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Recieved new 8790-C on Friday, 04/30-2004.

Specs

8790-C
Factory default 1440x900 display
P4 3.0 GHZ Northwood CPU
256MB ATI Radeon Mobility 9700 Video Card
1024 Ram 400DDR Dual Channel (2-512MB)
60GB 7200RPM Main Drive
8X DVD/24X10X24 CDRW
No Raid
Subwoofer = 8 Cell Battery
10/100/1000 NIC
Windows XP Professional Pre-installed
Internall 802.11g Trubo (108 Mbps) wireless
Internal Bluetooth
7 in 1 card reader
Intergrated Digital Video Camera
Office XP Small Business

Looks and feels great. Very conservitive look and the layout is about as good as you could possibly desire.I chose this unit partly because of it's footprint compared to performance and content. Small compared to the competition. I am very pleased so far. I will address the issues I have read in other threads, then ask some questions. This is my 4th personal laptop. Additionally I have purchased and installed 4 other ones at my workplace during the past year.

Ordered on 04/22/2004 and recieved on 04/30/2004. Simply amazing. Just happened to order at the perfect time. This is not the norm.
Ordered with UPS Second Day Air. Box was dented on one corner upon arrival, not badly enough for me to refuse. Really neat packaging, much more secure and streamlined than competition.

Startup.
This thing is fast. No issues. Network connection came up immeadiatly. Install of Office XP was simply amazing. Really fast. First day, no concerns or issues while installing all my software using either cd's or downloading from the net.

Wireless Network.
In March I ordered two identical new laptops from a major computer company in USA. They were the first experience I had with 802.11g internal wireless. What impressed me about their wirless capability was the range. They have very good reception with my wireless 802.11b network access points as compared to the older machines we have that use wireless pcmcia cards. Almost twice the range and a lot faster. I have not clocked them, but throughput from a server in Texas ( I am in Southeast North Carolina ) is over 1.2 Mbps. Disappointingly, the Sager has poor reception in comparison. I have not used the wireless portion of the machine because it has insufficent reception in the area where i use it most. I will have to add another access point in a closer location to get reception. In fact, the Sager will not pickup as good as the older units I have with the B cards. I may install a G pcmcia card and test it vs the internal unit. Very dissapointing but not a deal buster. The pros outway the cons at this point. I have not tested the Bluetooth but I will be getting a Mouse.

Case.
I found no flaws in the case. No cracks or blemishes. Very Sleek, Elegant, Conservative. Stands out in a crowd because it doesnt stand out in a crowd.

Display.
No inoperative or stuck pixels. Display functions just fine and is brighter than i expected. Competition is offering a 17 inch display with what it calls bright screen. I dont see a need for anything brighter. In the dark the display is bright enough to see to type just fine. Factory setting of 1440x900 is plenty. Icons and text are just right size. I really like that you can view full web pages and the search side panel and still see most of my icons on the desktop.

Keyboard and Mouse
This mouse pad is very sensitive but easy to use. I really like the IBM Thinkpad Trackpoints. This is the first touchpad that i like, however I will be adding a Bluetooth Mouse. The keyboard is very quiet and I use the number pad often, especially for typing ip addresses.

Fans
My work enviorment is loud enough that I do not hear the fans during the day. Over the weekend at home you do hear the fans start, even in the next room. The start by spinning up to full speed then immeadiately start to slow. They are louder than any other laptop we have, but they aren't that objectionable to me. Again, not a deal buster, but it would be nice if the fans would faze in slowly to the required rpm to accomplish their job. I would even like to be able to lock the fans at full speed. I would rather hear them all the time rather than hear them run up and back down when I am using the machine in a quite enviorment.

Heat
It is hot. The handrest on the left side of the touchpad does get a little warm and the keyboard gets warmer than I like. Again I have not experienced this condition with any other laptops, but still not a deal buster yet another good reason to be able to lock the fans in wide open throttle when doing a lot of typing. You won't be using this laptop on your lap.

Sound
I am not pleased with the sound system. I have not watched a movie on it yet, but played a cd on friday night and the overall quality is good but not the volume and power I was expecting. I went with the subwoofer to improve the sound even though i would have perfered the larger battery and it seems I may still have to add external sound system to get the desired result. This is a little disapointing because it doesnt perform as well as the Thinkpad it is replacing. Hindsite would have me order the larger battery and a sound system.

Gaming
I have not installed any games at this point but plan to soon. I want to get all new attachments. ( Joysticks and game controllers ) I am quite sure as fast as this thing is it will do fine and i havnt read any complaints about poor gaming performance.

Support
Knock on wood, have no need for support at this time.

Battery
Ran the Sager for over one and a half hours just surfing the net. Didnt even look at the battery meter and just plugged it back in when i was finished.

Clock Speed
I have never considered trying to modify a machines clock speed. Just isnt something I have ever found a need to do. However, considering how fast this thing is, it might not be a bad idea to be able to slow it down some if it will help with the heat and fan situation. I have no need or desire to see how far the clock speed can be pushed.

Overall I am very pleased with the machine and feel I have made the right descision on what brand to buy. No regrets about the descision to spend this type of money for a machine. I may have bought a little too much machine for my needs, but man this thing is fast. Just wish the wireless reception was better.

Question:
While using the machine on a dial up connection to AOL in a remote city over the weekend I was very agravated by a glitch. While the machine was connected to aol via dial up, all icons and open windows flash off every 8 to 10 seconds. They just dissapear for a split second like as if some refresh program is running. Condition ends when dialup connection is terminated. Have not tried a different dialup connection to a isp other than AOL. Any ideas. I sure hate to purchase another connection method in the remote location. I dont spend that much time online in that city. Again, none of my other machines have this condition in that location.

I will update the thread as I have more news and reviews.

nice review..all in all, sounds like you are happy...
disappointing to hear about the sound tho....seems to be a big matter of personal preference on this one...since i've seen half the reviews say the sound is OK and the other half say it's the best sound on a laptop they've ever heard....

I'm sorry to sound so idiotic, but:

Dude, its AOL, what do you expect?

You spend $3K on a notebook and you still use AOL? Do you realize the damage that program does to the Window's registry file? Re-format and try again. Get AT&T if you have to use dial-up via remote access.

Yes, overall I am still very happy with the Sager and am sure it was the right choice.

Thanks for the info SEMC, actually I have experienced registry problems from aol in the past.

Yes, the sound issue is probably more my personal preference than actual performance. I did watch a movie last night and used an external sound system, it was great and the Sager performed perfect and loog better than any laptop i have ever used.

Wireless G performance is still rated the same as original post, about half as good as the competetion i recently purchased. If anyone wants the specific information about the products I am refering to, send me a private message.

I tried to install a printer with the IR port today and got really long connection and disconection notification times. It was over 30 seconds from the time I saw the IR lamp on the printer flash to the time the Sager annoumced that a device was found. I installed the printer which took forever. Then the Sager would never talk to the printer fast enough to get one page of regular text printed without a timeout error. This device and all my other laptops work great as a team. Also its a little tough having the Sager face the printer.

Will update as things occur.

VERY interesting on your IR issue..
i had almost the same experience with mine..i figured it was somethign that
would be resolved if i reloaded windows, but never used it enough to care.....
mine was a 5660 that is..not 8790,..but maybe it's a sager issue?
maybe they need a good driver update? hmmm