My holiday gifts

[Welly Wu]

I recently ordered a new Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] from XoticPC:

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8657-clevo-p650re3-p-8677.html

2015 Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3]
Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux
15.6" 1920 X 1080P Full HD Super Clear Matte Screen
6th Generation Intel Core i7-6700HQ 2.6 - 3.5 GHz with Turbo Boost and Hyperthread CPU plus 8 MB Smart Cache
Intel HM170 Express Chipset
Hitachi Travelstar 7K1000 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB 7,200 RPM 64 MB cache HDD
Samsung SpinPoint M9T 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 2.0 TB 5,400 RPM HDD
nVidia Geforce GTX 970M with 3.0 GB GDDR5 Video RAM GPU
16.00 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM
HD audio interface
S/PDIF digital output
Built-in Array Microphone
Built-in two 2W Onkyo speakers
Sound Blaster™ X-FI® MB5
S/PDIF jack
ANSP™ 3D sound technology on headphone output
Built-in Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Intel® Dual Band Wireless - AC 8620 802.11 A/AC/B/G/N + Bluetooth™ 4.0
6-in-1 Card Reader
1 x HDMI output Port (with HDCP)
2 x Mini Display v1.2 Ports
4 x USB 3.0 Ports (1 x powered USB port, AC/DC)
1 x Headphone Jack
1 x Microphone Jack
1 x S/PDIF output jack
1 x RJ-45 LAN
Embedded 4 cells Polymer battery pack (60.00Wh)
Full Range 180W AC Adapter AC-in 100~240V, 50~60Hz, DC output 19.5V, 9.23A or 19V, 9.5A
15.16" (w) x 10.67" (d) x 0.98" (h)
5.50 lbs with 4-cell Battery
White-LED illuminated full size keyboard with numeric pad
Integrated Touchpad with Scrolling Function & Multi-gesture
All-alloy
Built-in 2.0M FHD Video Camera
Intel® Rapid Start Technology
Intel® Smart Response Technology
Finger Print Reader

I also ordered a new Logitech G100S USB 2.0 optical gaming mouse from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BCEK2LK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

I also ordered a new Oppo Digital HA-2 portable DAC and headphone amplifier:

http://oppodigital.com/headphone-amplifier-ha-2/

Finally, I ordered a new Seagate Samsung SpinPoint M9T 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 2.0 TB 5,400 RPM laptop hard disk drive from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I8O6OQ4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

I downloaded the Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] owner's manual from their website. I learned how to turn off UEFI, turn off Secure Boot, enable the dGPU to turn off nVidia Optimus, and enable AHCI and Intel Rapid Start technology. I downloaded Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux and I used the Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator to burn the ISO image to my PNY USB 2.0 16.00 GB thumb drive so that I can boot it and install it. I plan to enable full-disk encryption and set up my Ubuntu Administrator account on my new notebook PC. Next, I will install my favorite software products, packages, libraries, and dependencies and sign into my online accounts using LastPass Premium with my Yubico YubiKey and two-factor authentication for my accounts. Then, I will update my software and optimize Ubuntu for maximum reliability, stability, and performance. Finally, I will restart my notebook PC and let the changes take into effect and get busy downloading my SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games onto my Seagate Samsung SpinPoint M9T laptop hard disk drive while restoring my private user data to my Hitachi Travelstar 7K1000 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB 7,200 RPM 64 MB cache laptop hard disk drive containing my Ubuntu desktop operating system and favorite software products. It should take me a few days to complete my work and test everything to ensure it just works right out of the box.

The Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] is very similar to the System76 Oryx Pro notebook PC. I chose to go with XoticPC and Sager to save some money because I did not want to purchase and own a notebook PC that is more expensive and powerful than my ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system at home. I chose to stick with conventional mechanical hard disk drives because I put high capacity storage at lower costs and speeds as a top priority.

I also purchased a new Western Digital Blue 3.5" SATA-III 6 GB/s 4.0 TB 5,400 RPM 64 MB cache desktop hard disk drive into my ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system and I reinstalled Ubuntu 14.04.3 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux and my favorite software products. It just works.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YY3UA68?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

I plan to travel to the Nutley public library, Starbucks coffee shop, friends' apartments and my parents' apartment during the holiday season with my new notebook PC and accessories. This is going to replace my obsolete ASUS K50IJ notebook PC.

Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3], Seagate Samsung SpinPoint M9T, and Logitech G100S: $1,499.99 USD
Oppo Digital HA-2: <snip>
Shure SE-846 CL earphones: <snip>
FuL BackPack: <snip>

As another choice, I can install my paid Crucial MX100 2.5" 7.00 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk and install Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux plus my favorite software products on it. Then, I can install my Crucial M550 2.5" 7.00 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB solid state disk and unlock the disk since it has full-disk encryption enabled and restore my private user data to my MX100.

Crucial MX100: <snip>
Crucial M550: <snip>

I would lose more than half the storage capacity, but the performance would increase four to five times much faster than laptop hard disk drives.

I don't know if I'll do that or not. I'm still debating with myself about the pros and cons.

I did a lot of research and I took clues and pointers from System76's Oryx Pro notebook PC as guidance. I think that I chose a good notebook PC for my needs. I gave away my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC to my close friend Robert W. I wanted a new notebook PC that was durable, fairly thin, and fairly light weight that would make it easier for travel. I also wanted to make sure it will last me at least three years.

I should get my Oppo Digital HA-2 on Monday. I cancelled my Logitech G100S and Seagate Samsung SpinPoint M9T from Amazon. I should get my Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] between December 15th - 18th, 2015. I plan to re-read the owner's manual a few more times to get familiar with the product. I have to plug it in and hit the F2 button to get into the BIOS or UEFI to make my changes, save them, and restart the notebook PC. I have to hit the F7 button to trigger the built-in boot loader to select my PNY thumb drive so I can install Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux onto my Crucial MX100 SSD. I need to use Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux because the Linux kernel 4.2.x 64 bit has the device drivers and firmware for the Intel Skylake CPU and Intel 8260 M.2 WiFi and Bluetooth module. VMWare Workstation 12 Pro does not fully support Ubuntu 15.10 or Linux kernel 4.2.x 64 bit yet, so I might wait until a future update is available before I install it. I have a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x 64 bit, Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 bit, and Apple Macintosh OS X 10.11 64 bit guest virtual machines saved onto my Crucial M550 SSD along with my private user data.

Based upon my careful and exhaustive research, everything should just work right out of the box. I'm going to re-use my Crucial SSDs because they are paid products, they just work, they are much faster, and they are extremely durable and reliable. Both feature power loss protection and RAIN technologies among other key features.

[soul.fx]

So these are all gifts to yourself? :) I'm planning on buying a new machine this year, more of a gaming pc than anything else. I'm not too knowledgable about hardware, so I guess gotta look up what all these specs mean.

[Welly Wu]

I received safe delivery of my Oppo Digital HA-2 and I read the instruction manual. I plugged it in and it just works. I used the sound applet to switch to the Oppo Digital HA-2 and I watched a Google YouTube video and the audio played fine. Then, I launched JRiver Media Center 21 64 bit for GNU/Linux and I selected the Oppo Digital HA-2 and I am playing classical which is a DSD-64 music album. The built in headphone amplifier is extremely powerful and I set it to low gain using my Shure SE-846 CL and the listening volume is at a comfortably safe level of one out of ten. It's fairly easy and simple to learn how to use. It just works with Ubuntu 14.04.3 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux. It should just work with Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit based upon my careful research into this product model. The packaging is slick. It belies the premium status of this product. The fit and finish are superb. It looks like an Apple iPhone 6 with custom black leather stitching.

The sound quality is not nearly as good as my Oppo Digital HA-1 and Sennheiser HD-800 with the CH 800 S four pin balanced headphone cable<snip>. The sound quality is competent. It works with both PCM and DSD audio sources. It's basically plug and play right off the bat. I don't love my Oppo Digital HA-2, but I think it is a good product at a fair price. I plan to keep it.

Yes, these are gifts to myself. Now, I must wait patiently until my Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] notebook PC arrives safely to my apartment. I plan to swap out the Hitachi Travelstar 7K1000 HDD with my Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and install my Crucial M550 1 TB SSD in the second drive bay. Hopefully, Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux will install correctly the first time on my MX100 SSD. I shall see.

[coldraven]

Dear Welly, I am deeply envious of your new laptop unfortunately I cannot afford one like that at the moment. I am a lot older than you and I would like to pass on in the nicest possible way something learned through experience. Do not think that material possessions make you a better person. I have had some extremely rich clients, they are generally clueless about good taste. They have to employ someone to tell them what tasteful things to buy. This includes wallpaper!
So don't get trapped in the, "I've got the most/best possessions" game. (a.k.a the American dream)
Be yourself and be happy.
Peace
:)

[QDR06VV9]

@Welly Wu is the first that you have used JRiver Media Center?
I use it as my default player
http://i.imgur.com/smyyNgK.png
I would be interested in your feedback.
Regards

[poorguy]

Dear Welly, I am deeply envious of your new laptop unfortunately I cannot afford one like that at the moment. I am a lot older than you and I would like to pass on in the nicest possible way something learned through experience. Do not think that material possessions make you a better person. I have had some extremely rich clients, they are generally clueless about good taste. They have to employ someone to tell them what tasteful things to buy. This includes wallpaper!
So don't get trapped in the, "I've got the most/best possessions" game. (a.k.a the American dream)
Be yourself and be happy.
Peace
:)

A very wise man you are and i totally agree.

[mystics]

I'm a little surprised. When I used to look at gaming laptops, they were always in the $2000+ range. Seeing that this (along with a lot of the Alienware ones) are now in $1000-1300 range is a little shocking.

Granted, I always go for desktops when gaming. Still, this is a nice looking computer for some decent gaming when travelling.

[Welly Wu]

<snip>

I already paid for my Crucial MX100 and M550 SSDs so I figured that I would cancel my order for the Seagate Samsung SpinPoint M9T and Logitech G100S mouse from Amazon to save some money.

<snip>

I like that it has an all aluminium design which will make this my first notebook PC that isn't made of plastic. I also like that it is 0.98" thin and it weighs 5.50 pounds. I think that it will look good and perform well.

https://steamcommunity.com/id/wellywu

This is my Steam ID profile. You can take a look for yourself to see it if you wish. I have a lot of Steam PC games and a majority are available for SteamOS + GNU/Linux. My favorite SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games are Sid Meier's Civilization V: Complete Edition, Beyond Earth: Rising Tide, Cities Skylines After Dark, Cities in Motion, Cities in Motion 2, Banished, and I plan to purchase Divinity: Original Sin Collector's Edition during the upcoming holiday sale. I think that the nVidia Geforce GTX 970M with 3.0 GB GDDR5 Video RAM should be sufficient to play most of these SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games at high and very high graphics settings and other titles can be played at ultra graphics settings for less demanding PC games.

I verified that my Oppo Digital HA-2 just works with my ASUS K50IJ notebook PC. I also verified that my CEntrance HiFi-M8 LX XL4 just works as well on my notebook PC too.

I do use JRiver Media Center 21 64 bit for GNU/Linux and I like it quite a bit. I purchased a master license at a discounted price because I am a returning customer from their previous version. I think that the user interface is beautiful and functional. It is an advanced program with tons of configuration settings so it pays to read the user's manual carefully to learn how to use this software product. I plan to pay for discounted upgrades every year because I think that it is fantastic and well worth my money. I use it almost daily. I own roughly 1.15 TB of music right now. My media library keeps growing every week. JRiver is amazing. It makes playing high resolution PCM and DSD music albums a breeze. I think that version 21 is a little rough around the edges compared to the Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh OS X versions, but version 22 should get it closer in terms of features parity next year. As it stands, version 21 is highly usable for GNU/Linux users and I am glad that JRiver decided to port it over to our platform. It is one of the best media applications commercially available for GNU/Linux right now.

[mikodo]

Hello, Welly Wu!

I was thinking of how I was missing seeing your postings here just, yesterday. I was fearful we had lost you. I am pleased to see you, as they say. I'm up to v53 of PIA, and I am still enjoying not having others living in close proximity seeing my online activities.

[QDR06VV9]

I am glad that JRiver decided to port it over to our platform. It is one of the best media applications commercially available for GNU/Linux right now.


Thanks for the reply and I also agree with that..
Kind Regards

[Welly Wu]

I don't know if this is going to work, but my Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD already has Ubuntu 14.04.3 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux and my favorite software products, packages, libraries, and dependencies installed on it. I was thinking about installing it and my Crucial M550 1 TB SSD into my Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] notebook PC and reconfiguring the BIOS and trying to boot off the Crucial MX100 SSD. I'm not sure if it will work, but I will try it. If it does work, then I can update and change the installed software to freshen it up and then install Linux kernel 4.2.x 64 bit so that it will offer better compatibility with Intel Skylake and 8260 WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 M.2 module. I am hoping that this will work because it means less work for me to install Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit from scratch bare metal on my new notebook PC. I will give it a shot to see what happens.

Linux kernel 4.2.x 64 bit is absolutely required for the Intel 8260 WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 M.2 module. I think it is strongly recommended for Intel Skylake CPUs as well. When February 2016 comes around, I plan to update to Ubuntu 14.04.4 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux and the Wily Linux kernel 4.2.x 64 bit on both my desktop and notebook PCs.

I am hoping that the Linux EXT4 file system and encrypted partitions will be okay and there will not be data corruption issues. My research tells me those issues pop up in RAID arrays for Linux kernel 4.2.0 64 bit and older versions in the 4.x mainline kernel versions for RAID arrays.

I'm pretty excited about my new notebook PC. It is a premium notebook PC designed for mobile and portable performance. I think that I might run into an issue with VMWare Workstation 12 Pro 64 bit for GNU/Linux and Linux kernel 4.2.x 64 bit, but I might wait until VMWare releases an update to support Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit in due time to fix this issue.

Codeweavers CrossOver 15 64 bit is going to be released tomorrow. I plan to upgrade and check out the new features. It's early days for CrossOver 15 so all of the cool new features will require more coding and work to get them up to speed. I am looking forward to testing it tomorrow. Hopefully, I can download, install, and play Microsoft DirectX 9, 10, and 11 32 bit PC games from a variety of PC gaming platforms. I shall see about that next year.

Now, I have a reason to travel with my new notebook PC. I plan to meet new people in my community and find others with similar interests to make new friends. I met a lot of my current friends at different locations based upon mutual interests when we got to talking about PCs and gaming and music. I'd like to show off my new notebook PC to my existing friends and have them hang out with me at their apartments or the local coffee shop or public library so that we can do some PC gaming on the go. Unfortunately, they have much older notebook PCs with far fewer PC game libraries compared to me so finding a compatible PC game for us to play together will be challenging.

This is the near perfect notebook PC for my needs. I just hope that the hours of careful research will pay off and it will just work with Ubuntu. It should. I'm looking forward to mobile and portable PC gaming on the go again. I want to travel to different local communities to visit old friends of mine that I have not seen in a long period of time. I'd like to challenge them to some old PC games that we used to play years ago again. I'd also like to keep in touch with them on a weekly basis and stay in contact with them through Facebook or Steam when we are not hanging out together.

The reason why I decided to stick with my Crucial SSDs are due to many factors including durability, speed, performance, and reliability. If you can afford a new notebook PC and a SSD inside of it, then I strongly recommend that you make the purchase to get them together. Notebook PCs are subject to wear, tear, shock, abuse, loss, and theft along with damage while travelling throughout this world. SSDs give notebook PC owners the added durability and reliability that HDDs and SSHDs can't match. SSDs are a good choice for prolonged battery life, but not by much more. If you want a near silent notebook PC, then SSDs are the way to go.

[Welly Wu]

My Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] notebook PC should ship from California later today. I should get it on Friday. It comes with a robust set of security features including UEFI, Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, and Intel's 6th generation Skylake Software Guard Extensions (SGX). It also has a fingerprint reader. I plan to turn on all of these features and enable them before I install Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux. I am hoping that it will just work. I'm pretty excited about getting it later this week. It's going to take me roughly five hours to install the hardware and software to test everything in order to validate it myself. I realize that this is a pretty high end gaming notebook PC with a strong set of security features. It meets my needs nearly perfectly. I think that I will enjoy using it daily. My package shipped earlier today. It should be delivered to my apartment this Thursday via UPS. It's coming one day earlier than I anticipated. I'm pretty excited. I'll be busy getting it up to my own high standards of usability and then I plan to travel this Friday with it and some accessories. edit: it's coming tomorrow afternoon!

[Welly Wu]

I got my Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] gaming notebook PC and I successfully installed Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux along with my favorite software products, packages, libraries, and dependencies. I enabled full-disk encryption on my notebook PC and the plymouth screen to enter my master password to unlock it won't register my keyboard strokes. So, I have to press and hold CTRL + ALT + DEL to restart the notebook PC until I see a blank purple screen and then I can type in my master password to unlock my notebook PC and boot Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux along with logging into my Ubuntu Administrator account. I know that this is a known problem with full-disk encryption and the plymouth screen starting back with Ubuntu 14.10 64 bit GNU/Linux until this current version, but I created a thread in the general help forum about it looking for solutions. I also successfully installed the fingerprint GUI PPA and packages, but I am unable to register all ten of my fingers. The first time that I swipe my finger, it registers, but subsequent swipes to verify each finger fail. It does not register each swipe of each finger properly. I created another thread in the general help forum about this technical issue and I hope someone else can help me to solve these two technical issues. Otherwise, it is an old school traditional gaming notebook PC and it just works. I am pleased with this product, but I need more time to research workarounds or solutions to these two outstanding technical issues and then I will be happy and satisfied with this product overall.

[flocculant]

These aren't gifts - they are more things you have bought for yourself.

[Welly Wu]

Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux is a bit buggy. The Plymouth busy box screen for full-disk encryption does not allow the keyboard to work. I found a workaround which is to reboot and load GRUB2 and enter my master password in the blank purple screen to boot up Ubuntu and it works reliably. The other problem is that the fingerprint GUI can't find my built-in fingerprint reader so I can't use it. I blame both Ubuntu 15.10 and the fingerprint GUI software package. I have been researching workarounds and solutions to these problems for a few days now with little luck.

Otherwise, my Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] is solid. The PC hardware components just work reliably. I think that I'm going to keep it. I also think that I will wait for Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux to be released after April 21st, 2016 to see if these technical issues are resolved. Cutting edge PC hardware components especially high end notebook PCs usually give Ubuntu hiccups until a new Ubuntu 64 bit LTS version is released to iron out the glitches and kinks in the software code.

I'm pretty pleased with this product. I'm not happy with Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux, but I can't downgrade to Ubuntu 14.04.3 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux on my notebook PC because it is too old. I thought about it, but I won't reinstall the older Ubuntu version and upgrade the Linux kernel separately. It's too risky. Most of the stuff works so I ain't messing around chasing my own tail like a dog.

[mystics]

These aren't gifts - they are more things you have bought for yourself.

It's always possible to give yourself a gift (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdi1hJui8LM).

[Welly Wu]

I have used my new Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] notebook PC for a couple of days and I have some pretty solid opinions. I like it quite a bit. The all aluminum alloy design is durable and it has a premium quality to it, but my fingerprints get all over it and I need to use a microfiber cloth to wipe it down frequently. It is a 15.6" 1920 X 1080P TN screen and the viewing angles are pretty good though there is some color shifting at extreme angles. It is very bright with vivid colors and sharp text especially when using RGB with full hinting for fonts in Ubuntu. It is 0.98" thick and it weighs 5.50 pounds with the included four cell 60 Whr lithium polymer battery which is pretty light for daily travels. The keyboard is comfortable and accurate with no painful bottoming out effect. It exhibits a little flex in the center when I type too hard, but it is very minor. The touchpad is accurate, smooth, and I like the discrete left and right mouse buttons which have a solid click. The integrated fingerprint reader is not recognized by Ubuntu or the fingerprint GUI which is a bummer. The Intel 6th generation Skylake Core i7-6700HQ CPU is very powerful and fast and it features Software Guard Extensions (SGX). I can use CSM legacy BIOS, but I chose to use UEFI with Secure Boot. It comes with a trusted platform module 2.0 chip. In short, there are robust hardware security features built in. The nVidia Geforce GTX 970m with 3.0 GB GDDR5 VRAM is very powerful. I can play almost all of my SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games at ultra graphics settings with MSAA 16X at 30.00 frames per second or much higher. I usually get between 50 - 60 frames per second on most titles. I like that there are four Super Speed USB 3.0 ports which is nice. It comes with two mini DisplayPort 1.2 and one HDMI 2.0 along with a 3G/4G SIM card slot and SD card slot. It also comes with a headphone amplifier and powered headphone port, microphone port, and line out port. It supports one M.2 PCI-e X4 NVMe up to 512.00 GB or two M.2 SATA-III 512.00 GB solid state drives. It supports either two 2.5" 7.00 mm SATA-III HDD/SSDs or one 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-III HDD/SSD. It comes with a 2.0 MP webcam up to 1080P. It has a built in microphone port. It has Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11 dual band AC WiFi with Bluetooth 4.0.

It is a true joy to use daily. Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit is a little bit buggy, but I hope that Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit LTS will fix the outstanding bugs on April 21st, 2016. This notebook PC is wickedly fast! I would not call it a desktop replacement, but I can do pretty much the same computing tasks on my ZaReason Zeto on my Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] notebook PC. This is the fastest and the most powerful notebook PC that I have purchased and owned yet. It is a little pricey, but I can well afford it.

[markodd]

What is this thread about? This has nothing to do with christmas gift in my opinion... You should create a blog if you want to review things and tell everyone what you buy/bought. Or maybe write a diary. There are better places for this kind of posts.

[MartyBuntu]

Well, to be fair, he does do something of a "hardware Linux compatibility review" in his posts...There's some value in that, I think you'd agree.

[betachild2]

Mine is Nexus 6P, one of the greatest phones in this year

[cornelis3]

Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux is a bit buggy. The Plymouth busybox screen for full-disk encryption does not allow the keyboard to work. I found a workaround which is to reboot and load GRUB2 and enter my master password in the blank purple screen to boot up Ubuntu and it works reliably.

Hi Welly,

I'm on the edge of my seat reading your reviews as I am thinking of buying the Sager NP8657-S-Clevo P650RE3 and installing Ubuntu on it. For a newcomer to Ubuntu, would you recommend that I do this? How long and hard was installing Ubuntu for you or was it just standard? I mean, since System76 ships this model with Ubuntu 15.10 that seems to indicate that Ubuntu 15 should definitely be fully compatible with the hardware (well, most of it)

[Welly Wu]

There are some things that you need to know about the Clevo P650. There are several models available of which some come with a 15.6" FHD IPS screen with nVidia G-SYNC technology and those higher end models allow you to get up to a nVidia Geforce GTX 980M with up to 8.0 GB GDDR5 VRAM mobile GPU. I got the more basic configuration without either technologies.

The built-in fingerprint reader does not work with the fingerprint-gui PPA or software package.

The full-disk encryption partially works in that it will indeed encrypt your laptop, but the Plymouth busy box screen does not accept most keyboard inputs. If you want to avoid this issue, then do not enable full-disk encryption during the Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux installation of the desktop operating system on this laptop. You can encrypt your home folder for extra privacy of your private user files, but if you subscribe to Private Internet Access VPN and choose to use their beta GNU/Linux desktop client, then it won't connect to their VPN servers worldwide. However, you can use the traditional Network Manager app indicator to add the network-manager-openvpn and network-manager-openvpn-gnome software packages and then add each PIA VPN server with your ID and password manually in order to connect using Blowfish 128 bits encryption and SHA-1 hash algorithm. This is secure.

Otherwise, it's pretty much a few software issues that prevent it from being a totally smooth user experience. Hopefully, Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux will fix this issue.

You'll need to visit the Sager Notebook USA website to find the Sager NP8657 and you'll need to download and extract the owner's manual. Here, you'll learn that booting up and pressing the F2 button gets you into the BIOS so that you can configure it. I would recommend to turn on AHCI, Intel Rapid Start Technology, switch from MSHYBRID to Discrete GPU mode, enable UEFI, enable Secure Boot, and Enable TPM 2.0. Save your changes and restart. Press the F7 button to trigger the built-in boot manager and then insert a USB thumb drive with Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux installer and then proceed to boot up a live Ubuntu desktop and install it.

It can accept either two M.2 500 GB SATA-III 6 GB/s SSDs or one M.2 PCI-e x4 NVME 512 GB SSD. It can accept two 2.5" 7.00 mm HDD/SSD or one 2.5" 9.5mm HDD. It can accept up to 64.00 GB of DDR4 206 pin SO-DIMM RAM.

I consider myself a subject matter expert on the Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3]. Feel free to contact me here or through a private message. We can exchange e-mail addresses and communicate outside of Ubuntu Forums just in case you need my expertise help and technical support for free of charge.

My recommendation is to purchase whichever specific model that you can afford and then install Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux bare metal without using full-disk encryption, but do encrypt your home folder if you don't plan to purchase a subscription to Private Internet Access VPN in the near future. I need as much security as possible so that is why I configured mine for maximum hardware and software security configuration settings.

You will need to upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux on April 21st, 2016 or later. It contains an important fix for the GRUB2 bootloader so that UEFI and especially Secure Boot are enforced with a signed bootloader and signed Linux kernel. Right now, Canonical provides a shim with a signed bootloader, but the Linux kernel is not signed which breaks the chain of trust cycle for Secure Boot. This is going to be fixed in Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux. Don't let someone whom you don't know get physical access to your Sager laptop without your permission because he or she can install a malicious bootloader or unsigned Linux kernel prior to booting up your Ubuntu desktop operating system and bork your security from the get go.

I used to work for US National Security Agency. I was a system administrator, security engineer, linguist, help desk and support technician, and cryptologist. So, I am a subject matter expert on information assurance.

This is an excellent laptop that is fairly thin, fairly light, and pretty powerful with fairly robust hardware security features built in. The 15.6" FHD TN screen that comes with the basic model is pretty good, but the IPS with nVidia G-SYNC model is much better for color reproduction accuracy and especially SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC gaming. It also has wider and taller viewing angles.

By the way, I recently purchased a Hisense 40H4C 40" Roku HDTV, Verizon FiOS Quantum Internet 150/150 MB/s symmetrical, Verizon FiOS Ultimate TV package, Verizon FiOS Quantum TV DVR, KabelDirekt 25' HDMI 2.0 cable, and AOC G2460PG 24" FHD 1 ms 144 hZ nVidia 3D Vision & G-SYNC gaming monitor recently from Amazon. These new purchases will be paid in full next month. Now, I have a high end gaming desktop and laptop. I also paid or subscribe to CrashPlan+ Family, Netflix, Hulu without advertisements & Showtime, Amazon Prime & Kindle Unlimited, HBO NOW, Spotify Premium, Tidal HiFi, Microsoft Office 365 Home, Skype Unlimited World & Number, Magzter GOLD, and The New York Times Digital & Times Insider, JRiver Media Center, Codeweavers CrossOver for both Mac & Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 bit, VMWare Workstation 12 Pro, and Apple Macintosh OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Everything is compatible with my Hisense HDTV and Ubuntu 14.04.x 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux on my desktop and Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux on my laptop.

This is my Steam Community ID profile: https://steamcommunity.com/id/wellywu

Thanks for your interest.

[cornelis3]

Wow! Thank you so much for your in-depth response I highly appreciate you sharing your expertise. I am a novice user so am trying not to make bad mistakes. If you have the time, could you please continue to help me and answer my following questions? Many thanks.

My lab is undertaking a novel approach to studying the nocebo effect by immersing patients in a simple virtual environment using an Occulus rift and leap motion device. For this I shall of course require Unity3D and the GTX 970 graphics card.
As far as I can tell, the Sager NP8657-S-Clevo P650RE3 should meet all the minimum requirements for VR development:



Windows 7 SP1 or newer

Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater (i7 desired)
8GB+ RAM minimum (DDR3 desired)
Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output and/or DVI-D. Warning: The Rift will not work with VGA
2x USB 3.0 ports (in addition to USB for use with a mouse)

NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater

GPU: Graphics card with DX9 (shader model 2.0) capabilities. Anything made since 2004 should work.


Please let me know whether you know if the Sager NP8657-S-Clevo P650RE3 is indeed suitable for (light, not very intensive) VR development using the occulus rift and leap motion. I remember reading somewhere though that some laptops that appear to have the specs for the rift still fail to work so am scared my purchase will be in vain. It seems like there are compatibility issues if the HDMI output isn't directly powered by the GPU for instance.

The following is the configuration I picked based on my budget. Please let me know what you think. Please note that if Unity3D does not work well on Ubuntu I will dual boot as I still need ubuntu for all my other development tasks

Sager NP8657-S - Clevo P650RE3 Special (http://www.reflexnotebook.ca/sager-np8657-s.html)Sager NP8657SPECIAL Base 15.6" Full HD Matte Finished Surface (1920 x 1080) Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M GPU with 3GB GDDR5 Video Memory6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Processor ( 6MB Smart Cache, 2.60GHz) No Operating System License (Install Ubuntu instead, but I will also dual boot windows 10 or 7 if need be)16GB Dual Channel DDR4 SDRAM at 2133MHz - 2 X 8GB 250GB Samsung 850 EVO M.2 SSD - as an OS Drive (Primary Drive C) TB 7200rpm SATA2 Hard Drive Non-RAID Storage Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 M.2 AC Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Module Fingerprint Reader

By the way, I recently purchased a Hisense 40H4C 40" Roku HDTV, Verizon FiOS Quantum Internet 150/150 MB/s symmetrical, Verizon FiOS Ultimate TV package, Verizon FiOS Quantum TV DVR, KabelDirekt 25' HDMI 2.0 cable, and AOC G2460PG 24" FHD 1 ms 144 hZ nVidia 3D Vision & G-SYNC gaming monitor recently from Amazon. These new purchases will be paid in full next month. Now, I have a high end gaming desktop and laptop. I also paid or subscribe to CrashPlan+ Family, Netflix, Hulu without advertisements & Showtime, Amazon Prime & Kindle Unlimited, HBO NOW, Spotify Premium, Tidal HiFi, Microsoft Office 365 Home, Skype Unlimited World & Number, Magzter GOLD, and The New York Times Digital & Times Insider, JRiver Media Center, Codeweavers CrossOver for both Mac & Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 bit, VMWare Workstation 12 Pro, and Apple Macintosh OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Everything is compatible with my Hisense HDTV and Ubuntu 14.04.x 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux on my desktop and Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux on my laptop.




That sounds amazing. I am definately excited to have this laptop as my main workstation.

I see you like Civilization 5 as much as I do. I recommend the following guide to the civs. I played civilization 5 for years and then after reading the guide on the more nuanced civs was amazed by how much I was missing and suddenly the game became very fun and novel again: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Zigzagzigal/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=8930 . Hope you enjoy reading it if you've never read it before! :popcorn:

[Welly Wu]

Don't get the Sager NP8657 series laptops.

The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive will require a desktop nVidia Geforce GTX 970 with 4.00 GB of GDDR5 VRAM GPU. The mobile nVidia Geforce GT/GTX GPUs are not powerful enough to run Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. It won't work.

You will need to spend a lot of more money to get a new Sager NP9870-S laptop:

1. http://www.sagernotebook.com/Notebook-NP9870-S.html

This has the nVidia Geforce GTX 980 with 8.00 GB GDDR5 VRAM GPU and it is very similar to the desktop GPU. System76 sells it as their Bonobo WS, but don't get it from them because they overcharge for theirs. Get it from XoticPC because you can customize it and you can choose not to purchase Microsoft Windows 10 and leave it without a desktop operating system. I would strongly recommend that you get the latest Intel 6th generation Core i7-6700K desktop CPU with this Sager NP9870-S laptop and one M.2 PCI-e x4 NVMe 256.00 - 512.00 GB solid state disk which are going to raise the price significantly, but it would result in a better Oculus Rift experience in the end.

[Welly Wu]

I think it would be far less expensive and more cost effective if you were to build your own desktop PC rather than purchasing a laptop PC if you plan to use Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Myself, I can afford a new HTC Vive and the Sager NP9870-S laptop later this year if I truly want both of them, but I am more interested in the HTC Vive after I have read some professional reviews of this new product from reputable PC and gamer magazines.

By the way, I just bought two 25' Category 6 Gigabit Ethernet cables, one 6' Super Speed USB 3.0 Type A to B cable, and one Steam Link from Amazon using my Prime membership perks. They should be delivered to my apartment this weekend. This means that I can use my Steam Controller and Link along with the Gigabit Ethernet cable to play SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games on my Hisense 40H4C 40" Roku HDTV at FHD at 60 fps. That's pretty neat.

[Welly Wu]

The thing about the Oculus Rift is that they are not fully committed to GNU/Linux yet. They are targeting and prioritizing their work for Microsoft Windows 10 64 bit. I would recommend that you purchase a desktop PC with Windows 10 Home 64 bit to guarantee hardware and software compatibility. I don't usually recommend dual boot configurations because if one of the desktop operating systems has a problem, then you might wind up with a non-working PC especially as you have stated that you are a novice. It's easier and simpler to stick with one desktop operating system on one PC. Get a desktop rather than a laptop because you can save a couple of hundreds of dollars and get more powerful PC hardware components as a result. It's also easier and less expensive to upgrade individual PC hardware components down the road with a desktop PC. One thing that you should keep in mind is that for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive or any type of Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality headset, you'll want to purchase and use nVidia G-SYNC technology for the best user experience. This is what I have recently done with my AOC G2460PG gaming monitor for my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system. Now, I just have to wait for HTC Vive to release their product next month and read the professional reviews later this year to give it my consideration for purchase or not. I will also need to purchase and install SteamVR PC games that are based off of SteamOS + GNU/Linux platform. It gets very expensive, but I can afford these products later this year.

I have heard tentative news that Oculus plans to support GNU/Linux in the future, but this is not their primary focus yet. I would also recommend that you stick with a FHD screen with a nVidia Geforce GTX 970 with 4.00 GB GDDR5 VRAM GPU which will require a desktop PC system.

Don't buy a PC that is designed for GNU/Linux. Get a Windows 10 desktop PC for usage with your lab. As a novice, you'll get overwhelmed with PC hardware and software compatibility and support issues trying to get a Sager laptop and Oculus Rift together along with GNU/Linux. This is for enthusiasts and advanced users like myself that have very deep pockets with years of experience and plenty of IT skill sets.

[Geoffrey_Arndt]

Sounds like you enjoy the challenge of researching, setting up, and installing your systems almost as much as daily usage . . . . not afraid of a bit of a challenge. I've done similar on a much smaller scale (per my needs). But over the past couple years, I've enjoyed and benefited from the helping hand provided by System76. If I had also gone the Zareason route, I'm confident the results would also be good.

What I like was knowing the system was "pre-tested" for compatibility of all components and setup time was virtually nill . . . ALSO, . . . I think the advantage of buying direct from System76 (and perhaps others as well) is the presence of custom drivers, so the hardware works as it should . . no glitches or tweaks required at all in my situation. Lifetime free OS support is another plus in my view. Maybe that ups the price by a couple hundred but worth it in the long run.

[Welly Wu]

It is well worth it to pay a premium for a certified GNU/Linux desktop or laptop PC. I still love and enjoy using my 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system and it seems that I will continue investing more time, money, and research into building it up for the next few years before I buy a new System76 or ZaReason desktop PC that will be much more expensive and powerful at that time. The best thing is the free support for the free Ubuntu desktop operating system and the guaranteed future compatibility is icing on the cake.

By continuing to invest more time and money into the GNU/Linux ecosystem, I send a signal to hardware and software companies to give our communities more consideration in terms of future products and services that are designed and sold to include us as end users. That is the most important thing for me as a committed Ubuntu GNU/Linux user over the long run. I vote with my big wallet every time I buy something that supports our ecosystem.

The HTC Vive or SteamVR product looks to be very interesting to me. Rumors are circulating that it will start at $1,499.99 USD and roughly a dozen or less SteamVR PC game titles will be released later this year. It's not cheap, but I can afford it later this year. Virtual reality is going to either be a big success or a big failure over the next few years. If you think that 4K UHD PC gaming is demanding, then virtual reality PC gaming is tougher on your desktop PC system. To do it well and get that total immersion effect, you need to pay top dollar for premium and top of the line PC hardware components and software to get it to work beautifully. I have used Microsoft hardware and software products, services, and subscriptions for a few decades and I have many years of experience, advanced degrees, and IT certifications for GNU/Linux as well. I also have the available funds. This seems to be the big future bet among the PC gaming communities to support augmented or virtual reality over the next few years and I think I want in on the game (pun intended) early on.

If the PC and gaming reviews are decent, then I will invest and I will post a new thread here on Ubuntu Forums with pictures of my current desktop, laptop, and home entertainment systems with long and detailed posts about SteamVR in the future. That remains to be seen as Valve Corporation usually doesn't get it just right the first time with new hardware products. SteamVR has huge potential in the future, but it's going to take a few wealthy and technically skilled customers like myself to fund future research and development into this nascent technology and ecosystem in the future.

[Welly Wu]

I am going to be taking a very long break from communicating and participating in PC, HiFi, and gaming communities. This means that I will only respond to any threads or discussions that others have replied to in the future. I want to remain happy, content, and at peace at home or while traveling with family, relatives, and friends.

[mikodo]

Be well, Welly Wu!

[Welly Wu]

I have a couple of closing thoughts to share with this community.

As of the time of this writing, only Oculus and HTC have announced virtual reality headsets for Windows and GNU/Linux PCs yet. Microsoft Corporation is going their own route with augmented reality with their Holo Lens for Windows 10. ASUS has announced that they plan to support augmented reality in the future, but no firm release schedule or more information from this company has been made public yet. It is January 29th, 2016 today. It's very very early days for both augmented and virtual reality. Most of the premium content are not available yet. Few software vendors have plans to support either technologies yet. This is bleeding edge first generation hardware coming later this year to be followed by software toward the second half of this year with more titles to follow next year. There have been wild predictions and speculation about the augmented and virtual reality market that are tantamount to wild guesses. Trying to release hardware products and get it right technically speaking on the first batch of devices is inevitably going to lead to hardware and software technical issues. It's also going to be pretty pricey if not expensive to buy these products with few companies willing to put their own skins into this ecosystem. Competition among hardware and software companies to outmaneuver one another is very low right now. PC hardware components are going to be pretty expensive in order to meet the minimum requirements at the beginning. Put simply, a lot of problems can arise and will need to be fixed for this nascent niche market.

In order to get Valve Corporation and HTC to release their HTC Vive or SteamVR product for Debian or Ubuntu GNU/Linux and for PC game vendors to support it, it's going to be very expensive for a paltry selection of mostly crap games later this year. The only SteamOS + GNU/Linux SteamVR PC game that is interesting is Elite: Dangerous towards the end of this year if it even gets ported over for Linux at all. All of the other SteamVR PC games are garbage and childish this year. If the HTC Vive or SteamVR product is released on February 29th, 2016, then the rumored price tag will be quite expensive at roughly $1,499.99 USD with almost no SteamVR PC games worth playing for several long months this year.

Finally, this is uncharted waters for the PC gaming community worldwide. How comfortable are you with lugging around a roughly 10.50 pound laptop plus a 2.5 - 3.0 pound power adapter along with an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive or SteamVR along with your PC accessories like a mouse and keyboard not to mention everything else you usually carry with you when you travel on the road in a backpack this year? You'll need a minimum of four Super Speed USB 3.0 ports for everything if not a few more. Neither the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive or SteamVR support the recently released Super Speed USB 3.1 Type C standard yet. None of the virtual reality headsets have internal rechargeable batteries or wireless technologies for truly mobile and portable applications yet. Do you want to be a big bullseye for thieves carrying all of this stuff among the general public? How much are you able to afford all of this stuff this year for such little content?

Such is the current and future state of both augmented reality and virtual reality technologies in 2016. I am glad that I took a nap in bed to think about these things rationally based on what I currently know from multiple reputable and trusted sources so far.

[cornelis3]

This is very true after much thought and reading I will agree with you. Before you go I was hoping I can ask another question about the Clevo P650 and perhaps more generally about Sager laptops.

How easy are they to upgrade the parts? After reading your arguments I have decided it is better for me to go with a cheaper Sager laptop that does not have VR capability and leave VR to a desktop. However, I want to know whether it is feasible to later upgrade the Clevo P650 such that it has most of the specs of a NP9758? i.e. Can I upgrade the graphics card easily enough? See below for why I want to do this

My main concerns regarding my specified upgrade path:
1) Is the G-SYNC Tech for the monitor required to have a working NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 980M GPU with 8GB GDDR5? I noticed I cannot buy Sager models with a NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 980M GPU with 8GB GDDR5 without a G-SYNC monitor. They all have G-SYNC. This is a concern as I don't believe replacing a laptop monitor is easy.
2) I realize that the NP9758 is bigger with more space. Therefore it may be a concern that after I upgrade a NP8657 or NP5652's parts that the parts are now quite close to each other and overheating ensues. Is this a concern?


Do you want to be a big bullseye for thieves carrying all of this stuff among the general public? How much are you able to afford all of this stuff this year for such little content?


This is a very valid point. After thinking I plan on having a main desktop at home, but I also want to be able to have portable VR eventually after there is more content. Is it really going to be better to just buy a new Sager laptop at that point? I'd rather upgrade the laptop I have if it is still in good working condition.

[Welly Wu]

The Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] can only accept upgrades for the DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM and internal storage. You can not replace or upgrade either the Intel CPU or nVidia Geforce GTX GPU to make it similar to the more expensive Sager NP9870-S. You'll need to purchase the Sager NP9870-S in order to get the desktop version of the Intel CPU and nVidia Geforce GTX 980 GPU. The Sager NP9870-S has a limited upgrade path for the desktop CPU and GPU in that they are socketed which means that you can send it back to Sager or XoticPC in the future and pay for upgrades to the latest Intel CPU and nVidia Geforce GTX GPU, but you can not purchase and replace or upgrade those individual PC components yourself at home.

The nVidia G-SYNC monitors are the models that permit the nVidia Geforce GTX 980M or desktop 980 GPUs. They are limited to up to 75.00 hZ although you could find a way to overclock it up to 100.00 hZ, but this may prove to be more challenging if you plan to install and use Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux as I think that the overclocking feature is exclusive to Microsoft Windows 10 Home or Pro 64 bit. You will wind up paying more for the nVidia G-SYNC screen and the nVidia Geforce GTX 980M or desktop 980 GPU depending upon which Sager laptop product model you choose to purchase on top of that.

I do not recommend the nVidia Geforce GTX 980M in combination with the nVidia G-SYNC screen for the Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] simply because it will significantly raise the price and slightly increase the thickness and weight of this particular model. It is designed for very hardcore mobile PC gamers and if you are going to spend the extra money for these upgraded PC hardware components, then it would be more worthwhile for you to not purchase any Sager laptop and just buy a desktop PC.

A laptop should be a laptop. A desktop should be a desktop. Once you try to squeeze a desktop into a laptop, you'll pay a small fortune and it will be much bigger, heavier, and bulkier with far less battery life. The nVidia Geforce GTX 980M and especially the desktop 980 GPU will eat up battery life significantly faster because it is more power hungry. Remember, once you switch from MSHYBRID to Discrete GPU mode in the BIOS, you wind up losing the benefits of nVidia Optimus technology which has tepid and limited support in GNU/Linux using the Bumblebee PPA. This means that battery life is going to suck big time because you will turn off the Intel integrated GPU permanently. The old X.Org display server and client only permit one graphics card to be used at a time in GNU/Linux which Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux partially depends upon. It won't be for another few more years until Canonical, Ltd. gradually moves Ubuntu users to the Mir display server and those features and capabilities are not finalized and the software code is not complete so who knows if it will finally support AMD Crossfire and nVidia SLi for mobile laptops in the future or not for Ubuntu GNU/Linux?

I still strongly recommend that you purchase a Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 bit gaming laptop. It sounds like you don't know much about GNU/Linux yet and it would be much more challenging and frustrating for you to learn everything only to find out that you're still missing important information about how to fix small technical issues. In your case, saving money by going with Sager is not wise. I would strongly recommend that you purchase from System76 and pay more money so that they can offer you a longer warranty and free Ubuntu technical support for life. Without System76 being available to you as a novice and beginner, you'll waste a lot of time chasing your own tail in circles trying to figure out how to fix problems in Ubuntu GNU/Linux. Of course, you can avoid all of these problems by getting yourself a Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 bit gaming laptop.

The MSI GT72 Dominator Pro Dragon Edition gaming laptop is powerful enough to run Oculus Rift or HTC Vive SteamVR right now. It costs $3,099.99 USD or more depending upon the configuration SKU, but it will do the trick and it comes with Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 bit so you can use both Oculus Rift and HTV Vive when both products are available later this year. That's the benefit of using Microsoft Windows 10 64 bit. You have a much wider and deeper level of PC hardware and software compatibility unlike GNU/Linux. You won't have to do such intense and focused research every time you want to buy a new PC or accessory to plug into your PC to figure out if it is compatible with GNU/Linux and which specific distribution and version including software packages, libraries, and dependencies along with Linux kernel version or configuration settings. Going with Ubuntu GNU/Linux is much more technically involved and challenging and you'll spend at least 50% of your time fixing problems rather than using your PC. It's for hobbyists, hackers, tinkerers, software coders, security professionals, and now SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC gamers.

Don't be swayed by Ubuntu Forums to feel compelled to get a Sager laptop and install Ubuntu GNU/Linux. Feel free to choose the right gaming laptop that fits your needs and budget.

Remember, SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games perform worse than Microsoft Windows 10 and DirectX 11.2 or 12.1 PC games. You'll wait a few years for former AAA titles to be released on SteamOS + GNU/Linux and they won't hold a candle to pushing as many maximum FPS as Windows 10 PC games and you'll have a far fewer PC game catalog to choose from and you'll have to be very selective and picky when it comes to finding hardware and software that works with your Ubuntu 64 bit GNU/Linux desktop operating system. This is not a fully baked solution yet when directly compared to Microsoft Windows 10's ecosystem. PC gaming is and almost always will be the strong suit of Microsoft Windows and not Mac or GNU/Linux for the foreseeable future. If you're willing to accept its inherent limitations and do a heck of a lot of troubleshooting, then go with the Sager laptop and Ubuntu. Otherwise, I don't recommend it for novices or beginners at this price level. This is for experienced users and professionals like myself that know exactly what we are doing.

[Welly Wu]

1. http://www.laptopmag.com/best-laptops

2. http://www.laptopmag.com/gaming-laptops

3. https://system76.com/laptops

If you are set on getting a Clevo gaming laptop and installing and using Ubuntu 64 bit GNU/Linux, then get a System76 Oryx Pro. It's their least expensive, thinnest, and lightest Ubuntu gaming laptop and it comes with one small M.2 SSD for the operating system drive which you can upgrade down the road. System76 will configure it perfectly for you including their own System76 Driver which makes installing all of the proprietary device drivers and keeping them up to date as simple as clicking a few buttons, installing them automatically, and restarting your laptop to make the changes take into effect. They offer up to three year warranties for PC hardware components which is important if you plan to travel on the road with your gaming laptop. They also offer free Ubuntu help and technical support for life which is critical for you as a novice and beginner so you can send them a message on their website to file a support ticket or call them for help. Once you learn the ropes with using Ubuntu, then you can choose to save your money in future years by purchasing a Sager or XoticPC Clevo laptop that is nearly identical to whatever System76 sells in the future like I did.

Otherwise, I would recommend that you check out Laptop Magazine's list of the best laptops and especially gaming laptops. You'll have a much better and more fun PC gaming experience using Microsoft Windows 10 Home or Pro 64 bit and you won't have to worry too much about PC hardware and software compatibility for the most part along with being able to purchase, download, install, and play almost all of the latest and greatest AAA PC game titles including Steam, Origin, and U Play plus GoG. This enables you to play a much wider variety of PC games rather than being limited to Steam's catalog for Debian and Ubuntu. You'll be able to snag deeper discounts for PC game titles using Microsoft Windows 10 Home or Pro 64 bit too instead of being more limited with Ubuntu 64 bit GNU/Linux which will save you more money in the long run. Microsoft Windows 10 gaming laptops are less expensive than System76 or ZaReason gaming laptops for the hardware alone and you get more advanced features and capabilities of which some are unique too.

Basically, a GNU/Linux certified desktop or laptop means you pay much more and you get much less when directly compared to a Microsoft Windows 10 PC at this current time. It's for GNU/Linux enthusiasts and aficionados that know and accept this fact and reality and choose to buy one anyway. These guys and gals know what they are doing and what to expect realistically as a result.

As a novice and beginner, I strongly recommend that you buy a Microsoft Windows 10 gaming desktop first and foremost and think about getting a gaming laptop much later down the road. You'll pay the same amount of money for a desktop PC and you'll get far more powerful PC hardware components which will result in a much better PC gaming experience as a direct result. Hardcore PC gamers think that Intel, nVidia, and SSDs along with plenty of RAM not to mention Windows 10 desktop PCs are the future of PC gaming master race and anything else is inferior. Don't get an AMD APU or FX CPU. Don't get an AMD GPU. Don't get a mechanical hard disk drive. Don't get anything less than 16.00 GB of DDR4 RAM. Don't get anything less than Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 bit. Don't get anything other than a true gaming desktop PC system. Don't get any monitor that doesn't support 1 ms GtG, 120 hZ refresh rate, nVidia 3D Vision & G-SYNC, and ULMB. Don't get anything less than your favorite RGB illuminated mechanical keyboard. Don't get anything less than a gaming mouse or two along with a gaming mouse pad. Don't forget the gaming headset. Splurge for an external desktop digital to analogue convertor and headphone amplifier along with a pair of audiophile headphones. Don't forget to get a Logitech c920 web camera. Don't settle for anything less than Category 6 Gigabit Ethernet NIC or 802.11 dual band AC WiFi. Get a fiber optic digital ISP like Verizon FiOS Quantum if it's available in your area. Get a Microsoft XBOX One Elite wireless gaming controller too if you use Microsoft Windows 10 Home or Pro 64 bit. Don't get a Steam Link or Controller. Get a big desk or one that adjusts vertically so you can stand or sit in front of your desktop PC system. Make sure you put it in a room with a Class B door lock so no one can walk into your room and steal, vandalize, or damage your stuff.

[Welly Wu]

cornelis3:

Send me a private message here on Ubuntu Forums and let's exchange e-mail addresses and telephone numbers. I am willing to call you and talk with you to guide you toward the purchase of a future desktop or laptop PC and if you plan to save money by getting a Sager gaming laptop and installing Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux or a future version, then will will provide you with free help and technical support. You will need to create a free TeamViewer account at http://www.teamviewer.com. This is a free for personal usage software program for Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh OS X, and GNU/Linux (including Ubuntu) that permits remote access to your or my PCs over the Internet and it encrypts network traffic for extra privacy and security. It also includes free real time chatting, text messaging, video calls, voice calls, and meetings. Once we get to know each other better over the telephone, then if you give me permission to connect to your future desktop or gaming PC, then I can connect using TeamViewer and do the hard work of fixing hardware or software technical issues while explaining what I am doing to you over the telephone in real time for free of charge. My parents, aunt, and all of my friends have their own TeamViewer accounts and they let me be their help desk and support technician for free of charge all over New Jersey. TeamViewer can be used globally for free of charge for personal usage so long as you create a free account and you have broadband Internet access. It will create a unique TeamViewer ID number and a session password along with a personal password. The session password can be set to a strong 10 character randomly generated one that permits other people to connect to your PC for just that session and then it can be changed with the click of a button. The personal password is permanent and you must create it yourself. It is like a secret password that always permits remote access to your PC no matter what if you have a free TeamViewer account and the software is installed on your PC and you have Internet access.

Might as well take advantage of my free offer. You can also find me at Welly Wu on Facebook who lives in Nutley, NJ and send me a friend request and a short message to tell me that you're from Ubuntu Forums. Another friend of mine joined Facebook and is my friend from Ubuntu Forums as well. You'll learn more about me and you can have another way to communicate with me other than e-mail or telephone just in case you need to keep up to date with me or if you need urgent help and technical support.

[Welly Wu]

1. http://www.sagernotebook.com/Gaming-Notebook-NP8640-S.html

2. http://www.sagernotebook.com/Notebook-NP8640.html

3. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8640-s-clevo-p640re.html

4. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8640-clevo-p640re-1.html

The Sager NP8640 [Clevo P640-RE] is a more mobile and portable version of the Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] gaming laptop. It comes in two different configurations including one with a 500.00 GB Samsung EVO SSD and another one with a 500.00 GB laptop hard disk drive. It comes with a 14" FHD matte screen and Intel Core i7-6700HQ CPU along with nVidia Geforce GTX 970M with 3 GB GDDR5 VRAM GPU. It is less expensive than the Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3] gaming laptop and it is easier to carry around. It should be 99.9% compatible with Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux.

If you place your order with XoticPC like I did, then you can choose your Sager laptop without an operating system pre-installed which will save you quite a bit of money since I know that every penny counts for you. If you order it directly from Sager Notebook, then it will come with Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 bit which you will pay extra for so that is why their prices are slightly higher than XoticPC's prices. XoticPC also includes freebies and goodies that Sager Notebook does not provide like a free T-Shirt in your size depending upon how much you spend.

I am pointing this out to you cornelis3 because there are other options to consider with the Clevo or Sager branded laptops. I think that the Sager NP8640-S [Clevo P640-RE] is a good choice for you because it has that 500.00 GB Samsung EVO SSD and you can add up to 32.00 GB of DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM and it comes with the Intel 8260 802.11 dual band AC WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0. Don't ever get the Killer Gigabit Ethernet or WiFi with any laptop since that is designed for Microsoft Windows and it may not work with GNU/Linux without lots of troubleshooting.

Just wanted to point this out to you.

[Foxcow]

If you close the lid, does your laptop suspend? Do the panel brightness keys work? I just got the 8657-S and have issues with those two things.

[Welly Wu]

You can go into the Ubuntu power settings to change how the laptop behaves when the lid is closed. I set mine so that I disabled suspend mode on both battery and AC when the lid is closed. The screen brightness is controlled by the keyboard and function key and mine do work. The only thing that does not work is the built in fingerprint reader with GNU/Linux. I would strongly recommend upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux when it becomes available sometime on Sunday, April 23rd, 2016.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

Are you running 16.04 on that computer or in a VM?

[Welly Wu]

I'm not using 16.04 yet on either my desktop or laptop. I'll wait until Canonical, Ltd. releases it sometime on Sunday, April 23rd, 2016. The only guest VMs that I use are Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 7, Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Update 64 bit, <snip> using VMWare Workstation 12 Pro 64 bit.

[Welly Wu]

The HTC Vive is now available on a pre-order basis and the production models will ship sometime in April 2016. Valve Corporation released a free SteamVR test program for Microsoft Windows users to evaluate their PCs to determine if they meet the high PC hardware requirements needed to use this product. It is currently not available for SteamOS + GNU/Linux users as I checked a few minutes ago. How does Valve and HTC expect GNU/Linux users to buy this product if they can't even run the test program to see if their PC is VR ready or not?

Basically, you need an Intel Core i7-4790 or 4790K CPU or better yet an Intel Core i7-6700 or 6700K CPU along with an nVidia Geforce GTX 980Ti GPU to make your desktop PC VR ready. Those two PC hardware products cost a premium. Next, you need a minimum of 8.00 GB of DDR3 or better yet DDR4 RAM, but 16.00 GB or more is better also. Then, you have to take into account that you need at least two Super Speed USB 3.0 ports for the HTC Vive along with extra USB ports for your keyboard and mouse and other devices for your desktop PC. Let's not forget the storage. You'll need a 1 TB hard disk drive at 7,200 RPM with a 64 MB cache, but a solid state disk should be better for faster game loading performance. In my own experience, game loading time is not largely affected by solid state disks yet and a conventional mechanical hard disk drive should be sufficient at this point. The other thing is that the HTC Vive comes with two emitters which you have to mount on the ceiling of your room that work with the HTC Vive which is a receiver. In other words, you need to have a modern and high end gaming desktop PC running the latest Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 bit and you need to dedicate an entire room in your home just to use the HTC Vive product.

The list of SteamVR titles is pitiful at this point. The software titles are just not that compelling and they cost a premium compared to more budget friendly indie SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC game titles that are more fun.

I have the money to pre-order this product, but I don't want to move around furniture and my desktop PC system to my spare bedroom just to try this product out. The minimum PC hardware requirements are too high and this product is too expensive and it is not wireless and I doubt that my landlord will allow me to mount the two emitters to my ceiling in my large apartment.

It's also a first generation product. After I bought my Steam Link and Controller, I got soured by Valve Corporation's first efforts to mass produce gaming hardware products. I created a separate thread about my experiences with those products and it was a huge hassle for me to figure out how to get them to work. I am not eager to try out this HTC Vive product and deal with another can of worms in terms of hardware and software technical issues all over again. Count me out as an early adopter at this point unless something dramatic happens to make this product better suited for me in the near future.

[Welly Wu]

VR Ready is code for very rich and ready to buy now.

[Welly Wu]

1. http://www.logicalincrements.com/articles/vrguide

I don't know how accurate this information is at this point, but it is an interesting read about virtual reality technical information and the PC hardware requirements needed.

[Welly Wu]

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWproPHhHd0&t=728s

This is Jerry Berg AKA Barnacules Nerdgasm demoing the HTC Vive Pre. It is a fairly long Google YouTube video that demonstrates what virtual reality looks and sounds like and what kind of PC and room you'll need to use this product.

[Welly Wu]

The Google YouTube video features Jerry wearing a pair of wireless headphones. The HTC Vive does not come with headphones. So, you'll need to purchase those separately and connect them to your gaming desktop PC in order to get audio to complete the virtual reality total immersion experience.

[Welly Wu]

The overwhelming amount of hype surrounding augmented and virtual reality needs to take a chill pill real quick before I plunk down my cash to buy into this utter garbage only to be disappointed and disillusioned years into the future. I remember this same pattern of hype inflating other failed technologies decades ago. One of the most recent bitter pills I swallowed hook, line, and sinker is from Valve Corporation pushing their SteamOS PC gaming platform back in 2013. Today, it is a failed experiment which is precisely why I cut back on buying SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC game titles and I virtually stopped playing my titles in my library due to various hardware and software technical issues and very poor performance. Mind you, I own one of the largest Steam PC game libraries among my small social network here on Facebook and Steam combined and I own high end PCs that perform well outside of PC gaming. Color me jaded.

[josiah14]

There are some things that you need to know about the Clevo P650. There are several models available of which some come with a 15.6" FHD IPS screen with nVidia G-SYNC technology and those higher end models allow you to get up to a nVidia Geforce GTX 980M with up to 8.0 GB GDDR5 VRAM mobile GPU. I got the more basic configuration without either technologies.

The built-in fingerprint reader does not work with the fingerprint-gui PPA or software package.

The full-disk encryption partially works in that it will indeed encrypt your laptop, but the Plymouth busy box screen does not accept most keyboard inputs. If you want to avoid this issue, then do not enable full-disk encryption during the Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux installation of the desktop operating system on this laptop. You can encrypt your home folder for extra privacy of your private user files, but if you subscribe to Private Internet Access VPN and choose to use their beta GNU/Linux desktop client, then it won't connect to their VPN servers worldwide. However, you can use the traditional Network Manager app indicator to add the network-manager-openvpn and network-manager-openvpn-gnome software packages and then add each PIA VPN server with your ID and password manually in order to connect using Blowfish 128 bits encryption and SHA-1 hash algorithm. This is secure.

Otherwise, it's pretty much a few software issues that prevent it from being a totally smooth user experience. Hopefully, Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux will fix this issue.

You'll need to visit the Sager Notebook USA website to find the Sager NP8657 and you'll need to download and extract the owner's manual. Here, you'll learn that booting up and pressing the F2 button gets you into the BIOS so that you can configure it. I would recommend to turn on AHCI, Intel Rapid Start Technology, switch from MSHYBRID to Discrete GPU mode, enable UEFI, enable Secure Boot, and Enable TPM 2.0. Save your changes and restart. Press the F7 button to trigger the built-in boot manager and then insert a USB thumb drive with Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux installer and then proceed to boot up a live Ubuntu desktop and install it.

It can accept either two M.2 500 GB SATA-III 6 GB/s SSDs or one M.2 PCI-e x4 NVME 512 GB SSD. It can accept two 2.5" 7.00 mm HDD/SSD or one 2.5" 9.5mm HDD. It can accept up to 64.00 GB of DDR4 206 pin SO-DIMM RAM.

I consider myself a subject matter expert on the Sager NP8657 [Clevo P650-RE3]. Feel free to contact me here or through a private message. We can exchange e-mail addresses and communicate outside of Ubuntu Forums just in case you need my expertise help and technical support for free of charge.

My recommendation is to purchase whichever specific model that you can afford and then install Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux bare metal without using full-disk encryption, but do encrypt your home folder if you don't plan to purchase a subscription to Private Internet Access VPN in the near future. I need as much security as possible so that is why I configured mine for maximum hardware and software security configuration settings.

You will need to upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux on April 21st, 2016 or later. It contains an important fix for the GRUB2 bootloader so that UEFI and especially Secure Boot are enforced with a signed bootloader and signed Linux kernel. Right now, Canonical provides a shim with a signed bootloader, but the Linux kernel is not signed which breaks the chain of trust cycle for Secure Boot. This is going to be fixed in Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux. Don't let someone whom you don't know get physical access to your Sager laptop without your permission because he or she can install a malicious bootloader or unsigned Linux kernel prior to booting up your Ubuntu desktop operating system and bork your security from the get go.

I used to work for US National Security Agency. I was a system administrator, security engineer, linguist, help desk and support technician, and cryptologist. So, I am a subject matter expert on information assurance.

This is an excellent laptop that is fairly thin, fairly light, and pretty powerful with fairly robust hardware security features built in. The 15.6" FHD TN screen that comes with the basic model is pretty good, but the IPS with nVidia G-SYNC model is much better for color reproduction accuracy and especially SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC gaming. It also has wider and taller viewing angles.

By the way, I recently purchased a Hisense 40H4C 40" Roku HDTV, Verizon FiOS Quantum Internet 150/150 MB/s symmetrical, Verizon FiOS Ultimate TV package, Verizon FiOS Quantum TV DVR, KabelDirekt 25' HDMI 2.0 cable, and AOC G2460PG 24" FHD 1 ms 144 hZ nVidia 3D Vision & G-SYNC gaming monitor recently from Amazon. These new purchases will be paid in full next month. Now, I have a high end gaming desktop and laptop. I also paid or subscribe to CrashPlan+ Family, Netflix, Hulu without advertisements & Showtime, Amazon Prime & Kindle Unlimited, HBO NOW, Spotify Premium, Tidal HiFi, Microsoft Office 365 Home, Skype Unlimited World & Number, Magzter GOLD, and The New York Times Digital & Times Insider, JRiver Media Center, Codeweavers CrossOver for both Mac & Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 bit, VMWare Workstation 12 Pro, and Apple Macintosh OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Everything is compatible with my Hisense HDTV and Ubuntu 14.04.x 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux on my desktop and Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit GNU/Linux on my laptop.

This is my Steam Community ID profile: https://steamcommunity.com/id/wellywu

Thanks for your interest.

I like the System76 laptop, but I'm really a sucker for the QFHD screen (after working on Macbook Pro Retina displays for the past year) that I could only get if I just bought the Clevo P650 and did the installation myself (these higher res screens are much easier on the eyes when reading code for hours on end). I'm tempted to just buy that model from XoticPC. Is it really that difficult to get Ubuntu/Lubuntu installed on this model and running smoothly enough for programming tasks if I follow this quoted post (I'll have 1 NVMe drive and possibly 2 SSDs in Raid 0, no SLI)? I don't game... ever, so I don't care about the graphics performance as long as it makes the code I'm working in a pleasure to stare at for hours.

Backstory:
I've installed Lubuntu before in a Raid 0 configured MSI laptop (running discs on a SATA III interface, though) - using the text installer was of course necessary to manually partition the drives and get Grub to boot from them. However, that laptop's mobo fried and I need a new one that can handle exploratory development work on Hadoop, Spark, Storm, Akka, and Cloud Haskell applications (normally I get a 100GB sample of data and run it against a docker container with one of the above apps installed - could have multiple containers running at once). Having enough power to run something in Spark and have enough left over to run SciPy/NumPy scripts over order of MB sample datasets in the meantime is the real draw for me to a high-power laptop like this.