noiseboyuk
New member
REVIEW – OPTIMUS IV (Specs at end of review)
Ordering and delivery
Prior to ordering, PC Specialist show you a list of expected delivery dates, and it looked like it might take 2-3 weeks to get the thing to me. Feeling impatient and knowing I'd be away for a few days in a fortnight's time, I opted for the 5 day turnaround. I ordered on the Sunday, and by end of Monday the laptop was built. It was tested on Tuesday, despatched Wednesday and I had it exactly as DPD said by lunchtime Thursday. Brilliant.
The System
Unlike most folks here I guess, I'm not remotely interested in gaming (the 660M graphics card will get zero use, I'll rely on the more efficient internal graphics in the CPU). The laptop will serve two functions – first, as a general purpose workhorse for internet, email, office apps etc. The second – and far more demanding – use is as an audio workstation. I was advised by PC Specialist that this was probably the best model for this purpose. Although for serious use I'd always either use headphones or connect to external monitoring, I wanted the built in speakers to be tolerable. I was also keen for battery life to be ok too, and this model suggested a battery life of 6 hours in UMA mode. I ordered the more expensive Gamut screen, keen to make use of hi res for clarity, and figuring it would be nice to see DVDs and Blu Rays looking good. There's 24GB of RAM and 2x750GB hybrid drives.
Physical aspects
This, I'll confess, is disappointing. The case feels very flimsy, and the hard edge is not at all comfortable to rest your wrists on. The trackpad seems poor too (you need to manually install the software from the driver disk) – frequently it selects blocks of text at random, which is infuriating, even with the sensitivity turned right down.
Despite the presence of THX stickers and a proud “Onkyo speakers installed” on the case, the sound is utterly woeful, rather like listening to headphones – worn by somebody else. Battery life is also a disappointment – even on UMA, minimum brightness and maximum power saving modes, I'd be lucky to hit 4 hours, and maybe nearer 2. The power supplies (I ordered a spare) are relatively big and heavy. Also, regardless of how you set up the power saving in windows, closing the case will ALWAYS put the machine in standby, which can be annoying. For a nearly £1,500 rig, these are all very disappointing.
It's not all bad though. The screen looks very good indeed – very sharp, clear, colourful, no glare and 10x better than my old Dell. All ports, webcam and connections seem to work fine, and it connects very quickly to wifi. The keyboard is nice and responsive. Note (as advised prior to purchase) you can only use either the HDMI OR VGA ports for an external monitor, not both. The machine doesn't get too hot in use generally, and is very quiet unless the fan kicks in – which tends to be short-lived and even then not as loud as my old laptop.
Software and performance
In contrast to the poor physical aspects to the machine, the performance and general reliability after a couple of weeks use seem excellent. There have been no crashes or even glitches really, everything is quick and responsive. The combination of 24GB ram, 1.5TB hybrid HDD and fast CPU make this perfect as a lifeboat for my main rig (also PC Specialist), and a really capable performer in its own right – it can run very demanding audio software easily. Boot time is excellent – 20s from the bios screen to the password, and just a second or two after that, so the hybrid drives seem to work well. I don't think I'd get this level of performance and spec from any competitor at this price point.
Conclusion
Mixed. The base of the Optimus is mid-level, and yet the quality of the case, trackpad and speakers are all considerably below my bottom-of-the-rung Dell this machine replaces – and that cost ¼ of this. I'd have paid more to have these in better quality, no questions. I don't think there's any realistic prospect of them being upgraded in my machine, so it's a case of living with it, unfortunately.
But more positively, like the Millennium Falcon, she's got it where it counts, kid. It's a wolf in sheep's clothing. I can even convince myself that the drab flimsy exterior has one advantage – it won't attract any attention, and yet it has phenomenal power under the hood.
IMO, PC Specialist would do well to take another look at their range. Not all customers need a graphics card that will take down the national grid when thrust into action. I think there needs to be a better build quality option in the mid range, able to be expanded internally to a high spec for CPU, RAM and HDDs.
Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 15.6" AUO Matte 95% Gamut Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3740QM (2.70GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 24GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (3 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 6x BLURAY WRITER, 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® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + 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 2 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor (£19)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH (£39)
Ordering and delivery
Prior to ordering, PC Specialist show you a list of expected delivery dates, and it looked like it might take 2-3 weeks to get the thing to me. Feeling impatient and knowing I'd be away for a few days in a fortnight's time, I opted for the 5 day turnaround. I ordered on the Sunday, and by end of Monday the laptop was built. It was tested on Tuesday, despatched Wednesday and I had it exactly as DPD said by lunchtime Thursday. Brilliant.
The System
Unlike most folks here I guess, I'm not remotely interested in gaming (the 660M graphics card will get zero use, I'll rely on the more efficient internal graphics in the CPU). The laptop will serve two functions – first, as a general purpose workhorse for internet, email, office apps etc. The second – and far more demanding – use is as an audio workstation. I was advised by PC Specialist that this was probably the best model for this purpose. Although for serious use I'd always either use headphones or connect to external monitoring, I wanted the built in speakers to be tolerable. I was also keen for battery life to be ok too, and this model suggested a battery life of 6 hours in UMA mode. I ordered the more expensive Gamut screen, keen to make use of hi res for clarity, and figuring it would be nice to see DVDs and Blu Rays looking good. There's 24GB of RAM and 2x750GB hybrid drives.
Physical aspects
This, I'll confess, is disappointing. The case feels very flimsy, and the hard edge is not at all comfortable to rest your wrists on. The trackpad seems poor too (you need to manually install the software from the driver disk) – frequently it selects blocks of text at random, which is infuriating, even with the sensitivity turned right down.
Despite the presence of THX stickers and a proud “Onkyo speakers installed” on the case, the sound is utterly woeful, rather like listening to headphones – worn by somebody else. Battery life is also a disappointment – even on UMA, minimum brightness and maximum power saving modes, I'd be lucky to hit 4 hours, and maybe nearer 2. The power supplies (I ordered a spare) are relatively big and heavy. Also, regardless of how you set up the power saving in windows, closing the case will ALWAYS put the machine in standby, which can be annoying. For a nearly £1,500 rig, these are all very disappointing.
It's not all bad though. The screen looks very good indeed – very sharp, clear, colourful, no glare and 10x better than my old Dell. All ports, webcam and connections seem to work fine, and it connects very quickly to wifi. The keyboard is nice and responsive. Note (as advised prior to purchase) you can only use either the HDMI OR VGA ports for an external monitor, not both. The machine doesn't get too hot in use generally, and is very quiet unless the fan kicks in – which tends to be short-lived and even then not as loud as my old laptop.
Software and performance
In contrast to the poor physical aspects to the machine, the performance and general reliability after a couple of weeks use seem excellent. There have been no crashes or even glitches really, everything is quick and responsive. The combination of 24GB ram, 1.5TB hybrid HDD and fast CPU make this perfect as a lifeboat for my main rig (also PC Specialist), and a really capable performer in its own right – it can run very demanding audio software easily. Boot time is excellent – 20s from the bios screen to the password, and just a second or two after that, so the hybrid drives seem to work well. I don't think I'd get this level of performance and spec from any competitor at this price point.
Conclusion
Mixed. The base of the Optimus is mid-level, and yet the quality of the case, trackpad and speakers are all considerably below my bottom-of-the-rung Dell this machine replaces – and that cost ¼ of this. I'd have paid more to have these in better quality, no questions. I don't think there's any realistic prospect of them being upgraded in my machine, so it's a case of living with it, unfortunately.
But more positively, like the Millennium Falcon, she's got it where it counts, kid. It's a wolf in sheep's clothing. I can even convince myself that the drab flimsy exterior has one advantage – it won't attract any attention, and yet it has phenomenal power under the hood.
IMO, PC Specialist would do well to take another look at their range. Not all customers need a graphics card that will take down the national grid when thrust into action. I think there needs to be a better build quality option in the mid range, able to be expanded internally to a high spec for CPU, RAM and HDDs.
Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 15.6" AUO Matte 95% Gamut Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3740QM (2.70GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 24GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (3 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 6x BLURAY WRITER, 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® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + 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 2 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor (£19)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH (£39)
