After about 8 years my wife now says I can set us back a couple grand or so and purchase a new laptop. I am sick of using the company rigs and playing yesteryears greatest game hits (go 8 megs ati rage pro).

Now, I have only recently stumbled into the clevo/sager universe. Prior to this I was going to go all out on the new Alienware 51m2. The upgradability of these pigs are a must because this may very well be the last laptop I am ever allowed to purchase in my lifetime (some sarcasm yes but it will probably be another 10 yrs before I can get another...).

So then, if any of you could be so kind as answer me some questions about the Sager/Clevo rigs?

First off the facts: I like to play lots of games. I dig the widescreens tons. I thought the alienware 15.4" widescreen was the one for me, but saw a picture of this awful looking widescreen pasted to the shell of the 16.1" backing and almost puked. Now I have all but settled on the 4780 when it comes out.

The questions:

1) Is it possible to upgrade the sager/clevo comps? And by this I mean would I be able to upgrade the graphics chips, motherboards, etc at all? I read a post here that alluded to this as a possibility, but need to know for sure.

2) Is gaming on a 17" widescreen going to take all kinds of forced settings and create system instabilities or is it a non-issue? Again, I read a post here that had screenshots of several games, so I am thinking this a non-issue.

3) Whats the deal with no dual channel mem on the next gen 47X0? Forgive my ignorance but is there a big diff between dual channel and single channel?

4) Is there anything else anyone would worry about given the constraints above?

Thanks tons for any input. Me love you long time

By the way this smiley rocketh



Thx and laters
-Superbeast

welcome to the forums!

1) there are upgrade possibilities, however, it may not be available for all series...so far its been only for the 88xx 56xx series. as for upgrade possibilites for the 47xx series...we'll have to wait and see. and yes...if the upgrade was possible u would be able to upgrade the motherboard/graphics card/memory/etc etc for a price of course.

2) for widescreen capability all u'll basically need to do is select a widescreen resolution within the game. there r also some registry tweaks and whatnot. i'm not sure on the exact details but i'm sure 47xx owners would help u out on that one.

3) not sure about why the 4780 won't have dual channel memory...but the difference is significant if u use a lot of memory intensive applications.

4) depends on the user...i wouldn't really worry about anything mentioned above. u just have to wait for one of these babies to come out...tentative release schedule is october.

hope this helps

1.) Can't upgrade the video cards, they're build onto the mo'boards. Can upgrade the CPU, and memory easiliy. Sager offers upgrades on mo'boards (which means processor + vid card) sometimes. Though, for the price I would just sell my old 'book and get a new one for the same difference.

2.) I don't know, I decided not to go there. Widescreen is only for watching movies, not for gaming or productivity.

3.) I wouldn't expect a big difference, though for highend video editing it might be crucial.

4.) Can't think of any. These notebooks are big and heavy and the battery life is short. The UXGA Wide Angle screen on my new 5680 is INCREDIBLE. It is truly wide angle viewable. It's bright, sharp and fast and looks good in all resolutions.

Not for productivity?? My neighbor has a wide-screen Dell 8500 & you can open two complete Word docs next to each other on the screen.

That is kinda handy at times.

Many thanks for the input folks

Looks like I have at least a couple weeks before I really need to decide anyway (eta on the 4780)...

Thx

-Superbeast

1) No company can guarantee upgradability to technology that has not yet been developped. If you buy into anyone's marketing that they can, I've got a bridge to sell you...

That being said, Sager has demonstrated a commitment to offering reasonably priced upgrades of older models to the most current technology in the same line of machine. Check out the upgrades offered for 56xx -> 5680 and 888x -> 8890. Note that the mobos include the new graphics cards.

Also note that thee upgrades were made available within weeks of the release of the new machines...

So while Sager can't guarantee upgrade availability any more than any other company, you can reasonably exect upgrades to be available.


2) The problem with the 17" widescreen is that it's resolution is 1440x900, halfway between WXGA and WSXGA, which, to a lot of people, is unacceptably low - it's got less pixel area than an SXGA. Give me a UXGA any day.

The AW 15.4" widescreen is the same width as their 16", it's lower height makes room for a pair of forward-facing speakers inside the lid. With the AW's optional subwoofer, those will give it some of the best sound available from internal laptop speakers - not that any internal speakers can compare to external ones.


3) The 4780 uses an SiS chipset, which does not support dual-channel memory. The 5680/8890 use an Intel 800-series chipset, which supports dual-channel memory.

Dual-channel memory means the chipset's memory controller can access both the computer's SODIMMs simultaneously. If the memory sticks are matched, this doubles the net data transfer rate to and from the RAM. If the sticks are mismatched, it's still faster than single-channel, but not by as much.


-phubar

i'd take the 1440x900 any day, i think too many people are nagging about the res. but its not extremly bad, there is better tho. also i think everyone who reviewed the 4760 said the screen was absolutly amazing no ghosting or crap like that. i myself am going to wait and get the 4780 and my suggestion is u do the same because it will be an awesome machine.

YOu want some good info that will answer most, if not of all your questions concerning the 4760? Check out Alkalines review. He posted a most excellent review with screen shots and everything!! Its worth checking out especially because you are considering the updated version of the 4760.

Thanks for posting that. My comment was somewhat speculative. I'd heard that that feature was at the cost of vertical screen space and made it not worth it. I haven't actually used one for any length of time, all I did was see some in some stores. Of course, I rarely ever see anyone do anything in more that one screen at a time. Usually everyone's got their windows full screen. In which case, usually the 4/3 ratio is better suiting.