17.3" Vortex III - Review (In Progress)

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mayomason

Member
After many months (possibly years) being tempted by PC Specialist's offerings, I have finally taken the plunge and ordered my very first PC Specialist product, a 17.3" Vortex III.

Laptop Specification

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
6x BLURAY WRITER, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days

Price: £1,578.00 including VAT and delivery. ACTUAL PRICE PAID: £1,288

Instead of having to pay top whack for what is a very high spec. laptop, I was able to use the model on the reviews page and amend it to my desired specification after putting my order through. This has meant I've made a saving of £290, which I am really happy about.

Since ordering, I have amended the SSD from a 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K to a 120GB Intel 520, the second hard drive from a 1TB SATA II (5400rpm) to a 750GB Scorpio Black (7200rpm), and the 4x Bluray Rom to a 6x Bluray Writer (as I was told this would most likely speed up my order, as they had no 4x Bluray Roms in stock). I also added Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste Compound, as well as Silver Warranty.

I will update this page as my order progresses, culminating in a full review with photos (and, possibly, videos) once my laptop has arrived and I've got it properly set up.

Production Dates (will be updated as they happen)

Processed Date: 25-04-2013
Build Date: 26-04-2013
Test Date: 30-04-2013
Awaiting Dispatch Date: 30-04-2013
Dispatch Date: 30-04-2013
Delivered: 01-05-2013
 
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C

Christof

Bronze Level Poster
dan2690 said:
How did you change the spec, I thought the review version was a set spec
Click to expand...


Mayo - she's still running great. Left her running this morning as I've just picked up Tomb Raider and Tropico 4 over the weekend (not that I need any more games at the moment) so I'll keep you posted once I get to have a play.
 
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mayomason

Member
Woo! My laptop has now been dispatched and should be here by tomorrow. What a rapid build time that was! I will update with a review and pictures in the coming days.
 
S

SlimCini

KC and the Sunshine BANNED
I've just stumbled across the review Vortex too and am debating with my inner self about pressing the order button... unbelievable value when you consider that you can configure it keeping the discount intact!

Any reason you went for Intel SSD rather than Kingston?
 
S

SlimCini

KC and the Sunshine BANNED
No, I meant why the Intel over the Kingston HyperX 3K (which comes with the review config) which is 555MB/sR 510MB/sW. Pretty similar speed and the Kingston is £13 cheaper.

EDIT... I say 'similar speed'... I'll be honest I've no idea what the numbers mean, it's just to me the numbers look very similar! Is 555MB/sR 510MB/sW considerably slower than 550MB/sR 520MB/sW or something??
 
SmokeDarKnight

SmokeDarKnight

Author Level
SlimCini said:
No, I meant why the Intel over the Kingston HyperX 3K (which comes with the review config) which is 555MB/sR 510MB/sW. Pretty similar speed and the Kingston is £13 cheaper.

EDIT... I say 'similar speed'... I'll be honest I've no idea what the numbers mean, it's just to me the numbers look very similar! Is 555MB/sR 510MB/sW considerably slower than 550MB/sR 520MB/sW or something??
Click to expand...

Sorry didn't see that one, theres been a post on this however, im not a SSD user yet but this previous form may help

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...D-120GB-Intel-520-OR-120GB-Hyper-X-3k-!/page2
 
C

Christof

Bronze Level Poster
How are you getting on the new toy Mayo?

Only managed a couple of hours on Tomb Raider recently but I was sat there grinning like a Cheshire Cat the whole time!
 
M

mayomason

Member
Ordering Process

Without doubt, PC Specialist provided me with the best ordering process I have ever experienced. From putting my build together on Thursday 25th April, my order was built and tested in quick time, arriving at my door on Tuesday 1st May. I was pretty shocked at how rapid this was; a second to none service by all accounts.

First Impressions

The laptop was packaged very well, encompassed in styrofoam inside a large box, nullifying the chances of damage during transit. Upon opening the box, I saw the various manuals and driver disks, and the beast itself wrapped in a cushioning protective material. After unveiling the laptop, I found it to be covered in protective plastic, which impressed me further, and showed just how much care PC Specialist take when preparing their products for delivery.

I plugged in the laptop and after a few brief minutes putting in my Windows 8 serial key and configuring settings I was able to boot it up. In no more than fifteen seconds, I was greeted by the Windows start screen, and in awe of how incredibly quickly this was done. After a few minutes updating drivers (most of which had already been done by PC Specialist themselves), I was ready to start the marathon task of installing all of the games I was previously unable to play on my old laptop.

Performance

Quite simply, I have yet to come across a single game that I cannot play at ultra settings. I have been playing Diablo III, Dirt: Showdown, Sleeping Dogs, Trackmania, and World of Warcraft all maxed out with excellent FPS. I have been recording in-game footage, and have experienced very little performance loss when doing so. I will be putting it through its paces when I get Crysis, Tomb Raider, and Battlefield, I suspect, but I have no doubt I will come away smiling. This thing really is a beast!

Audio

This is the single area where I am disappointed. The Onkyo speakers are diabolical, and for such a high end laptop, they really do let the whole package down. My old Acer 7720g's audio trumps the Vortex III's without breaking a sweat. The Vortex III's speakers are just so tinny, with no bass whatsoever, no matter what settings are played around with in THX or Realtek. If anything should be done to improve this chassis, it would be changing the speaker system, because with this solved, it would be the perfect gaming laptop for me, and many others.

Verdict

Overall, I love my new laptop, and I am very happy that I forked out nearly £1,300 to get it. I doubt I will look at upgrading it for a good few years, but I am certain to come back to PC Specialist when I am ready to.



Photographs and in-game footage coming soon!
 
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