Laptop Advice.

[Encolpius]

Hello peoples.

I'm contemplating a new laptop at some point in the near future (once I've saved up a bit of cash) and I'm contemplating either the Enigma II or III. I wonder if people can advise on this sort of thing, as my knowledge of hardware is a bit iffy. Still, I came here because equivalent systems from "brand" manufacturers seem more expensive for less powerful stuff.

Firstly, 1920*1080 on a 15.6" screen - is this a good idea or will I get eyestrain from trying to read the tiny text? Full HD resolution isn't really a big thing for me as I have no films on blu-ray or anything like that in my possession, so ability to watch HDTV etc. is not something I'm all that fussed about.

Secondly, graphics cards. Tom's Hardware tells me that the Radeon HD 5650 is actually more powerful than the Nvidia GT 540M. That's according to this page:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

However, the reason I ask is that I want something that I can play The Witcher 2 on (having been a fan of the first game and my present lappy not being able to run the second) among other things and according to that page the Radeon HD 5650 is equivalent or so to the Radeon HD 3850 which is the minimum card for that game (I don't want to break the bank or get squadrillions of frames per second, just be fairly smooth and reasonably detailed.) But I've checked on other sites and the Nvidia card comes out as being more powerful. Anyone able to shed any light on this who's used systems with both cards and been able to compare? I've seen youtube vids of people running that title on high on those cards but experiences vary.

Thirdly, do laptops from here come groaning with cruft like what my present Lenovo slab required me to spend the first evening I got it cleaning all the pointless b*ll*x off of that I'd never use?

Fourthly, anyone here ever owned an Enigma II / Enigma III and able to comment on reliability, durability, etc. as the reason I want a laptop rather than a desktop is because I take it to work and/or on client visits, Court, hammering out pleadings, etc. - I'm a trainee solicitor, for the record - so it'll find itself used very heavily at a variety of things and dragged around a lot. Battery life is not too important as I can find a plug in most places but it'd be nice to do some common or garden tasks with it when not plugged in.

Here's what I'm considering for the Enigma III and for the Enigma II. Anyone able to suggest alterations or alternatives without adding too much in the way of price, or better still, suggesting a less powerful but cheaper alteration that you think would fit, is welcome to so do.

ENIGMA III

Dimensions & Weight
Dimensions (W x D x H) 376.5mm x 249mm x 34.9mm
Weight 2.5KG
Chipset
Chipset Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
Processor Support 2nd Gen Intel® Core™ CPUs
Memory
Memory Type Supports DDR-III 1333Mhz
Number of Modules 2 x 1GB/2GB/4GB Modules
Maximum Supported Memory 8GB
Hard Drive Capacity
Hard Drive Type 1 x 9.5mm, 2.5” S-ATA HDD support
Display & Graphics
Graphics 2GB Nvidia® GeForce™ GT540M
Screen Size 15.6 inch Widescreen
Native/Maximum Resolution Choice of screen - refer to configurator
Backlight LED
Audio
Chipset Intel High Definition Audio
Channels 2 channel HD Audio
Connections Microphone-in and headphone-out
Speakers 2 x 2W Stereo Speakers
Integrated Microphone Yes
Communications
LAN Gigabit LAN
Wireless Support Wireless LAN 802.11B/G/N Half Mini Card module
Bluetooth Support Bluetooth V3.0 module support
Webcam 1.3MP Webcam
Firewire (IEEE 1394) N/A
Expansion Slots
PCI Express Card N/A
TV Tuner N/A
Keyboard & Mouse
Keys 99/100 keys support with 101/102 key emulation without stick-point
Stroke Distance 2.5mm travel length
Language Support Multi-Language support
Pointing Device | Touchpad Mouse Touchpad with up/down scroll zone and two buttons
Memory Card Reader
Memory Card Reader 3-in-1 Card Reader (SD, MMC, MS)
Webcam
Webcam 1.3MP Webcam
Ports
HDMI Ports 1
USB 1 x USB 3.0 Port, 2 x USB 2.0 Port
USB/e-SATA N/A
Display 1 x 15 pin VGA OUT port
Microphone-IN 1
Headphone-OUT 1
DC-in 1
LAN 1 x RJ-45 jack
Kensington Lock Yes
Control Buttons & Special Keys
Power Button 1
Wireless Killer Switch Yes
Battery & Power Lead
Battery Type 6 Cell Li-Ion, 4400mAH/11.1V
Typical Battery Life Tested 3 hours 36 minutes playing muted DVD with Core i7 CPU & 8GB of RAM.
Power Lead & AC Adpater 1 x Power Lead included with AC Adapter
Security
Fingerprint Scanner N/A
Kensington Lock Yes

TOTAL £683.00

ENIGMA II

Dimensions & Weight
Dimensions (W x D x H) 377mm x 255mm x 27 ~ 37.6mm
Weight 2.7Kg
Chipset
Chipset Intel PM55
Processor Support Supports Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 Processors
Front Side Bus 1333 MHz FSB Support
Memory
Memory Type Supports DDR-III 1333Mhz
Number of Modules 2 x 1GB/2GB/4GB Modules
Maximum Supported Memory 8GB
Hard Drive Capacity
Hard Drive Type 1 x 9.5mm, 2.5” S-ATA HDD support
Display & Graphics
Graphics 1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 5650 PCI Express
Screen Size 15.6 inch widescreen HD glare
Native/Maximum Resolution 1920 x 1080
Backlight LED
Audio
Chipset Intel High Definition Audio
Channels 2 channel HD Audio
Connections Microphone-in and headphone-out
Speakers 2 x 1.5W Speakers
Integrated Microphone Yes
Communications
Modem N/A
LAN Gigabit LAN
Wireless Support Wireless LAN, 802.11a/g/n (Intel Shirley Peak)
Bluetooth Support Bluetooth Ver. 2.0 module with USB2.0 interface
Webcam 2.0 M Pixel CMOS via USB2.0 interface
Firewire (IEEE 1394) N/A
Expansion Slots
TV Tuner 1 x Mini card slot for Hybrid TV Tuner
PCI/PCI Express Port Two mini-card (WLAN x1, TV-Tuner x1 )
Keyboard & Mouse
Keys 85/86 keys support with 101/102 key emulation without stick-point
Stroke Distance 3.0mm travel length
Language Support Multi-Language support
Pointing Device | Touchpad Mouse Touchpad with up/down scroll zone and two buttons
Memory Card Reader
Memory Card Reader 3-in-1 Card Reader (SD, MMC, MS)
Webcam
Webcam 2.0 M Pixel CMOS via USB2.0 interface
Ports
HDMI Ports 1
USB 4 x USB 2.0
Display 1 x 15 pin VGA OUT port
Microphone-IN 1
Headphone-OUT 1
DC-in 1
LAN 1 x RJ-45 jack
Kensington Lock Yes
Control Buttons & Special Keys
Power Button 1
USB Power Button 1
WOW Video Button 1
WOW Audio Button 1
Wireless Killer Switch Yes
TouchPad Disable Button 1
Battery & Power Lead
Battery Type 6 Cell Li-Ion, 18650 type, 4800/5200mAH
Life Cycle Life Cycle: 70% Design Capacity after 300 Cycles in 25°C
Power Lead & AC Adpater 1 x Power Lead included with AC Adapter
Security
Fingerprint Scanner Fingerprint LTT SS801U & UPEK TCS5B
Kensington Lock Yes

TOTAL £625.00

 

[PCS]

Welcome to our forums

Firstly please note that the Enigma II is a limited model and will shortly sell out.

1. Full HD should not cause eye strain - well it doesn't for me and I've not heard any members mention this before. Worst case scanario is you can reduce the resolution if your vision doesn't allow for full HD.

2. The HD Radeon 5650M is a respectable card, but unfortunatley I don't have any game test results with The Witcher 2

3. Our notebooks do not come installed with any "bloatware" - the only software installed is anti-virus and Microsoft Office unless you de-select these on our configurator.

4. Here are a few reviews of the Enigma III:

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forum...III-520-post-purchase-review-it-s-wonderful!h
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?11479-Laptop-review-Enigma-III-540
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?12114-ENIGMA-III-quick-review-pics

5. The two chassis you have posted are not the component specification, they are the general specification. Please see this thread: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forum...-way-to-post-your-specification-to-our-forums! for instructions on how to post your spec.

 

[Encolpius]

Thanks awfully PCS.

Well, how would you rate the Radeon HD 5650 against the Nvidia 540M, from your experience?

As for the spec, I was thinking a quad-core i7 together with 8 GB RAM (in my experience even for general use, with both Vista and Windows 7 you want lots of RAM because Windows uses bucketloads - I upgraded my present system from 2 GB to 6 GB) and a 750 GB Caviar Black hard drive.

Also, I saw another user on here say that there were going to be some new systems appearing in April with the new Nvidia 600 cards. Does this mean the present Nvidia 500 systems will be lowered in price to make way for the new ones? If so I might just hang on to my wallet till then.

 

[tom_gr7]

yes its certainly a good idea to go for a quad core i7, 8gb ram, (win 7 is act pretty good for using low amounts of ram) a 750gb scorpio blue drive would be a good option. (a quad core I7 costs alot though) So ya budget may have to go up slightly

I cant say how good the 540m will be on the witcher 2 though, as I don't know. So hopefully other users with direct experience of the 540m will post for you.

 

[tom_gr7]

could you push for this

Chassis & Display
Optimus II: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6230 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W Adaptor (GT 540M) / 120W Adaptor (GT 555M)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £820.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/optimusII-15/

 

[Encolpius]

Tom, I think that's a bit outside my price range. However, on the Enigma II, I could get the "old" i7 quad-core and the same RAM and 7200rpm hard disk for well within my budget. In real life, do people think the difference between the old quad-core and the Sandy Bridge ("new") quad-core justifies the bump in price taking into account having to get a higher priced chassis overall?

Also, anyone else got any guidance on how the Radeon HD 5650 stacks up against the Nvidia 540M?

I also note that in that build, Tom, you went for the extended warranty. I know it's only five pounds but is it worth it?

Chassis & Display
Enigma II: 15.6" Gloss Full HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-740QM (1.73GHz) 6MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5650 - 1GB GDDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC, MS)
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & INTEL WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Bluetooth & Infrared Options
ENIGMA SERIES INTEGRATED BLUETOOTH ADAPTER (£7)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £625.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/enigmaII/

 

[Rakk]

I also note that in that build, Tom, you went for the extended warranty. I know it's only five pounds but is it worth it?

Well, it basically means that if you do need to return your laptop to PCS for fixes that the courier charges will be covered for a year, rather than just a month (which is the standard), so for me at least that makes it well worth it, especially since its only a fiver, cant even buy lunch for that.

 

[PCS]

Also, anyone else got any guidance on how the Radeon HD 5650 stacks up against the Nvidia 540M?

The 5650M performs very closely to the 540M, have a quick look at some reviews here:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-540M.41715.0.html vs http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5650.23697.0.html

On the notebookcheck.net charts, the 540M is ranked 103 and the 5650M is ranked 121. Here's a comparison:

 

[Music Guy123]

Just a thought, you mentioned that you but a scorpio black in your present system. Will you still be using that system because what you can do is send the HDD to PCS and they will install it for you. You could then put the old HDD you had in that system as a backup if that makes sense. If you don't want to do that, I can understand, just a thought though, you can save a lot of money by not buying an HDD.

 

[Encolpius]

I did think of getting something without a hard disk and without Windows and moving the 500gb hard disk from my present system over, however, some things sprang to mind:

1. Windows would probably refuse to work saying it wasn't activated for the new system.
2. Ditto MS Office.
3. No drivers/possibly wrong drivers.

The Caviar Black

 

[Music Guy123]

I am not sure what windows will do. Ms office should work. Drivers can be changed so there isn't a problem there. The Scorpio black is a very good drive, faster than the momentus. If I were you, I really would move the drive across. How did you get your win copy, is it the one that came installed on the laptop? Also, why have you got caviar black written at the bottom of your post, is this a typo?