radiomuffin
Member
After my old ASUS N61JQ decided that it was on its way out, I did a lot of looking around. I decided that it would possibly be a good idea to find a custom made laptop, giving the possibility of further upgrades.
I did a lot of comparing and looking around and then decided that PCSpecialist had a. the best reviews and positive feedback and b. had the best bang for buck ratio!
I posted on the forum as I was not entirely sure of the build I wanted to go for, at which point I was promptly given a fair amount of pointers that lead me to a final build with a few extra things in for good measure!
Then I realised that although I needed to upgrade, I didn't really have enough money for the build I really wanted to go for and noticed they had a finance option - again I did a lot of reading around and noticed a lot of people were refused finance due to bad or lack of credit ratings:
I decided to chance it and went for finance, and their finance company processed my request within a minute of applying, it was quick and easy, no hassle and no need for posting any paperwork in. So then I had to wait for the finance company to get in touch with PCSpecialist and finalise everything, which was done within an hour or so!
So after that I was in "pre-production" expected to last several days, my current laptop was degrading faster, overheating more frequently.. So I rang up PCS and they said I could add a 5 day delivery to my order for £39, which I chose and they said it would be with me in 5 working days (which I assumed would be 5 days after it being added to my order).
A few hours after it changed from "pre-production" to "in building" I was very impressed, the chap said it would be ready in 5 working days (7 days as it fell over the weekend, I was anxious to get my new toy!).
On thursday (the day after requesting 5 day delivery) I noticed my laptop had been built and was in testing and quality control. A few hours later it said the magic words "awaiting dispatch" I was shocked to say the least- I rang PCS and immediately asked when I would get it, they said the words I wanted to hear so desperately "FRIDAY, unless there is a problem with that" - I was expecting it on Tuesday!! I nearly fell over with excitement.
It turned out they had based the 5 day delivery off the original order date and it was within 5 days of then - VERY PLEASED.
On Friday morning, the package arrived up my drive, the delivery man carefully carrying my fragile baby, he gave it to me and I signed - he was very friendly.
I brought my laptop inside and opened the packaging - it was well packed, double boxed and plenty of polystyrene and bagging, no scratches, no fingerprints - nothing!
First boot - no problems, everything installed okay no dead pixels and all drivers working.
I then turned the computer off, formatted it and installed my own SSD - then put the other drive in the secondary drive bay.
After fiddling around with silly AMD drivers, I eventually got everything working - user tip : if you're installing drivers for a 7970m - don't install the stock drivers that came on the installation disc, look up the beta drivers on the pcspecialist forum. Follow the instructions on there while on a fresh install of windows - it works flawlessly.
So then I started installing my games and it has breezed through everything I have thrown at it yet - skyrim maxed with HD pack, deadspace 3, Day-Z, BF3. Very pleased with performance.
Very nice looking laptop, runs cool, quiet as a mouse when idle, not too loud when playing games, good audio, great design.
Best money I've ever spent!
Thank you PCSpecialist and the people who built this wonderful machine! Many thanks to Lisa Donnellan, Ben Alderson and Adam Kirby - you did a fantastic job!
As well as thanks to Jack Turner who allowed me to speed up my delivery after already ordering - brilliant suggestion!
My build specification :
Chassis & Display
Vortex 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 KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
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 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/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
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT 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)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
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: £1,204.00 including VAT and delivery.
If there is anything else anyone would like to know, please feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability
.
I did a lot of comparing and looking around and then decided that PCSpecialist had a. the best reviews and positive feedback and b. had the best bang for buck ratio!
I posted on the forum as I was not entirely sure of the build I wanted to go for, at which point I was promptly given a fair amount of pointers that lead me to a final build with a few extra things in for good measure!
Then I realised that although I needed to upgrade, I didn't really have enough money for the build I really wanted to go for and noticed they had a finance option - again I did a lot of reading around and noticed a lot of people were refused finance due to bad or lack of credit ratings:
I decided to chance it and went for finance, and their finance company processed my request within a minute of applying, it was quick and easy, no hassle and no need for posting any paperwork in. So then I had to wait for the finance company to get in touch with PCSpecialist and finalise everything, which was done within an hour or so!
So after that I was in "pre-production" expected to last several days, my current laptop was degrading faster, overheating more frequently.. So I rang up PCS and they said I could add a 5 day delivery to my order for £39, which I chose and they said it would be with me in 5 working days (which I assumed would be 5 days after it being added to my order).
A few hours after it changed from "pre-production" to "in building" I was very impressed, the chap said it would be ready in 5 working days (7 days as it fell over the weekend, I was anxious to get my new toy!).
On thursday (the day after requesting 5 day delivery) I noticed my laptop had been built and was in testing and quality control. A few hours later it said the magic words "awaiting dispatch" I was shocked to say the least- I rang PCS and immediately asked when I would get it, they said the words I wanted to hear so desperately "FRIDAY, unless there is a problem with that" - I was expecting it on Tuesday!! I nearly fell over with excitement.
It turned out they had based the 5 day delivery off the original order date and it was within 5 days of then - VERY PLEASED.
On Friday morning, the package arrived up my drive, the delivery man carefully carrying my fragile baby, he gave it to me and I signed - he was very friendly.
I brought my laptop inside and opened the packaging - it was well packed, double boxed and plenty of polystyrene and bagging, no scratches, no fingerprints - nothing!
First boot - no problems, everything installed okay no dead pixels and all drivers working.
I then turned the computer off, formatted it and installed my own SSD - then put the other drive in the secondary drive bay.
After fiddling around with silly AMD drivers, I eventually got everything working - user tip : if you're installing drivers for a 7970m - don't install the stock drivers that came on the installation disc, look up the beta drivers on the pcspecialist forum. Follow the instructions on there while on a fresh install of windows - it works flawlessly.
So then I started installing my games and it has breezed through everything I have thrown at it yet - skyrim maxed with HD pack, deadspace 3, Day-Z, BF3. Very pleased with performance.
Very nice looking laptop, runs cool, quiet as a mouse when idle, not too loud when playing games, good audio, great design.
Best money I've ever spent!
Thank you PCSpecialist and the people who built this wonderful machine! Many thanks to Lisa Donnellan, Ben Alderson and Adam Kirby - you did a fantastic job!
As well as thanks to Jack Turner who allowed me to speed up my delivery after already ordering - brilliant suggestion!
My build specification :
Chassis & Display
Vortex 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 KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
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 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/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
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT 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)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
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: £1,204.00 including VAT and delivery.
If there is anything else anyone would like to know, please feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability
.
