uberNoobZA
Member
I previously had an Optimus V 17.3 Laptop and was VERY happy with it. I however had to give it up as it was way too heavy to lug around all day long, and work gave me a laptop. I tried using the work laptop for gaming, but it just wasn't good enough for me.
I therefore decided to get myself a smaller version of what I knew was a darn good laptop, and ordered an Optimus V 13.3 (spec at end of this review). After reading some decidedly scary reviews of this model laptop on this forum, I thought I'd take the plunge anyway, as this laptop got good reviews on tech review sites, and I was so impressed by it's 17.3" brother. I will admit that it had a lot to live up to, so I was still a little sceptical about it being able to make me as happy as the 17.3" model did.
Ordering -
As before, the ordering process was as simple as could be. I really liked the way you could build a laptop to spec, save it to your account and come back to it a couple of days later, at the same price, ready to order if you wanted to. I decided to go for one of the pre-built ones, as I hate waiting for my new toys
Delivery
Once again, PC Specialist lived up to it's promise, and the laptop was delivered next business day, by DPD. And because PC Specialist uses DPD, they text you the day of delivery to inform you of an hour slot they will deliver in. This means no waiting around all day for a delivery you HOPE will arrive. So far, DPD has always been spot on with deliveries to me, no matter what I am ordering, or who I order it from.
Packaging
Packaging was basic, but functional. That said, I'd like to add that the padding used to hold the laptop in the box it came in was excellent, ensuring the laptop inside was protected, no matter what happened in transit (not that I have ever received any damaged parcels via DPD)
Initial Setup
On first start, the laptop configured itself as expected, and everything seemed to work fine. Only complaint I have here is that there was a shortcut to some install files for the webcam on the desktop, which did not work as the install files were not present. The camera however did work, as it had the drivers installed. As the model I purchased came with Windows 7 on it, and a 5400rpm SATA drive, I installed a 128GB mSATA drive and installed Windows 8.1 on to it, wiping the 1TB 5400RPM SATA drive. No problems here, except that I forgot the laptop didn't come with a CD / DVD drive, so had to hunt around for a free USB stick I could copy the Windows 8 install DVD to. Once this was done, the laptop booted from USB with no problems.
Layout and Design of laptop
Not much to be said here. It's functional, has all the necessary keys and shortcuts. Note however that you cannot turn wireless on / off unless you install the necessary drivers and software, as there is no hardware switch to do this. The keyboard size is fine, even for my chubby little digits. Having all 3 of the USB ports AND the VGA port on the right hand side is a bit of an oversight if you want to plug in USB drives and external monitor AND use an external mouse (unless you leave the laptop to the side when plugged in this way, which I do)
Heat and Noise
This laptop is quieter than the 17.3" version I had, but it does seem to blow more hot air out the side vent than the 17.3" version. Nothing excessive though. When playing games, the fan will come on and stay on, and it does seem to only have one speed. However the noise is not too bad, and I have already gotten used to it. If you are playing games with headphones in, and there are other people sitting close to you, they might complain though, so no gaming in a library :taz:
Performance
Now this is why I bought this laptop. Taking into account how happy I was with the Optimus V 17.3, and the fact that the components on this laptop are the same as or better than the 17.3", I was expecting to once again be blown away with the performance when compared to the price.
I am glad to say that PC Specialist has once again made a real corker of a laptop. Yes, I know it is not the fastest gaming laptop out there. But then at the price I paid, I was not expecting that. The graphics on this laptop are more than capable of playing the games I throw at it, and even look and perform better than the gaming desktop I have at home. Combined with an mSATA drive, bootup and opening programs on this laptop is lightning fast. It takes 4.5 seconds to get from just after the PC Specialist boot logo to get to the Windows 8.1 login screen. This is compared to just under a minute boot when the laptop had Windows 7 installed on the 5400 drive it came with.
The touchpad is functional, but does seem to stick sometimes. I think this is because of the way I use it, and not the touchpad itself, as changing the pressure of touch I use and it works. The built in webcam is fine for basic video conferencing, and the odd selfie.
Weight / Size
For a laptop that really can be a desktop replacement (if you have an external monitor, or really good eyes), this laptop is surprisingly small and light. I also won't struggle to get a decent laptop backpack that will fit the laptop, like I did with it's 17.3" brother. The power brick is the same as that on the 17.3" version and could probably be a little smaller, but it's not excessively heavy.
That brings me to the only thing I can say abut the laptop -
The 5400 rpm hard drive that came in this laptop is probably the slowest I have ever seen. Granted, it may have 1TB of storage space, but it just seems excessively slow, especially when loading games. Once games are loaded, it seems fine, but I expect this is because the games themselves are caching data files in the background. I will definitely be throwing a 7200RPM drive (or even better, and cheaper, a Seagate hybrid type drive) into the laptop in the near future.
All in all, I am VERY happy with this laptop, and would like to say that you shouldn't let the one or two negative reviews on this website deter you from getting this laptop. I can comfortably give this laptop a rating of 9/10 (only being let down by it's slow hard drive - but then it is a pre built model, so I should have checked the specs better before ordering).
Lastly, the laptop came with a Sound Blaster sticker on it, when there wasn't a Sound Blaster card installed (there wasn't one quoted, and I wasn't expecting or wanting one), so this was probably just a misplaced sticker.
Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 13.3" Matte Full HD LED IPS Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 860M - 2.0GB DDR5, 640 CUDA Cores - DirectX® 11
1st Hard Disk 1TB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
Memory Card Reader Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC /RSMMC)
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD + BT 3.0 (RTL8723BE)
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery 13.3" Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)
Power Cable 1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language 13.3" OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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)
I therefore decided to get myself a smaller version of what I knew was a darn good laptop, and ordered an Optimus V 13.3 (spec at end of this review). After reading some decidedly scary reviews of this model laptop on this forum, I thought I'd take the plunge anyway, as this laptop got good reviews on tech review sites, and I was so impressed by it's 17.3" brother. I will admit that it had a lot to live up to, so I was still a little sceptical about it being able to make me as happy as the 17.3" model did.
Ordering -
As before, the ordering process was as simple as could be. I really liked the way you could build a laptop to spec, save it to your account and come back to it a couple of days later, at the same price, ready to order if you wanted to. I decided to go for one of the pre-built ones, as I hate waiting for my new toys
Delivery
Once again, PC Specialist lived up to it's promise, and the laptop was delivered next business day, by DPD. And because PC Specialist uses DPD, they text you the day of delivery to inform you of an hour slot they will deliver in. This means no waiting around all day for a delivery you HOPE will arrive. So far, DPD has always been spot on with deliveries to me, no matter what I am ordering, or who I order it from.
Packaging
Packaging was basic, but functional. That said, I'd like to add that the padding used to hold the laptop in the box it came in was excellent, ensuring the laptop inside was protected, no matter what happened in transit (not that I have ever received any damaged parcels via DPD)
Initial Setup
On first start, the laptop configured itself as expected, and everything seemed to work fine. Only complaint I have here is that there was a shortcut to some install files for the webcam on the desktop, which did not work as the install files were not present. The camera however did work, as it had the drivers installed. As the model I purchased came with Windows 7 on it, and a 5400rpm SATA drive, I installed a 128GB mSATA drive and installed Windows 8.1 on to it, wiping the 1TB 5400RPM SATA drive. No problems here, except that I forgot the laptop didn't come with a CD / DVD drive, so had to hunt around for a free USB stick I could copy the Windows 8 install DVD to. Once this was done, the laptop booted from USB with no problems.
Layout and Design of laptop
Not much to be said here. It's functional, has all the necessary keys and shortcuts. Note however that you cannot turn wireless on / off unless you install the necessary drivers and software, as there is no hardware switch to do this. The keyboard size is fine, even for my chubby little digits. Having all 3 of the USB ports AND the VGA port on the right hand side is a bit of an oversight if you want to plug in USB drives and external monitor AND use an external mouse (unless you leave the laptop to the side when plugged in this way, which I do)
Heat and Noise
This laptop is quieter than the 17.3" version I had, but it does seem to blow more hot air out the side vent than the 17.3" version. Nothing excessive though. When playing games, the fan will come on and stay on, and it does seem to only have one speed. However the noise is not too bad, and I have already gotten used to it. If you are playing games with headphones in, and there are other people sitting close to you, they might complain though, so no gaming in a library :taz:
Performance
Now this is why I bought this laptop. Taking into account how happy I was with the Optimus V 17.3, and the fact that the components on this laptop are the same as or better than the 17.3", I was expecting to once again be blown away with the performance when compared to the price.
I am glad to say that PC Specialist has once again made a real corker of a laptop. Yes, I know it is not the fastest gaming laptop out there. But then at the price I paid, I was not expecting that. The graphics on this laptop are more than capable of playing the games I throw at it, and even look and perform better than the gaming desktop I have at home. Combined with an mSATA drive, bootup and opening programs on this laptop is lightning fast. It takes 4.5 seconds to get from just after the PC Specialist boot logo to get to the Windows 8.1 login screen. This is compared to just under a minute boot when the laptop had Windows 7 installed on the 5400 drive it came with.
The touchpad is functional, but does seem to stick sometimes. I think this is because of the way I use it, and not the touchpad itself, as changing the pressure of touch I use and it works. The built in webcam is fine for basic video conferencing, and the odd selfie.
Weight / Size
For a laptop that really can be a desktop replacement (if you have an external monitor, or really good eyes), this laptop is surprisingly small and light. I also won't struggle to get a decent laptop backpack that will fit the laptop, like I did with it's 17.3" brother. The power brick is the same as that on the 17.3" version and could probably be a little smaller, but it's not excessively heavy.
That brings me to the only thing I can say abut the laptop -
The 5400 rpm hard drive that came in this laptop is probably the slowest I have ever seen. Granted, it may have 1TB of storage space, but it just seems excessively slow, especially when loading games. Once games are loaded, it seems fine, but I expect this is because the games themselves are caching data files in the background. I will definitely be throwing a 7200RPM drive (or even better, and cheaper, a Seagate hybrid type drive) into the laptop in the near future.
All in all, I am VERY happy with this laptop, and would like to say that you shouldn't let the one or two negative reviews on this website deter you from getting this laptop. I can comfortably give this laptop a rating of 9/10 (only being let down by it's slow hard drive - but then it is a pre built model, so I should have checked the specs better before ordering).
Lastly, the laptop came with a Sound Blaster sticker on it, when there wasn't a Sound Blaster card installed (there wasn't one quoted, and I wasn't expecting or wanting one), so this was probably just a misplaced sticker.
Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 13.3" Matte Full HD LED IPS Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 860M - 2.0GB DDR5, 640 CUDA Cores - DirectX® 11
1st Hard Disk 1TB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
Memory Card Reader Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC /RSMMC)
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD + BT 3.0 (RTL8723BE)
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery 13.3" Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)
Power Cable 1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language 13.3" OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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)
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