Review - Recoil 17.3" - i7 9750H - 16GB - 2x512GB SSD - GTX 1660Ti (Bought Dec 2019)

[claval]

I feel like this topic will never end up being "dead".

The keyboard backlights simply stop working after a while that the computer is on. Needs to open the "Gaming Centre" and click again on the setting that you want it to have.

Can't believe that EVERY SINGLE RMA added more issues than it resolved. Unbelievable.

 

[claval]

Time to update this topic!

Today the secondary disk started disconnecting. Out of the blue I started seeing the Windows Explorer pop up showing the content of Disk "D". Didn't think much initially but now, after leaving the PC idling for the whole afternoon, I'm coming back to it and the disk D is nowhere to be seen. nearly 500GB of data disappeared.

Yet another great performance from this awesome PC Specialist product. /s

Edit: Apparently it just disappear at times and you must hope to have it read after a restart.

 

[claval]

Here I am upping this thread just to report on the state on this laptop in 2022, barely 3 years after buying it.

This will be quick:

- One of the three USB port have stopped working (left one)
- The fans basically spin up at such a volume that it's impossible to use this laptop without headset/earbuds/etc
- One of the internal SSD disk simply can't go lower than 60C of temperature at all times (the one I mentioned in the last post), even when literally nothing is using it, as it's the "storage" disk. The other one stays stable around 40C.

The laptop is routinely cleaned from dust as this case basically is a magnet for it with how open it is.

All in all, terrible experience with this shop. Will update some other time to report when it finally dies.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Here I am upping this thread just to report on the state on this laptop in 2022, barely 3 years after buying it.

This will be quick:

- One of the three USB port have stopped working (left one)
- The fans basically spin up at such a volume that it's impossible to use this laptop without headset/earbuds/etc
- One of the internal SSD disk simply can't go lower than 60C of temperature at all times (the one I mentioned in the last post), even when literally nothing is using it, as it's the "storage" disk. The other one stays stable around 40C.

The laptop is routinely cleaned from dust as this case basically is a magnet for it with how open it is.

All in all, terrible experience with this shop. Will update some other time to report when it finally dies.

There are loads of steps we could go down but it's clear youre not looking for any solutions.

It's a custom laptop, you need to be familiar with maintenance.

But it's going to die soon if you don't do some basic maintenance.

 

[claval]

I'll probably have to do that.

Edit: "i'll probably have to do that" wasn't in response to SpyderTracks but to someone's else post that was suggesting buying another brand without mentioning for fear of getting banned and the post removed. I guess that wasn't enough as the post have disappeared.

Also, just opened it and... does this battery looks right to you lots?

I guess doing some maintenance would have made that battery not swollen like that right? Would have used some compressed air helped? /s

I am seriously curious about what maintenance an SSD used ONLY for data storage (so not even accessed that much) would require to not start going in the bin after barely three years.

The truth is that cheap products are used as base choice, unless you opt for the branded alternative when building your laptop.
The issue here is that the saving I got from ordering here, isn't that much if you consider the headache I've got due to those cheap products.

This will be the very first laptop (and I own a laptop since my 20s) that I've to put away before at least 5 years have passed.

 

[barlew]

Have you ever re-pasted your GPU and CPU? Are the fins on your cooler and fans free from dust and debris?

 

[claval]

Fins and cooler are dusted every couple of weeks because this thing basically gets its fans always at max or nothing.

I wonder how many laptop you had that needed re-pasting after barely 3 years because I've had roughly half a dozen and never had to re-paste a laptop.

With this one specifically I asked for the premium whatever.

Also, fun fact, at the moment I've been running without battery as you can see the conditions it was in, AGAIN, a first time ever I've seen something like that, and suddenly the fans actually start only when there is some actual usage (gaming).

This thing even got into RMA the very first week it arrived because nothing was working as expected, I wonder what they actually checked apart telling me the exact same thing you did just now "YoU NeEd To DuSt It". After 1 week that I had it.

Pathetic.

 

[claval]

Replaced the battery (after buying from an unknown shop that had the battery come straight from China because PC Specialist won't sell you replacement parts) and now apparently it's the connector (on the motherboard) having issues and sometimes not detecting the battery. Yet another thing that I've to hope it works or restart the PC to have a coin-flip for it working.

Oh, and another nice surprise, the border of the screen, which is basically just a thin plastic sheet, is starting to detach. Every time I open the screen you can hear some nice "snapping" sound and see that it's slightly peeling out. Before some genius comes out, the "snapping" is GLUE losing grip between the plastic and the screen, not some mechanical part breaking.

Is there some dust can brand you can suggest to fix that?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Replaced the battery (after buying from an unknown shop that had the battery come straight from China because PC Specialist won't sell you replacement parts) and now apparently it's the connector (on the motherboard) having issues and sometimes not detecting the battery. Yet another thing that I've to hope it works or restart the PC to have a coin-flip for it working.

Oh, and another nice surprise, the border of the screen, which is basically just a thin plastic sheet, is starting to detach. Every time I open the screen you can hear some nice "snapping" sound and see that it's slightly peeling out. Before some genius comes out, the "snapping" is GLUE losing grip between the plastic and the screen, not some mechanical part breaking.

Is there some dust can brand you can suggest to fix that?

What did PCS say when you contacted them about these issues? I take it you've done that? In the past they've RMA'd to reglue the frame as the original glue wasn't suitable.

PCS do supply replacement parts, but it's all down to the manufacturer as to how long they supply these parts to System Integrators, perhaps TongFang have a shorter arrangement and PCS have run out of stocks. Please don't mislead people though, saying they don't supply replacements is not accurate. I bought an official battery about 5 years after buying the system.

Did the repaste correct the overheating? This will need to be done once a year on any performance custom chassis.

 

[claval]

Heating was "fixed" as soon as I took out the clearly defective battery and installed another one. Incredibly, that's all it took.
The screen's issue is a new one, apparently it never gets boring with this laptop.

PC Specialist does not "need" to do anything as any warranty has been expired at this point. Sure I can send it back to be repaired but if you read the whole topic you'll know how stellar my experience with the post-sales has been. Certainly I'm not eager to repeat the experience and this time even pay for it.

Please link me where I can buy spare/replacement parts on the website. I could only find where to buy a new laptop/desktop.

 

[Martinr36]

Go to your orders page, select the laptop from your orders then you'll see a tab for spares

 

[JakAttack]

Good afternoon Claval, I'm sorry to hear you have been having issues with the laptop for some time. Although the warranty is expired we can still look into all this for you.

For starters please remove the battery from the laptop if you are able to at least disconnect it, inflated batteries can be a danger so I would recommend disengaging it for now (apologies if you already have and I missed the message).

Regarding spare parts, we have the batteries in stock for your laptop and will always provide replacements, they are currently around £75.00 inc. VAT.

I have sent you a DM, if you could respond to it or email me on the email address provided we can see what you can do, many of the issues you have spoken about can be easily resolved, some not so much but we are more than happy to check it all and see what we can offer.

 

[claval]

I missed this update so I'll give one.

After replacing the battery with the same brand and model for 35£ (shocking right?) I decided that I had enough and went to buy a branded one from one of the major brands. It's my understanding that you can't name other brands here and it's a reasonable so I won't.

In the end my journey with pcspecialists has been:

• Buy the laptop
• receive the laptop after 3 weeks (more or less, can't recall, nothing wrong, it was during black friday)
• Send it back after a couple of weeks because of audio card issues as well as fans going always >9000
• Got it sent back with no changes apart from "we cleaned it, it was very dusty" (after two weeks that I've had it? sure bud)
• All problems were still there and now also the keyboard/stripe lights were not working (!!)
• Went on with mail support that provided another bios version
• Bios version that I could only find on the email, no way to find it online
• audio not working properly anyway, fans were apparently working (meaning, not going in "rage mode" constantly)
• over the time I've had it, I've had to:
  • replace an ssd
  • replace the battery (NEVER happened to me and I use laptops since I was 16 and now over 40, and gaming laptops since they were "a thing")
  • deal with defective battery connector
  • deal with screen border detaching
  • several plastic parts breaking down despite the laptop sitting on a desk all day, every day

I'm probably forgetting something because so much stuff was wrong that I stopped keeping track at a certain point.

I gifted the laptop to a guy I knew needed one and made him aware of the issues. Hopefully he won't be this disappointed as it costed him just the delivery costs.

First time I haven't bought a "brand" laptop.
Best ~ £1400 I've ever spent /s

Taught me some good lessons.

 

[Martinr36]

gifted the laptop to a guy I knew needed one and made him aware of the issues. Hopefully he won't be this disappointed as it costed him just the delivery costs.

Did you sign the warranty over to him

 

[SpyderTracks]

I missed this update so I'll give one.

After replacing the battery with the same brand and model for 35£ (shocking right?) I decided that I had enough and went to buy a branded one from one of the major brands. It's my understanding that you can't name other brands here and it's a reasonable so I won't.

In the end my journey with pcspecialists has been:

• Buy the laptop
• receive the laptop after 3 weeks (more or less, can't recall, nothing wrong, it was during black friday)
• Send it back after a couple of weeks because of audio card issues as well as fans going always >9000
• Got it sent back with no changes apart from "we cleaned it, it was very dusty" (after two weeks that I've had it? sure bud)
• All problems were still there and now also the keyboard/stripe lights were not working (!!)
• Went on with mail support that provided another bios version
• Bios version that I could only find on the email, no way to find it online
• audio not working properly anyway, fans were apparently working (meaning, not going in "rage mode" constantly)
• over the time I've had it, I've had to:
  • replace an ssd
  • replace the battery (NEVER happened to me and I use laptops since I was 16 and now over 40, and gaming laptops since they were "a thing")
  • deal with defective battery connector
  • deal with screen border detaching
  • several plastic parts breaking down despite the laptop sitting on a desk all day, every day

I'm probably forgetting something because so much stuff was wrong that I stopped keeping track at a certain point.

I gifted the laptop to a guy I knew needed one and made him aware of the issues. Hopefully he won't be this disappointed as it costed him just the delivery costs.

First time I haven't bought a "brand" laptop.
Best ~ £1400 I've ever spent /s

Taught me some good lessons.

What did PCS say when you contacted them in September?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm going to lock this thread as user seems to have sold the laptop and isn't responding to any queries, doesn't seem to be looking for a resolution.