15 Months Later - Or Why I'd Never Buy Another Sager (and Hate The Bomb)

Prelude

In August of 2004, prior to beginning law school, I came to these forums to see what I could find out about various manufacturers and choose the best computer for my money. After a week or so of reading and discussion, it seemed that the computer with the most bang for my buck was the Sager 3790.

The 3790 seemed to have it all - a fast processor, a beautiful WUXGA screen, bluetooth & Wi-Fi, a Radeon 9700 - pretty much everything I could have asked for in a computer at that time.

The Early Days
In the early days, after I received the computer, I was thrilled. It was beautiful. The keyboard bent a little, but nothing too bad. And the screen! Oh, how gorgeous was the screen! It worked fine. It was at least twice as fast as my desktop, and it was perfect for class - I could browse the net and take notes, and both windows could be on one half of the screen!

I was very pleased those first few weeks...but our love was not true - the Sager 3790 was planning to break my heart and my wallet.

And Here My Troubles Began
Around December 2004, I contacted Sager to ask about the intense heat coming off the palmrests. They said it was normal, but I disagreed (and still do). The palmrests were hot to the touch, sometimes scaldingly hot. Someone pointed out that I had a 7200 RPM drive - but that seemed like an answer that wasn't quite accurate.

At that time, I also started to notice that the screen was getting dark spots in various places. Nothing too distracting, but it was annoying when there was a white image on the screen.

Into the Gulag
Then, without warning, came April 2005. Well, techincally, I had warning - I knew it came after March, but I didn't know that the Ides of April would bring my Sager's first Trip to California!

That's right. Approximately eight months after I purchased the computer, I noticed that the system was not charging when I plugged in the power cord. I contacted customer support, and they had me ship it back. Several things happened:

1. I shipped it UPS Red (Overnight) to California, because I needed it back before exams.
2. I rented an IBM ThinkPad from a local rental place.
3. It took Sager 7 days to repair my notebook.
4. Then, after explicit directions to ship it overnight, they shipped it back UPS Ground.

I got it back...and I noticed a new problem. While it was now getting power from the outlet - the battery wasn't charging! How nice! They sent it back with a surprise! So, after Spring Semester Finals, I shipped it back out and started using my desktop for a week - I didn't need to carry a computer if I'm not in class or taking exams.

Note that the Sager 3790 went to California twice in one month, effectively.

We Get Fan Noise
Ah, the cheering of the fans...but this wasn't good, this was a grinding noise...

I opened my notebook up, and turned it on, and all of a sudden, in the middle of Professional Responsibility, there came a grinding. A grinding of great proportions. And lo, it is now JUNE 2005, and the Sager has been back with me for about two weeks.

I managed to make the fan noise stop by rigging the computer to hold down the loose fan with a piece of paper. However, that solution, while elegant and obviously proper, was not good for the long term. So, following my summer classes, in Early AUGUST 2005, the Sager went BACK to CALIFORNIA. Again.

And again, it came back, a week or so later...this time with...

The Magical Wireless Problem!
So, the computer has now been in California three times, and I go to turn it on...but the wireless card has trouble finding a signal. I say "Oh, i've seen this before, I'll just make sure the antenna is in place." Well, the antenna was somewhat disconnected, but connecting it had no benefit. Even in areas where my signal strength is 100%, I was dropping connections.

I ended up contacting Sager again, and they agreed to fix it for free when I was able to ship it back to them. I swapped the antennas for the bluetooth and wireless cards, and that seemed to fix the problem somewhat. Not so many dropped connections, but still dropping sometimes.

Hard Drive? What Hard Drive
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for - the killer app of this computer - motherboard and hard drive controller failure! That's right. In early October 2005, I booted my computer only to have it tell me that I had no hard drive. I said "That's odd," opened the case, and pushed the drive back into place.

That seemed to fix it for a little while, and I said "Hmm, I guess notebook hard drives get loose every so often."

Apparently this is not true. While I'm typing this on the 3790, it so happens that I was magically able to get it to boot today. You see, after the October Failure, it worked fine until Friday, November 4, 2005. Then the same thing that occured in October began happening, only with more frequency.

If I move the computer at all at this point, it will bluescreen and then, when I reboot, tell me there's no hard drive. I LOVE IT! And I'm pretty sure the hard drive is fine - it worked fine when I tested it in another computer. So, once again, the Sager 3790 is MAGICAL.

The Bottom Line
Here's the bottom line:

• I have to send this POS back to Sager again.
• I will never buy a Sager again.
• The 3790 and associated systems are not portables, according to the tech guy at Sager - they didn't design them to be "carried about" in daily use.
• I have to buy a new notebook because I'm leaving the country for several months, and I cannot be sitting in the middle of a foreign country going "OH BLEEP YOU YOU BLEEPING SAGER."
• If you have a warranty on your 3790 or any other Sager, I would recommend extending it, because this machine is horribly built and will likely give you problems for life.

It actually puts me in a real bind now.

I wanted to hold off until next June to get a computer - I wanted one of the new Intel Based Macs.

But it looks now that I'll plunk down some money on an Sony/HP/Dell to get me through the next few months, and then sell it when the new MacTels come out.

I bought mine from PCTorque.

It's going back to California again very soon - I just got a new RMA, hopefully they'll fix it. Maybe.

sid21177 - Do you have to be a member to shop at those stores, like you do at BJ's?

scottwilkins - Yeah, that's exactly what I found out after the fact. Sagers are just not meant to be used by people who actually need a mobile notebook PC.

Well, I am out of warranty now. I had some problems there - when I ordered it, they told me I could extend the warranty as long as I did it before the original one expired.

They left off the important part there, though - it had to be 90 days before it expired.

I bought it with my American Express, but they do the same thing. That's what I'm using for warranty coverage right now.

We'll see what happens, I suppose!