What am I waiting for?

[Hawke1]

Vortex II:
Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 2GB)
Graphics Card
1.5GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M - DirectX® 11 (15.6" Vortex II)
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
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 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
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 & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,000.00 including VAT and delivery.

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That's the laptop I'm thinking of buying - however, I don't need a laptop until August/September. So, I'd like to know what I'm waiting for - since I've been fiddling with a spec, lots of new laptops like the Vortex III and Skyfire have popped up with different CPUs and GPUs and that, and I keep hearing about Sandy Bridges and stuff, and I get the feeling like if I hold on, I'll get a better laptop closer to September. Is this true?

I quite like the laptop above, especially for my gaming needs. However, £1000 is really pushing my budget - is it worth holding on to see what's going to come up later, or will it all be way out my price range anyway?

If you could just tell me (in noob terms) what cool stuff I might grab in the future, and whether I'll be able to afford it (or even if that VortexII would go down in price), I'd be very grateful. Fhanks!

 

[dangro474]

Hi Hawke,

It's unlikely that the vortex II will go down in price, however future goodie sto look forward to include the Geforce 660M GTX (release date not confirmed) and the Ivy Bridge i7 3720.

The 3720 + 660M GTX would definitely cost more than £1k, so in terms of price to performance the Vortex II with 560M is youre best bet.

The fact that your posted spec only costs £1k makes me a little sad. I bought one for my cousin with a similar spec for over £1.5k not too long ago ><

 

[Hawke1]

So, even the lowest Ivy bridge stuff is out of my league?

 

[Finn]

Im not sure the lowest Ivy bridge stuff is expected any time before Christmas, initially I think its just mid to high end

 

[dangro474]

The lowest Ivy Bridge CPUs would not outperform the midrange Sandy Bridge CPUs.

In terms of gaming performance the difference is more or less negligable, and has FAR less of an impact as upgrading from 1st gen i7's to Sandy Bridge i7's did.

 

[Hawke1]

So...stick with the spec I've got up there, then?

 

[PCS]

So...stick with the spec I've got up there, then?

There will be processors launched within the price range of the 2670QM but we do not have any information on how much better the performance will be just yet. The 2670QM is a very respectable CPU so either way you have a great spec there!

 

[Hawke1]

Thanks very much PCS! Do you know when those processors will be released? We talking weeks or months?

And, if you don't mind me being so frank - reckon you'll drop the price of some areas of the Vortex II in the coming months?

 

[dangro474]

Hi Hawke,

I cannot confirm when PCS will have the CPUs in stock, however the most recent Intel road map shows a release date of the 29th April for the initial mobile CPUs (3720QM, 3820QM, 3920XM). The lower end CPUs will be available at a later date.

From a gaming perspective if you opt for a 2670QM or above your GPU will remain your gaming bottleneck.

 

[PCS]

Just to add to this - the Vortex II price will not fall, rather sell out!

 

[Hawke1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHw8toGHsbU

1) Special discount for me?

2) When do you think the 560M version will sell out? I guess I'll buy just before then and keep it safe until it's really needed. So, absolutely no chance of special offers, like with the 6990 card on the VortexII at the moment?

Thanks so much you guys, this is really helpful.

 

[PCS]

The 560M will be around for a few months yet, however the 6990M is almost sold and will probably be gone by the end of the week.