Solved! Falcon Northwest

[BonzerChicken]

K im looking to buy a Northwest Falcon Fragbook Tlx and was wondering what you guys think

Power isnt that big of a concern to me so yes i know the graphics card could be a little better and yes i know this laptop is super expenisve and i could get a cheaper one thats probably better but the thing i love about this laptop is that its only 7.1lbs and its 1.5 inch thick and the battery life looks good.

I dont really know what my question is but if anyone here has had a fragbook tlx or just any falcon laptop please post your experences with them

Im looking for a laptop that is slim and light but would almost be a desktop replacement if needed and this looks perfect and money doesnt matter to me so dont say its too expensive for what your getting.

So if you've had one post what it was like and also what color should i get mine painted?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Falcon Northwest is an extremely overpriced boutique laptop seller (like Alienware before dell, WindowPC, VoodooPC, etc) that custom builds based upon chassis and components supplied by a ODM (Original Design Manufacturer). For many years they were an exclusively Clevo dealer but the current model Fragbook is not an ODM design I recognize. I was trying to decide whether to buy a FalconNW or WidowPC laptop when I indicated to the salesman that i would be in town on business and would like to tour the factory. After a bit of stuttering he said they make them somewhere else and I got suspicious. A little research and I found out that both were the same Clevo model and thet Clevo had a distributor right here in the US at www.pro-star.com

Prices from WidowPC and Falcon were $4500 and my price for the exact same machine (w/o the fancy paint job) from ProStar was $3142.

Here's your specs on the Fragbook

17" 1680 x 1050
i7 720QM
4GB 1066
GTS 250
Intel 5300 Wireless 802.11n
160 GB 7200 rpm
8X DRV RW
Win7 Home premium 64
9 cell LiIon Polymer Battery
Carrying case
1 Year warranty
$3,010.76

Here's from ProStar

17.3" 1920 x 1080 Full HD
Intel Core i7-720QM
4GB, PC3-10600/1333Mhz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285M w/1GB GDDR3
320/7200rpm GB SATA-300
Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit
8X Max. DVD±R/RW Burner
Li-ION Battery
Intel Ultimate-N 6300 Wi-Fi
Internal Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR Module
1 Year Premium Parts Warranty + 3 Year Labor
# Built-In 2.0M Pixels Digital Video Camera
# Built-In Fingerprint Reader
# Built-in 56K V90 Fax/Modem
# Built-In 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN Card
# Built-In 7-IN-1 Flash Memory Reader(MMC/RSMMC/MS/MS Pro/MS DUO/SD/Mini-SD)
# 1 IEEE-1394a Fire Wire
# 1 Express Card 34/54 Slot
# 4 USB 2.0 Ports
# 1 eSATA Port
# 1 HDMI Output
# 1 DVI-I port
# 1 Kensington Lock Port
# Built-in Microphone, 4 Speakers and Sub-Woofer
# 4 Audio Jacks for Line-Out, Line-In, Microphone-In, and S/PDIF-Out
# 100/240V Autoswitch AC Adapter
# Standard Carrying Bag with Strap
Total Cost $1739


So, the question to you is....is the fancy paint job worth giving up ?:

HD resolution
Better GFX
Double HD size
Better Wifi
BlueTooth
$1271.76

You can get the same thing from www.sager.com, www.xoticpc.com and any number of Clevo distributors:

http/forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91510

 

[BonzerChicken]

But the falcon says its only 7.1lbs when fully loaded and thats a big factor to me and the battery life looks decent on it

 

[BonzerChicken]

I dislike the fact that the sager one is almost over 2inches thick and the battery life isnt even one hour so there is no way im getting that.

I want a laptop that is portably and light with the best stuff possible and price doesnt matter do me so the falcon seems like the right pick.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I dislike the fact that the sager one is almost over 2inches thick and the battery life isnt even one hour so there is no way im getting that.

Then you can't get the Fragbook. Battery life is a function of the components chosen, slapping a different name on the casing won't do anything to improve battery life. I didn't look at the Sager model you looked at but I get about 1.25 hours outta my ProStar models. You want an i7, 7200 rpm HD and big GFX, that's the kind of battery life you will have to live with.

This site gives the fragbook a 6.5 outta 10 rating overall and sets battery life at just over an hour.

http/computershopper.com/laptops/reviews/falcon-northwest-fragbook-tlx-laptop

"Battery life lasted just over an hour, which is about average for a system of this size. As with many large gaming notebooks, the FragBook's components can run quite hot, so you may want to keep it off your lap during lengthy sessions."

here's another review:

http/compreviews.about.com/od/deskreplace/gr/FragBookTLX.htm

They're older models but it's not like battery technology has changed much.

The Prostar ones I have are thick in the back as it sits on feet to tilt it towards you and expands the ventilation openings which are needed for the higher performance graphics subsystem. In the front it's about half to a third as thick.

The 860 model is 7.3 pound and the M770 model is 6.3 pounds.

The M770 configured same as the Fragbook but w/ twice the HD size and slightly lower resolution and ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4570 is $1164

Here's some other choices at a fraction of the cost of the fragbook and w/ better specs and comparable weight.

Asus G51JX-A1 $1449 7.2 pounds 1920 resolution / 500 GB / GTS 360M
http/www.xoticpc.com/asus-g51jxa1-order-p-2724.html

MSI GX740 $1415 7.0 pounds
http/www.xoticpc.com/gx740079us-order-p-2765.html

 

[BonzerChicken]

those reviews were in 07 do you think they've changed since?

also thanks for the advice this is helping me reconsider my laptop but yeah money doesnt matter to me so please post the best portable laptop that can perform for my gaming.

It said the battery life is about 1 hour during gaming though what would the life be during just average settings surfing the web?

 

[BonzerChicken]

also i like how the falcon is so cool looking with its paint job and since im spending so much money i would like to get a cool looking laptop also and the falcon is kinda that too me

 

[duk3]

...
But you can spend half as much, get a better laptop and then paint it yourself or pay someone else to paint it if that is so important!

 

[lotri]

Well, on the battery question, people who are concerned about battery life don't usually buy 17" laptops with high-power graphics cards. You'd be better off with a 15" (smaller screen should consume less power) that also comes with a 8- or 9-cell battery.

Regarding the retailer, I agree that it seems a bit overpriced. I recently discovered xoticpc and really like their prices. Of course, I'd probably buy from Dell again (just for their warranty options) but a lot of those custom laptop retailers are just way too expensive to be reasonable.

If you want to game, buy a desktop for half the price and get a bigger screen.

 

[BonzerChicken]

K my question would be though how good would the battery be just to surf the web with average settings?

Can anyone just post a link or something because this is such a tough decision for me to make, just show me the best laptop that has an average battery life of around 3 hours and is below 1.5 inch thick

 

[BonzerChicken]

1_What is your budget? $5700

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? around 15 to 17 inch

3_What screen resolution do you want? doesnt matter to me

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Portable

5_How much battery life do you need? i would like 4 hours of just surfing the web with decent settings

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? I would like to play Warcraft 3 the frozen throne - High, Counterstrike Source - High, and Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 when they come out

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.) I dont think ill watch many movies but i might do some video and photo editing

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need? Dont need any but at least 200gb

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them. Falcon-nw.com

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop? Since im getting an expensive one around 5 years


11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Bluray would be preffered

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.

K i just want a laptop like the Macbook Pro but for windows i guess. I love the Mac the size the lifespan everything except one thing... its a mac and i hate macs

So i want a laptop that is just small and sleek and has a good battery life, but can perform my gaming when im not at home near my desktop

 

[jitpublisher]

It doesn't look to me like you are going to be happy until someone says that the laptop with cool paint job from Falcon Northwest is the best one to buy. So, even though I think you have been pointed towards an excellent, excellent machine already in this thread, I'll say it just so you feel better. Yes, if that is what you want to spend your money on, then by all means get the Falcon laptop.
You realize you are asking for what everyone in the world would like to have. A fast gaming laptop, light weight, long on battery power. Unfortunately, that is impossible. You should understand that just from the size of a high end gaming GPU, and the powerful PSU it takes to run it. You have to compromise somewhere.

 

[lostandwandering]

K my question would be though how good would the battery be just to surf the web with average settings?

Can anyone just post a link or something because this is such a tough decision for me to make, just show me the best laptop that has an average battery life of around 3 hours and is below 1.5 inch thick

Can't really provide you a link since no one has an updated review on the TLX. The most recent one I have seen is from 2007 and the hardware has changed far too much for that review to be useful. If I had to guess though, I wouldn't give it much more than 2-2.5 hours with just web surfing.

I would suggest that you look at the HP Envy 15. It's a 15.6'' laptop, just over an 1'' think and only weighs 5.2 lbs. It can be customized with 5 different Core i5 or i7 processors, up to 16gb of RAM, a Radeon HD 5830 and a full HD screen. It also comes with a reported battery life of up to 6 hours of general use (with the 9-cell battery). Starts at $1299.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...series_name=ENVY15_series&a1=Category&v1=ENVY