Optimus VII 15.6": After three days' use.

NeVMiku

Bronze Level Poster
This would be my first review here on PCSpecialist. The one I ordered was the Optimus VII 15.6" with the specs found below at the end of this post. I will be going through the reasons and the steps I took to order along with the gripes, pros and cons of the laptop in this review. There will also be a score given in each area by me out of 10.


Introduction

Now that I'm in university I was thinking of replacing the aging MacBook mid 2010 that won't run as fast as I'd like it to be anymore. Don't get me wrong here, I got the most out of it. It came with a 13.3" screen TN panel that I overclocked to 160Hz (it can go up to 160Hz before artifacts) on Boot Camp Windows 7. I doubled its RAM and upgraded to an SSD drive. Changed the colour reproduction in Nvidia settings and tweaked about a whole tons of stuff that I couldn't even think of right now. It even has Windows 10 installed at one point.

All that said the only three things I can't upgrade were the CPU (duh), the now terrible graphics GeForce 320M which intel IGPs nowadays trash it completely (another duh) and the screen. Being a TN panel the screen is horrible with not-so-good colours. The CPU is a Core2Duo P8600 2.4GHz. At least it's a dual core (lol).


The Ordering Process

It was very easy. I was scared at the monthly payments interests and thank the lord wasn't going to do that in the first place. The order was processed in the first two working days! I was very happy.

Then comes the almighty "Pre-Production" which took 23 working days. I was patient. To a point. When I thought it was taking too long I emailed PCSpecialist who very promptly answered in 48 hours. Very satisfied with the customer service there. I also asked a bunch of random-but-still-related-to-the-laptop questions which they also did answer every single one.

After the 23 working days were up (and stocks came in) my laptop was built. It was dispatched on a Friday. Estimated time of arrival was Monday but it miraculously came early on the next day (Saturday)!. Kudos to DPD for that.


The Setting Up

What else is there to say? The laptop did not need a reinstallation of Windows at all. It came without any bloatware which is a big plus. Basically, with a little OS customisation, moving files and five hours later, I was left with a brand new super fast laptop! Setting up the finger print scanner was also easy with a couple finger swipe at the scanner. Although the scanner works 70% of the time and even less if I'm not doing it slow enough but definitely better than typing in the password every time.


The Screen

The screen is a beauty to look at with sharp texts, good colours and a Matte finish which is a plus. The screen does flex a lot when pushed slightly at the bottom mid section between the hinges. Although the screen is not very bright and doesn't have high refresh rates, for what I use right now it is way better than the TN panel I have been using. The laptop lid itself can bend upwards up to about ~130 degrees and the lid is kept shut by the hinges. No magnets to be found here. Overall the screen scores a 9/10.


The Keyboard

I'm writing this review using the laptop keyboard. It has a nice 2-3 mm travel which is a lot more than many laptops out there. Very easy to type on and the keys with the tactile (springy? active?) feedback. They keys also comes with a bunch of Function keys which is useful for, well, functions. All those fancy keyboard backlight levels, screen on-off, volume, sleep, airplane mode, etc. The keys are black plastic with matte finish with a very subtle texture on them. A nice touch in my opinion. And also there are red arrows on the WASD keys for those gamers out there. Overall the keyboard scores an 8/10.


The Speakers

This is one area that this laptop might be able to improve on in the future. The speakers are sitting behind a metal mesh right below the screen. This makes the speakers sound clearer but loses more on the stereo side. And to be honest I think many laptop with "branded" speakers sounds better (please not Beats audio, we all know that one's just a fancy Equalizer). Overall the speakers scored a 6/10.


The Chassis and Design

The design is a more plus factor of this laptop. Very minimal but still whispers a "gaming" laptop. No branding, flat chassis (thank you Clevo) and minimal colour palette. It is also very light for the size of the laptop weighing in around 2.3-2.5kg depending on the configurations with battery. It's as light as the 13.3" MacBook I have all thanks to the plastic body. Moving on the underside of the machine, you will find a sea of black plastic with a lot of air vents as pictured on the site. On the downside though there are 12, no 16 screws that you have to remove if you want to gain access to the inner workings of the laptop. 4 for the battery which has to be removed first (quite a good design actually) before removing another 12 screws and lifting the back plate up. To detach the back plate I advise you to insert your finger from the back of the laptop near the hinges that connect to the screen. Lift that part up then slowly make your way around the edges of the back plate. Inside you'll find colourful copper tubes and as for me, a very tiny but impressively fast PCIe M.2 drive. There are two fans, one of which cools the CPU, the other the GPU, both blowing out the two big air vents at the back. Beware that if you do take the back plate off it will be quite troublesome to put back on. Overall the design scores a 8/10. Short of being 9/10 just because of the awkward back plate.


The Touchpad

Not as good as my previous MacBook. Got to hand it to Apple for the user-friendly experience. Except the abomination called iTunes. Anyway, I had to setup the touchpad all over again by going through all the features and disabling the settings that came by default which I find very annoying. The tracking surface itself is not as smooth as the glass trackpad on the MacBook but it does the job. Luckily enough I had plently of anti-glare screen protectors lying around so I slapped one on which dramatically helped with the smoothness of the surface. On the bright side though it is a very spacious touchpad which is a very big plus. The touchpad also have a very satisfying dedicated left-right click buttons. My oh my the clicks on them are so nice. It's like the keyboard key, but on the touchpad instead. Another good note about the touchpad is that it has very low latency. My friend owns the Lafite II and his touchpad is very sluggish. That said it still can be improved with at least a better material for the surface. The touchpad scores a 7/10.


Battery Life

I didn't expect much with the battery life of this laptop given that it has a very powerful CPU and a dedicated graphics card. But wow, does this laptop drain the battery. Don't expect to use this laptop for portable LAN gaming sessions unless you bring the charger with you. I mean, I'm typing away here with Power Saver power plan with 50 mins in and I already drained 30% of the battery! I was having a bit of hope though with all the i7 6th generation and such but oh well, I won't be taking it around much anyway. Battery Life scores a 4/10.


The System

I have had a lot of thinking with this laptop of what stuff I should put in... then I went with what I could with a budget of 1,000GBP. The result? A blazingly fast laptop that left my MacBook out in the dust. Very happy with performance so far (more about this in the coming up "Cons" section). The machine is a joy to use. The System scores a 9/10. Now why 9 and not 10? Well I did order a US keyboard layout... what came was the UK layout which I didn't want but I cannot be bothered to send this all back. UK layout it is. It's not much of the layout that I don't like but more of the key shapes. I'm more used to the US layout from the MacBook.


Pros

1). Powerful but for users that doesn't require much GPU power.
2). Great value for money.
3). A sturdy plastic case.
4). Relatively lightweight.
5). A very nice to use keyboard.
6). Fingerprint scanner.
7). Large touchpad.
8). No bloatware.
9). A very nice, sharp screen.


Cons

1). Below average but to be expected battery life.
2). The body is very fingerprint prone.
3). The speakers can be improved upon.
4). Touchpad is not very smooth to the touch.
5). Screen brightness is quite good but can be better.
6). Be prepare for BSODs if you updated the GPU driver beyond version 354.00!!

Other than that I am one happy customer!

Specs

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ (2.6GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB HyperX IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2150MB/R, 1550MB/W)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 2
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0, vPRO
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)
Power Cable
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT USA KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence

Price paid: 1,049GBP

BSOD 8th time.
Pics below!
 
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NeVMiku

Bronze Level Poster
The Screen

Imgur Link

The Keyboard

Imgur Link
Key travel is about 2-3 mm...

The Touchpad

Imgur Link
Added on screen protector...

Nitpicks

Imgur Link
The power button is too bright so I covered it with a clear tape and colour it with a permanent marker.

The ODD enclosure is loose since day one. The quality has always been flimsy but it has survived thus far.
 
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ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
yes still invaild. you some great help aren't you pal

That's a bit ungenerous don't you think? Not only that but it's neither constructive nor helpful. Not a good start.

The original post is a very comprehensive, detailed, well considered, balanced, and well written review. Thanks you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences. +rep earned and given.

It is a shame about the images but I'm sure you'll sort it. Thanks again! :)
 

NeVMiku

Bronze Level Poster
I've finally got back to it after two and a half years. It's irrelevant now, but hey, my life is more complete.
 

Lavaridge

Active member
Thanks a lot for the review! Regarding battery life, are the figures you gave based on gaming time? How's the battery if you're using it just for general work?

I'd like to use it for games while it's plugged in but I'd also appreciate decent battery life when I'm out and about just doing the basics.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Worth bearing in mind that the Optumus IX is now out, and the newer CPUs may have different implications for battery life.
 
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