6. Is It A Portable PC Or A Notebook?

We wonder whether this system is still meant to be a notebook, or if it should actually be called a portable PC. With a height of 2.13" (54 mm) it is not much thicker than the usual Dell suspects. Yet the huge 17" SXGA+ display causes the system to have a total weight of 12.15 lbs (5.5 kg.)

After opening the notebook, most users will easily forget about this system's weight and bulky dimensions. The display offers nice contrast, superb viewing angles and glaring brightness levels. Watching DVD videos was a real pleasure, which still cannot be said about all notebook displays. However, the display surface is too glossy and reflects light, which can be irritating in office environments. The N9860 can also be used as mobile audio playing device, as it comes with some buttons as well as a little LCD on the front.

We liked the audio console on the front of the Sager N9860

A Quattro speaker system is available for enhancing the acoustic experience, and it even includes a little subwoofer at the bottom of the system. Overall sound quality was pretty good, although the subs delivered by certain Toshiba Satellite notebooks are usually better.

The keyboard also made a good impression, though I personally prefer a harder pressure point.

Number maniacs will certainly love the dedicated numerical pad which is not common in the notebook area.