Help on the 5680

Hi Yang88She, these are all good questions and the same ones I asked myself before purchasing my Sager 5680. Mine should arrive today.

(1). 3.0 vs 3.2 Ghz
I decided to go with the 3.0. One step down from the best processor seems to be a good price-point. You tend to pay a bit of a premium for that top-of-the-line processor. If you're on a tight budget I would recommend the 3.0. The 3.0 with the 9600 Pro will run any game on the market today very well, and will run Doom3 and HalfLife2 great, so no problem there.

(2) 512 vs. 1024 Meg
I decided to go with 1024 after initially deciding to go with 512. 512 meg might seem like a lot, and it is for most purposes, but apps, games, and OSs can are continually wanting more ram and it will make more of a difference than the 3.0 to 3.2 when you have say Visual Studio, and Eclipse, and maybe a game open at the same time. Also(and someone correct me if I'm wrong), isn't there a problem with mixing and matching a 256 dual-channel dimm with a 512 dual-channel dimm, so if you wanted to do the upgrade you really have to go ahead and buy 2 512 meg dimms.

3. Hard drive speeds
I ended up opting for the 60 gig 5400 instead of the 7200. I hope it's a decision I won't regret, but I believe there's another media bay in the 5680, so putting in another harddrive should be trivial.

4. internal vs. card for the wireless
I opted not to get an internal wireless. I want wireless for linux too, and wireless linux can be very picky, so I picked up a card at a local Best Buy, so I can just take it back locally and try other ones without a shipping hassle if they're not working. If you're just running windows, then you should be fine. I think you can take advantage of an internal antenna which didn't occur to me. It's a broadcom chipset if that matters

(5)second battery or not
I didn't get the second battery, but now I'm starting to regret it. I can always pick up one later on if needed, maybe for cheaper, and my system will be plugged in most of the time.

I'm sure any Sager 5680 you get is going to be very nice though. Good luck on your purchase.

Memory: I think having 1 gig of memory is not a requirement today, but within the next 12-18 months this will be the norm for all new systems. Some games that have alot of textures like Planetside require 1gig plus of memory. Other applications like photoshop like a lot of memory as well. But for your average DirectX 8 video game and word processing, 512mb's of RAM is more than adequate. You could always upgrade this later if you need more.

CPU: As for 3.0 vs 3.2, I think the difference is insignificant. Sure, a 3.2 will preform a bit faster, but if you are really looking for a major chip upgrade, wait until after Feb. 2 when Intel releases there new line of CPU's. As well as the notorious Intel Prescott, they are also going to offer a 3.2ghz CPU with 1mb of L2 cache for a price of 274$. This would be a significant upgrade and should be noticeable in apps like video games. But if you can't wait, I would save the cash and go with the 3.0ghz.

Hard Drive: I think hard drive speed is not so much of a gaming performance issue as a ease of use issue. You will notice hard drive speed when opening applications for the first time, booting up and shutting down. Only in games where you have ingame loading (like Everquest) will the speed of your hard drive be an issue. Many people often complain in the "old" days that laptops always feel so sluggish compared to their desktops. This observation mostly has to do with hard drive performance issues. Some people trying to keep cost down will opt for the 5400rpm hard drive. This performs reasonalby well. But most users who buy Sagers are power users. Therefore I qould gues the bulk of users here opt for the 7200rpm hard drive. Also this is a 139$ upgrade, not too much of a price jump.

Batteries: I cannot really comment on the length of use the dual battery option gives you since I do not own a 5680. But, you also need to remember that this is not a Centrino laptop that runs forever. Even with dual batts, you will probably get less than 2 hours of use (I could be wrong but I am guessing). I think many users get a dual battery setup but find themselves using their laptop often where there is accessible power (kind of like your situation). Also remember that adding a secondary battery adds a little more weight to the laptop.

Wireless: As for Wireless, I hear that external/USB wireless cards with a large antenna gives you the best range. From my understanding, many of the internal offerings struggle with range of signal (again I speaking from hearsay).

Obviously I am biased in some areas, but take my opinion with others to shape your own decsion

Good Luck

battery: get a second if you forsee yourself being away from a power outlet for more than 90 minutes.

CPU: from what you said, 2.8ghz is more than sufficient for your needs, but if the price( i haven't looked) for the 3.0ghz is less than $100 more i'd go for it

Memory: I'd opt for 1gb of RAM, winbl0ws is a memory hog to begin with, nevermind the programs written for it....

Hard Drive: i have the 60gb 4200rpm in my 8887. i have no complaints. but then again i am not a gamer. if had had to do this over again i'd get the 5400rpm 80gb though. from what i've read my boot up times will increase a bit betwixt the 4200 and 5400...

WIRELESS: by all means go for the internal. the internal card hooks up to an antenna which is wrapped around the LCD, thereby affording you a range and reception that a PCMCIA card cannot.

congrats on your decision to go with sager, i was once at a crossroads identical to yours.

oh you mean (well as close as the smilies will translate ).

BTW thanks for taking the time to do your research first before asking questions. It is appreciated by all forum members. You questions are very welcome and obviously show a lot of thought has gone into them. (Oh ok I will lay off the platitudes now...)

If you are doing the lecture thing a second battery would be a must have. Maybe even a third for those longer double headers. They are hot swappable if you didn't already know.

If you intend to do any video editing go faster disks. If not, stick with the slower disks. As previously pointed out you will only notice the speed difference during load up etc.

CPU wise I would get the slowest offered then later in the year get the upgrade to the fastest available once the price has dropped. Target your CPU upgrade to a month before they talk about making the 478 CPU socket obsolete. At that point the CPU's will be at their best price point.

The WiFi cards seem to be popular with students. Given a lot of Uni's have WiFi networks I would get one. Most corporate places I go to loathe the things. Too much of a security risk so I never bothered in my 8890, where as Bluetooth I used quite a lot between my phone and lappy.

Memory will make a big difference to your laptop - the 5680 (like the 8890) use dual channel DDR400 paired memory to keep the 800 MHz FSB fully loaded. Spend your money here. A pair of 512Mb sticks is worth every cent performance wise.

Good luck with the studies. What are you studying btw?

That's what I went with. Increased performance never hurts!
When my 5680 gets here it'll be 3 times faster, have 20 gig more storage, and twice as much Ram as my current Dell desktop.

I'm an artist and do lots of graphics work on my current Dell setup with no problems. With the über-power our 5680s will contain, I'm sure we'll be quite pleased with the selected configurations!

If you want to totally stuff up your Marketing degree (I know about those huge marketing text books btw) may I suggest you get hold of three little books:
"Positioning: The battle for your mind"
"Marketing Warfare"
"Bottom up Marketing"
All written by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

Don't get them if you want to pass your exams. Get them if you want to know how to really market.

A word of warning - they are dangerous books that will make you rethink your degree...
Sort of like a Sager laptop really. You want a Sager? You can't handle a Sager! The same thing applies to these books. Powerful ideas are there if you believe you can handle new ideas. But I know you can't. Most people can't. That's why most people don't own Sager's and that's why most marketing fails.

As a test for you, next time you are watching TV mute the sound during the ad break. Tell me if any of the ads shown would make you want to go out and buy the product advertised. If you like me find that the ads are a waste of air time, then consider this - the same people who produced the marketing campaigns behind those ads are the same people who would have done the exact same course you are now doing.

Does this ring any alarm bells? If the ads you just watched are useless and the people making the ads have done the same course you are doing, doesn't this imply the course is not really achieving the aim of marketing. The three books will explain why the ads don't work. What does work and why most degrees in marketing are not about marketing but about obtaining a piece of paper called a degree.

The two statements in my sig: "Sager - bigger than most, faster than all" and "You want a Sager? You can't handle a Sager!" are a direct result of those three books.

Make of it what you will. If you never read the three books you will never know will you...

The marketing course may not be a total loss. It could be an eye opener or serve as a "bad example". Best marketing is word-of-mouth by satisifed customers/clients - all else fails by comparison.

As PC Torque is a good example of.

I don't mean to put down these marketing degrees, it is just I see so much wasted which indicates what they are teaching just does not work. These three books on the other hand have made me so much money I am glad few people know about them because it makes my job so much easier .

Good luck with the law degree - that is an eye opener as well. Mine was a couple of years ago. Not to get a job but to learn about contracts, equity (ie trusts) and conveyancing (land purchases). All good subjects for a budding investor. Helps when negotiating new contracts for my companies.

A STRONG english (language) mechanics class will also help in these endeavors. What is "written" and what was communicated are often disparent (sp?) I also do the "contract reviews, etc" and find it odd how much the "intent" and "reality" are missed within the written document. Good Luck and try the easy reading the Steve suggest, even if it is in your "free (haha) time".

Ah yes Melbourne, they have the Yarra river flowing thru the city. The best description I have heard about the Yarra is "too thick to flow, too thin to plow" (Typical Sydney - Melbourne rivalry ). Say hi to your aunt for me and wish her a safe trip back to Oz (30 hours that is a nightmare. Sydney to LAX is bad enough).