Sager NP9170

SeaFoam

SeaFoam

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 13, 2004
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Anyone have one? Time to replace my G73-JH.

Was going to go with the 7990M and Steelseries keyboard upgrade. I'm open to other suggestions, but at the moment it seems to be the only one worth a look at $1600.
 
I dont own one but i will be placing my order through a Canadian reseller this week.

I'm going with the 7970m and the current free upgrades (back to school specials)
I thought the keyboard that came with it was by the same guys who made the steelseries keyboard?
 
Yes, I looked around and it is the same manufacturer. From what I've heard, the upgrade is just a better feeling, more responsive (and programmable) keyboard than the stock. I need to do more checking, might forego that and get an mSSD.
 
Just ordered the lappy, it been a strange journey I went from the ASUS g75 to the MSI gt70 and finally decided on the sager 9170.

I didnt get the windows 7 licence (saved 80 bucks) becouse i have a retail key from a dead HP that I upgraded a while ago, my only worry is it does not have SP1 built in and I'm hoping it will install ok.
I also have a SSD drive that I won here at Hard OCP so I'm just going to use the hard drive that comes with it as a slave.
I'm not sure when I will recieve it but I will be more than happy to hook you up with any answers to questions you may have.
 
Does the Win 7 key still have to verify with MS? I suppose you can call MS and tell them you just added new componets.. hmm.
 
I purchased this laptop from xoticpc about a month ago and I returned it 2 weeks later. Mine was nicely equipped, 3rd gen Ivy Bridge, 7950m 12GB ram 256GB SSD but performance in games was awful. Troubleshooting with tech support concluded ATi's drivers weren't mature enough for the GPU and they authorized an RMA.

I found others with the NP9170 had experienced the same issue although a few reported good performance but not high end like they expected with the GPU.

I ordered a Y580 from Lenovo that will be here tomorrow, tacking on the 3 year in home warranty with ivy bridge i7, 8GB ram and 660m GPU was over $1k cheaper. The real test will be once I get D3 loaded up and start playing but from what I experienced with the Sager, this can't possibly be worse.
 
I've owned both a p170em and p150em. They're great machines: solid build, reasonably priced. The only problem with 7970ms right now on Clevos is you'll get slightly reduced performance due to the inability to turn over Enduro (AMD/ATI's GPU switching tech).

I think you mean you're looking to get a 7970m. There won't be a 7990m, at least not in the same way there was a 6990m (increase in shaders). 7970m is already the fully-enable Pitcairn chip, so there's no way for them to enable more shaders. If there is a refresh it will simply be a minor clock increase of the 7970m - akin to the move from GTX 580m to GTX 675m which was nothing but a marginal stock mhz increase (that can be easily had on a 580m, or even 485m with an OC) i.e. a publicity move.
 
Corporal79 said:
I purchased this laptop from xoticpc about a month ago and I returned it 2 weeks later. Mine was nicely equipped, 3rd gen Ivy Bridge, 7950m 12GB ram 256GB SSD but performance in games was awful. Troubleshooting with tech support concluded ATi's drivers weren't mature enough for the GPU and they authorized an RMA.

I found others with the NP9170 had experienced the same issue although a few reported good performance but not high end like they expected with the GPU.

I ordered a Y580 from Lenovo that will be here tomorrow, tacking on the 3 year in home warranty with ivy bridge i7, 8GB ram and 660m GPU was over $1k cheaper. The real test will be once I get D3 loaded up and start playing but from what I experienced with the Sager, this can't possibly be worse.
Click to expand...

I saw the Enduro issue, I need to check and see if it's fixed now. It seems hit or miss, once they add the option to disable the CPU graphics it should be good. The 3dmark was very very high.

harmattan said:
I've owned both a p170em and p150em. They're great machines: solid build, reasonably priced. The only problem with 7970ms right now on Clevos is you'll get slightly reduced performance due to the inability to turn over Enduro (AMD/ATI's GPU switching tech).

I think you mean you're looking to get a 7970m. There won't be a 7990m, at least not in the same way there was a 6990m (increase in shaders). 7970m is already the fully-enable Pitcairn chip, so there's no way for them to enable more shaders. If there is a refresh it will simply be a minor clock increase of the 7970m - akin to the move from GTX 580m to GTX 675m which was nothing but a marginal stock mhz increase (that can be easily had on a 580m, or even 485m with an OC) i.e. a publicity move.
Click to expand...

Yeah, 7970. I don't know how I confused it.
 
If you can spring the extra cash for the 680m its a really bad ass GPU. I have a P150EM/NP9150 (The 15" version) with the 680m and whatnot and it is amazingly fast for a laptop.
 
Last edited:
extide said:
If you can spring the extra cash for the 680m its a really bad ass GPU. I have a P150EM/NP9150 (The 15" version) with the 680m and whatnot and it is amazingly fast for a laptop.
Click to expand...

I could, but I don't see the performance difference being worth $245.
 
im thinking of buying a Np9150 since I am selling my 8150.

I do want the benchmark shattering performance of the 7970. What do you guys mean by you returned because it was slow in games? Was you being realistic? How the hell does enduro affect gaming? I dont understand, was you expecting 240fps in BF3 in Ultra or something or was it just horrible for you?

Thanks feedback is appreciated.
 
tangoseal said:
im thinking of buying a Np9150 since I am selling my 8150.

I do want the benchmark shattering performance of the 7970. What do you guys mean by you returned because it was slow in games? Was you being realistic? How the hell does enduro affect gaming? I dont understand, was you expecting 240fps in BF3 in Ultra or something or was it just horrible for you?

Thanks feedback is appreciated.
Click to expand...

Enduro switches between the 7970 and the integrated GPU. There's an issue with the drivers/bios. The Alienware doesn't have the issue, just this. There's a thread on notebookreview I think, at least one of those sites. Anyways, they are aware of the issue and working on it. There seems to be a fix that is working, at least partially.
 
The keyboard that comes on this sucks. I have used it at mythlogic so they figured out the MSI steel series keyboard would work on these and they offer that as an option. However the MSI also had alot of trouble.

The original keyboard is horrible for ghosting / key jamming. It also just does not have much of any stand out qualities that are good beyond that either.

Also there is no 120hz option, if they get that and then I can add the steel series I would definitely be in for one with a 680m
 
rudy said:
The keyboard that comes on this sucks. I have used it at mythlogic so they figured out the MSI steel series keyboard would work on these and they offer that as an option. However the MSI also had alot of trouble.

The original keyboard is horrible for ghosting / key jamming. It also just does not have much of any stand out qualities that are good beyond that either.

Also there is no 120hz option, if they get that and then I can add the steel series I would definitely be in for one with a 680m
Click to expand...

The Steelseries upgrade is offered by several retailers. Which problems are you talking about? It sounds like Steelseries is almost finished with their program allowing you to reprogram it and do macros.

I am surprised that they don't offer a 120 screen on it though. It's not that big of a deal to me, if I want to play 3d, it won't be on a laptop screen. When I'm home, it's hooked to the TV. Too much stuff to lug around.
 
Never heard of a TV that does 120hz, 120hz is more about fluid fast gaming not so much 3d to many.

But the problem with the MSI keyboard seems to just be shotty quality, some people have had to mod the space bar to get it working well. Others have just complained about inconsistent keys. They were all hardware issues it apeared, some people did not complain others did. Some say they keyboard has become better recently.
 
rudy said:
Never heard of a TV that does 120hz, 120hz is more about fluid fast gaming not so much 3d to many.

But the problem with the MSI keyboard seems to just be shotty quality, some people have had to mod the space bar to get it working well. Others have just complained about inconsistent keys. They were all hardware issues it apeared, some people did not complain others did. Some say they keyboard has become better recently.
Click to expand...

3d TVs are 120hz.
 
rudy said:
can you input 120hz?
Click to expand...

If the card can output, which they can. At least this one, though the more I read about the Enduro problem the more I'm thinking about going with the M17X or the 680M in the Sager.
 
I am unaware of any TV that accepts a true 120hz at 1080p, I would definitely like to know which ones can do that.
 
I am 100% sure not all 3d tvs can accept a true 120hz 1080p signal. If you are not absolutely sure you know what you are talking about don't put out false information about this. I would think if we found such a TV it would be a hot topic in the displays forum.

You can only assume that 1080p TVs are doing 3d at 24 hz, anything past that is the bonus we might be looking for. Oh and actually AFAIK they dont even send a 48hz signal to the TV they frame pack both images together. Then the TV decodes them.
 
harmattan said:
Yep, that merits the extra money for the 680M (not being sarcastic). I've had it with AMD's shenanagens. First, they deliver a product that doesn't work as advertised, then exert influence to shut down threads that are discussing said problems. I'm done with them, mobile or desktop cards.
Click to expand...

Whoa ok, hold on now. Someone want to explain what this AMD issue is? I haven't been on NBR in at least a month or two (since I got my laptop - in sig.). What's happening? Something about drivers?
 
The thing that kills me about this whole issue is that, I was waiting for a samsung series 7 gamer with a 7970M, but now I dont know I kinda want a 680M in it. This also might explain why samsung still has not released the laptop in that configuration.
 
Corporal79 said:
I purchased this laptop from xoticpc about a month ago and I returned it 2 weeks later. Mine was nicely equipped, 3rd gen Ivy Bridge, 7950m 12GB ram 256GB SSD but performance in games was awful. Troubleshooting with tech support concluded ATi's drivers weren't mature enough for the GPU and they authorized an RMA.

I found others with the NP9170 had experienced the same issue although a few reported good performance but not high end like they expected with the GPU.

I ordered a Y580 from Lenovo that will be here tomorrow, tacking on the 3 year in home warranty with ivy bridge i7, 8GB ram and 660m GPU was over $1k cheaper. The real test will be once I get D3 loaded up and start playing but from what I experienced with the Sager, this can't possibly be worse.
Click to expand...

I know we have talked in other threads but you should have just returned the GPU and gotten a 680m instead. I am going to order mine in a few days with a 680m. sigh willingly spending more when I know I shouldnt to get stability of nVidia.

Also I am looking forward to 3d gaming on my panasonic VT25 plasma 50"
 
BiH115 said:
Whoa ok, hold on now. Someone want to explain what this AMD issue is? I haven't been on NBR in at least a month or two (since I got my laptop - in sig.). What's happening? Something about drivers?
Click to expand...

Enduro is a fucking joke. It doesn't work correctly, so on the Sager/Clevo the GPU utilization is all over the place. Sometimes it works 100%, other times 20%. AMD tried to ignore the problem and once the issue started to spread, they bullied NBR into closing down the thread.

The only reason it's not an issue with the MSI/Alienware is because the IGP can be disabled.
 
SeaFoam said:
Enduro is a fucking joke. It doesn't work correctly, so on the Sager/Clevo the GPU utilization is all over the place. Sometimes it works 100%, other times 20%. AMD tried to ignore the problem and once the issue started to spread, they bullied NBR into closing down the thread.

The only reason it's not an issue with the MSI/Alienware is because the IGP can be disabled.
Click to expand...

Shit, heh, that sucks a lot. I'd be pissed too to be frank.
 
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