A little philosophy
Gaming is always a weakness of "real" man and powerful computer does it's part in transforming a boy to man with that rush of adrenaline.Not many can drive around in a Ferrari or wield a chain gun to shoot at bad guys.So our computers makes us drivers of Ferrari or a Machine gun yielding special agent killing of Aliens.After dogs,they are a man's best friend IMHO.
Introduction
Though the old Sager 5760 with 7950GTX wasn't a bad laptop in terms of power,the 8800GTX was a big temptation.I was hell bent on laptop than desktop for ease of portability as have to travel around a bit and it looks cool.I know laptops aren't meant for gaming,but the new ones are changing that mindset.And the new ones have a certain degree of upgrade ability.But having a gaming computer that can be carried around,well...priceless.
The options I had were Alienware M15X,Sager 5793,gateway P6860FX and Sager 9262 as I wanted a 8800 series.Alienware M15X was small 15" and portable and a god battery life in stealth mode where it switches off the 8800GTX and switches to an integrated card.But the users of those laptops found that they could only play a game for 20 minutes.After that it would get too hot and then down clocks itself.And the Alienware made the fans run faster as a fix,but I doubt if it did change a lot.Plus Alienware is pricey and the customer service is not fantastic.An 8800GTS is not very different from 8800GTX in terms of power and the price is much more attractive.The price of P6860FX is reasonable and the built quality with aircraft grade aluminum(at least external) is very good.But most of the drivers are in Vista and XP drivers doesn't work well.There are some semi working solutions,but not a complete one.So that one hung on balance.Plus my previous experiences with Sager were good and they even gave two way free shipping for RMA.So the two contenders were Sager 5793 and Sager 9262.
The 5793 is smaller than 9262 and so is easier to carry around.Though bigger than 5793, the 9262 has 3 HDD slots and a dual MXM-IV slots for graphics card in Sli.I am not a big fan of Sli setup,so that didn't excite me much.But the prospect of 3 HDD with RAID setup was good and also it was silent contrary to what most people expected.Another icing on the cake was the fact that the 9262 used desktop processors and there are guys who were able to run it with quad Q9450.So a future upgrade to a 45nm quad core peryn processor and another 8800GTX if needed helped to make the choice.If some one were to buy a Sager notebook I would recommend Xotic PC or Powernotebooks as their service is excellent.
[BREAK=Specifications]
So I sold off the Sager 5760 and added in some cash and bought in a D901C.The specs are:
-2.33GHz Intel® Core 2 Duo, 4MB L2 Cache 1333MHz FSB
-Intel® P965 chipset + ICH8R
-2GB Dual Channel DDR2 800
- 120GB Hard Disk Drive
-17†WUXGA 1920x1200
-nVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB GDDR3
-DVD±R/RW Combo drive
-Intel 3945ABG 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN
-Built-in Hybrid Digital / Analog TV-Tuner
-Bluetooth Module V2.0
-Built-in Digital Video Camera
-Windows XP Professional with CD and Manual
-One Year Manufacturer's Limited Warranty
I got it about a week and half after I ordered it and I am skipping the packaging and things.Extended warranty is one thing I would recommend as laptops aren't easy to fix like desktops.But I had a feeling that i wouldn't keep it for long,so didn't bother with it.Vista still kills the FPS and XP is still my fav.
[BREAK=First Looks and Quality]
I took it out of the box and first thing that I occurred to me was that it was small for it's power.Its about 5.5cm thick with lid on and weights about 5.5 kg. The dimensions are 40X29.5X5.5 cm. The power adapter is the biggest I have seen till date with dimensions of 20x8x4.5. Even much bigger than the 5760.But considering that it needs power for 3 HDD and dual 8800GTX and a desktop quad processor,this can be justified.The power pin is a bit strange too and looked like the one I had with the WD Elements HDD. The picture is with a IBM Thinkpad T42.The build quality is very good and it really feels solid.
The lid was glossy and sported 3 led lights to show the status of WLAN/Bluetooth,Power and Bateery .That's very thoughtful.
The screen was bright and I didn't notice any irregular lighting.It appeared even.I didn't search for a dead pixel as a pixel in a HD screen would be unnoticeable.Not one deal/stuck pixels were seen in general usage and I wasn't interested to hunt for one.No complaints about LCD.There is also a 2.0MP camera that can be used as webcam.
The keyboard and the touch pad is laid out well.It is much similar to a full size keyboard and the keys feel solid.
There are some keyboard shortcuts to switch on/off the WLAN,Touchpad,Fan speed,LCD etc.
There are 2 buttons that can be used for games.I don't use that and suspect that the driver for that doesn't work very well as many BSOD came in after installing them.
The manual says there are 4 built in speakers.I don't know if they exist physically but the sound was the best I have heard from a laptop.The bass was good and the treble was crisp.They are good enough without external speakers.
[BREAK=Closer Views]
The front has a usual mic and headset with additional SPDIF and line in.This would be helpful to have a headphone and also the speakers.
Left side has the CRT output,S-video in,Tv in,RJ-11,RJ-45,DVD Writer,1394 port and 7in1 card reader.
The right side has 4 USB ports and they are close to each other.I wish they were spread across back or on either sides for ease of use.But they are well spaced and usable.
The back panel has a S-video,power in and a DVI.The rest is covered by heatsinks.
There are 4 vents in the base.One for the CPU,2 for the graphics card and 1 RAM.The cooling system on this laptop is commendable.The GPU never got above 60 degrees in Crysis and the CPU hovered around 40.
[BREAK=Gaming Results]
I installed Crysis with 1.2 patch,Serious Sam2,and COD 4:Modern Warfare.I hadn't finished Crysis with the old laptop and so there was a lot to look forward to.
For Crysis,Rivatuner OSD told that the FPS were between 25-45 for resolution 1024x768 and all high.When it was in 1024x768 and 2xAA the frames were 21-38.I don't see much difference with 2xAA and will switch it off for higher FPS.The gameplay was smooth and not stuttering that occurred with the 7950GTX.But as per some gamers the drivers are holding back the 8800GTX.
COD4 gave above 40 fps for 1024x768 2xAA.It’s not a very hardware hungry game.
3D Mark06 gave about 9400 with 173.74 drivers and no OC.I think the processor and immature graphics driver is pulling it down.
[BREAK=Conclusion]
Pros:
-Upgradeable to quad core peryn processor
-Upgradeable to dual 8800GTX in Sli
-3 HDD in Raid 0,1 or 5
-1920x1200 HD screen
-Programmable game keys
Cons:
-Big heavy power adapter
-No Audio DJ like in 5760
-No fingerprint reader
-USB ports too close to each other
-NO buttons in keyboard for volume control
Closing thoughts:
The pros outweighs cons and there is nothing really bad to point out.This laptop is heavily built,stable and upgradeable to make it "future proof".The skins from skinit.com can be used to give him a good look.But the glossy look is good enough for now.I would recommend this laptop to any one who is looking for a gaming laptop though a desktop is much better for gaming.
PS:I don't know if I missed out any.In game screen shots of Crysis and COD will be added in later.
hyeah: