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Doom's Hypersonic FX7 Review

post #1 of 21
4/10/06 at 11:41am
Thread Starter 
For those of you with ADHD, here's the 10 second review: I LOVE IT!

Now, for everyone else with a more normal attention span:

Laptop specs:

Aviator FX7 in Reflexxion Series Chiaretto Red Pearl
Airbrush Custom Graphics (High Detail)
AMD AthlonT 64 X2 4400+ Dual Core Processor
2 x 1024MB PC3200 DDR400 SODIMM
Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX PCI-Express 256MB
Built-in TV Tuner with Remote Control for FX7
100GB 7200rpm Serial-ATA Hard Drive with NCQ & 8MB Cache
8X DVD ± R/W Drive Dual Layer w/ DVD Recording Software
8X DVD / 24X-10X-24 CD-R/W Combo Drive w/ Recording Software
17" WUXGA 1920x1200 VividViewT Display w/ Super Clear Glossy Surface w/ No Dead Pixel Guarantee
Internal 802.11G 54Mbps Wireless Mini PCI Network Adapter
MS Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 CD & Manual SP2
(No Disaster Recovery DVD)
1 Year Platinum Warranty with 24/7 Toll-Free Tech Support

Brief history of me: I'm a geek/nerd with 20+ years experience messing with computers, mostly personal use. This is the second Sager notebook I've purchased, the first being a 5680 I bought in mid-2003, which I use on a daily basis with very minor issues.

Order Progression: Ordered on 02/28/06, received on 04/07/06. ONLY got pushed back 3 times. E-mail communication with Hypersonic was hit or miss, depending on if I contacted sales (hit) or customer service (miss). All in all, could have been better, but I'm glad I got my laptop.

First impression out of the box: IT'S HUGE! The Chiaretto Red Pearl looks gorgeous, as does the custom art I got. The grainy pics I took with my camera phone don't do it justice.

Front view
Back view with lid

For those of you wondering, that's the chinese character for Lee (my family name).

Boot up, and time to get started!: After I got it out of the box (did I mention that it's heavy?), I spent the next few hours at work installing stuff (don't tell my boss!). I had pre-loaded my 6GB pocket drive with most of my needed apps. My only serious beef was with installing and patching WoW. The patch would always crap out mid-way through, on the same internal WoW file. After uninstalling and reinstalling WoW for the 3rd time, and juggling incremental and full versions of the patches, I finally got it fully patched. It took me a good 5 hours, but I was ready to go! I'm not sure what to attribute this issue to, so I'm counting my blessings and moving on.

After the weekend: I spent the weekend installing more stuff and playing some WoW. I thought I had hosed the system a few times with my tweaking, but the right combination/version of drivers seemed to fix it. Items of note:
  • Video Drivers: WoW played fine right out of the box with the installed drivers. Downloaded and installed the latest NVIDIA drivers. BIG mistake. WoW kept blue-screening the laptop every 5 minutes or so. Downloaded and installed the 83.40 Laptopvideo2go drivers, and everything played nicely.
  • Wireless Drivers: The installed drivers kept taking forever to find my router. Downloaded and installed the latest drivers, and it seems to be running much better.
  • CPU Speed: Still trying to figure out how to get my CPU to run at max speed all the time. Power management settings don't seem to make a difference, but I'm not totally sure of that. 3 different ways of checking the CPU speed tends to give me 2-3 different readings. I'll putz around with this some more.
  • Lid latches: The left lid latch sticks! The right one works fine tho.
  • Weight: IT'S HEAVY! I'm used to the way my 5680 weighs in my Targus bag. When I packed this baby up in the same bag the first time, I was astonished as to how much heavier it is in comparison. Not to mention the power brick is HUGE too. I'll need to get used to the extra weight if I'm going to lug it around from place to place.

Summary: It's a beautiful laptop. I've gotten nothing but Oohs and Aahs from everyone who's seen it so far. It runs like a champ, but I still haven't finished installing everything I need on it yet. Hopefully I won't need to exercise the warranty! *keeps fingers crossed*

Things to do still:
  • Test the LCD. I don't see any dead or stuck pixels, but I want to make sure of it.
  • Burn a CD and DVD.
  • Try out the TV Tuner.
  • Install and run Sandra on the laptop.

LL
LL
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post #2 of 21
4/10/06 at 1:39pm
I will have to check out the pics when I get home - work is blocking me.

You are correct - those beasts are heavy. It was the first thing I noticed when I went from my Dell Inspiron 8100 to the GX7. But it is good for those squatting exercises.

Other than that, congrats and glad things worked out and that you had a good weekend with it.
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post #3 of 21
4/10/06 at 2:46pm
That is sweet but please take some better pics and use image shack so you can post thumbnails with high res linkages. What does that character mean?
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post #4 of 21
4/10/06 at 3:08pm
Thread Starter 
I'm probably the only geek in the world who doesn't own a decent digital camera. I'll see if I can borrow one and take some better pics. Taken literally, that character means 'son born beneath a plum tree', but it is in actuality my last name (Lee).
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post #5 of 21
4/10/06 at 9:57pm
What would be the glyph for 'conceived in a homeless shelter by a thousand smelly bums'? That should be on my laptop.
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post #6 of 21
4/10/06 at 10:54pm
^ hahah, nice i love the color
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post #7 of 21
4/11/06 at 10:37am
Nice pics - and it is really odd that we both had our systems done at near the same time wiht similiar patterns. If you look at mine, I have a glyph of the Rat on my. Smooth must have been wondering what was going on.

I love that color and it definitely reminds me of my EX7.... In fact, I am still using the mouse/keyboard that was custom painted for that one. Down the road, I am going after the purple Rat keyboard/mouse.

Again, nice pics!
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post #8 of 21
4/21/06 at 4:35pm
Thread Starter 
I'm just glad they didn't mix up the two =).

"Why do you have Rat on your laptop?" "DOH!"

I've updated the pics in my first post and am relinking them here for convenience.

Front View
Back view with lid
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post #9 of 21
5/15/06 at 5:32pm
Thread Starter 
Let's try this again!

The front:


And the lid:
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post #10 of 21
5/15/06 at 9:02pm
Very nice pictures. I don't think you could ask for a better looking "red" paint job.
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post #11 of 21
5/16/06 at 1:33am
very sweet, you know what that chinese symbol in the back means right?

in chinese that character means "powered by Dell"....j/k
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post #12 of 21
5/16/06 at 10:42am
Thread Starter 
I was told it meant Chinese Gold Farmer!
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post #13 of 21
9/7/06 at 2:42pm
First off, that is a Sweet looking paint job on a hell of a Sweet laptop... Congrats!

Second, what Star War Lego set is that on your desk and do you have more then just one? I want to know if I am the only person that has a Ton of SW Lego’s on my desk or if there are other fr^H^Hgeeks out there that have same SW/Lego craving that I have.

Third, I use an application called Notebook Hardware Control to keep my laptop at max CPU. It can also be configured to take over windows control of the battery display and monitoring. I use it on my current laptop and it is the first app slated to be installed on my new AX9. NHC is currently in late beta (i.e. there are some minor things that don't work right i.e. battery wear level), but most of the app is fully functional.
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post #14 of 21
9/7/06 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 5150Dragon
First off, that is a Sweet looking paint job on a hell of a Sweet laptop... Congrats!

Second, what Star War Lego set is that on your desk and do you have more then just one? I want to know if I am the only person that has a Ton of SW Lego’s on my desk or if there are other fr^H^Hgeeks out there that have same SW/Lego craving that I have.

Third, I use an application called Notebook Hardware Control to keep my laptop at max CPU. It can also be configured to take over windows control of the battery display and monitoring. I use it on my current laptop and it is the first app slated to be installed on my new AX9. NHC is currently in late beta (i.e. there are some minor things that don't work right i.e. battery wear level), but most of the app is fully functional.
Notebook Hardware Control is a nifty little program!
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post #15 of 21
9/11/06 at 1:00am
Holy bats man! That is one freaking awesome notebook.....Does that thing use the same chassis as the Sager?
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post #16 of 21
9/17/06 at 2:04pm
sophocles_V would like to know why you have forsaken the great hellenic people that created the your civilization and chose to place a barbarian symbol on you technological device, your choice greatly dissapionts sohpocles_V but as a man from the great polis of Athens, sophocles_V respects your free will. sophocles_V would also like to be informed on how you recived the blue backround, all that sophocles_V has been able to acuire for his computing device is the gunmetal backround.
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post #17 of 21
9/17/06 at 11:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sophocles_V
sophocles_V would like to know why you have forsaken the great hellenic people that created the your civilization and chose to place a barbarian symbol on you technological device, your choice greatly dissapionts sohpocles_V but as a man from the great polis of Athens, sophocles_V respects your free will. sophocles_V would also like to be informed on how you recived the blue backround, all that sophocles_V has been able to acuire for his computing device is the gunmetal backround.
Boy that felt like I was in a philosophy class trying to read that post

The blue background wallpaper which I believe you are referring is simply the result of the camera flash. It is the same "gunmetal" background.
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post #18 of 21
9/18/06 at 5:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 5150Dragon
Second, what Star War Lego set is that on your desk and do you have more then just one? I want to know if I am the only person that has a Ton of SW Lego’s on my desk or if there are other fr^H^Hgeeks out there that have same SW/Lego craving that I have.
The General Grievous Chase is one of the two SW Lego items I have at work, the other being the Darth Vader TIE Fighter mini-vehicle. I only bought it for the General Grievous Lego figure, I gave away Obi-Wan on his dino to someone else at work. I have a ton of SW Lego sets at home, on shelves, and a couple REAL large ones still in the box (AT-AT and the humongous Star Destroyer).

The majority of items in my cube tend to be very geek-ish in nature, i.e. an 18" Robocop, Darth Tater and a Spud Trooper, a bunch of Stikfas, a couple Simpsons sets still in the box, plus the imposing trio of a Sentinel, Galactus, and Apocalypse. Onslaught is currently under going purchase and assembly.
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post #19 of 21
9/18/06 at 6:29pm
I have on top of my cube: AT-ST (latest), the Small (if you can call it that) Star Destroyer, Millennium Falcon (large), X-Wing (Ultimate Collectors Edition), Tie (inceptor, Fighter), Darth Vader's Tie (not UCE version ), Anakin’s yellow fighter, Snow Speeder, and an A-Wing. I have all of the SW Lego’s from 1999 - 2003, but not enough room here at work to display them .
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post #20 of 21
9/20/06 at 3:48pm
Thread Starter 
Holy Cow! You have the "regular" Star Destroyer, the Millenium Falcon, AND The UCE X-Wing on/in your cube? I'd want an office to put those up!
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