 3, but 2 is average; it is EXTREMELY variable with use. Last semester I was getting ~ 1.5Hrs/battery. This semester I'm getting two. What's the difference? Hell if I know. If you buy one, count on 1.5 @ worst - 2.5 @ best as an average range. Also, the new ones are probably worse.
However, the pentium 4m is a standard socket 478 chip- they'll work in desktop P4 boards. So, concievably, they'll work in a Sager laptop too.
So, what you could do if you wanted the ultimate desktop replacement, while still maintaining relatively good battery life, is to buy the Sager, take the P4 out, sell it, and drop in a P4m.
i've actually considered that as an option were i to buy a laptop. P4m's are way expensive, though. i almost think it's better to put together a centrino model to save some dough...
hopefully, one day i'll find a laptop that i'll be happy with. i'm always on the lookout, but for some reason can never find anything that i get real excited about. it's really too bad that there's no way to customize laptops nearly as much as you can with desktops. that would make me very happy.
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Geeky1University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
edited November 2003
A P4m-2.4 is $229 w/shipping @ axiontech.com
A loaded Sager NP8890-Force (2 60GB 7200RPM drives in RAID 0, 3.2GHz P4, 1GB DDR400, ATi R9600m 128MB, DVD burner, etc. with no software would run you ~$3400.
The P4-3.2 is a $400 chip. You could probably get $350 for it; $300 at worst. So, you'd actually make a profit by switching it out for a P4-M.
hrm i guess i'm not up with P4m prices, i thought i remembered seeing a 1.6ghz somewhere for like $500 or something, which i deemed as being waaay too much. i like the low voltage of the centrino series, due to the added battery performance.
i wouldn't have $3400 to drop on a laptop... man these things get expensive in a hurry.
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Geeky1University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
edited November 2003
Yeah. Part of it tho is that Powernotebooks charges obscene prices for some of the upgrades (somewhat less obscene than dell's, but rediculous nonetheless)- a second 60GB/7200RPM drive is $320; go to newegg and buy the thing and put it in yourself. (it's $250 @ newegg).
However, the thing I like about the 8890 is that it can take 4 hard drives, internally. 3 if you want an optical drive. (1 internal, 1 in the modular bay, 1 in place of the TV tuner inside the notebook)
for sure, it's a fantastic notebook, but i'm not looking for a desktop replacement... more of a desktop supplimentary.
i think it would be cool to have a ~1.6ghz centrino machine with the radeon 9600m that weighs less than 5 pounds and looks really cool (like those sagers).
i think more companies need to produce barebones notebooks and then compete on component prices with the likes of newegg, etc. i like what alienware has done (i think it was them) with providing a port to plug in your own video card, but i think being able to install everything myself would be really cool, and a great way to cut costs. i wonder if such a market would be viable for companies to enter.
Comments
All of the people raving about the quality of the service? They're not insane... they're right.
Computers.
The Sager notebooks are the closest you can get to a desktop computer while still having something that can be taken with you relatively easily, and can run on battery power.
They're well built, well designed machines. I've had no problems with mine that were not my own fault.
The PowerPro notebooks that powernotebooks sells are also great; my mom has one, and it's been problem-free. They're also extremely well built, and are significantly more practical as notebooks than the Sagers are.
But yeah I agree with the others, those sagers look like some nice machines. Id get one of those before another dell. I had to get a dell cause i went threw my employer and they have a discount plan with dell.
Battery life while gaming can get BAD, depending on how 3d intensive the game is. The worst I've seen is 45 minutes/battery. However, for normal use, 2-3Hrs is average.
However, the pentium 4m is a standard socket 478 chip- they'll work in desktop P4 boards. So, concievably, they'll work in a Sager laptop too.
So, what you could do if you wanted the ultimate desktop replacement, while still maintaining relatively good battery life, is to buy the Sager, take the P4 out, sell it, and drop in a P4m.
hopefully, one day i'll find a laptop that i'll be happy with. i'm always on the lookout, but for some reason can never find anything that i get real excited about. it's really too bad that there's no way to customize laptops nearly as much as you can with desktops. that would make me very happy.
A loaded Sager NP8890-Force (2 60GB 7200RPM drives in RAID 0, 3.2GHz P4, 1GB DDR400, ATi R9600m 128MB, DVD burner, etc. with no software would run you ~$3400.
The P4-3.2 is a $400 chip. You could probably get $350 for it; $300 at worst. So, you'd actually make a profit by switching it out for a P4-M.
i wouldn't have $3400 to drop on a laptop... man these things get expensive in a hurry.
However, the thing I like about the 8890 is that it can take 4 hard drives, internally. 3 if you want an optical drive. (1 internal, 1 in the modular bay, 1 in place of the TV tuner inside the notebook)
i think it would be cool to have a ~1.6ghz centrino machine with the radeon 9600m that weighs less than 5 pounds and looks really cool (like those sagers).
i think more companies need to produce barebones notebooks and then compete on component prices with the likes of newegg, etc. i like what alienware has done (i think it was them) with providing a port to plug in your own video card, but i think being able to install everything myself would be really cool, and a great way to cut costs. i wonder if such a market would be viable for companies to enter.