I never had any desktops - only notebooks. It started in
1994 with a HP OmniBook - 486 processor, 8Mb RAM, with tiny 12” screen, no CD or USB and a nice trackball instead of the stupid touchpad;
1998 Toshiba Satellite 335CDT with a Pentium1 32Mb RAM and 13.3” screen with a shocking clitoris-like pointing device;
2002 HP Pavillion which served me for 7 days was returned due to multiple defects and replaced by Sony Vaio PCG-GRX550 - P4 1.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 15”screen and a stupid touchpad. Sony`s motherboard turned out to be defective 1 week after the warranty was over.
2006 I had to keep the tradition - 1 notebook for 4 years, so in the middle of February 2006 a Sager 5720 appeared on my desk.
Achtung! All my opinions are nonprofessional and usually based on the comparison with my last notebook – Sony.
Sagers screen is probably double the size of my first notebook and 1680x1050 resolution makes things on the screen so small - I have to lean forward to see them. Even new glasses does not help - I had to increase the font size to 120dpi. But when it comes to pictures... I was staring at different Impreza WRX wallpapers for almost 2 hours! Instead of usual 20-30 minutes.
Keyboard looks and acts as a high quality device but traditions put the numeric pad on the right. This means that I cannot use it in the game and letters on the WASD keys will be worn out much faster than the others. Why dont they put the numeric pad on the left? It is a gaming computer, not a calculator!
Painted notebooks look cheap after 1 year of use. The Omnibook and the Satellite were build from plastic which had pigment added to it before forming parts. The Vaio was painted. Paint looks great in the store but it scratches easy and gets worn out fast on the edges and on the handrest area. Now the Sony looks like a 20 year old car and I am afraid that Sager paint is not any better. At the same time antique ’94 Omnibook black plastic still looks like new. I will be glad to hear from people who have Sager longer than I do. Can I do anything to protect the paint?
Sound is the only nomination where Sony is better. Sager`s headphone jack is located in a wrong place – when headphones are connected their cable gets in the way– I used to have my mouse there! And when 2 cables (headphones and mouse) come close– they make a mess.
Yes, I can unplug the headphones and listen to what is called “2 build in speakers”. But it really sounds like 1 speaker buried deep inside the notebook. Sony speakers are louder, don`t distort so easy and twice better sound quality. The problem is not only in low sound quality of those Sager speakers but also in the wrong placement. Speakers should face me not the walls around my desk. I had to amplify the sound in the AC3 codec (+10dB) to hear the speakers and I use a analog volume control to reduce the sound level for my headphones. And I have to mute all additional channels in Volume Control to get rid of chirps and reduce the hiss.
The Realtec driver was done by a bunch of designers. The programmer was under influence or on vacation. That is the only explanation for the fact that I cannot save settings like remapping audio outputs. At the same time interface is beautiful and sound settings include “shower” “drain” “sewer” and so on.
Sager plays video perfectly and it can even read that DVD disc which Sony could not.
But I have some problems playing FarCry. Even with the 2Gb Ram, 2.0Ghz processor, all other programs turned off, latest Nvidia driver and the game patched to 1.33 I have some stuttering. There are levels in the game which are running well and there are some where things stutter each time I start moving, turning or get into the gunfight. It gets to the point where its hard to play. Also the screen is blinking from time to time showing some gray lines for half a second. I tried reducing resolution to 1400x1000 and I reduced video settings in the game from Very High to High and even Medium. Still have the problem. I hope someone can give me an advice on how to fix this.
DVD-R was one of the reasons why I had to get a new notebook – my previous one had a CD-R only. It burns 4.5 Gb on a DVDRW disk in approximately 17 minutes and I believe it is fast. I mean it meets my expectations and it is faster then DVD writers I used before.
The cardreader can finally read the Sony MS Pro which was impossible for the Sony computer with a MS cardreader and all necessary soft and drivers.
I enjoy USB 2.0 but they are all installed upside down. What an asian guile.
When I start FarCry the fan sounds like the one under the hood of my Impreza WRX. I mean I like the sound but I wish it was not so loud. However when I put the hand behind the notebook and I feel all the hot air coming out of it... no, the fan and its noise is fine! Comparing to the work it does. In fact you can throw away your hair blower now if you was using one. Sager has one built in. They are just too shy to put it on the specs list.
Speed is what I like most about my new Sager. It can start up and shut down faster than Sony will start up with the same set of programs on both computers. 5720 reads, writes, moves, shows, and so on faster than Vaio or any desktop I have in my office.
Resume: If I resolve issues with the FarCry video performance I will be able to say that Sager is a very good machine. So far it is a good notebook with poor sound.
1994 with a HP OmniBook - 486 processor, 8Mb RAM, with tiny 12” screen, no CD or USB and a nice trackball instead of the stupid touchpad;
1998 Toshiba Satellite 335CDT with a Pentium1 32Mb RAM and 13.3” screen with a shocking clitoris-like pointing device;
2002 HP Pavillion which served me for 7 days was returned due to multiple defects and replaced by Sony Vaio PCG-GRX550 - P4 1.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 15”screen and a stupid touchpad. Sony`s motherboard turned out to be defective 1 week after the warranty was over.
2006 I had to keep the tradition - 1 notebook for 4 years, so in the middle of February 2006 a Sager 5720 appeared on my desk.
Achtung! All my opinions are nonprofessional and usually based on the comparison with my last notebook – Sony.
Sagers screen is probably double the size of my first notebook and 1680x1050 resolution makes things on the screen so small - I have to lean forward to see them. Even new glasses does not help - I had to increase the font size to 120dpi. But when it comes to pictures... I was staring at different Impreza WRX wallpapers for almost 2 hours! Instead of usual 20-30 minutes.
Keyboard looks and acts as a high quality device but traditions put the numeric pad on the right. This means that I cannot use it in the game and letters on the WASD keys will be worn out much faster than the others. Why dont they put the numeric pad on the left? It is a gaming computer, not a calculator!
Painted notebooks look cheap after 1 year of use. The Omnibook and the Satellite were build from plastic which had pigment added to it before forming parts. The Vaio was painted. Paint looks great in the store but it scratches easy and gets worn out fast on the edges and on the handrest area. Now the Sony looks like a 20 year old car and I am afraid that Sager paint is not any better. At the same time antique ’94 Omnibook black plastic still looks like new. I will be glad to hear from people who have Sager longer than I do. Can I do anything to protect the paint?
Sound is the only nomination where Sony is better. Sager`s headphone jack is located in a wrong place – when headphones are connected their cable gets in the way– I used to have my mouse there! And when 2 cables (headphones and mouse) come close– they make a mess.
Yes, I can unplug the headphones and listen to what is called “2 build in speakers”. But it really sounds like 1 speaker buried deep inside the notebook. Sony speakers are louder, don`t distort so easy and twice better sound quality. The problem is not only in low sound quality of those Sager speakers but also in the wrong placement. Speakers should face me not the walls around my desk. I had to amplify the sound in the AC3 codec (+10dB) to hear the speakers and I use a analog volume control to reduce the sound level for my headphones. And I have to mute all additional channels in Volume Control to get rid of chirps and reduce the hiss.
The Realtec driver was done by a bunch of designers. The programmer was under influence or on vacation. That is the only explanation for the fact that I cannot save settings like remapping audio outputs. At the same time interface is beautiful and sound settings include “shower” “drain” “sewer” and so on.
Sager plays video perfectly and it can even read that DVD disc which Sony could not.
But I have some problems playing FarCry. Even with the 2Gb Ram, 2.0Ghz processor, all other programs turned off, latest Nvidia driver and the game patched to 1.33 I have some stuttering. There are levels in the game which are running well and there are some where things stutter each time I start moving, turning or get into the gunfight. It gets to the point where its hard to play. Also the screen is blinking from time to time showing some gray lines for half a second. I tried reducing resolution to 1400x1000 and I reduced video settings in the game from Very High to High and even Medium. Still have the problem. I hope someone can give me an advice on how to fix this.
DVD-R was one of the reasons why I had to get a new notebook – my previous one had a CD-R only. It burns 4.5 Gb on a DVDRW disk in approximately 17 minutes and I believe it is fast. I mean it meets my expectations and it is faster then DVD writers I used before.
The cardreader can finally read the Sony MS Pro which was impossible for the Sony computer with a MS cardreader and all necessary soft and drivers.
I enjoy USB 2.0 but they are all installed upside down. What an asian guile.
When I start FarCry the fan sounds like the one under the hood of my Impreza WRX. I mean I like the sound but I wish it was not so loud. However when I put the hand behind the notebook and I feel all the hot air coming out of it... no, the fan and its noise is fine! Comparing to the work it does. In fact you can throw away your hair blower now if you was using one. Sager has one built in. They are just too shy to put it on the specs list.
Speed is what I like most about my new Sager. It can start up and shut down faster than Sony will start up with the same set of programs on both computers. 5720 reads, writes, moves, shows, and so on faster than Vaio or any desktop I have in my office.
Resume: If I resolve issues with the FarCry video performance I will be able to say that Sager is a very good machine. So far it is a good notebook with poor sound.
