Sager Np6165 or Lenovo Y580?

[apav]

Hey guys, I finally narrowed down my choices to between these two. Will be making my decision to purchase today, since the deal at Lenovo is ending soon. Here are the specs:

Sager NP6165:
15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen (SKU - S1P318)
- 3rd Generation Intel® Ivy Bridge Core™ i7-3610QM (2.3GHz - 3.3GHz, 6MB Intel® Smart Cache, 45W Max TDP) (SKU - S2N224)
- Stock OEM Thermal Compound
- nVidia GT 650M 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 with Optimus™ Technology (SKU – S3R520)
- 8GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (SKU - S4R378)
- 500gb (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA II 300 - 32MB Cache) (SKU - S5R413)
- Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti DVDRW/CDRW Drive w/ Software (When selecting a Hard Drive in the Optical Bay, No Optical Drive is Included) (SKU - S7R455)
- Internal 9-in-1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD/Mini SD/SDHC/SDXC/MS/MS Pro/MS Duo)
- Built-in 802.11 Wireless B/G/N - Stock Wireless Card + Bluetooth™ v3.0 (SKU - S8R110)
No backlit keyboard

For $967.01 with shipping and tax

Lenovo Y580:
3rd generation Intel Core i7-3610QM Processor( 2.30GHz 6MB)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M 2GB
8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
15.6" FHD LED Glare Wedge 1920x1080
Industry Standard Multi-touch 2 button touchpad
500GB 7200 rpm
Blu-ray/DVD-RW
6 Cell Li-Polymer
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200BGN
Bluetooth
One year
Notebook
HD Camera
HDMI (Out)
Backlit keyboard

$1030.85 (with shipping and tax)

and if I go with the lenovo I'm planning on going with one of these SSD's:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148611
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226319

Here are some questions if you could please answer them!

1.) How is the Sager's build quality compared to the Lenovo? Which one will get hotter during games? What about the (stock) Sager screen vs the lenovo's?
2.) I can't really compare sizes in my head, but is the Lenovo more portable than the Sager? It looks less thick. I also need the laptops to have some battery life for school.
3.) Is the 650m good enough for gaming on intensive games like BF3 on high with good framerates? Or for this reason alone should I go with the 660m?
4.) Anyone know how good the webcams are on these laptops?

If any of you guys know or have these laptops, I'd appreciate the insight. Thanks!

 

[apav]

Can anyone help please?? Thanks

 

[austing]

I'd go with Lenovo, because I've been around a few of them, and thier pretty nice, also it has a 660m gpu, instead of the Sager's 650m.

1.) How is the Sager's build quality compared to the Lenovo? Which one will get hotter during games? What about the (stock) Sager screen vs the lenovo's?

Sager is more a gamer brand, although they do make nice laptops. The screen on Lenovo's will be fine, I'm sure what you havent seen wont hurt you.

2.) I can't really compare sizes in my head, but is the Lenovo more portable than the Sager? It looks less thick. I also need the laptops to have some battery life for school.

The Lenovo is about 1/4 inch less thick than the Sage, and Lenovo is a really good buisness/school brand, so the battery life will be good.

3.) Is the 650m good enough for gaming on intensive games like BF3 on high with good framerates? Or for this reason alone should I go with the 660m?

I would go 660m, the more frames the better. You should be able to play BF3 with 50% High 50% Ultra settings.

4.) Anyone know how good the webcams are on these laptops?

Both will be about the same quallity. They are both 1080p webcams, so they should both be about the same.

 

[apav]

Thanks for the help! I'm most likely going to grab the Lenovo, for the faster gpu, the option to add a mSSD, and it being the more portable and thinner choice

 

[austing]

Thanks, be sure to check someone post as an answer once you're satisfied with an answer.

 

[kyled321]

I've been doing a lot of research into these two models, since I'm thinking about purchasing one of them or an Asus N56VZ. I can hopefully share some of the knowledge I've found in reviews relating to them.

Because the Sager is cheaper, there are a few things they seem to have sacrificed for that $100-150 depending on where you shop. For example, I've read from several reviews that their speakers are very low quality, and that the webcam is not too good. The Lenovo JBL speakers, on the other hand, are supposedly some of the best integrated speakers in laptops. Of course if you use headphones this shouldn't make a difference, but it's good to know.

Also keep in mind that the Sager by default does not include an operating system. Usually in customizing it you can opt for Windows 7 Home Premium for $80 or so extra. If you want a Windows system (legally), then take that into account.

One nice benefit to the Sager, however, is the inclusion of an extra hard drive port. If you want a second drive (an SSD) in the Lenovo, you'd probably want to spend the $20 to get a Optical Drive caddy to convert that into a hard disk slot:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Y430-Y450-Y460-Y470-Y480-Y580-B460-2nd-SSD-hard-drive-caddy-/280851037026#ht_500wt_1374

Potentially, you could equip the Sager with 3 HDs with a caddy, which is a great benefit. It is a little heavier versus the Lenovo (probably by about 0.5 pounds).

I wish I had more knowledge about the build quality (and tech support quality) of the two machines/companies, but I will keep digging. You may have made your decision by now, and if you have, I'd really like to know which you went for, and why.
Also, what sites did you shop at? Keep me posted!

Kyle

 

[apav]

Best answer selected by Apav.