Vortex III 17.3" Laptop Review.

[Angelmaker30]

Ok my new baby finally arrived on Saturday. Despite a few issues with dispatch the guys from PCS were really helpful and friendly so thanks loads for that especially Jack who took numerous calls from me and was always really great.

Here are the specs I went with (after much tweaking).


Chassis & Display
Vortex Series:17.3" AUO Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3720QM (2.60GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
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)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
Razer® Deathadder Re-Spawn 3500DPI Infrared Gaming Mouse (£48)
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,553.00 including VAT and delivery.

Delivery.

The laptop was delivered within the alloted hour by a friendly chap from DPD. Communication by both text and e-mail was very good so 10/10 for that side of things.

Packaging.

As you can see from the images, the package is rather large and very sturdy. A further very well packed laptop box was securely fitted inside and the Laptop itself was secured nicely.









The laptop.

Build

The laptop is very nicely put together. The build is very sturdy and stylish. I love the fact its not plastered in stickers and maintains a professional look.

After reading about some issues with the keyboard I can happily say that mine is a joy to type with and has no sticky or raised keys. The back lit keyboard is a thing of beauty. I had to re-install the drivers to get the control panel working but this took 2 or 3 minutes at most.

The AUO Matte screen is absolutely stunning. I have never seen colour quality like it. There are zero reflextions and even the viewing angle is very good.

The sound from the system is not the loudest but is very clear indeed. When external speakers are used the sound is fantastic.

The fingerprint scanner is a really nice touch and also worked perfectly first time.

 

[Angelmaker30]

Part 2.

Pictures continued.









Performance.

WOW and WOW this thing is like a rocket on steroids. The laptop boots from off to fully running in about 20 seconds and is instantly working perfectly. It loads things before I have even decided to load them its soo fast. The performance on this laptop is beyond anything I imagined. I knew it would be good but this is crazy good. installing programmes takes seconds, it multi-tasks like it was born for it and the gaming is insane.

Whilst installing Mass Effect 3 I decided to have a little Blast on Battlefield 3. Running in Ultra i was getting 35 FPS and in High detail 49 to 50 FPS. There was no lag, stutter picture break up or anything other than incredible game play and graphics. It plays Skyrim in Ultra no problem at all.

So far everything I have thrown at it it has devoured and asked for more.

Conclusion.

This laptop is a beast, whilst not really 100% portable due mainly to its weight and the mammoth size of the power unit it is a fantastic piece of kit that anybody would be proud of. The build is fantastic and the performance out of this world. PC Specialist have done themselves proud all the way through the process and have delivered something truly remarkable.

Rating 9.8/10 (0.2 loss for the sheer house size of the power unit lol).

 

[cheshirecat765]

Sounds sweet! Hopefully i'll receive my Vortex III next week, fingers crossed. How's the screen? I didn't know whether to choose glossy or the AUO Matte..

 

[Angelmaker30]

The screen is absolutely stunning. 0% glare and amazingly clean crisp image. The colours are great to, I do a lot of video and image editing and this really makes a difference.

 

[LDog]

How are you finding the heat from this when playing games?

 

[Angelmaker30]

the only time i have noticed it getting warm was on Skyrim at max settings. Even then it was just warm and i'm using a cooling stand on my lap so I don't even feel it tbh.

 

[LDog]

what type of stand are you using if you dont mind me asking? as ive ordered my vortex 3 but was not sure if i would need a stand for it and have been unable to find one under £20 that i like

 

[Angelmaker30]

i'm using the nc2000 (as sold by PCS) and I highly recommend it if you are using it on your lap. For under £20 you will struggle to find one big enough and of enough quality tbh.

 

[PCS]

Great review, +rep

We have added your review to our configurator page.

 

[Harun677]

How heavy is this thing? and by the size of the power unit do you mean the adapter or the laptop itself?

 

[Angelmaker30]

its a good couple of kilo's easily (you might find the weight in the laptop build area). My wife has a 17" Sony Vaio and its at least twice as heavy as that. Although heavy. if using a laptop cooling stand (highly recommended) its perfectly comfortable for long gaming/work sessions on the lap.

By power unit, yes I mean the adapter, its bloody huge lol but a small pay off for the power this baby has. Had I known the weight and the size of the power unit in advance I would definitely still have purchased the Vortex III.

Hope that helps.

 

[Harun677]

Thanks, Ordered mine a few days ago, now for the anxious waiting period, its a killer!
Mine is similar specs to yours, hope fully ill do a review when i get it and played with it a bit