1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:07,919 I think the Sega NP9873 might be the worst gaming laptop 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:12,240 I've ever encountered. What makes me say that, you might ask? Well, for one 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:18,720 thing, there's almost nothing about it that qualifies it to be called a laptop 4 00:00:14,559 --> 00:00:21,920 at all. The CPU and the two video cards 5 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:24,800 and SLI are full performance desktop 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:28,519 parts. I mean, really, it's more like a a a port 7 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:39,280 I mean, really, it's more like a portable desktop with a screen attached 8 00:00:36,079 --> 00:00:42,239 to it and a battery and a touchpad and 9 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:47,250 okay, it's a laptop, but it's unlike any laptop I've ever seen. Let's take a 10 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:55,920 closer look at it. 11 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:02,800 The be quiet! Darkbase Pro 900's modular design supports a variety of different 12 00:01:00,719 --> 00:01:07,720 layouts and configurations. Click on the link in the video description to learn 13 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:13,119 more. So, not everything about the NP9873 is actually new. It's very 14 00:01:11,119 --> 00:01:18,320 similar, at least externally, in many respects, to the Sega NP9870 that I 15 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:23,040 checked out a little while ago. Here, let's take a quick look. It rocks a 16 00:01:20,479 --> 00:01:30,759 17-in display backed by a relatively tasteful LED lighting effect in either 17 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:33,439 1080p 120 Hz or 4K 60 Hz G-Sync IPS 18 00:01:30,759 --> 00:01:38,000 flavors. Out of those two, I opted for the 120 Hz. And I'm actually happy with 19 00:01:35,759 --> 00:01:44,960 the extra fluidity, though I think a 75Hz 1080p G-Sync option would be swell. 20 00:01:42,159 --> 00:01:48,880 The bottom is basically all ventilation. The reason for that is pretty obvious if 21 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:53,280 you consider the kind of heat figuratively and literally that this 22 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:58,399 baby is packing. And IO is pretty similar looking but with a couple of key 23 00:01:55,200 --> 00:02:02,079 upgrades. On the left is dual LAN, three 24 00:01:58,399 --> 00:02:04,320 USB 3 5 GB ports and 5.1 audio with a 25 00:02:02,079 --> 00:02:10,959 dedicated mic port. At the back is another USB 3 and an HDMI 2.0 port this 26 00:02:08,239 --> 00:02:18,360 time around. A welcome addition. And on the right to go along with the last USB 27 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:22,879 3 SD card reader and dual mini DP 1.3 28 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:26,080 ports is two Thunderbolt 3 USB 3.1 10 GB 29 00:02:22,879 --> 00:02:27,920 ports. This baby is loaded for bear. The 30 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:32,080 keyboard is still decidedly average though and doesn't seem to have been 31 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:36,720 modified much. It's accurate and comfortable enough, but given this is 32 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:40,959 nearly a 2 inch thick laptop, I don't think a longer travel distance or a more 33 00:02:38,879 --> 00:02:45,280 tactile feel would have been that much to ask for. And the touchpad works well 34 00:02:43,599 --> 00:02:49,519 enough that it didn't bother me at all. But the fingerprint scanner was pretty 35 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:54,560 hit or miss for me, making Windows Hello more work than just using a pin. All 36 00:02:52,080 --> 00:03:00,800 right, now then, let's crack this puppy open. And no, wait, there's another 37 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:02,519 outside change we missed. What's he 38 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:08,879 talking about? The NP9873's box is heavy partially because 39 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:18,000 it contains a big ass heavy laptop, but also because it contains not one but two 40 00:03:13,159 --> 00:03:19,920 330 W power bricks with a dual brick 41 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:24,720 adapter. For those of you wondering, the maximum 42 00:03:22,239 --> 00:03:31,440 power draw from the wall that I ever saw with this beast was 450 watts running 43 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:34,280 our Crisis 3 Skybox test in SLI and IDA 44 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:41,440 64's floatingoint CPU stress test in the background. So, I did then try it with 45 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:43,840 just one of the 330 W power supplies. 46 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:48,480 And theoretically, you could actually use it that way if you didn't push it 47 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:54,480 too far, but Sagger and therefore me does not recommend this for safety 48 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:58,799 reasons. Inside the device, we're finally getting in there. We'll find the 49 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:03,599 reason for the dual bricks. Under the keyboard is the pre-installed Killer 50 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:09,840 Wireless, 16 gigs of RAM from some brand I've never heard of, and a 512 gig 950 51 00:04:06,799 --> 00:04:12,319 Pro NVMe SSD with an additional M.2 two 52 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:20,479 slot available for another. And on the bottom is why the most beautiful 2 plus 53 00:04:17,280 --> 00:04:24,080 pounds of copper vapor chamber cooling I 54 00:04:20,479 --> 00:04:26,360 think I've ever seen. Let's take it off. 55 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:32,400 Look at those heat pipes. With that removed, now we get a 56 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:35,880 much better look at the MXM 3.0 0 TypeB 57 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:39,600 GTX 1080 graphics cards with 8 gigs of 58 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:42,639 GDDDR5X that make this by far the most 59 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:46,560 powerful gaming laptop I have ever laid 60 00:04:42,639 --> 00:04:49,120 my hands on. Like the desktop grade 980 61 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:53,440 before them. They're wider than the M-Class cards that preceded them. And 62 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:57,759 while we don't know their TDP since that's between NVIDIA and the individual 63 00:04:55,440 --> 00:05:05,120 system builders, we do know that they're rated at almost the same speeds as the 64 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:07,680 full desktop parts, although we'll have 65 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:12,240 to see how that holds up with GPU boosts having a lot of control over the dynamic 66 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:18,320 clock speeds of all Pascal based graphics cards. Also in here is our Core 67 00:05:14,639 --> 00:05:20,240 i7 6700 K unlocked quadcore processor 68 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:24,400 and the somewhat anemic looking cooling solution that goes with it. Though it 69 00:05:22,479 --> 00:05:29,600 should be noted it does manage to keep it under 80° with very reasonable sound 70 00:05:27,199 --> 00:05:34,400 levels even under a synthetic load. And the whole system is actually very 71 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:39,840 reasonable acoustically. It's nearly silent at idle, fairly quiet under 100% 72 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:45,919 CPU load. And even with both GPUs working, as you see right 73 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:48,320 now, my mic's right here, it's not that 74 00:05:45,919 --> 00:05:54,160 bad. With that said, I did manage to overwhelm the CPU cooler when I had both 75 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:55,759 GPUs and the CPU under synthetic loads. 76 00:05:54,160 --> 00:06:00,240 Under the graphics cards, though they're not populated in my configuration, are 77 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:04,160 two 2 and 1/2 in SSD or hard drive slots. Nice to have if you want to order 78 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:09,199 it with a different configuration or expand your storage down the road. And I 79 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:15,960 guess that leaves us with the big question then. How does cramming two of 80 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:18,240 these in one of these affect 81 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:24,800 performance? Well, just like last time around when I compared the 6700 K GTX 82 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:29,479 980 laptop, apples to apples with a similarly equipped desktop, I'm going to 83 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:35,280 be challenging the NP9873 to beat a dual 1080 Founders 84 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:40,400 Edition equipped test bench. Let's see how it fares. And there you have it, 85 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:45,360 folks. If there was any doubt in your mind that the notebook version of the 86 00:06:42,319 --> 00:06:47,039 GTX 1080, I got to say, NVIDIA is really 87 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:52,080 taking this whole confusing product naming thing to a new level here, is 88 00:06:49,759 --> 00:06:57,440 basically equivalent to the desktop version. You can leave that behind now. 89 00:06:55,199 --> 00:07:02,560 You need to reboot to enable or disable SLI for some reason, but that was the 90 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:07,440 only major difference I observed. The slightly lower base clock speed doesn't 91 00:07:05,199 --> 00:07:11,759 hurt it. Though it should be noted that we are comparing to Founders Edition 92 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:16,319 cards rather than a board partner designed one with a beefier cooler. And 93 00:07:14,479 --> 00:07:21,280 this particular Seager notebook integrates a pretty unbelievable cooling 94 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:27,039 solution with other notebooks featuring 1080s potentially not being capable of 95 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:29,360 boosting as high. Which I guess leads us 96 00:07:27,039 --> 00:07:36,720 pretty well into the conclusion. I still remember my old GTX 7800based gaming 97 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:39,759 laptop. The thing was a turd with 98 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:41,919 terrible battery life and frankly very 99 00:07:39,759 --> 00:07:46,960 mediocre performance compared to desktop GPUs at the time. And while some things 100 00:07:44,639 --> 00:07:51,599 never change, don't expect to be gaming for long at the park with your 12 lb 101 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:56,960 beast here. From a performance standpoint, we've reached a whole new 102 00:07:54,160 --> 00:08:01,759 level of zero compromises gaming laptops. The only thing really left in 103 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:06,879 my mind is for manufacturers to commit to providing upgrade parts for folks who 104 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:10,639 want more life out of these beasts. MSI did try to take a step in that direction 105 00:08:08,639 --> 00:08:16,000 with the GT80 Titan, though those replacement kits didn't end up being 106 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:19,199 possible. So, we're not there yet, but I 107 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:22,039 can see a near future if we fix that 108 00:08:19,199 --> 00:08:26,160 where desktops just aren't necessary anymore. That is to say, assuming prices 109 00:08:24,479 --> 00:08:30,400 come down a little. Did I mention this laptop is like 110 00:08:28,039 --> 00:08:35,760 $4,000? Don't you hate it when stuff you want is expensive? If only there was 111 00:08:32,719 --> 00:08:38,000 some way for many potential buyers to 112 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:44,080 come together and buy all at once for a volume discount. Oh, but wait, there is. 113 00:08:41,279 --> 00:08:49,760 Massdrop. Massdrop connects buyers like you with companies and authorized 114 00:08:46,399 --> 00:08:51,360 distributors with genuine products at a 115 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:56,000 discount. And they're hosting a drop for the TFZ Series 5 in-ear monitors right 116 00:08:54,560 --> 00:09:00,000 now. 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