After a lot of thinking and researching I have finally bought myself a decent gaming laptop.
To start with, I had no idea what a GPU was and what was the difference between a CPU, etc. My idea of power in a computer simply resided in the amount of RAM it had - for some reason. After trying to understand all the components and what they do I found PCS which, from my research, offers the best bang for buck. Unlike other retailers that sell gaming laptops, they have the latest components you'd need to play the newest games without any issue.
I was considering to get either vortex (for the ability to change/upgrade CPU/GPU), Octane (for the very cool keyboard - but the chasis is a bit odd), or Defiance (for being lightweight). I wish defiance had the Octane keyboard!
The Chasis
The laptop is really slim. It is made of very nice materials. Unfortunately it is a fingerprint magnet - but it's very good.
It is actually much more sturdy than it looks. It is light - for a gaming laptop. You can have it on your lap comfortably. However it is still heavier than the light notebooks nowadays.
It would be portable if not for the brick and battery life.
1080p Screen
I was thinking of getting the 3k screen. However I just stayed with the 1080p. I really don't think I would play games at 3k with reduced FPS, 1080 is fine for me. Coming from a 720p laptop I really had a hard time adjusting my eyes to the small print, etc.
The screen is Gorgeous! Games look great on it! Very vivid colours.
However there is some serious bleeding(? is that what you call the white stuff from the edges when screen is dark?) from top and sides when screen is dark (like skyrim loading screens).
Why 970m?
Benchmarks usually show that the 980m is about 10% better than the 970m. However, I thought that the price difference between the two did not justify the 10% increase in performance. Although the GPU is soldered on, I really believe that if I had the money and desire to upgrade from the 970m, I would probably want a whole new machine - not only a new GPU.
Why i7 4720 2.6 Gz
I thought upgrading the CPU would be of not much use to me. I mainly want to play videogames, watch movies, and use MS Office. This, from my understanding can be overclocked to 3.5 Gz which I may do if ever needed. The same goes for this, is it soldered on - but if I wanted it upgrades, I'd probably get a new machine altogether.
8Gb Ram
I just got 8Gb for now - all the games I play work flawlessly on it. I will get an additional 8Gb soon - just so that I can freely have things like chrome open when playing games. I really don't see why would anyone go beyond 16Gb RAM.
1tb Slim blue HDD
I went with this for now. I will get an SSD too - I just need to open the chasis to see what space there is in there for. I think there is space for an mSATA ssd but not an actual ssd.
Why PCS?
I recommend getting a PCS computer because of the service you get with it. You basically get a hotline you can call where you give your computer code (on the bottom of the computer) and they help you out if you have issues. That is just awesome, really. I did call them when I was installing the drivers and they helped me out. It feels reassuring to have this contact with the seller.
Furthermore, they have the most convenient prices. I was thinking of getting an MSI but the same specs would have cost about £200 more.
Disappointments:
The Speakers
The speakers are not great. Compared to the dolby speakers my old Tochiba satellite had, the Onkyo ones in this laptop sound inferior. They are loud though! Which is great. But there is a clear difference when you plug in your headphones. I don't personally like the speakers much.
No External Dvd-Rom
It would have been nice for it to come with one. I mean they are cheap but it would have been cool to have been sent one since I bought the windows disc too. I mean where am I supposed to stick that?
For instance the Lenovo Y50 comes with a stylish yet simple external dvd rom which is very useful to have.
I will have to buy this off amazon probably.
The Brick
I expected the brick to be big. But it is HUGE and quite heavy.
Seriously, this is MASSIVE. The brick seriously reduces the portability of this laptop unfortunately. I was hoping to be able to carry it around at uni starting September (moving to Belgium for masters). However this will not be possible.
However, I do get that you need a lot more power to get the gpu running, so a small one wouldn't be possible.
The Battery
In addition to the brick being gigantic, the battery lasts very very little time. Playing games you would last 1hour and 30 mins -2. Watching movies, and web surfing would last about 3 hours.
This, with the gigantic brick makes this laptop kind of a more home based machine rather than something you can have with you on the go.
Performance
The laptop performs so well! I just finished Bioshock Infinite, was playing at ultra settings with constant fps of over 100, sometimes dropping to 70. Flawless!
Skyrim Legendary Edition on ultra settings at it's lowest went to 57 fps.
Dishonoured is playing at 60 fps just fine, ultra settings of course.
I also play dota 2 with max settings which obviously runs way over 60 fps.
Very happy with the performance. I expect this to make me happy for about 3 years, when games will most probably require more juice to run at ultra.
Overall I am very happy with my purchase. This was £1069 form E-buyer. Had it delivered the next day for an extra £10.
Unfortunately this machine is not as portable as I have imagined, I may have to purchase a slim laptop for uni. However this is one heck of a gaming light machine.
To start with, I had no idea what a GPU was and what was the difference between a CPU, etc. My idea of power in a computer simply resided in the amount of RAM it had - for some reason. After trying to understand all the components and what they do I found PCS which, from my research, offers the best bang for buck. Unlike other retailers that sell gaming laptops, they have the latest components you'd need to play the newest games without any issue.
I was considering to get either vortex (for the ability to change/upgrade CPU/GPU), Octane (for the very cool keyboard - but the chasis is a bit odd), or Defiance (for being lightweight). I wish defiance had the Octane keyboard!
The Chasis
The laptop is really slim. It is made of very nice materials. Unfortunately it is a fingerprint magnet - but it's very good.
It is actually much more sturdy than it looks. It is light - for a gaming laptop. You can have it on your lap comfortably. However it is still heavier than the light notebooks nowadays.
It would be portable if not for the brick and battery life.
1080p Screen
I was thinking of getting the 3k screen. However I just stayed with the 1080p. I really don't think I would play games at 3k with reduced FPS, 1080 is fine for me. Coming from a 720p laptop I really had a hard time adjusting my eyes to the small print, etc.
The screen is Gorgeous! Games look great on it! Very vivid colours.
However there is some serious bleeding(? is that what you call the white stuff from the edges when screen is dark?) from top and sides when screen is dark (like skyrim loading screens).
Why 970m?
Benchmarks usually show that the 980m is about 10% better than the 970m. However, I thought that the price difference between the two did not justify the 10% increase in performance. Although the GPU is soldered on, I really believe that if I had the money and desire to upgrade from the 970m, I would probably want a whole new machine - not only a new GPU.
Why i7 4720 2.6 Gz
I thought upgrading the CPU would be of not much use to me. I mainly want to play videogames, watch movies, and use MS Office. This, from my understanding can be overclocked to 3.5 Gz which I may do if ever needed. The same goes for this, is it soldered on - but if I wanted it upgrades, I'd probably get a new machine altogether.
8Gb Ram
I just got 8Gb for now - all the games I play work flawlessly on it. I will get an additional 8Gb soon - just so that I can freely have things like chrome open when playing games. I really don't see why would anyone go beyond 16Gb RAM.
1tb Slim blue HDD
I went with this for now. I will get an SSD too - I just need to open the chasis to see what space there is in there for. I think there is space for an mSATA ssd but not an actual ssd.
Why PCS?
I recommend getting a PCS computer because of the service you get with it. You basically get a hotline you can call where you give your computer code (on the bottom of the computer) and they help you out if you have issues. That is just awesome, really. I did call them when I was installing the drivers and they helped me out. It feels reassuring to have this contact with the seller.
Furthermore, they have the most convenient prices. I was thinking of getting an MSI but the same specs would have cost about £200 more.
Disappointments:
The Speakers
The speakers are not great. Compared to the dolby speakers my old Tochiba satellite had, the Onkyo ones in this laptop sound inferior. They are loud though! Which is great. But there is a clear difference when you plug in your headphones. I don't personally like the speakers much.
No External Dvd-Rom
It would have been nice for it to come with one. I mean they are cheap but it would have been cool to have been sent one since I bought the windows disc too. I mean where am I supposed to stick that?
For instance the Lenovo Y50 comes with a stylish yet simple external dvd rom which is very useful to have.
I will have to buy this off amazon probably.
The Brick
I expected the brick to be big. But it is HUGE and quite heavy.
Seriously, this is MASSIVE. The brick seriously reduces the portability of this laptop unfortunately. I was hoping to be able to carry it around at uni starting September (moving to Belgium for masters). However this will not be possible.
However, I do get that you need a lot more power to get the gpu running, so a small one wouldn't be possible.
The Battery
In addition to the brick being gigantic, the battery lasts very very little time. Playing games you would last 1hour and 30 mins -2. Watching movies, and web surfing would last about 3 hours.
This, with the gigantic brick makes this laptop kind of a more home based machine rather than something you can have with you on the go.
Performance
The laptop performs so well! I just finished Bioshock Infinite, was playing at ultra settings with constant fps of over 100, sometimes dropping to 70. Flawless!
Skyrim Legendary Edition on ultra settings at it's lowest went to 57 fps.
Dishonoured is playing at 60 fps just fine, ultra settings of course.
I also play dota 2 with max settings which obviously runs way over 60 fps.
Very happy with the performance. I expect this to make me happy for about 3 years, when games will most probably require more juice to run at ultra.
Overall I am very happy with my purchase. This was £1069 form E-buyer. Had it delivered the next day for an extra £10.
Unfortunately this machine is not as portable as I have imagined, I may have to purchase a slim laptop for uni. However this is one heck of a gaming light machine.
Last edited:
