a few questions.

[smokey]

hi, I am thinking about buying a "Vortex IV Elite SE" but have a few general questions I need answered first so I am just going to jump right into the questions.

ill start with a few general queries.

Q1: I have had a quick look through this forum and noticed a few people having issues with hard drives not showing up in there sytem, is this a regular occurrence with PCS laptops?

Q2: what is the build quality of a PCS laptop?

Q3: I will be ordering it with MX4 thermal paste, how often will I need to re apply it and how much do I need to apply?

Q4: how well do the batteries last? (I will be using it plugged in for 99% of the time)

now a few questions about warranty, some seem to have obvious answers but I wanted to check (I should also say I will be having the "3 year gold warranty").

Q5: I notice the display is not covered by the warranty (I will be getting the years dead pixel guarantee) so is everything else (GPU/CPU/HDD/SSD...ect) covered?

Q6: this one will sound dumb but if I have something fail (say the CPU), send it back to get fixed and then after I get it back the same thing fails again will it still be covered by the warranty?

this ones a bit tricky to explain but bear with me.

Q7: I will have 2X HDD and 2X SSD, the OS will be on the first HDD, on one of the SSD's I will have "Unreal Engine 4" installed, the problem is that I have signed an NDA(non-discloser agreement) with epic games to have access to UE4 so I couldn't legally send UE4 to PCS and if say the CPU failed and I had to send it back to PCS would I be allowed to take the SSD with UE4 on out of the laptop and send it back to be repaired without the SSD?

thanks in advance for any info:cowboy:

--EDIT--

just thought of another one.

Q8: I will be getting Norton 360 with it, will I get the CD or will it just be installed?

 

[vanthus]

1: This is not really a common issue,but can be caused by the hard drive being disconnected in transit and is easily fixed.
2: Very good quality in my experience,I bought a PCS laptop a couple of years ago and never had any issues.
3: I've never needed to re-apply the thermal paste on any laptops or desktops I've ever owned.
4: Depends on what you're using the laptop for.
5: Far as I know,everything else is covered.
6: Should be yes.
7: Not sure I understand,but the laptop can only take 3 drives at most using the optical bay for one of them,and I would have thought the OS would be better on the SSD.
8: A CD will be supplied.

 

[mantadog]

Much the same as what vanthus said, just to back it up really, maybe give a different take on a few things

1.The forums obviously attract the posts saying the HDD isn't showing up, what you don't get is the 1000's that say the HDD arrived perfectly functioning. Mostly caused in transit.

2.My bro has one, its good. he has the skyfire so cant comment on the vortex but I assume its just as good.

3.Shouldnt really need doing, but what I find is that the cheaper stuff does dry out a little. I have had my PC 3 years and the temps are now noticeably higher at idle than when I got it new, nothing drastic but it is noticeable (I should also add that the compound PCS use is MUCH better than the really rubbish stuff the mass manufacturers use. That stuff goes rock solid after a couple years in my experience, PCS seems way better). The MX 4 is good stuff so I doubt you will ever need to re apply it. if you ever do its simple enough, best get advice nearer the time though. I doubt you will need to though.

4. Bets bet with the battery is to discharge it every now and again, say a couple of times per month. its a murky area but as far as I know that's the best way to preserve the batteries.

5. yep the rest is all fully covered from manufacturing faults, if you drop it in a river it wont be covered (along with all other much more likely accidental damage)

6. Yep, I have seen it happen a couple of times that people have been really unlucky and had components (mostly desktop GPUs) replaced more than once.

7. You should be able to remove the SSD with the software on it so long as the OS is not installed on that drive as PCS will probably need it for testing. Like vanthus I'm unsure how your going to fit 4 storage drives in that chassis, so a bit more explanation would be helpful.

8. Not 100% on this as I only got the free version of word/excel but I presume it will be the same. You will have Norton pre installed and get the disk for any re installations etc.

 

[smokey]

1: This is not really a common issue,but can be caused by the hard drive being disconnected in transit and is easily fixed.
2: Very good quality in my experience,I bought a PCS laptop a couple of years ago and never had any issues.

thanks for the info, thats put my mind at ease.

3: I've never needed to re-apply the thermal paste on any laptops or desktops I've ever owned.

well if you buy a normal laptop or console you don't need to reapply any paste but just wanted to check.

4: Depends on what you're using the laptop for.

next gen game development.

5: Far as I know,everything else is covered.
6: Should be yes.

that's what I figured.

7: Not sure I understand,but the laptop can only take 3 drives at most using the optical bay for one of them,and I would have thought the OS would be better on the SSD.

yeah its hard to explain, I will try it again.

Unreal Engine 4 is a next gen game engine witch has not been released to the public. I have signed an "NDA" with epic games witch means I am legally not allowed to talk about it or give it to other people. lets say I have the OS on HDD 1 and UE4 on the SSD, if say the CPU failed I would need to send the laptop back to PCS for them to fix it but I am not allowed to give them access to UE4 so would it be ok for me to take the SSD out and send off the laptop without it to be repaired and then I could just put the SSD back in when I get the fixed laptop back.

does that make more sense?

8: A CD will be supplied.

that's what I was hoping for.

thanks again for the info and quick response.

just realized someone posted while I was typing, will answer you in a min.

 

[smokey]

Much the same as what vanthus said, just to back it up really, maybe give a different take on a few things

1.The forums obviously attract the posts saying the HDD isn't showing up, what you don't get is the 1000's that say the HDD arrived perfectly functioning. Mostly caused in transit.

2.My bro has one, its good. he has the skyfire so cant comment on the vortex but I assume its just as good.

3.Shouldnt really need doing, but what I find is that the cheaper stuff does dry out a little. I have had my PC 3 years and the temps are now noticeably higher at idle than when I got it new, nothing drastic but it is noticeable (I should also add that the compound PCS use is MUCH better than the really rubbish stuff the mass manufacturers use. That stuff goes rock solid after a couple years in my experience, PCS seems way better). The MX 4 is good stuff so I doubt you will ever need to re apply it. if you ever do its simple enough, best get advice nearer the time though. I doubt you will need to though.

4. Bets bet with the battery is to discharge it every now and again, say a couple of times per month. its a murky area but as far as I know that's the best way to preserve the batteries.

5. yep the rest is all fully covered from manufacturing faults, if you drop it in a river it wont be covered (along with all other much more likely accidental damage)

6. Yep, I have seen it happen a couple of times that people have been really unlucky and had components (mostly desktop GPUs) replaced more than once.

thanks for the second opinion, appreciate it.

7. You should be able to remove the SSD with the software on it so long as the OS is not installed on that drive as PCS will probably need it for testing. Like vanthus I'm unsure how your going to fit 4 storage drives in that chassis, so a bit more explanation would be helpful.

well on the configurations page I put a "1TB WD scorpio blue" as the first HDD, a "750GB WD scorpio black" as the second HDD, a "64GB Plextor" as the first SSD, and a "60GB Kingston" as the second SSD and when I clicked the procced button the only thing it said was the CPU was out of stock "ETA 27-02" so I dunno.

8. Not 100% on this as I only got the free version of word/excel but I presume it will be the same. You will have Norton pre installed and get the disk for any re installations etc.

thanks for letting me know.

 

[vanthus]

Ah yes I see now,there is the option to add 2 mSATA SSD drives.
I can't see any problem in removing the mSATA SSD if you need to send the laptop back,not sure how easy it would be to get at though
I would double check that with PCS though,just to be sure.

 

[smokey]

so I should be able to have 2x HDD and 2x SSD, right?

I also don't see why there would be a problem with me removing an SSD for PCS as the OS will be on the first HDD if I had to send it back but as its not a usual thing to need to do I think I will send them an email.

 

[vanthus]

so I should be able to have 2x HDD and 2x SSD, right?

Yes,2 mSATA SSD's along with 2x HDD's gives the okay on the configurator.

 

[smokey]

ok cool, really didn't want to have to drop one of them.

thanks for the help.

 

[mantadog]

I see what you mean re the mSATA drives, so yeah 100% fine on that front. with regards to removing the SSD if you ever needed to send it back, I doubt PCS would care. Its your laptop at that point and PCS is one of the few who let you remove/upgrade components without having any impact on the warranty (so long as you don't damage anything in the process).

Im sure you will never have to send it in for repair anyway, its really quite rare you would have to.

 

[smokey]

well I hope your right and I don't ever have to send it back but every now and then things happen, I just sent them an email so hopefully I will hear back from them soon.

thanks for both of yours help, I wouldn't normally do so much research into buying something but then I don't usually spend £2000 on a laptop and its better to make sure now rather then later.

 

[vanthus]

If possible I would give them a call,it can take 2 or 3 days for a response from email,and it might be easier to explain over the phone
(0844 499 4000)
Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm (Saturdays 9am - 1pm).
View waiting times here, http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/call-waiting/

 

[smokey]

heard back from PCS today about taking an SSD out before sending a laptop back.

here's there response.

As part of the data protection act we would not go through any software or files on your hard drives and solid states. We would only access information that you give us rights to. You are able to take the hard drives and solid states out if you choose to but please be aware if there is also a software problem that is causing this then we would not be able to fix it as the software is installed on your memory units.

so it looks like it would be ok