Fellowchap
Member
Hello everyone. I am new to this place, and this is my first PC Specialist purchase! I notice there have been no reviews on this laptop as of yet so hopefully this will be useful for anyone considering purchasing one. I decided to make it quite comprehensive, so there's a bit of a read ahead of you...!
Disclaimer: I am just a chap and have no particular credentials in reviewing technology - this is just my opinion!
I think I'll write this as a 'initial impression' review, and may update the thread a bit later on with anything else of importance that I notice.
Note:
Something I didn't realise straight away - this laptop does not have an internal CD/DVD drive built-in, you need to buy an external one. This isn't a huge deal for me personally but could be for others.
The graphics card comes with GDDR5 memory instead of DDR3 as specified on the site, at least according to GPU-Z. Maybe something PC Specialist needs to update (I'm guessing I didn't just 'get lucky' with this one and that all XTs come with the GDDR5), but this was a nice surprise!
My previous laptop was a Dell Inspiron 7720, so I may make some comparisons to that during this review.
Specification:
CPU: i5 6440HQ
GPU: GeForce GTX 950M GDDR5
RAM: 8GB HyperX IMPACT, 8GB
HDD: 500GB Samsung 850 EVO.
Thermal paste: Arctic M4-Extreme.
Everything else is standard.
Outer appearance + feel:
The laptop chassis has a subtly powerful look to it; there is no logo branded on the laptop and the corners/edges are angled and tapered. The speakers jut out from the chassis between the hinge of the base/monitor, with two air vents facing backwards, which I think it is a nice touch and keeps in line with the style of the rest of the laptop.
The screen might be considered a bit 'flimsy' I suppose if you were to try bending it (compared to the Dell, which is a bit of a brick in comparison), but I can't envision any problems with normal usage and I'm not going to 'stress test' it! Otherwise, the laptop feels very sturdy and solid in general.
Keypad + touchpad:
Coming from a full-sized 17" laptop keypad, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, general typing feels perfectly fine. I have made a few typing mistakes due to right shift key having been shortened to accommodate the up arrow, and I find myself accidentally pressing the up arrow instead of shift when intending writing capital letters. Otherwise, everything else I would need is present as far as I can tell.
It would have been nice if the caps-lock key had a light to indicate on/off, but a notification does appear on-screen when you tap caps-lock informing you of the on/off status. I do need to get used to the slightly different feel, but I can't envision any problems once I become accustomed to it. Doing a typing test, my WPM doesn't appear to have dropped in using this laptop.
The backlighting is very practical with 5 settings of brightness that is equally distributed across the keypad. The light comes through the lettering on the keys so it is very functional. One thing of note - my old Dell would automatically dim the the backlit keys after a brief period of touch/keypad inactivity, but this laptop's backlighting will remain always-on until you change it.
The touchpad feels fine. Maybe not quite as 'smooth' as the Dell's but that might just be because I'm so accustomed to the Dell and just need to get used to it. Two-finger gestures and the likes are taken care-of by a Synaptics driver and seems fine to me. I appreciate the two physical left and right-click buttons; I find that laptops with the buttons 'built-in' underneath the touchpad to be very frustrating and troublesome, so this is a bit of a requirement for me which has been fulfilled!
Performance:
This is the fun bit, right?!
I didn't actually buy this primarily as an ultimate gaming machine - more as something that I know would be capable when I do feel like gaming on a laptop. I have had some pretty traumatic experiences in the past with integrated graphics (though I understand integrated graphics are a lot better these days than they used to be. But still). The memory of trying to run a very blocky and greyscale Far Cry at 0.5 frames per second still haunts me...
I won't go too in-depth with framerates and performance settings of various games, but I did do a 3DMark 11 demo benchmark which I'll detail soon. I have run L4D2, Planetside 2, Skyrim, and Warframe on max resolution and high settings and the games run smoothly and look great. Planetside 2 is probably the most demanding of those games but the laptop handled it well - probably owing in part to the quad-core i5. There are lots of wide-scale battles which require a beefy processor to handle.
I opted for a 500GB SSD as my only hard-drive. I didn't want to compromise with SSHDDs or small-SSD-large-HDD pairings, so I spent the bit extra and got a reasonably-sized, single SDD.
I am very impressed with the SSD's performance! I'm experiencing that gaming first-world problem where I load into maps before anyone else has. Booting the laptop takes about 30 seconds to reach the desktop, and everything is super-responsive. I think this is a feature that will prove to be incredibly useful for as long as I use this laptop.
3DMark 11 demo score: 4502
GPU score: 4345
CPU score: 5499
Combined: 4498
Temperatures/noise:
As mentioned before, the laptop does have two separate vents pointed out the back behind the bottom of the screen/rear of the chassis. I would assume that one handles GPU cooling and the other handles CPU cooling, but I'm only guessing. Either way, the impression I get is that this laptop is designed with some high-performance in mind so I would expect the cooling to be adequate.
Again, I won't go too extreme with my testing here but just to give a general idea. I ensured my laptop was propped-up with good ventilation.
Running Unigine Valley benchmark for 5 minutes resulted in the following temperatures:
(in case the image doesn't work - 57C on the GPU and about 54C on the CPU).
I'm not an expert on safe temperatures but I believe GPUs start to become 'dangerously hot' at around 90C, so this result is very reassuring. The GPU temperature steadily rose to 57 and stuck there with no sign of increasing, and I believe the CPU temperatures jumped up but then cooled back down once the fans kicked in. Not sure what safe motherboard temperatures are supposed to be but will assume this is fine also...!
Running Prime95 'blend' test for 5 minutes resulted in the following temperatures:
This one seems a bit less reassuring - I wouldn't want to leave this on for long, as the temperatures still looked as though they would increase (in case image doesn't work - around 81C for the CPU)
The temperatures climbed quite rapidly like last time until the fans kicked in and receded, then gradually increased in temperature again. Closing Prime95 caused the temperatures to rapidly drop back down to 45C. Thankfully, typical usage/gaming should not be as CPU-intensive, so I would hope won't be a problem. Maybe if I post an update later on I'll go into CPU temperatures more. Also not sure about that motherboard temperature in this test...!
Quick update: I just Googled for information of this processor and according to the Intel website has a 'max temperature' of 100C (I believe this temp is when the CPU will be throttled). I'm still not sure if 80C region is ideal, but as mentioned, I wouldn't expect typical gaming to result in those temperatures.
Regardless, the SSD must be located far away from the GPU/CPU as it remains perfectly cool no matter what I do. My previous laptop had problems with the HDD overheating due to excess heat from the CPU/GPU, and I think was the cause of some HDD problems (clicking, possibly a damaged sector) so this is good news.
The fans are quiet most of the time, and can kick up a fuss during intensive use. Pretty standard stuff, really, but it's good to know they work hard when they need to! I also noticed the CPU and GPU fans work independently, which is mildly interesting.
Update: After some extensive Planetside 2 sessions, I think I can safely conclude that this laptop knows how to handle its cooling! The fans seem to kick into their highest(?) setting when things around around 80C and the temperatures raise no higher.
Display:
This is also an area where I'm no expert, but the screen seems pretty high-quality to me. I compared it to the Dell 7720's screen, and my personal opinion is that the 7720 has the edge, but others I asked have said that they prefer the Cosmos XT display.
I did have a bit of a problem with seeing dark images in detail, which made some games a bit difficult to play at times, but I found what seems to be the solution in the Intel Graphics Properties. I played with the settings in there and found that just by raising the brightness a bit my issue with dark images seemed fixed.
The display's brightness settings have a good range. Viewing angles seem good... I have used it for a couple days now and haven't experienced any eye fatigue that I can tell. Not much more I can say here, I think...!
Battery life:
I'm not too concerned about battery life and I won't be doing any extensive tests, but 1.5 hours of non-intensive usage took the battery down by about 50% earlier. It's adequate for my needs, but I expect there are laptops out there with much better battery life.
There's a bit more that I'll post as a reply - I've gone a bit over the character limit, sorry!
Disclaimer: I am just a chap and have no particular credentials in reviewing technology - this is just my opinion!
I think I'll write this as a 'initial impression' review, and may update the thread a bit later on with anything else of importance that I notice.
Note:
Something I didn't realise straight away - this laptop does not have an internal CD/DVD drive built-in, you need to buy an external one. This isn't a huge deal for me personally but could be for others.
The graphics card comes with GDDR5 memory instead of DDR3 as specified on the site, at least according to GPU-Z. Maybe something PC Specialist needs to update (I'm guessing I didn't just 'get lucky' with this one and that all XTs come with the GDDR5), but this was a nice surprise!
My previous laptop was a Dell Inspiron 7720, so I may make some comparisons to that during this review.
Specification:
CPU: i5 6440HQ
GPU: GeForce GTX 950M GDDR5
RAM: 8GB HyperX IMPACT, 8GB
HDD: 500GB Samsung 850 EVO.
Thermal paste: Arctic M4-Extreme.
Everything else is standard.
Outer appearance + feel:
The laptop chassis has a subtly powerful look to it; there is no logo branded on the laptop and the corners/edges are angled and tapered. The speakers jut out from the chassis between the hinge of the base/monitor, with two air vents facing backwards, which I think it is a nice touch and keeps in line with the style of the rest of the laptop.
The screen might be considered a bit 'flimsy' I suppose if you were to try bending it (compared to the Dell, which is a bit of a brick in comparison), but I can't envision any problems with normal usage and I'm not going to 'stress test' it! Otherwise, the laptop feels very sturdy and solid in general.
Keypad + touchpad:
Coming from a full-sized 17" laptop keypad, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, general typing feels perfectly fine. I have made a few typing mistakes due to right shift key having been shortened to accommodate the up arrow, and I find myself accidentally pressing the up arrow instead of shift when intending writing capital letters. Otherwise, everything else I would need is present as far as I can tell.
It would have been nice if the caps-lock key had a light to indicate on/off, but a notification does appear on-screen when you tap caps-lock informing you of the on/off status. I do need to get used to the slightly different feel, but I can't envision any problems once I become accustomed to it. Doing a typing test, my WPM doesn't appear to have dropped in using this laptop.
The backlighting is very practical with 5 settings of brightness that is equally distributed across the keypad. The light comes through the lettering on the keys so it is very functional. One thing of note - my old Dell would automatically dim the the backlit keys after a brief period of touch/keypad inactivity, but this laptop's backlighting will remain always-on until you change it.
The touchpad feels fine. Maybe not quite as 'smooth' as the Dell's but that might just be because I'm so accustomed to the Dell and just need to get used to it. Two-finger gestures and the likes are taken care-of by a Synaptics driver and seems fine to me. I appreciate the two physical left and right-click buttons; I find that laptops with the buttons 'built-in' underneath the touchpad to be very frustrating and troublesome, so this is a bit of a requirement for me which has been fulfilled!
Performance:
This is the fun bit, right?!
I didn't actually buy this primarily as an ultimate gaming machine - more as something that I know would be capable when I do feel like gaming on a laptop. I have had some pretty traumatic experiences in the past with integrated graphics (though I understand integrated graphics are a lot better these days than they used to be. But still). The memory of trying to run a very blocky and greyscale Far Cry at 0.5 frames per second still haunts me...
I won't go too in-depth with framerates and performance settings of various games, but I did do a 3DMark 11 demo benchmark which I'll detail soon. I have run L4D2, Planetside 2, Skyrim, and Warframe on max resolution and high settings and the games run smoothly and look great. Planetside 2 is probably the most demanding of those games but the laptop handled it well - probably owing in part to the quad-core i5. There are lots of wide-scale battles which require a beefy processor to handle.
I opted for a 500GB SSD as my only hard-drive. I didn't want to compromise with SSHDDs or small-SSD-large-HDD pairings, so I spent the bit extra and got a reasonably-sized, single SDD.
I am very impressed with the SSD's performance! I'm experiencing that gaming first-world problem where I load into maps before anyone else has. Booting the laptop takes about 30 seconds to reach the desktop, and everything is super-responsive. I think this is a feature that will prove to be incredibly useful for as long as I use this laptop.
3DMark 11 demo score: 4502
GPU score: 4345
CPU score: 5499
Combined: 4498
Temperatures/noise:
As mentioned before, the laptop does have two separate vents pointed out the back behind the bottom of the screen/rear of the chassis. I would assume that one handles GPU cooling and the other handles CPU cooling, but I'm only guessing. Either way, the impression I get is that this laptop is designed with some high-performance in mind so I would expect the cooling to be adequate.
Again, I won't go too extreme with my testing here but just to give a general idea. I ensured my laptop was propped-up with good ventilation.
Running Unigine Valley benchmark for 5 minutes resulted in the following temperatures:
(in case the image doesn't work - 57C on the GPU and about 54C on the CPU).
I'm not an expert on safe temperatures but I believe GPUs start to become 'dangerously hot' at around 90C, so this result is very reassuring. The GPU temperature steadily rose to 57 and stuck there with no sign of increasing, and I believe the CPU temperatures jumped up but then cooled back down once the fans kicked in. Not sure what safe motherboard temperatures are supposed to be but will assume this is fine also...!
Running Prime95 'blend' test for 5 minutes resulted in the following temperatures:
This one seems a bit less reassuring - I wouldn't want to leave this on for long, as the temperatures still looked as though they would increase (in case image doesn't work - around 81C for the CPU)
The temperatures climbed quite rapidly like last time until the fans kicked in and receded, then gradually increased in temperature again. Closing Prime95 caused the temperatures to rapidly drop back down to 45C. Thankfully, typical usage/gaming should not be as CPU-intensive, so I would hope won't be a problem. Maybe if I post an update later on I'll go into CPU temperatures more. Also not sure about that motherboard temperature in this test...!
Quick update: I just Googled for information of this processor and according to the Intel website has a 'max temperature' of 100C (I believe this temp is when the CPU will be throttled). I'm still not sure if 80C region is ideal, but as mentioned, I wouldn't expect typical gaming to result in those temperatures.
Regardless, the SSD must be located far away from the GPU/CPU as it remains perfectly cool no matter what I do. My previous laptop had problems with the HDD overheating due to excess heat from the CPU/GPU, and I think was the cause of some HDD problems (clicking, possibly a damaged sector) so this is good news.
The fans are quiet most of the time, and can kick up a fuss during intensive use. Pretty standard stuff, really, but it's good to know they work hard when they need to! I also noticed the CPU and GPU fans work independently, which is mildly interesting.
Update: After some extensive Planetside 2 sessions, I think I can safely conclude that this laptop knows how to handle its cooling! The fans seem to kick into their highest(?) setting when things around around 80C and the temperatures raise no higher.
Display:
This is also an area where I'm no expert, but the screen seems pretty high-quality to me. I compared it to the Dell 7720's screen, and my personal opinion is that the 7720 has the edge, but others I asked have said that they prefer the Cosmos XT display.
I did have a bit of a problem with seeing dark images in detail, which made some games a bit difficult to play at times, but I found what seems to be the solution in the Intel Graphics Properties. I played with the settings in there and found that just by raising the brightness a bit my issue with dark images seemed fixed.
The display's brightness settings have a good range. Viewing angles seem good... I have used it for a couple days now and haven't experienced any eye fatigue that I can tell. Not much more I can say here, I think...!
Battery life:
I'm not too concerned about battery life and I won't be doing any extensive tests, but 1.5 hours of non-intensive usage took the battery down by about 50% earlier. It's adequate for my needs, but I expect there are laptops out there with much better battery life.
There's a bit more that I'll post as a reply - I've gone a bit over the character limit, sorry!
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