Elimina Pro Specification. Advice Appreciated.

[TimLeeding430]

Hi all!

Apologies in advance for the long post.

Recently my old laptop (HP Envy 360) gave up the ghost after a very solid 7-8 years. During that time I got into a few heavier strategy/ simulation games such as Cities Skylines, Civilisation and Anno 1800. To get these running / loading a little quicker I had the HD upgraded to a 2TB Samsung SSD and had the RAM upgraded to 16GB. It was a very good all round laptop for my use, portable enough to travel in a backpack, but just about punchy enough to run some decent size games. I've only ever been a casual player, not interested in online multiplayer combat games or the latest AAA titles, but I would like smooth graphics and gameplay on the larger strategy games. Prior to the HP laptop, I had a custom Novatech laptop, which I was using for 3D modelling (Autodesk Alias) and rendering, so that had a very high spec at the time.

The Elimina Pro looks most suited to my requirements now, in that it's relatively light and portable, suitable for gaming on my lap rather than spending a huge amount on the DTR rigs. I've read a lot of the advice on this forum, which has been really helpful in putting together the below spec, but I have a couple of questions if you don't mind offering your more learned advice...

1. As I shall not be playing frenetic online warfare games at a competitive standard, I don't feel I need the 240hz screen. If I downgrade to 165hz, the spec builder automatically gives me the RTX4050 instead of the RTX4070, and I have read on other advice threads that the 4070 would be the absolute minimum requirement for a gaming laptop. Downgrading also saves around £250, which of course I don't want to spend if it's not necessary to. However, I also appreciate this 4070 spec offers more 'future proofing' than the 4050 would.
2. Some reviews of the Intel processors on here are quite worrying, and I don't want to be constantly thinking about measuring and controlling temperatures to ensure longevity. Spending this much, I want this to last a long while (7-8 years). I accept maintenance and servicing will be required, to keep the Thermal Paste doing its job properly / keep everything clean. Is the i7 Core the right choice, or should I be looking at an AMD or i9?
3. It would be good to have an estimate of initial battery life (on low load), so i can judge whether that will be reasonable for portable use. All my previous laptops have had issues with batteries, so it would be good to know whether PCS would offer replacement parts in, say 5 years time when the battery's done...

I would appreciate your thoughts on the below spec, based on my requirement, whether the below is over the top and there would be a few pennies to save...

Chassis & Display
Elimina Pro Series: 16" Matte QHD+ 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 10 Core Processor 13620H (4.90GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (1 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 240W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Elimina Pro Battery 80WH
Thermal Paste
PHASE CHANGE THERMAL PAD COOLING (PTM7950)
Sound Card
Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® KILLER™ Wi-Fi 6E AX1675i + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C + DP) + 2 x USB 3.2 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
ELIMINA 16" SERIES MULTI COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM6PC7X (8GB RTX-4070, i7-13620H, AX211,240Hz QHD)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 7 working days
Price: £1,521.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/elimina-pro-IV-16/REGkWM3Spf/1

Thanks!

Tim

 

[TimLeeding430]

Hi, just giving this a bump. Would really appreciate a sense check. To round out the thread requirements, I think I should state that my maximum budget is around £1500 (with a little wiggle room)

I've also noticed in other threads that people are choosing to split their hard drives to have windows installed on a dedicated drive. Would the drive I've specified be sufficient, or should I split the capacity?

With the RAM, is it better practice to have 2x16GB, or a single 32GB?

 

[nephron]

I personally would split the windows install onto its own faster SSD purely for risk management. If a windows update misbehaves for whatever reason, your data being on a separate drive should reduce the risk of losing access to your information.

13th and 14th gen processor architectures are inherently unstable. I would suggest going for an AMD equivalent. Can't see this as an option on your link so might be worth going for a different build than Elimina? Unless there is an AMD version?

I'm not personally familiar with laptop configurations on PCS, however the feedback from other folks here on desktop threads would be to stay away from Samsung SSDs. There was a major issue with some of their drives some time ago which left a bad taste in peoples mouths. If possible I'd suggest a 512 gb SSD for windows and a 2 TB one for main storage. Suitable brands could be Corsair and Solidgm. Depending on your use case this should usually be more than enough.

Definitely go for two sticks as otherwise the RAM will operate in single rank mode and be bottlenecked on bandwidth relative to its maximum potential.