Ultraportable Notebooks

[Alathald]

Has anyone ever heard of the Sager brand? I've been looking for a decent notebook and the NP7260 from Sager seems to have everything I want at a great price and form factor but all I worry about is that I've never heard of them. Can someone please tell me if these guys are like a OEM for bigger stuff or if they're some no name company it would be foolish to buy anything from...I really hope it's the former cause this laptop is so sexy...

Thanks guys!

EDIT: topic title changed

[Alathald]

Ok, after a bit of looking, I realized that the Hypersonic Avenger AG2 is the exact same notebook (well, same chassis) and that was a very positive review so I'm starting to feel a bit better...Maybe Sager is something I should have heard of then?

[ratNukit]

never heard of it before

[dicecca112]

They are really popular for people that don't want your run of the mill dell. They've been around

[DMB2000uk]

I've heard of them, they seem to do pretty laptops

I've just read that they use re -branded clevo stuff, so they're decent enough cases.

Dan

[Apoptosis]

Dude, Sager/Clevo are basically the same company and they are one of the largest ODM's/OEM's for notebooks... No worries with them at all... I've used Clevo notebooks for nearly five years and have reviewed another one here - http://www.legitreviews.com/article/361/1/

[Alathald]

They are really popular for people that don't want your run of the mill dell.

Dude, Sager/Clevo are basically the same company and they are one of the largest ODM's/OEM's for notebooks...

Thanks guys, that's exactly what I was hoping for Only thing I worry about is if the Intel chipset in the Hypersonic is really worth the couple hundred extra dollars it costs over the Sager with its SiS chipset...shouldn't matter too much as I plan on putting Linux on it anyway but it's just that irrational geek thing of wanting the best. Hopefully I can buy the laptop without the Redmond Tax if Sager/Clevo are basically the same company (and if I call and beg )...
Thanks guys

[dicecca112]

If you want a laptop that will run linux, go here http://system76.com/product_info.php?cP ... ucts_id=85

[Alathald]

I'm not too worried about the Sager being able to run linux because looking around a lot of people have Ubuntu running on the Clevo M72R and the Sager appears to have the same chipset so it should work. I'm always up for a challenge though

I'll keep looking around and see if I can't find a Linux laptop based on the Clevo M72R though, and as reasonably priced as the Sager, always nice to know it works. Thanks for the link

[dicecca112]

personally I'm thinking of gutting my dell, and putting all the compatible parts in this http://www.rjtech.com/miva/merchant.mvc ... ode=COMPAL

[Alathald]

OK I'm starting to go in circles here, apparently the Clevo M72R has the Intel X3100 Santa Rosa chipset while the Clevo M72SR has the aforementioned SiS chipset. The linux driver support for the SiS chipset only includes a basic 2D driver (interestingly, there is apparently an in-house 3D driver that has gone gold but they won't release the driver publicly) so for me the Intel chipset would be far superior.

So after speccing up a Hypersonic AG2 w/o an OS I can get one for about $1100 with a C2D. Of course, I've hit an issue with the Hypersonic because they've listed the T8100 as a Merom. Seems I've either completely missed something as I always thought all T8100 are Penryns...

I'm still looking as I don't really need the 100gb 7200rpm HD Hypersonic offers and I'd like to get the price below the $1000 mark but that's where I am so far. Might contact Sager and see if they don't have the Clevo M72R (Intel) available...doubt it but I may as well.

I'm also eying the Asus Z37S and the MSI 1221 over at RJtech as well but haven't done a whole lot of research on those yet...that Compal looks nice but I don't need a desktop replacement so I'm looking at the smaller stuff.

[DMB2000uk]

The samsung Q45 is worth checking out too, a friend of mine has one.

Is it my fault you want an ultraportable laptop now?

Dan

[Alathald]

Is it my fault you want an ultraportable laptop now?

Everything's your fault Dan
I was originally looking at the HP Mininote but decided that was just too small and the Macbook Air and your precious Envy are way too expensive (plus they're really only toys) so I'm looking for a decent notebook for school this fall. I'll check out the Samsung Q45 as well.

Maybe it's time I changed the title of the topic, kinda turned from "I'm looking at a Sager" to "I'm looking for a ultraportable"

[Alathald]

After a bit more looking and a lot more research upon finding, I think I'm changing to the MSI 1221...it appears to be quite comparable to the Clevo M72R but it's not quite as pretty. Makes up for that by being a good deal cheaper and I'd probably just scratch up the paint on the Clevo anyway. Plus I've found a great deal on one at CyberPower who I've also never heard of but I got smart this time and looked on the BBB and they appear to be a reputable company. Anyway, it'll still be a few weeks before I'll be getting this so I may change my mind yet again before then but thanks for putting up with me anyway

[Skippman]

When I ran my computer store here we only sold Sager as it was the only company at the time that offered anything like a whitebook/customizable PC. They were one of the first companys to truely have a desktop replacement laptop. Always had very good luck with them and some of my customers liked the exclusivity (at the time) of the Sager name. Kinda like an early version of AlienWare.

I'm also in the market for something of this nature although I confess I'd like to have tablet functionality as you know. I'd not considered Sager as my experience with them was in the desktop replacement arena of 8lbs+ or more, battery destroying behemoths. Given that I'm planning on lugging my laptop on my back for 3 days straight that was right out.

As much as I hate HP/Compaq, their tablet appears to be the most cost effective. I'd not considered running linux on it as my experience with linux is acedemic at best and I'm not sure that Linux would support the tablet enviroment.

[Alathald]

Well I finally took the plunge and bought an HP TX2500Z (big thanks to Skippman for bringing my attention to it). I got a great deal on it, HP had a special going for $150 instant rebate included plus a free upgrade to 3Gb of RAM. On top of that, after a bit of searching, I found a stackable coupon for an additional $200 off and I'm getting %5 cash back through FatWallet.com so I feel like I made out like a bandit

Here are the specs:

HP Pavilion tx2500z customizable Notebook PC

• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• AMD Turion(TM) X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor ZM-82 (2.2 GHz)
• 12.1" diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800) w/Integrated Touch-screen
• FREE Upgrade to 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 1GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3200 Graphics
• 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
• 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

All that for a mere $991.70

Thanks again to everyone for helping me out and I'll be sure to post up a personal review once it arrives and I've put it through its paces!

[martini161]

dang, 1280x800 on a 12.1 inch screen? my 15 inch laptop is that resolution and i have trouble reading text on it sometimes. i hope you got good eyes boy

[stopthekilling77]

so when are you gonna swap that SATA drive with a nice SSD one?
:D

[Alathald]

When someone sends me a free one