Intro<o></o>
I’ve been looking for a good laptop for almost a year now. I needed something that I could play up to date games on, yet use for every day use as well. Also it needed to be portable. I didn’t want something that took up to much room. Originally I thought of getting a Gateway, but then I decided I needed something a little better. Alienware was much to expensive, so I began doing heavy research.
<o></o>
That’s when I came across Sager. I configured one of their 15.4” laptops the same as I had configured Alienware’s, but it ended up being over $1,500.00 dollars cheaper. After learning a little bit about how reliable Sagers were, I made the purchase. (I ordered direct from Sager for $2,300.00. It was on sale at the time though.)
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What's in the Box:
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It came with a regular charger, a roll of phone line for the internet(I’m not sure how long it is), an adapter for hooking up a projector or things like that, a Windows Vista manual, and a Sager manual.
<o></o>
It also came with 3 cds:
Device Drivers & Utilities + User’s Manual
A Windows Vista recovery disk
CyberLink DVD Suit
<o></o>
Additionally, I ordered a car charge as well.
<o></o>
Everything was packed extremely well. There was no damage to anything.
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Design
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I personally think this laptop looks amazing. The brushed metal surfaces are very nice. It likes to hold fingerprints, but it cleans easy. The keyboard looks nice and is easy to type on. The trackpad/fingerprint reader both look cool.
<o></o>
Overall it looks like a very solid and cool looking laptop.
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Screen:
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The picture quality is amazing. I’ve never had anything but Macs up until now, and they don’t even compare. The viewing angle is fine. Every angle I’ve looked at it so far while using it was still close to perfect picture. It goes plenty bright. Even in the sunlight you can see it okay at the highest setting. At the lowest setting you can’t see it outside very well, but you can inside even in the light. There were no dead pixels at all. I didn’t want to pay the extra money for dead pixel insurance, so I’m glad it didn’t have any.
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Keyboard
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The keyboard is very comfortable. It’s spaced nicely and the keys push in easily, but not too easily. It doesn’t have a keypad, but I never use that anyway. It doesn’t get hot at all nearly. There might be a little warmth, but that could just be from having my hands on it. The function keys are nice, but having to press the fn key to adjust volume and brightness gets annoying. With Macs I didn’t have to do that, but I’m adjusting.
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Touchpad
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The touch pad is in a good location, and it is very comfortable. Using the right click is a little awkward, but once again with Macs I’m just not used to even having a right click. There is no scroll pad, but I got a gaming mouse anyway.
<o></o>
Features:
Multimedia Keys
There are three multimedia keys at the top of the keypad. They’re for email, internet, and silent mode. I don’t use the email or internet ones, but the ability to quickly put the laptop in and out of silent mode is very nice.
LEDS
<o></o>
There are a whole row of LEDS on the bottom right corner of the laptop. From left to right they are:
<st1>Battery</st1> indicator
Power indicator
Bluetooth/WLAN module indicator
Number lock indicator
Caps lock indicator
Scroll lock indicator
Hard disk activity indicator
Wifi –
It has internal Wifi, and it works well. I can pick up on my neighbors internet, and they’re over half a block away. I haven’t actually used wireless internet on it yet, so I can’t say anything about speed.
Speakers
The speakers are there, but that’s about it. They work fine, and they have a large range of volume. However, they are definitely not the best sounding speakers. If you play games or listen to lots of music, getting headphones is a must.
Input and Output Ports
Front:
There are 4 ports on the front.
From left to right they are:
Headphone jack: I like having this in the front. It gives you more room to move.
Microphone jack: I don’t use this as it has a built in microphone
S/DPIF-Out jack: I have no clue what purpose this serves
Mini-IEEE 1394 port: Once again, no clue what it’s for
Webcam Pictures
There is a built in webcam. The picture is pretty good. My Mac G5 had a much better picture though in my opinion. I never use a webcam anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.
Right Side:
There are 6 ports on the right side.
From left to right:
7-in-1 Card Reader: I don’t foresee myself using this, but it’s nice to have just in case
Express Card Slot: Same as above
2 usb ports: Makes it easier to use a mouse than having the ports on the left side.
RJ-45 LAN jack: I’ll be using this a lot. It’s in a nice location.
RJ-11 Phone jack: I won’t be using it as much, but I’m sure I’ll need it at some point in time
Left Side:
There are no ports on the left side. Just the cd drive and emergency eject hole.
Rear:
There are 6 slots on the back as well as the vent.
From left to right:
DVI-Out port: One of those things that’s nice to have, but I may not use it. Perfect placement though.
HDMI-Out port: I’ve never used one of these
eSata/USB port: I like having this. Wish it was on the side though.
Another USB port: Great for wireless mice. Putting the USB plug in on the right side causes the mouse to lose connection if you get too close, which you will. Having this on the back makes it easy to use a wireless mouse.
DC-In Jack: I like this being on the back. If someone trips on the power cord it will unplug rather than pull the laptop to its death on the floor.
Security lock slot: I doubt I’ll use this, but it’s there
Bottom:
The bottom of the laptop looks a little bit clustered, but I’ve never had a laptop like this. It’s probably actually pretty efficient. There are 7 exhaust ports in addition to the one on the back. There is just one fan. Nothing is very noisy, and I like that. The battery lock is spring loaded, but very easy to push. I haven’t dumped the battery yet though, so it must be set up in there far enough to avoid that.
Benchmarks
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I didn’t do any of the normal benchmarks, but I did use 3 games to test my system. Each one is a little more demanding than the last.
<o></o>
Sins of a Solar Empire: You have to get a mouse to play this game. Having a scroll wheel is a must. That being said, I maxed all of the settings out as soon as I installed the game. I loaded the biggest map I could and used cheats to put a massive number of ships on screen as soon as possible. Even with hundreds of independently moving ships at high settings, my laptop didn’t even hiccup once. But Sins isn’t a power hog anyway.
<o></o>
Unreal Tournament 2004: I also immediately maxed out settings and resolution when I installed this game as well. Even with 20+ players on screen at once there wasn’t even the slightest slowdown. One time, on a smaller map, it slowed down for just a second, but that was it. I’ve never had a computer that could play this game this easily.
<o></o>
Mass Effect: This was the final game I’ve installed so far. I set all the settings to maximum, but I didn’t max out the resolution. As far as combat and moving around there were no slowdowns or hiccups, but whenever a cutscene or something was about to start, it would mess up a little bit. Also, sometimes it would glitch and the person would say the same word twice. This may be a game problem and not a computer one though.
<o></o>
All in all, this laptop does exactly what I hoped. I can now play amazing games at high settings without any game-ruining slowdowns or hiccups. I couldn’t have asked for more, especially at this price.
<o></o>
Size and Weight
When I first took it out of the box I was surprised by how heavy it was. I’m not used to that with Mac. However, that added weight and size makes it much more sturdy and gives it more room for the heat to dissipate. Carrying it by itself is a little awkward. It feels to heavy to just use one hand. Maybe I’m just paranoid about breaking it though. It fits nicely on my lap. It isn’t so heavy as to make it uncomfortable, but yet you can definitely tell it’s there. The entire box weighed 15 pounds, so I’d say the laptop itself weighs about 9 or 10 pounds.
Heat and Noise
Noise: There is very little noise. Even after hours of gaming all you hear the soft sound of air flowing.
<o></o>
Heat: I was very impressed with the coolness of this laptop. Even after playing Unreal Tournament 2004 for 8 hours the base of the laptop wasn’t too hot to touch. You can let this laptop sit on your lap without burning your legs. That’s something I couldn’t say about my Macs.
<st1>Battery</st1> Life
If you have the batter set for best performance, it won’t last long at all. If you set it for battery life, and don’t play games, it will last for a little while. If you’re playing a game with it set to performance, it’ll be dead before you can get through one level. That’s why I got a car charger. You can’t have a gaming laptop that does good on battery.
Software
<o></o>
It came with all the bare basics. Nothing special, just everything it needs. It has a few things like a movie maker and dvd maker, but I don’t use those much.
Accessories
The adapter for plugging in projectors and stuff was an unexpected bonus. I thought I was going to have to buy one. The car charger I ordered works great, although I wouldn’t run it without having your car running as well. Unless you like using jumper cables.
Pros:
1. Very quiet
2. Excellent cooling
3. Superb performance
4. Excellent build quality
Cons::
1. Adjusting brightness/volume while playing a game causes the computer to minimize the game and return to the desktop
2. I hate where the cd drive is. Very huge pain. (see conclusion)
3. Speakers aren’t the best
4. <st1>Battery</st1> life is short, but that’s to be expected
Conclusion:
Before I right the conclusion I’d like to talk about the cd drive. Where it is placed on the left side is very awkward. If you grab the computer by the sides on the front to move it on your lap or something, you will most likely hit the eject button. I’ve done it nearly 50 or 60 times in the week I’ve had this laptop. Also, when you go to close the cd drive, make sure you don’t push it in using the eject button, or it will pop right back out. All of this could have been avoided by placing the eject button on the keyboard rather than on the door itself. Just MAKE SURE you don’t even get near the left side when you’re importing music or installing something off a cd, or it’ll eject and you’ll have to start over.
<o></o>
Other than that, I have no real complaints other than the brightness/volume problem I mentioned above.
<o></o>
Overall, I love this laptop. I am 99.9% satisfied with my purchase. Considering the cost of $2,300.00 for this nice of a laptop versus the #3,000.00+ for a similar model elsewhere, you can’t beat this laptop for performance gaming in a smaller size.
<o>
I'm sure I forgot to mention some things that it has, so make sure you do plenty of research before you commit to any laptop.
</o>
I’ve been looking for a good laptop for almost a year now. I needed something that I could play up to date games on, yet use for every day use as well. Also it needed to be portable. I didn’t want something that took up to much room. Originally I thought of getting a Gateway, but then I decided I needed something a little better. Alienware was much to expensive, so I began doing heavy research.
<o></o>
That’s when I came across Sager. I configured one of their 15.4” laptops the same as I had configured Alienware’s, but it ended up being over $1,500.00 dollars cheaper. After learning a little bit about how reliable Sagers were, I made the purchase. (I ordered direct from Sager for $2,300.00. It was on sale at the time though.)
<o></o>
<o></o>
What's in the Box:
<o></o>
It came with a regular charger, a roll of phone line for the internet(I’m not sure how long it is), an adapter for hooking up a projector or things like that, a Windows Vista manual, and a Sager manual.
<o></o>
It also came with 3 cds:
Device Drivers & Utilities + User’s Manual
A Windows Vista recovery disk
CyberLink DVD Suit
<o></o>
Additionally, I ordered a car charge as well.
<o></o>
Everything was packed extremely well. There was no damage to anything.
<o></o>
Design
<o></o>
I personally think this laptop looks amazing. The brushed metal surfaces are very nice. It likes to hold fingerprints, but it cleans easy. The keyboard looks nice and is easy to type on. The trackpad/fingerprint reader both look cool.
<o></o>
Overall it looks like a very solid and cool looking laptop.
<o></o>
Screen:
<o></o>
The picture quality is amazing. I’ve never had anything but Macs up until now, and they don’t even compare. The viewing angle is fine. Every angle I’ve looked at it so far while using it was still close to perfect picture. It goes plenty bright. Even in the sunlight you can see it okay at the highest setting. At the lowest setting you can’t see it outside very well, but you can inside even in the light. There were no dead pixels at all. I didn’t want to pay the extra money for dead pixel insurance, so I’m glad it didn’t have any.
<o></o>
Keyboard
<o></o>
The keyboard is very comfortable. It’s spaced nicely and the keys push in easily, but not too easily. It doesn’t have a keypad, but I never use that anyway. It doesn’t get hot at all nearly. There might be a little warmth, but that could just be from having my hands on it. The function keys are nice, but having to press the fn key to adjust volume and brightness gets annoying. With Macs I didn’t have to do that, but I’m adjusting.
<o></o>
Touchpad
<o></o>
The touch pad is in a good location, and it is very comfortable. Using the right click is a little awkward, but once again with Macs I’m just not used to even having a right click. There is no scroll pad, but I got a gaming mouse anyway.
<o></o>
Features:
Multimedia Keys
There are three multimedia keys at the top of the keypad. They’re for email, internet, and silent mode. I don’t use the email or internet ones, but the ability to quickly put the laptop in and out of silent mode is very nice.
LEDS
<o></o>
There are a whole row of LEDS on the bottom right corner of the laptop. From left to right they are:
<st1>Battery</st1> indicator
Power indicator
Bluetooth/WLAN module indicator
Number lock indicator
Caps lock indicator
Scroll lock indicator
Hard disk activity indicator
Wifi –
It has internal Wifi, and it works well. I can pick up on my neighbors internet, and they’re over half a block away. I haven’t actually used wireless internet on it yet, so I can’t say anything about speed.
Speakers
The speakers are there, but that’s about it. They work fine, and they have a large range of volume. However, they are definitely not the best sounding speakers. If you play games or listen to lots of music, getting headphones is a must.
Input and Output Ports
Front:
There are 4 ports on the front.
From left to right they are:
Headphone jack: I like having this in the front. It gives you more room to move.
Microphone jack: I don’t use this as it has a built in microphone
S/DPIF-Out jack: I have no clue what purpose this serves
Mini-IEEE 1394 port: Once again, no clue what it’s for
Webcam Pictures
There is a built in webcam. The picture is pretty good. My Mac G5 had a much better picture though in my opinion. I never use a webcam anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.
Right Side:
There are 6 ports on the right side.
From left to right:
7-in-1 Card Reader: I don’t foresee myself using this, but it’s nice to have just in case
Express Card Slot: Same as above
2 usb ports: Makes it easier to use a mouse than having the ports on the left side.
RJ-45 LAN jack: I’ll be using this a lot. It’s in a nice location.
RJ-11 Phone jack: I won’t be using it as much, but I’m sure I’ll need it at some point in time
Left Side:
There are no ports on the left side. Just the cd drive and emergency eject hole.
Rear:
There are 6 slots on the back as well as the vent.
From left to right:
DVI-Out port: One of those things that’s nice to have, but I may not use it. Perfect placement though.
HDMI-Out port: I’ve never used one of these
eSata/USB port: I like having this. Wish it was on the side though.
Another USB port: Great for wireless mice. Putting the USB plug in on the right side causes the mouse to lose connection if you get too close, which you will. Having this on the back makes it easy to use a wireless mouse.
DC-In Jack: I like this being on the back. If someone trips on the power cord it will unplug rather than pull the laptop to its death on the floor.
Security lock slot: I doubt I’ll use this, but it’s there
Bottom:
The bottom of the laptop looks a little bit clustered, but I’ve never had a laptop like this. It’s probably actually pretty efficient. There are 7 exhaust ports in addition to the one on the back. There is just one fan. Nothing is very noisy, and I like that. The battery lock is spring loaded, but very easy to push. I haven’t dumped the battery yet though, so it must be set up in there far enough to avoid that.
Benchmarks
<o></o>
I didn’t do any of the normal benchmarks, but I did use 3 games to test my system. Each one is a little more demanding than the last.
<o></o>
Sins of a Solar Empire: You have to get a mouse to play this game. Having a scroll wheel is a must. That being said, I maxed all of the settings out as soon as I installed the game. I loaded the biggest map I could and used cheats to put a massive number of ships on screen as soon as possible. Even with hundreds of independently moving ships at high settings, my laptop didn’t even hiccup once. But Sins isn’t a power hog anyway.
<o></o>
Unreal Tournament 2004: I also immediately maxed out settings and resolution when I installed this game as well. Even with 20+ players on screen at once there wasn’t even the slightest slowdown. One time, on a smaller map, it slowed down for just a second, but that was it. I’ve never had a computer that could play this game this easily.
<o></o>
Mass Effect: This was the final game I’ve installed so far. I set all the settings to maximum, but I didn’t max out the resolution. As far as combat and moving around there were no slowdowns or hiccups, but whenever a cutscene or something was about to start, it would mess up a little bit. Also, sometimes it would glitch and the person would say the same word twice. This may be a game problem and not a computer one though.
<o></o>
All in all, this laptop does exactly what I hoped. I can now play amazing games at high settings without any game-ruining slowdowns or hiccups. I couldn’t have asked for more, especially at this price.
<o></o>
Size and Weight
When I first took it out of the box I was surprised by how heavy it was. I’m not used to that with Mac. However, that added weight and size makes it much more sturdy and gives it more room for the heat to dissipate. Carrying it by itself is a little awkward. It feels to heavy to just use one hand. Maybe I’m just paranoid about breaking it though. It fits nicely on my lap. It isn’t so heavy as to make it uncomfortable, but yet you can definitely tell it’s there. The entire box weighed 15 pounds, so I’d say the laptop itself weighs about 9 or 10 pounds.
Heat and Noise
Noise: There is very little noise. Even after hours of gaming all you hear the soft sound of air flowing.
<o></o>
Heat: I was very impressed with the coolness of this laptop. Even after playing Unreal Tournament 2004 for 8 hours the base of the laptop wasn’t too hot to touch. You can let this laptop sit on your lap without burning your legs. That’s something I couldn’t say about my Macs.
<st1>Battery</st1> Life
If you have the batter set for best performance, it won’t last long at all. If you set it for battery life, and don’t play games, it will last for a little while. If you’re playing a game with it set to performance, it’ll be dead before you can get through one level. That’s why I got a car charger. You can’t have a gaming laptop that does good on battery.
Software
<o></o>
It came with all the bare basics. Nothing special, just everything it needs. It has a few things like a movie maker and dvd maker, but I don’t use those much.
Accessories
The adapter for plugging in projectors and stuff was an unexpected bonus. I thought I was going to have to buy one. The car charger I ordered works great, although I wouldn’t run it without having your car running as well. Unless you like using jumper cables.
Pros:
1. Very quiet
2. Excellent cooling
3. Superb performance
4. Excellent build quality
Cons::
1. Adjusting brightness/volume while playing a game causes the computer to minimize the game and return to the desktop
2. I hate where the cd drive is. Very huge pain. (see conclusion)
3. Speakers aren’t the best
4. <st1>Battery</st1> life is short, but that’s to be expected
Conclusion:
Before I right the conclusion I’d like to talk about the cd drive. Where it is placed on the left side is very awkward. If you grab the computer by the sides on the front to move it on your lap or something, you will most likely hit the eject button. I’ve done it nearly 50 or 60 times in the week I’ve had this laptop. Also, when you go to close the cd drive, make sure you don’t push it in using the eject button, or it will pop right back out. All of this could have been avoided by placing the eject button on the keyboard rather than on the door itself. Just MAKE SURE you don’t even get near the left side when you’re importing music or installing something off a cd, or it’ll eject and you’ll have to start over.
<o></o>
Other than that, I have no real complaints other than the brightness/volume problem I mentioned above.
<o></o>
Overall, I love this laptop. I am 99.9% satisfied with my purchase. Considering the cost of $2,300.00 for this nice of a laptop versus the #3,000.00+ for a similar model elsewhere, you can’t beat this laptop for performance gaming in a smaller size.
<o>
I'm sure I forgot to mention some things that it has, so make sure you do plenty of research before you commit to any laptop.
</o>
