I have what I'd say was a good surface knowledge of PCs/laptops. I'm not overlly skilled, I'm far from a techie - but I have been using them regularly since the mid-90s. I've also used them maybe more than some others, because I have suffered from being house-bound and sometimes bed-bound for most of my life, and my laptops have become my lifeline to the world.
Even if I don't understand fully the tech side of things, it has become more and more apparent to me in my life I need to buy the best I can. I need a laptop that can function as a desktop PC; that can flip from the internet to drawing programs, to stream videos, play music and then jump onto gaming. Spending 4 figures on a laptop has been important to me since I was a teenager, because of all this.
So the Recoil, the priciest option on the list when my Qosimo finally died, was my immediate choice. I was able to compare with the other gaming options listed on PCSpecialist easily, but Recoil won it out for me mainly edging out the others beause of the sheer amount of ports for USB and USB-C.
There were a few bumps in a first few days of setting up the Recoil - minor issues really - inability to get the RGB to work, an occasional screen flicker. These minor issues were quickly sorted by the team at PCSpecialist via email, where I found I had things explained to me really clearly. I wasn't talked down to - "Have you tried turning it off and on?
" - but neither was I drowned in tech talk I didn't understand. Very clearly I was shown where to go and what to do, and those minor issues were cleared up quickly and without needing to part with my new laptop. I'm confident that any issues that crop up in the future will be sorted as quickly and well for me. The customer service at PCSpecialist is pretty damn good.
Getting used to Windows 11 is... certainly a thing. But I'm glad to be future-proofed Windows OS-wise for a while and am sure I will adjust to this soon enough. Getting the options to have a few little things set up for me before recieving the laptop - such as firefox being my browser, and not needing an anti-virus because I had my own - was a blissful few saved seconds as I set up all I needed on my laptop, and I think it was great that those options were availible to me. (Maybe they could add a VPN option to this)
I don't find the speakers to be particularly powerful, however the sound itself is very crisp and clear. I cannot blare music as loud as I used to, but I will certainly have no issues hearing everything in videos and music. On headphones, its definitely great though.
After struggling with an aging gaming laptop for years, watching my games suddenly chug along at a great speed is amazing. My partner, who prefers to leave graphics back in the SNES era, even commented that my MMOs looked so much better and brighter. Its wonderful to be able to load up a busy area and not have to wait minutes for people to load in. I've had no trouble with my online games, or my steam games. A more tech orientated friend of mine commented that the graphics card etc wasn't the absolute best, and perhaps its not, but it is certainly more than enough for me.
Photoshop and my art programs are all running really well, and although the screen has some colour differences to my old one, I think they're all for the better. I can see things more clearly on the Recoil - and the fact it has a nightmode that I can put onto a timer is great. I frequently used to forget to nightmode my old laptop (and even earlier ones didn't even have that option) but now it'll just flip to warmer colours to save my eyes and I don't even really notice it happens.
As I said, I was used to getting the biggest, most expensive tech to compensate as laptop rather than a PC tower. The Recoil while not the lightest of laptops, is a good deal lighter than my previous laptop and much less bulky (although perhaps more bulky to some people). This makes it so much easier to relocate it if I need it in my bedroom, or if I'm able to be in the living room.
Finally... it just looks so very good with my KLIM mouse and fan too. That said the casing being matt, or perhaps something else of the make of it, really shows those greasy fingermarks. Keep a set of wipes around if you're the kind of person who hates to see that on their tech.
tl;dr? I would very highly recommend the Recoil for people who have the money and need for such a system. Its improved my life in the short time I've had it, and I'm sure it'll last me for a good few years as my other laptop investments have.
Even if I don't understand fully the tech side of things, it has become more and more apparent to me in my life I need to buy the best I can. I need a laptop that can function as a desktop PC; that can flip from the internet to drawing programs, to stream videos, play music and then jump onto gaming. Spending 4 figures on a laptop has been important to me since I was a teenager, because of all this.
So the Recoil, the priciest option on the list when my Qosimo finally died, was my immediate choice. I was able to compare with the other gaming options listed on PCSpecialist easily, but Recoil won it out for me mainly edging out the others beause of the sheer amount of ports for USB and USB-C.
There were a few bumps in a first few days of setting up the Recoil - minor issues really - inability to get the RGB to work, an occasional screen flicker. These minor issues were quickly sorted by the team at PCSpecialist via email, where I found I had things explained to me really clearly. I wasn't talked down to - "Have you tried turning it off and on?
" - but neither was I drowned in tech talk I didn't understand. Very clearly I was shown where to go and what to do, and those minor issues were cleared up quickly and without needing to part with my new laptop. I'm confident that any issues that crop up in the future will be sorted as quickly and well for me. The customer service at PCSpecialist is pretty damn good.Getting used to Windows 11 is... certainly a thing. But I'm glad to be future-proofed Windows OS-wise for a while and am sure I will adjust to this soon enough. Getting the options to have a few little things set up for me before recieving the laptop - such as firefox being my browser, and not needing an anti-virus because I had my own - was a blissful few saved seconds as I set up all I needed on my laptop, and I think it was great that those options were availible to me. (Maybe they could add a VPN option to this)
I don't find the speakers to be particularly powerful, however the sound itself is very crisp and clear. I cannot blare music as loud as I used to, but I will certainly have no issues hearing everything in videos and music. On headphones, its definitely great though.
After struggling with an aging gaming laptop for years, watching my games suddenly chug along at a great speed is amazing. My partner, who prefers to leave graphics back in the SNES era, even commented that my MMOs looked so much better and brighter. Its wonderful to be able to load up a busy area and not have to wait minutes for people to load in. I've had no trouble with my online games, or my steam games. A more tech orientated friend of mine commented that the graphics card etc wasn't the absolute best, and perhaps its not, but it is certainly more than enough for me.
Photoshop and my art programs are all running really well, and although the screen has some colour differences to my old one, I think they're all for the better. I can see things more clearly on the Recoil - and the fact it has a nightmode that I can put onto a timer is great. I frequently used to forget to nightmode my old laptop (and even earlier ones didn't even have that option) but now it'll just flip to warmer colours to save my eyes and I don't even really notice it happens.
As I said, I was used to getting the biggest, most expensive tech to compensate as laptop rather than a PC tower. The Recoil while not the lightest of laptops, is a good deal lighter than my previous laptop and much less bulky (although perhaps more bulky to some people). This makes it so much easier to relocate it if I need it in my bedroom, or if I'm able to be in the living room.
Finally... it just looks so very good with my KLIM mouse and fan too. That said the casing being matt, or perhaps something else of the make of it, really shows those greasy fingermarks. Keep a set of wipes around if you're the kind of person who hates to see that on their tech.
tl;dr? I would very highly recommend the Recoil for people who have the money and need for such a system. Its improved my life in the short time I've had it, and I'm sure it'll last me for a good few years as my other laptop investments have.
