Before I start I just want to say a big thank you to PC Specialist, they were friendly and efficient and even though my laptop was stuck in pre-processing for 14 working days due to the Blu-Ray drive and CPU being out of stock. They must've been building and testing it as the parts were made available because once the build was complete my laptop was awaiting dispatch the very next day. Absolutely impressed with how they handled everything so quickly, they really do put the customer first.
I do talk majorly into detail, so to read my review of the laptop, please look for the green heading text. I will be putting keywords in bold so you can easily read my thoughts on that particular item. Feel free to get in touch if you want more info on a particular part.
Production Stages:
Processed Date: 02-10-2013
Pre-Production Date: 08-10-2013
Build Date: 22-10-2013
Specification:
Chassis & Display: Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM): 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk: 120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk: 750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 6x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Wireless/Wired Networking: GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Operating System: : Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Warranty: 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery: PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON
Build Time: Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
For an extremely long time I wanted a proper gaming rig, something I could play anything and everything (or the closest thing to) on, but I just didn't want to part with the cash for anything less than perfect. I shopped at many other places and wasn't too impressed with pricing. Then, a TV advert suggested PC Specialist to me. I'm not usually one to trust new companies and I didn't have many people to ask for opinions, so I turned to these forums. The absolutely massive amount of brilliant things you guys, and other websites for that matter, have to say about PC Specialist, and the amazing prices, well I just couldn't say no. The next task was deciding what my perfect rig was going to be.
In the years from first wanting a gaming computer to now, my circumstances had changed, namely I was much more preferring a laptop to a computer, so that's where I set my sights. It took me a few visits to get my perfect laptop specification together, and I wanted your opinions on it. That was when a friendly member of your community told me how similar my selection was to an offering in the reviews section. Not only was s/he correct, but it had included items I had omitted to bring the laptop within budget, and for the same price. The review spec included a Blu-Ray drive, Kingston memory, and a SSD drive, all components I cut from my final selection because the price was going above my set budget. Sat on my screen at that moment was the build I would end up with on the 24th October 2013. For anyone who is interested, the model is the Vortex IV 780 and it's price at time of writing is £1,449.
Now it probably goes without saying that the only thing wrong with ordering a review build is that you sacrifice the option of Fast Track. Had I have not been sticking to my budget and been extremely happy with the specification I was getting for my money, I would have regretted not paying for this, but it wasn't an option to me so although the wait for my new toy was excruciating, I knew I was getting absolute value for money, and brilliant customer service. Other than the items being out of stock, only one thing to report about my build and that was that due to the release of Windows 8.1, my laptop was automatically amended to be preloaded with Windows 8.1 rather than Windows 8 that was specified in the build. This, to me, was time saving as I probably would have upgraded to 8.1 shortly after receiving the laptop.
Fast forward to the date of delivery, and I must say that PC Specialist's chosen courier, DPD, are the best choice any company could use. I have never had a problem with them and their online tracking is unrivalled. On one screen you can see your delivery slot (mine was 10:32 - 11:32), your driver's name, what number your delivery is (mine was 8) and what delivery number the driver was on. You also have a map of your driver's current location and the estimated time until s/he reaches your address. Thanks to this, delivery was like an SAS operation. I was stuck at work but with the information I had access to I was able to wake the other half up on time to get ready to accept my new toy.
Later in the day, and what seemed like the longest drive home from work ever, I was stood over a very large box, scissors in hand, poised to attack. The Mrs. at this point had never handled or seen a gaming laptop, and from carrying the box from the front door, was expecting nothing short of a baby elephant to pop out of the box once the "fragile" tape had been cut. The packaging was, and this will sound strange, very minimalistic, but perfect. Let me stop any bad thoughts there before they start by saying the laptop packaging is key, and the packaging I am referring to is the box that contains the laptop box. The laptop box was sat upon a very sturdy Styrofoam cushion, with another to the side of it, both perfectly sized so not to allow any movement of, or any damage to occur to, the laptop box within this bigger box.
Now onto the laptop box. This is a extremely sturdy box, made of extremely thick cardboard to provide a huge amount of protection to the contents. Having brought my laptops pre-made before, I was used to paper thin walls on my boxes, but PC Specialist know how their customers expect to receive their custom built machines. The laptop itself is fit snuggly into two styrofoam pockets either side of it, much like you'd expect, and wedging the laptop in to stop movement is another smaller cardboard box that contains the power lead and adapter, as well as the battery. This smaller cardboard box is also blessed with thick walls, although not as thick as the laptop box. They really have gone all out on this packaging. From what I can recall, due to my excitement and the rush of unpacking my new laptop, the laptop came in a plastic bag to help protect it. Removing the laptop from the plastic bag and opening it up reveals several various plastic sheets, affixed with tape. The plastic sheets are to protect your new device, and I cannot name the tape, but it's the sort of tape that leaves no residue, but holds extremely firm, and I imagine it would also be anti-static, but that is only my opinion.
Laptop Review
So after a quick set up, as with all new devices, I'm faced with my new baby. It's sleek in appearance, even for a big chassis, with lovely brushed aluminium flairs on the lid and where the touchpad is. That lid looks perfect for an Aperture Science Decal I've been saving for such a moment like this, but for the moment I think I'll keep it as is, enjoy it a bit, y'know? What do I do first, is now the question running through my head as I'm installing the necessary programs, Chrome, Steam, etc. The crispness of the display, the first thing to hit me, is exactly what you would expect. There's no need for Windows TrueType here to make text look sharper, because it's looking at it's best straight out of the box. I'm going to be able to see every pixel I need to when attacking a base in Battlefield 3 or fighting for first place in GRID 2. As it stands, the day I received this laptop, is the same day I was ailed with the worst case of man flu I think I have ever experienced, so as such I have kept the screen protecting plastic and tape on for now, that'll prevent any wayward coughs or sneezes from attacking my screen.
The keyboard is such a pleasure to type on, it's soft yet tactile keys are big enough to improve even the most inaccurate of typing, but not as noisy as you'd expect. The 'click' is a gentle one, perfect for late night gaming sessions where your significant other can be woken by even the slightest of clicks. The touchpad is smooth, but not so much that your fingers slip upon it. It allows for a better deal of accuracy than you would find on most pre-built laptops. I feel the brushed aluminium surface will hold up much better than the plastic touchpad of the Sony Vaio that this laptop has replaced, which now has a perfectly smooth oval in the "high traffic" areas of it's touchpad.
I do talk majorly into detail, so to read my review of the laptop, please look for the green heading text. I will be putting keywords in bold so you can easily read my thoughts on that particular item. Feel free to get in touch if you want more info on a particular part.
Production Stages:
Processed Date: 02-10-2013
Pre-Production Date: 08-10-2013
Build Date: 22-10-2013
by Jonathon Brown
Test Date: 22-10-2013by Harry Walker
Awaiting Dispatch Date: 23-10-2013packed by James Dransfield
Dispatch Date: 23-10-2013Specification:
Chassis & Display: Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM): 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk: 120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk: 750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 6x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Wireless/Wired Networking: GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Operating System: : Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Warranty: 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery: PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON
Build Time: Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
For an extremely long time I wanted a proper gaming rig, something I could play anything and everything (or the closest thing to) on, but I just didn't want to part with the cash for anything less than perfect. I shopped at many other places and wasn't too impressed with pricing. Then, a TV advert suggested PC Specialist to me. I'm not usually one to trust new companies and I didn't have many people to ask for opinions, so I turned to these forums. The absolutely massive amount of brilliant things you guys, and other websites for that matter, have to say about PC Specialist, and the amazing prices, well I just couldn't say no. The next task was deciding what my perfect rig was going to be.
In the years from first wanting a gaming computer to now, my circumstances had changed, namely I was much more preferring a laptop to a computer, so that's where I set my sights. It took me a few visits to get my perfect laptop specification together, and I wanted your opinions on it. That was when a friendly member of your community told me how similar my selection was to an offering in the reviews section. Not only was s/he correct, but it had included items I had omitted to bring the laptop within budget, and for the same price. The review spec included a Blu-Ray drive, Kingston memory, and a SSD drive, all components I cut from my final selection because the price was going above my set budget. Sat on my screen at that moment was the build I would end up with on the 24th October 2013. For anyone who is interested, the model is the Vortex IV 780 and it's price at time of writing is £1,449.
Now it probably goes without saying that the only thing wrong with ordering a review build is that you sacrifice the option of Fast Track. Had I have not been sticking to my budget and been extremely happy with the specification I was getting for my money, I would have regretted not paying for this, but it wasn't an option to me so although the wait for my new toy was excruciating, I knew I was getting absolute value for money, and brilliant customer service. Other than the items being out of stock, only one thing to report about my build and that was that due to the release of Windows 8.1, my laptop was automatically amended to be preloaded with Windows 8.1 rather than Windows 8 that was specified in the build. This, to me, was time saving as I probably would have upgraded to 8.1 shortly after receiving the laptop.
Fast forward to the date of delivery, and I must say that PC Specialist's chosen courier, DPD, are the best choice any company could use. I have never had a problem with them and their online tracking is unrivalled. On one screen you can see your delivery slot (mine was 10:32 - 11:32), your driver's name, what number your delivery is (mine was 8) and what delivery number the driver was on. You also have a map of your driver's current location and the estimated time until s/he reaches your address. Thanks to this, delivery was like an SAS operation. I was stuck at work but with the information I had access to I was able to wake the other half up on time to get ready to accept my new toy.
Later in the day, and what seemed like the longest drive home from work ever, I was stood over a very large box, scissors in hand, poised to attack. The Mrs. at this point had never handled or seen a gaming laptop, and from carrying the box from the front door, was expecting nothing short of a baby elephant to pop out of the box once the "fragile" tape had been cut. The packaging was, and this will sound strange, very minimalistic, but perfect. Let me stop any bad thoughts there before they start by saying the laptop packaging is key, and the packaging I am referring to is the box that contains the laptop box. The laptop box was sat upon a very sturdy Styrofoam cushion, with another to the side of it, both perfectly sized so not to allow any movement of, or any damage to occur to, the laptop box within this bigger box.
Now onto the laptop box. This is a extremely sturdy box, made of extremely thick cardboard to provide a huge amount of protection to the contents. Having brought my laptops pre-made before, I was used to paper thin walls on my boxes, but PC Specialist know how their customers expect to receive their custom built machines. The laptop itself is fit snuggly into two styrofoam pockets either side of it, much like you'd expect, and wedging the laptop in to stop movement is another smaller cardboard box that contains the power lead and adapter, as well as the battery. This smaller cardboard box is also blessed with thick walls, although not as thick as the laptop box. They really have gone all out on this packaging. From what I can recall, due to my excitement and the rush of unpacking my new laptop, the laptop came in a plastic bag to help protect it. Removing the laptop from the plastic bag and opening it up reveals several various plastic sheets, affixed with tape. The plastic sheets are to protect your new device, and I cannot name the tape, but it's the sort of tape that leaves no residue, but holds extremely firm, and I imagine it would also be anti-static, but that is only my opinion.
Laptop Review
So after a quick set up, as with all new devices, I'm faced with my new baby. It's sleek in appearance, even for a big chassis, with lovely brushed aluminium flairs on the lid and where the touchpad is. That lid looks perfect for an Aperture Science Decal I've been saving for such a moment like this, but for the moment I think I'll keep it as is, enjoy it a bit, y'know? What do I do first, is now the question running through my head as I'm installing the necessary programs, Chrome, Steam, etc. The crispness of the display, the first thing to hit me, is exactly what you would expect. There's no need for Windows TrueType here to make text look sharper, because it's looking at it's best straight out of the box. I'm going to be able to see every pixel I need to when attacking a base in Battlefield 3 or fighting for first place in GRID 2. As it stands, the day I received this laptop, is the same day I was ailed with the worst case of man flu I think I have ever experienced, so as such I have kept the screen protecting plastic and tape on for now, that'll prevent any wayward coughs or sneezes from attacking my screen.
The keyboard is such a pleasure to type on, it's soft yet tactile keys are big enough to improve even the most inaccurate of typing, but not as noisy as you'd expect. The 'click' is a gentle one, perfect for late night gaming sessions where your significant other can be woken by even the slightest of clicks. The touchpad is smooth, but not so much that your fingers slip upon it. It allows for a better deal of accuracy than you would find on most pre-built laptops. I feel the brushed aluminium surface will hold up much better than the plastic touchpad of the Sony Vaio that this laptop has replaced, which now has a perfectly smooth oval in the "high traffic" areas of it's touchpad.
