Lafite advice

[VicD]

I’d be grateful for any comments on this spec, please. I’m planning on a new Lafite as my current one (bought six years ago exactly) seems to be now struggling with my work from home setup - can’t cope with Skype calls and running other programmes and dropping internet. I need a solid internet connection, and a reliable and fast laptop that can upload/deliver captions/subtitles instantaneously.

I’m never really sure of 16 or 32 RAM.

Chassis & Display
Lafité Pro Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 60Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-1360P (Up to 5.0 GHz) 18MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO SODIMM DDR5 4800MHz (1 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics (DUAL CHANNEL RAM) OR Intel® UHD Graphics (SINGLE CHANNEL RAM)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 3500 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 90W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Lafité Pro Series Integrated 73WH Lithium Ion Battery
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ Wi-Fi 6E AX1675 M.2 GAMING + BLUETOOTH 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 + 1 x USB 3.2 (TYPE C) + 1 x USB 3.2 + 1 x USB 2.0
Keyboard Language
LAFITÉ PRO 15 SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 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™
Monitor
PCS PM151 15.6" Full HD IPS Portable Monitor
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP WINDOWS HELLO CAMERA
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
Clevo NS50AU (i7-1360P, FHD, 60Hz N7, Thunderbolt, 73WH, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,148.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/lafite-pro-III-15/Dm6UvgJZRJ/

 

[Bhuna50]

Is this purely for office work?

How do you connect to the office - vpn / Citrix?

If it is just Office apps, then I would think 16gb ram is enough.

What is your budget for this?

Are you wanting to buy a monitor as well within the budget as I see you have selected one?

You should consider 2 x hard drives - one smaller one for the OS then a larger one for your office apps and documents - unless you arent saving locally of course?

 

[SpyderTracks]

We need to be fully transparent here and highlight this.

A few people who've bought this chassis have complained about loud fan noise even on idle with very low CPU useage. It seems the fans stay at 35% at their lowest and there's no way of reducing them below that threashold.

A bit disappointed...fan noise.....

Just got my Lafité Pro delivered (7-1360P, 64GB RAM) I am surprised by how loud the fans are, and they are constant. Is this right? Support are looking into it, but if anyone has the Lafite can you please confirm if it is distractingly loud with no quiet at all, even just booting and sitting...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Music Production + Live Performance Rig

Hi all, first post. This is my second PCSpecialist rig, wondering what thoughts people have. Was aiming to go for about £1000, minimise Gaming-related tech, and maximise transfer, computation, and buffers for R/RW data and running lots of hungry plug-ins (some of which, go across Cores, a lot...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[VicD]

Is this purely for office work?

How do you connect to the office - vpn / Citrix?

If it is just Office apps, then I would think 16gb ram is enough.

What is your budget for this?

Are you wanting to buy a monitor as well within the budget as I see you have selected one?

You should consider 2 x hard drives - one smaller one for the OS then a larger one for your office apps and documents - unless you arent saving locally of course?

Yes, purely for work and browsing the internet. I don't game, watch Netflix or anything like that.

What happens is that I join meetings on Zoom/Skype/Teams/WebEx etc and type what I hear on a stenograph keyboard and the subtitles are uploaded via virtual com ports - so at one time I will have 3 programmes running.
The requirements for my main software are: We recommend computers running Windows 10 Professional or above at 3 GHz or above, with at least 8 gigabytes of RAM. An i5 processor or above is recommended. The faster the processor, the better. The more RAM, the better. Multiple USB ports are preferred.

Re budget - up to £1800. I sometimes go on site so I wouldn't want anything over 15"6 size-wise.

Yes, I want the monitor. I like to see all the programmes. I have one now but I am looking to upgrade that.

ETA: Re the two hard drives. Yes, I like to save locally as I'm going along. What is the benefit of two? I've done another configuration for 2x500 Samsung, is that what you mean? Would it mean I have to keep deciding where to save things or would I not notice? I like to keep it as simple as possible.

 

[VicD]

We need to be fully transparent here and highlight this.

A few people who've bought this chassis have complained about loud fan noise even on idle with very low CPU useage. It seems the fans stay at 35% at their lowest and there's no way of reducing them below that threashold.

A bit disappointed...fan noise.....

Just got my Lafité Pro delivered (7-1360P, 64GB RAM) I am surprised by how loud the fans are, and they are constant. Is this right? Support are looking into it, but if anyone has the Lafite can you please confirm if it is distractingly loud with no quiet at all, even just booting and sitting...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Music Production + Live Performance Rig

Hi all, first post. This is my second PCSpecialist rig, wondering what thoughts people have. Was aiming to go for about £1000, minimise Gaming-related tech, and maximise transfer, computation, and buffers for R/RW data and running lots of hungry plug-ins (some of which, go across Cores, a lot...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Yes, I did see that on other posts. Is it widespread or random numbers? I've had my current Lafite for 6 years and been very happy with it.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Yes, I did see that on other posts. Is it widespread or random numbers? I've had my current Lafite for 6 years and been very happy with it.

This is an entirely new chassis so can't be compared with your current one.

We initially got a few reports from people who'd ordered without an OS, and it was unclear if it was due to the drivers and control center not being configured correctly, but the top one I linked, they'd ordered it with windows, so was fully configured out of the box, which does suggest it's likely a BIOS limitation.

It appears fans are set to 35% at their baseline and ramp up from there, so even doing small tasks, the fans will ramp up quite high.

 

[VicD]

Would it be foolish to get a Lafite as all the fans are set to 35? I had an Optimus before my Lafite and the fan was noisy on that and it drove me mad.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Would it be foolish to get a Lafite as all the fans are set to 35? I had an Optimus before my Lafite and the fan was noisy on that and it drove me mad.

Well, it's a really nice chassis, from a build perspective and the budget, it's very hard to beat.

IMHO, but obviously I've never actually used one and don't know the physical cooling requirements, nor do I represent PCS in any way, but the fans should be able to operate lower at idle. Unless I'm missing something completely, I'd expect it could be sorted with a BIOS update, but no idea if those others did work with PCS or just choose to cancel. I know one didn't liaise with PCS at all and just decided to run without control center installed so they could manually control the fans themselves, but this made windows unstable (as control center is required), totally insane if you ask me, but some people don't understand working with the seller (or they just weren't a PCS customer and trying to get free support)

We have advised previous people to contact PCS so that they can see the issue first hand and so liaise with the manufacturer on an update if that's feasible.

It may well not be though, it may just be that 35% is what's required to keep the CPU at reasonable temps on idle, but I'd be surprised if that were the case, given how good this chassis range has been in the past.

But from a laypoint perspective, it's almost as though the BIOS is thinking 35% is actually zero, and then ramping further from there. So when it's a fairly middling load, the fans are maxxed out when they should be substantially lower.

You do have the option to return it no questions asked within 14 days of delivery to you, so you have a back out if you did decide to see it for yourself.

 

[VicD]

I've been on to live chat and I've been told they hadn't had many complaints about this and it was an isolated incident.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I've been on to live chat and I've been told they hadn't had many complaints about this and it was an isolated incident.

That's good to know, I'd definitely go for it then, it's a great chassis.

 

[FredBuda]

Hi,
I bought the same configuration (from PCS.fr) and I had the same problem (fan always starting directly at 35%). On the phone they told me that it's beacause now the CPU are not restricted/limited. For me the problem should come from the BIOS but but I haven't found any way to take control of the fan (via Bios or by installing software). so disappointed by the noise even though the configuration is superb that I returned it to PCS...
I will be ready to repurchase this configuration the day Clevo updates the BIOS or control center which will resolve this real problem.