Olalam1996
Member
I bought this new laptop in order to be able to play games and do my uni work while I'm abroad for a year, although the fact that my old laptop was incredibly slow and needed an upgrade also played a part. I decided to buy from PC Specialist based on the fact that (according to my own research) I would save just under £300 compared to a branded similar spec machine. On first arrival I could see that it had come very well packaged, there was no predictable way the laptop could have possibly been damaged while in transit.
On first appearance I was very impressed with the way it looked; a sleek black aluminium chassis about 2 cm thick. A little weight but that is to be expected with a gaming laptop so no complaints there. After a couple of days it began to pick up a couple of fingerprints which for me is no big deal, a little bothersome but they can easily be wiped off. The backlit keyboard features 5 brightness settings or can be turned off, changed by an Fn key. This is perfect when working or gaming late into the night, and is perfectly easy to turn off during the day to conserve battery. I had heard some complaints about the backlight of the display bleeding through, but I have not noticed this at all. My display looks gorgeous with vibrant colours and a matte finish to reduce glare.
Hardware wise everything is now (more on this in a minute) working as it should be and the machine is powerful enough for what I will be using it for. The Witcher 3 runs at a decent 50 FPS (based on an estimate, I have not used an FPS counter with it yet) at a mix of high and ultra settings. Boot times are quick, around 8 seconds between powering on logging in, and loading times for various programs are all quick, no more than a few seconds. The fingerprint scanner (which I thought I would use a couple of times as a novelty but then resort to a password for logging in) has surpassed my expectations. It is much faster than typing in a password and seems to work incredibly well, the only times it has failed to scan my finger is if I've moved my finger too quickly.
I did have an issue with the battery upon arrival, the laptop had been fitted with a faulty battery that arguably should have been spotted in the testing period. However a phone call to PC Specialist the next morning resulted in them sending a new battery that arrived the following day. I was very happy with this customer service. However, the battery here is within the case of the laptop so around 14 screws must be undone which is not a big deal for me but should you wish to change your battery be prepared to open up your laptop.
To summarise!
Pros:
-Smart looking machine
-Quick boot times
-Easy to use
-Powerful enough for what I needed
-Well packaged
-Good customer service
Cons
-Fingerprints
-Arrived with a faulty battery
Overall, very pleased with my new laptop!
My specs:
Chassis & Display Defiance 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) 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk 500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive 120GB KINGSTON SSDNow M.2 2280 G2, SATA 6Gb/s (550MB/R, 200MB/W)
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 + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options 4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
3G/4G Module NONE
And yes I do like the protective plastic on my screen.
On first appearance I was very impressed with the way it looked; a sleek black aluminium chassis about 2 cm thick. A little weight but that is to be expected with a gaming laptop so no complaints there. After a couple of days it began to pick up a couple of fingerprints which for me is no big deal, a little bothersome but they can easily be wiped off. The backlit keyboard features 5 brightness settings or can be turned off, changed by an Fn key. This is perfect when working or gaming late into the night, and is perfectly easy to turn off during the day to conserve battery. I had heard some complaints about the backlight of the display bleeding through, but I have not noticed this at all. My display looks gorgeous with vibrant colours and a matte finish to reduce glare.
Hardware wise everything is now (more on this in a minute) working as it should be and the machine is powerful enough for what I will be using it for. The Witcher 3 runs at a decent 50 FPS (based on an estimate, I have not used an FPS counter with it yet) at a mix of high and ultra settings. Boot times are quick, around 8 seconds between powering on logging in, and loading times for various programs are all quick, no more than a few seconds. The fingerprint scanner (which I thought I would use a couple of times as a novelty but then resort to a password for logging in) has surpassed my expectations. It is much faster than typing in a password and seems to work incredibly well, the only times it has failed to scan my finger is if I've moved my finger too quickly.
I did have an issue with the battery upon arrival, the laptop had been fitted with a faulty battery that arguably should have been spotted in the testing period. However a phone call to PC Specialist the next morning resulted in them sending a new battery that arrived the following day. I was very happy with this customer service. However, the battery here is within the case of the laptop so around 14 screws must be undone which is not a big deal for me but should you wish to change your battery be prepared to open up your laptop.
To summarise!
Pros:
-Smart looking machine
-Quick boot times
-Easy to use
-Powerful enough for what I needed
-Well packaged
-Good customer service
Cons
-Fingerprints
-Arrived with a faulty battery
Overall, very pleased with my new laptop!
My specs:
Chassis & Display Defiance 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) 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk 500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive 120GB KINGSTON SSDNow M.2 2280 G2, SATA 6Gb/s (550MB/R, 200MB/W)
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 + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options 4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
3G/4G Module NONE
And yes I do like the protective plastic on my screen.