LafitIe III 15.6 review

[ricclo]

I bought one of these to replace a 2015 Defiance (15.6 screen). I'm using it for software development, web surfing and admin.

Spec:

• Silver chassis
• i5 8265U CPU
• 16 GB RAM (2x8)
• 1 TB HDD (Seagate, 5,400 rpm)
• M.2 SSD 256 GB Intel 760p (system drive)
• No OS installed

I've installed Linux on it -- Xubuntu 18.10. The only compatibility issue I've come across is lack of support for the fingerprint reader.

The chassis looks good and feels solid. The keys have a light and positive action, it feels good to type on. It's physically much smaller and lighter than the Defiance it is replacing, for the same screen size. Narrow bezels make all the difference. According to my kitchen scales it's 1.615 Kg, and that's with the HDD. I was curious about the expandy ethernet socket, though I don't plan to use it. An ethernet cable fitted nicely, though the expanded socket didn't seem big enough.

One surprise was the black plastic underside, which wasn't obvious from the photo gallery. You can just make it out in the side views, and now that I know what to look for I can see that the other two Lafite models have aluminium-coloured bottoms. I'm not convinced that the case is aluminium at all -- it's not conductive according to my ohmmeter, and a cautious scrape with a blade shows black plastic underneath. It looks nice, but probably won't wear as well as solid aluminium.

Performance seems good. Fan noise under heavy load is noticeable but not bad, and it's silent at other times.

On the whole I'm very happy with the machine. I think it's excellent value for money, and the configurability lets me have a machine that I couldn't get off the shelf for any price, and I don't need to pay for Windows which I don't use.

 

[vrs888]

Thank you very much for your review, ricclo. It sounds positive overall and glad that you're happy with the machine. I'm a little concerned that that the aluminium parts of the chassis, may not actually be aluminium. But as long as the chassis feels solid and looks good, I guess it's OK.

 

[ricclo]

Thank you very much for your review, ricclo. It sounds positive overall and glad that you're happy with the machine. I'm a little concerned that that the aluminium parts of the chassis, may not actually be aluminium. But as long as the chassis feels solid and looks good, I guess it's OK.

A solid aluminium body would probably cost a lot more! If I knew for sure that the 14" Lafite III was solid aluminium, I'd probably recommend that instead, as it can also take 8th generation Intel CPUs and has the same set of ports.

A couple more observations about my 15.6" Lafite III: the headphone jack has a headset icon next to it, so a headset (with mic) would probably work in there. And the microphone jack is also a digital optical output (I can see a red laser shining out of it), though I'd need to run Windows to get a driver for it.

 

[vrs888]

I had an online chat about the chassis material. I'm told that the Lafite IIIs are all aluminium plated. It was also pointed out that the chassis description is better on the Spanish website which describes it as "Chasis de aluminio plateado". I guess it's no different from the "big brand" laptops in the shops. It certainly looks good to me in the website images.

 

[manicguitarist]

Just a quick note - I've just landed myself one of these and am happy with the purchase. Mine is running Windows 10 Pro and is in red. i5 8265, 16GB Ram (1x16GB), 480 GB SSD.

My main workstation is a Dell behemoth of a laptop - needed something smaller for meetings and/or a bit of work of an evening. The Lafite is good looking and is well engineered. I like the way the LAN connector expands to make space - allowing the laptop to be properly thin.

As people have also mentioned I'd question the "aluminium chasis" bit - to me that should mean more than the lid and sides - but it is a good looking laptop and seems sturdy enough. The narrow bezels on the screen look good too.

Only downside (so far) is that my standard Acronis image (for taking a backup once joined to the domain and fully configured) wouldn't boot on this machine. Not sure why...but I worked around it.

 

[ubuysa]

I've looked at the Lafite III 15.6" description on the PCS website. It's very clear on the 'Features' page that the standard Lafite III has an aluminium finish, and although on the link to the Lafite Red at the bottom of the 'Features' page it says for the Lafite III Red 'red aluminium chassis' if you go to the Lafite III Red pages it's again very clean that it's an aluminium finish.

I do agree however that the description of the Lafite III Red at the bottom of the standard Lafite II page (as 'aluminium chassis') is misleading and I've reported that to PCS for modification.

 

[vrs888]

Thanks for your review, manicguitarist - it's helpful to see another generally positive review of this new chassis.

 

[Stephen M]

I've installed Linux on it -- Xubuntu 18.10. The only compatibility issue I've come across is lack of support for the fingerprint reader.

The fingerprint thing happens on most/all PCS laptops but if you have a look round the Linux part of these fora there have been some work-arounds posted.

Thanks for the review.