I've had the better part of a week now to get my initial impressions ironed out. For all that time, it still seems like I just got it and that I haven't had enough time to give it a good working out.
How it's rolled out so far:
3/08 Ordered 8790 from PCTorque.com
3/09 Received Invoice from PCTorque:
3.4ghz Northwood
17" WXGA+ LCD (1440 X 900)
256MB ATI Radeon Mobility 9700 (M11)
1024MB 400DDR Dual Channel (2-512MB)
60GB 7200RPM
2X DVD+R/-R/RW/CD-RW
Bracket for 2nd HD
RAID: No
12 Cell Li-Ion Smart battery
Froppy: No
Modem: 56K RJ11 Phone Modem (who cares? Not me)
Windows XP Professional
Basic Black business case
Spare AC Power Adapter (1 for home, 1 for work)
USB Port Replicator (which I now realize is virtually worthless. Oh, well)
Internal 802.11g TURBO (108Mbps) wireless
Internal Bluetooth
Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader
Integrated Digital Video Camera
3 year warranty
Export Coverage: First Year Export
3/11 Unbeknownst to me, 8790 ships from CA en route to Seattle, WA
3/12 Friday, 8790 arrives in Redmond (maybe Bill personally installed XP Pro for me
)
3/13 Receive UPS 2nd Day Air tracking # from Tom
3/13~14 Weekend in America. UGH!
3/15 Friend not home to receive 8790. C'est la vie. I've waited for a long time. One extra day's not going to kill me.
3/16 Touchdown!
3/17 Order of 5 games from Gogamer.com leaves CA for WA; Friend's initial 8790 impression:
Used your laptop all night... installed KotOR, Age of Mythology, and the latest Myst game. Also installed Visual Basic 6. I'm working on a side project programming a game idea into basic. I haven't programmed since high school so I'm stumbling along. Anyways, your laptop is fun to code on.
The screen is very nice and I set it up so that games won't stretch and will stay true to their pixel ratios. The latest Myst game is the most graphic-intensive game right now and your machine did just fine.
The company didn't install a whole lot of extra junk... refreshing.
3/18 Additional comment received: The option to retain pixel ratios for games and such was tucked away deep in the advanced monitor settings. Don't know why it's off as a default since it would spur more consumer ire, but that's how it goes.
3/19 Friend not in to receive games. Not a problem. Making sure unit's functioning correctly is order of the day. Games are a far, far second. XP Updated later that night.
3/22 Gogamer games delivered.
3/22 Additional commentary received: I left the laptop on all night Thursday to give it a good burn in. I haven't really had much time to play around with it except for installing games and stuff.
Don't have many dislikes for the machine... it's a pretty sweet set up. The battery life isn't that long and the screen can get washed out and un-constrast-y unless you're looking at it front on, but the 17" is super nice. There's some sort of fan that seems to turn on every now and then which is a little loud, but minor nonetheless. Speakers aren't exactly the cat's pajamas either... but you can't expect much from laptops. The soundcard is a cheap little motherboard doodad. I'd probably get a good external USB 2.0 soundcard that I can connect to a stereo (maybe something like:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=... /> 8a55cdfcb or a USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX), but that's just me.
3/25 Last commentary before shipping: I updated Windows, defragged the harddrive and watched a DVD. All seems to be in good working order. All in all I think it's a great machine. My only two complaints are that it's a battery sucker with sh!tty speakers... but that's pretty darn minor.
3/27 Saturday, 8790 arrives in Chiba, Japan according to UPS tracking #.
3/28 Sunday, UPS Import scan in Chiba, Japan.
3/29 Wait all day thinking the 8790 *might* arrive. Figure today or the next. Just before the end of the business day, I receive a phone call from Tokyo (mind you, I'm in Hokkaido, the northernmost island, so it's basically like being in Seattle and talking to Los Angeles). Apparently they have a big problem w/ the invoice. The 5 games included w/ the computer aren't listed separately on the UPS invoice. 10 points to the Mail, Etc. chick in Seattle that let an Int'l Express pkg (US$244, mind you) go through with an incorrect invoice. If I ever meet her, we're going to have words.
I fax a copy of the PCTorque invoice and my order from Gogamer to Tokyo in order to clear up any confusion. Should be good to go, right? Right. Should be here in 2 days, max. I'm severely grumpified at this point; really grumpy that they chose to call just before work was over and made ev'thing a panic/rush at the last minute. A big Thank You to my workplace for not tweaking out and letting me take care of all this during work hours.
3/30 Tuesday. Receive phone call in the morning that the items I faxed are not good enough. Tokyo wants faxes of the hardcopies of my invoices. At this point, I was ready to explode. Mt. St. Helens would've looked like a fart bubble in a bathtub compared to how I was going to explode.
I try to wrap my head around the fact that these people, despite having the situation explained to them by one of the secretaries at my workplace, could not fathom the fact that I ordered online to a different continent and having done so, HAD no hardcopies as I had not received my items yet. *blink blink* Seems like the math was simple to me. Why was it so difficult for them? *I* bought the items. Items were being sent to *me*. And how in the WORLD was I s'posed to have the invoices for them??? (hardcopies, that is)
More phone calls. SAME printed online invoices faxed AGAIN to Tokyo. At this point, from the sounds of it, a protracted battle is shaping up. Doesn't help that the guy that started all of this happened to be taking the day off, so had handed ev'thing off to someone else. And this being Japan, no one's wanting to take the rap for someone else's beat-with-an-ugly-stick problem. Limbo. Discussion about whether or not the 8790'll be sent back to the States comes up. Livid is not the word.
3/31 Wednesday. Other than the original phone call, the secretaries had been fielding the phone calls for me. My Japanese is conversationally somewhat decent, but when it comes to arguing or explaining complex things, I'm out of my league. Also, keigo (polite language) still kicks my butt. I need a sign around my neck that says, "Please speak to me rudely." At least if they did, I'd have a winning chance at understanding. Despite these liabilities in the language dept, I decide that I've had enough of sitting around and waiting for them to randomly pick a day on the calendar and call to tell me one way or another what's up. Having worked for UPS for 5 years before coming to Japan, I knew exactly how frustrating it was to deal with the Int'l side of things and how long things could drag out (I'd seen Int'l pkgs sit for 2~3 weeks w/o resolution and THAT ticked me off because I'm HUGE on customer service and always busted my butt to make sure my customers were taken care of). I asked the secretary for the phone number to Tokyo, walked over to the phone and called. Language was not going to be a barrier. At this point, Japan was irrelevant to me. I was an American dealing with an American company with whom I was very familiar with. I was going to start with the first guy and if he couldn't give me an answer, then I was going to go to his superior and on up. At some point, things were going to break because UPS hates passing the buck to the higher ups, generally. They're busy and don't want to be bothered. No was not in my vocabulary for this day. However, it ended up that I didn't have to press much. They would send the 8790 on and it should arrive on Friday, April 2nd. Guy'd call me back w/ how much customs was going to charge me. Well, heck, that got resolved a lot quicker than I'd anticipated. I've still got issues w/ UPS, though. There was a myriad of mistakes made by them (even found another one in typing up this report!), so we've still got some discussing to do.
The guy never did call back w/ a customs amount.
(ended up having to pay ~US$200 when all was said and done)
4/01 Package tracking shows RECEIVER NOT IN ON 1ST DELIVERY ATTEMPT;PKG DELIV NEXT BUSINESS DAY-NO SAT GUAR in Chiba, Japan. I'm not amused. However, I foist several April Fool's Day jokes on unsuspecting coworkers and friends, so that helps relieve tension.
4/02 Friday. 8790 arrives. I just happen to be running a mission-critical job at the plant on this day, so there's no playing w/ the 8790 'til lunchtime.
First thought: The white Sager box is a lot smaller than I thought it'd be. Just looked really big in the pics I'd seen.
First impression: Lifted the box up. Holy F@#%$, Batman! It's HEAVY!
Take the games out. As I do, I think to myself that I can't believe that something so small can cause so much trouble. *shakes head*
Impressive machine. Large and heavy. Everyone was amazed at the weight. However, most of the people there at work've probably never even lifted a notebook before, so it's almost irrelevant. They had nothing to compare it to.
Everyone at work was amazed. There was not a single person that wasn't duly impressed by the 8790. Even the Company President was in a bit of awe. I think ev'one had been wondering what could possibly be so cool as to have me take so much time and energy (and $$$!), but they figured it out when they saw the 8790 (helped having my Sony nearby for comparison).
The screen
The screen is beautiful. Some people are waiting for a higher res screen. That's fine. 1440x900 is not a bad resolution. A little higher wouldn't hurt, but I'm not complaining. I won't rule out swapping out for a higher res screen in the future, but I can't imagine doing so anytime soon.
A couple days ago, I noticed that there's a smudged spot on the screen. Impossible to see w/ the computer on. Only w/ the computer off and at certain angles can you see it, but it's clearly where someone rubbed the heck out of the screen. I'm assuming that there was one or more dead pixels there and that a tech worked them out. If that is, indeed, the case, I hope they stay lit.
Other than finding the smudge(s) right there, the screen is perfect. No complaints.
Heat
A big issue for everyone. The palmrests do get warm. Doesn't bother me. I actually like it because my hands get cold after extended bouts of gaming, so I rest my hands there to warm up. Kind of odd in a way, having that area be so warm, but I don't think it'll be difficult to get used to. I chalk it up as a small price to pay for the performance that I paid for.
A couple days ago, I played KOTOR. Tried maxing the settings, but the 8790 wasn't having anything to do with it. There was one setting that was absolutely making the mouse crawl. Something to do w/ shadows, I think. I'll have to look later. I turned that off and set the AA from 8x to 2x (or was it 4? Don't remember) and now KOTOR flies.
The 8790 sits on a tatami mat, so I've been mildly concerned about the heat. Been trying to figure out which cooler to buy. Haven't been to Sapporo lately, so I don't even know if they have any for sale over here, much less one big enough to handle the 8790.
Left KOTOR running while I went out the other night. When I got home, one of the fans'd kicked on and the heat was noticeable on the unit. Even though the fan was on, it was NOT loud. I have yet to notice any sort of irritating or loud fan noise, even when hot. Perhaps others have serious issues w/ this, but I can attest to the fact that my unit is not in any way, shape or form loud (to my way of thinking, anyway). The burbling of water in my fishtank is louder than the 8790's fans.
Since I leave my computer on all the time, I figured I needed to have some sort of cooling solution soon. Waiting for one from the States just didn't seem feasible. So I came up with my own solution.
The Fried Toast Notebook Cooler Recipe:
Take wooden chopsticks (new and unused- not separated from each other) from drawer.
Grab gum tape (Japan's version o' duct tape).
Stack 2 pairs of chopsticks together. Wind tape around them. Repeat with one more pair.
Take resulting chopsticks and place them underneath the sides of the computer.
Ta-daa ~ instant lift of ~ 1/2 inch or so. I did that and the fans almost immediately shut down to their usual speed. Can't say that it's perfect, but it works for me (and it's CHEAP!) When I get some time to find a good hosting site, I'll post pics.
One more item on heat: CDs. I just finished installing NWN. When I popped out the Play Disc (Disc 3), it was HOT. Not warm, HOT. This makes me wonder about the aluminium on the CDs. How long can it take this sort of heat before deteriorating? Not a major worry at this point, but something that I hope doesn't come back to bite me in the butt later on.
Noise
I covered the fact that I don't think my fans are loud. However, the Pioneer DVD player IS. This thing roars like a jet engine. Guy sitting next to me at work was amazed when I stuck in a CD and the DVD player wound up. If there were a control tower nearby, I'm pretty sure they'd've given my 8790 permission to take off. Yes, it's that loud.
While typing this, I've realized that the power block's fan is louder than the main system's fan. For those sitting at a desk, you might not notice that. However, I'm laying on a futon mattress on the floor, so the power block's just to my left. Not a big deal, though. Especially for most ppl. Don't think my living conditions pertain to most ppl posting on these forums.
Keyboard
Having used a Sony VAIO FX-120 for the past 2 1/2 years, I've gotten used to the Sony keyboard. Fantastic keyboard. Anytime I test drive a laptop in a store, I'm generally dismayed at the keys because they don't have the snappy spring that my Sony has. The 8790 doesn't have it, either. However, that's not bad. The 8790's keys are softer. Almost mellow in a way. That's the only way I can describe them. Unimposing. Definitely not adjectives for a keyboard, but I like it. I don't think it'll take me long to get used to these keys. The size and placement of some of the keys will take some getting used to, but once again, I don't think that'll be too much of a problem.
Did notice the other night that my keyboard flexes. And that the area just below the Power Button/Hot Keys is bowed upward. It's like whatever's underneath inside the computer is crammed in there so tight, the keyboard isn't able to fit correctly. It's a minor thing, but noticeable. It's not a deal-breaker by any means. Out of a 100 people checking this machine out, I bet only 1 would notice it. IF that. I only found it after spending some time w/ the unit.
Video
Hard to group things since they're all related in a way, so hopefully this review doesn't seem too lopsided.
When I'd left KOTOR running and came home to find it hot (just before I'd come up w/ the chopstick cooling idea), I alt+D'd to the desktop to read the forums. As I was reading, I realized that the browser was artifacting. I haven't fiddled w/ a single video setting, so to my knowledge, everything is stock. If my friend modified any settings, he never mentioned it. And since he never said anything about it, I'm 99.99% sure he didn't change anything. I figured the unit was getting hot, so it was causing video errors. I took a screenshot of it. Scrolling w/ the mouse wheel was fine, but if I moved the browser by clicking on the bar and dragging it around, the fonts would smear. I'll post the pic later. Interesting stuf.
Battery
Haven't messed w/ the battery much. Tonight was the first time I'd used the battery much. I was visiting a friend's house and didn't have a power brick w/ me, so it was all battery. Looked through some pictures. Swapped out a couple wallpapers. Watched 2 small mpegs. Nothing big. I think I got appx. an hour or so out my 12-cell. Not impressive at all, all things considered. That's an unofficial time, though~ I could be waaay off. I wasn't paying attn to the time, so it could be more and it could also be less. Rough guesstimate on time. Either way, I expected more out of the 12-cell for what little I was making the unit do.
Odd things
When I was taking pictures of my Chopstick Cooling solution, I realized that the light sensor on my Sony P-8 digicam was "talking" to the IR port on the 8790. I had the cam down low trying to get decent pics of the chopsticks in action and when I got ready to take a picture, the IR port would start flashing back at the P-8 in response to the red light that the Sony gives out to judge distance. Interesting.
Using MSN Messenger, I got an audio/video conversation going w/ a friend. Picture of the webcam is good. No complaints. I had recently bought a webcam from Bic Camera in Sapporo for ~US$50. Couldn't get it to give me a picture for the life of me (on the VAIO). Gave it to my friend and now we get hooked up and it works fine. Go figure. Anyway, we were yakking away and a couple times during the conversation, there were odd noises. At first, I thought it was from his end. 2nd time, I realized it was coming from the left palm rest area. Like a small drum being beat and slowly receding into the distance becoming more and more faint... I know it sounds like I'm insane, but the built-in microphone picked it up clearly and my friend heard it loud and clear, too. I have NO clue what it was, but it was weird. Hopefully it doesn't turn out to be a major issue later on. Something's not right, though. Just don't know what it is. Not even sure how to recreate it.
Demonstrating the webcam today, I realized that there are white spots on the lens. At first, I thought that I had pixels out. After a little fussing around, found out that they're on the lens. Using compressed air didn't change anything. I'm guessing that the lens needs to be wiped off. Not sure how to accomplish that, though. It's such a small opening. Once again, not a huge deal.
Sony FX-120 vs. Sager 8790
How it's rolled out so far:
3/08 Ordered 8790 from PCTorque.com
3/09 Received Invoice from PCTorque:
3.4ghz Northwood
17" WXGA+ LCD (1440 X 900)
256MB ATI Radeon Mobility 9700 (M11)
1024MB 400DDR Dual Channel (2-512MB)
60GB 7200RPM
2X DVD+R/-R/RW/CD-RW
Bracket for 2nd HD
RAID: No
12 Cell Li-Ion Smart battery
Froppy: No
Modem: 56K RJ11 Phone Modem (who cares? Not me)
Windows XP Professional
Basic Black business case
Spare AC Power Adapter (1 for home, 1 for work)
USB Port Replicator (which I now realize is virtually worthless. Oh, well)
Internal 802.11g TURBO (108Mbps) wireless
Internal Bluetooth
Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader
Integrated Digital Video Camera
3 year warranty
Export Coverage: First Year Export
3/11 Unbeknownst to me, 8790 ships from CA en route to Seattle, WA
3/12 Friday, 8790 arrives in Redmond (maybe Bill personally installed XP Pro for me
)3/13 Receive UPS 2nd Day Air tracking # from Tom
3/13~14 Weekend in America. UGH!
3/15 Friend not home to receive 8790. C'est la vie. I've waited for a long time. One extra day's not going to kill me.
3/16 Touchdown!
3/17 Order of 5 games from Gogamer.com leaves CA for WA; Friend's initial 8790 impression:
Used your laptop all night... installed KotOR, Age of Mythology, and the latest Myst game. Also installed Visual Basic 6. I'm working on a side project programming a game idea into basic. I haven't programmed since high school so I'm stumbling along. Anyways, your laptop is fun to code on.
The screen is very nice and I set it up so that games won't stretch and will stay true to their pixel ratios. The latest Myst game is the most graphic-intensive game right now and your machine did just fine.
The company didn't install a whole lot of extra junk... refreshing.
3/18 Additional comment received: The option to retain pixel ratios for games and such was tucked away deep in the advanced monitor settings. Don't know why it's off as a default since it would spur more consumer ire, but that's how it goes.
3/19 Friend not in to receive games. Not a problem. Making sure unit's functioning correctly is order of the day. Games are a far, far second. XP Updated later that night.
3/22 Gogamer games delivered.
3/22 Additional commentary received: I left the laptop on all night Thursday to give it a good burn in. I haven't really had much time to play around with it except for installing games and stuff.
Don't have many dislikes for the machine... it's a pretty sweet set up. The battery life isn't that long and the screen can get washed out and un-constrast-y unless you're looking at it front on, but the 17" is super nice. There's some sort of fan that seems to turn on every now and then which is a little loud, but minor nonetheless. Speakers aren't exactly the cat's pajamas either... but you can't expect much from laptops. The soundcard is a cheap little motherboard doodad. I'd probably get a good external USB 2.0 soundcard that I can connect to a stereo (maybe something like:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=... /> 8a55cdfcb or a USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX), but that's just me.
3/25 Last commentary before shipping: I updated Windows, defragged the harddrive and watched a DVD. All seems to be in good working order. All in all I think it's a great machine. My only two complaints are that it's a battery sucker with sh!tty speakers... but that's pretty darn minor.
3/27 Saturday, 8790 arrives in Chiba, Japan according to UPS tracking #.
3/28 Sunday, UPS Import scan in Chiba, Japan.
3/29 Wait all day thinking the 8790 *might* arrive. Figure today or the next. Just before the end of the business day, I receive a phone call from Tokyo (mind you, I'm in Hokkaido, the northernmost island, so it's basically like being in Seattle and talking to Los Angeles). Apparently they have a big problem w/ the invoice. The 5 games included w/ the computer aren't listed separately on the UPS invoice. 10 points to the Mail, Etc. chick in Seattle that let an Int'l Express pkg (US$244, mind you) go through with an incorrect invoice. If I ever meet her, we're going to have words.
I fax a copy of the PCTorque invoice and my order from Gogamer to Tokyo in order to clear up any confusion. Should be good to go, right? Right. Should be here in 2 days, max. I'm severely grumpified at this point; really grumpy that they chose to call just before work was over and made ev'thing a panic/rush at the last minute. A big Thank You to my workplace for not tweaking out and letting me take care of all this during work hours.
3/30 Tuesday. Receive phone call in the morning that the items I faxed are not good enough. Tokyo wants faxes of the hardcopies of my invoices. At this point, I was ready to explode. Mt. St. Helens would've looked like a fart bubble in a bathtub compared to how I was going to explode.
I try to wrap my head around the fact that these people, despite having the situation explained to them by one of the secretaries at my workplace, could not fathom the fact that I ordered online to a different continent and having done so, HAD no hardcopies as I had not received my items yet. *blink blink* Seems like the math was simple to me. Why was it so difficult for them? *I* bought the items. Items were being sent to *me*. And how in the WORLD was I s'posed to have the invoices for them??? (hardcopies, that is)
More phone calls. SAME printed online invoices faxed AGAIN to Tokyo. At this point, from the sounds of it, a protracted battle is shaping up. Doesn't help that the guy that started all of this happened to be taking the day off, so had handed ev'thing off to someone else. And this being Japan, no one's wanting to take the rap for someone else's beat-with-an-ugly-stick problem. Limbo. Discussion about whether or not the 8790'll be sent back to the States comes up. Livid is not the word.
3/31 Wednesday. Other than the original phone call, the secretaries had been fielding the phone calls for me. My Japanese is conversationally somewhat decent, but when it comes to arguing or explaining complex things, I'm out of my league. Also, keigo (polite language) still kicks my butt. I need a sign around my neck that says, "Please speak to me rudely." At least if they did, I'd have a winning chance at understanding. Despite these liabilities in the language dept, I decide that I've had enough of sitting around and waiting for them to randomly pick a day on the calendar and call to tell me one way or another what's up. Having worked for UPS for 5 years before coming to Japan, I knew exactly how frustrating it was to deal with the Int'l side of things and how long things could drag out (I'd seen Int'l pkgs sit for 2~3 weeks w/o resolution and THAT ticked me off because I'm HUGE on customer service and always busted my butt to make sure my customers were taken care of). I asked the secretary for the phone number to Tokyo, walked over to the phone and called. Language was not going to be a barrier. At this point, Japan was irrelevant to me. I was an American dealing with an American company with whom I was very familiar with. I was going to start with the first guy and if he couldn't give me an answer, then I was going to go to his superior and on up. At some point, things were going to break because UPS hates passing the buck to the higher ups, generally. They're busy and don't want to be bothered. No was not in my vocabulary for this day. However, it ended up that I didn't have to press much. They would send the 8790 on and it should arrive on Friday, April 2nd. Guy'd call me back w/ how much customs was going to charge me. Well, heck, that got resolved a lot quicker than I'd anticipated. I've still got issues w/ UPS, though. There was a myriad of mistakes made by them (even found another one in typing up this report!), so we've still got some discussing to do.
The guy never did call back w/ a customs amount.
(ended up having to pay ~US$200 when all was said and done)4/01 Package tracking shows RECEIVER NOT IN ON 1ST DELIVERY ATTEMPT;PKG DELIV NEXT BUSINESS DAY-NO SAT GUAR in Chiba, Japan. I'm not amused. However, I foist several April Fool's Day jokes on unsuspecting coworkers and friends, so that helps relieve tension.
4/02 Friday. 8790 arrives. I just happen to be running a mission-critical job at the plant on this day, so there's no playing w/ the 8790 'til lunchtime.
First thought: The white Sager box is a lot smaller than I thought it'd be. Just looked really big in the pics I'd seen.
First impression: Lifted the box up. Holy F@#%$, Batman! It's HEAVY!
Take the games out. As I do, I think to myself that I can't believe that something so small can cause so much trouble. *shakes head*
Impressive machine. Large and heavy. Everyone was amazed at the weight. However, most of the people there at work've probably never even lifted a notebook before, so it's almost irrelevant. They had nothing to compare it to.
Everyone at work was amazed. There was not a single person that wasn't duly impressed by the 8790. Even the Company President was in a bit of awe. I think ev'one had been wondering what could possibly be so cool as to have me take so much time and energy (and $$$!), but they figured it out when they saw the 8790 (helped having my Sony nearby for comparison).
The screen
The screen is beautiful. Some people are waiting for a higher res screen. That's fine. 1440x900 is not a bad resolution. A little higher wouldn't hurt, but I'm not complaining. I won't rule out swapping out for a higher res screen in the future, but I can't imagine doing so anytime soon.
A couple days ago, I noticed that there's a smudged spot on the screen. Impossible to see w/ the computer on. Only w/ the computer off and at certain angles can you see it, but it's clearly where someone rubbed the heck out of the screen. I'm assuming that there was one or more dead pixels there and that a tech worked them out. If that is, indeed, the case, I hope they stay lit.
Other than finding the smudge(s) right there, the screen is perfect. No complaints.
Heat
A big issue for everyone. The palmrests do get warm. Doesn't bother me. I actually like it because my hands get cold after extended bouts of gaming, so I rest my hands there to warm up. Kind of odd in a way, having that area be so warm, but I don't think it'll be difficult to get used to. I chalk it up as a small price to pay for the performance that I paid for.
A couple days ago, I played KOTOR. Tried maxing the settings, but the 8790 wasn't having anything to do with it. There was one setting that was absolutely making the mouse crawl. Something to do w/ shadows, I think. I'll have to look later. I turned that off and set the AA from 8x to 2x (or was it 4? Don't remember) and now KOTOR flies.
The 8790 sits on a tatami mat, so I've been mildly concerned about the heat. Been trying to figure out which cooler to buy. Haven't been to Sapporo lately, so I don't even know if they have any for sale over here, much less one big enough to handle the 8790.
Left KOTOR running while I went out the other night. When I got home, one of the fans'd kicked on and the heat was noticeable on the unit. Even though the fan was on, it was NOT loud. I have yet to notice any sort of irritating or loud fan noise, even when hot. Perhaps others have serious issues w/ this, but I can attest to the fact that my unit is not in any way, shape or form loud (to my way of thinking, anyway). The burbling of water in my fishtank is louder than the 8790's fans.
Since I leave my computer on all the time, I figured I needed to have some sort of cooling solution soon. Waiting for one from the States just didn't seem feasible. So I came up with my own solution.
The Fried Toast Notebook Cooler Recipe:
Take wooden chopsticks (new and unused- not separated from each other) from drawer.
Grab gum tape (Japan's version o' duct tape).
Stack 2 pairs of chopsticks together. Wind tape around them. Repeat with one more pair.
Take resulting chopsticks and place them underneath the sides of the computer.
Ta-daa ~ instant lift of ~ 1/2 inch or so. I did that and the fans almost immediately shut down to their usual speed. Can't say that it's perfect, but it works for me (and it's CHEAP!) When I get some time to find a good hosting site, I'll post pics.
One more item on heat: CDs. I just finished installing NWN. When I popped out the Play Disc (Disc 3), it was HOT. Not warm, HOT. This makes me wonder about the aluminium on the CDs. How long can it take this sort of heat before deteriorating? Not a major worry at this point, but something that I hope doesn't come back to bite me in the butt later on.
Noise
I covered the fact that I don't think my fans are loud. However, the Pioneer DVD player IS. This thing roars like a jet engine. Guy sitting next to me at work was amazed when I stuck in a CD and the DVD player wound up. If there were a control tower nearby, I'm pretty sure they'd've given my 8790 permission to take off. Yes, it's that loud.
While typing this, I've realized that the power block's fan is louder than the main system's fan. For those sitting at a desk, you might not notice that. However, I'm laying on a futon mattress on the floor, so the power block's just to my left. Not a big deal, though. Especially for most ppl. Don't think my living conditions pertain to most ppl posting on these forums.
Keyboard
Having used a Sony VAIO FX-120 for the past 2 1/2 years, I've gotten used to the Sony keyboard. Fantastic keyboard. Anytime I test drive a laptop in a store, I'm generally dismayed at the keys because they don't have the snappy spring that my Sony has. The 8790 doesn't have it, either. However, that's not bad. The 8790's keys are softer. Almost mellow in a way. That's the only way I can describe them. Unimposing. Definitely not adjectives for a keyboard, but I like it. I don't think it'll take me long to get used to these keys. The size and placement of some of the keys will take some getting used to, but once again, I don't think that'll be too much of a problem.
Did notice the other night that my keyboard flexes. And that the area just below the Power Button/Hot Keys is bowed upward. It's like whatever's underneath inside the computer is crammed in there so tight, the keyboard isn't able to fit correctly. It's a minor thing, but noticeable. It's not a deal-breaker by any means. Out of a 100 people checking this machine out, I bet only 1 would notice it. IF that. I only found it after spending some time w/ the unit.
Video
Hard to group things since they're all related in a way, so hopefully this review doesn't seem too lopsided.
When I'd left KOTOR running and came home to find it hot (just before I'd come up w/ the chopstick cooling idea), I alt+D'd to the desktop to read the forums. As I was reading, I realized that the browser was artifacting. I haven't fiddled w/ a single video setting, so to my knowledge, everything is stock. If my friend modified any settings, he never mentioned it. And since he never said anything about it, I'm 99.99% sure he didn't change anything. I figured the unit was getting hot, so it was causing video errors. I took a screenshot of it. Scrolling w/ the mouse wheel was fine, but if I moved the browser by clicking on the bar and dragging it around, the fonts would smear. I'll post the pic later. Interesting stuf.
Battery
Haven't messed w/ the battery much. Tonight was the first time I'd used the battery much. I was visiting a friend's house and didn't have a power brick w/ me, so it was all battery. Looked through some pictures. Swapped out a couple wallpapers. Watched 2 small mpegs. Nothing big. I think I got appx. an hour or so out my 12-cell. Not impressive at all, all things considered. That's an unofficial time, though~ I could be waaay off. I wasn't paying attn to the time, so it could be more and it could also be less. Rough guesstimate on time. Either way, I expected more out of the 12-cell for what little I was making the unit do.
Odd things
When I was taking pictures of my Chopstick Cooling solution, I realized that the light sensor on my Sony P-8 digicam was "talking" to the IR port on the 8790. I had the cam down low trying to get decent pics of the chopsticks in action and when I got ready to take a picture, the IR port would start flashing back at the P-8 in response to the red light that the Sony gives out to judge distance. Interesting.
Using MSN Messenger, I got an audio/video conversation going w/ a friend. Picture of the webcam is good. No complaints. I had recently bought a webcam from Bic Camera in Sapporo for ~US$50. Couldn't get it to give me a picture for the life of me (on the VAIO). Gave it to my friend and now we get hooked up and it works fine. Go figure. Anyway, we were yakking away and a couple times during the conversation, there were odd noises. At first, I thought it was from his end. 2nd time, I realized it was coming from the left palm rest area. Like a small drum being beat and slowly receding into the distance becoming more and more faint... I know it sounds like I'm insane, but the built-in microphone picked it up clearly and my friend heard it loud and clear, too. I have NO clue what it was, but it was weird. Hopefully it doesn't turn out to be a major issue later on. Something's not right, though. Just don't know what it is. Not even sure how to recreate it.
Demonstrating the webcam today, I realized that there are white spots on the lens. At first, I thought that I had pixels out. After a little fussing around, found out that they're on the lens. Using compressed air didn't change anything. I'm guessing that the lens needs to be wiped off. Not sure how to accomplish that, though. It's such a small opening. Once again, not a huge deal.
Sony FX-120 vs. Sager 8790
Seems plenty fast. I've plopped in my Memorysticks from my P-8 and another card from the Boss's digicam (don't know what kind- I'm a Memorystick man, so I don't know what the others are unless I read the card then and there).
that didnt happen to me?
).
