AlexandruIacobet140
New member
This is my first PCS laptop, purchased for Audio/Video/Photo editing and gaming:
Chassis & DisplayRecoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)64GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics CardNVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4090 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive 2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive 2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Memory Card Reader Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor1 x 330W AC AdaptorPower Cable1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery Recoil Series Integrated 99WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options 1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language RECOIL 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating SystemWindows 11 Professional 64 Bit
I'll try to keep my review short and on point:
PROS:
- fast build by PCS (the chassis was not available in the beginning, but as soon as it arrived, it rapidly entered processing)
- excellent communication from PCS, I was kept updated by emails with every processing step
- the laptop arrived well packaged and secured
- very good build quality, the laptop is more compact than expected and feels very sturdy, while light
- unexpectedly quiet fans, even when demanding applications are running
- very impressive performance: Cyberpunk 2077 on Psycho settings: 130 FPS average
- all the Adobe products I use (mainly Premiere, Photoshop and Lightroom) are working seamlessly and at a really impressive rendering speed
- although there is no fingerprint reader and the camera is not stellar, the Windows Hello works extremely well
CONS:
- difficult to find meaningful information about the laptop's components on the PCS website, you need to spend a lot of time browsing the internet to get an idea of how your laptop will behave and still be unpleasantly surprised by the outcome. However, I get that this build is a new one for PCS and is understandable that there are no proper, professional reviews.
- really awful keyboard, tactile feedback almost inexistent, even writing this review is a pain. I simply cannot understand how a laptop valued at over £3000 can be fit with such subpar component. I would've paid easily £100-£150 more for a mechanical keyboard option, like most of the other custom building computers companies have. This is the main negative aspect about this built, which most likely in the near future will force me to purchase an external keyboard to be able to enjoy this laptop, unless PCS will offer later an upgrade for a better solution.
- If not cooled, this laptop will get quite hot during demanding applications, and I am not talking here about the air circulated by the fans. The laptop's surface where the left hand rests during the gaming sessions, on the left side of the touchpad, was getting so hot during my first Cyberpunk sessions, that I needed short gaming breaks now and then for cooling, as the surface temperature would become uncomfortable for the hand. Upon investigation and being advised by PCS Forum's members, I had to purchase the PCS Liquid Series cooler, which brought the GPU temps down with an average of 15 degrees (and increased the game's FPS with 20%), the gaming sessions becoming now comfortable, although the surface is still considerably warm. I believe the internal insulation, if any exists, should be improved and the cooler's purchase to be strongly advised for the avid gamers
- The display quality is kind of meh... I knew before purchasing it that the display is nothing to be proud of, but frankly I was expecting a bit more. Nevertheless, for editing I am and I always used a proper calibrated and professional monitor. This laptop's display is perfectly fine for the day to day activities, even the gaming is passable, but a no-no for image editing. Weak contrast and subpar brightness (350 NiT), the colours can be improved somehow by using the Control Center.
- I had issues with the pre-installed Windows: one of the apps I am using the most, the Phone Link app, didn't work at all, from the get-go. After wasting one full day trying to fix it by following various tutorials and how-to's from Internet, including a Windows reset, I had to reinstall the Windows OS from the scratch, which solved this issue. Unfortunately, not all the drivers are available to download from the PCS website (the Nahimic ones were missing) and the drivers installation instructions offered on the download page are from a different build and a bit unclear. Nevertheless, in the end I managed to install every needed driver, but it's not for the faint of heart or the clueless. Reading the forums, I discovered that at least one more person encoutered exactly the same issue, resolved by the same action, but instead he wasted the time with PCS support.
- the sound is weak, unimpressive due to generic, micro speakers. The Nahimic drivers and application do not improve the sound quality considerably, ultimately the physical speakers size and quality matter (had before a Harman-Kardon laptop, and previously Bose)
- I don't think the I/O ports are sufficient and properly arranged on the chassis. I am coming from another 5 years old custom built laptop based on Clevo chassis (which, based on the reviews out there, is apparently less qualitative than TongFang chassis, on which this laptop is based), which had 5 USB-A ports (2 on each side and one on the back panel), 2 Thunderbolt/USB-C ports on the left side and 2 DP outputs on top of an HDMI output on the back panel. From this point of view, that laptop was a dream for a photo editor, as you could connect anything you needed, phone, monitors, external drives and still having room for a mouse, a graphic tablet and an occasional flash drive. This one is less so, only 3 USB-A ports and one USB-C on the back panel. Really? It's 2023 and most of the external devices nowadays have USB-C connection! Now, on top of the cooler, an external keyboard and an external monitor, I have to buy an USB-C hub...
CONCLUSIONS:
I am using custom built laptops by the most renown companies for the last 25 years, each one of them laptops being the most powerful builds on the market at that time, thus I am used with quality and performance. This is first time using PCS and it needs to be said that their products are some of the cheapest on the market, but the build quality and the general performance of their products are up there with the biggest names and I hope the support will be the same. Regarding my specific build, the general feeling is that it was rushed (not the production, but the concept), just to have a product out there on par with the other manufacturers. Surely more comprehensive tests could've been done to discover the weak points and better customization option offered. I am positive it'll get the job done, but it's disappointing that the final product needs to be improved with a bunch of periferals in order to achieve max performance and efficiency, in a way defeating the purpose of portability and, most importantly, of saving money with PCS instead of going with a much more expensive manufacturer. Due to keyboard quality, chassis heating, weak camera and sound, this laptop feels like a Ford Fiesta with a Formula 1 engine.
7 out of 10.
Chassis & DisplayRecoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)64GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics CardNVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4090 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive 2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive 2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Memory Card Reader Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor1 x 330W AC AdaptorPower Cable1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery Recoil Series Integrated 99WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options 1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language RECOIL 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating SystemWindows 11 Professional 64 Bit
I'll try to keep my review short and on point:
PROS:
- fast build by PCS (the chassis was not available in the beginning, but as soon as it arrived, it rapidly entered processing)
- excellent communication from PCS, I was kept updated by emails with every processing step
- the laptop arrived well packaged and secured
- very good build quality, the laptop is more compact than expected and feels very sturdy, while light
- unexpectedly quiet fans, even when demanding applications are running
- very impressive performance: Cyberpunk 2077 on Psycho settings: 130 FPS average
- all the Adobe products I use (mainly Premiere, Photoshop and Lightroom) are working seamlessly and at a really impressive rendering speed
- although there is no fingerprint reader and the camera is not stellar, the Windows Hello works extremely well
CONS:
- difficult to find meaningful information about the laptop's components on the PCS website, you need to spend a lot of time browsing the internet to get an idea of how your laptop will behave and still be unpleasantly surprised by the outcome. However, I get that this build is a new one for PCS and is understandable that there are no proper, professional reviews.
- really awful keyboard, tactile feedback almost inexistent, even writing this review is a pain. I simply cannot understand how a laptop valued at over £3000 can be fit with such subpar component. I would've paid easily £100-£150 more for a mechanical keyboard option, like most of the other custom building computers companies have. This is the main negative aspect about this built, which most likely in the near future will force me to purchase an external keyboard to be able to enjoy this laptop, unless PCS will offer later an upgrade for a better solution.
- If not cooled, this laptop will get quite hot during demanding applications, and I am not talking here about the air circulated by the fans. The laptop's surface where the left hand rests during the gaming sessions, on the left side of the touchpad, was getting so hot during my first Cyberpunk sessions, that I needed short gaming breaks now and then for cooling, as the surface temperature would become uncomfortable for the hand. Upon investigation and being advised by PCS Forum's members, I had to purchase the PCS Liquid Series cooler, which brought the GPU temps down with an average of 15 degrees (and increased the game's FPS with 20%), the gaming sessions becoming now comfortable, although the surface is still considerably warm. I believe the internal insulation, if any exists, should be improved and the cooler's purchase to be strongly advised for the avid gamers
- The display quality is kind of meh... I knew before purchasing it that the display is nothing to be proud of, but frankly I was expecting a bit more. Nevertheless, for editing I am and I always used a proper calibrated and professional monitor. This laptop's display is perfectly fine for the day to day activities, even the gaming is passable, but a no-no for image editing. Weak contrast and subpar brightness (350 NiT), the colours can be improved somehow by using the Control Center.
- I had issues with the pre-installed Windows: one of the apps I am using the most, the Phone Link app, didn't work at all, from the get-go. After wasting one full day trying to fix it by following various tutorials and how-to's from Internet, including a Windows reset, I had to reinstall the Windows OS from the scratch, which solved this issue. Unfortunately, not all the drivers are available to download from the PCS website (the Nahimic ones were missing) and the drivers installation instructions offered on the download page are from a different build and a bit unclear. Nevertheless, in the end I managed to install every needed driver, but it's not for the faint of heart or the clueless. Reading the forums, I discovered that at least one more person encoutered exactly the same issue, resolved by the same action, but instead he wasted the time with PCS support.
- the sound is weak, unimpressive due to generic, micro speakers. The Nahimic drivers and application do not improve the sound quality considerably, ultimately the physical speakers size and quality matter (had before a Harman-Kardon laptop, and previously Bose)
- I don't think the I/O ports are sufficient and properly arranged on the chassis. I am coming from another 5 years old custom built laptop based on Clevo chassis (which, based on the reviews out there, is apparently less qualitative than TongFang chassis, on which this laptop is based), which had 5 USB-A ports (2 on each side and one on the back panel), 2 Thunderbolt/USB-C ports on the left side and 2 DP outputs on top of an HDMI output on the back panel. From this point of view, that laptop was a dream for a photo editor, as you could connect anything you needed, phone, monitors, external drives and still having room for a mouse, a graphic tablet and an occasional flash drive. This one is less so, only 3 USB-A ports and one USB-C on the back panel. Really? It's 2023 and most of the external devices nowadays have USB-C connection! Now, on top of the cooler, an external keyboard and an external monitor, I have to buy an USB-C hub...
CONCLUSIONS:
I am using custom built laptops by the most renown companies for the last 25 years, each one of them laptops being the most powerful builds on the market at that time, thus I am used with quality and performance. This is first time using PCS and it needs to be said that their products are some of the cheapest on the market, but the build quality and the general performance of their products are up there with the biggest names and I hope the support will be the same. Regarding my specific build, the general feeling is that it was rushed (not the production, but the concept), just to have a product out there on par with the other manufacturers. Surely more comprehensive tests could've been done to discover the weak points and better customization option offered. I am positive it'll get the job done, but it's disappointing that the final product needs to be improved with a bunch of periferals in order to achieve max performance and efficiency, in a way defeating the purpose of portability and, most importantly, of saving money with PCS instead of going with a much more expensive manufacturer. Due to keyboard quality, chassis heating, weak camera and sound, this laptop feels like a Ford Fiesta with a Formula 1 engine.
7 out of 10.
