ultrabook for evening browsing and streaming games from steam rig. £505

[delahmed]

Hi all,

Was thinking of splashing best part of 2 grand on a new top end 980m laptop from msi, asus or gigabyte/aorus.

Having tested steam streaming via ethernet I am v happy with the performance so have thought I'd rather build a ultrabook and put the savings towards a 980ti in the new year.

So here is my ultrabook specs. I can't believe how cheap it is for what I have on there.

I want a 1080p screen minimum none of this 768 nonsense, ips is a bonus. Has to be ssd OS. Don't need to install programs so 120 gb ssd is ample.
i5 4210m seems to be sweet spot. Checked cpu boss for all the different cpus on offer and this one seems to be the best bang for buck. I want quick browsing, boots, and some decent multi tasking sometimes. I won't be encoding videos so will not need a hot i7. Anyone have any comments here? I had an i3 and i5 laptop of same model and i3 was so slow compared to i5.

Finally wanted fasted AC card as I have a 200 quid asus rt ac87u wave 2 router now and want to test it out. Mainly this not be used as j networked my house with cat 6 recently too. Also streaming steam via wireless loses too many packets and therefore is not smooth nor enjoyable.

14 inch or 13.3 would have been preferable but can't get the 1080p ips screen so this is the best. If they had a 17 inch version of this I would have been tempted to go bigger.

Here is the final build.


Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-4210M (2.60GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS MEDIA ACCELERATOR 4600*
1st*Hard Disk
120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 410MB/sW)
1st*DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
UltraNote Series: 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*
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-7260 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
UltraNote Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH) (Up to 7 Hours)
Power Cable
1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
ULTRANOTE SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
DVD Recovery Media
NO DVD RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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)*
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Cost: £519.00

*UPDATE* I downgraded the RAM from 1 x 8GB to 1 x 4GB Kingston Hyper-X Impact RAM which took off £31. Also used a £15 voucher to bring it down to £473. Great price for the spec!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Looks good to me for your needs. Couple of points:

1. The Samsung evo's had a performance issue where data over 3 months or so would have a big reduction in read performance (down to as low as 50mbs), but this has been fixed in a recent firmware upgrade. Don't let it put you off as they are excellent drives, just make sure it's on the latest firmware.

2. I'd up the warranty to silver for £5.

3. I'd fully agree on i5 vs i3, the i3's are somewhat lacking.

 

[delahmed]

I heard about the bug but I think it only affected the 1TB version? Anyway few update is out. I'm actually thinking of not ordering a hdd at all. I have a few ssds lying about. I hear you can call them up and get it removed from the build. Shame there is no option.
good call about the 5 quid warranty. I forgot to select it tbh. Also last comment about cpu. I find a huge jump between i3 and i5 but not a lot at all between i5 and i7. I do some video encoding on my rig which has an i5 3570k and I'm very impressed with the decoding times. Unzipping huge isos are a breeze.

Ok that's it. I'm going to try put the order through today. Anyone had any issues with delays lately?

 

[mantadog]

Delays seem to have died down, it's almost November though so anyone wanting a rig should be thinking about buying now before the Christmas rush starts.

 

[delahmed]

Thanks mantadog.

Do you know how much money is subtracted if no hdd is ordered? I have my own ssd I can use.

 

[delahmed]

My final build with silver warranty.



Any criticism or feedback? Is it worth upgrading the thermal paste? I have artic 5 silver at home. Is it easy to re paste myself? I notice my cpu ends with m and not mq. I think mq is socketed and m is soldered? I think Haswell i5 runs nice and cool compared to ivy bridge anyway.

 

[SpyderTracks]

My final build with silver warranty.

View attachment 5783

Any criticism or feedback? Is it worth upgrading the thermal paste? I have artic 5 silver at home. Is it easy to re paste myself? I notice my cpu ends with m and not mq. I think mq is socketed and m is soldered? I think Haswell i5 runs nice and cool compared to ivy bridge anyway.

I would personally upgrade the paste, for the time needed to do it yourself it seems well worth 9 quid.

MQ denotes quad core, these are dual core.

Haswell does have a reduced tdp compared to ivy bridge, definitely.

 

[mantadog]

I'm not sure how much is subtracted if no HDD is ordered, I suspect it wont be that much as they will have to install a HDD for testing then remove it, so extra labour cancelling out any savings (to a certain extent)

Personally I think the paste upgrade is worth the £9, its not hard to do it yourself if you are comfortable with the inside of a computer, but it is probably worth the £9 to have it done already and avoid any risks.

As far as I know M just stands for a mobile and MQ is a mobile quadcore. AFAIK it has nothing to do with being soldered.

 

[delahmed]

I find it difficult to spend 9 quid on as5 the quantity of a grain of rice. I read about thermal pastes when building my rig last year and the difference is negligible. If I was over clocking and was struggling with heat I would pay the extra to get it down by a degree or two. But I don't think firefox or watching a film is going to challenge the cpu temp. Thanks for your prompt opinions mate! Nice to know I'm not talking to myself on here.

 

[mantadog]

Yes, £9 does seem overprices considering you can buy about 2 tubes for that price, or enough for about 8-10 CPU's but 2 things to consider before completely ignoring the idea.

1. 1/2 degree could be the difference between the fan kicking up a gear to an annoying level or not. Are you sensitive to noise?
2. Although the 'standard' thermal compound PCS use is pretty good by the standards I have seen in mass produced stuff, i believe a better paste would hold it's performance for longer.

it is true that the paste isn't going to go reduce the temps by that much though, so it is your call. personally I'd go for it but i have the standard compound on my rig and it works just fine too.

 

[delahmed]

Have upgraded the Thermal Paste and silver warranty. Also updated OP with final specs. £519 all in!

Thanks for the feedback chaps. It is appreciated.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Have upgraded the Thermal Paste and silver warranty. Also updated OP with final specs. £519 all in!

Thanks for the feedback chaps. It is appreciated.

Very good price for what you're getting, good shout.

 

[delahmed]

Very good price for what you're getting, good shout.

Agreed. Might pick up a pc mag and see if there are any promo codes.

 

[delahmed]

Bought a PC magazine on the way home and found a PC Specialist advert in it. Put in the code and got £15 off - woo hoo! £504 all in!

I think the lead time currently is 11 days so hopefully it should be dispatched on 12th November, and hopefully with me by 13-14 November.

I will probably do an unboxing video straight away followed by a video review a week or two later.

Interestingly enough, I did a similar build at mysn.co.uk and the price was £666. I emailed them asking them why they were nearly £150 more.

They explained that for the quote to be like for like, I should also add fast track option and Gold warranty (3 years rtn and collect) to my PCS quote. They were nice enough to give me a £24 discount code but even with that, it was nearly £100 expensive (with updated pcs quote). I also did not want 2 years warranty (12 months is fine) nor am i needing the laptop asap.

MYSN did offer a no hdd build (I bought a crucial MX100 128MB for £50 delivered courtesy of hotukdeals), but PCS said they could not do the build with no HDD, as if there were problems in the future, the hdd would not have been supplied by them. Fair game....

One interesting point MYSN made re: Thermal paste upgrade

Just to clarify this, from the Clevo factory (who manufacturers the Ultranote chassis for PCS and the B513 for us) the CPU heatsink comes with a stock thermal pad. We use MX-2 on all our laptops after removing the thermal pad, in some cases it gives up to 5C better temperatures! Is you do decide to purchase from PCS rather than us, I would 100% recommend paying them to use MX-4 rather than the stock thermal pads that come from the Clevo factory!

Top response from MYSN as they did not give me the sales blurb and try deter me away, but gave me very good insight. I hope PCS are reading this!

I also called and emailed both PCS and MYSN today and received responses / picked up my call. Both were friendly but PCS got my money this time as they got me the best deal. Hopefully after sales is top notch.

Now to play the waiting game.

Many thanks to SpyderTracks and MantaDog for thier input. Much appreciated chaps!

 

[keynes]

I believe it is against the rules to disclose information on where you find the promo codes.

 

[steaky360]

I believe it is against the rules to disclose information on where you find the promo codes.

Removed the magazine name. It isn't allowed because it would defeat the purpose of the codes.

 

[Ash]

I think the lead time currently is 11 days so hopefully it should be dispatched on 12th November, and hopefully with me by 13-14 November.

Nope.

My laptop has just entered it's 16th Working Day of Pre-production.

 

[delahmed]

Apologies, i didnt realise. Thanks for editing it out.

 

[delahmed]

Nope.

My laptop has just entered it's 16th Working Day of Pre-production.

Got an email this morning saying laptop is built and awaiting testing. Great news! Obviously they have all the parts in stock. Hopefully this time next week I'll be writing my next post with the ultranote II.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Got an email this morning saying laptop is built and awaiting testing. Great news! Obviously they have all the parts in stock. Hopefully this time next week I'll be writing my next post with the ultranote II.

Once it's built it usually goes through to dispatch pretty swiftly. I would imagine they'll ship it Monday hopefully.