Hi everyone,
My order has been dispatched today, so I thought I would give you a review so far, and
I will update the post when I received it with box and benchmark ! (Can't wait
or can I ?)
Spec :
Production Dates
Who Worked on This Order?
Myself :
Before I explain my spec, I think it is important to know who I am as a gamer. I have been playing for 16years probably
and have played probably a lot of different games over the years and to enjoy a game I need 2 things :
with low graphics (compete with others, i.g starcraft 2), or play casually and enjoy graphics/story. And I am happy with that,
but today I want both and still be mobile. A tower PC is great but I travel a lot and this is not a solution for me. Enough with me.
Spec Review :
It took me a while to choose what I wanted but mainly because I never spent money on a gaming laptop so I wanted to look
at everything before making any decision and think in the future how this spec would behave but Pcspecialist is great ! Let's be honest
you have a range of choice pretty amazing and it is super easy to configure/save quotes. The support is also only available to help
you choose (haven't asked for help).
The spec is pretty simple tbh but if you need to spend less with kinda the same spec you can remove :
The rest is either standard or you cant build a laptop (for that price) without it :
Order process review :
Ok let's be honest... The wait is horrible You will probably read this on every post, but I wanted to not get over my limit price and with the 5 days option it would have gone over. I am now on 14 working days with Order Dispatched so adding one day of delivery (touch wood), tomorrow will be the 15th. According to order chart I am in the 35.54% Orders Dispatched Within Timescales Indicated which is pretty cool. Looking at the productions dates you can see between Pre-Production and Build date is the longest stage (as Pcspecialist explains) but the only frustration bit for me was during this time you receive no email or see no notes. Which makes you very impatient! But hey.. they did say it could be long... And I prepared my backups, my games, USB installations etc etc ... during the wait. After that it went pretty fast for me, even had test/QC/ the same day with ready to be dispatched. I received an email in the morning of the 15/07 saying that the order was ready to be tested and by 15:25 that same day I received a notifications telling me it was Awating Dispatch!
Notifications/Tracking review :
Like I said I felt quite frustrated to have no return during the Pre-Production process but after it you will be pleased to receive emails on every steps ! At the point of dispatched you will also receive text on your phone! (not sure if it is an option when you order) Here is the list of my notifications :
I have been very happy with the tracking. It is one of the best I had so far, and for the price it should, so : Thank you PCS !!
Unboxing Review :
First impression : it is thoroughly done ! First box is to avoid any contacts to the computer's box which is protected by polystyrenes, on the top, the bottom and one side. Inside the computer's box you have softer polystyrenes, and every part is protected here. You have the computer in one side with manuals/cd and on the side you have power cables/battery. (Notice the battery isn't plugged to your computer in the box). The computer has plastic protection all around to protect from any scratch.
That is pretty much it here, I would say again it is well done and I am happy of the quality. Good job PCS !
My advice :
Gaming:
Played so far with max settings with :
Issues :
Ok so far I had a couple of issues, nothing major just a tad annoying... First of all it is because of my settings, not really because of PCS. But I think you should know. I have reinstall (format) windows because I have my own licence but the W7 installed with PCS is a Home edition which can't be upgraded to Pro... You have to use Windows Anytime Upgrade which didn't work for me... It lead to this :
Computer Review :
Let's talk about the computer ! ...SEE THE END OF THE TOPIC I HAVE BEEN LIMITED BY THE SIZE OF THE POST
Benchmark :
Driver 311.27 : http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6881609 Score : P7826
Driver 311.66 : http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6909305 Score : P7718
Overall review:
My order has been dispatched today, so I thought I would give you a review so far, and
I will update the post when I received it with box and benchmark ! (Can't wait
or can I ?)Spec :
- Chassis & Display : Vortex Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
- Processor (CPU) : Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4800MQ (2.70GHz) 6MB
- Memory (RAM) : 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
- Graphics Card : NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
- 1st Hard Disk : 120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
- 2nd Hard Disk : 500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
- Thermal Paste : ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
- Sound Card : Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
- Network Facilities : GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
- Warranty : 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
- Dead Pixel Guarantee : 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
- Operating System : NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
- Delivery : STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
- Build Time : Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Production Dates
- Processed Date 26-06-2013
- Pre-Production Date 02-07-2013
- Build Date 12-07-2013
- Test Date 15-07-2013
- Awaiting Dispatch Date 15-07-2013
- Dispatch Date 16-07-2013
Who Worked on This Order?
- Built By Liam Ramsden
- Tested By Mark Bradley
- QC'd By Ben Alderson
- Packed By Adam Kirby
Myself :
Before I explain my spec, I think it is important to know who I am as a gamer. I have been playing for 16years probably
and have played probably a lot of different games over the years and to enjoy a game I need 2 things :
- Be able to be competitive
- Play as a casual with the best experience
with low graphics (compete with others, i.g starcraft 2), or play casually and enjoy graphics/story. And I am happy with that,
but today I want both
and still be mobile. A tower PC is great but I travel a lot and this is not a solution for me. Enough with me.Spec Review :
It took me a while to choose what I wanted but mainly because I never spent money on a gaming laptop so I wanted to look
at everything before making any decision and think in the future how this spec would behave but Pcspecialist is great ! Let's be honest
you have a range of choice pretty amazing and it is super easy to configure/save quotes. The support is also only available to help
you choose (haven't asked for help).
The spec is pretty simple tbh but if you need to spend less with kinda the same spec you can remove :
- Processor i7-4800MQ and get the 47.
- The SSD ! Yes it is a GREAT addition but you can always add it later. I play right now with an 7200rpm HD and it has never been an issue
- GIGABIT LAN & KILLER. Never had one, I have read it makes a difference, but let's be honest that wont change your life.
- 8Go of Ram. Yes it is a minimal requirement now BUT 4Go will do great until you have the money to upgrade.
The rest is either standard or you cant build a laptop (for that price) without it :
- Thermal Paste : ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
- Warranty : 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
- Dead Pixel Guarantee : 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
- 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) I think Matte screen is crucial or you play in a cave
Order process review :
Ok let's be honest... The wait is horrible
You will probably read this on every post, but I wanted to not get over my limit price and with the 5 days option it would have gone over. I am now on 14 working days with Order Dispatched so adding one day of delivery (touch wood), tomorrow will be the 15th. According to order chart I am in the 35.54% Orders Dispatched Within Timescales Indicated which is pretty cool. Looking at the productions dates you can see between Pre-Production and Build date is the longest stage (as Pcspecialist explains) but the only frustration bit for me was during this time you receive no email or see no notes. Which makes you very impatient! But hey.. they did say it could be long... And I prepared my backups, my games, USB installations etc etc ... during the wait. After that it went pretty fast for me, even had test/QC/ the same day with ready to be dispatched. I received an email in the morning of the 15/07 saying that the order was ready to be tested and by 15:25 that same day I received a notifications telling me it was Awating Dispatch!Notifications/Tracking review :
Like I said I felt quite frustrated to have no return during the Pre-Production process but after it you will be pleased to receive emails on every steps ! At the point of dispatched you will also receive text on your phone! (not sure if it is an option when you order) Here is the list of my notifications :
- Your order has now been built and is awaiting testing and configuration.
- Your order has now entered the testing and configuration process.
- This email is to confirm that your order (number XXXXX) is now awaiting dispatch.
- Your order (number XXXXX) has been dispatched with DPD
I have been very happy with the tracking. It is one of the best I had so far, and for the price it should, so : Thank you PCS !!
Unboxing Review :
First impression : it is thoroughly done ! First box is to avoid any contacts to the computer's box which is protected by polystyrenes, on the top, the bottom and one side. Inside the computer's box you have softer polystyrenes, and every part is protected here. You have the computer in one side with manuals/cd and on the side you have power cables/battery. (Notice the battery isn't plugged to your computer in the box). The computer has plastic protection all around to protect from any scratch.
That is pretty much it here, I would say again it is well done and I am happy of the quality. Good job PCS !
My advice :
- If you can afford / dont care with price then take the option fast build
- Please don't buy 17" laptop... Buy 15" default screen and add decent external monitor then to your order. Not that you will increase the weight of your laptop, which in my case 3kg is already a good baby, but in the train 17" = nightmare, plane same, to transport same. A laptop should be easy to move
Gaming:
Played so far with max settings with :
- Batman Arkham City : Sometimes laggy on load
- Tomb Raider 2k13
- Battlefield3
- Torchlight 2
- Deus Ex Human Revolution
- Starcraft2 : Doesn't detect the 780M - Posted a thread on battle.net
- Diablo3 : Doesn't detect the 780M
- CS GO
- XCom Ennemy Unknown
Issues :
Ok so far I had a couple of issues, nothing major just a tad annoying... First of all it is because of my settings, not really because of PCS. But I think you should know. I have reinstall (format) windows because I have my own licence but the W7 installed with PCS is a Home edition which can't be upgraded to Pro... You have to use Windows Anytime Upgrade which didn't work for me... It lead to this :
- Reinstall drivers - so far only hotkey doesn't work, I tried always lead to .NET crashing and then on reboot I have 'System needs to be restarted again. Make sure all driver is installed'
- CD provided with PCS for drivers doesn't work my W7 Pro... But you can install them one by one opening the drivers folder rather than using the auto.exe
- I have killer wifi, and had to download the drivers. You don't have them in the CD.
- No USB stick with drivers, I picked 2 hardrives. It would be nice to have the choice in your order. A 4go usb cost nothing those days! I have another computer so I could copied them.
- Initialization of KeepSafe(fingerprint) failed. Not sure why yet...
Computer Review :
Let's talk about the computer ! ...SEE THE END OF THE TOPIC I HAVE BEEN LIMITED BY THE SIZE OF THE POST
Benchmark :
Driver 311.27 : http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6881609 Score : P7826
Driver 311.66 : http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6909305 Score : P7718
Overall review:
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