It's been about a month since I'v received my Optimus V, so I'd like to share my thoughts with it so far.
Here's the spec:
Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 765M - 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 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Ordering and the seemingly endless wait...
In terms of ordering from the site itself, it gets a definite 10/10 from me. Everything's very clear and the configuration pages are very easy to navigate, providing a nice range of customisable options. After some days trying to figure out the laptop / spec i wanted, browsing the forums and asking some people for some advice, and battling with my price allowance, I settled on the Optimus V
Now I wasn't really in any kind of rush to get it, so I chose standard delivery time (which they estimated at 8-10 working days at the time). After seeing the ordering was still Processing after 5 working days, and seeing that pre-production is likely to be the longest stage in the process, I had already accepted that its very unlikely to get it any time soon. I sent an email on the 14th day of pre-production, asking if there's any problems or what the status of my order was like, and even though they never responded, the order went straight into building the next day (coincidental maybe?). Once it got into the building stage, everything flew by, took 1 day to build, 1 day to test, and was dispatched the next day (22nd working day overall). Wasn't a massive issue for me honestly, like I said I wasn't in a rush to get it, and reading the forums I understood they were very busy.
The delivery itself was great, no problems at all, was nice to get a text saying the hour it would be delivered, to make sure someone was home to receive it. Was delivered in the time they said, everything packaged nicely and secure.
The unpacking and setting up...
After unpacking everything, hooking it all up and switching it on for the first time, I was greeted by this screen:
Didn't think much to it, just started windows normally, and everything seemed to be working well. Happy days. Next thing was to install Windows 7. No problems here. Then to install all the drivers, the CD provided was for windows 8 only, but you can find most of the drivers by browsing the CD. This thread was very useful for me:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?25982-Optimus-V-Win7-drivers
I have had 1 small issue with the hotkey driver, sometimes when i switch the laptop on, it will tell me that the system needs to be restarted - make sure all driver's are installed. Have tried uninstalling / reinstalling the driver, but after a few days the message re-appears. Small annoyance but nothing major.
Performance...
The performance of this laptop is amazing. I have really noticed a jump in responsiveness and speed using the 7200rpm Hard Drive over a 5200rpm i have on my old laptop/pc. Unfortunately I couldn't stretch the budget to afford an SSD, so boot times aren't amazing, maybe 1min-1min30, not a massive issue since I usually just switch it on, go make a cuppa and its ready by the time I'm back. It Has easily handled any game I'v thrown at it so far on either high or ultra graphics. This includes Starcraft 2, Skyrim, Dead Space 3 and Tombraider. I'm not one for measuring FPS or CPU/GPU temps to be honest, as long as the laptop feels relatively cool by the touch and the game runs smoothly with no lag, then I'm happy. Although for the sake of this review, I downloaded Fraps and played Skyrim for a few minutes, wandering around outside (in the game, just to clarify) and was getting a pretty constant 60FPS with the recommended GeForce Experience settings, that is with most things on high or ultra, shadow detail medium and Antialiasing Off
Keyboard/Touchpad...
Keyboard is nice and comfortable to type on, and [despite what other people have said] I think the touchpad is fine, it does have a sort-of roughish feel to it, but that's exactly what my old Acer laptop was like, so I'm used to it. But it's responsive and does it's job so I'm happy with it - people buying a laptop for gaming will most likely be using an external mouse anyway, or have insane touchpad skills
Screen...
The screen is brilliant too, going from a 1366x768 on my old laptop, to a 1920x1080 on this one, you will notice instantly that everything looks a lot smaller, takes a little time (a few minutes maybe) to get used to. But everything looks very clear, and the colours are great, and now I don't think I could ever go back to any resolution less than this!
Speakers...
Onto the speakers... Like any laptop, or at least any laptop I'v previously owned, it doesn't provide the most amazing audio ever, and the speakers sometimes give off some weird static-like sound. I had already read comments pre-purchase about the sound from this laptop though, and knew it wouldn't be a huge problem for me as I'll be using it with either external speakers or headphones, in which the sound is perfectly fine. I read that the Soundblaster Cinema software does make a small difference in the quality, but I've not managed to get it to install properly. But as I say, with headphones/external speakers, it's fine...
Webcam/Mic...
Haven't used the webcam/mic much, only once in Skype and it seemed fine, mic was maybe a little unsensitive, but fine for a quick video chat I guess. Again not a problem as I use an external webcam for Skyping.
The dreaded fan issue...
The fan has provided some issues for a lot of people, but I must be one of the lucky ones as it's not affected me so much. Obviously when gaming, the fan will switch on fairly loud, but not to a point where it drowns out the sound of external speakers or headphones. When I'm not gaming though and just doing basic tasks like surfing the web or using Skype, the fan is silent most of the time. Had the laptop on for 6-7 hours now, and only remember hearing the fan maybe once or twice, for a quick 1-2 second cool-down.
Conclusion...
So all in all, this is a fantastic laptop if you're looking for something very capable at playing some newer games on high graphics settings, for a very very reasonable price. I feel like for a laptop to perform like this I should have spent £1000+ and I almost feel a little guilty that I'v robbed PCS with this bargain gaming laptop. From my experience I would definitely recommend this laptop to anyone, and would definitely come back to PCS again (probably sooner rather than later as I have a 5+year PC that's due for an upgrade!)
Massive thanks to anyone who's given me advice on the forums, and a massive thanks to the PCS staff who worked on the laptop: Ben Wilson for building it, Mark Bradley for testing it, and Anthony Cunliffe for packing it
Here's the spec:
Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 765M - 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 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Ordering and the seemingly endless wait...
In terms of ordering from the site itself, it gets a definite 10/10 from me. Everything's very clear and the configuration pages are very easy to navigate, providing a nice range of customisable options. After some days trying to figure out the laptop / spec i wanted, browsing the forums and asking some people for some advice, and battling with my price allowance, I settled on the Optimus V
Now I wasn't really in any kind of rush to get it, so I chose standard delivery time (which they estimated at 8-10 working days at the time). After seeing the ordering was still Processing after 5 working days, and seeing that pre-production is likely to be the longest stage in the process, I had already accepted that its very unlikely to get it any time soon. I sent an email on the 14th day of pre-production, asking if there's any problems or what the status of my order was like, and even though they never responded, the order went straight into building the next day (coincidental maybe?). Once it got into the building stage, everything flew by, took 1 day to build, 1 day to test, and was dispatched the next day (22nd working day overall). Wasn't a massive issue for me honestly, like I said I wasn't in a rush to get it, and reading the forums I understood they were very busy.
The delivery itself was great, no problems at all, was nice to get a text saying the hour it would be delivered, to make sure someone was home to receive it. Was delivered in the time they said, everything packaged nicely and secure.
The unpacking and setting up...
After unpacking everything, hooking it all up and switching it on for the first time, I was greeted by this screen:
Didn't think much to it, just started windows normally, and everything seemed to be working well. Happy days. Next thing was to install Windows 7. No problems here. Then to install all the drivers, the CD provided was for windows 8 only, but you can find most of the drivers by browsing the CD. This thread was very useful for me:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?25982-Optimus-V-Win7-drivers
I have had 1 small issue with the hotkey driver, sometimes when i switch the laptop on, it will tell me that the system needs to be restarted - make sure all driver's are installed. Have tried uninstalling / reinstalling the driver, but after a few days the message re-appears. Small annoyance but nothing major.
Performance...
The performance of this laptop is amazing. I have really noticed a jump in responsiveness and speed using the 7200rpm Hard Drive over a 5200rpm i have on my old laptop/pc. Unfortunately I couldn't stretch the budget to afford an SSD, so boot times aren't amazing, maybe 1min-1min30, not a massive issue since I usually just switch it on, go make a cuppa and its ready by the time I'm back. It Has easily handled any game I'v thrown at it so far on either high or ultra graphics. This includes Starcraft 2, Skyrim, Dead Space 3 and Tombraider. I'm not one for measuring FPS or CPU/GPU temps to be honest, as long as the laptop feels relatively cool by the touch and the game runs smoothly with no lag, then I'm happy. Although for the sake of this review, I downloaded Fraps and played Skyrim for a few minutes, wandering around outside (in the game, just to clarify) and was getting a pretty constant 60FPS with the recommended GeForce Experience settings, that is with most things on high or ultra, shadow detail medium and Antialiasing Off
Keyboard/Touchpad...
Keyboard is nice and comfortable to type on, and [despite what other people have said] I think the touchpad is fine, it does have a sort-of roughish feel to it, but that's exactly what my old Acer laptop was like, so I'm used to it. But it's responsive and does it's job so I'm happy with it - people buying a laptop for gaming will most likely be using an external mouse anyway, or have insane touchpad skills
Screen...
The screen is brilliant too, going from a 1366x768 on my old laptop, to a 1920x1080 on this one, you will notice instantly that everything looks a lot smaller, takes a little time (a few minutes maybe) to get used to. But everything looks very clear, and the colours are great, and now I don't think I could ever go back to any resolution less than this!
Speakers...
Onto the speakers... Like any laptop, or at least any laptop I'v previously owned, it doesn't provide the most amazing audio ever, and the speakers sometimes give off some weird static-like sound. I had already read comments pre-purchase about the sound from this laptop though, and knew it wouldn't be a huge problem for me as I'll be using it with either external speakers or headphones, in which the sound is perfectly fine. I read that the Soundblaster Cinema software does make a small difference in the quality, but I've not managed to get it to install properly. But as I say, with headphones/external speakers, it's fine...
Webcam/Mic...
Haven't used the webcam/mic much, only once in Skype and it seemed fine, mic was maybe a little unsensitive, but fine for a quick video chat I guess. Again not a problem as I use an external webcam for Skyping.
The dreaded fan issue...
The fan has provided some issues for a lot of people, but I must be one of the lucky ones as it's not affected me so much. Obviously when gaming, the fan will switch on fairly loud, but not to a point where it drowns out the sound of external speakers or headphones. When I'm not gaming though and just doing basic tasks like surfing the web or using Skype, the fan is silent most of the time. Had the laptop on for 6-7 hours now, and only remember hearing the fan maybe once or twice, for a quick 1-2 second cool-down.
Conclusion...
So all in all, this is a fantastic laptop if you're looking for something very capable at playing some newer games on high graphics settings, for a very very reasonable price. I feel like for a laptop to perform like this I should have spent £1000+ and I almost feel a little guilty that I'v robbed PCS with this bargain gaming laptop. From my experience I would definitely recommend this laptop to anyone, and would definitely come back to PCS again (probably sooner rather than later as I have a 5+year PC that's due for an upgrade!)
Massive thanks to anyone who's given me advice on the forums, and a massive thanks to the PCS staff who worked on the laptop: Ben Wilson for building it, Mark Bradley for testing it, and Anthony Cunliffe for packing it
