Sandy Bridge Laptops - Preview Here!

PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
Here are our new laptops:

They are not in stock yet, and will not be in until the last week in February, at the earliest. However, you are welcome to place an order now to be at the front of the queue once stock lands. :p

Note that some of the chassis do not have images yet, they will be added in due course. Also note that they are not yet "live" on our website - so forum members are privileged in getting a sneaky peek:

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/enigmaIII/ - images not yet live
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/enigmaIII-se/ - images not yet live
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/mirage/ - images not yet live
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/genesisIII/
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/xenon/
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexII-15/
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexII-17/
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/optimusII/
 
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C

cknbbq

Active member
Awesome timing. Was just asking about these today. My bank account is about to take a serious beating over the next few weeks.
Cheers for the preview.
 
C

cknbbq

Active member
AMD Fusion is a nice surprise. Vortex 15" all the way for me though. Really nice price with the 460m. Got to be a 485 though.
 
M

Midonsmyr

Member
Loving the preview but have a few questions about the new Vortex 17.3 inch chassis. Of course I understand that all the details are subject to change and any little nitpicks I'm about to go through may simply be because certain details on the laptop aren't yet finalised or included in these descriptions, but nonetheless;

It's only got room for two HDD unlike the previous chassis which has space for two. What happened? I loved the idea of a laptop with two HDDs.

A 1.3 MP webcam, whereas the old model had a 2.0 MP webcam. Surely that's a downgrade?

Two USB ports, as opposed to the four in the old chassis. That's easily solved by a cheap hub, but still.

(When I say old chassis I mean the i7-17 inch Vortex currently configurable on the site)

I'm still loving the new one, with the better graphics options, amazing price, what looks likes an improved battery and support for 16GB of RAM. But a few things look to have been compromised.

Also would it be possible to have a look at the underside of any of the laptops? I'm currently on an old Enigma and am having overheating issues and so fan location is very important to me.

Edit:

Just noticed that the Features page says the Vortex II 17 has USB 3.0 support, which would be awesome, but the configurator lists 2 USB 2.0 ports. Pleeeease tell me it has USB 3.0.
 
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Hankhendrix

Hankhendrix

Member
I've just seen the news of the defective sandy bridge chipsets. What does this mean for the sandy bridge laptops, which were initially due late February at earliest?
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
We have taken them down for the time being unfortunately, because stock will not be landing for at least 1-2 months now due to the chipset issues. :(
 
B

Baughn

Member
I may have asked a day too early..

How about now, with Intel resuming shipping?
I know, the chipset is still broken, but for a laptop two ports should be plenty - CD and SSD, and to be honest I'm not likely to actually use a CD; I'd prefer a design without one.
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
Unfortunately our vendors have recalled all shipments, and therefore we have nothing to sell at the moment. Our stocks on the previous generation are also running low, making our current notebook offering look very feeble. :(
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
The Vortex Ultimate will not be replaced for several months, this model is un-affected.
 
S

SliMM

New member
What will be the prices for the mid-range 15.6" (or less), Core-i5 laptops and when will they be available? Also, will you have full HD screens in this price range? I am only interested in laptops with no discreet card.
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
Unfortunately we will not be stocking any laptops that support full HD (1920 x 1080) that are 15.6" and only use SMA graphics (Intel integrated as opposed to Nvidia or ATi graphics). May I ask why you wouldn't consider a laptop with Nvidia graphics? We will have at least two chassis with nvidia graphics that are 15.6" and support full HD.
 
B

Baughn

Member
nVidia graphics takes a lot more battery power, for no good reason (I'm not going to use it). It also doesn't work ideally on Linux, though it's a lot better then AMD.

I'd settle for switchable, though. I expect your i7 series will have that? And there will be a 15.6" i7-using laptop with full HD? ^_^
 
S

SliMM

New member
As Baughn said, I don't think I'd be pushing an nVidia card to its limits. The Sandy Bridge integrated cards look good enough for my 3D games, so a cheaper laptop that doesn't use so much battery would be a better option for me.

I might consider a laptop with nVidia card if I get the option to select my card in the BIOS, since there is no other way to do it in Linux (nVidia bastards!). However, I am more interested on the availability and, perhaps, the prices of Core i5 laptops.
 
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