My new Defiance III 15.6inch notebook Review

Firstly, these are the specs for my laptop, I got the Defiance III 15.6 Inch. I meant for this to be a short review ended up writing more than anticipated due to some interesting findings:
Chassis & Display

Defiance Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 6820HK (2.7GHz, 3.6GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 4GB) (Upgraded to 16gb)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1, G-SYNC
1st Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 2.5" SSHD - UP TO 5X FASTER THAN HDD!
M.2 SSD Drive
128GB M.2 2280, SATA 6Gb/s (560MB/R, 467MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
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-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
3 x USB 3.1 Type A, 2 x USB 3.1 Type C AS STANDARD
Battery
Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (60WH)
Keyboard Language
DEFIANCE SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media
NO DVD RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Quantity
1
Price £1,256.00 including VAT and delivery
Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/defianceIII-15/MzUC7J5KpF/

First Impression: Good laptop came delivered early as delivery only took 4 days even if I paid for the standard delivery not express so was very surprised and happy. I placed the order on a Tuesday and it came on a Friday so thumbs up for the fast delivery. Secondly It came well packaged and guarded. The only issue I had was on first boot up the computer refused to boot as it had a dead CMOS battery after diagnosis (wonder how this got past Q/A). They sent a new battery but this required me taking apart the laptop including the keyboard area which for a novice might be impossible to do and it might have to get sent back.
I almost damaged keyboard as you should be careful when pushing it out from the hole beneath and after putting it back the numpad area lighting was a bit which required re-opening and re-adjusting, luckily for me this was enough and on boot the lighting was fixed. For a novice who just want to get on his/her computer without any hassle this can be a down point as it might have to be sent back.

Actual use: The laptop once fixed was a joy to use and speedy

Hardware: The GTX 1070 and core i7 6820HK can easily handle the games I have thrown at it so far with all settings maxed which include battlefield 1, COD infinite warfare, Shadow of Mordor etc. It handles on all these on a 2k display(2560x1440) external monitor which I think is the sweet spot for the GTX 1070. For a portable machine which only weighs 2.9kg (website says 2.5kg but I think its slightly heavier than that) I think it’s quite an engineering feat and shows how far we have come especially as I can still pack this up and take it to uni as well as travel with it which is a good plus. This was impossible with my old desktop which houses a GTX 780 and core i5 4670k. It’s funny to think this portable machine is faster than that. I also upgraded my ram to 2x 8gb DDR 4 2400mhz sticks which I bought separately online as they were cheaper than the upgrade to 16gb during purchase, so I have on 4gb DDR4 2400MHz for anyone who is interested. Another thing to note is the large power brick (and when I say BRICK I mean BRICK) this thing is really a BRICK and if dropped on someone would have the same impact of a real brick. It’s a bit heavy and large but maybe I exaggerate a bit but it’s still medium heavy.

Webcam/Keyboard/Touchpad/Fingerprint Scanner: The webcam is a full HD(1080p) so it’s sharp and the keyboard also has an alright travel distance which is a plus. The touchpad is another thing I really like about this as it has the click buttons which are not allowed or even hard to press and make moving files and folders easier, it is also smooth to touch and quite responsive. The fingerprint scanner is a hit/miss sometimes but mostly a hit especially after updating the driver for it and setting up your fingerprint properly, you might have occasional miss moments.

Display: Display is sharp and reasonably bright at full brightness, I especially like that it is a matte finish so good outdoor viewing. I got the 1080p display as I think its sharp enough (which it is) and plus this is the only option that has g-sync. A 120hz refresh rate would have been a nice addition though.
Battery: Battery doesn't really last that long which is a bit of a downside though I didn't expect much from it as it’s only a 60WH battery. It last roughly about 2 hours to 3 though sometimes less than 1 hr 30 mins even when just browsing around and watching YouTube videos. And, I really see no difference in effect on battery of using either the Microsoft Hybrid graphics mode or the Discrete only option as it has been said the Microsoft hybrid graphics should net you more battery life but haven't noticed this in my use. Another thing is on HWmonitor the battery level shows a wear level of anything from 4-1% and I find this quite shocking as this is still brand new, only had it for 10 days and ever since the first boot up it had showed this so maybe this adds to my below par battery performance. I need to call them up to get this clarified but haven't had this time.

Temps/Noise: The temperatures for the CPU before under-volting used to reach 96 degrees though this was only when running intensive tasks but when gaming reached about 90 (this is based on the HWmonitor max temps) and for the graphics card reached 88 degrees (based on GPU-Z max temps) so it does get quite toasty. Fan noise isn't bad on the automatic settings but this is when the temps reached these levels, on the max fan setting(fn+1) the temps dropped by about 5-8 degrees. But after undervolting by about -100 via throttle-stop CPU temps reached about 90 degrees after about 2 hours of bf1 but note! most times the CPU just hovers around the high 60s and mid 80s when gaming after undervolting. This can be lower however sometimes due to ambient temps. idle temps are mid-30s to mid-40s. The fan noise on automatic are quite loud but not obtrusive as a speaker would drain them out and on max fan speed are loud and sound like a very mini jet engine but still manageable and can be drained out by using external speakers.

Miscellaneous: I haven’t tried to overclock the GPU as I have no reason to (performance is good and it already runs quite hot. but the CPU I have dabbled with and got up to 3.8ghz without no increase in voltage and was even still able to under-volt it by about -70mv and it was still stable. Only problem I have with it is it doesn’t stick to that frequency when playing games but sticks to it when stresstesting. Once I play a game or turn on fires strike after a few minutes (about 2) I see the frequency fluctuating from 3.19ghz (which is stock boost frequency) to 3.4ghz and then to the 3.8ghz I originally set it to. This behaviour really ANNOYS me as what is the point of paying extra for a K unlocked CPU only to have it bounce around once a gaming workload or CPU+GPU workload is put on top of it. I have tried disabling Intel Speed step and even using Windows High performance load which both are meant to disable the CPU from going up and down which it does when its idle (it maintains the 3.8ghz consistently no dips) but once a game or CPU+GPU load is put on top of it I see the frequency jumping from place to place and most of the time it’s at 3.4ghz or less. This doesn’t happen on the stock turbo frequency(3.19ghz). At times when Intel Speed-Step is activated and Windows High-performance mode/power-plan is disabled the frequency even drops to 2.2ghz after about 45 mins to 1hr 301 mins of gameplay or stress test and no this is not a heat throttling especially during gameplay as the temps might just be sitting at about low 70s to mid-80s. This can cause a bit of a noticeable lag during gameplay but once I return to desktop frequencies jump up back to 3.8ghz (might as well have gotten the 7700HQ which sticks to its 3.4ghz). Am hoping this can get fixed with a bios update or something never experienced this on my desktop and that’s overclocked to 4.4ghz.
Ports: 2 mini display ports 1.3 I believe (need to confirm), 3 USB 3.1 gen 1(wish it was gen 2), 2 USB type-C’s (wish at list one of these had thunderbolt 3), a space for SD cards, a space for sim card (didn't purchase the module though so doubt it works) and then your typical headphone, microphone and line out ports. Wish it had a thunderbolt 3 port ☹

Pros:
GTX 1070 is a beast
Heat is not too bad especially once undervolted
Super-Fast
And for a Laptop this size especially with the specs it has, the whole this is a smooth, fast & modern
All round great laptop

Cons:

Came with a dead CMOS battery
Both the laptop and power BRICK (literally looks like a brick) are a bit heavy but nothing too much
CPU Overclock won’t stick to the OC frequency when under load (especially CPU+GPU load)
Can get a lil bit noisy#
Any further question don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Pictures of the Laptop

Pictures of the laptop

Thanks with the help of Oussebon the picture problem has been fixed.

I'm not sure the forum plays nice with images where it doesn't have a link to the image file itself, e.g. https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/images/features/pcs-home-feature.png

I'd suggest just uploading the images from your PC (max 5 per post). With the "Insert Image" button, clicking the "From Computer" tab and browsing to the files.

Yep I have tried that several times both with the insert image option and the attach files option but to no result, once I click the upload button nothing seems to happen. Tried Chrome and Edge browsers. Any further help or advise is welcome

Not sure. Some forums don't let you post images until you have a certain post count, but I don't think this one operates that way (how else could people post reviews?).

It could be that the images are too large. I just tried resizing them to 50% width and height in MS paint and it seems happy now. Before resizing I was getting the issue you described. Some images were upto 4MB in size. I feel like there's a limit of ~2MB but might be making that up.



Kudos for the thorough review and commitment to getting pics up btw.

oh right thanks for that I will resize the pictures and upload them in a bit. Btw another question I have is do you know how to make the CPU stick to the set OC frequency especially during load?

No worries.

Btw another question I have is do you know how to make the CPU stick to the set OC frequency especially during load?

Click to expand...

No, sorry. When you say:

Only problem I have with it is it doesn’t stick to that frequency when playing games but sticks to it when stresstesting. Once I play a game or turn on fires strike after a few minutes (about 2) I see the frequency fluctuating from 3.19ghz (which is stock boost frequency) to 3.4ghz and then to the 3.8ghz I originally set it to.

Click to expand...

That sounds like modern overclock behaviour as rather than having a fixed 24/7 frequency and voltage I believe it's more common to just have the OC kick in when required than it used to be (which I think is down to Intel Speed Step). But I'm not sure that explains the rest of the behaviour you outline.

If you'd not already checked them out, perhaps some light might be shed by 6820Hk OC guides?
http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2291-laptop-overclocking-benchmark-photoshop-and-games?showall=1
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-settings-for-4-0ghz-to-4-3ghz-stable.787791/

Yh I know it does that when Intel speedstep is enabled and on Windows Balanced which is good as I like the temps and power-savings BUT when I want more performance and disable those 2 option it maintains its OC frequency when at Idle but once on load especially CPU+GPU load such as games it starts down-clocking itself to 3.19, 3.4 and occasionally goes up to the OC 3.8ghz. And I know this is not thermal throttling as thermals are fine and if it was it would just drop to 3.19 and stay there so this has me guessing it might be a power feature or bios setting or glitch not sure.

And BTW I have had a look at the thread and review but cant find a reference to the problem or maybe they just aren't testing CPU+GPU(such as games) workload for >2 mins as that's when the behavior comes up. On running simple benches such as CPU-Z bench or stress test this behavior does NOT occur. So intel might be playing games with the frequency on maybe set workloads not sure.

I will try and record a video later on to showcase the problem

Gamersnexus methodology tends to be quite robust so whatever the answer is it won't be that they just tested 30 seconds of game. I was suggesting the links more for overclocking method tips in case there's something else to configure differently that would avoid your issue, rather than because they'd address your specific issue explicitly.

Clocks going down when both the GPU and CPU are under load, but temps are fine, could be power throttling. If you reduce your games settings and resolutions to the lowest they can go and cap FPS to 60 to reduce load on the GPU, do you still see CPU clock drops affecting performance?

Oussebon said:

Clocks going down when both the GPU and CPU are under load, but temps are fine, could be power throttling. If you reduce your games settings and resolutions to the lowest they can go and cap FPS to 60 to reduce load on the GPU, do you still see CPU clock drops affecting performance?

Click to expand...

I have just tried that and it still downclocks temps this time where low 70s and gpu was about 60. I think am gonna start using the frame limiter cos it actually reduced gpu temps by quite a lot.

The other thing am thinking might fix the problem is to use a static voltage instead of the adaptive voltage settings, though I am quite scared of trying static voltages as don't want to dial in the wrong volt cause a crash/error that's why I hadn't tried it.

I tried the static voltage setting but it actually made it worse but I have uploaded the video showing the problem which I will share in this post

I am still researching, Any further suggestions will be appreciated.

[video=youtube;p2BcSpBlhHA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2BcSpBlhHA[/video]

Any other suggestions anyone?