Hello all, new member and first-time buyer from PCSpecialist looking for laptop build opinions.
I'm looking to buy a new laptop sometime next month to replace my Asus N550JV of 4 years- I've been out of the loop a little with all the advances that's been made since I last bought tech. I'm working with a maximum budget of ~£1,500, but lower would be better. I'll be using it for a mix of report writing, programming, and high-resolution image editing (Photoshop, Illustrator). Oh, and let's not forget gaming, though the most intense games I'll probably play will be on the level of Minecraft (with shaders) or Total War: Three Kingdoms that will (hopefully) still be bundled with the CPU when I go to buy 😬.
I've settled on the following two builds...
Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 60Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 - 6.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
Choose from 6 Incredible Ubisoft Titles FREE with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 1800MB/sR | 1800MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 2 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC)
AC Adaptor
2 x 180W AC Adaptor
Battery
Recoil II Series 46WH Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
2 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.1 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
PER-KEY RGB BACKLIT UK MECHANICAL KEYBOARD
Price: £1,297.00 including VAT and Delivery
Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 60Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 9750H (2.6GHz, 4.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB WD Black™ SN750 M.2 NVMe SSD (up to 3470MB/s R | 2600MB/s W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 1800MB/sR | 1800MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
2 x 150W AC Adaptor
Battery
Optimus X Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
2 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
MULTI COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Price: £1,354.00 including VAT and Delivery
The Recoil's keyboard is one of the few things that's giving me pause for thought, as it will be the first interaction I'll have with a mechanical keyboard and am not sure if I'll like it. I've read a lot of different reviews for its TongFang chassis online with regards to it, and it seems very much a love-it or hate-it thing, give or take 2 weeks to get used to it. Cooling for the Recoil seems to be OK for the most part it sounds like too- can anyone here confirm this for me?
In addition, I'm not sure if I'll need the 9750H core over then 8750H in the Optimus and Recoil for what I intend to do, especially considering the reviews which seem to be on the side of very little improvement in the latest 9th gen cores. With graphics cards, I'm not that much of a stickler for 60 FPS or the like, and things don't have to be maxxed out all the time, hence why I'd be happy with just a 1060 instead of a 1660 Ti.
I can't find much reviews on the Optimus' Clevo chassis online unfortunately so it's a bit of a blank for me- am not sure if it'll perform the same as the 17 inch version which has more reviews available.
Would love to hear other's thoughts.
I'm looking to buy a new laptop sometime next month to replace my Asus N550JV of 4 years- I've been out of the loop a little with all the advances that's been made since I last bought tech. I'm working with a maximum budget of ~£1,500, but lower would be better. I'll be using it for a mix of report writing, programming, and high-resolution image editing (Photoshop, Illustrator). Oh, and let's not forget gaming, though the most intense games I'll probably play will be on the level of Minecraft (with shaders) or Total War: Three Kingdoms that will (hopefully) still be bundled with the CPU when I go to buy 😬.
I've settled on the following two builds...
Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 60Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 - 6.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 1800MB/sR | 1800MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 2 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC)
AC Adaptor
2 x 180W AC Adaptor
Battery
Recoil II Series 46WH Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
2 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.1 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
PER-KEY RGB BACKLIT UK MECHANICAL KEYBOARD
Price: £1,297.00 including VAT and Delivery
Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 60Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 9750H (2.6GHz, 4.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB WD Black™ SN750 M.2 NVMe SSD (up to 3470MB/s R | 2600MB/s W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 1800MB/sR | 1800MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
2 x 150W AC Adaptor
Battery
Optimus X Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
2 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
MULTI COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Price: £1,354.00 including VAT and Delivery
The Recoil's keyboard is one of the few things that's giving me pause for thought, as it will be the first interaction I'll have with a mechanical keyboard and am not sure if I'll like it. I've read a lot of different reviews for its TongFang chassis online with regards to it, and it seems very much a love-it or hate-it thing, give or take 2 weeks to get used to it. Cooling for the Recoil seems to be OK for the most part it sounds like too- can anyone here confirm this for me?
In addition, I'm not sure if I'll need the 9750H core over then 8750H in the Optimus and Recoil for what I intend to do, especially considering the reviews which seem to be on the side of very little improvement in the latest 9th gen cores. With graphics cards, I'm not that much of a stickler for 60 FPS or the like, and things don't have to be maxxed out all the time, hence why I'd be happy with just a 1060 instead of a 1660 Ti.
I can't find much reviews on the Optimus' Clevo chassis online unfortunately so it's a bit of a blank for me- am not sure if it'll perform the same as the 17 inch version which has more reviews available.
Would love to hear other's thoughts.