Advice on Defiance III laptops and PCS customer service

[Korb]

Hello guys! I would like to buy a Clevo P650 HS-G/Clevo P670 RS-G (Defiance III) from PCS since they have the most competitive prices out there.

How are temps doing with these laptops during heavy gaming sessions? Which one of those chassis run the coolest, the 17,3" or 15,6"?

Do they delid CPUs? Does the ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME make difference in temperatures?

Is Prema bios available?

Since they are offering a great deal on the 6700HQ, is there a performance drop/difference compared to the 7700HQ? Is it really worth it?

Which one of this config would you choose? Would you change anything?

17,3":

Chassis & DisplayDefiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ (2.6GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo) (Special Offer)
Memory (RAM)16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics CardNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1, G-SYNC
1st Hard Disk 1TB WD BLACK 2.5" WD10JPLX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
Memory Card ReaderIntegrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor 1 x 200W AC AdaptorPower Cable1 x 1 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options 3 x USB 3.1 Type A, 2 x USB 3.1 Type C AS STANDARD
Battery Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (60WH)
Keyboard Language DEFIANCE SERIES RGB BACKLIT ITALIAN KEYBOARD
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language Italy/Italia - Italian Language
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery 3 - 4 DAY DELIVERY TO ITALY
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

TOT:1546€

15,6":

Chassis & DisplayDefiance Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™ Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 7700HQ (2.8GHz, 3.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics CardNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1, G-SYNC
1st Hard Disk 1TB WD SLIM BLUE 2.5" WD10SPCX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
Memory Card ReaderIntegrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor 1 x 200W AC AdaptorPower Cable1 x 1 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options 3 x USB 3.1 Type A, 2 x USB 3.1 Type C AS STANDARD
Battery Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (60WH)
Keyboard Language DEFIANCE SERIES RGB BACKLIT ITALIAN KEYBOARD
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language Italy/Italia - Italian Language
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery 3 - 4 DAY DELIVERY TO ITALY
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

TOT:1690€

How is PCS's customer support before and after purchase? Do they update their BIOS/drivers?

Does their "Collect & Return" warranty policy apply even for EU states outside UK?


Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[Oussebon]

I wouldn't spend 150€ more going from a 6700HQ to a 7700HQ. The performance difference would be very slender.

I would expect the 17.3" chassis to be cooler if only by virtue of having the 6700HQ over the 7700HQ.

Do they delid CPUs?

Not to my knowledge - I'm not aware of them providing a delidding service. Delidding yourself would, of course, void any warranty.

How is PCS's customer support before and after purchase?

I've found it to be fine. Any issues I've had they've ultimately been committed to finding a resolution to. Obviously you can check third party websites like Trustpilot for reviews.

Do they update their BIOS/drivers?

The BIOS and drivers for the chassis are provided by Clevo, who make the chassis. You can get driver updates directly from them. Drivers for other things like the GPU are provided by 3rd parties like Nvidia (and you can get those from them too). The advice on the forums is to check with PCS before performing a BIOS update. If you don't and manage to brick the laptop doing a BIOS update it may conceivably put you in a sticky position with the warranty.

Does their "Collect & Return" warranty policy apply even for EU states outside UK?

The terms and conditions have been updated to say:

6.13For any returns due to damage or suspected faults, we will arrange for collection at our cost within the first month after receipt or as extended by your warranty provision. Should the product be found not defective then you will be liable for the costs of collection, re-delivery, labour and new packaging if required. We do not offer a collection for orders delivered to the Channel Islands, Norway, Iceland or Switzerland.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/terms/

It's my understanding that Italy is covered. Italian customers have asked before.
See: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...-work-in-Italy&p=373763&viewfull=1#post373763
And apparently been told that Italy is included (T&Cs used to say UK-only but have been updated as above)

You can always contact PCS directly for confirmation.

Does the ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME make difference in temperatures?

It can do, and is probably worth it for £9 or whatever the € equivalent is.

Is Prema bios available?

Not to my knowledge, and modding the BIOS may affect your warranty. That said, plenty of people use Defiance IIIs perfectly happily without it.

 

[ubuysa]

How is PCS's customer support before and after purchase? Do they update their BIOS/drivers?

In my personal experience PCS's after sales service is excellent. I've had a laptop and a desktop from PCS and had very minor issues with both (I would not have bothered going back to a high street shop with either of these minor issues). PCS couldn't have been more helpful in both cases and in both cases they swapped the offending component (a wifi card and a DVD drive) even though they could find no evidence that either were faulty. The fact that a customer was not happy was enough.

I don't work for PCS but I don't believe they do offer continually updates drivers or BIOSes. For Clevo based laptops the latest drivers can be had from Clevo. I would advise against updating the BIOS unless you absolutely have to in order to fix a problem. The BIOS is not like regular code, it's actually hardware firmware and it doesn't need regularly updating like normal software, if you're not having problems the BIOS is far better left alone.