Preamble:
This is my first review and it’s about a humongous “Non-Notebook”, the 20” NP5960V. Please keep in mind that I’m not an expert in computing stuff and my mother tongue isn’t English.
Choice:
Why the NP5960V?
Well, I have a huge feeble for camping and for computers. I love being outside in nature and enjoy the beautiful sites and scenes around Europe and at the same time I don’t want to miss a good round of BF or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or watching a DVD in the evening on a reasonable screen size.
This is where a huge and highly importable 20” gaming beast comes into play.
I don’t need this box for carrying around nor for boring train rides... ...it will be used for watching films and for gaming. So much for the chosen screen size.
Checking out the rare spread manufacturers that sell 20” laptops I found out that the specs are all somewhat similar. AMD CPU with nVidia 7800 or 7900 series GPU in single or dual configuration. Two HDD around 80 – 160GB in size with RAID 0/1. Motherboard varies in specs.
Dell was a no go due to price and low gfx memory on the XPS2010.
Cybersystem only delivers HDD running @ 5400rpm and are very costly.
Nexoc Archimedes didn’t answer my tender therefore also was a no go
Alienware’s mALX, well I have had bad experience with AW’s service so that’s a no go too.
Sager got the order because my tender was answered very quickly, competent and friendly. I received great support by the sales representative and everything went off without a hitch. The changing of my order from Win Vista to WinXP was implied without complications and needed no more than 1 Email.
Ordering & Shipping:
The ordering process went very well as mentioned above. As I placed an international order only money transfer could be arranged as payment method. At first I thought this would take ages but it went through rapidly and soon I could admire my little web space on the Sager HP presenting my order status. I guess like many guys out there I was spending more time checking the Sager HP and the status of my order than my network speed allowed me to refresh my browser.
Finally, on the 31st of May the relieving Email from Sager that my status of “In Process” had changed to “shipped”.
Now for the UPS tracking horror...
06.01.07 Arrival Scan, dam, its Friday hopefully it’ll get an export scan too...
Nothing, the whole weekend “Arrival scan” in Philly
Monday, no change... ... Arrival scan in Philly... ...dam, what are these guys doing?
Tuesday, I didn’t have time yet to check the status as I had loads of work in the office crying to be processed... ...remaining fragments of my newly found tracking hobby.
At 11.52 A.M. my wife phoned me to say that an UPS guy has brought a huge Sager parcel.
Finaly after a never ending day at the office I managed to get ready for my way home.
Theres nothing more to say than “well done”. Payment conducted on 26th of May, sent out for delivery on the 31st of May and received on the 5th of June. Air-line distance: 5906 miles.
Package & Backpack:
The package, once opened seemed functional, which I guess is enough for a packaging. No “wow” and no “aahhh” effects... Additional Battery and charger where packed safely in an insert in the backpack together with the software and booklet.
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/R0019680.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
The Backpack is... ...well let’s say functional. No beauty, simply homespun. Reminds me somewhat of a shipping cast. The zipper is clearly too weak and too small in size. For holding the 7kg monster in place there is a padded inside retaining compartment with a hock-and-loop fastener to slide the lappy in to. Additional accessories can be taken along easily due to the size of the backpack.
Once all the packaging was gone and the lappy was freed of all the synthetic stuff a lean and clean cut silver coloured lappy appeared.
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/R0019681.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
[<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/R0019683.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
...and down bellow...
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/R0019684.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
Oh, these pics look like all the lappy pics on the net, but believe me once you see this huge slab in front of you... ...you will most certainly be impressed... ...at least what size concerns...
Looks, Design & Ergonomics:
How appealing looks of an object can be varies strongly due to personal favours. I for myself didn’t buy this lappy for the looks but because of monitor size and above specified features. Nevertheless, despite the size of the machine the stepped base plate makes everything look a little more sporty and mobile.
Poor marks for the vent blowing out warm/hot air to the right hand side. After approx. one hour of gaming one can’t use the area close to the fan outlet.
The card reader is equipped with an ever so flimsy rubber “kind-of-closing-thingy”. The card reader itself... ...well it works!
The monitor hinges make a good and rock solid impression. As long as you always have someone to help you open that coffin lid you’ll be fine. Serious, the hinges hold the vast screen well in position without any nervous vibrations at any angle. That’s definitely an A+ on that issue.
The securing laces could have been placed a little less obvious but work and secure the lid well. Why the securing slots on the base plate therefore have to be 4 times wider than the laces revokes my acknowledgement.
Now for the worst, the keyboard. This is an imposition. This thing is a nightmare [for me that is]. Compared to the size of the base of the lappy they could have assembled a key alignment that exceeds the size of a 15” lappy. No separate “home” & “end” key, these functions have to be activated by the Fn-Key. The “enter” key is single-lined and the arrow-Keys are jammed in between numpad, shift- and ctrl-key.
Moving the pointer with the touchpad is far more satisfying. Here Sager has put in a well sized field with a separate scroll function on the right hand side and a very pleasant surface to move your finger tip. The buttons are designed simple and have a very comfortable pushing resistance. The location of the touchpad works well for a man of my inches.
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/touchpad.jpg"></a>
The additional media buttons are located above of the keyboard to the right. They can be configured as pleases. The programming feature of the media buttons was not pre-installed with my delivery which I consider as a negative aspect. A standard button assignment is pre-programmed.
Due to the fact that the battery incorporates a standing knob the system can only be used very gently with the battery pack taken out of its compartment otherwise the whole thing will tip. Although the lappy has 5 standing knobs it doesn’t stand steady without the 5th knob of the battery. Considering that the SLI function only works with hooked on adapter and that one would like to use this feature it seems blindfolded to put the knob right in the middle of the battery. The durable loading process which is implied onto the battery will reduce its lifecycle time drastically. I consider this to be one of the biggest downfalls of the 5960 besides the keyboard.
In spite of the amount of components in the lappy it doesn’t emit a lot of noise. The vents run at a low noise level and the HDD’s crackle in a very quiet manner. This only changes slightly once high-power-sucking games start to spill their command lines into the system. After my first 3 hours of non-stop gaming BF2142 the noise still wasn’t disturbing. Maybe this is because I’m used to a SCSI system which emits loads of noise once you have played for 30 minutes. Compared to my Dell Workstation [2x 3,06GHz XEON-CPU/1GB RAM/73GB SCSI HDD @ 15k rpm/256MB nVidia] the 5960 runs as smooth and silent as a cat of prey hunting its prey.
Components & Software:
LCD:
Up to now I’ve been using the 23” Dell 2405 which is not a perfect gaming monitor but a very good one for work applications. The first time I turned the 5960 on the screen made me start to drivel. A crystal clear picture combined with a glossy view and a very wide viewing angle. The screen has a really good ratio between glossiness and the advantages of a dull [not glossy] monitor. Equipped with marvelous colors and an impressive color depth the monitor makes all not-so-good features be forgotten.
CPU:
The Turion 64 X2 is not the great milestone in the history of AMD, that’s for sure. Compared with a Intel based Core Duo system and the in-house GM945 Chipset the AMD combination is a runner-up due to battery life and Multitasking performance. Never the less one has to give ’em Kudos. They managed to make a Notebook CPU that in spite of a significant higher performance compared to the single core forerunner Turion 64 only uses slightly more battery energy.
GPU:
I guess you guy’s know your stuff better than I do. The 7950GTX is the ancestor of the 7900GTX. All the current games should run smoothly in highest resolution. The produced and therefore emitted heat is high. Only if you’re hooked up to the mains supply the SLI works. This is indicated by a LED next to the function keys. The SLI function can be deactivated manually.
Sound:
Quite clearly the 5960 is poorly equipped. AC97 seems Stone Age as well as the diversity of the sound connection jacks. Ouch...
The built-in speakers can give you good results when on the go. Music and games settings can be configured so that every application has its optimal adjustment. As DTR you want to hook up some decent speaker system.
Compared to the possibilities of modern laptops due to incorporated speaker systems the speaker configuration on the 5960 is lower segment.
For good sound it won’t be enough to invest some money into desktop speakers you will need to equip yourself with an external sound device.
For a gaming laptop the speakers and the assembled sound module are clearly poorly chosen.
Interfaces:
Looking for connection one understands the meaning of fully equipped. You find complete and full-fledged fittings on every side of the lappy. Loads of USB sockets, IEEE 1394, RJ45, Multi-Card reader, Express card slot, S-Video etc... ...you name it, its got it!
By coincidence the sockets are just perfect for my desk. This was a pleasant surprise as I placed the slab of technology onto it and started to plug him up.
The carriage of the DVD is a little flimsy and feels like as so it’s going to break apart just by looking at it. But up to now I had no problems with it.
If you use the IEEE 1394 port on a 5960 the pcmcia card ejection lever becomes very badly accessible. The fire wire port is located so close to the lever that it makes it impossible to push the pcmcia ejection lever without unplugging the fire-wire plug.
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/plug.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
Software:
The Laptop comes with:
-Driver suite
-OS disc for reinstalling
-Separate WLAN driver
-Cyberlink Power DVD
-Nero essentials 7
The driver disk UI is practical and user friendly. The drivers are arranged according to the order that they should be installed which makes the reinstalling process of the drivers simple. Just for notice: an automated installation routine would have been a little more comfortable.
The included application software (DVD player & disk burning engine) is just about enough in order to use the hardware of the NP5960. You can watch DVDs and burn CD or DVDs with data. But that’s about it!
If the laptop is hooked up to an external sound processor with a 4.1 / 5.1 / 7.1 speaker system one has to upgrade the DVD player software over the internet if the enhanced sound options that are not included want to be adjusted. The same story with the Nero program. The burning of DVDs from HDD to DVD doesn’t work without upgrading the program, and don’t think these updates are free of charge...
For rudimental use the enclosed software packet is suitable. Judging the price of the system a full version of the 2 simple software packages [DVD-Play & Burn engine] should have been possible.
Performance:
This is a tricky one for me. I don’t know much about all the technical issues nor about special references due to system testing. I simply used applications and games and evaluated the overall performance impression that I had.
I have a “light” version of 3D Mark 06 V1.0.2 which doesn’t perform all tests and the settings can’t be changed. With a resolution of 1280x1024 the machine did 6500 pts. My DELL did 2200
. So this is ok for me.
I tried nearly every game I have: Splinter Cell, BF, MOHAA [Var.], Max Payne, Star Wars [Var.], CoD, Anno 1701, some sports games, FEAR, HL2 etc...
They all worked with highest settings no matter if running on mains or battery [without SLI the game play on the screen seems more nervous than with SLI].
DVD watching is very good to. The drive performs well and I have been using Power DVD up to now so the UI stayed practically the same for me.
And once again the screen. I’m simply fascinated by this black glossy sheet of glass and crystals.
Battery:
On one battery I have 50 minutes of game play with highest settings using a new battery. I didn’t reduce brightness of the monitor so I guess this timeframe is ok.
A DTR doesn’t really need to prove mobility so the battery issue was not part of my buying decision.
Well, so far for my review. I would give the Sager 5960 a 6,5 out of 10. I did the emphasis weighting according to my needs.
The keyboard and the knob on the battery gave the biggest reduction. Very positive aspects are the good screen, the performance and the multiple connecting possibilities.
This is my first review and it’s about a humongous “Non-Notebook”, the 20” NP5960V. Please keep in mind that I’m not an expert in computing stuff and my mother tongue isn’t English.
Choice:
Why the NP5960V?
Well, I have a huge feeble for camping and for computers. I love being outside in nature and enjoy the beautiful sites and scenes around Europe and at the same time I don’t want to miss a good round of BF or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or watching a DVD in the evening on a reasonable screen size.
This is where a huge and highly importable 20” gaming beast comes into play.
I don’t need this box for carrying around nor for boring train rides... ...it will be used for watching films and for gaming. So much for the chosen screen size.
Checking out the rare spread manufacturers that sell 20” laptops I found out that the specs are all somewhat similar. AMD CPU with nVidia 7800 or 7900 series GPU in single or dual configuration. Two HDD around 80 – 160GB in size with RAID 0/1. Motherboard varies in specs.
Dell was a no go due to price and low gfx memory on the XPS2010.
Cybersystem only delivers HDD running @ 5400rpm and are very costly.
Nexoc Archimedes didn’t answer my tender therefore also was a no go
Alienware’s mALX, well I have had bad experience with AW’s service so that’s a no go too.
Sager got the order because my tender was answered very quickly, competent and friendly. I received great support by the sales representative and everything went off without a hitch. The changing of my order from Win Vista to WinXP was implied without complications and needed no more than 1 Email.
Ordering & Shipping:
The ordering process went very well as mentioned above. As I placed an international order only money transfer could be arranged as payment method. At first I thought this would take ages but it went through rapidly and soon I could admire my little web space on the Sager HP presenting my order status. I guess like many guys out there I was spending more time checking the Sager HP and the status of my order than my network speed allowed me to refresh my browser.
Finally, on the 31st of May the relieving Email from Sager that my status of “In Process” had changed to “shipped”.
Now for the UPS tracking horror...
06.01.07 Arrival Scan, dam, its Friday hopefully it’ll get an export scan too...
Nothing, the whole weekend “Arrival scan” in Philly
Monday, no change... ... Arrival scan in Philly... ...dam, what are these guys doing?
Tuesday, I didn’t have time yet to check the status as I had loads of work in the office crying to be processed... ...remaining fragments of my newly found tracking hobby.
At 11.52 A.M. my wife phoned me to say that an UPS guy has brought a huge Sager parcel.
Finaly after a never ending day at the office I managed to get ready for my way home.
Theres nothing more to say than “well done”. Payment conducted on 26th of May, sent out for delivery on the 31st of May and received on the 5th of June. Air-line distance: 5906 miles.
Package & Backpack:
The package, once opened seemed functional, which I guess is enough for a packaging. No “wow” and no “aahhh” effects... Additional Battery and charger where packed safely in an insert in the backpack together with the software and booklet.
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/R0019680.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
The Backpack is... ...well let’s say functional. No beauty, simply homespun. Reminds me somewhat of a shipping cast. The zipper is clearly too weak and too small in size. For holding the 7kg monster in place there is a padded inside retaining compartment with a hock-and-loop fastener to slide the lappy in to. Additional accessories can be taken along easily due to the size of the backpack.
Once all the packaging was gone and the lappy was freed of all the synthetic stuff a lean and clean cut silver coloured lappy appeared.
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/R0019681.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
[<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/R0019683.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
...and down bellow...
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/R0019684.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
Oh, these pics look like all the lappy pics on the net, but believe me once you see this huge slab in front of you... ...you will most certainly be impressed... ...at least what size concerns...
Looks, Design & Ergonomics:
How appealing looks of an object can be varies strongly due to personal favours. I for myself didn’t buy this lappy for the looks but because of monitor size and above specified features. Nevertheless, despite the size of the machine the stepped base plate makes everything look a little more sporty and mobile.
Poor marks for the vent blowing out warm/hot air to the right hand side. After approx. one hour of gaming one can’t use the area close to the fan outlet.
The card reader is equipped with an ever so flimsy rubber “kind-of-closing-thingy”. The card reader itself... ...well it works!
The monitor hinges make a good and rock solid impression. As long as you always have someone to help you open that coffin lid you’ll be fine. Serious, the hinges hold the vast screen well in position without any nervous vibrations at any angle. That’s definitely an A+ on that issue.
The securing laces could have been placed a little less obvious but work and secure the lid well. Why the securing slots on the base plate therefore have to be 4 times wider than the laces revokes my acknowledgement.
Now for the worst, the keyboard. This is an imposition. This thing is a nightmare [for me that is]. Compared to the size of the base of the lappy they could have assembled a key alignment that exceeds the size of a 15” lappy. No separate “home” & “end” key, these functions have to be activated by the Fn-Key. The “enter” key is single-lined and the arrow-Keys are jammed in between numpad, shift- and ctrl-key.
Moving the pointer with the touchpad is far more satisfying. Here Sager has put in a well sized field with a separate scroll function on the right hand side and a very pleasant surface to move your finger tip. The buttons are designed simple and have a very comfortable pushing resistance. The location of the touchpad works well for a man of my inches.
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/touchpad.jpg"></a>
The additional media buttons are located above of the keyboard to the right. They can be configured as pleases. The programming feature of the media buttons was not pre-installed with my delivery which I consider as a negative aspect. A standard button assignment is pre-programmed.
Due to the fact that the battery incorporates a standing knob the system can only be used very gently with the battery pack taken out of its compartment otherwise the whole thing will tip. Although the lappy has 5 standing knobs it doesn’t stand steady without the 5th knob of the battery. Considering that the SLI function only works with hooked on adapter and that one would like to use this feature it seems blindfolded to put the knob right in the middle of the battery. The durable loading process which is implied onto the battery will reduce its lifecycle time drastically. I consider this to be one of the biggest downfalls of the 5960 besides the keyboard.
In spite of the amount of components in the lappy it doesn’t emit a lot of noise. The vents run at a low noise level and the HDD’s crackle in a very quiet manner. This only changes slightly once high-power-sucking games start to spill their command lines into the system. After my first 3 hours of non-stop gaming BF2142 the noise still wasn’t disturbing. Maybe this is because I’m used to a SCSI system which emits loads of noise once you have played for 30 minutes. Compared to my Dell Workstation [2x 3,06GHz XEON-CPU/1GB RAM/73GB SCSI HDD @ 15k rpm/256MB nVidia] the 5960 runs as smooth and silent as a cat of prey hunting its prey.
Components & Software:
LCD:
Up to now I’ve been using the 23” Dell 2405 which is not a perfect gaming monitor but a very good one for work applications. The first time I turned the 5960 on the screen made me start to drivel. A crystal clear picture combined with a glossy view and a very wide viewing angle. The screen has a really good ratio between glossiness and the advantages of a dull [not glossy] monitor. Equipped with marvelous colors and an impressive color depth the monitor makes all not-so-good features be forgotten.
CPU:
The Turion 64 X2 is not the great milestone in the history of AMD, that’s for sure. Compared with a Intel based Core Duo system and the in-house GM945 Chipset the AMD combination is a runner-up due to battery life and Multitasking performance. Never the less one has to give ’em Kudos. They managed to make a Notebook CPU that in spite of a significant higher performance compared to the single core forerunner Turion 64 only uses slightly more battery energy.
GPU:
I guess you guy’s know your stuff better than I do. The 7950GTX is the ancestor of the 7900GTX. All the current games should run smoothly in highest resolution. The produced and therefore emitted heat is high. Only if you’re hooked up to the mains supply the SLI works. This is indicated by a LED next to the function keys. The SLI function can be deactivated manually.
Sound:
Quite clearly the 5960 is poorly equipped. AC97 seems Stone Age as well as the diversity of the sound connection jacks. Ouch...
The built-in speakers can give you good results when on the go. Music and games settings can be configured so that every application has its optimal adjustment. As DTR you want to hook up some decent speaker system.
Compared to the possibilities of modern laptops due to incorporated speaker systems the speaker configuration on the 5960 is lower segment.
For good sound it won’t be enough to invest some money into desktop speakers you will need to equip yourself with an external sound device.
For a gaming laptop the speakers and the assembled sound module are clearly poorly chosen.
Interfaces:
Looking for connection one understands the meaning of fully equipped. You find complete and full-fledged fittings on every side of the lappy. Loads of USB sockets, IEEE 1394, RJ45, Multi-Card reader, Express card slot, S-Video etc... ...you name it, its got it!
By coincidence the sockets are just perfect for my desk. This was a pleasant surprise as I placed the slab of technology onto it and started to plug him up.
The carriage of the DVD is a little flimsy and feels like as so it’s going to break apart just by looking at it. But up to now I had no problems with it.
If you use the IEEE 1394 port on a 5960 the pcmcia card ejection lever becomes very badly accessible. The fire wire port is located so close to the lever that it makes it impossible to push the pcmcia ejection lever without unplugging the fire-wire plug.
<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/cimberia/plug.jpg"alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
Software:
The Laptop comes with:
-Driver suite
-OS disc for reinstalling
-Separate WLAN driver
-Cyberlink Power DVD
-Nero essentials 7
The driver disk UI is practical and user friendly. The drivers are arranged according to the order that they should be installed which makes the reinstalling process of the drivers simple. Just for notice: an automated installation routine would have been a little more comfortable.
The included application software (DVD player & disk burning engine) is just about enough in order to use the hardware of the NP5960. You can watch DVDs and burn CD or DVDs with data. But that’s about it!
If the laptop is hooked up to an external sound processor with a 4.1 / 5.1 / 7.1 speaker system one has to upgrade the DVD player software over the internet if the enhanced sound options that are not included want to be adjusted. The same story with the Nero program. The burning of DVDs from HDD to DVD doesn’t work without upgrading the program, and don’t think these updates are free of charge...
For rudimental use the enclosed software packet is suitable. Judging the price of the system a full version of the 2 simple software packages [DVD-Play & Burn engine] should have been possible.
Performance:
This is a tricky one for me. I don’t know much about all the technical issues nor about special references due to system testing. I simply used applications and games and evaluated the overall performance impression that I had.
I have a “light” version of 3D Mark 06 V1.0.2 which doesn’t perform all tests and the settings can’t be changed. With a resolution of 1280x1024 the machine did 6500 pts. My DELL did 2200
. So this is ok for me.I tried nearly every game I have: Splinter Cell, BF, MOHAA [Var.], Max Payne, Star Wars [Var.], CoD, Anno 1701, some sports games, FEAR, HL2 etc...
They all worked with highest settings no matter if running on mains or battery [without SLI the game play on the screen seems more nervous than with SLI].
DVD watching is very good to. The drive performs well and I have been using Power DVD up to now so the UI stayed practically the same for me.
And once again the screen. I’m simply fascinated by this black glossy sheet of glass and crystals.
Battery:
On one battery I have 50 minutes of game play with highest settings using a new battery. I didn’t reduce brightness of the monitor so I guess this timeframe is ok.
A DTR doesn’t really need to prove mobility so the battery issue was not part of my buying decision.
Well, so far for my review. I would give the Sager 5960 a 6,5 out of 10. I did the emphasis weighting according to my needs.
The keyboard and the knob on the battery gave the biggest reduction. Very positive aspects are the good screen, the performance and the multiple connecting possibilities.
more... more...<br>
<br>
<br>
. It sucked the first day the lappy came in and it still does. Similar issue with the cam & microphone, simply not worth mentioning. Lousy picture quality for the cam and its software. The micro you simply can’t use [well, one can use it but no one will understand a word].
