Sager NP8120 vs Alienware M17x

[ua10d2me]

At the moment i am looking into two laptops and am wanting to know which one is better or if another laptop would be better for playing games, engineering/software designs, computer simulations, etc....

Here are the Specs along with my own personal upgrade desires.....(let's pretend money isn't an issue 😉

Sager NP8120

Disply: 18.4" Full HD(1920 x 1080)
Video/Graphics Card: Dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory in SLI Mode
CPU Processor: Intel Core i7-920XM Processor Extreme Edition (45nm, 8MB L3 Cache, 2.0 GHz)
OS: Genuine MS Windows 7 Ultimate 32/64 Bit Edition
Memory: 8GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz 2x4GB
HDD Primary(RAID 1 Format with 3 Hard Drives): 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive
HDD Second/Third: same as primary
Optical Drive: 6x BD-R Blu-Ray Burner/ 8x DVD +/-R/ 2.4x +DL Super-Multi Drive and Software


Alienware M17x

Display:17" WideUXGA (1920 x 1200) RGB LED (1200p)
Video/Graphics Card: Dual 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4870 Crossfire X
CPU Processor: Intel Core i7 920XM 2.0GHz (3.2 GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
OS: Genuine MS Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 Bit
Memory: 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
HDD(RAID 1 Format with 2 Hard Drives):640GB RAID 1(2 x 640GB 7200rpm)
Optical Drive: Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Burner(BR-R, DVD +/-RW, CD-RW)

 

[lostandwandering]

I'd go with the Sager. The GTX285's are faster than the 4870's. Plus, I personally do not like the way the Alienware looks. But that's just my opinion.

Take a look at the GPUs here: http/www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

 

[ua10d2me]

Thank you for the response.

one more question... from what i can understand(which may be wrong) wouldn't a faster processor which is available for the alienware M17x.... the Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)......be faster then the Intel Core i7 which only goes up to 2.0 GHz? Which, on the sager, it doesn't seem as if a Core 2 Extreme quad is available... so is the sagers peak at 2.0GHz or can that be increased?

Thanks.

 

[ua10d2me]

Although, ya, i do prefer the looks of the sager over the alienware. i also like the sager's larger screen size.

 

[lostandwandering]

Thank you for the response.

one more question... from what i can understand(which may be wrong) wouldn't a faster processor which is available for the alienware M17x.... the Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)......be faster then the Intel Core i7 which only goes up to 2.0 GHz? Which, on the sager, it doesn't seem as if a Core 2 Extreme quad is available... so is the sagers peak at 2.0GHz or can that be increased?

Thanks.

The i7's are designed with a feature that will automatically overclock the CPU depending on load/usage, known as TurboBoost. The amount the CPU overclocks itself will depend on how many cores are being used and load. The i7-920XM has a max boost of 3.2ghz, which would be applied in single threaded applications. For more info, see here: http/www.intel.com/technology/turboboost/

Keep in mind that games will generally depend more on your graphics card than they will on the CPU. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but it applies in most cases.

 

[ua10d2me]

ok, that was very helpful. thanks

 

[anonymousdude]

Also the i7 architecture is newer so it more powerful clock for clock and can be more powerful even at lower clocks.

 

[superflex]

Yes, you're probably looking at better performance from the core-i7. 2.0 ghz is the minimum clock rate the 920XM will run, peaking at 3.2 ghz when it switches to single-core mode, as the previous poster already mentioned. You're also getting the new Intel on-die memory controller, 25% higher FSB speed for your RAM, newer mobo chipset. I'm also currently in the market for a new laptop, but the new core i7 extreme edition processors are a bit out of my price range.

Considering you mentioned "money is no object" I'll put it out there that if you go Sager you should consider putting one of the Intel SSD's in as your primary/boot drive. IIRC Sager offers the X-25M 80GB and 160GB as an option. From what I've read, in terms of "bang for your buck" you'd be better off saving yourself ~$550 by dropping your processor from the 920XM to the 820QM and spending that money on an SSD for your OS drive. Of course if money really is no object then do both 😀

 

[ua10d2me]

lol...well.... money is an option so that's why i was "pretending" xD

although, ya, i might just drop the processor down to 820QM to get that ssd. but i was not inclined to get the ssd because it only seemed, from what i can understand, to decrease boot up time/start up time for applications but didn't affect their performance while running, or does it?

 

[ua10d2me]

btw... if i do go with the 160GB SSD in RAID 0/1... the second hard drive would have to be identical to the first, which means that it will still end up being more expensive then if i just go with the 920XM and the original 500GB Hard Drives.

 

[anonymousdude]

Depends on the application, but it will make the entire system feel faster. Also the main benefit is the random reads and writes where you will notice the difference.

 

[Maverick4396]

You should also probably compare more closely apples to apples.

Sager 8760 i7-920XM, 8GB DDR3 1333, 2x500GB (16MB cache) HDD Raid 0, Radeon 5870, Win 7 HP : 2944.01

Alienware M17x i7-920XM, 8GB DDR3 1333, 2x500GB (cache unkown) HDD Raid 0, Radeon 4870 Crossifre, Win 7 HP : 3824.00

The Radeon 5870 single card should out perform the crossfire'd 4870's. The sager is almost 1000 dollars cheaper and way more easily user upgradable.

Even swapping in SSD's in each build the sager is clearly the superior choice.

 

[ua10d2me]

would putting the SSD in the third drive slot( so that i would not have to put forth the money for 2 SSD's) have the same effect of speeding up the system or would it not be considered a main drive and therefore not used until the computer needed that space?

 

[ua10d2me]

ok just to clear it up... which one of the three drives that exist for the sager np8120 is the main boot up drive...or can it be configured to whichever drive you choose(which i don't think it can). would it be the first one?(which would mean that if i wanted a raid 0/1 config i would have to get the SSD's for the first two drives)

 

[buwish]

Best answer selected by buwish.