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ABS or Sager?

post #1 of 19
11/6/04 at 6:20pm
Thread Starter 
Hi all.

New to these forums but have been researching them like crazy trying to find a good laptop...coupled with my own preferences I think I've narrowed it down to 2 options (finally). As an avid gamer, the MR9700 128mb was a prereq for any system, as was a 7200 RPM HD, and at least 1GB mem...both of the systems below have the exact same specs...the only differences lie in the CPU and Display...oh, and the extra $300 that the ABS costs (but I'm not sure how important that is to me...not all that much I guess...any more would have tipped it though). Anyway, here is what I've come down to:

ABS Mayhem G3
AMD 64 3700 DTR
15.4" WXGA 1280 X 800
~$2300
OR

Sager 3790
Centrino Dothan 755 (2.0)
15.4" WSXGA 1680 X 1050 (Don't see the need for a WUXGA 1920 X 1200 unless someone has an opinion that would change my mind on that)
~$2000

As I said above, all the other specs are identical so I have left those off.
Battery life is important, but not a deal breaker. Other than gaming and surfing, I also would be using it for powerpoint presentations for my classroom (5th grade teacher), some minor video editing (Adobe Premiere 6.0 LE is what I have now), and DVD watching.

I lean towards the better display of the Sager, but my heart calls out for that AMD chip. The only thing that would clinch this for me would be if someone would come out with a GOOD LOOKING AMD laptop with a 15.4" WSXGA screen (I happen to find most of the other AMD lappys to be rather boring or even a bit bulky looking and I don't want a 17" screen)...if that ABS had a better screen, I wouldn't even be sitting here typing any of this...that's one good looking lappy...but a 1280X800 screen seems rather meek to me. Am I off my rocker on this? Does anyone know of an AMD lappy like this with a better display?

Then there's that Sager. Everything about it looks fabulous...it has everything I want...except the Centrino. Am I wrong to be thinking so poorly of this CPU? I mean, would the differences between those two CPUs be that great? And yes, the lack of 64 bit bothers me a little...but not much as I'll probably just get a 64 bit desktop when that becomes the norm.)

Is there anything I should know or that anyone can share that might help me make up my mind? I've seriously been stuck between these twon laptops for the last 2 weeks and can't decide? Is one company particularly better than the other? I've read various reviews both ways.

Please HELP! Thanks!
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post #2 of 19
11/6/04 at 6:52pm

Welcome to you

1) Will this be mainly fixed in a main location or will you be on the move with your LT?
2) I would try and get hands on use of these to see them in action..
So checkout the stores.
3) Looks are not every thing but the do help.
4) we can give you all the help and advice we can, but at the end you need to be happy with the end product....DEMAND a test run of the lappies and take a DVD movie and a game to run on the units. They can't refuse you if they do show them the color of your money and say....
"YOU HAVE JUST LOST A SALE OF $2300"
Even if its not from that store your buying it from.
It may not of been quite what you wanted to hear but would you buy say a car just by reading the advert without a test run?









Sager 3790
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post #3 of 19
11/6/04 at 8:51pm
Thread Starter 
Will be a mobile computer in the sense I'll be transporting it back and forth to work and odds are my wife will be on it in front of the TV while I'm on the desktop at home.

Thanks for the thoughts!
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post #4 of 19
11/6/04 at 9:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JLattig
Will be a mobile computer in the sense I'll be transporting it back and forth to work and odds are my wife will be on it in front of the TV while I'm on the desktop at home.

Thanks for the thoughts!
Since you're a gamer, the 3790 is a good choice, considering that you need some mobility, and the Athlon 64 DTR is not what I would call "a mobile system".

Also, Centrino is not the processor. Now I'm beeing too much didactic, back to the subject... The Pentium-M is not a bad processor and was not developed to "game", even if it performs very good on that. However, it's always a 400Mhz bus running 333Mhz memory (eludes my why, but it's true). Compare that to the 1600Mhz bus of the Athlon and that dedicated memory controller that it has and you will let the P-m quite behind. To be honest, all depends on the "gamer" level you are. Put that and the mobility factor on the scale and you have your answer.

Hope it helps, DDDa.
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post #5 of 19
11/6/04 at 9:21pm
just a heads ups, the G3 gets extremly extremly hot with the 3700. I have an roommate with the same G3 that is in your config and its extremly powerful and he loves it HOWEVER the heat is that of a small heater. If that is a concern of your you might want to get the 3790. Also, the screen is not bad at all. Im typing this on a 1280X800 screen and would I of liked to get a better screen, of course, but the screen is perfectly crisp and sharp and the viewing angles are fantastic. Im sure the sager will look better but im just saying WXGA is not terrible by any means. As far as the pentium M cpu, its fast but my roommates pc runs circles around mine. Honestly, I would get the G3 if i was going to do it all over again. Hope at least some of this was useful.
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post #6 of 19
11/6/04 at 9:44pm
the G3 doesn't need a 3700+ to be hot. I have a 3200+ in my Uniwill and it gets warmish. But it only gets space-heater hot when playing something like GTA VC where the HD access is nonstop (i only have 512mb pc2700 but a 7k60). but aside from gta, it doesn't get that bad heat wise.
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post #7 of 19
11/6/04 at 9:59pm
Thread Starter 
Wow, thanks to all so far. I'm getting exactly the kind of responses I had hoped for.

DDA, thanks for the comments. As to mobility, there's only a 1 lb dif between the 2 computers, but I realize the PM will last probably 2X as long on the battery. Not sure if that's that important. I figure if I can get 2-2 1/2 hrs from the AMD I'd be happy (while gaming). Is that realistic though? I've heard various reports. As for what type of gamer, SWG (and now JTL) is/are my current addiction/s (has been since day 1...mastered things left and right).

Stocktonnj...thanks, yeah...had heard about the heat issues. Doesn't the Sager have similar heat issues? Thought I read that from some on these forums. Not sure that that's enough to make up my mind. I would be curious to know though how much of a difference you see between your WXGA and a WSXGA when a DVD plays. And yeah, the AMD 3700 is what's been keeping me from hitting the buy button on the Sager. So it's that noticeable? (The dif between the PM and the AMD)
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post #8 of 19
11/6/04 at 10:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JLattig
Stocktonnj...thanks, yeah...had heard about the heat issues. Doesn't the Sager have similar heat issues? Thought I read that from some on these forums. Not sure that that's enough to make up my mind. I would be curious to know though how much of a difference you see between your WXGA and a WSXGA when a DVD plays. And yeah, the AMD 3700 is what's been keeping me from hitting the buy button on the Sager. So it's that noticeable? (The dif between the PM and the AMD)
- I don't have one and I don't believe the 3790 will produce the heat that the Uniwill will. Probably much less than that. The owners of both can cnfirm this to me.

- The DVD won't be different at the WSXGA+ or WUXGA. The player will probably stretch it to fit the screen. Aspect ratio and screen size is what matters.

- I'm almost sure the heat _and_ the performance will be noticeable...

DDDa.
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post #9 of 19
11/7/04 at 1:25am
you will not get 2.5 hours from the uniwill in wifi+firefox. you'll be lucky with 1 hour of gaming. so don't count on 2 hours of gaming on the uniwill. i can imagine the sager will make less heat because of the cpu, and because of how its built, it is slightly thicker and allows for better air circulation keeping the heat down
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post #10 of 19
11/7/04 at 3:15am
Thread Starter 
Really, only an hour? Had hoped for better.

Anyone lese have other words on performance differences between AMD 64 3700 and PM 755? I had realized the AMD would run hotter, but is it really that unbearable? Any other thoughts? Anyone else have an opinion about WXGA (1280 X 800) vs WSXGA (1680 X 1050)? Does it make that much of a difference with DVDs? or game play? I imagine I'd be gaming at less than WXGa anyway (1024 X 780 or so) so it's more important only for DVD's I guess.

Getting close to a decision. Really wish that Sager made an AMD lappy in a 15.4" case with a sweet screen rez. Really wish that ABS mad one that didn't run so hot from the sound of things (and had a better rez).

Thanks for the continued input!
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post #11 of 19
11/7/04 at 12:33pm
WXGA does it for me. Though I guess that WSXGA wouldn't hurt sometimes. DVD wise, it will just stretch it accordingly. When I watch movies on my WXGA they look pretty good actualy. Also the viewing angle isn't so bad on my screen compared to what i've seen on other lappys out there. If you want to save some (a lot) of money on the Uniwill buy it from Ibuypower or MWAVE. You'll get a major price break.

AMD64 3200+, 512mb kingston pc2700, ati9700 128mb, cd-rw/dvd, wxga, 7k60, 54g wifi goes for just over $1400. Make it a 3700+ and you are still under 2k
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post #12 of 19
11/7/04 at 3:00pm
Thread Starter 
Wow, that's quite a difference in price. I'll check that out. Thanks, abf!

Also discovered a Toshiba Satellite M30X with PM 755, WXGA, MR 9700 64MB, 1BG PC2700, and (ugh, here's the bad part) 60 GB 4200 HD for $1800 (after 10% discount). I know Toshiba has had a good rep in lappys. Would I be better off sticking with the Sager with the 60Gb 7200 rpm HD, 128 mb MR 9700, and WSXGA for only $200 more (assuming I go the route of PM over AMD (which is still up in the air)? Or is Toshiba worth the decline in HD rpm and 64mb graphics card loss? I'm guessing no, but what do others think?
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post #13 of 19
11/7/04 at 7:32pm
i think for $200, its worthy to go with the Sager for extra vram and hdd speed.
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post #14 of 19
11/7/04 at 9:40pm
I have a G3 with a 3400+, 1024 ram, with the 60gig@7200rpm hdd. I love it. Too bad the 3700+ wasn't an option when I got it because I would have gone for that option as well. It does get warm when playing games such as Far Cry, but it's not too bad and I don't find the heat to be a deal breaker. The fans can get loud though when even just surfing the net (can't hear them while playing games though), and the battery life is nothing to brag about, only about 1.5hrs. I bought it knowing this though and wanted a besktop replacement, not a thin and light mobile...rather have the power.

The WXGA screen is great. I was alittle hesitant at first myself, but now I love it. I do wear glasses so I don't really like incredibly small text. I think it has great viewing angles and is very crisp with absolutely no ghosting. Plus games still look great at this resolution and even Fary Cry runs very smoothly with no slow downs at all of the highest settings at the full 1280x800x32 res.

The only thing I can say is if you need support you have to call ABS because I have not had either of my emails returned. But after waiting about 10-15min on the phone they are very helpful and haven't had a problem, even when I returned my first G3 due to 2 huge dead pixels. In this respect I think PCT is a better reseller.

If you do decide to buy a G3 or this Uniwill from another reseller I would highly suggest buying it from one that offers the 400ddr ram, I don't think that's an option with all of them.

I don't know what the 3790 is like, I'm sure its great. All I can do is offer you my opinion about what I have right now. Either way they're both a good choice.
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post #15 of 19
11/8/04 at 2:31am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the opinions...starting to lean in the direction of the G3...the power of that 3700 calls to me...am getting different accounts on the heat levels...most seem to lean on warm but not warm enough to say don't buy it.

Flyby, when you simply surf or watch DVDs, do you notice the heat, or is mostly when you are gaming? And would you buy from ABS again, or would you recommend another source...I checked MWAVE and IBuyPower.com as suggested, but as far as I could tell, I was unable to find a 3700 at either site...the most they offered was the 3400.
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post #16 of 19
11/8/04 at 1:48pm
When I surf and do things other than game my G3 stays cool. Its only when gaming does it get to the temps people are complaining about. I also have the hottest hdd available which I'm sure doesn't help, but I don't know how much of a difference you would really feel.

I would buy from ABS again, but if PCT had a comperable machine with the exact specs (I find the 15.4 to be a happy median, I didn't want a 17in monster) I would have gone with them without a doubt. Unfortunately they only have a 17in AMD64 machine and that wasn't what I was looking for. Now if the had a AMD64 system in the 3790 chassis that would be sweet, but they don't and ABS had the exact machine I was looking for at a good price.

ABS's service has always been very good for me, but I find I don't ever need it because I use this forum for all of my questions anyway. Which by the way one of my User profiles in WinXP always says that I have "1 unread email" under the name after startup even when I don't...can't figure that one out. Besides that everything is great and haven't thought twice about my purchase. I would deffinitly go ABS if they are the ones offering you the machine with the specs that you want. Plus their delivery time was under a week from the date I purchased my first one, and they sent my replacement before they had received my old G3. I don't think places like IBP can boast service like that.
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post #17 of 19
11/8/04 at 9:07pm
Thread Starter 
Awesome, thanks for the input! Probably make a decision in the next day or two and be done with all the the research and questions. Seems like both computers are well liked...tough call...lol
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post #18 of 19
11/8/04 at 10:16pm
True, IBP doesn't offfer THAT degree of service, but over all they are pretty good about service. However, you were right, they don't have the 3700+, the 3400+ is the top dog in those stores. So looks like ABS if your only way out. As a Uniwill owner, I am happy with this lappy. Of course, there is a shortcomming here and there, but those are minor and easily overlooked. Which laptops doesn't have shortcommings? I am sure the Sager is a fine machine. Either way, I think you won't be disappointed.

It all comes down to: do you want POWER or LIFE?
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post #19 of 19
11/8/04 at 11:48pm
Thread Starter 
Power or Life??? Ugh, that is the question...and always has been...thanks for all the help!
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