A spec I wanted at a price I could afford

dereksmith855

New member
This is the second computer I’ve bought from PC Specialist (PCS), the previous one being a desktop that I still use, albeit with a recent change of MB and processor. When my 5-year-old PCWorld laptop went dead on me, I looked for something better built and faster.

I needed a laptop which had a large internal memory, SSD and a keyboard with a decent ‘touch’. The main software I wanted to install was MS Office, the three Affinity vector graphics, photo manipulation, and booklet design programmes, and Power Director video editing.

The cost of a ready-made laptop with large RAM and SSDs would have put it out of my reach. With PCS I was able to spec mine to just the right level without unnecessary items.

It’s a risk for me to buy a laptop without trying it out. I write for a living and am a touch-typist, so the feel of a keyboard is important to me. It’s not that much of a risk as if the touch of the PCS had been so poor that I could not type with any speed then I would have returned it. I had no such problem as the feel was pretty much spot on.

Although I look after my laptops - I still have a 2008 Dell that’s in excellent condition - I’m pleased with the robust feel of the PCS laptop. It’s aluminium case feels strong enough for what I’m likely to subject it to.

The speed is impressive, as it should be with two SSDs, one a PCIe, and lots of RAM, and it gives me a bit of a buzz when I boot it up. It’s pretty much what I hoped it would be. It’s not particularly cheap for its specification, but if one takes into consideration the cost of a ready-made laptop with the spec I wanted, then the price of across-the-counter laptops with the spec I need suggests I’ve ‘saved’ about £200 by eliminating non-essentials.

The screen is very clear, and good enough for both images and documents.

The fan is very quiet.

The weight is not something that bothers me in the main, as a few extra grams are neither here nor there, but it is very light, especially in comparison to my old Dell.

My only criticism is hardly unique to PCS, but it is a bit of a pain to remove unwanted ‘free trial’ software. Everyone dumps it on, and most to a greater degree than PCS, but that doesn’t mean I accept it without a whinge.

I’m pleased with my laptop. The delivery time was a little shorter than advertised. It was possible to use it almost straight out of the box.

I would recommend PC Specialist and, as this is my second visit, would obviously buy from them again.
 

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dereksmith855

New member
There was MS Office 365. I had one activation left on my Office 2016. That meant having to delete the 365 before installing 2016. The anti-virus software. I use BT Internet so have their McAfee as part of the package. As I say, not much of a problem, and lighter than many, but irritating. It's advertising, pure and simple.

By the way, it's my third PC Specialist computer, not second as I posted originally. I specced one that was supplied to me via a magazine I was editing.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
There was MS Office 365. I had one activation left on my Office 2016. That meant having to delete the 365 before installing 2016. The anti-virus software. I use BT Internet so have their McAfee as part of the package. As I say, not much of a problem, and lighter than many, but irritating. It's advertising, pure and simple.

By the way, it's my third PC Specialist computer, not second as I posted originally. I specced one that was supplied to me via a magazine I was editing.
The anti virus is optional, you just deselect it when ordering.

But yes, the office is not. But that’s actually part of windows 10, not something they install additionally.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
As above, you can indeed remove the AV.

I suppose unless you ordered it from a reseller like PC World I guess.

And office comes as part of Windows. As does Candy Crush and various other games I think?
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
As above, you can indeed remove the AV.

I suppose unless you ordered it from a reseller like PC World I guess.

And office comes as part of Windows. As does Candy Crush and various other games I think?
Yes, the bane of my windows life, damn candy crush!
 
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