What I'd like to see is a marriage between the Sager 8890 and an HP zd7000...
As to the successor to the 8890, I'd like to see:
17" W-UXGA screen. A 17" wide screen is really amazing, but I'd love to see it in UXGA. Surprisingly, the colors on the HP's 17" XGA+ screen are just as good as the Sager's 16" UXGA 8890. I've seen and compared them side by side, and the only difference I can tell is that the colors on the HP are a bit more vibrant - by default at least. Apart from the resolution difference, the Sager's screen isn't any sharper as far as I can tell. But it would be nice to see the resolution of the Sager coupled with the size, wide-screen format, and vibrancy of the HP.
Better keyboard layout and a better keyboard period. Take a look at the keyboard layout on the HP zd7000 laptop - the best layout I've ever seen (slight spacing/separation between the keyboard and the numeric keypad; proper placement of the 'Del', 'Ins', 'Ctrl', and 'Fn' keys; even nice grouping/separation between all of the Function keys on top of the keyboard; and a much better numeric keypad layout). This also means NO disassembling the keyboard to fix knocking noises (why are people having to do this in the first place?!? - like anyone should have to do that with a brand new $3000 or $4000 laptop - which is absolutely ridiculous. Could you imagine Dell or Gateway or HP or Apple making people do this? It would be like having a brand new Mercedes delivered to your door, but you have make some adjustments to the hood first - flexing it and adding rubber stoppers - to make sure the hood doesn't rattle while you drive. WTG??? Who needs lessons on design and manufacturing here - Clevo or Sager or both? You can find a better keyboard on an $800 laptop than on this thing). While you're at it, backlight the whole thing, too. It's about time we start seeing this on laptops anyway.
Better placement of Firewire and USB ports. Again, take a look at how the Firewire and USB ports are arranged on the HP zd7000. The way they have one Firewire and one USB on the side of the laptop (which will allow for much, much easier access to both of these ports for when you're plugging in still and video cameras, thumb drives, and other peripherals), and the way HP has the remaining three USB ports on the back of the laptop arranged - horizontally and side by side, instead of stacked on top of one another (allowing enough room to utilize all the ports at once while having larger things plugged into them, like dongles or thumb drives, etc.). It wouldn't hurt to have powered Firewire ports and it might be nice to have one on the back and one on the side.
Spring-loaded doors on the PC Card slots. This is seriously quite odd to me that these weren't installed on the 8890. When you remove the Multicard reader out of the right side of the 8890, you can see it has spring-loaded doors... so why don't the PC card slots have these? Yes, yes, I know that there are those stupid black plastic inserts, but these are ugly, and they're just loose pieces of plastic... it's not only two more little pieces that you have to contend with, but if you ever misplaced them, you'd have a huge gaping hole in the left side of your laptop where dirt and dust and other foreign objects could find their way into your system. Not everyone has either one or both of these slots filled at all times. And why is this even something that needs to be suggested?!? Please fix this yesterday!
Get rid of non-functioning items in the chassis... in fact, just redesign the whole chassis! Why do we have a non-functioning, unusable Memory Stick slot on the left side of the 8890? Why do we have a non-functioning fingerprint reader in the upper right-hand corner right above the keyboard? I realize that others may not care, but others do. And for this much money, this just seems like a chassis afterthought. And please get rid of that ugly unbacklit, old, cheap alarm clock-type display on the front that is mostly useless. Toshiba used to have these displays on the front, but they knew enough to angle them upward so you could actually read the display, and to put in a dot-matrix display and to also give them a nice, strong blue backlighting so you could, once again, read and actually make use of the display. If the designers want to leave a display on the front, then please do like Toshiba did. And please get rid of that cheap tin badge on the 8890 that's affixed upside down - put something of higher quality on there and please affix it so that it can be read when the laptop is opened up and in use (attention to details is important). The 8890 chassis is very outdated and feels like it too (like something you might find at Radio Shack, circa 1980's) and needs a complete 21st century redesign from the ground up. (Take a look at the HP zd7000 chassis - it's styling, the LED's, it's fit and finish... this is more of what the 8890 successor needs to be).
Better speakers. Please! Again, look to the HP zd7000 - the best speakers I've ever heard on a laptop. The whole front is a speaker. And HarmonKardon at that. This is what the Sager needs. We need to see better components on the sound end of things on Sagers - they're too expensive not to have it. Laptops have been offering great graphics, but the sound quality has been neglected for so long and it's overdue.
Better placement of the Irda port for use with a remote control... and a nicer remote control. Any laptop with a TV tuner, should always come with a remote control as does the 8890. But the Irda port needs to be removed from the side and placed on the front somewhere or perhaps a second one added to the front somewhere - like right under the screen perhaps. Normally, you'd point the remote straight at the computer screen anyway... this way, commands from the remote would be easily received. There's a reason why Irda ports are found on the front of TV's and not on the side, like you'd find with the 8890. And while you're at it, throw in a more functional, better looking, teachable remote that can control the DVD/CD player and other functions.
Get rid of the high-pitched whirr of the fans. The fans aren't loud to me - but they have this annoying high-pitched whirr that gets to you after awhile. You listen to the fans on the HP zd7000 which also has desktop components in it, and although they'll blow a lot of air, they aren't annoying to listen to. Some people don't care, but a lot of us do, and this can grate on the nerves after awhile.
G-band WiFi. Mini-USB was clearly an early-tech-adoption experiment that backfired. Why do we not have G-band Wifi on a $4000 laptop? This needs to be solved.
And of course, fuel cell batteries - and no screws. But these probably won't be available for another year or two. At least allow the batteries to be easily removable. Having to unscrew your battery is an outdated design.
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