Clevo chassis?

[Dresgeve8710]

I've recently read about Clevo laptop chassis such as used in Sager computers. Sagers have great value and honestly I like the "plain and rugged" look of the case, since at college it makes it far less of a target for theft than, say, an Alienware. Plus, I just think it looks cooler

But I'm really concerned about durability. I carry my laptop with me EVERY time I leave the apartment. So basically, I have it with me 7 days a week. I carry it in a nice SwissGear bag with lots of padding and such. And yet, the Lenovo y570 I bought a year and a half ago has already blown the right hinge twice just from pulling it out of the backpack, since I store it that side up (hence the reason I'm looking for a replacement). This is totally unacceptable, as you can imagine. But when I was reading about Sager in reviews and such, I saw someone say the durability was comparable to Lenovo (saying it was good). But my Lenovo machine has been pathetic in that department.

So what's the real verdict here? Can a Clevo-based machine handle daily travel to and from school? I take care of my machine, trying not to open it the wrong way and never setting anything heavier than a mouse on it, all that stuff. But do these have a lot of flex in the hinges and such? Are the hinges *gasp* made of more than plastic for a change? Any reason other than cost-benefit I should buy a Clevo-based system?

Any input would be terrific! Thanks! (By the way, I did see the very long Clevo Guide v2.0 thread on Notebookreview.)

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

You want ultimate durability you buy a Panasonic Toughbook...

ALL other lappies will get problems... and i seriously mean ALL...

All the best Brett

 

[Dresgeve8710]

They will, yes, but I'm not talking about dropping the laptop off the table or throwing it under pounds of textbooks and all that. My Lenovo broke simply from picking it up when it was closed. I went through two hand-me-down Toshibas that didn't do that, and I actually didn't store them in a $100 backpack, nor try not to abuse them (since they had horrible internals anyway Carried them every day as well, and even dropped the older one on a tile floor.). I'm just looking for a laptop that will at least handle being taken off the desk a few days a week for more than 10 months at a time, which the Lenovo hasn't done. Even with white glove treatment, the Lenovo has disintegrated!

So I know that no laptop is indestructible I'm just trying to find my best bet, haha. So I guess to rephrase the question, in comparison to the average laptop, how well does a Sager/Clevo hold up? Their cost value is way too good to pass up!...unless their cases are stupidly bad, haha.

 

[DiaSin]

They cant be that bad, its the same chassis that AVA Direct uses for all of their custom buildt gaming laptops, and has been for a few years now.

 

[Dresgeve8710]

I've been reading a ton of reviews and forum threads and such for the past couple hours, and Sager/Clevo does sound like a beast of a system. People say they hold together well, not falling apart at a breath, and the coolest part is that they say they are easily modified if something fails. So let's say in a year or two the GPU fails. Apparently the machine is easily taken apart and parts replaced without sending it back in.

We could have a winner here! Even if they aren't Toughbooks, the fact that they are more the "tuner" of the laptop world is appealing. I like stuff I can at least attempt to fix myself, haha, especially since I'm electronically-inclined.

 

[mesab66]

As Brett said, but Toughbooks will carry a significant extra cost....they are marketed for a particular consumer segment.

Clevo/Sager models are well built but still use standard (non-Toughbook) though very customisable options (depending on the model). Without additional HDD dampening/etc they will all carry risks.


As one option (there are more...google) give www.pcspecialist.co.uk a visit/phone and see if they do more in the way of extra dampening - if they don't they might be aware of other vendors that do (again, google will help).

Alternatively, purchase a more padded carry bag and try to be a little more carefull in setting it up/taking it down.

 

[mesab66]

They are 'relatively' easy to swap in/out/add 'some' components (Brett can provide more info on this aspect).....more so than off-the-shelf laptops. They (and all others) are not future proof - the internals, in particular, will eventually put an end to further upgrading.

 

[Walker Page]

if one sought to explore a project involving a clevo chassis for whatever reasons, how could you acquire them?

:necro: :smith:

 

[Rragar]

I've recently read about Clevo laptop chassis such as used in Sager computers. Sagers have great value and honestly I like the "plain and rugged" look of the case, since at college it makes it far less of a target for theft than, say, an Alienware. Plus, I just think it looks cooler

But I'm really concerned about durability. I carry my laptop with me EVERY time I leave the apartment. So basically, I have it with me 7 days a week. I carry it in a nice SwissGear bag with lots of padding and such. And yet, the Lenovo y570 I bought a year and a half ago has already blown the right hinge twice just from pulling it out of the backpack, since I store it that side up (hence the reason I'm looking for a replacement). This is totally unacceptable, as you can imagine. But when I was reading about Sager in reviews and such, I saw someone say the durability was comparable to Lenovo (saying it was good). But my Lenovo machine has been pathetic in that department.

So what's the real verdict here? Can a Clevo-based machine handle daily travel to and from school? I take care of my machine, trying not to open it the wrong way and never setting anything heavier than a mouse on it, all that stuff. But do these have a lot of flex in the hinges and such? Are the hinges *gasp* made of more than plastic for a change? Any reason other than cost-benefit I should buy a Clevo-based system?

Any input would be terrific! Thanks! (By the way, I did see the very long Clevo Guide v2.0 thread on Notebookreview.)

I have two: a dead NP7280 (external power surge, mind you, it had nothing to do with the computer itself) and currently a NP9570. I have never had a single issue with either of them. Zero keyboard flex, zero hinge flex, all internal chassis components are made of metal and only the outside surfaces are plastic (and a resilient one, at that). These are the desktop replacement models, however, so I'm not 100% certain that every other model uses a metal chassis (but I suspect most of them do).

Since it's not painted plastic (at least not for the ones I have), there's no way of chipping the exterior finish. Of course, I do take extremely good care of them but even so, I can't really see these computers having a chassis with questionable durability. I have yet to put a single scratch on it, and I've never had to worry about the hinges. I used my NP7280 at least 6 hours every day and thus, the hinges suffered a minimum average of 3 cycles of use every day. Two years later, the hinges never broke, bent, or even got loose, and they have always felt like new.

Also, all the hard drives are supported by rubber grommets to dampen vibration, and I can tell you for certain that Sager laptops have the best available cooling I have seen in a laptop. Multiple fans, lots of copper heatpipes, huge independent copper heatsinks, excellent airflow.

Desktop replacement models also use black aluminium parts on the palmrest and behind the screen.

Only things I didn't like about these computers, were the power adapter cable length (too short for me, in the case of the 7280) and the fact that, after 7 months or so, my hand had already corroded the palm rest area I used the most, so it lost some of the black finish. I expected a bit more durability in this respect, but then I know I could have avoided it if I had wiped the surface clean on a regular basis (thus I'm doing that now with the 9570).

 

[Rragar]

if one sought to explore a project involving a clevo chassis for whatever reasons, how could you acquire them?

:necro: :smith:

Barebones is your keyword.

I think RJTech sells them. Just look up "clevo barebones" and you should be able to find a few suppliers. Can't actually point you to a specific one because I've never dealt with them myself.

 

[Prostar Computer]

Some Clevo resellers simply rebadge the product, but all in all there are quite a few Clevo resellers out there. But yeah, they are fairly robust laptops. Shop around and check out reviews on the seller, as well as the product. http://www.resellerratings.com/ is one place you could start at when screening the various retailers/resellers out there.