Hey everyone, I thought I'd give my thoughts on the new laptop that I purchased from PC Specialist in case anyone is considering a similar build and would like more information.
I'd better start with the specs so here they are:
Vortex Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
AMD® Radeon® HD 8970M - 4GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
1TB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD10JPVX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
6x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Thanks
Thanks to Daniel Wan, Ben Wilson & James Dransfield for their parts in getting the laptop to me and thanks also to James Turner for answering a small query that I had during the whole process. Thanks to PC Specialist overall not just for the product but also for their forums which I found very helpful before deciding to buy. On that note, I'd like to thank forum user Mantadog for responding to some questions that I had with regards to an earlier build that I was considering and I'd also like to thank the several forum users who reported some issues with their GPU (along with the people who provided help in these situations) as seeing these posts made me confident that I'd be able to deal with any minor problems that the laptop may have had when I received it.
Purchase-Dispatch
The website is easy to use and stuff and purchasing the laptop was simple too so I won't go on about all of that. I had a small question before I made a purchase and the support team answered it quickly so everything before-purchasing was a breeze. My laptop spent 11 working days in pre-production- according to the site the usual time was 7 w/ds or less and I'd received an email on the 7th w/d saying that it would take 8/9 w/ds as that just sometimes happens. When it hit the 11th day then, I was slightly concerned a it looked as if it should have went into building before then. I sent an email to PC Specialist about this on the 11th w/d and I received a response saying that there had been a delay and that the laptop had now been built. Two days later and it had been dispatched- in the end then it took 13 w/ds which is close enough to their 10-12 w/d estimate for anyone I'm sure. My experience with PC Specialist then was a positive one so thumbs up for that.
Delivery
My order was dispatched on a Thursday and, being in Scotland, I was fairly sure that I'd have to wait until Monday to get it because the delivery was pre-noon. This turned out not to be the case and I actually received it on the Friday which is a testament to DPD's one-day delivery system. I received emails and a text message about my delivery so I was well prepared for its arrival. It arrived in a very large and well-made box that was clearly adequate protection for the laptop:
Inside that box was, um, another box- also well-protected and the laptop was wrapped snugly within that:
Neither of these boxes nor the laptop itself were damaged so DPD did a fantastic job!
Looks
The laptop looks great- it's my first 17" but it doesn't feel bulky, or even that heavy when compared to my previous laptop. (a bog-standard 15" with no dedicated GPU and a small hard drive) Sure, it still takes some getting used to but if I saw the laptop and didn't know what was inside it, I'd never guess that there'd be an SSD, HDD and a GPU along with other things in there- there just doesn't seem to be enough space! The finish all over the laptop is great and I especially like the wood-like finish on the touch pad and back of the laptop that really smartens things up:
It's also completely unbranded which was important to me as it gives the laptop a more modest look and shows that PC Specialist understand, unlike a lot of other companies, that not everyone is fond of a logo being shoved somewhere on their laptop.
(Well, that doesn't count, okay!?)
The backlit keyboard pleases me more than I'd like to admit and the glossy screen is great too- I'm pleased I chose it over the matte as it just looks so vibrant and colourful:
It's definitely not an ugly laptop like a lot of gaming ones seem to be so it's another thumbs up for the laptop's aesthetics.
Hardware
On to the big stuff now I guess. Firstly, the CPU and RAM all seem good to me- I haven't had any issues and the laptop is for gaming and uni work so I doubt I'll be putting it under too much multi-tasking pressure. I did try running a game along with other applications in the background and the performance was fine so I'm sure the laptop can handle what I throw at it. The SSD is super-fast and I'm switching on and shutting down in seconds- it's also easy to install on the separate drives depending on your preference so I do recommend going with two drives if you can afford it and the extra speed is important to you. The Scorpio Blue HDD is good too- I'm aware that the Scorpio Black series is faster but I needed 1tb (I haven't even had the laptop for a week and I'm already about half-full!) and boot speed was most important to me so I don't mind waiting around for other stuff.
The Killer Wireless Network Card seems to have doubled my download speeds which is great but it's very hard to gauge if my internet is holding back the card and stuff like that- I've never really had issues with keeping connected so the network card was just to be on the safe side and it seems to be working well.
The Blu-ray player is fantastic- I wasn't sure that x6 speed would be adequate for seamless playthrough of 1080p stuff but it totally is and I've watched several movies with it now without any kind of pausing or anything like that.
Smaller stuff like the thumbprint scanner, backlit keyboard, etc. all work well so I have no complaints. Sound quality without headphones is great (thank you sub-woofer) and with headphones it's perfectly suitable for gaming/listening to music, though I would suggest an external sound card if you're going to be dealing with high-quality WAV files and the like as it's maybe a bit weak when pushed to the maximum.
Fan noise has been a complete non-issue which I'm very pleased to say- it's usually completely silent and at its loudest it's no louder than my old laptop was. It's actually probably quieter, even when gaming. I do use a Coolermaster U3 and I've actually unplugged that and heard the computer's fans start as a result (which shows a pretty great emphasis on keeping cool from the laptop's perspective) but the laptop's noise is usually less than that of the Coolermaster which, when on full, is not loud enough to bother me in the slightest. When really pushing it with both the laptop running its fans and the Coolermaster on full- it's still a non-issue when gaming and stuff so no horror-stories here.
Finally there is the GPU- the AMD HD8970m. In short, there still seems to be some kind of driver issue- my first attempt at gaming led to the integrated graphics being used which ended unsurprisingly poorly and this continued to be the case even after changing the global switchable graphics settings within the Catalyst manager to run games with the GPU. Thankfully, this is kind of a known issue on the forums and it was very easy to fix. I uninstalled the driver and installed the 13.11 (I think?) beta driver instead. I haven't been able to run the 3D Benchmark because the site is down at the moment but games now run on the GPU (the Catalyst manager allows you to monitor this which is nice) and I've been very happy with the card's performance. (F1 2013, Max detail, 1080p: Av. 66fps. Hitman: Absolution, Max. Detail, 1080p: 48fps) My thoughts on it then are that it's great value for money (it's cheaper on this model of laptop than the GTX 770m which is generally a slower card) but it's likely not going to be ready to use without some minor driver tweaking so if you aren't comfortable with that stuff you should bear that in mind. I'm very happy with it though.
Cons
This review has been very positive and the laptop deserves it but there are some minor quibbles worth mentioning I suppose. The whole thing is a fingerprint magnet for instance and the headphone jack is further back than I'd like. The power supply input is also at the back of the computer rather than the side which I'd prefer and the screen has some light-bleeding at the sides when it's used in a very dark room. The buttons below the touchpad are maybe a tad stiff and the thumbprint scanner could be better positioned but none of these things are even an issue when compared to how great everything else is. I'm a pretty fussy person so when a sentence or two of faults is all I have then it's obviously a great product.
Conclusion
I can thoroughly recommend both PC Specialist and the Vortex IV- I don't regret my purchase at all. I'll happily use PC Specialist in the future and I'm very glad that I chose the Vortex IV, 17". I was able to find something that gives me great power at a great price and everything has honestly went better than expected. Hopefully someone sees this review and finds it helpful and if they decide to buy something, I hope it works out as well for them as this has for me.
Thanks,
-Allen.
I'd better start with the specs so here they are:
Vortex Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
AMD® Radeon® HD 8970M - 4GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
1TB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD10JPVX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
6x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Thanks
Thanks to Daniel Wan, Ben Wilson & James Dransfield for their parts in getting the laptop to me and thanks also to James Turner for answering a small query that I had during the whole process. Thanks to PC Specialist overall not just for the product but also for their forums which I found very helpful before deciding to buy. On that note, I'd like to thank forum user Mantadog for responding to some questions that I had with regards to an earlier build that I was considering and I'd also like to thank the several forum users who reported some issues with their GPU (along with the people who provided help in these situations) as seeing these posts made me confident that I'd be able to deal with any minor problems that the laptop may have had when I received it.
Purchase-Dispatch
The website is easy to use and stuff and purchasing the laptop was simple too so I won't go on about all of that. I had a small question before I made a purchase and the support team answered it quickly so everything before-purchasing was a breeze. My laptop spent 11 working days in pre-production- according to the site the usual time was 7 w/ds or less and I'd received an email on the 7th w/d saying that it would take 8/9 w/ds as that just sometimes happens. When it hit the 11th day then, I was slightly concerned a it looked as if it should have went into building before then. I sent an email to PC Specialist about this on the 11th w/d and I received a response saying that there had been a delay and that the laptop had now been built. Two days later and it had been dispatched- in the end then it took 13 w/ds which is close enough to their 10-12 w/d estimate for anyone I'm sure. My experience with PC Specialist then was a positive one so thumbs up for that.
Delivery
My order was dispatched on a Thursday and, being in Scotland, I was fairly sure that I'd have to wait until Monday to get it because the delivery was pre-noon. This turned out not to be the case and I actually received it on the Friday which is a testament to DPD's one-day delivery system. I received emails and a text message about my delivery so I was well prepared for its arrival. It arrived in a very large and well-made box that was clearly adequate protection for the laptop:
Inside that box was, um, another box- also well-protected and the laptop was wrapped snugly within that:
Neither of these boxes nor the laptop itself were damaged so DPD did a fantastic job!
Looks
The laptop looks great- it's my first 17" but it doesn't feel bulky, or even that heavy when compared to my previous laptop. (a bog-standard 15" with no dedicated GPU and a small hard drive) Sure, it still takes some getting used to but if I saw the laptop and didn't know what was inside it, I'd never guess that there'd be an SSD, HDD and a GPU along with other things in there- there just doesn't seem to be enough space! The finish all over the laptop is great and I especially like the wood-like finish on the touch pad and back of the laptop that really smartens things up:
It's also completely unbranded which was important to me as it gives the laptop a more modest look and shows that PC Specialist understand, unlike a lot of other companies, that not everyone is fond of a logo being shoved somewhere on their laptop.
(Well, that doesn't count, okay!?)
The backlit keyboard pleases me more than I'd like to admit and the glossy screen is great too- I'm pleased I chose it over the matte as it just looks so vibrant and colourful:
It's definitely not an ugly laptop like a lot of gaming ones seem to be so it's another thumbs up for the laptop's aesthetics.
Hardware
On to the big stuff now I guess. Firstly, the CPU and RAM all seem good to me- I haven't had any issues and the laptop is for gaming and uni work so I doubt I'll be putting it under too much multi-tasking pressure. I did try running a game along with other applications in the background and the performance was fine so I'm sure the laptop can handle what I throw at it. The SSD is super-fast and I'm switching on and shutting down in seconds- it's also easy to install on the separate drives depending on your preference so I do recommend going with two drives if you can afford it and the extra speed is important to you. The Scorpio Blue HDD is good too- I'm aware that the Scorpio Black series is faster but I needed 1tb (I haven't even had the laptop for a week and I'm already about half-full!) and boot speed was most important to me so I don't mind waiting around for other stuff.
The Killer Wireless Network Card seems to have doubled my download speeds which is great but it's very hard to gauge if my internet is holding back the card and stuff like that- I've never really had issues with keeping connected so the network card was just to be on the safe side and it seems to be working well.
The Blu-ray player is fantastic- I wasn't sure that x6 speed would be adequate for seamless playthrough of 1080p stuff but it totally is and I've watched several movies with it now without any kind of pausing or anything like that.
Smaller stuff like the thumbprint scanner, backlit keyboard, etc. all work well so I have no complaints. Sound quality without headphones is great (thank you sub-woofer) and with headphones it's perfectly suitable for gaming/listening to music, though I would suggest an external sound card if you're going to be dealing with high-quality WAV files and the like as it's maybe a bit weak when pushed to the maximum.
Fan noise has been a complete non-issue which I'm very pleased to say- it's usually completely silent and at its loudest it's no louder than my old laptop was. It's actually probably quieter, even when gaming. I do use a Coolermaster U3 and I've actually unplugged that and heard the computer's fans start as a result (which shows a pretty great emphasis on keeping cool from the laptop's perspective) but the laptop's noise is usually less than that of the Coolermaster which, when on full, is not loud enough to bother me in the slightest. When really pushing it with both the laptop running its fans and the Coolermaster on full- it's still a non-issue when gaming and stuff so no horror-stories here.
Finally there is the GPU- the AMD HD8970m. In short, there still seems to be some kind of driver issue- my first attempt at gaming led to the integrated graphics being used which ended unsurprisingly poorly and this continued to be the case even after changing the global switchable graphics settings within the Catalyst manager to run games with the GPU. Thankfully, this is kind of a known issue on the forums and it was very easy to fix. I uninstalled the driver and installed the 13.11 (I think?) beta driver instead. I haven't been able to run the 3D Benchmark because the site is down at the moment but games now run on the GPU (the Catalyst manager allows you to monitor this which is nice) and I've been very happy with the card's performance. (F1 2013, Max detail, 1080p: Av. 66fps. Hitman: Absolution, Max. Detail, 1080p: 48fps) My thoughts on it then are that it's great value for money (it's cheaper on this model of laptop than the GTX 770m which is generally a slower card) but it's likely not going to be ready to use without some minor driver tweaking so if you aren't comfortable with that stuff you should bear that in mind. I'm very happy with it though.
Cons
This review has been very positive and the laptop deserves it but there are some minor quibbles worth mentioning I suppose. The whole thing is a fingerprint magnet for instance and the headphone jack is further back than I'd like. The power supply input is also at the back of the computer rather than the side which I'd prefer and the screen has some light-bleeding at the sides when it's used in a very dark room. The buttons below the touchpad are maybe a tad stiff and the thumbprint scanner could be better positioned but none of these things are even an issue when compared to how great everything else is. I'm a pretty fussy person so when a sentence or two of faults is all I have then it's obviously a great product.
Conclusion
I can thoroughly recommend both PC Specialist and the Vortex IV- I don't regret my purchase at all. I'll happily use PC Specialist in the future and I'm very glad that I chose the Vortex IV, 17". I was able to find something that gives me great power at a great price and everything has honestly went better than expected. Hopefully someone sees this review and finds it helpful and if they decide to buy something, I hope it works out as well for them as this has for me.
Thanks,
-Allen.
