Sager NP4780 Review

It makes more sense to think of Sager's NP4780 as a desktop PC that's easy to transport between offices than as a truly portable notebook. For several reasons, it doesn't quite fit the bill as a system you would want to use while you walk around the office or sit on an airplane. The handsome silver-and-gray slab weighs a shoulder-straining, knee-crunching 9.4 pounds (or 11.3 with its AC power supply). At 15.5 inches wide by 10.75 inches deep, it won't fit on a standard airplane foldout tray nor on many hotel sideboards. Moreover, its battery lasts less than 90 minutes and requires a screwdriver to swap. Still, we think the Sager NP4780 offers enough muscle and features for you to consider trading in a desktop for this computer, which is small enough to lock away inside your desk.

The NP4780's strength is that it offers all the comforts and capabilities of a desktop computer in a notebook. For one thing, the keyboard has a separate numeric keypad instead of a patch of letter keys assigned to perform dual functions. The springy, quiet keyboard is also very comfortable for typing. A bright, crisp, 17-inch (diagonal) screen displays a movie-friendly 1,440x900 WXGA resolution, and the standalone ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro 3D graphics controller with 128MB of memory plays movies with no hesitation or jitter. A Pentium 4 running Windows XP Pro at 3.2GHz and backed up by 1GB of 400MHz memory and a 60GB drive spinning at 7,200rpm lets you zip through ordinary computing tasks. (For an extra $530, you can even upgrade the memory to 2GB, but those modules run at a slower 333MHz, which may ultimately result in decreased performance.)

Sager loaded the NP4780 with enough features to make the $2,510 price tag look like a square deal. The list includes a Gigabit Ethernet adapter, an integrated 802.11b wireless networking adapter, a DVD-RW drive, a FireWire port, and a Type II PC Card slot. More exotic features include a four-slot flash-memory reader that can handle six common formats: CompactFlash, Microdrive, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Secure Digital, and MultiMediaCard; plus a Camtel video camera built into the lid (although like most pinhole cameras, it tends to capture a delayed, blurry stream), and a television tuner with a handheld remote control (a port on the side can attach to a cable television feed or an antenna). For movie watchers and game players, the subwoofer built into the bottom of the notebook is a good complement to the four clear-sounding and reasonably loud stereo speakers placed next to the keyboard on the front edge. You can also use the NP4780's S/PDIF port to divert audio to an external 5.1 surround-sound setup.

Sager provides a toll-free telephone number for free lifetime tech support, available weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. PT. However, the warranty runs only one year, which seems inadequate considering the NP4780's price tag. You can extend it to three years for $210 or four years for $260. You also get a thorough user manual, which provides extensive information on the configuration, power management, graphics controller, BIOS, and other important details about the NP4780.

Specifications