Lookin' at a Sager, what do you think of this config?

[TedShred]

My mom needs a new computer to replace her 1997 special, but she doesn't need much so I'm just going to give her my macbook. I'm going to be doiing a fair amount of travelling next year, so I want to get a killer setup to replace it so that I can have the wicked gaming experience on the road. I really like the Sager NP9262 and am 99% sold on it. I wish it had an illuminated keyboard like the alienware but, meh. (Anyone think that's a big deal?)

http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=29175

What do you think of this config? I know even less about notebooks than PCs, especially determining price/performance of CPUs/ GPUS (don't know much about Nvidia). I want max performance, but I don't want to spend a lot for a miniscule gain. The only substantive hardware missing from the screenshot below is the optical drive. I'm thinking of going with the basic DVD - or is the blue-ray movie experience worth an extra $500 for a drive? Thanks for your help.:up: (I'm already thinking it might be better on a $/GB basis to go 2x200G in Raid0 rather than 1 320GB.)

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh70/diggermats/sager3289.jpg

[TedShred]

sorry for the shameless bump, but I just completely changed my question.:p:

[just a noob]

looks good, just make sure your hooked into the power brick/adapter all the time, i think with a monster like that, the batteries must scream, and i would say just get a dvd burnder/player, as you could always get an external bluray player if you wanted, and on the hdd, thats up to you

[RPA]

Thats a nice set up. Personally I would go with a Q9550 proc and 9800GT SLI. It would be cheaper and more powerful. With that set up you have right now it'll score around 11k in 3DMark06.

[TedShred]

thanks.

Keepin' blueray as a future (external) option sounds perfect, DVD will for sure do for awhile.

@ RPA That's great advice on the SLI > 9800M GTX. So I take it the Q9650 isn't alot faster than the 9550 - do you know what the increase would be in percentage terms? (Sorry I'm so lazy)

edit: just found this recent comparison of the q9650 and q9550 (hey, research didn't kill me!:p: i'm assuming a x3360 = 9550) I'm definitely likin' the 9550 and an extra $225 in my jeans.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=286745

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

DONT go with the 1900x1200, every 17" at this res i have ever seen gives me major headaches and honestly on a laptop you dont have the powerhouse system (quite) that you do on a desktop to sustain playing any new games at high res. 1920x1200 laptop panels don't scale well down to 1680x1050.

just get the 1680x1050, still highres, still tiny pixelpitch for a 17" just not so small it hurts your eyes to look at

[TedShred]

That's good info, thanks. The lower res definitely sounds like the way to go, and I save $100 to boot!:cool:

edit: I guess the only reason I'm still considering the GTX is the old one card simplicity versus 2 card horsepower question. I've no experience with NVidia and am wondering if SLI on a notebook will bring with it any particular driver or other headaches. (Not sure whether it makes any diff between a notebook or a PC though.)

edit: found that, with the lower rez screen, Q9550/ 9800GT (in SLI) combo and a couple 200G (7200rpm) HDDs in Raid0, I can get the Sager for a couple hundred bucks less ($2931 v. $3144) at this place:

http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-latops-tablets-laptops-ct-95_51_150.html

and, go figure, the xoticpc version has the latest Intel network card (5300) while sager.com is still offering the 4965.

edit: Barring any stunning advice, I'm goin' with the recommended parts (thanks again:toast:). I'm gettin' pretty jazzed about this beasty. :bounce: Here's some pics of it:

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh70/diggermats/sager4.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh70/diggermats/sager4a.jpg

edit: going for a chrome top surface. Dam I'm a sucker for bling sometimes.