Vortex III LE - Finally arrived after long delay. First impressions...

[azphz0]

I ordered this back in the 3rd week of January and after a considerable delay I finally received the system today. I got it as my old laptop was barely up to playing games made in 2008 (when I got it), much less current titles. Since I'm sometimes away from my desktop for weeks, I wanted a system that could comfortably handle most modern titles at decent settings.

So far I've just gotten it unwrapped and booted to test it, it'll probably take me a few days to experiment thoroughly... here's the spec:

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) - Changed to matte as this was not in stock at the time they had the chassis
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670MX - 3.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + 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 & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Intel Anti-Theft Technology
FREE 90 Day Intel Anti-Theft Trial - Prevent Data Access upon Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days

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First impressions are fairly good, the laptop was packed OK and looks solid. After getting all the protective tape off, I booted it to the Windows 8 install PCS used for testing - I'll be putting my own install of Windows 7 on it soon.
No major problems here, although I noticed that the bezels on the side of the screen are going to be dust/fingerprint magnets in future.

A quick Windows experience test revealed the scores that I'd expect from this laptop, even if the 'Desktop 3D' score was on the low side (probably due to Nvidia Optimus switching to the IGPU for this). I installed Steam and copied over my Mass Effect 2 install from my PC for some more heavy duty testing.

A quick game of Mass Effect 2 proved that the graphics performance was up to scratch, although the built-in speakers leave a lot to be desired - even me with my hearing impairment can tell that the sound quality of these is woeful. The headphone jack seems to work alright, although others have complained that this jack only gives 2.0 instead of 2.1 sound - will need to test this further with some music.

After the first hour of tinkering, I'm fairly happy with the build. That said, the wait for the system was rather frustrating, especially in the first 2 weeks as there was not much communication then. Ideally I'd like to have been able to see stock levels/expected delivery time for each PC line in order to make a more informed choice - had I known it would take almost 2 months to get this system, I'd have probably chosen a different chassis or maybe even went elsewhere.


For now I'm going to attempt to install Windows 7 and see how that goes, hopefully I can find drivers for everything. I'd expected there might be a test Windows 7 install which I could just put my product key into but was thrown off by the fact PCS are now using Windows 8 for this.

 

[Seppie]

Congrats! Looking forward to reading your full review.

 

[SlickShoes]

You could have just messaged PCS and asked them to use whatever OS it is you have a licence for for the testing. I messaged and asked for W7 Pro 64bit and they obliged no problem.

The wait you had to endure seems brutal, I thought my 3 weeks was bad.

 

[moosEh]

but was thrown off by the fact PCS are now using Windows 8 for this.

We apologies that your order was delayed for so long.
As for Windows 8 we like to use it so the customers can see if they like windows 8 or not (saves wasting money on a license key when Windows 8 is a bit like Marmite, love it or hate it)

 

[azphz0]

We apologies that your order was delayed for so long.
As for Windows 8 we like to use it so the customers can see if they like windows 8 or not (saves wasting money on a license key when Windows 8 is a bit like Marmite, love it or hate it)

Windows 8 is definitely Marmite, while I like the technical improvements Microsoft made behind the scenes for it, I can't stand the new Start screen or the way they've moved certain menus (looking at you, shutdown button...). Maybe later I'll change my mind, but for now it's back to the tried and trusty Windows 7.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

...Is that going to be the same even where an OS is part of the order?

I've got Win 7 as part of my spec (i deliberately avoided Win 8 after hearing some poor feedback about it from friends....from all I have heard Win 8 is far more touchscreen-friendly and not as good for games as Win 7)

I might be mis-understanding here but am i to assume when my laptop turns up (tomorrow WHOOOP!!!) i'm going to have to rip Win 8 out and install Win 7?

 

[azphz0]

I ordered my machine without an OS as I already had a Windows 7 licence freed up from my old laptop. I'm sure that if you specify an OS in your order to purchase with the machine, that will be the one that is installed.

In this case, it was my fault for not checking with PCS if they were putting on a Windows 7 image onto the machine, which I could activate later - would have saved me time reinstalling along with putting all the drivers on.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

I ordered my machine without an OS as I already had a Windows 7 licence freed up from my old laptop. I'm sure that if you specify an OS in your order to purchase with the machine, that will be the one that is installed.

In this case, it was my fault for not checking with PCS if they were putting on a Windows 7 image onto the machine, which I could activate later - would have saved me time reinstalling along with putting all the drivers on.

Ah ok... Sorry to have side-tracked you with my own build!
Yeah its a bit of a pain to reinstall a load of stuff, but then, its just time consuming, not too difficult.
One quick note, from what i understand the licences on Windows (except for ultimate) "imprint" your specification to the licence? So its only where it is licenced for multiple machines that you can install onto another machine with the same key? (And then its also capped by how many machines the licence is applicable to)

I'm sure when you are finished you'll be a happy bunny

 

[azphz0]

Ah ok... Sorry to have side-tracked you with my own build!
Yeah its a bit of a pain to reinstall a load of stuff, but then, its just time consuming, not too difficult.
One quick note, from what i understand the licences on Windows (except for ultimate) "imprint" your specification to the licence? So its only where it is licenced for multiple machines that you can install onto another machine with the same key? (And then its also capped by how many machines the licence is applicable to)

I'm sure when you are finished you'll be a happy bunny

At least by doing the install myself I know what's on the system. Fortunately there was a driver CD shipped with my system with all the required Windows 7 drivers, I'd actually started downloading them off Clevo's site before I found that.

As far as Windows licensing goes, I have 2 MSDNAA keys for Windows 7 which are only intended to be used with 1 system at a time - normally they activate fine on another machine or after a major hardware change, at least for a few times, then it starts asking you to phone the activation line. I haven't had a key invalidated yet but it's probably only a matter of time with my desktop as I swap bits out a lot.