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For those of you with ADHD, here's the 10 second review: I LOVE IT!

Now, for everyone else with a more normal attention span:

Laptop specs:

Aviator FX7 in Reflexxion Series Chiaretto Red Pearl
Airbrush Custom Graphics (High Detail)
AMD AthlonT 64 X2 4400+ Dual Core Processor
2 x 1024MB PC3200 DDR400 SODIMM
Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX PCI-Express 256MB
Built-in TV Tuner with Remote Control for FX7
100GB 7200rpm Serial-ATA Hard Drive with NCQ & 8MB Cache
8X DVD ± R/W Drive Dual Layer w/ DVD Recording Software
8X DVD / 24X-10X-24 CD-R/W Combo Drive w/ Recording Software
17" WUXGA 1920x1200 VividViewT Display w/ Super Clear Glossy Surface w/ No Dead Pixel Guarantee
Internal 802.11G 54Mbps Wireless Mini PCI Network Adapter
MS Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 CD & Manual SP2
(No Disaster Recovery DVD)
1 Year Platinum Warranty with 24/7 Toll-Free Tech Support

Brief history of me: I'm a geek/nerd with 20+ years experience messing with computers, mostly personal use. This is the second Sager notebook I've purchased, the first being a 5680 I bought in mid-2003, which I use on a daily basis with very minor issues.

Order Progression: Ordered on 02/28/06, received on 04/07/06. ONLY got pushed back 3 times. E-mail communication with Hypersonic was hit or miss, depending on if I contacted sales (hit) or customer service (miss). All in all, could have been better, but I'm glad I got my laptop.

First impression out of the box: IT'S HUGE! The Chiaretto Red Pearl looks gorgeous, as does the custom art I got. The grainy pics I took with my camera phone don't do it justice.

Front view
Back view with lid

For those of you wondering, that's the chinese character for Lee (my family name).

Boot up, and time to get started!: After I got it out of the box (did I mention that it's heavy?), I spent the next few hours at work installing stuff (don't tell my boss!). I had pre-loaded my 6GB pocket drive with most of my needed apps. My only serious beef was with installing and patching WoW. The patch would always crap out mid-way through, on the same internal WoW file. After uninstalling and reinstalling WoW for the 3rd time, and juggling incremental and full versions of the patches, I finally got it fully patched. It took me a good 5 hours, but I was ready to go! I'm not sure what to attribute this issue to, so I'm counting my blessings and moving on.

After the weekend: I spent the weekend installing more stuff and playing some WoW. I thought I had hosed the system a few times with my tweaking, but the right combination/version of drivers seemed to fix it. Items of note:

• Video Drivers: WoW played fine right out of the box with the installed drivers. Downloaded and installed the latest NVIDIA drivers. BIG mistake. WoW kept blue-screening the laptop every 5 minutes or so. Downloaded and installed the 83.40 Laptopvideo2go drivers, and everything played nicely.
• Wireless Drivers: The installed drivers kept taking forever to find my router. Downloaded and installed the latest drivers, and it seems to be running much better.
• CPU Speed: Still trying to figure out how to get my CPU to run at max speed all the time. Power management settings don't seem to make a difference, but I'm not totally sure of that. 3 different ways of checking the CPU speed tends to give me 2-3 different readings. I'll putz around with this some more.
• Lid latches: The left lid latch sticks! The right one works fine tho.
• Weight: IT'S HEAVY! I'm used to the way my 5680 weighs in my Targus bag. When I packed this baby up in the same bag the first time, I was astonished as to how much heavier it is in comparison. Not to mention the power brick is HUGE too. I'll need to get used to the extra weight if I'm going to lug it around from place to place.

Summary: It's a beautiful laptop. I've gotten nothing but Oohs and Aahs from everyone who's seen it so far. It runs like a champ, but I still haven't finished installing everything I need on it yet. Hopefully I won't need to exercise the warranty! *keeps fingers crossed*

Things to do still:

• Test the LCD. I don't see any dead or stuck pixels, but I want to make sure of it.
• Burn a CD and DVD.
• Try out the TV Tuner.
• Install and run Sandra on the laptop.