MSI, Sager/Clevo, Gigabyte, Origin, Alienware or Razer?

[chowderek]

I'm looking to buy a gaming laptop for around $1,200.

I was hoping you guys can give me a briefing of each brand because as I do not have much knowledge myself (I have heard good things about Sager/Clevo and MSI though).

Feel feel to add in more brands if I missed some.

 

[dannyboy2233]

Sager/Clevo are the best for the money, but are extremely ugly. Otherwise, MSI is great. All the others tend to be overpriced and unreliable.

 

[chowderek]

Sager/Clevo are the best for the money, but are extremely ugly. Otherwise, MSI is great. All the others tend to be overpriced and unreliable.

I forgot to add in ASUS, where does it rank between these other brands.

 

[dannyboy2233]

Sager/Clevo are the best for the money, but are extremely ugly. Otherwise, MSI is great. All the others tend to be overpriced and unreliable.

I forgot to add in ASUS, where does it rank between these other brands.

They're alright... their gaming laptops are quite overpriced.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Clevo in a heartbeat

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/91510-clevo-guide-v2-0-faq-reseller-info.html

CLEVO is a large Taiwanese computer company specializing in laptops. While the Clevo brand name is perhaps not widely known, their products are re-branded and sold by known boutique brand OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers)… notably Sager, VoodooPC, Falcon Northwest, Eurocom, etc. They are also considered (by whoever knows about notebooks) to design and manufacturer the best of the best notebooks in terms of superior build quality and innovative designs.

http://www.lpc-digital.com/sager-np7370.html

Add the 750 Hybrid SSD / HD and Win 764 and ya at $1204 before the "Max Discount"
http://www.lpc-digital.com/notebook-review-members-military-and-student-discounts.html

 

[dannyboy2233]

Clevo in a heartbeat

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/91510-clevo-guide-v2-0-faq-reseller-info.html

CLEVO is a large Taiwanese computer company specializing in laptops. While the Clevo brand name is perhaps not widely known, their products are re-branded and sold by known boutique brand OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers)… notably Sager, VoodooPC, Falcon Northwest, Eurocom, etc. They are also considered (by whoever knows about notebooks) to design and manufacturer the best of the best notebooks in terms of superior build quality and innovative designs.

http://www.lpc-digital.com/sager-np7370.html

Add the 750 Hybrid SSD / HD and Win 764 and ya at $1204 before the "Max Discount"
http://www.lpc-digital.com/notebook-review-members-military-and-student-discounts.html

+1

 

[chowderek]

Clevo/Sager does look rather ugly, MSI looks much better tho. However, since you guys are so high on Clevo/Sager, it must be well built. I suppose I can overlook the design.

 

[dannyboy2233]

Clevo/Sager does look rather ugly, MSI looks much better tho. However, since you guys are so high on Clevo/Sager, it must be well built. I suppose I can overlook the design.

I agree. Clevo/Sager are the epitome of function over form, which tends to be the better choice in a computer.

 

[g-unit1111]

Here's what I would say about all the brands in question:

MSI - rebranded Sager
Sager - Excellent hardware, great customization
Gigabyte - Never used their laptops
Origin - More rebranded Sager machines
Alienware - Overrated Dell crap
Razer - Great product, wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy overpriced.

 

[Indefatigable]

The OP would get more balanced and reasonable responses on the Notebookreview.com forums.

Here's what I would say about all the brands in question:

MSI - rebranded Sager
Sager - Excellent hardware, great customization
Gigabyte - Never used their laptops
Origin - More rebranded Sager machines
Alienware - Overrated Dell crap
Razer - Great product, wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy overpriced.

MSI - not rebranded Sager
Sager - Agreed
Alienware - Care to explain?
Razer - Maybe.

 

[dannyboy2233]

The OP would get more balanced and reasonable responses on the Notebookreview.com forums.

Here's what I would say about all the brands in question:

MSI - rebranded Sager
Sager - Excellent hardware, great customization
Gigabyte - Never used their laptops
Origin - More rebranded Sager machines
Alienware - Overrated Dell crap
Razer - Great product, wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy overpriced.

MSI - not rebranded Sager
Sager - Agreed
Alienware - Care to explain?
Razer - Maybe.

Alienware is extremely overpriced and ugly. Razer is the same, but more overpriced and less ugly.

 

[woofblitzer]

well I have the same question and maybe some answers..... I have built a Clevo P157SM and a MSI 16F4 chasis with identical components hardware wise on AVADIRECT.COM.

The builds are:

4th gen i7-4700MQ
nvidia 780m
2 x 256 GB Samsung 840 Pro (Clevo) or 2 x 250 Samsung EVO (MSI) SSD drives (there is a price diff, not much perfom diff, EVO not offered on Clevo). These are in RAID0
I had to fiddle with the Clevo innards a little to get them what comes pre included in the MIS that was getting a Blu Ray reader in each, and a Bigfoot Killer 1202 card in each.
I had to pay to upgrade the screen on the Clevo to 95% color, not so on the MSI.

All said and done, the Clevo is $2549, the MSI is 2311.65. The Clevo does have a $50 off coupon if you spend above $1350.

My final question before I buy is which is cooler? I hear the Clevo has two slots, but the MSI runs cooler with one slot and one big fan. Which makes more noise? I heard the MSI is quieter. Don't know for sure. I have also read the Clevo is easier to upgrade later.

Thoughts forum?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I don't get your pricing, other sites are "different"

1st I wouldn't bother with the RAID SSD's ... you'll get impressive benchmarks but will see no tangible benefit.

Base Price = $1769 (Instant $200 off)

15.6” Full HD 16:9 LED-Backlit MATTE 95% NTSC Color Gamut Ultra Bright $0.00
30 day Guaranteed no dead or partially-lit pixels - FREE UPGRADE! $0.00
NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5 Memory - Special! $0.00
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.40 GHz) $0.00
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU - FREE UPGRADE! $0.00
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz - 2 X 8GB - SPECIAL! $0.00
Samsung® 256GB SSD 840 PRO Series $195.00
Samsung® 256GB SSD SATA III 840 PRO Series (second bay) $260.00
6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software - Special! $0.00
Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 with Bluetooth 4.0 (Dual Band) - FREE Upgrade Special! $0.00

Total $2,224 delivered ! Did I miss something >
And that's before any discounts
http://www.lpc-digital.com/notebook-review-members-military-and-student-discounts.html

Add $80 for Windows 8 -64 if ya need OS .... cant imagine how ya got to $2500

 

[woofblitzer]

I don't get your pricing, other sites are "different"

1st I wouldn't bother with the RAID SSD's ... you'll get impressive benchmarks but will see no tangible benefit.

Base Price = $1769 (Instant $200 off)

15.6” Full HD 16:9 LED-Backlit MATTE 95% NTSC Color Gamut Ultra Bright $0.00
30 day Guaranteed no dead or partially-lit pixels - FREE UPGRADE! $0.00
NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5 Memory - Special! $0.00
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.40 GHz) $0.00
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU - FREE UPGRADE! $0.00
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz - 2 X 8GB - SPECIAL! $0.00
Samsung® 256GB SSD 840 PRO Series $195.00
Samsung® 256GB SSD SATA III 840 PRO Series (second bay) $260.00
6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software - Special! $0.00
Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 with Bluetooth 4.0 (Dual Band) - FREE Upgrade Special! $0.00

Total $2,224 delivered ! Did I miss something >
And that's before any discounts
http://www.lpc-digital.com/notebook-review-members-military-and-student-discounts.html

Add $80 for Windows 8 -64 if ya need OS .... cant imagine how ya got to $2500

I found the difference, on is a p157SM the other a p156SM-S or as some call it a P157SM

either way, I think I am going with a MSI 16F4-780, can't get over that stupid emblem on Clevo books, plus I hear the MSI is cooler and more quiet

 

[JackNaylorPE]

There's an emblem ? I have never seen one and I have purchased over a dozen of the buggers. There is a "no branding" option at $0 cost

The Asus or MSI should serve well with "default" that is "base price" GPU and GFX....if ya do upgrades, it seems the cooling systems on the mass produced lines....designed for the default CPU / GPU .... are inadequately sized for the upgrades and therefore run hit and noisy. O the ones I ahve seen...the Clevo copper heat sinks are more massive and run quieter.

 

[woofblitzer]

wow that typing was bad for some reason.
the clevo comes in a P157SM-S version now, which some just call a P158SM. it can run anything 4th gen and vid card wise
the msi 16F4-780 barebone comes with the 780m graphics card included, so i think, if what you say about cooling built around the intended parts, then the msi should be cool enough...

opinion question

would you go i7-4700mq and GTX 780m
or
i7-4800mq with ATI 8970m

they price out about the same

does the 2.7 cpu make up for whatever the ATI may lack?

 

[nowva]

i would be dubious about clevo / sager after working for 15+ years at a laptop repair company clevo are the no1 for hard to get parts, when ever we need replacement components clevo are almost impossible, so for out of warranty repairs your going to be stuck, i would stick with major brands asus & msi would be my choice. at the end of the day you pay for what you get !

 

[deadsmiley]

i would be dubious about clevo / sager after working for 15+ years at a laptop repair company clevo are the no1 for hard to get parts, when ever we need replacement components clevo are almost impossible, so for out of warranty repairs your going to be stuck, i would stick with major brands asus & msi would be my choice. at the end of the day you pay for what you get !

Clevo IS a major brand. They have been in the business since 1983, which is much longer than you. They supply laptops to over 50 countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevo

If you check out Notebook Review you will find that 4 out of the top 10 notebooks are Clevo based.
http://www.notebookcheck.com/Top-10-Gaming-Notebooks-im-Test-bei-Notebookcheck.91065.0.html

Number 1 and number 3 are Alienware. I would buy and Alienware if it looked more business-like. I can't walk into a customer site sporting a blingtastic laptop.

 

[CaseT]

This is an interesting comment for me. I'm a total novice when it comes to hardware but I'm in the market for a gaming/business (yes, in that order 🙂 laptop so I've been researching for days. Most of what I've read says Sager is easy to upgrade. Maybe that's different than repairing but can you be more specific? What parts are hard to find? TIA

i would be dubious about clevo / sager after working for 15+ years at a laptop repair company clevo are the no1 for hard to get parts, when ever we need replacement components clevo are almost impossible, so for out of warranty repairs your going to be stuck, i would stick with major brands asus & msi would be my choice. at the end of the day you pay for what you get !

 

[deadsmiley]

I'm looking to buy a gaming laptop for around $1,200.

I was hoping you guys can give me a briefing of each brand because as I do not have much knowledge myself (I have heard good things about Sager/Clevo and MSI though).

Feel feel to add in more brands if I missed some.

ASUS is the highest quality gaming laptop around, but they are heavy and you pay for it.

MSI is a high quality laptop that is full of awesome features and will come in a lot cheaper than ASUS models, but also run hotter.

Sager/Clevo are lower quality than the previous 2 mentioned and the prices reflect that. People who up talk the Sager/Clevo laptops are generally happy because of the price they paid for what they got. The other two brands cost more, but you get the higher build quality out of them.

Alienware is overpriced, overweight, lower quality crap. Avoid them.

Origin is okay? Nothing special about their rebuilds on laptops and I'd generally shy away from them.

Razer makes a super high quality product that is built for extreme portability but it also has an extreme price tag.

Origin is a Clevo.

The Alienware is a nice machine. Overpriced? Maybe. But name another manufacturer that accept video cards from 2 generations newer than were available when it was made? Yes, the Alienware can do that. I have been shopping and passed on the Alienware because I need a machine that looks business like (no bling) . That pretty much left me with Sager/Clevo which is what I bought.

 

[saratj1]

All the Alienware haters. Its kinda like everyones looking for you to fall when your on top, but anyways. I have an m17x r1 and at 4yrs old its still a beast build quality is second to none. Its freaking solid aluminum yes its heavy but so are all the others. Also if you do have an issue see if asus or sager will come to your house and fix your laptop for you on your kitchen table, bet they wont. Dells customer service is pretty impressive.
Notebook check rates the m17x as the best overall gaming laptop, and this is from hundreds of different people reviewing it from all over the internet.
Read the reviews is the alienware perfect? no, but it isn't a pos either as some like to claim on the internet.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Notebookcheck-s-Top-10-Gaming-Notebooks.98628.0.html

 

[Alejandro Hernandez]

I'm looking to buy a gaming laptop for around $1,200.

I was hoping you guys can give me a briefing of each brand because as I do not have much knowledge myself (I have heard good things about Sager/Clevo and MSI though).

Feel feel to add in more brands if I missed some.

Sager/Clevo are the best for the money, but are extremely ugly. Otherwise, MSI is great. All the others tend to be overpriced and unreliable.

I dont know why you call sager clevo ugly, let me tell you, they are not. my p150sm a is a beauty, it very solidly built and has a tone of aggressiveness, the backlit keyboard is ectremelly good ( though i wish it oculd be brighter), i think for the money that you save i would go with sager/ clevo they are the best choice in this situation. i think MSI is way ugly they try to be flashy without any style. trust me the matte on the sager is awsome and not glossy parts so its pretty much perfect

 

[Fruischian1234]

My opinion is that sager and clevo look extremely bland, boring, and ugly. They have none of the exterior finishes that I find attractive in msi and asus and all other laptop brands
This is just my opinion of all the companies.
MSI- excellent high quality laptops that have some heating issues (only in gt series though, gs series have dual fan) but can be solved by getting a cooling pad which is only like 30 bucks. Msi's keyboards are also customizable, you can change the color of each key.
Asus- Also very high end laptops. Although not as customizable, very sturdy, and professional look matched by excellent hardware options
aorus- sexy looking, light (I think its 6.5 pounds) , sli cards, good quality
Alienware- downright crap, overpriced
Razer- okay but WAAAAAAAAY overpriced for what you get
Clevo/sager- very uninteresting look, but gives a pretty big bang for the buck.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

i would be dubious about clevo / sager after working for 15+ years at a laptop repair company clevo are the no1 for hard to get parts, when ever we need replacement components clevo are almost impossible, so for out of warranty repairs your going to be stuck, i would stick with major brands asus & msi would be my choice. at the end of the day you pay for what you get !

I have never had a problem getting parts going back to the same source as I bought it. Clevo is very strict and will not sell parts to "unauthorized distributors".

Regarding other comments.....

Alienware *was* a Clevo based laptop back in the day .... after their phenomenal success combining cute marketing with quality components and great performance, they caught Dell's attention and after Dell purchased them, the supply chain was replaced with Dell's.

I have not seen much difference between the MSI / Asus and Clevos when ya buy the 'default' CPU / GPU in each model range. When you customize and upgrade the CPU / GPU, I find that heat issues arise on the Asus / MSI where as the Clevos handle this a bit better as they used bigger heat sinks.

The thing you have to keep in mind with Clevo is that basically every reseller is a separate company. You buy an Asus lapop from newegg, you go to Asus for support .... you buy a Clevo .... you go to the guy you bight it off for support. So the quality of support will vary by the reseller.....so important to pick a good one.

Notebookreview.com is a good place to get a handle on who rocks and who doesn't

 

[Dicepshon]

I'm also looking scouting for a new laptop (will be posting myself eventually). The laptop I'm on right now is a clevo m860tu, aka sager np8662. I got it before the big change to the i-series processors(has a t9700 core 2duo) and it's held me out since 2007/8. The only reason I want a new laptop is because my graphics card bit the dust (yay onboard gpu back-up!) and getting a new one off ebay that fits my mobo would be about $300usd. Add on a memory upgrade and I'm looking at close to 4-500 already. I bought my pc to do graphics rendering, etc. (fx2700m card) as well as play games.

Here's what I can say about this clevo that got awesome reviews when I did my research:

heavy laptop, poor battery life
well built. I've dropped it from coffee table height and the laptop was fine. The screen died one time but that's not the builds fault.
highly customizable and workable. you can replace and upgrade so much on it.
runs HOT! hottest laptop I've ever owned and that's without a quadcore or any of the other graphics cards that I've heard people have used in it
the support, as someone else mentioned, completely depends on the retailer. I went through xotic and was very happy with their customer care team.

overall, I'm very happy with it's lifespan. I did at the time, pay about $2,200.00 usd for it but after 6 or so years, I was able to play D3 and other games on a fairly high graphics setting while keeping up with CAD, Maya, Photoshop, etc. In my opinion, that's a good investment.