Sager 5670, Sager 8887, Acer, and Sony quick compare

I'm not putting much time into this, just thought I would share the stats and benchamarks for everyone wondering. ALL systems were running at their stock from the factory speeds, ALL systems had 512MB RAM, and ALL systems were set to performance defaults and power set to "Laptop/Portable". Yes, 1GB of RAM is good for system resources, but it's performance gain is nill in benchmark testing. The Acer was straight out of the box, the Sony was off a fresh reload using the 7 CDs that come with it, and the Sagers were a fresh OS install with just the drivers Sager provides.

We have a Sony PCG-GRV680, Acer TMC803LCI, Sager 5670-V, and a Sager 8887-V (stripped down to 512MB of RAM). Each system basically represents the fastest of each brand.




The Sony and the Sager 8887 look to be the exact same size minus the Sager stands taller. The Acer is the same size as the 5670 minus the Sager stands much taller.

Just to throw some raw benches at you:

3DMARK2001 (as they run from the box with performance settings and power settings on "laptop/portable"):
Acer 7378
Sony 7372
5670 7348
8887 7380

3DMARK2003
Acer 968
Sony 1121
5670 1113
8887 1073

The Sager 8887 video drivers and the default Sony video drivers both crashed with DX9 and 3DMARK2003 requiring they both be updated with the drivers from s-seven.net.

3DMARK2003 on battery power:
Acer 348
Sony 955
5670 963
8887 1075

The reason is the Acer has the powerplay feature of ATI to conserve batt life by default. Yes, that's right, the 8887 wasn't slowed one bit being on batteries by default. The Sony was the only one that by default drastically dimmed the LCD display when you went to battery power. To the point that it was way to dim to game on. You have to turn it up for a decent brightness view when on batteries.

We ran 3DMARK03 many times hardly giving the systems a break to test battery life and this is how long they ran:
Acer 2hr
Sony 1hr 24min (with 2 crashes needing rebooted)
5670 52min
8887 1hr 16min

None of the batteries have been cycled and none of them are prepped nor beaten on.

Battery details:
Acer 4400mah single battery with many external battery options out there
Sony 4000mah with the option for a 2nd battery
5670 4000mah with the option for a 2nd battery
8887 6000mah single battery with no other options yet.

We ran PCMark2002 and the scores were as follows:
CPU TEST
Acer 5285
Sony 6265
5670 7458
8887 7419

MEM TEST
Acer 4992
Sony 5239
5670 5674
8887 5504

The Acer scored higher in the mem tests as it's the only one with 512MB PC2700. The others have 512MB PC2100.

Then some SiSoft Sandra tests:

CPU TEST
Acer 5336 and 2138/3159
Sony 6367 and 1482/3389
5670 9441 and 2642/5907
8887 9132 and 2648/5650

CPU Multimedia TEST
Acer 9087 and 10542
Sony 10221 and 13068
5670 14162 and 22586
8887 14151 and 22771

MEMORY
Acer 1983-1984
Sony 1933-1935
5670 1985-1984
8887 1974-1973

Here's a comparison of the keyboards and touchpads if you're into those things =):

Acer, you're not seeing things, the keyboard does curve.


Sony, only has the 2 button touchpad =(. I'm not a touchpad fan, but if you are you won't be impressed.


Sager 5670


Sager 8887


I was suprised to find the Sony actually had a brick at least the size of the Sager (from left to right Sager, Sony, Acer):


A few notes:

The Sony has a very easily accessed panel for the RAM under the notebook. You can see the Sony comes with 2-256MB sticks as the Sager comes with 1 512MB stick:


The Sager's are under the keyboard (this picture is from the 8886 breakdown and shows 2 sticks of 512 and no wireless card, it's just to show where the RAM is):


The Acer comes with a single 512MB stick also, but only has 1 slot for RAM it appears. Also, it looks to use the same wireless connection with it's pcmcia as the 5670


Here's an interesting pic of the 8887 next to the Acer =)


WEIGHT
Acer 6lbs
Sony 8.5lbs
5670 9.5lbs
8887 12lbs

All units except the Sony had USB 2.0 ports.
All units except the Sony had S-Video out

Comparing the rear of the units:

Acer, also has 4 USB ports and audio ports on the side.


Sony, also has USB and audio ports on the side.


5670


8887, also has the audio jacks on the side


LCD Screens

Acer 15" SXGA + running 1400 X 1050 max, easily the poorest angle viewing out of the group.

5670 15" UXGA running 1600 X 1200 max, sharpest colors and extreme angle views beating the others easily.

Sony 16" SXGA running max 1280 X 1024, lowest res out of the group, good angle view and close to the 8887 angle view, ghosting about the same or slightly worse than the 8887.

8887 16.1" UXGA running 1600 X 1200 max, largest display, 2nd in angle viewing.

So, to compare the SonyGRV680 to the Sager 8887-V...

PRO SONY
-Battery life. You can purchase a 2nd battery which you can't with the Sager 8887
-Weight. The Sony weighs 3.5lbs less than the Sager 8887


PRO SAGER 8887
-UXGA LCD, when Sony has an SXGA LCD
-TV Tuner and remote control
-USB 2.0 ports. Sony has USB 1.1
-2 sticks of 512MB RAM. Sony has 2 sticks of 256MB by default
-533 FSB. Sony has the 400FSB
-3.06GHZ CPU with HT. Sony only goes up to 2.6GHZ
-S-Video in and S-Video out. Sony has neither.
-Price. The Sager 8887-V is 2377 regular while Sony is $2409. Those are both priced with Windows XP Home which you can opt for no OS with the Sager.

Yes, with 3DMARK, the M9 doesn't depend on the notebook's processor much because it has its own processor and memory built in. Their video performance were pretty much even on all of them which it should be since they all use the M9. Just as with desktop cards, the 128MB and 64MB bench about the same. The main difference in performance is the rest of the specs with mainly the 3.06GHZ HT CPU, 533FSB.

The power adapter is one of two they use. Both are sufficient and the same in spec, they're just made by different companies. I'm not aware of one being better than the other. Most of them that get sent out are the completely enclosed ones from what I have seen, but they're the same size which was the purpose of the pic, to compare their size.

Glad everyone sees it as a fair review, that's one of the most important things when I'm putting them together.