My new Optimus IV 17"

[Englishman]

*EDIT* MY REVIEW IS POST #7 ON THIS THREAD *EDIT*


As my PS3 and laptop both broke coinciding with each other i was looking for something to somewhat replace both on a student budget, so through begging borrowing and stealing (i jest), i mustered all i could to throw into the new machine, here is the result:

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
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
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Intel Anti-Theft Technology
FREE 90 Day Intel Anti-Theft Trial - Prevent Data Access upon Theft
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £849.00 including VAT and delivery.

this laptop and spec were chosen as i enjoy watching movies on the go and at home in bed, with the 17" full hd screen and blu-ray player this will be good. also i enjoy gaming to a reasonable degree on RPG's such as Skyrim and the Fallout series, and strategy such as the Total War series. on top of that i am on a degree course so need something portable to take to and from university (weight doesn't bother me nor size, as long as i can carry it from car to building and back, ie not a desktop).

upon comparing price-spec to other online 'shops' and all my local places (PC World, Currys, Staples, etc) PCSpecialist was leagues more affordable for a much MUCH superior build and what i hope is going to be a fantastic machine. i would have loved to afford a vortex, but for the price raise of nearly £200 for the same spec on the 15" screen it was just out of reach, the superior ventilation (not to mention that cool/pretty light up keyboard) would have been a nice advantage though. my only reservation on the optimus is a big worry of overheating as that is what caused a motherboard fault in my last laptop, i have bought an on-lap cooling stand to go with this laptop. (in case PCS are seeing this i was referred to you by a friend who owns one of your laptops and you came highly recommended, he is on a Computer Game Programming degree)

my laptop was ordered on Monday and i am somewhat disappointed for it to still be in 'pre-production'. After speaking to a salesman on the phone pre-ordering it bugged me as my dissertation is due in a month (yes very inconvenient for my lappy to stop working), and due to me being at a university house and needing the laptop to be delivered to my university address not my listed debit card address, i was unable to get it on the 5 day fast track build time. i see no reason for it being delivered here to cause that to not be possible (when questioned the salesman gave rather run-of-the-mill squirm my way out of it cos i don't really know either" kinda answers.

so when the laptop does arrive i will update with my initial review, and then will update again after a month or two of use. My hopes are for a well built, solid feeling machine that can run most games on medium settings, less demanding on high settings, and very demanding games on low settings, i am not expecting the world, just a generally good laptop for multi-purpose use and some long gaming sessions.

any comments on the build i chose and tips on maintenance are most welcome, look forward to receiving my machine and will update again when i do.

Mark

 

[moosEh]

(in case PCS are seeing this i was referred to you by a friend who owns one of your laptops and you came highly recommended, he is on a Computer Game Programming degree)

my laptop was ordered on Monday and i am somewhat disappointed for it to still be in 'pre-production'. After speaking to a salesman on the phone pre-ordering it bugged me as my dissertation is due in a month (yes very inconvenient for my lappy to stop working), and due to me being at a university house and needing the laptop to be delivered to my university address not my listed debit card address, i was unable to get it on the 5 day fast track build time. i see no reason for it being delivered here to cause that to not be possible (when questioned the salesman gave rather run-of-the-mill squirm my way out of it cos i don't really know either" kinda answers.

so when the laptop does arrive i will update with my initial review, and then will update again after a month or two of use. My hopes are for a well built, solid feeling machine that can run most games on medium settings, less demanding on high settings, and very demanding games on low settings, i am not expecting the world, just a generally good laptop for multi-purpose use and some long gaming sessions.

any comments on the build i chose and tips on maintenance are most welcome, look forward to receiving my machine and will update again when i do.

Mark

We apologies that your laptop is still in pre-production, this stage can last a few days to over a week (dependent on the amount of orders we currently have and stock). As soon as it goes into building the rest of the stages normally pass quickly, within a few working days.
As for the fast track service we are unable to deliver a fast track order to a different address to your invoice address for anti-fraud reasons (Sorry!)

 

[Seppie]

Congrats on the purchase!
Hopefully the whole process runs smoothly for you.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

You could of placed the order through finance?
Put the lump sum you had managed to collect to one side, made a few of the monthly payments and then paid off the remaining amount before the 12 months were up.... that way theres no interest charges, just a £26 early payment fee.
For some reason the 17.3" vortex III is cheaper than the 15.6.... strange to me but i went for the 17.3" so i wont complain!

You might of been able to stretch for something with a bit more kick to it that way, anyway, it was just a thought and you've already ordered now.

As long as you are happy what you have ordered will do the jobs you want it too then theres no worries

 

[Rakk]

You could of placed the order through finance?
Put the lump sum you had managed to collect to one side, made a few of the monthly payments and then paid off the remaining amount before the 12 months were up.... that way theres no interest charges, just a £26 early payment fee.

Remember that not everyone is willing to use finance, or just cant due to whatever reason

 

[moosEh]

Remember that not everyone is willing to use finance, or just cant due to whatever reason

And you would still have the same problem with delivery, as it would go to the invoice address only with a Finance order.

 

[Englishman]

My Review


Ordering, Delivery and PCS Staff Verdict: 10/10
once ordered i was constantly updated through email and online through PCS as to the progress of my laptop, in total i recieved it in 7 working days!!! FANTASTIC. special thanks to Lisa Donnellan who build my laptop, Ben Alderson who tested and quality controlled it, and Adam Kirby who packed it. also thankyou to call centre staff who i contacted over the phone and through the 'online chat' querying delivery dates and likely completion time. the laptop was incredibly well packed, no rattling or loosness and plenty of padding. the laptop box (which itself is well protected) was inside a further larger box with plenty of padding around for extra protection, big bonus points. it arrived the day after it was collected from PCS by the DPD delivery company.

Initial impressions Verdict: 9/10
the laptop is good looking when taking it out of the box, the back of the screen has a very attractive matte effect and looks high quality, on opening the laptop it looks the part, it has a discreet but quality look to it, not a conventional gaming laptop but i am overall highly impressed with the 'feel' of it and how it looks, it exceedes my expectations from online pics. one faux-pas is that where the battery sits on the metallic bottom on the underside of the laptop (the battery comes in a separate plastic sleeve) there were a lot of smudged fingerprints, doesn't really bother me as you can't expect a custom laptop not to be touched, but initial impressions it did catch me for a second as i fit the battery.

The Screen and Blu-Ray Player Verdict 8/10
upon turning the laptop on i was amazed at the clarity of the full 1080p screen. after the initial startup and downoading of word, media players, internet security etc the first thing i did was try out a blu ray, absolutely astounding colour definition and clarity to the picture. also of note is that my laptop came with a PowerDVD 10 disc (which has the blu-ray media player), out of interest i was wondering if this was a premium disc so looked on amazon to find it for around £40-£50, a nice addition to the bundle here PCS!! This would be a 10/10 but for two things. firstly on a dark but lit screen (very low light movies/ starting the laptop up) and where the screen is predominantly dark browns, greys and blacks there is clear illumination around the edge of the screen, i don't know if this is normal or not, but my last laptop didn't do it. secondly there is a darned green pixel come up which i noticed on the second day, it is thankfully right in the bottom right of the screen about an inch from the side and no more than half a cm from the bottom. just an unfortunate thing to happen on a new laptop.

The Keyboard Verdict: 9/10
i have used the laptop now for a number of days (it arrived thursday, it is now sunday), and i have to say, i am simply amazed at the quality and responsiveness of the keys. i was slightly apprehensive as my last laptop the keys 'touched' one another and were slightly larger, but this laptop is so natural to type on and my hands rest perfectly either side of the touchpad. there is a satisfactory feedback when buttons are pressed, not loud, not a click, but just what u want to feel when typing. my one niggle is the right hand shift key is short and the up arrow is directly next to it, nothing major but it will take me some getting used to as when capitalizing a letter i often hit the up key with my little finger then insert the letter to the line above. i am sure this will go with time but for a 17" laptop one would expect a full 'unsquashed' keyboard.

The Touchpad and Mouse Buttons Verdict: 5/10
i've split this in two, the touchpad gets a 4/5, the laptop comes with a lot of shortcut touchpad commands which you can read on the user manual disc, they are very useful and not gimicky, such as 'three finger swipe up' to open 'My Computer' and thankfully a 'three finger click' to operate the right mouse click by touch. i knock off one point for when playing games it stalls and i have to redo the action for it to kick in gear and work. the mouse buttons on the other hand i give 1/5 for, as (i think) my right mouse button is faulty. the left button i can hit anywhere and it gives a little 'click' sound and it will be responding on screen. however the right button does not work at all on the left half of the button no matter how hard i press, and the right side it will 'click' but nothing will happen unless i press surprisingly hard on the key. to get around this i have been using the tripple finger trackpad touch, for £850 i am a little disappointed. note if the mouse buttons worked as they should this would be a 9/10.

Performance Verdict 10/10
simply put... WOW. amazing performance in all that i have thrown at it. Empire Total War runs on ultra everything with a non-stuttering screen and crisp continual viewing of 1080 resolution, exceedingly fast load and save times, much much faster than my last laptop. same results on Skyrim, everything worked on ultra settings fluidly with the 1080 resolution which i was very very impressed with. unfortunately these are the only two games i've played at any length (over 4hrs per session) as i have a dissertation at university due soon so am mostly typing on the laptop. On a side note the fan is very loud indeed when at full blast so although it can play these games on ultra settings (which is awesome) i am tending to run them on medium - high to reduce fan noise. loud fan doesn't bother me at all as i wasn't expecting ultra settings for this laptop. also i am only using it on a laptop cooliong stand which seems to reduce fan noise of the laptop when gaming.

I'm not massively technically minded with laptops and know little about benchmarking, so i ran my own little experiment to test out the multitasking of the laptop. without stuttering, lag, or break in cursor movements i symultaneously; transferred my itunes library and a couple movies symultaneously from an external hard drive; downloaded SPSS from online (a data analysis programme i need for university work); installed Skyrim; opened and played youtube videos across 3 internet browsers on multiple tabs in each; played a movie in powerdvd; and after skyrim installed i started playing Empire Total War in high settings. albeit the fan kicked in and the laptop got a bit hot, but everything ran without fail or fault seemingly continuously.i closed the internet browsers and movie player and continued the transfers and downloading of SPSS in the background as i played the game and this worked fine, upon finishing playing the files were transferred, spss was downloaded, and i did not at any point see a performance difference in the game.



OVERALL VERDICT: 9/10

Pros:
- Amazing gaming performance
- A pleasure to type on.
- Good looking
- Super fast in day to day use
- Impressive screen quality

Cons:
- Unfamiliar keyboard (squashed right shift key)
- Screen illumination round the edge on a dark picture


i exclude the green pixel from the overall review, it is something that bugs me but PCS specifically pre-mention that it may happen so it was always a risk when ordering a laptop from them. (from what i can remember if it's under 7 pixels faulty and you don't have the pixel repair cover then ur on your own).

also i have not included the right clicker fault in the overall review (which really does bug me and am rather annoyed about), i am likely going to get in touch with PCS to get it fixed in the near future, but as my dissertation is due in less than a month i need my laptop for the duration, i am sure from what i have heard that they will be more than accomodating in arranging a repair/fix.


overall, very satisfied and would reccommend.