mackem1973
New member
I've had my Enigma II laptop for a few days now so thought I'd get on here and write a quick review of it.
Here are the Specs I chose:
Enigma II: 15.6" Full HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glossy
Intel® Core™i5 Mobile Processor i5-520M (2.40GHz) 3MB Cache (Special Offer)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 2GB)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 - 1GB GDDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Integrated 3 in 1 SD Card Reader
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD (AS STANDARD)
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Enigma Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (4,800/5,200 mAh)
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Build Quality
I read a few reviews on this site while I was passing the time waiting for my new toy to arrive and the general impression I got was of a good build quality with one or two minor issues here and there like loose batteries, keyboards not sitting right etc etc. However, I have been hugely impressed with the build quality on mine, it is incredibly sturdy. I am yet to find ANY issues.
Score: Impressive - 9/10
Aesthetics
I was expecting the chassis to be quite basic after what I'd read, again on here, but again I'm more than happy with the way the laptop looks. The layout of the power, fingerprint sensor, mousepad, keyboard etc is very simple and elegant. Like most people, it is taking me some time to get used to pressing Ctrl+C instead of Fn+C as the keys are switched around but that is a very minor irritant! I also occasionally move away from the touchpad when moving the mouse but in the main I use a travel mouse anyway.
Score: Minor Irritants but overall excellent - 8/10
Screen
The screen is probably the most immediately impressive thing about the Enigma II. Once I installed Windows 7 and loaded the graphincs drivers, the resolution totally blows you away. In some cases I think that the default resolution of 1920x1080 will make icons/text too small for people to read but this is easily changed.
Score: Superb 10/10
Battery Life
As with all laptops, the battery life ain't great. But in respect to others, this one doesn't fall behind. Once fully charged, I managed to get about 2 and a half hours out of it while using multiple programs before I had to plug it back into the mains. Extended life batteries could be the way forward here!
Score: Not too shabby 7/10
Operating System and Device Drivers
I already have a licenced version of Windows 7 so decided to get the laptop delivered with no software installed. I was very impressed with the speed in which the laptop installed the software (approx 45 mins), and also the fact that it automatically picked up most of the device drivers. However, there is one "Unknown Device" in the Device Manager that doesn't appear to have a driver on the supplied disk. I've also tried getting Windows 7 to look for the driver online with no luck. It doesn't appear to be having any effect on my usage of the laptop so it's not really an urgent fault to fix but I will continue to look for a solution somehow!!
Score: One "unknown" issue but otherwise excellent 6/10
PC Specialists
Originally, I decided to pay by finance for my order. If at all possible, I'd avoid doing this as the finance company option will add a LONG time onto your order. It got to a point where they were requesting bank statements and/or payslips for proof of employment (which when I've done finance before I haven't had to provide), which I wasn't willing to give readily. So in the end I decided to scrap the finance option, and pay outright. PCSpecialists were superb in this process, my phone call was answered quickly and dealt with even quicker. My original order was cancelled and re-placed immediately, and they even contacted the finance company immediately to cancel my application. My deposit and finance agreement fee's were repaid into my bank account within the day also, very efficient!
Like anyone else, it was very easy for me to get frustrated with the "Pre-Production" status in the Order Tracking. In general, the order tracking is excellent but maybe there could be some sort of indication given as to where your order is in the queue?? Anyway, from order being placed to it being delivered was 8 working days which was hugely impressive taking into account the time of year. The updates via e-mail, SMS were also a nice touch.
Also, a note to the Administrators, there was a reply to a post on the forum from someone that explained in detail the processes that are undertaken in the first couple of stages of an order lifecycle, it might be an idea to put that information onto the order status breakdown page, it cleared a lot of cunfusion up for me as to what was carried out at each stage.
The goods were very neatly packed and arrived in very good condition.
Score: Price/Quality/Service were all superb 9/10
Overall
I have absolutely no complaints with my order and I am now planning on ordering a couple on behalf of my friends and family as I have found no one better for price and quality. The fact that you are only paying for what you want is also a nice touch.
Total Score: 49/60 overall a very pleasant customer experience!
PS: I'll try and get around to putting up some pics later.
Here are the Specs I chose:
Enigma II: 15.6" Full HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glossy
Intel® Core™i5 Mobile Processor i5-520M (2.40GHz) 3MB Cache (Special Offer)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 2GB)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 - 1GB GDDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Integrated 3 in 1 SD Card Reader
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD (AS STANDARD)
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Enigma Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (4,800/5,200 mAh)
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Build Quality
I read a few reviews on this site while I was passing the time waiting for my new toy to arrive and the general impression I got was of a good build quality with one or two minor issues here and there like loose batteries, keyboards not sitting right etc etc. However, I have been hugely impressed with the build quality on mine, it is incredibly sturdy. I am yet to find ANY issues.
Score: Impressive - 9/10
Aesthetics
I was expecting the chassis to be quite basic after what I'd read, again on here, but again I'm more than happy with the way the laptop looks. The layout of the power, fingerprint sensor, mousepad, keyboard etc is very simple and elegant. Like most people, it is taking me some time to get used to pressing Ctrl+C instead of Fn+C as the keys are switched around but that is a very minor irritant! I also occasionally move away from the touchpad when moving the mouse but in the main I use a travel mouse anyway.
Score: Minor Irritants but overall excellent - 8/10
Screen
The screen is probably the most immediately impressive thing about the Enigma II. Once I installed Windows 7 and loaded the graphincs drivers, the resolution totally blows you away. In some cases I think that the default resolution of 1920x1080 will make icons/text too small for people to read but this is easily changed.
Score: Superb 10/10
Battery Life
As with all laptops, the battery life ain't great. But in respect to others, this one doesn't fall behind. Once fully charged, I managed to get about 2 and a half hours out of it while using multiple programs before I had to plug it back into the mains. Extended life batteries could be the way forward here!
Score: Not too shabby 7/10
Operating System and Device Drivers
I already have a licenced version of Windows 7 so decided to get the laptop delivered with no software installed. I was very impressed with the speed in which the laptop installed the software (approx 45 mins), and also the fact that it automatically picked up most of the device drivers. However, there is one "Unknown Device" in the Device Manager that doesn't appear to have a driver on the supplied disk. I've also tried getting Windows 7 to look for the driver online with no luck. It doesn't appear to be having any effect on my usage of the laptop so it's not really an urgent fault to fix but I will continue to look for a solution somehow!!
Score: One "unknown" issue but otherwise excellent 6/10
PC Specialists
Originally, I decided to pay by finance for my order. If at all possible, I'd avoid doing this as the finance company option will add a LONG time onto your order. It got to a point where they were requesting bank statements and/or payslips for proof of employment (which when I've done finance before I haven't had to provide), which I wasn't willing to give readily. So in the end I decided to scrap the finance option, and pay outright. PCSpecialists were superb in this process, my phone call was answered quickly and dealt with even quicker. My original order was cancelled and re-placed immediately, and they even contacted the finance company immediately to cancel my application. My deposit and finance agreement fee's were repaid into my bank account within the day also, very efficient!
Like anyone else, it was very easy for me to get frustrated with the "Pre-Production" status in the Order Tracking. In general, the order tracking is excellent but maybe there could be some sort of indication given as to where your order is in the queue?? Anyway, from order being placed to it being delivered was 8 working days which was hugely impressive taking into account the time of year. The updates via e-mail, SMS were also a nice touch.
Also, a note to the Administrators, there was a reply to a post on the forum from someone that explained in detail the processes that are undertaken in the first couple of stages of an order lifecycle, it might be an idea to put that information onto the order status breakdown page, it cleared a lot of cunfusion up for me as to what was carried out at each stage.
The goods were very neatly packed and arrived in very good condition.
Score: Price/Quality/Service were all superb 9/10
Overall
I have absolutely no complaints with my order and I am now planning on ordering a couple on behalf of my friends and family as I have found no one better for price and quality. The fact that you are only paying for what you want is also a nice touch.
Total Score: 49/60 overall a very pleasant customer experience!
PS: I'll try and get around to putting up some pics later.
