Is this a sane spec for my purposes?

pwatm

Member
Hi, I'm new to "PCS" (other than configuring and almost buying a Cosmos iv about a year back), but I taught IT and Web design (amongst other things) since 1995, and have regularly used computers since 1992.

Intentions for the new laptop (which I shall use in preference to a desktop) are:-
Frequent email, web-browsing, watching TV and video.
Fairly frequent web-design (Dreamweaver), video and photo processing, accounts.
Occasional word processing, spreadsheets and databases.

Unfortunately(?) I'm conditioned to MS ('doze, "Office", etc), so I'll need that from the outset, though I might consider experimenting with linux as a "side-line".

Research around this forum has helped me fine tune to my current saved configuration
Any thoughts are appreciated.
PW

Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Dual Core Processor i7-7500U (2.70GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 620 - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE HYBRID 2.5" SSHD Drive, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
UltraNote Series: 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
AC Adaptor
1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS
Battery
UltraNote IV Series 44WH Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language
SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
What's your budget?

video and photo processing

You might want to look at the Cosmos: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosVI-15/ with an i5 7300HQ. It's not much more expensive than the Ultranote (by the time you've added the i7 and 1080p screen to the ultranote).
The 7300HQ is a true quadcore and is quite a bit more powerful than the i7 7500U, which is only a dual core CPU. This might help particularly for video editing and possibly photo editing. The Cosmos also has a dedicated GPU which, while not very powerful, might be an asset for those tasks as well.

Unfortunately(?) I'm conditioned to MS ('doze, "Office", etc), so I'll need that from the outset, though I might consider experimenting with linux as a "side-line".
If you haven't tried Open Office, you might want to check it out: https://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html It's free, open source, and is a fully-featured office suite. It's compatible with MS formats such as .doc and .xls, and can read from and save to those formats. I greatly prefer Thunderbird to Outlook as an email client as well, though if you deal with MS Exchange servers it may not be viable.

1st Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE HYBRID 2.5" SSHD Drive, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
Users on this forum generally don't recommend SSHDs. Where one has space for only one drive it makes sense as it helps the OS and maybe some frequently used programs load a bit faster, but most laptops now also have space for an M.2 SSD as well as a 2.5" drive. You can choose what goes on your SSD without being reliant on the SSHD's algorithm to get it right for you, plus the SSD will likely be faster than the flash cache on the SSHD anyway.
 

pwatm

Member
Thanks for the feedback.
Considering your points, in sequence:-
“ … look at the Cosmos: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosVI-15/ with an i5 7300HQ, It's not much more expensive than the Ultranote (by the time you've added the i7 and 1080p screen to the ultranote)”.
Yup – I looked at it, but:-
(a) isn’t the screen the same as the one I specified for the Ultranote, ie “15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)”?
(b) It appears not to have DVD R/W? (Add External if that’s the only way?)

“The 7300HQ is a true quadcore and is quite a bit more powerful than the i7 7500U, which is only a dual core CPU.” – Good point – True quadcore and more power sound good. Worth a few extra ££.
“The Cosmos also has a dedicated GPU” – Good.
“… Open Office ... Thunderbird …” – Yup; On my agenda for consideration.
“Users on this forum generally don't recommend SSHDs. … … most laptops now also have space for an M.2 SSD as well as a 2.5" drive … … the SSD will likely be faster than the flash cache on the SSHD anyway.” – That is really useful info, thanks.

I’ll work those concepts into my next config’ and see what happens to the price.
That presents a crucial question:-
How does one create and save a new config’ without overwriting the previous one?
Thanks
PW
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
“ … look at the Cosmos: [url]https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosVI-15/[/URL] with an i5 7300HQ, It's not much more expensive than the Ultranote (by the time you've added the i7 and 1080p screen to the ultranote)”.
Yup – I looked at it, but:-
(a) isn’t the screen the same as the one I specified for the Ultranote, ie “15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)”?
Yes it is. What I meant is that while the Ultranote is a lot cheaper than the Cosmos with its default, lowest spec (1366x768 screen and i3 7100U) by the time you've changed the screen to the 1080p one and the CPU to the i7 it's £150 more expensive and only £40 less expensive than the Cosmos with its 1080p screen and quad core i5. :)

(b) It appears not to have DVD R/W? (Add External if that’s the only way?)
That's correct I'm afraid. DVD drives are becoming less and less common in laptop chassis and even in desktop PC cases, as more and more games, music and films are downloaded/streamed/ ripped to digital copies. I have an external one for my desktop and it's fine.

How does one create and save a new config’ without overwriting the previous one?
I think it's possible to save multiple quotes.

Normally you can create a unique link for a config and post it to the forums like so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-JWRXp-wIE but unfortunately that's not working right now...
 

pwatm

Member
Right - Developing the Cosmos based on your input, the config' becomes as shown below; price £957 compared with the Ultranote at £830, but presumably the improvements are good VFM, albeit slightly lightly less storage.
Have I missed anything?
Would you suggest any changes?

Chassis & Display Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 7300HQ (2.5GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 940MX - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk 500GB SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive 256GB M.2 2280, SATA 6Gb/s (561MB/R, 296MB/W)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor 1 x 90W AC Adaptor
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 3
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options 1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Battery Cosmos VI Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser Firefox™
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £797.50
Price £957.00
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The "1TB SLIM SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)" is the same price as the "500GB SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)" so if you need the larger storage it shouldn't cost you anything to get it. The 1TB HDD is slower, being 5400rpm rather than 7200rpm - but the HDD of the SSHD you were originally going to get is also 5400rpm anyway so it's no slower than what you were initially going to have.

M.2 SSD Drive 256GB M.2 2280, SATA 6Gb/s (561MB/R, 296MB/W)
This SSD is pretty dire. If the SM961 is out of range due to budget, I would suggest the "250GB WD BLUE™ M.2 SSD (up to 540MB/s R | 500MB/s W)" for £9 more as it is at least a half decent SSD.
 

pwatm

Member
G'day.
Thanks - Hard Drive - I hadn't noticed the same price. Slightly slower HD access is probably less of a penalty to me than slower processing would be.
As for the (M.2 SSD Drive 256GB M.2 2280, SATA 6Gb/s (561MB/R, 296MB/W) ) Can you clarify what would its "direness" be?
Finally - Is the Arctic thermal paste relevant in this config?

Whatever, with your recent input, my latest would become:-
(what bonus does an expert get for encouraging us to up-buy?)
;-)

Chassis & Display Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 7300HQ (2.5GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 940MX - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk 1TB SLIM SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive 256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor 1 x 90W AC Adaptor
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 3
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options 1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Battery Cosmos VI Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser Firefox™
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Pricing Information

Price (excluding VAT) £820.83
Price £985.00
Order Quantity 1
Bulk Discount £0.00
Total Order price (Ex VAT) £820.83
Total Order Price £985.00
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
If cost is an issue (and isn't it always?) and given your stated use, you could probably reduce the RAM to 8GB and the M.2 SSD to 128GB and not really notice much (if any) difference in performance terms. Both the RAM and the SSD are easy to upgrade in the future, even on a laptop.
 

pwatm

Member
Hello (sailor?)
Thanks for the input. Looked at your ideas. Not ignoring, but sometimes one later wishes a few more quid had been spent on a better spec, or better VFM, durability, etc.

(i) Re-config from M.2 SSD Drive 256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
to 128GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2
Reduces price from £985 to £952 = Saves £33. OK if no loss of performance in my context.

(ii) Reconfig from (RAM) 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
to 8 GB (+ same make/type)
Reduces price from £985 to £920 = Saves £65. Hmm. Again, OK if no loss of performance in my context.

How about; Reduce the M2 as per your suggestion, and upgrade the RAM from 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB) to (eg) 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1x16Gb)
New cost (with the 128GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2) = £966.

I'm thinking:-
(a) that with the OS and the more important, or more frequently accessed, applications stored on the (adequate sized) M2, their loading speeds will be good.
(b) bigger RAM ensures faster operation of apps.

PW.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Hello (sailor?)
Thanks for the input. Looked at your ideas. Not ignoring, but sometimes one later wishes a few more quid had been spent on a better spec, or better VFM, durability, etc.

(i) Re-config from M.2 SSD Drive 256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
to 128GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2
Reduces price from £985 to £952 = Saves £33. OK if no loss of performance in my context.

It depends on how many programs you install. I have a 512GB M.2 SSD in my desktop with a 128GB partition allocated to the C:\ drive. I have a fair bunch of programs installed (inc OpenOffice) and there is over 95GB of free space on there.

(ii) Reconfig from (RAM) 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
to 8 GB (+ same make/type)
Reduces price from £985 to £920 = Saves £65. Hmm. Again, OK if no loss of performance in my context.

Given your stated uses I doubt you'll use all of 8GB of RAM so I don't think you'll miss that additional 8GB.

How about; Reduce the M2 as per your suggestion, and upgrade the RAM from 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB) to (eg) 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1x16Gb)
New cost (with the 128GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2) = £966.

First off, I really doubt you'll see any difference with the faster RAM given your stated use. Secondly having only RAM card will prevent you taking advantage of dual channel operation (where two RAM cards are used in parallel to give a 128-bit wide data bus) and that will probably negate any benefit of the faster RAM!

I'm thinking:-
(a) that with the OS and the more important, or more frequently accessed, applications stored on the (adequate sized) M2, their loading speeds will be good.
(b) bigger RAM ensures faster operation of apps.

PW.

(a) is absolutely true, and with the SM961 the loading speeds will be awesome not just good.
(b) more RAM is only better if you can use it, so buying 16GB of RAM now is a good idea if you can afford it but it's not worth breaking the bank for. As an example, I currently have a couple of browsers open with around 50-odd tabs open in each, a big OpenOffice word document, my email client and a couple of smaller utilities open and I'm not even using 4GB of my 16GB of RAM.
 
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Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The 128gb SSDs are often slower than their 256gb relatives. e.g.
128GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2128GBUp to 3100MB/sRUp to 700MB/sW
256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2256GBUp to 3100MB/sRUp to 1400MB/sW

This article may help explain why: http://lifehacker.com/opt-for-the-larger-ssd-capacity-to-also-get-a-speed-boo-1770691500

Although even the 128gb SM961 would still be faster than similar sata SSDs.

That said, the 128gb SM961 costs about £77 (the configurator changes its might slightly depending what other components you have configured, but whatever...) and the SM961 256gb seems to cost about £120. So you're already paying 2/3rd the price for a drive that's slower and half the size.
 

pwatm

Member
Thank you (both) for your inputs, all of which I shall take into consideration. I'm currently absorbing detailed comment from No.1 Son (a network/communications architecture person), and awaiting feedback from a couple of somewhat knowlegable friends. Doubtless I'll seek help here again soon, probably to translate their wisdoms into normal English!
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Just a small point about RAM read/write speeds, it's the read speed that's the key to performance, the write speed has almost no performance impact at all. Think about each operation...

When some program code issues a memory write instruction the memory controller is given the data to write, the controller typically buffers it and signals that the write has completed (even though the data isn't actually in RAM yet) and the write instruction is then complete as far as the program code (and thus the CPU) are concerned. Thus from the program code and CPU viewpoint a memory write takes no longer than the time to process the memory write instruction and the program can move on to the next instruction, so the memory write speed has almost no impact on performance.

When some program code issues a memory read, the program (and thus the CPU) can do nothing until the data is in a CPU register. This is why there is a hierarchy of caches between the CPU and the actual RAM, so that the CPU waits the absolute minimum time for the wanted data to become available. Thus the memory read speed has a major impact on performance.

The only time that write speed has a significant impact is if the program writes and then reads the same data, even then the smart caches and memory controllers today can cope, and the written data can be read from cache or the memory controller buffer even before it's written to RAM. Of course, on those occasions when you have large blocks of RAM writes that exceed the size of the memory controller buffer then write speed does have a performance impact, because the write cannot be signalled as complete until all the blocks are actually in RAM. I suspect this may be a big issue in gaming (although I have no way of knowing) so for gaming performance RAM write speed might be important.
 

pwatm

Member
ubuysa. Re your latest about RAM read/write speeds.
(1) No gaming for me either.
(2) Your logic, summarised = High read speed = Good. High write speed = Not important (to you and I).
Basing RAM selection on the above; and accepting I'm still encouraged (by No.1 Son) toward 16GB, should I stick with 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)?
Or what else could I consider?

And on another feature - Is the Arctic cement worth the (admittedly small %) extra £.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
ubuysa. Re your latest about RAM read/write speeds.
(1) No gaming for me either.
(2) Your logic, summarised = High read speed = Good. High write speed = Not important (to you and I).
Basing RAM selection on the above; and accepting I'm still encouraged (by No.1 Son) toward 16GB, should I stick with 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)?
Or what else could I consider?

And on another feature - Is the Arctic cement worth the (admittedly small %) extra £.

Actually I was having a senior moment last night when I wrote that. I intended to talk about SSD write speeds but, since I was also answering a question about RAM at the same time, I got my wires crossed!

That said, pretty much everything I said about RAM, applies to an SSD, except even more so. No process is ever waiting for a data write to disk (inc SSD) to complete. It has zero impact on the individual process's performance. It's only significant in terms of throughput, because only one write can be in progress at a time, so the faster you can write the more writes you can do in a given time. The SSD write speed is however of very minor significance compared to the SSD read speed.

All processes have to wait for a disk read operation to complete, so disk read speeds (inc SSD) are majorly significant and have a huge impact on individual process's performance.

In the chart that Oussebon showed you, the read speeds are identical - and that's what really matters for an SSD. The faster write speed of the 256GB will improve overall throughput very marginally (and probably so marginally that you won't even notice) but it's the read speed that is critical. (Why are the read and write speeds different? Because a read is essentially passive, you're simply sensing a given state. Whilst a write is active, you have to cause a physical change in the RAM and that takes time).

As for the benefit of Arctic Extreme paste, laptops are notoriously difficult to cool so anything that gets the heat away from the CPU/GPU quickly is a good thing in my book. As you say, the cost is minimal so I did go for it in my PCS built laptop. I didn't bother in my recent PCS built desktop because I have a big Noctua cooler sitting on top of the CPU!
 
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Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The faster write speed of the 256GB will improve overall throughput very marginally (and probably so marginally that you won't even notice) but it's the read speed that is critical.
Though I gather that photoshop is one of those things that benefits from SSD write speeds as it uses it as a scratch disk. Not that I've used PS myself mind you. Where video editing involves remuxing rather than re-encoding the video, the write speed is obviously an asset there too.

Storage isn't entirely my thing, but with some sata SSDs I've seen smaller drives with the same quoted "upto" read speeds bench quite a bit slower:
128-KB-Seq-Read-EVO.png
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/samsung-840-evo-review-1tb-ssd,review-32742-5.html
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7173/...-tested/2?_ga=1.52279087.761312830.1487358810

So while the quoted read speed is the same, I'm not sure if the 128gb drives will actually deliver read performance to the same level as the larger ones due to the number and arrangements of the chips. Though I'm not sure if that's such a big factor with 3D V-NAND (the difference was less pronounced with the 850 Pros iirc). Reviews of 128gb Samsung NVMe drives are hard to come by and my technical knowledge is insufficient to guess.
 
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pwatm

Member
Again, thank you both for your advice and input. I believe I've understood it correctly. The spec on which I THINK I'm about to settle is below. Where it goes over the top, I hope it represents "...Ha'peth of tar...", and reasonable "future proofing" against seemingly inevitable larger and more demanding OS and apps.
My longer-standing advisors have said their two-penneth, so unless you respond with further (or repeated) corrections, I'll soon be pressing the "Buy" button.
(BTW - not using photoshop. And not gaming)

"Final" (?) spec (re-constructed due to the online one having disappeared – Grr!)
CORRECTION - "Quote" disappeared but spec reappeared (maybe from cookies). Price increased to £997 :-

Chassis & Display Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 7300HQ (2.5GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 940MX - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk 1TB SLIM SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive 256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor 1 x 90W AC Adaptor
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 3
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options 1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Battery Cosmos VI Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser Firefox™
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Pricing Information

Price (excluding VAT) £820.83 - [Now 830.83]
Price £985.00 - [Now 997]
 
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pwatm

Member
Cosmos 15.6. Reviewed

User Review of Cosmos 15.6".

SUMMARY
Website = Clear and easy to navigate. The “Configurator” is very effective and useful in aiding defining personal choice.
Forum contributors = Helpful in fine-tuning one’s selection. (One might speculate they have some hidden motivation for encouraging “up-specing” – but no hard feelings guys.)
Payment system = Easy to use.
Online monitoring system, for build, test, despatch and delivery all worked well.
Delivery = Prompt.
Packaging = Excellent.
Just one week (7 days exactly) from ordering to receiving a customised mid/upper-end laptop = Amazing.
Altogether a very positive experience. Very recommendable.

Build quality and operation seem good – (Too early to comment on durability. Not done any performance testing)
Appearance - Business-like.
Screen colours = A little "washed out"(?) - Maybe some calibration/adjustment is possible?
Keyboard. Feels fine. Useful backlighting.
Speed = Lightning-fast (especially compared to the "slug-fast" D530 its replacing!)

Suggestion – Maybe, in the context of this laptop not having built-in CD/DVD facility, albeit an external one is offered, perhaps the manual, and other software should be provided on USB stick not CD?
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Forum contributors = Helpful in fine-tuning one’s selection. (One might speculate they have some hidden motivation for encouraging “up-specing” – but no hard feelings guys.)

Ha ha, understandable I guess, but none of us work for PCS, we're just guys and gals who appreciate their systems and most of us have one ourselves. All we care about is the buyer getting the best bang for their buck.


Suggestion – Maybe, in the context of this laptop not having built-in CD/DVD facility, albeit an external one is offered, perhaps the manual, and other software should be provided on USB stick not CD?

Couldn't agree more. Physical discs are dead as far as I'm concerned, usb keys are less cumbersome and more robust.
 
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