About to place an order Vortex II 17.3

[sakumatu]

After long wait and research I have decided to place an order.

17.3" Matte Full HD (AUO B173HW01 V.5)
Processor i7-2760QM
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY
1.5GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M - DirectX® 11
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
GIGABIT LAN & INTEL® CENTRINO® ADVANCED-N 6230 inc BLUETOOTH
WIN 7 Pro
3 Year Gold Warranty
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee
Standard Build

Story with Clevo started in May actually when I placed an order with PCS competitor, which was equivalent to the Optimus with 555m. Never happened. After long wait gave up. I do not like glossy screens and have read lot of good things about AUO screens. That was the main reason to go with others originally. And seems like it could cause the wait again. I only wish the chassis didn't had an glossy trim around the screen. But anyway it seems like this build could be the best compromise for me. I have set myself an budget limit for now and thinking of upgrade in the future to use ssd as an primary hard drive for programs. A little bit worried still about their reliability. Just wondering how big it should be, 80g or 120g? How much Win 7 requires himself?
Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks & wait will start.

 

[PotDucky]

Looks like a nice build,

In regards to your SSD Query Windows 7 Requires around 20GB But I'd recommend AT LEAST 60GB, Anything above that will be fine. Be sure to read reviews though as some manufacturers are not as good as others. Depends what you can afford.

Edit: Just a note that i have the full gloss screen and have no issues what so ever. But it does depend on where you use your laptop, For example I am always either side on or facing a window so it is no shining on the screen.

EDIT2: Just another note depending on your budget and what your going to use your laptop for you could possibly get two Scorpio Blacks and have them set to RAID-0. I get 200mb/s Read and 190mb/s Write, which is pretty good.

 

[PCS]

Great spec

SSDs are more reliable than standard HDDs - I've just pulled up some stats from our database and the failure rate on Intel 320/510 series SSDs in 2011 is 0.59% or 6 in every 1,000. You can't argue with that!

 

[sakumatu]

OK.
Thanks for replies.
You guys got me thinking. I don't know much about this RAID stuff. I'm thinking now having 120GB INTEL® 320 SSD where I could keep all my games and programs and use 2nd hard drive 320GB WD SCORPIO BLACK (or maybe 500GB) where I could keep my music, docs, movies etc. And could I use the HDD as a backup for ssd or something like that. Don't get me wrong but yeah, since everyday computing is getting more and more complicated for computers to chew, maybe it is more reasonable to invest a bit more straight away.
I'm typing with 6 years old Dell Inspiron 9200. Still going strong on everyday use, just its so bloody slow. And I'm really not bothered to do clean install anymore. I'm really stretching my budget here.

SSD used to have a problem that they losing speed. Is that something TRIM helps to avoid. I haven't really looked into SSD's in my research.

Thanks again.

 

[InfernalBadger]

Modern SSDs with TRIM support have a lot better lifetime afaik. Also, the larger the drive the better the performance and longevity generally. Unless you plan on constantly (non stop, 24/7) reading and writing to the disk for the next 5 years you'll probably not notice any issues with an SSD.

 

[sakumatu]

Thanks.

 

[sakumatu]

OK, hell with that. I'm gonna place an order. It's just lots of money. It's been really busy summer and really need an upgrade.

17.3" Matte Full HD (AUO B173HW01 V.5)
Good news that they should be in stock near future, as just saw on other thread.

Processor i7-2760QM
Should manage everything very fast for reasonoble price. Good news that this should be possible to upgrade to Ivybridge in this chassis, if there's ever will be need for that.

8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY.
Should be enough for start.

1.5GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M - DirectX® 11
Should handle every game reasonably for not so much cash for times to come.

160GB INTEL® 320 SSD
Should make everyday computing a bliss.

500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
Enough storage for long time to come.

ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Would not hurt.

GIGABIT LAN & INTEL® CENTRINO® ADVANCED-N 6230 inc BLUETOOTH
Bluetooth mouse is covered and fast dual band n-router will be ordered.

WIN 7 Pro
3 Year Gold Warranty
Peace in mind for 3 years.

1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee
Just in case.

Standard Build
I guess there's no point to hurry, cause screens are due in.

So far so good. I think that even if I buy some of the parts on my own and strip down current set up, I wouldn't save the fortune and if I get everything from PCS they should take care of me for next 3 years. Hope I'll have good outcome.

Thanks for replies. Wait will start in about an hour.

 

[sakumatu]

My Vortex II 17 sits in processing stage. :rockon:
I have followed another Clevo forum for a long time now. I was just wondering which BIOS and EC are PCS guys installing on machines or is it something out of the PCS's hands.
Seems to me that EC 1.00.08 and BIOS version 1.01.08TLO are causing fan issues at idle and even if nothing is working in the background in Win 7 64. Fans are rapidly going up to max for a 10sec and throttle up with unbearable noise. So some of the users suggest to flash EC only to 1.00.06 and the fan on the CPU will come down and won't be so irritating and won't increase to those wild speeds when only working @idle. EC version 1.00.08 sounds like a bad choice.

I'm not that tech savvy and would really appreciate if PCS or some of the recent users enlighten me on that matter a bit.

Thanks.

 

[sakumatu]

Anyone?

 

[PCS]

Unfortunately we don't have this information to hand without asking the production department. We will ask and get back to you before the end of the week.

 

[sakumatu]

I'm not sure how these things work and was curious mostly.

 

[edwjon]

Hi Sakumatu,
Have you got it yet? Thinking of placing an order next week and wondering how long it will take to get.

 

[sakumatu]

Hi Sakumatu,
Have you got it yet? Thinking of placing an order next week and wondering how long it will take to get.

Progress so far.

Processed Date 26-10-2011
Pre-Production Date 01-11-2011
Build Date 04-11-2011

I think they got matte screens in for 17" Vortex II somewhere around Tuesday (01-11-2011). So far much better progress compared to their ex competitor. So far not complaining at all. Maybe have to change the delivery for next Saturday, since I got really busy week ahead. Definitely report back how things will go. Maybe little review as well in couple weeks, once I get use to it.

I guess if you'll go with glossy option you possibly could see faster progress.

Edit: got email on Friday 04-11-2011: Your order has now been built and is awaiting testing and configuration.
Once we have finished the testing and configuration process your computer will enter quality control, where further testing will take place.

 

[Arniecake]

That's pretty fast, still waiting on my Vortex II atm

Processed Date 23-10-2011
Pre-Production Date 25-10-2011

Let us know what the Matte screen is like too!

 

[sakumatu]

Unfortunately we don't have this information to hand without asking the production department. We will ask and get back to you before the end of the week.

Did you guys had a chance to check it out?
Thanks. Still interested on outcome.

 

[sakumatu]

Dispatch Date 07-11-2011

I wonder how long it takes to get to London from Leeds?

 

[sakumatu]

Let us know what the Matte screen is like too!

Haven't had much time to play around with the laptop, but I'm pretty happy with the screen that's for sure. Nice clean colours. no reflection what so ever. Would say that very pleasing to eyes in any conditions after long period of use.