Latfite build and quality advice

[GeorgeHillier]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking about getting a lafite for uni as I want something relatively lightweight and portable. It doesn't need to be super powerful as it'll be used for general document writing and basic programming, so don't need a powerhouse of a laptop. I was wondering if anyone who owns one or has seen them before knows what the build quality is like?

I'm looking at this spec:
Chassis & Display Lafité Silver Aluminium Chassis: 13.3" Matte Full HD IPS LED (1920 x 1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i5 Dual Core Processor i5-6200U (2.30GHz, 2.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 510 [Pentium] | INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 520 [Core™]
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 850 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive NONE
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader Integrated 2 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC)
Sound Card Realtek 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless WIRELESS INTEL® AC-3160 M.2 (433Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
LAN/Ethernet Adapter NONE
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options 1 x USB 3.0 PORT, 1 x USB 3.1 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Lafité Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (6,300mAh)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 40W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language LAFITÉ SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media NO DVD RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Carry Case NONE
Laptop Cooling Stands NONE
Stand-Alone Monitor NONE
Additional Keyboard NONE
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Gaming Mouse Pad NONE
Games Controller NONE
External Speakers NONE
Webcam INTEGRATED 720P 30 FPS HD WEBCAM
Headsets NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation NONE
Dead Pixel Guarantee NONE
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £423.33
Price £508.00

 

[amk515]

Sorry to jump in but I'm interested in this too!

I have configured it exactly the same and wondered whether this laptop would be best or whether this one below would be better:

[Link removed]

Essentially the same specs once configured but it does cost £80 more. I've heard the Lafite has fan issues.

Any help for us both would be greatly appreciated.

 

[keynes]

I am afraid it is not allowed to post competitor's links on the forum. Try looking at the laptop model from both retailers and you should be able to find reviews online

 

[GeorgeHillier]

I know how good PCS are so my concerns aren't with the customer service and stuff like that, but more about the quality of this particular chassis, like does it feel well build, how are the colours on the screen and is the cooling sufficient? Just that compared to pre built laptops this saves me around £200 (although partly due to the fact I don't need windows)

Also, just noticed I spelt Lafite wrong in the title :L

 

[DannyWanny]

Hi George, the Lafité is very well built - in fact a few of us in the office use this as our out of office laptop We have had the Lafité reviewed across several online media houses and all have nothing but praise for it.

Here are a few links to the reviews:

http://www.kitguru.net/laptops/dominic-moass/pcspecialist-lafite-ultrabook-review/ (KitGuru’s choice for Best Value Laptop of 2015)
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...ooks/pc-specialist-lafite-ii-1312147/review/1
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/laptop/87641-pc-specialist-lafite-ii/

 

[anlygi]

Having got a flawless Lafite in the post today you should have no worries over build quality.

 

[jurassicjim]

I have ordered one, looking forward to getting it! How is the screen quality? This is the only thing that has me worried as I can't seem to find a detailed review that goes into it.

Thanks

 

[ninjitis]

I received mine yesterday aI second everything that was already said - built quality is flawless for me.

The screen quality is also amazing (IPS Full HD)

 

[dn88]

I received mine yesterday aI second everything that was already said - built quality is flawless for me.

The screen quality is also amazing (IPS Full HD)

Are you able to compare the quality of the screen with any other of the "mainstream" manufacture models? Is it as good, or almost as good, as the MacBook Air 13" for example?

I really like the look of the Lafite, but my main use will be for photo editing on-the-go. So it needs to be high quality with good brightness and colour reproduction.

 

[Bod]

Luck of the draw I guess, my Lafite 2 arrived with a damaged chassis so has been returned.

 

[jurassicjim]

Are you able to compare the quality of the screen with any other of the "mainstream" manufacture models? Is it as good, or almost as good, as the MacBook Air 13" for example?

I really like the look of the Lafite, but my main use will be for photo editing on-the-go. So it needs to be high quality with good brightness and colour reproduction.

Yep, exactly my use case too.

I have one on order, and hope the screen is up to scratch.

I use a 13 inch macbook air at work - and while the screen isn't AMAZING, if it's as good as, then I'll be happy

j

 

[dn88]

Yep, exactly my use case too.

I have one on order, and hope the screen is up to scratch.

I use a 13 inch macbook air at work - and while the screen isn't AMAZING, if it's as good as, then I'll be happy

j

I would be VERY interested on your feedback from a photo editing perspective! Especially compared with the Macbook screen. Do you mind reporting back here once you've taken delivery?

Also, which spec did you go for? I'm hoping that i3, with 8Gb RAM and an SSD will be fast enough for RAW conversions followed by relatively light editing in Photoshop...

 

[anlygi]

Having used Macs at work, it's definitely a step above the Macbook Air IMO. Obviously it's higher resolution being 1080p vs 900p. In terms of brightness I sit with it on 25% most of the time as I find that's bright enough for me. My Desktop monitor is usually around 50% as I don't like an overly bright screen though. Colour accuracy looks fine to me, colours are vivid enough but I can't comment on black levels as I haven't yet tested it. I'm no expert in that department though, I'm mainly looking at IDEs on it as I'm a Computing student. With the matt screen it's not as great looking as a Macbook Pro but I'd take that anyday over the glare. I have not once had to reposition the laptop due to glare!

I honestly don't see how anyone can fail to be impressed with what you get for your money with a Lafite. I went for the i7, 250Gb Samsung Evo for £599 (get it for this price following a link from a review) I was going to get a Macbook Pro Retina before I discovered the Lafite.Really glad I didn't as even with student discount, similar spec was coming in at just over twice the price of Lafite. I need Windows so I would have then also had to factor in the cost of Parallels and a Windows licence on a Macbook too.

 

[jurassicjim]

Having used Macs at work, it's definitely a step above the Macbook Air IMO. Obviously it's higher resolution being 1080p vs 900p. In terms of brightness I sit with it on 25% most of the time as I find that's bright enough for me. My Desktop monitor is usually around 50% as I don't like an overly bright screen though. Colour accuracy looks fine to me, colours are vivid enough but I can't comment on black levels as I haven't yet tested it. I'm no expert in that department though, I'm mainly looking at IDEs on it as I'm a Computing student. With the matt screen it's not as great looking as a Macbook Pro but I'd take that anyday over the glare. I have not once had to reposition the laptop due to glare!

I honestly don't see how anyone can fail to be impressed with what you get for your money with a Lafite. I went for the i7, 250Gb Samsung Evo for £599 (get it for this price following a link from a review) I was going to get a Macbook Pro Retina before I discovered the Lafite.Really glad I didn't as even with student discount, similar spec was coming in at just over twice the price of Lafite. I need Windows so I would have then also had to factor in the cost of Parallels and a Windows licence on a Macbook too.

Hey Anlygi, great feedback, pretty much just what I wanted to hear! Mine will hopefully be with me late next week, fingers crossed. I'll post my thoughts then.

I've gone for the i7 with 8GB of RAM (shame about the lack of dual channel, but hopefully it will come in the Lafite 3?!) with a 240GB SSD drive. I also went for the better wireless card.

Hoping the trackpad is better than some reports. How have you found it?

I would really like to see USB C charging in the next model too

j

 

[anlygi]

Hey Anlygi, great feedback, pretty much just what I wanted to hear! Mine will hopefully be with me late next week, fingers crossed. I'll post my thoughts then.

I've gone for the i7 with 8GB of RAM (shame about the lack of dual channel, but hopefully it will come in the Lafite 3?!) with a 240GB SSD drive. I also went for the better wireless card.

Hoping the trackpad is better than some reports. How have you found it?

I would really like to see USB C charging in the next model too

j

The tackpad is fine to me, certainly better than my 4 year old Dell XPS it replaced. It's not Macbook standard, which are the best in the business, but it's perfectly functional. I haven't had any issues with movement, two finger scrolling or pinch to zoom even with a very light touch. I did have to increase the sensitivity though. I think the issues with the trackpad are due to a lack of Linux drivers? I recall reading something about it being rough but no issues here with my dry hands.

I was a bit apprehensive after reading some reviews but I honestly think some people are just picky and have unrealistic expectations of what you can get for £600. This is above what I'd expect for £600. I remember seeing a post from PCS asking if it was too competitively priced and I think so, the cost in comparison to similar ultrabooks make it look as though there must be serious corners cut somewhere but there's not. The case is not as well made as a Macbook but certainly better than most other laptops I've encountered in this price range.

The single channel memory is about the only weakness of Lafite. I personally don't need it on my laptop but people using CAD and virtual machines could be put off by it and I think it bottlenecks the decent Skylake GPU.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

Thanks guys, unfortunately didn't get the lafite in the end as I wanted something a bit lighter and smaller, ended up going with a different brand and paying a load more, but just wanted to get something that was 100% what I wanted

 

[dn88]

Having used Macs at work, it's definitely a step above the Macbook Air IMO. Obviously it's higher resolution being 1080p vs 900p.

When you talk about 1080p, you are referring to vertical? Whereas horizontal is 1920p?

I only ask because I normally edit photos to 1600p wide (for Flickr etc) and don't want to be scrolling to see the whole photo!

 

[Rakk]

When you talk about 1080p, you are referring to vertical? Whereas horizontal is 1920p?

1080p is 1920x1080 (ie 1920 wide, 1080 vertical)
900p is 1600x900 (ie 1600 wide, 900 vertical)

 

[jurassicjim]

Thanks guys, unfortunately didn't get the lafite in the end as I wanted something a bit lighter and smaller, ended up going with a different brand and paying a load more, but just wanted to get something that was 100% what I wanted

What did you go for out of interest?

And yes, I think peoples expectations are too high. Saying that I just returned a £600 Dell Inspiron, the screen was dire! Worse than my wife's cheap Toshiba laptop that's 6 years old!!

J

 

[GeorgeHillier]

What did you go for out of interest?

And yes, I think peoples expectations are too high. Saying that I just returned a £600 Dell Inspiron, the screen was dire! Worse than my wife's cheap Toshiba laptop that's 6 years old!!

J

I'm not sure if i'm allowed to say, but if not then an admin or mod can remove it. I got a dell xps 13 due to it being lighter and having a smaller bezzel. It's a lot more expensive but wanted a nice screen and for it to be as light and small as possible, so far it's been great