I finally put my order in on 23rd April after months of deliberation and indecision.
Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 770M - 3.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
1st Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
6x BLURAY WRITER, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Cable
1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
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)
Delivery
SATURDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 12 NOON)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE £90 IN-GAME VOUCHER with GTX 650 / 750 /7000M / 8000M Series GPUs
Quantity
1
The level of customisation available is really excellent, i don't know of anywhere else in, the UK at least, that offers so much choice. I went for the slightly lower spec graphics card as i'm not a very frequent gamer and it had also just come down a bit in price presumably making way for the 8XX series. I also upgraded the thermal paste after recommendation on the forum and also later took out the dead pixel insurance. Both upgrades were relatively hassle free over the phone, in my experience the phone support has been really excellent and i really appreciate the 033.. number which is mobile contract friendly.
I was slightly surprised to see my order go straight into building on day 1 then testing on day 2, bearing in mind the general feeling on the forums was that it was at least 10 working days in pre-production unless the order had been fast tracked. Oddly the order stayed in testing for 10 working days. I rang up to enquire rather than complain, nevertheless i was told my order would be prioritised for Friday dispatch as I had paid for Saturday delivery.
It wasn't looking good on Friday afternoon when i was still in testing (day 12) but later on in the afternoon i got a text saying my order was ready, so perhaps the system doesn't update in real time. The text was followed up by an e-mail from PCS and then a bit later from DPD confirming Saturday delivery. The e-mail from DPD had the PCS logo in it which gave a good visual impression of a seamless system.
I got a text as promised on delivery day from DPD with the one hour slot. They arrived bang on the middle of the hour. The laptop arrived in a box within a box. The inner box was perfectly packed and offered excellent protection. The outer box wasn't quite so good as the inner box was lying at an angle within it with a fair bit of movement and there were only a few random bits of packing foam underneath it. However it probably added a degree of protection over a single box and there was no sign of damage anywhere.
I very nervously unpacked it carefully and set it up. Setup went without a hitch, no dead pixels or other nasty surprises. Everything seems to be working perfectly and i'm extremely pleased with my purchase. The backlit keyboard looks amazing and the screen looks really sharp and bright as well.
I think i'll update this after a month of use but so far (after 12 hours) it couldn't be better.
I took quite a lot of photos but I can't seem to get them to upload, i browse to the file, add it, click upload then nothing. Any tips about what i'm doing wrong would be welcome and i'll add them later.
Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 770M - 3.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
1st Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
6x BLURAY WRITER, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Cable
1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
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)
Delivery
SATURDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 12 NOON)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE £90 IN-GAME VOUCHER with GTX 650 / 750 /7000M / 8000M Series GPUs
Quantity
1
The level of customisation available is really excellent, i don't know of anywhere else in, the UK at least, that offers so much choice. I went for the slightly lower spec graphics card as i'm not a very frequent gamer and it had also just come down a bit in price presumably making way for the 8XX series. I also upgraded the thermal paste after recommendation on the forum and also later took out the dead pixel insurance. Both upgrades were relatively hassle free over the phone, in my experience the phone support has been really excellent and i really appreciate the 033.. number which is mobile contract friendly.
I was slightly surprised to see my order go straight into building on day 1 then testing on day 2, bearing in mind the general feeling on the forums was that it was at least 10 working days in pre-production unless the order had been fast tracked. Oddly the order stayed in testing for 10 working days. I rang up to enquire rather than complain, nevertheless i was told my order would be prioritised for Friday dispatch as I had paid for Saturday delivery.
It wasn't looking good on Friday afternoon when i was still in testing (day 12) but later on in the afternoon i got a text saying my order was ready, so perhaps the system doesn't update in real time. The text was followed up by an e-mail from PCS and then a bit later from DPD confirming Saturday delivery. The e-mail from DPD had the PCS logo in it which gave a good visual impression of a seamless system.
I got a text as promised on delivery day from DPD with the one hour slot. They arrived bang on the middle of the hour. The laptop arrived in a box within a box. The inner box was perfectly packed and offered excellent protection. The outer box wasn't quite so good as the inner box was lying at an angle within it with a fair bit of movement and there were only a few random bits of packing foam underneath it. However it probably added a degree of protection over a single box and there was no sign of damage anywhere.
I very nervously unpacked it carefully and set it up. Setup went without a hitch, no dead pixels or other nasty surprises. Everything seems to be working perfectly and i'm extremely pleased with my purchase. The backlit keyboard looks amazing and the screen looks really sharp and bright as well.
I think i'll update this after a month of use but so far (after 12 hours) it couldn't be better.
I took quite a lot of photos but I can't seem to get them to upload, i browse to the file, add it, click upload then nothing. Any tips about what i'm doing wrong would be welcome and i'll add them later.
