Any news on an upgrade for Sager?

[sheaiiimef]

With many changes being brought about in the world of portable computers, it may be time for Sager to upgrade it's high-end system. E-sata and HDMI are a few items for thought. The main question I have is, has anyone heard if Clevo will update their motherboards for the desktop replacements?

[Woody]

They do. Both the newest high end Sager notebooks have both HDMI and eSATA. The NP5796 and the NP8660.

The 9262 doesn't because it's an older P965 motherboard design using standard desktop CPUs although it does run at 1333MHz FSB so it's going to outperform even the latest Centrino2 setups. I personally find having three internal SATA2 drive bays makes up for a lack of eSATA but if you really need it there are ExpressCard eSATA options. There is no option for an Expresscard HDMI but that might be a possibility since there is a PCIe desktop HDMI card. You don't need HDMI because you can just use a DVI to HDMI adapter which gives you the same capability without the sound. There is S/PDIF output on the 9262 as well as analogue output.

[sheaiiimef]

Thanks for the info. Now I just have to decide between sli GT or GTX and I can complete my order.

[Woody]

I presume then you are interested in the NP9262. I wrote a review you can find in these forums. Mine is configured with a single 9800M GT but if you are considering SLI I would go for the GTX. I think a single GTX would be a better option than the GT in SLI simply because it's a single card. A single card is always better than dual cards for heat, power, and noise as well as more likely to be compatible with all games.

If you feel strongly about the newest chipsets, eSATA, HDMI, and DDR3 I would recommend the 5796 with a single GTX but DDR3 offers little performance advantage and even the base configuration 9262 will be faster than the 5796 with a X9100 in terms of processing power. But you pay for that power in weight. :-)