Amazing Media Notebook for Europe

[Filip Norrgard]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tchibo.co.uk/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/uk/-/GBP/TdUkDisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=7HGIGLTSvl6IHPVnScyCfLdGPf-PUILAHsw=?ProductSKU=0002160' target='_blank'>http://www.tchibo.co.uk/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/uk/-/GBP/TdUkDisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=7HGIGLTSvl6IHPVnScyCfLdGPf-PUILAHsw=?ProductSKU=0002160</a><br /><br /></div>Digital Media Thoughts member <i>LoneSniper</i> has found a very hot media notebook aimed for the European market and currently being sold in the United Kingdom:<br />• Mobile AMD 64 3200 + processor<br />• 17" TFT WXGA (widescreen) display<br />• ATI® MobilityTM Radeon® 9700 graphics card with 128 MB RAM<br />• 80 GB hard drive<br />• DVD/CD multi-standard burner with dual-layer support<br />• Digital TV (DVB-T) and analog TV tuner card<br />• Remote control<br />• Integrated webcam<br />• 4 in 1 card reader<br />• WiFi (802.11g)<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/DigiFlaptop.jpg" /><br /><br />And -- most surprisingly -- all of this for only 999£ (1450€ / 1950$)! 8O I've been looking for a portable digital TV notebook and it seems that this one might be the answer to my prayers. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/images/smiles/drool.gif" /> It is just a shame that it is sold in the UK only, the website lacks detailed specifications and the notebook is not manufactured by a major brand. :sad:

[Jason Dunn]

It looks like the same make that Sager, Voodoo, and about 10 other companies sell - I wouldn't worry too much that it's not a name brand. ;-)

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

That's cheap. What's the weight though?

Personally I'm having a slight want for the Compaq B-series/Gigabyte N512 (same OEM). Not too heavy, nice screen, good gfx chipset, and good price. =P

[Jason Dunn]

That's cheap. What's the weight though?

It's likely 8+ pounds - I don't think anyone buys a 17" widescreen notebook for the light weight and portability. ;-)

[lonesniper]

Even though it is a no name brand, TCM (Tchibo's electrical brand) is popular in Germany and I have some TCM branded stuff at home and have no problems with it. It comes with 3 years warrenty which is unheard of from other PC makers.

I had a good look at it in the store the other day. It was inside a plastic display case so I was unable to touch it or hold it to feel its weight or build quality.Even though it is a no name brand, TCM (Tchibo's electrical brand) is popular in Germany and I have some TCM branded stuff at home and have no problems with it. It comes with 3 years warrantee which is unheard of from other PC makers.

I had a good look at it in the store the other day. It was inside a plastic display case so I was unable to touch it or hold it to feel its weight or build quality, but it does look very nice. I am not sure if the plastic case was to stop geeks like me drooling on it or to protect it from spilt coffee. :)

What first caught my eye about it was the AMD64 3200 processor, inclusion of a TV tuner and the price. Only thing missing in my opinion is Windows XP Media Center. I am sure it just comes with XP Home, but I suppose shipping it with the plain XP Home keeps the price down even more and users can always install other Media add-ons, like SnapStream.
I wish I was in the market for a new laptop as would love to get one.

UPDATE:
I just checked the Tchibo.co.uk site and the laptop is now Sold Out. It has been onsale for about 2 weeks now and Tchibo operate on short term deals so this does not surprise me. Oh well, at least it shows what can be built for that price.

[dgage]

A friend of mine has one and it is simply gorgeous and powerful. I had to wipe up the drool puddle after I was done playing with it. :lol: I am a consultant and travel about 75% of the time. I would love to have one but I wouldn't be able to take it out on the plane unless I was in First Class. Further, battery life is limited to about 2-3 hours. But talk about fast and feature-rich, it is most definitely a desktop replacement. As a matter of fact, I am sure there are many people that wished their desktop was that nice. And the screen, was simply great. His was made by Sager I believe.

David

[goofy166]

Here is the same thing from a mail order company:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/notebooks/product.cfm?ProductType=4750

[Phoenix]

This notebook is also known as Sager's 8790 (which had an Intel processor - Sager has since discontinued this model), as well as Sager's current 4791 (Intel-based) and 4750 (which has an AMD processor).

But this computer is a bit of old news, as Sager has offered it for quite some time with either Intel or AMD procs. Even though Sager offers the 4791 and 4750, they've replaced their 8790 with their new Intel-based 9860, which I've shared about on a couple of occasions. The 9860 blows everything away on the market right now, period (including a lot of desktops). If you're looking for the most powerful notebook on the planet, the 9860 is it.

You can see a great review of the 9860 here. (http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=49132)

A great place to purchase these Clevo/Sager-based notebooks is at PC Torque. (www.pctorque.com)

[goofy166]

Can you say how the Sager 4750 and 9860 differ, and which as the best video card?

[dacs29]

Aldi Germany (the grocery store) has something similar for 1299 Euros. Check it out here:

http://germany.aldi.com/product_special/product_511.html

David

[hang5lngbd]

Update: I just realized that this came off as an advertisement, so I took out the link as this was meant to be an informational post.

Here's a very similar model that my company sells for $2,275. It's got a TV Tuner for an extra $100. Very cool.

It's the exact same casing with a P4 processor instead. I guess we get our parts from the same place 8)

Model -Pentium 4 V7817 17" ATI M11(9700) 256MB
CPU -Pentium 4 DT 3.2GHz 1MB 800FSB
Memory -1GB (2x512MB DDR400)
Hard Drive -80gb 5400rpm
Optical Drive -V7817 DVDRW
Operating System -Windows XP Pro
Wireless LAN -802.11b+g wireless

Suports Intel Pentium 4 "Prescott" 1MB Cache 800FSB Processors up to 3.2GHz with up to 2GB DDR400 memory on two SODIMM Slots. Utilizes ATI M11graphics with 256MB of Video memory and a 17" WSXGA Active Matrix TFT Screen.
10/100/1000 LAN, Sound, 3 USB 2.0, Sub Woofer, 8 Cell Bat. optional TV Tuner
Built in Mic, Headphone out, 4 Spkrs 6 chnnl audio, DVI out, firewire, 1 Para, 1 vga out, TV Out S Video, optional built in wireless.
12 lbs including Battery 1 year parts 3 year labor 15.5x11x1.7 (WxDxH)
Includes Battery, and AC Adapter. Need to Add CPU, Mem, Optical drive, HD, and OS - Note you can Not use the TV Tuner and the Sub Woofer at the same time

[Phoenix]

Can you say how the Sager 4750 and 9860 differ, and which as the best video card?

These two systems differ in many ways - but the 9860 is definitely the more powerful and capable of the two. Different chassis, different processors, different chipsets, different video subsystems, different audio, etc., etc. There are just too many differences between the two for me to list everything here. The best way to see all the differences would be to take a peek at the review of the 9860 I linked to before, and then check out the specs of the 4750.

The 9860 uses the new PCI-Express video cards, which are fully upgradeable and superior to anything else out there right now. We'll see more of what it can do when CPU speeds increase. Both NVidia and ATI use their own proprietary interface with their respective PCI-E video cards, but Sager didn't want (themselves or consumers) to be locked into using only one vendor or the other, so they designed their own interface that will take both NVidia and ATI PCI-E video cards. Pretty cool if you ask me. Don't quote me, but as far as I know, this Sager-proprietary version of the PCI-E interface is only found on the Sager branded version of this Clevo-based 9860, which PC Torque sells.

(Just in case that confused you, let me explain something: Clevo (headquarted in Taiwan) ultimately designs and builds these reference systems. But Sager, for example, has Clevo customize the systems to whatever degree with their own specs and requirements, and then Sager assembles them, loads OS's, etc. Then the resellers like PC Torque simply sell the systems. Of course, you can buy directly from Sager, but they almost prefer that you go through someone like PC Torque or whoever else resells their systems).


The 9860 is also the only laptop in existence that allows for all of the following to be housed inside the chassis at the same time:

-Two internal ATA or SATA HDDs set up in a raid system
-Two internal optical drives
-Internal battery
-Internal 7-in-1 card reader and PC Card slot
-Internal TV tuner
-Four internal speakers
-Internal subwoofer
-Internal WiFi and Bluetooth
-Every port you could want
-And everything else...

It's a beast! But a beautiful one at that! Now the 9860 is designed as a true desktop replacement - literally. So the battery life isn't too good - anyone who plans to buy this system is going to be tethered to an outlet 90% of the time. But these people care more about power and capability than battery life. Of course, a lot of people (myself included) are looking forward to new battery technology that will allow a powerful system like this to run for several hours at full steam.

A great source of info on these laptops and many others from other vendors, like Dell, Gateway, HP, and so on, can be found at the Notebook Forums. (http://notebookforums.com) These forums are operated and maintained by PC Torque, who I mentioned in my previous post.

Hope that helps!

[goofy166]

That is very helpful, it summed up for me that these two models are very different. I just bought a Toshiba Qosmio G15, which is pretty much the same form factor and weight as the Sager, but has much less horsepower. I find its display absolutely stunning, nothing I have seen touches it. It uses a special displaybrite technology with dual lamps, so the sucker can light up the room on a dark night. I wonder how the Sager display compares? Max res is 1440 x 900, which is enough for me. It does not have the video power of the Sager 9680, uses an NVidia GForce FX Go 5700. Playing Medal of Honor is not a great experience, the software selects 640 x 480 as the preferred resolution, and even at that the game play is jumpy, sound gets out of sync with mouth movements, etc.

The Media Center 2005 SP2 is outstanding. However like the Sager 9680 it lacks dual tuners so you can't record and watch another program at the same time, and lacks a FM radio. Media Center ain't no TIVO, which I also own and love, but like all Msoft products I am sure it will catch up. Of course TIVO will never catch a virus 8)

As far as battery life on the G15, I can get almost 2 hours by simply dimming the screen so its not such a search light.

Regarding the Sager video board slot, does this mean you can upgrade the video as new chips come out?

[goofy166]

Today I loaded Half-Life 2 onto my Qosmio G15 using Valve, a company that lets you stream games to your hard disk so you can use them on any computer without a CD. To my surprise the video pay was outstanding, no jerking, great resolution, sounds and movement perfect. It turns out that Medal of Honor does not perform well on the Q G15 for reasons I don't understand. But I have changed my mind that the Q does not play games well.

[Phoenix]

In answer to your last question, yes, you can upgrade the graphics card as new chips become available.

The 9860 is the best gaming laptop there is.

[goofy166]

Have you ever seen a review that compares the 9860 to other gaming laptops,, like Alienware. I ask because I read a lot of mags and I am surprised to not remember this outstanding machine.

[lonesniper]

In the January sales I just saw another AMD64 media laptop advertized.
http://www.tiny.com/packages.php?prodid=12876

AMD® Athlon 64 3000+
1024MB DDR RAM
80GB Hard Disk
DVD-Rw / CD-Rw Multiformat DVD Burner Drive
15" XGA TFT Screen (1024 x 768)
64MB Integrated Graphics
TV Out For Large Screen Presentations
10/100 Ethernet Port, Wi-Fi - 802.11b
6x USB2.0 Ports, 6 Cell Li-Ion Battery &amp; A/C Charger, PCMCIA
3.5Kg; 335 x 280 x 30 mm

And all that for 799 pounds sterling! Shame it does not have a 17" widescreen though.