Buying a Sager NP8150

[bondgirlgold]

I am looking to purchase a great gaming laptop as a gift for my husband. A sales agent gave me a few suggestions that I would like to verify since I am PC/gaming illiterate.

I was told that I should upgrade from a nVidia GeForce GTX 560M card to an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6990M for great graphics.

I was also told that I should get an i7 processor, not an i5, for gaming.

I have already said that I would put a solid state hard drive in the computer, so we are settled on that matter.

I don't mind getting top of the line parts since this is a gift, I'd just prefer not to get things that will make very little difference in my husband's gaming experience. Since it is a gift, I would like to get something that will look great and be really enjoyable.

Thanks!

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

If your husband is a serious gamer, buy him a desktop system....

No so called "gaming laptop" will come anywhere near the performance in games of a desktop....

You CANNOT max games like BF3 or Skyrim on ANY Laptop....

I own a Computer company in the Uk (which sells gamers machines) and also a Laptop company....so I do know what I am talking about ...usually lol

All the best Brett

 

[josiahshade]

Sorry Brett928S2 but you are completely wrong many laptops with newer technology may play Games like BF3 and ANY newer games on the highest setting.

 

[Brett928S2]

Sorry Brett928S2 but you are completely wrong many laptops with newer technology may play Games like BF3 and ANY newer games on the highest setting.

Hi

Absolute rubbish...you are NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO PLAY BF3 ON ULTRA on ANY laptop....

All the best Brett

 

[josiahshade]

MSI GT783-625US


Display:
17.3" FHD (1920x1080) Matte

Video Card:
2048MB DDR5 nVIDIA GTX 580M

Processor:
2nd Generation Intel® Mobile Core i7 2670QM (Customizable)

Memory:
16GB DDR3 1333MHz (Up to 32GB)

2 Hard Drives:
(1) 128GB SSD (1) 750GB 7200RPM Hard Drives

This does.

 

[Brett928S2]

MSI GT783-625US


Display:
17.3" FHD (1920x1080) Matte

Video Card:
2048MB DDR5 nVIDIA GTX 580M

Processor:
2nd Generation Intel® Mobile Core i7 2670QM (Customizable)

Memory:
16GB DDR3 1333MHz (Up to 32GB)

2 Hard Drives:
(1) 128GB SSD (1) 750GB 7200RPM Hard Drives

This does.

Hi

No it doesnt...

All the best Brett

 

[thently]

LOL anyyyywayyy Brett you might not be up on the newest laptops dunno but the i7 extream CPU and SLI 580GTX in a laptop with an SSD I am most definitly sure it will max out anything gamewise right now. To OP Yes do the I7 and the 6990 it is a very good card as laptop video cards go I have the 560GTX myself and it is nice but not quite enough for the 1920x1080 screen on my laptop.

Thent

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I have 3 desktop systems with latest generation high end cards from two OC'd 560 Ti's in SLI w/ 120 Hz monitor to GTX 580's ..... I also have a Clevo laptop and 9 outta 10 play days I'm playing on the lappie because it's just too damn convenient (it also travels better than my desktops) and I don't really miss much as compared to the desktop unless those few games when I wanna play say metro 2033.

The Sager 8150 is made by Clevo and known as the P150HM. I'd highly recommend the 170HM (NP8170) which is the same thing but with the 17" screen.

As far as options.....

-There is a 3D Option which adds a 120Hz screen and a pair of nVidia Glasses.....I have to tell you playing Batman Arkham City in 3D on my son's box (desktop w/ twin 560 Ti's @ 1020 MHz and 120Hz Asus screen was pretty danged impressive. At $200 extra, it's not really a big upgrade as the glasses and sender alone are $150.

-It's hard for me to make a case upgrading from the i7-2670QM

-It's hard for me to make a case upgrading from 560M to the 6990 or 580M

- The $40 upgrade to 8GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory is worth it

-The 120GB Intel 520 Series Solid State Drive is a $170 upgrade
-A 750GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) adds $145

-As an alternative to the above pairing the Seagate XT combines a 8GB SSD w/ a 750 GB HD and is only $160 over base price instead of the $315 above

-Upgrade to a 6X Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive Adds $80 and allows hubbie to watch BR movies.

-Upgrade to Intel® Advanced-N 6230 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module + Bluetooth for $25

 

[bondgirlgold]

Thanks for all the feedback so far. I do know that a desktop would be better, but we are in the market for a laptop.

And the hubbie is definitely getting a Blu Ray. I insisted on getting it for him.

 

[josiahshade]

Hi

No it doesnt...

All the best Brett

Well it plays it on ultra at 24 frames per second. So it is a bit laggy but there are four graphics card that don't lag in laptops NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M SLI AMD Radeon HD 6990M Crossfire NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M SLI and the AMD Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire.


The Alienware mx18 can come with Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M – NVIDIA® SLI.

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 2960XM Overclocked Turbo Boost to 4.0GHz (8MB Cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
MEMORY 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
HARD DRIVE 1TB RAID 0 (2 X 512GB Solid State Drive)
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
SOUND OPTIONS Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled.

 

[AntiZig]

I am looking to purchase a great gaming laptop as a gift for my husband. A sales agent gave me a few suggestions that I would like to verify since I am PC/gaming illiterate.

I was told that I should upgrade from a nVidia GeForce GTX 560M card to an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6990M for great graphics.

I was also told that I should get an i7 processor, not an i5, for gaming.

I have already said that I would put a solid state hard drive in the computer, so we are settled on that matter.

I don't mind getting top of the line parts since this is a gift, I'd just prefer not to get things that will make very little difference in my husband's gaming experience. Since it is a gift, I would like to get something that will look great and be really enjoyable.

Thanks!

Hello, to answer your questions:
1. ATI HD 6990M offers significantly higher performance than GTX 560M, so yes, it's a good upgrade.
2. the difference between mobile CPUs i5 is a dual core and i7s are quad cores. As far as gaming goes, there's few games today that use the quad core feature, but within the next year I expect more and more games will use that feature, so again, good upgrade.
3. You said you're getting an SSD and blueray. You might want to double check with the sales agent on whether the laptop you're considering offers dual HDD bays and perhaps get 2 hard drives, 1 SSD (smaller capacity) and 1 HDD (large capacity). But this depends on whether the laptop has enough space inside and whether your husband needs a lot of storage on the laptop. If he's ok with 120Gb SSD only, then you'll be fine.

So, overall, the sales agent provided you with good information. I'm not sure how much the final price tag is a concern to you, but it would define on how far you want to take the available upgrades. Just to give you a perspective, the most crazy laptops with biggest upgrades can easily come out to 3-4 thousand USD, but those laptops would be monstrous and heavy, while their efficiency for the money isn't too great.

Hope that helps.

Well it plays it on ultra at 24 frames per second. So it is a bit laggy but there are four graphics card that don't lag in laptops NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M SLI AMD Radeon HD 6990M Crossfire NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M SLI and the AMD Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire.


The Alienware mx18 can come with Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M – NVIDIA® SLI.

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 2960XM Overclocked Turbo Boost to 4.0GHz (8MB Cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
MEMORY 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
HARD DRIVE 1TB RAID 0 (2 X 512GB Solid State Drive)
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
SOUND OPTIONS Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled.

oh yeah, and how much money do you need to spend for this monstrosity just to achieve 24 fps on a laptop?

Don't be ridiculous. At the same price point desktops outdo laptops at 2:1, it's a fact. No one is denying that there are gaming laptops that can compete with entry level gaming desktops, but at what price? 3-4 times the cost of the said desktop?

 

[Rockdpm]

We have all suggested you get a Desktop, but since your not in the Market for a desktop, the highest quality laptop is recommended. Make sure you ask the next sales agent for the features you need, Blu-ray, latest Gen Core i7's, and best Graphics. what games will you and you uh "Hubbie" be playing

 

[josiahshade]

Hello, to answer your questions:
1. ATI HD 6990M offers significantly higher performance than GTX 560M, so yes, it's a good upgrade.
2. the difference between mobile CPUs i5 is a dual core and i7s are quad cores. As far as gaming goes, there's few games today that use the quad core feature, but within the next year I expect more and more games will use that feature, so again, good upgrade.
3. You said you're getting an SSD and blueray. You might want to double check with the sales agent on whether the laptop you're considering offers dual HDD bays and perhaps get 2 hard drives, 1 SSD (smaller capacity) and 1 HDD (large capacity). But this depends on whether the laptop has enough space inside and whether your husband needs a lot of storage on the laptop. If he's ok with 120Gb SSD only, then you'll be fine.

So, overall, the sales agent provided you with good information. I'm not sure how much the final price tag is a concern to you, but it would define on how far you want to take the available upgrades. Just to give you a perspective, the most crazy laptops with biggest upgrades can easily come out to 3-4 thousand USD, but those laptops would be monstrous and heavy, while their efficiency for the money isn't too great.

Hope that helps.


oh yeah, and how much money do you need to spend for this monstrosity just to achieve 24 fps on a laptop?

Don't be ridiculous. At the same price point desktops outdo laptops at 2:1, it's a fact. No one is denying that there are gaming laptops that can compete with entry level gaming desktops, but at what price? 3-4 times the cost of the said desktop?

To Answer your questions yes get the i7 core processor. Yes get the graphics card upgrade. And before you go and spend a lot of extra money SSD check out how much faster an SSD is. may I suggest getting two hard drive in it. One SSD and one HHD.

Here is a test of how much faster SSD are compared to old hard drives. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lR0XoHFU6Y