djsubtronic
Silver Level Poster
After an excruiatingly long wait for a Defiance (1st gen) order due to stock issues, I was given a discounted upgrade to the 2nd generation with the new 6th gen Intel CPU and double the VRAM of the last generation GPU.
When the stock finally did arrive from Clevo, PC Specialist were extremely quick to build, test, and ship the unit in a total of 3 working days. Apart from the initial stock issues, PC Specialist's customer support were helpful whenever approached.
As for the laptop itself, it has exceeded my expectations. The performance is insane, and the 1080p IPS panel is stunning to look at. I opted for no operating system as I planned to install Windows 10 Pro myself, this was a breeze to install and set up using the drivers provided on the PCS website.
At just over a week of using the laptop since it's been set up, I am still amazed by the screen quality everyday I open it. The speakers aren't too bad either, especially for a laptop. While obviously lacking at the low end, they are decently loud and reasonably bright, without too much of the characteristic tinny sound from most laptops.
The build quality is great as well. I had read a few reviews of the previous generation model that mentioned the screen is quite wobbly, however I seem to have no issue with screen wobble. Overall it feels very solid.
I have no complaints regarding connectivity: there are 4 USB 3.0 ports, a pair of DVI ports, HDMI, headphones, mic, SPDIF, and an SD card slot.
The fingerprint reader located between the two mouse buttons is a nice added feature and is easy to set up to use for logging in to/unlocking Windows. With third party software it can also be configured for other actions such as logging into websites.
Above the screen there is a webcam along with a stereo-capable microphone. These both work as intended, with the quality of both being decent.
For me, the laptop has only two very minor issues. The first one is that there is a small amount of light bleed on the bottom left and top right corners of the panel, but this is only really noticeable on very dark images. The second is that the power cord seems to love unplugging itself very easily when being moved around. Being situated at the rear might be one of the reasons, but I also think the ferrite core (that plastic cylinder found on the power cable close to the plug) makes it worse as it gets stuck or knocked around the environment. Other than that, no issues at all.
As for the power brick: it's huge and heavy. But that is to be expected for a 200W power supply.
All in all, aside from the painful wait, I have only positive things to say about PCS and this laptop.
A few images:
When the stock finally did arrive from Clevo, PC Specialist were extremely quick to build, test, and ship the unit in a total of 3 working days. Apart from the initial stock issues, PC Specialist's customer support were helpful whenever approached.
As for the laptop itself, it has exceeded my expectations. The performance is insane, and the 1080p IPS panel is stunning to look at. I opted for no operating system as I planned to install Windows 10 Pro myself, this was a breeze to install and set up using the drivers provided on the PCS website.
At just over a week of using the laptop since it's been set up, I am still amazed by the screen quality everyday I open it. The speakers aren't too bad either, especially for a laptop. While obviously lacking at the low end, they are decently loud and reasonably bright, without too much of the characteristic tinny sound from most laptops.
The build quality is great as well. I had read a few reviews of the previous generation model that mentioned the screen is quite wobbly, however I seem to have no issue with screen wobble. Overall it feels very solid.
I have no complaints regarding connectivity: there are 4 USB 3.0 ports, a pair of DVI ports, HDMI, headphones, mic, SPDIF, and an SD card slot.
The fingerprint reader located between the two mouse buttons is a nice added feature and is easy to set up to use for logging in to/unlocking Windows. With third party software it can also be configured for other actions such as logging into websites.
Above the screen there is a webcam along with a stereo-capable microphone. These both work as intended, with the quality of both being decent.
For me, the laptop has only two very minor issues. The first one is that there is a small amount of light bleed on the bottom left and top right corners of the panel, but this is only really noticeable on very dark images. The second is that the power cord seems to love unplugging itself very easily when being moved around. Being situated at the rear might be one of the reasons, but I also think the ferrite core (that plastic cylinder found on the power cable close to the plug) makes it worse as it gets stuck or knocked around the environment. Other than that, no issues at all.
As for the power brick: it's huge and heavy. But that is to be expected for a 200W power supply.
All in all, aside from the painful wait, I have only positive things to say about PCS and this laptop.
A few images:
(10th working day now).