Sub £500 Laptop - Awaiting Delivery

[TheDunc]

Hey so this is kinda exciting! Im currently awaiting delivery of my new Genesis IV laptop after having spent the last 6 weeks without a proper sized computer (Im writing this on an eeepc 701). With summer round the bend I couldn't really justify to myself spending more than £500 but I think what I've settled on wont be too shabby.


Chassis & Display
Genesis IV: 15.6" Glossy HD LED 16:9 Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-2450M (2.50GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 2GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
320GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD3200BEKT, 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)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Genesis Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £486.00 including VAT and delivery.

Hopefully this will last longer than my Acer which died a death due to shoddy parts...
Im hoping it will cope with fairly new games on moderate frame rates but I'd love to know what you guys think.

 

[morowe]

looks nice!

The i5 is a nice processor, the whole series is pretty good and should last you a very long time! 4gb of memory is pretty much over the min requirments of most games so unless your planning to play Crysis on ultra settings you should be good to go ! you also made a good choice with the graphics card, thatl help a lot in making games run smoothly.

over all id say you got yourself a bargain. a perfect blend of quality without compromising your wallet, you'r gonna have alot o fun with this one! =)

 

[TheDunc]

Thanks Morowe! Its cruising through all tasks I need it for and it is so nice to be able to play games on decent settings for once!
Given the lack of reviews for the Genesis IV I thought I'd give it a shot. Only had it about a week but I think that is enough time to gain a good grasp of the features.

Firstly I have only admiration for the PC Specialist guys. I ordered the laptop on the Sunday and it was with me that Friday. 5 days from order to delivery for a custom item is I think fantastic. The emails and updates were a bonus, though they certainly ate into my work! But anything beats revision....

I ordered the laptop without an operating system so I was pleased when I first switched it on and it booted to a trial windows, perfect for installing all the drivers. Which is a minor gripe I have, why are some of the drivers on the disc stored under the "option" and not just all under the "driver" label? Especially the one for the wireless card, now Im not the kind of guy to read instructions but the whole process could have been much clearer. Within half a day everything was ready to go and off I went.

About the laptop itself, the chassis is study and has very little flex to it, the discreet keys are different to what I'm used to but not in a bad way. One issue is with the touchpad when typing; if I don't disable the touch pad I end up writing in very strange places on the page! My thumb keeps rolling onto the touchpad, an issue I haven't had with any other laptop. It may be due to the fact that the touchpad is flush with the case but with an external mouse this isn't an issue.

The glossy screen is a joy to look at, even with the 1366x768 resolution, the speakers are fairly punchy for inbuilt sound, cetainly good enough for a bit of music and radio. The keyboard layout is odd in a couple of ways, first the right hand shift key is shorter than on a standard qwerty keyboard, it no longer ends underneath the return button leading to lots of typos while I adjust my typing. Second the numpad enter key is now the size of a normal key, this I think is an improvement the whole numpad is designed in such a way to save space while retaining the functionality. Only having 2 usb3 and 1 usb2 ports (3 in total) is already insufficient, especially when one is always used for a usb mouse, I don't want to chop and change peripherals just because there is a lack of ports.

Moving on to more fun stuff, gameplay is fantastic especially for a laptop of this price, it runs everything I throw at it without even blinking. The processor is top quality and the graphics card is more than up all but the most demanding modern games. One gripe is with nvidia, the driver support is a bit suspect - there has apparently been a 630m driver update but it wont install on my laptop. I have to say something about the Optimus technology which has really separated this computer from my last one, the ability to instantly wake from sleep, to switch from discrete graphics to integrated when needed are just fantastic features that really make the difference.

Overall the style is just what I look for in a computer; understated, sleek and smart, though the glossy finish does pick up fingerprints (nothing a quick wipe cant remedy). Im really glad I made the purchase, custom does not have to mean expensive. The amount of options means you can achieve the best quality parts for the best price and the PC Specialist service has been the virtue of efficiency.

 

[MrShteeeve]

After a quick read of your last post in regards to optimus - the drivers for these laptops with Optimus cards won't recognize nVidia general release drivers. You can still install them all the same (via a clean install) but they won't be picked up automatically by the nVidia control panel. I've had my Optimus II lappy for just over a year with the 2GB GT555M and with every updated driver it only improves in performance, I get a steady 60fps from Diablo III which is always nice on Ultra . Hope this helps.

Steve