So it finally arrived, my Vortex 3 17" with 680M GFX 
(Spec in ym signature)
So here goes...
Befopre the delivery I got SMS messages on ym phone and emails which is a nice touch and allows me to stop chasding them
The laptop was well packaged and seems to last forever opening boxes to reveal an even smaller box, but hey if that means the laptop is safe during transport then I'm ok with that.
Once switched on, I set it up and began to have a play with it. First impressions are WOW!!! This thing is fast. Boot time to windows logon screen is 22 seconds
with the Kingston SSD (12 seconds to shutdown). Once typed the logon (or used the rather nifty finger print logon) it was only a few seconds more before everything was fully loaded. And I mean everything. I was monitoring the load up sequence (and I have lots of extras added such as Steam update, AVG Anti Virus running in the background/startup). This machine ate it all up with ease!!!
The build quality is nice, although the screen feels a little light for my liking. I'm used to gaming laptops and previously bought one for £2.5k some years back - which my dad has and even though its beginning to show signs of its age (it has a 7900GTX in it) it is still going...
I installed a few games and it auto detected Skyrim to Ultra Settings and ran like I had gone to heaven. I tried to put all my high spec games on the SSD and used my other 750Gb drive as my buffer for files and other 'older' type games.
I must say, playing Skyrim on a laptop showing these types of graphics on 1920x1080 resolution nearly made me wet myself LOL This thing is great for gaming... I'm yet to try Battlefield 3 but cannot see this not eating it all up in one go.
The Windows Experience Index came out at 7.0 - but this was due to the onboard GFX and Gaming GFX - weird but maybe I need to tweak this a bit as I ran it again and got 7.1 out of the it.
Processor - 7.7
RAM - 7.9
GFX - 7.0
Gaming GFX - 7.0/7.1
Primary HDD - 7.9
I'm happy with results and it was running nVidia Driver 302.71 - I know I can install the beta drivers which are slightly higher but I'm happy at the moment and don't want to rock the boat so to speak.
Right now for my bugbears....
I have dealt with PCS before and this may be a one off problem but when opening the laptop I found the front of the cd/blu ray drive had come loose in one corner. A quick snap on and everything was fine but I would assume these would be checked for minor things like that.
Software.. When I spend this much on a laptop I expect to get it out of the box, tweak it and away I go - NOOOOO!!! I had to install the HD Audio Drivers as everytime I ran the THX TruStudio application it stated no audio card could be found.. Once I installed the drivers, everything was fine. I also had to install the Cyberlink DVD SOftware (by the way the serial number is in small font on the cd case of this software - took me ages to find it). Now correct me if I wrong but I do not expect to do these pretty basic installations upon initial setup. This should be covered and checked at PCS end (especially the audio hd).
Keyboard... Grrr - like I said I have had gaming laptops before and I expect a lot from the keys on a high end laptop. Well I must say I was rather disappointed. The keys although are fine and although I'm a fast typer (using two fingers to type LOL) occassionally it couldn't keep up with me. I believe this may be a Vortex 3 issue and hopefully can be resolved with an updated driver, maybe? I also don't like (but will have to get used to) the RETURN Key - I keep hitting the damn # and it took me ages to find the / key LOL (DEL is another one I like in the corner of the numpad but hey I can't have everything LOL)
Another thing as well - and I know I will be flamed because of this but couldn't they make each key colour configurable. I know how hard this would be but hey I want to configure my keys for games and then laod up the keyboard colours based on that game. I may be fussy but I'm used to my old PCS Gaming Desktop which had a Logitech G15 keyboard - where keys and info was a plenty - just a suggestion, I don't thing a driver update would allow this based on the LED keys back but it would have been a nice touch.
Blu-Ray playback via the included Cyberlink software (now installed) - is absolutely fantastic!! A pleasure to watch from any angle.
Actually I would suggest upgrading to the AUO Matte - I pondered and researched this for ages before ordering the laptop, but the screen colours are fantastic with NO ROOM GLARE !!! A pleasure to watch any movie or play any game on. I thing I am now converted to always have a Matte screen.
I eventually found that Fn + Esc gets the control panel up which is a nice way to control the settings under one window frame. And my OSD appeared to only work when I had installed some of the drivers (Audio) which was weird but all OK now.
I have yet to try a multitrude of games and will update when tested but I believe this thing will eat everything alive and want more..
Overall I am happy with the laptop and would recommend it, I just have some issues with the way things were setup/done which could have made the experience a whole lot better. I do not feel as though PCS tested it enough before releasing it to me which is a shame!
Build Quality: 8/10 (loses points for the screen section which is a bit thing for my liking but may just be me!)
Screen: 9.5/10 (AUO WOW!)
Speed: 10/10
PCS Pre-Testing: 5/10
Overall: 8/10 (loses points for the setup stuff and tweaking I needed to do before unleashing the beast within!)
(Spec in ym signature)
So here goes...
Befopre the delivery I got SMS messages on ym phone and emails which is a nice touch and allows me to stop chasding them
The laptop was well packaged and seems to last forever opening boxes to reveal an even smaller box, but hey if that means the laptop is safe during transport then I'm ok with that.
Once switched on, I set it up and began to have a play with it. First impressions are WOW!!! This thing is fast. Boot time to windows logon screen is 22 seconds
with the Kingston SSD (12 seconds to shutdown). Once typed the logon (or used the rather nifty finger print logon) it was only a few seconds more before everything was fully loaded. And I mean everything. I was monitoring the load up sequence (and I have lots of extras added such as Steam update, AVG Anti Virus running in the background/startup). This machine ate it all up with ease!!!
The build quality is nice, although the screen feels a little light for my liking. I'm used to gaming laptops and previously bought one for £2.5k some years back - which my dad has and even though its beginning to show signs of its age (it has a 7900GTX in it) it is still going...
I installed a few games and it auto detected Skyrim to Ultra Settings and ran like I had gone to heaven. I tried to put all my high spec games on the SSD and used my other 750Gb drive as my buffer for files and other 'older' type games.
I must say, playing Skyrim on a laptop showing these types of graphics on 1920x1080 resolution nearly made me wet myself LOL This thing is great for gaming... I'm yet to try Battlefield 3 but cannot see this not eating it all up in one go.
The Windows Experience Index came out at 7.0 - but this was due to the onboard GFX and Gaming GFX - weird but maybe I need to tweak this a bit as I ran it again and got 7.1 out of the it.
Processor - 7.7
RAM - 7.9
GFX - 7.0
Gaming GFX - 7.0/7.1
Primary HDD - 7.9
I'm happy with results and it was running nVidia Driver 302.71 - I know I can install the beta drivers which are slightly higher but I'm happy at the moment and don't want to rock the boat so to speak.
Right now for my bugbears....
I have dealt with PCS before and this may be a one off problem but when opening the laptop I found the front of the cd/blu ray drive had come loose in one corner. A quick snap on and everything was fine but I would assume these would be checked for minor things like that.
Software.. When I spend this much on a laptop I expect to get it out of the box, tweak it and away I go - NOOOOO!!! I had to install the HD Audio Drivers as everytime I ran the THX TruStudio application it stated no audio card could be found.. Once I installed the drivers, everything was fine. I also had to install the Cyberlink DVD SOftware (by the way the serial number is in small font on the cd case of this software - took me ages to find it). Now correct me if I wrong but I do not expect to do these pretty basic installations upon initial setup. This should be covered and checked at PCS end (especially the audio hd).
Keyboard... Grrr - like I said I have had gaming laptops before and I expect a lot from the keys on a high end laptop. Well I must say I was rather disappointed. The keys although are fine and although I'm a fast typer (using two fingers to type LOL) occassionally it couldn't keep up with me. I believe this may be a Vortex 3 issue and hopefully can be resolved with an updated driver, maybe? I also don't like (but will have to get used to) the RETURN Key - I keep hitting the damn # and it took me ages to find the / key LOL (DEL is another one I like in the corner of the numpad but hey I can't have everything LOL)
Another thing as well - and I know I will be flamed because of this but couldn't they make each key colour configurable. I know how hard this would be but hey I want to configure my keys for games and then laod up the keyboard colours based on that game. I may be fussy but I'm used to my old PCS Gaming Desktop which had a Logitech G15 keyboard - where keys and info was a plenty - just a suggestion, I don't thing a driver update would allow this based on the LED keys back but it would have been a nice touch.
Blu-Ray playback via the included Cyberlink software (now installed) - is absolutely fantastic!! A pleasure to watch from any angle.
Actually I would suggest upgrading to the AUO Matte - I pondered and researched this for ages before ordering the laptop, but the screen colours are fantastic with NO ROOM GLARE !!! A pleasure to watch any movie or play any game on. I thing I am now converted to always have a Matte screen.
I eventually found that Fn + Esc gets the control panel up which is a nice way to control the settings under one window frame. And my OSD appeared to only work when I had installed some of the drivers (Audio) which was weird but all OK now.
I have yet to try a multitrude of games and will update when tested but I believe this thing will eat everything alive and want more..
Overall I am happy with the laptop and would recommend it, I just have some issues with the way things were setup/done which could have made the experience a whole lot better. I do not feel as though PCS tested it enough before releasing it to me which is a shame!
Build Quality: 8/10 (loses points for the screen section which is a bit thing for my liking but may just be me!)
Screen: 9.5/10 (AUO WOW!)
Speed: 10/10
PCS Pre-Testing: 5/10
Overall: 8/10 (loses points for the setup stuff and tweaking I needed to do before unleashing the beast within!)
