Hello everyone,
I received my new Defiance V about 2 weeks ago, I thought I would give it a couple weeks of vigorous use before posting a review to ensure that everything I comment on is well justified. I also notice that there are not many reviews about this laptop at all, hopefully my review will help anyone thinking of purchasing.
A quick run over the specs I chose;
Display - 17.3’ QHD 120hz
CPU - I7 8750H
GPU - GTX 1070
RAM - 2x 8gb (2400mhz)
Storage - 1TB Serial ATA (7200rpm) & 500GB Samsung 960 EVO.
I use the laptop for heavy gaming sessions and in the near future I want to stream some of my gameplay to Twitch. Mainly I use it to play WOW, Overwatch and Fortnite, maybe even the odd AAA.
My first impressions, quality. The packaging was good with minimal junk in the box. The chassis of the laptop feels premium with a full metal body, even underneath. Be aware though, it’s a massive finger print magnet. The keyboard feels nice however I will be purchasing a separate mechanical keyboard for gaming.
Now onto the juicy stuff, performance. What a beast. It has easily handled everything I’ve thrown at it with graphics maxed out at 1440p and it’s looks delightful. I’m really happy I went with the QHD display, it really makes a difference. I use it on a cooling pad to ensure airflow is optimal however this thing does get very warm, why wouldn’t it? It’s a thin laptop packed with a GTX 1070, which from my experience performs no differently to its desktop counterpart. I have monitored temps and the graphics card is well cooled, normal sitting between 75-80c when deep into a heavy gaming session. The CPU normally sits between 75-85c depending on what game you are playing, (this is with the improved Thermal Compound). This causes the top left area of the laptop to become rather hot, the WASD keys are also pretty walm due to this, however I don’t really notice that anymore. The fans seem to be doing there job, all be it pretty loudly (about the same as my PS4). Again, what do you expect from a laptop with this kind of hardware. They blow powerfully, and for good reason.
I did have a few issues with the control centre not working, apparently the new version of control centre (the software used to look at your system performance & change your rgb lights etc) is experiencing problems but the older version works. I am currently using the older version which is fine but it doesn’t remember your settings. If you make any changes, they will be reverted back the next time you start up. Pretty annoying.
Another issue I seem to be having is when streaming using Streamlabs OBS. When playing Overwatch I am normally hitting 150+ FPS with everything maxed out. As soon as I open OBS, my frames drop to between 20-30. This happens on all games. Before anyone says it, it’s not due to thermal throttling at all. Temps are not really any higher than normal so I do think that something somewhere either in OBS or my system settings is causing this, I’m just struggling to find out what it is. After now playing at 120+ FPS at 1440p, going back to 20-30fps looks disgraceful. If anyone has ever experienced this and has a solution, I would grateful if you could let me know. I’m eager to let other people see how much I suck at fortnite... lol!
Overall I am absolutely delighted with it. I can’t belive I have gone through 26 years of my life without an SSD and high refresh rate display, I now see the world in full QHD! Amazing! And the best thing is, I can easily take it to my mates house for all nighters! Even the 230w powerbrick is pretty small.
If any of you have any other questions about it, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer.
Ratings-
Display - 10/10
Graphics - 10/10
Thermals - 7/10
Fan Noise - 8/10
Build Quality - 10/10
My happiness level - 10/10
I hope this helps anyone looking to invest in a rig that you can take where you want! I’m not that great at reviews but I think I’ve covered everything. Pictures of my new baby (called Jane, after the DPD woman that delivered it) are on route.
The reason I have a laptop is because I have no space for a desktop at the moment. As soon as I move house and get a gaming room (wife permitting) I will be purchasing a desktop for home use and after this experience, I will definitely be doing it through pc specialist. Massive thumbs up from me!! Thanks!!
I received my new Defiance V about 2 weeks ago, I thought I would give it a couple weeks of vigorous use before posting a review to ensure that everything I comment on is well justified. I also notice that there are not many reviews about this laptop at all, hopefully my review will help anyone thinking of purchasing.
A quick run over the specs I chose;
Display - 17.3’ QHD 120hz
CPU - I7 8750H
GPU - GTX 1070
RAM - 2x 8gb (2400mhz)
Storage - 1TB Serial ATA (7200rpm) & 500GB Samsung 960 EVO.
I use the laptop for heavy gaming sessions and in the near future I want to stream some of my gameplay to Twitch. Mainly I use it to play WOW, Overwatch and Fortnite, maybe even the odd AAA.
My first impressions, quality. The packaging was good with minimal junk in the box. The chassis of the laptop feels premium with a full metal body, even underneath. Be aware though, it’s a massive finger print magnet. The keyboard feels nice however I will be purchasing a separate mechanical keyboard for gaming.
Now onto the juicy stuff, performance. What a beast. It has easily handled everything I’ve thrown at it with graphics maxed out at 1440p and it’s looks delightful. I’m really happy I went with the QHD display, it really makes a difference. I use it on a cooling pad to ensure airflow is optimal however this thing does get very warm, why wouldn’t it? It’s a thin laptop packed with a GTX 1070, which from my experience performs no differently to its desktop counterpart. I have monitored temps and the graphics card is well cooled, normal sitting between 75-80c when deep into a heavy gaming session. The CPU normally sits between 75-85c depending on what game you are playing, (this is with the improved Thermal Compound). This causes the top left area of the laptop to become rather hot, the WASD keys are also pretty walm due to this, however I don’t really notice that anymore. The fans seem to be doing there job, all be it pretty loudly (about the same as my PS4). Again, what do you expect from a laptop with this kind of hardware. They blow powerfully, and for good reason.
I did have a few issues with the control centre not working, apparently the new version of control centre (the software used to look at your system performance & change your rgb lights etc) is experiencing problems but the older version works. I am currently using the older version which is fine but it doesn’t remember your settings. If you make any changes, they will be reverted back the next time you start up. Pretty annoying.
Another issue I seem to be having is when streaming using Streamlabs OBS. When playing Overwatch I am normally hitting 150+ FPS with everything maxed out. As soon as I open OBS, my frames drop to between 20-30. This happens on all games. Before anyone says it, it’s not due to thermal throttling at all. Temps are not really any higher than normal so I do think that something somewhere either in OBS or my system settings is causing this, I’m just struggling to find out what it is. After now playing at 120+ FPS at 1440p, going back to 20-30fps looks disgraceful. If anyone has ever experienced this and has a solution, I would grateful if you could let me know. I’m eager to let other people see how much I suck at fortnite... lol!
Overall I am absolutely delighted with it. I can’t belive I have gone through 26 years of my life without an SSD and high refresh rate display, I now see the world in full QHD! Amazing! And the best thing is, I can easily take it to my mates house for all nighters! Even the 230w powerbrick is pretty small.
If any of you have any other questions about it, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer.
Ratings-
Display - 10/10
Graphics - 10/10
Thermals - 7/10
Fan Noise - 8/10
Build Quality - 10/10
My happiness level - 10/10
I hope this helps anyone looking to invest in a rig that you can take where you want! I’m not that great at reviews but I think I’ve covered everything. Pictures of my new baby (called Jane, after the DPD woman that delivered it) are on route.
The reason I have a laptop is because I have no space for a desktop at the moment. As soon as I move house and get a gaming room (wife permitting) I will be purchasing a desktop for home use and after this experience, I will definitely be doing it through pc specialist. Massive thumbs up from me!! Thanks!!
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