NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Sager & Clevo Notebook Forums › Sager & Clevo Notebooks › Some general questions about the 8790
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Some general questions about the 8790

post #1 of 15
3/14/04 at 10:48pm
Thread Starter 
I'm considering buying a Sager 8790-S Notebook, customized with the 7200 RPM drive and 1024 MB of RAM, and I'm wondering a few things:
First, what kind of hard drive is this?
Second, what is the response and refresh rate on the screen?
Third, what modem chipsets(ethernet, wireless, and dialup) are being used? (Don't bother answering if the next question will suffice)
Fourth, what motherboard is being used?
Fifth, what kind of battery life should I expect? How much impact does booting up while plugged into an AC, as opposed to booting up from the battery make? (Some brands lose up to 60% battery life if you boot with battery)
And finally, and most importantly, how **HOT** does this model, with a gig of RAM, get when you place the CPU under heavy load, assuming you keep the ventilation clear of dust and such?
When I say, "under load," I mean, something like gaming or 2 hours of Prime95(Not that I'd actually use this for P95, save for stability testing).
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 15
3/14/04 at 10:53pm
this thread might help you out quite a bit as far as the monitor goes...

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=18065


i'd be interested in knowing how difficult one of these are going to be to clean because i may be using it in bed to play games or whatever. Will i even be able to take this thing apart and clean inside the vents?
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 15
3/14/04 at 11:00pm
Thread Starter 
Also, I want to know just **how** stable Sagers tend to be. I intend to test my new system with the following sequence, and I want to know the odds of it surviving.

1. 'run memtest86 stand-alone at least one pass through the system, every test switched on' (must pass *clean*, there is no such thing as a "benign memory failure")
2. 12-24 hours of running Bonnie, tailored for the system (banging the disk subsystem, must not generate kernel warnings)
3. running tcpblast for 12 hours without falling over and finish off with *quite* a few "make clean ; make dep ; make ; make modules ; make bzimage" for the kernel the machine is going to run

I'd recompile the kernel for about 24 hours straight, with full CPU optimizations eanbled, etc, and consider the system "bad" if I got even one error or lockup.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 15
3/14/04 at 11:03pm
If you are going to use it in bed make sure you have a laptop cooler or flat surface to place it on as the intakes for the cooling fans are on the BOTTOM of the laptop. You can't place it directly on a bed because it will choke and die a horrible death .
Most Sagers are reasonably easy to clean vent wise. Normally all you need to do is to remove the CPU cover (no not the heatsink - just the cover that forms the outside case of the laptop).
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 15
3/14/04 at 11:07pm
Soltis, I run my 8890 nearly 24/7. The only time it gets switched off is when I have to go to a client's site. Sagers are normally rock solid although like all things some have their problems and faults, which is why Sager has a no questions asked 1yr warranty.

Lockups are more due to the software you are using rather than the laptop hardware. If you check the Linux sub-forum you will find that Linux runs quite well on the Sagers, althought some distros are harder to get going than others.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 15
3/14/04 at 11:08pm
"You can't place it directly on a bed because it will choke and die a horrible death"

lol - well i sure don't need my $3000 choking turning into a puddle of molten plastic.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 15
3/14/04 at 11:11pm
speaking of vents though... aussie does your 8890 make as much noise as a desktop?
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 15
3/14/04 at 11:21pm
No, not now at least. It is very quiet since I fixed the problem (thanks to rondo) with one of the internal fans resonating with the mobo . It is no noiser than my older Toshiba laptop. Check some of the other 8790 reviews because there have been some comments about the fans being noisy on startup but then quieten down.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 15
3/15/04 at 12:48am
Does anyone know if it's the realtek lan adapter or is it an Intel adapter now?
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 15
3/15/04 at 12:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soltis
blah...blah... and consider the system "bad" if I got even one error or lockup.
Good luck finding ANY laptop that is good then

Be realistic in your expectations...Im sure these machines can handle it but if they cant doesnt mean they are "bad". before you make a statement like that you have to make sure you dont abuse Einstein and Relativity...find another bunch of laptops that pass your test and then declare the Sager as a "BAD" laptop.

Till then - test away and have fun...I forsee many sleepless nights doing testing - FUN!!
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 15
3/15/04 at 2:31am

X-Ray pic

just found this x-ray pic of a G4.
It would be cool to get one of a 8790
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 15
3/15/04 at 8:44am
Since this is general 8790 questions...

Just wanted to confirm if anyone knew for a fact:

Does the 8790 have a S-Video IN built-in? (<--- WITHOUT TV TUNER)


The PS2 thread made me curious and a few spec lists show S-Video IN but I can't tell whether it's in relation to the Tv Tuner unit only or the 8790 overall...

$tack$
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 15
3/15/04 at 10:38am
Makes for interesting wallpaper.

http://ether.asu.edu/video/TiGutz/

Quote:
Originally Posted by dunatosAllos
just found this x-ray pic of a G4.
It would be cool to get one of a 8790
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 15
3/15/04 at 11:07am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gsferrari
Good luck finding ANY laptop that is good then

Be realistic in your expectations...Im sure these machines can handle it but if they cant doesnt mean they are "bad". before you make a statement like that you have to make sure you dont abuse Einstein and Relativity...find another bunch of laptops that pass your test and then declare the Sager as a "BAD" laptop.

Till then - test away and have fun...I forsee many sleepless nights doing testing - FUN!!
Simply put, with a proven compiler, code base, and software, none of those tests should fail. Period. Ever. Most machines are defective, and most machines burn out or throw errors or lock during this testing regime. That's the idea -- to make sure the hardware you're using can stand some heavy abuse, because that way, it's likely to last longer under normal use...
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 15
3/15/04 at 11:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by aussie
If you are going to use it in bed make sure you have a laptop cooler or flat surface to place it on as the intakes for the cooling fans are on the BOTTOM of the laptop. You can't place it directly on a bed because it will choke and die a horrible death .
Most Sagers are reasonably easy to clean vent wise. Normally all you need to do is to remove the CPU cover (no not the heatsink - just the cover that forms the outside case of the laptop).
That's very nice and all, but how hot does it get? I mean, ANY computer from the last few years will die, die, die if you choke the air intakes, that's a silly thing to specify normally(Good this time, though, since they're on the bottom and liable to be forgotten about), but even with that useful info, I am at a loss as to how effective said cooling is when allowed to work properly.

-.-
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Sager & Clevo Notebooks
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Sager & Clevo Notebook Forums › Sager & Clevo Notebooks › Some general questions about the 8790