My Optimus IV spec

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Papa Smurf

Member
A tad above my budget of £1k (should be ok), but I want it to last at least 3 years and do quite a bit of multi-tasking all day long.

Slight concern with the wireless card. I do a fair amount of general web browsing and also need real-time financial data. Don't do much online gaming.


Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3740QM (2.70GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
12GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (3 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
240GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
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
Quantity
1

Price: £1,038.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/optimusIV-17/c8INJPu5CJ/
 
M

moorw003

Active member
Firstly, I wouldn't spend £114 on the upgrade from I7-3610QM to I7-3740QM. The first one is already clocked upto 3.1 on turbo boost and the higher chip offers nothing different technology wise, except for that slightly higher clock speed. In the real world you won't notice any different.

More importantly, the difference in price between these chips is about £20 in the real world, but £120 here... PCS have the 3610QM priced brilliantly so there can be no complaints, but this is probably because it's so popular so they get a good bulk deal.

On the SSD, it's nice but 240gb is not a huge amount of space, so I'd downgrade to 120gb and have a really good Scorpio Black 750gb as backup drive. In doing that you have the lightning pace from the SSD on startup and important applications, a good amount of storage... and one of the finest hard drives money can buy as well.

Upgrading the WIFI card to the 6235 for £9 is a common move and one I'd suggest.

Doing all that saves £105 on the original spec, and I'd say gives you a better laptop :)
 
Iroquois Pliskin

Iroquois Pliskin

Enthusiast
moorw003 said:
Firstly, I wouldn't spend £114 on the upgrade from I7-3610QM to I7-3740QM. The first one is already clocked upto 3.1 on turbo boost and the higher chip offers nothing different technology wise, except for that slightly higher clock speed. In the real world you won't notice any different.
Click to expand...

Well, he does want it to last three to four years, with 3740QM being overclockable, I can certainly see it happening, and what's more - the 3740QM is an upgraded 3720QM, further increasing the difference with the 3610QM to 400 MHz (2.3 GHz vs 2.7 GHz and 3.1 vs 3.5 for Turbo), which is good value in my book.

Upgrading the WIFI card to the 6235 for £9 is a common move and one I'd suggest.
Click to expand...

Agreed, upgrade it to an Intel Advanced 300 Mbps + Bluetooth. Other than that - 12 GB of RAM via three separate sticks isn't optimal: either go 8x2, or 4x2, which should be enough, given Papa's stated use.
 
Last edited:
P

Papa Smurf

Member
Ok, will upgrade wifi card. I will use my existing 500gb drive in conjunction with the SSD, so I may knock it down to a 180gb ssd. I suppose I could wait for the 3630QM - any idea when it will be available?
 
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