X80 GTX 260 - Pre Order Yours Now!!

[Amy]

Hi Guys,

Pre order You X80 GTX 260 Now!


The X80 GTX sports a beautiful sleek 17" widescreen display with an incredible 1920 x 1200 resolution - the highest resolution available. The X80 GTX also comes complete with the world's first mobile DirectX 10 graphics chip to ensure the ultimate gameplay experience. X80 GTX is truly an amazing high-end laptop.


http://images.novatech.co.uk/rangeimages/bigimages/x80_tq.jpg

http://images.novatech.co.uk/rangeimages/bigimages/x80_front.jpg

http://images.novatech.co.uk/rangeimages/bigimages/x80_back.jpg

http://images.novatech.co.uk/rangeimages/bigimages/x80_left.jpg

http://images.novatech.co.uk/rangeimages/bigimages/x80_right.jpg



Screen 17" WUXGA X-Brite 1920 x 1200 TFT Screen
Processor Intel P8400 Core 2 Duo Mobile 3MB Cache Dual Core Processor / Intel P8700 Core 2 Duo Mobile 3MB Cache Dual Core Processor (Pro version)
Processor Speed 2 x 2.26GHz / 2 x 2.53GHz (Pro version)
Memory 4GB DDR3 1066MHz Memory
Hard Drive 250GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive / 500GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive (Pro version)
Drive DVD/RW Multi Burner / Blu Ray ROM / DVDRW Multi Burner (Pro version)
Modem 56K Modem
Graphics Nvidia GTX260 1GB DDR3 Graphics
Sound High Definition Audio With SRS WOW Surround Sound
Speakers 2 x 1.5 Watt & 1 x 2 Watt Sub Woofer
Memory Slots 2 x DDR3 SO-DIMM
Memory Capacity 4GB
Audio In Port 1 x Mic-in
Audio Out Port 1 x H'phone/Speakers & S/PDIF Output
Networking Port 1 x Gigabit LAN & Intel 802.11n Draft 2.0 Wireless
Ext Monitor Port 1 x DVI-I Port ( VGA Through DVI-I), 1 x HDMI
RJ11 Modem Port 1 x RJ11 Modem Port
Power Socket AC Power Adapter
USB Ports 4 x USB 2.0
PCMCIA Port 1 x Express Card Slot (34/54)
Mini PCI Slot Yes
Firewire Port 1 x Mini IEEE 1394a Firewire
Bluetooth Yes
Webcam 2.0 Mega Pixel
Carry Case Yes
AC Adaptor AC Adapter Supplied
Internal Battery 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Touchpad Touchpad with 2 buttons
Scroll Button Touchpad Integrated
Dimensions (mm) 46h x 397w x 281d
Warranty 12 Mths RTB
Weight 4.0Kg with battery
OS Compliance Windows XP SP3 32Bit / Vista SP1 32/64Bit




Pre Order Yours Now! (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/range.html?t=nb&c=all&r=X8V)

[coolant8]

Any idea on the ETA?

So this is same as old X80 with slightly overclocked GPU, right?

[Amy]

Hiya

these will be available in 6 weeks :)

[kylzer]

Any idea on the ETA?

So this is same as old X80 with slightly overclocked GPU, right?

its a 9800GTX re-branded :(

but still a very sweet laptop.

[Amy]

Novatech will be the UK's first e-tailer to put Nvidia's GTX280M and GTX260M graphics (and Intel's Core i7) into a laptop.

See here:


http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/493/1051493/novatech-punts-gtx280-gtx260-core-i7-notebooks


:trophy::trophy::trophy:

[coolant8]

Isn't that still on pre-order?

280m and 260m aren't shipping for a few more days, and Kobalt Computers has started to take pre-orders for a while. For their Nexus & Mojave including the Nvidia Geforce GTX 260m 1gb & Nvidia Geforce GTX 280m 1gb Graphics card. With ETA of either 2nd or 8th April 2009 depending on system. I'm I right in saying Novatech will ship in similar time frame?

[cletheroe]

Indeed - a 5-6 week lead time won't make Novatech the first with this if others (like Kobalt) can keep to their shipping estimates... ;-)

[cletheroe]

So this is same as old X80 with slightly overclocked GPU, right?

I'm not sure there is really much benefit in the GTX260m over the 9800m - can anyone enlighten us? I've read the GTX280m is marginally quicker, but I think these are pretty much a rebrand as Kylser said...

It's a shame there have been compromises to the old X80MV specs rather than alround upgrade... they also trade a feature for a slightly bigger hard drive.
So apart from the GFX switch...
Standard: 200GB -> 250GB, but loses the bluray drive
Pro: 320GB -> 500GB, but P9500 dropped to a P8700

[kpkpkp]

I'm not sure there is really much benefit in the GTX260m over the 9800m - can anyone enlighten us? I've read the GTX280m is marginally quicker, but I think these are pretty much a rebrand as Kylser said...

It's a shame there have been compromises to the old X80MV specs rather than alround upgrade... they also trade a feature for a slightly bigger hard drive.
So apart from the GFX switch...
Standard: 200GB -> 250GB, but loses the bluray drive
Pro: 320GB -> 500GB, but P9500 dropped to a P8700

We were not looking to compromise on anything, It's called "Optimised PC" - we will not put a CPU in a PC or Laptop where the overall cost of the CPU can not deliver a good performance increase over a lower spec'd processor. We bench all our systems to make sure your money buys you the best performance.

This method for spec'ing systems means we can deliver the best balance of performance vs. price and is something we have done for years. It is true we have dropped the Blu Ray from the entry level unit due to so many people asking to have a system built without the Blu Ray drive as they are not intending to watch films on their laptop.

As for the release date - we will always try to underproimse and over deliver - we said 6 weeks, it may well be sooner and for the people that have already placed orders their notebooks could be here much earlier - we already have the chassis in the warehouse and are just waiting for the GPUs to arrive. What we do not want to do is tell people a date and then have to keep on calling them to explain that they will have to wait a bit longer and a bit longer still. Sometimes we cannot avoid it but where ever possible we will do all we can to avoid it.

We are also working on improving the configurator so that should you want to custom spec your system it will be quicker and offer more range than ever before. The bench marks show the GTX260 offering better performance than the 9800M GTX and the 280 is quicker again. Once the GPUs are here I will get a customer that has bought a system to post up their own bench marks and any of the 9800M GTX owners could bench theirs and you can all see what is quicker.

Hope this clears up any questions.

Kp

[cletheroe]

Thanks kp - I hope I didn't come across as too negative, just wanted to highlight there were differences from the old X80 beyond just the graphics card... these are indeed still great specs and well priced, and I agree that a non-bluray version is a good idea for those that don't need it - better still if this is an option within a confgurator though. (I believe your copy is a bit ahead of itself there two as the Office preinstall option mentioned on the product pages don't appear to be live?)

Playing devils advocate with your release date too - but first is a big statement to make before you're actually in final production, particularly if it relies on Nvidia :)
Regardless of when they start to ship though, I wouldn't look elsewhere unless your competitors start dropping their prices as there aren't any other Clevo based systems (UK) that match the low price for these specs ...even if others do install the pointless fingerprint reader!

I guess I'm really just a little confused at the choice as I was already to get the X80MV before the new range went live! If these are definitely faster in the new configuration fantastic...
One question remains though, I asked on the other thread, but is the Extreme Pro price incorrect? If the only difference is the relatively minor processor and hard drive upgrades, I can't quite see how you get to £575 more (just £50 less than the X90...), I would have thought a premium of no more than £150 would be more realistic? ...am I missing something?

[kpkpkp]

Thanks kp - I hope I didn't come across as too negative, just wanted to highlight there were differences from the old X80 beyond just the graphics card... these are indeed still great specs and well priced, and I agree that a non-bluray version is a good idea for those that don't need it - better still if this is an option within a confgurator though. (I believe your copy is a bit ahead of itself there two as the Office preinstall option mentioned on the product pages don't appear to be live?)

Playing devils advocate with your release date too - but first is a big statement to make before you're actually in final production, particularly if it relies on Nvidia :)
Regardless of when they start to ship though, I wouldn't look elsewhere unless your competitors start dropping their prices as there aren't any other Clevo based systems (UK) that match the low price for these specs ...even if others do install the pointless fingerprint reader!

I guess I'm really just a little confused at the choice as I was already to get the X80MV before the new range went live! If these are definitely faster in the new configuration fantastic...
One question remains though, I asked on the other thread, but is the Extreme Pro price incorrect? If the only difference is the relatively minor processor and hard drive upgrades, I can't quite see how you get to £575 more (just £50 less than the X90...), I would have thought a premium of no more than £150 would be more realistic? ...am I missing something?


I think your feed back was excllent and not negative at all - this is the reason I like our forum, we get to know your thoughts and we get to explain ours to you - partnerships are the best way to work with customers - no exceptions.

We are the first to release our specs and prices - we are also the first (that I am aware of in the UK to place the order for the new revision chassis). Our release dates are actually down to Clevo shipping the GPUs but we have a great relationship with Clevo and the do a great job of looking after us.

The pricing you refer to confuses me as the Entry Level X80 with the GTX 260 is only £230 less than the Entry Level the Extreme version - for the £230 you get the 280 over the 260, Blu Ray over DVD RW, P8700 over P8400 and a 320Gb HDD over the 250GB.

For £230 I think that is excellent value - or am I missing the point

[cletheroe]

Thanks :)


The pricing you refer to confuses me as the Entry Level X80 with the GTX 260 is only £230 less than the Entry Level the Extreme version - for the £230 you get the 280 over the 260, Blu Ray over DVD RW, P8700 over P8400 and a 320Gb HDD over the 250GB.

For £230 I think that is excellent value - or am I missing the point


No quite the opposite, don't change the standard Extreme!

I was referring to the Extreme vs the Extreme Pro (as I say I did post on that thread but we're here now! :))
I think the only difference there is +3Mb of cache and +180Gb of HDD.
...and up until I left work a couple of hours ago I'd swear the Extreme Pro was listed at £1999 exc (£500 more than the extreme). It's now 'just' £1699 though? (was I right about the mistake...)

I still think that £200 is a bit steep for what you get, or rather more that the increase in specs isn't quite enough to make it a 'pro' version, perhaps it needs a faster clock on the processor too?

I'm concluding the extreme (standard) is right for me, in my case any internal hard drive space over 250Gb is neither here nor there due to external drives, but a better processor might be beneficial... any idea how soon the configuration utilty might be available?

[coolant8]

Thanks :)
No quite the opposite, don't change the standard Extreme!

I was referring to the Extreme vs the Extreme Pro (as I say I did post on that thread but we're here now! :))
I think the only difference there is +3Mb of cache and +180Gb of HDD.
...and up until I left work a couple of hours ago I'd swear the Extreme Pro was listed at £1999 exc (£500 more than the extreme). It's now 'just' £1699 though? (was I right about the mistake...)

I still think that £200 is a bit steep for what you get, or rather more that the increase in specs isn't quite enough to make it a 'pro' version, perhaps it needs a faster clock on the processor too?

I'm concluding the extreme (standard) is right for me, in my case any internal hard drive space over 250Gb is neither here nor there due to external drives, but a better processor might be beneficial... any idea how soon the configuration utilty might be available?

Do you mean this?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/range.html?t=nb&c=all&r=X8E

Does seem a bit pricy for the spec, and the premium for the top model....


Paying more than a thousand quid for a intel C2D p8X00 series CPU isn't good.

For £999, one used to be able to get Advent 6555, a quadcore laptop(Q9000) with Ati's 4850 mobility with 250GB HDD.

I don't mean to make a fuss, though imo paying anything more than £1000, especially if it's dual core, isn't great deal anymore. If the model has both 'extreme' and 'pro' tagged on, why not include a high end intel C2D extreme CPU?

It also worries me if I do get a laptop from novatech, they are going to clear it for halve of the original retail price in a few month; where other retailer like Rock, clear their stock much more discreetly. Not completely rubbing it in.

[cletheroe]

That's right, yes... The "Extreme pro" was £2k but has come down in price since I first posted... Like you say though, not sure it's quite high enough spec for the price, or to be donning both those names!

And yes these are quite a bit more than say a MSI GT725... not sure of any with Quad core? Acer have a 18" beast at about £1300inc, but then it's only paired with a 9600.
I thought the base Extreme looked fairly good value. In a hard market generally with a definite dollar-pound exchange rate effect, Novatech's prices have stayed competitive for the Clevo base at least... don't Rock's machines start off several £100s more anyway? Likewise Kobalt, OcUK and others. That said, if you know where you can still get something anywhere close on spec to this at under a grand let us know! I'm not sure of any using the 9800m/HD4850 let alone the gtx280m though? ..with quad core too?

As for clearance, I know where you're coming from - that's always tough - but that's why they say you have to be sure/happy with your own purchasing decisions... whatever we buy will be worthless in a couple of years anyway :)

[cletheroe]

For £999, one used to be able to get Advent 6555, a quadcore laptop(Q9000) with Ati's 4850 mobility with 250GB HDD.

What happened to this? Did they decide selling a laptop at £1 profit wasn't such a good idea?? ...seems very cheap so well done to anyone who snapped one up!

[coolant8]

That machine was based on a MSI barebone, AFAIK, it was used more for marketing by Advent, to see if there is indeed demand, rather than long term project.

Though MSI sells their own machine as well. So when push came to shove, Advent had to discontinue 6555. However, a laptop by the same chassics, GPU, are it's replacement now(MSI GT725). They are more expensive.

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

i believe laptops << are pointless<< surfing and wordprocessing only<< untill the price of SSD and DDR3 really drop and become the standard i dont really see the point< i think its an 'image' or something idk< but until the technology is really there for affordable and powerful mobile equipment< i really dont see the point<< expensive<< unreliable<< >>laptops are.. but if youre the kind to wear sunglasses inside and youre obviously far kooler than me 'i am afterall a pokemon master' if you want a beast of a laptop ^^ you better preorder one of these ^^ xD

[shaffaaf27]

erosenin, whats with the "<"?

[cletheroe]

If you never use a machine on the move, or work from home, then yes you are right a laptop is expensive and pointless - for you. If however, like I assume the majority of laptops users are, taking your machine from place to place (or even room to room), perhaps using it for work, then you might see the point and value in the added expense...

My current 4 year old machine is capable of far more than wordprocessing, but can still benefit from an upgrade. But as for lacking reliability, it's taken far more stress than a desktop would have in that time, and not failed me so that simply isn't true.


until the price of SSD and DDR3 really drop
Why pick out SSD and DDR3? If you think laptops are only used by people who wear sunglasses inside why would this change your opinion?

[LaptopNut]

i believe laptops << are pointless<< surfing and wordprocessing only<< untill the price of SSD and DDR3 really drop and become the standard i dont really see the point< i think its an 'image' or something idk< but until the technology is really there for affordable and powerful mobile equipment< i really dont see the point<< expensive<< unreliable<< >>laptops are.. but if youre the kind to wear sunglasses inside and youre obviously far kooler than me 'i am afterall a pokemon master' if you want a beast of a laptop ^^ you better preorder one of these ^^ xD

Laptops can be reliable and are all about flexibility. I do not like being limited to a desktop setup, if I want to surf the net in another room, play a game in another region, do some word processing at a different location or watch Digital TV in a hotel room then a laptop allows me to do all of this and more.

Laptops are now at a stage where they can be extremely powerful and they are only as expensive as you need them to be in a sense.

For example you can get a decent laptop for a £200, in fact even £130 but if you really want high performance to the more extreme then of course you will end up paying more because they do not have the luxury of cheap components in a spacious chassis like you have with desktops.

It does not mean that because you do not see the point in something that it is pointless. I bet you would soon change your mind if you were given a free NP8662 with a GTX260M Quad Core 500GB HDD.