Vortex 2 -15

Zainy

Active member
Hi guys,

I recently placed an order (this Saturday) for the following spec laptop:

Chassis & Display: Vortex II-15: 15.6" Full HD LED Backlit 16:9 Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glossy
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2630QM (2.00GHz) 6MB Cache
Memory (RAM): 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card: 1.5GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M - DirectX® 11 (15.6" Vortex II)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk : 500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BEKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Network Facilities: GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102 WIRELESS 802.11N - IDEAL FOR ONLINE GAMING
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £997.90
Price £1,197.48

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I mainly want the lappie for gaming, watching hi-def tv, standard use (internet, office etc)

My old Acer has a problem with the screen which is really bugging me (design fault, the hinge for the screen rubs off the insulation on the connections I think so i get this constant flicker unless i fidget with the screen)
So I decided to treat myself.
It was a real toss up to spend the money on a much more powerful desktop for the same price or a laptop. As I tend to move around a bit with work - sticking with a laptop seemed like the better choice.

My question to you guys is based on future proofing (I might have to consider upping to a 2 year parts warranty)
I know laptops arent the best for future proofing, but I want this laptop to last 3-5 years. Gaming wont always be at the higher end of my priority list especially as time goes on, so if I could get decent fps on newer games on med/low settings ill survive.
What are your thoughts?

Z
 

MPM

Member
With that spec it should be future proof for minimum 2 years.

I would have pushed the boat out and gone with the 485m GPU myself, if i was wanting more futureproofing. Especially if you desire 3+ years.

Gaming for the PC is in a weird situation right now IMO. With the current generation of consoles now 5/6 years old now and game developers focusing on multi-platform games, most current high spec laptops can run 90% of todays current generation of games at FULL settings comfortably. This was never the case 3/4 years ago.

The future-proofing of your machine is now dependent on when the next generation of consoles come out, at which point we will see a massive hike in the performance required to play the next generation of games. So your laptop will be fine until then.
 

Zainy

Active member
Just on a side note, I was initially seriously considering alienware prior to coming across this site.
Obviously alienware comes with a very cool looking chassis and some nice non essential bells and whistles but I did a price comparison with my current specs with the slightly inferior specs on a custom alienware 15 model (screen is 1600 x 900, RAM 1333Mhz, CPU 720QM - otherwise essentially the same spec) and the price came to over £1500 compared to my setup which came to just under £1200. Shows what competitive prices PCS has.

On a side note, does anyone consider the upgrade from silver to gold warranty a good investment? Its mainly the parts cover thats the biggest difference...
 

MPM

Member
For me personally, if im paying 1k+ i like to cover my ass by taking out the max warranty. If future proofing is your thing id seriously consider it.

BUt if you know you'll be making a new purchase in 1 year or 2, its obviously not justifiable.
 

toondw

Bronze Level Poster
I think your ram clocks lower on that processor, not sure as im no expert but i dont think its 1600 unless you go up to the next processor. If so you might as well use the cheaper ones.

I think thats what i read on other forums anyway?
 

Zainy

Active member
Hmmm Well Ill give them a buzz on the online support function in the morning. See if that is the case, thanks for the catch. I feel you are right as that was an amendment, so wouldnt have been picked up on the initial order.
And I think I might just be getting that gold warranty as well.
 

Zainy

Active member
Well Ive had a word with the friendly staff over the phone and they've switched it to the 1333Mhz RAM - thanks again.
Must be some loophole in the amendment section that doesn't recheck the spec configuration compatibility properly.

*After speaking to them over the phone my order status has been changed to testing and configuration stage! Woop! That was very quick, I only ordered on Saturday.
I hope this is not a mistake!
 
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