Advice on spec

[Ctrevan]

Hi all,

I am looking to order a custom laptop from PCS and was wondering if anyone would be able to check the specs and give me any pointers before I pull the trigger.

Chassis & Display Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen
(1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive 128GB ADATA SX6000 LITE M.2 2280 (1800 MB/R, 1200 MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive 1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)

This will primarily be used for work, I am an artist and I make mobile apps and games. I use Adobe CC heavily, mostly Animate and Photoshop.

Would also be nice to play the odd game but not so fussed with that.

My main concerns are whether the screens are much cop in terms of colour and brightness. I have resisted a 4k as I know the gains on a laptop are negligible for the money. I can also get a 4k monitor in the future to hook it up to so no problem really.

My other worry is the Defiance V seems to have drawn a lot of criticism for overheating. I can't find any reviews of the Defiance VII weirdly, maybe too new? Is this spec asking for trouble in terns of overheating?

Also is it worth spending the extra £110 on the RTX 2070 Max Q? Heard it wasn't worth it.

Lastly is the build quality okay? I guess as you are all on these forums you are fans of the brand, so the fact there is any kind of community is a good thing and PCS Trustpilot rating is great. Just worry that a plastic laptop of this size might be a ropey feeling.

Seems like the prices are too good to be true, the new XPS 17 will probably be closer to £3k at this spec.

Any help appreciated.

Many thanks.

Charlie

 

[Charlas]

As for reviews of this chassis, can't help you there sorry, not looked into it (and not sure which cove/tong chassis it is)

As for the spec seems sensible for use case, add the re-paste on and silver warranty, and if you already have a Windows license bound to your ms account knock that off and save 100ish quid, maybe use that to goto the 2070 (can that chassis not have the super?)

Yes between the 2060 and 2070 maxq there isn't an awful lot, but the max q will run cooler than the standard 2060 as its lower power with sameish(or better) performance, so might be worth it if you want to use on battery.

 

[Scott]

I would definitely up the size of the primary M2 drive, 512GB would be recommended at the bare minimum for your uses. 128GB is going to be massively restrictive.

With regards to the GPU, it's definitely not worth it.... especially for your uses. The 2060 is the ideal GPU for your level of professional creativity. Paired with the 5.1Ghz chip it should run really well.

It may be worthwhile to have a look at Nova spec with an AMD chipset. Often times Photoshop does play nicer with Intel but you do get a LOT of processing grunt for your money with the AMD.

 

[Ctrevan]

As for reviews of this chassis, can't help you there sorry, not looked into it (and not sure which cove/tong chassis it is)

As for the spec seems sensible for use case, add the re-paste on and silver warranty, and if you already have a Windows license bound to your ms account knock that off and save 100ish quid, maybe use that to goto the 2070 (can that chassis not have the super?)

Yes between the 2060 and 2070 maxq there isn't an awful lot, but the max q will run cooler than the standard 2060 as its lower power with sameish(or better) performance, so might be worth it if you want to use on battery.

 

[Ctrevan]

Great thanks for the info. Think the chassis does take bigger cards but the 2060 keeps the cost down as my budget is a limited.

I do have a windows 10 license to so that's a great suggestion.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Ctrevan]

I would definitely up the size of the primary M2 drive, 512GB would be recommended at the bare minimum for your uses. 128GB is going to be massively restrictive.

With regards to the GPU, it's definitely not worth it.... especially for your uses. The 2060 is the ideal GPU for your level of professional creativity. Paired with the 5.1Ghz chip it should run really well.

It may be worthwhile to have a look at Nova spec with an AMD chipset. Often times Photoshop does play nicer with Intel but you do get a LOT of processing grunt for your money with the AMD.

Interesting, I will check out the Nova as well. I chose the Defiance mostly because it is only 2cm thick but tbh portability isn't that important to me as will only be moving it between rooms in my house, depending on where I can get some peace and quiet!

Thanks for the response.

 

[Ctrevan]

Also, what would be the advantage of the Nova? Is it just the AMD processor?

Was hoping to get a 17 inch as my eyes are crap and for now I will have no extra monitor!

Thanks

 

[Scott]

Also, what would be the advantage of the Nova? Is it just the AMD processor?

Was hoping to get a 17 inch as my eyes are crap and for now I will have no extra monitor!

Thanks

The Nova is desktop hardware in a laptop. It basically makes it crazy powerful for the money. You could get a 3900 in that chassis which is a processing monster.

It's a toss up though, you won't go wrong with the Intel build in the laptop either. Either would meet/exceed your requirements.

 

[Charlas]

Photoshop tends to scew towards Intel (clocks) , where as premiere / tile renderer tend to scew to AMD (cores)

Although not a lot in it nowadays for the most part, plus Adobe are introducing gpu offload to more and more of their packages for things (nvenc encoding recently added to premiere/media encode for example)

 

[Ctrevan]

The Nova is desktop hardware in a laptop. It basically makes it crazy powerful for the money. You could get a 3900 in that chassis which is a processing monster.

It's a toss up though, you won't go wrong with the Intel build in the laptop either. Either would meet/exceed your requirements.

Oh right, I see. That sounds tempting but think I would still want the bigger screen.

 

[Ctrevan]

Photoshop tends to scew towards Intel (clocks) , where as premiere / tile renderer tend to scew to AMD (cores)

Although not a lot in it nowadays for the most part, plus Adobe are introducing gpu offload to more and more of their packages for things (nvenc encoding recently added to premiere/media encode for example)

I don't do massively intensive stiff in Photoshop as mostly work with vectors. Great info, thanks for the reply.