High-end gaming laptop (Optimus IX)

Dear all,

I have previously had an Optimus...VI (maybe VII) from Nov 2016 with an NVIDIA 960M GPU which has gone the way of all things recently, which is just as well as it was only just scraping by with a 30-35~fps on the games I enjoyed with everything set to lowest presets (at 1080p). Before that I had one with a 660M which lasted me 3-4 years

I always tend to go for builds that are economical but good performers - I find that buying the very top end cards/CPU is poor cost efficiency but the second or third components down often provide almost as good performance with significantly lower costs. With that in mind, I never buy laptops much over £1000. With the new GPU on the horizon I am also holding out for a new desktop as I read the new 1170 might be as good as the current 1080Ti but much better cost.

This laptop is for a multitude of purposes - primarily gaming (readestiny 2/Cuphead/Doom/Witcher/Wolfenstein type games) but also is used for video editing and 3D design tools such as radiant, zbrush (though I do primarily use a desktop for zbrush). I want it to be able to run stuff at 1080p 60fps at high or better settings for most games.

With all that in mind, here is the proposed spec for just under 1k. I have my own copy of windows and will be installing my own pre-existing 256GB SSD. I tried to order without a HDD at all but PCS wouldnt allow it so it just has the cheapest option (yeah, the SSD is somehow cheaper than the 500GB HDD)

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB 1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 - 6.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
120GB ADATA SU650 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 320MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Battery
Optimus IX Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 3
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price £989.00 including VAT and delivery

I would appreciate any input!

Many thanks

I am not sure about this but it may be worth giving PCS a call as they might be willing to use your existing SSD if you send it to them, they are happy to accept cases for desktops but not sure about internal components.

Stephen M said:

I am not sure about this but it may be worth giving PCS a call as they might be willing to use your existing SSD if you send it to them, they are happy to accept cases for desktops but not sure about internal components.

Click to expand...

Generally they will not accept peoples hard drives (whether SSD or not), I know when I ordered my last machine I just picked the cheapest drive they had.

Rakk said:

Generally they will not accept peoples hard drives (whether SSD or not), I know when I ordered my last machine I just picked the cheapest drive they had.

Click to expand...

Yes I did call them to ask this and they told me they can't/won't accept HDD sent to them and I had to get one with the system

Does anyone else have any suggestions - is the chassis okay for heat distribution for example or does anyone think there are any reasonably cheap changes that would be beneficial?

Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB 1 x 4GB)

Click to expand...

?

Its 16GB (2x8GB)

I'm sure you know this already but just to be clear, whilst you can of course install your exiting 256GB SSD and your own copy of Windows, you will have to reinstall Windows, drivers and programs onto that drive once it's in the new Optimus IX. You cannot simply install the SSD with Windows on it (from another system) and expect it to work. It won't.