Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 765M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
I bought a 120GB SSD separately to install the OS on which I installed myself.
I chose to omit the arctic thermal paste as I had some of my own so thought I would save a bit of money there.
Ordering 9/10
Obviously choosing the components and placing the order was a breeze, however like many other people I was unfortunate enough to suffer long lead times. Pre-production for 18 working days, received on the 20th. Apparently it was due to PCS being very busy and by no means am I having a go about the times (it was certainly worth the wait in the end), but I would strongly recommend anyone who is remotely impatient to fast track their order. It may not seem like a long time to wait but it seems like years when you're actually waiting.
Delivery/Packaging 10/10
Delivery was very prompt and received an email beforehand detailing what time they would be delivering. Laptop was well packaged so it couldn't move about during transit. Included in the box was the laptop (obviously), power cable, CD with drivers on (I'll come to that later), Nero Essentials CD (?), and a welcome booklet which would definitely be useful for those less adept with computers.
Performance 9/10
Haven't tested out its gaming capabilities much so far but from what I have seen, it seems very capable. Despite only having a 3DMark score of 2570 (http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/1006387), I find I can easily play on high/ultra settings on nearly every game without issues. It may not be the most powerful machine in the world but it certainly exceeded my expectations, especially for the rather humble price. Also, the 10 second boot times are great and I don't know how I had the patience to wait
Screen 10/10
The screen is definitely one of the laptops best features. Coming from a 5 year old Dell crap-book, the resolution and colour vibrancy is great even on the standard matte screen.
Audio 6/10
The speakers aren't the greatest but fortunately I normally only use headphones which produces fine quality so it's not really too much of a negative for me.
Other features 8/10
The keyboard is great and very comfortable to type on. I'm not entirely sure the number-pad was necessary and personally I could live without it, but that's probably because I'm just used to not having one. I also miss not having pause/play/next/previous buttons for music/video playback but it's not a major negative. The trackpad isn't brilliant but I use an external mouse so it's not an issue, although because of its placement I often brush it with my right hand while typing. This can be remedied by having it turn off when an external mouse is connected. It's nice to have 4 USB ports, so I can have everything connected at once. I've only briefly tested the webcam but it seems sufficient for basic Skype calls and whatnot. Just a small thing, but the AC power adapter is pretty big, about twice the size of a normal one.
Problems
Now I am sad to say I had a lot of problems with the laptop initially. The driver CD that came with the laptop wouldn't auto install as it said my OS was incompatible, which wasn't really a problem but not all of the drivers I needed were on the CD to manually install so I had to download them from manufacturers' websites, which proved slightly difficult until I got the Killer wireless driver. I am still unable to get the hotkey/airplane drivers to install after many fruitless attempts but this doesn't bother me too much as I don't think I would really use them anyway. I couldn't for the life of me get the sound blaster cinema software to work but I find the audio quality to be fine without it. I also had a problem with windows update prompting me to restart every time I booted the laptop which I eventually managed to fix.
The main problem I've had with the laptop is with the screws to get in the bottom compartments. I think PCS uses something like loctite to secure the screw which makes them very difficult to unscrew. I needed to access the bottom panel to install my SSD and replace the thermal paste, and after much blood sweat and tears I managed to open the panel to install the SSD. However I still can't unscrew the heatsink screws to replace the thermal paste, even after buying not one but two new screwdriver sets, so I guess that'll have to stay as the standard stuff.
Overall 9/10
A brilliant laptop, especially for the price. The performance, screen and keyboard are really great and I would definitely recommend this laptop to others. Although there are negatives, they are far outweighed by the positives. Despite the wait, PCS are an excellent company and I would use them again.
(More pictures to follow)
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 765M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
I bought a 120GB SSD separately to install the OS on which I installed myself.
I chose to omit the arctic thermal paste as I had some of my own so thought I would save a bit of money there.
Ordering 9/10
Obviously choosing the components and placing the order was a breeze, however like many other people I was unfortunate enough to suffer long lead times. Pre-production for 18 working days, received on the 20th. Apparently it was due to PCS being very busy and by no means am I having a go about the times (it was certainly worth the wait in the end), but I would strongly recommend anyone who is remotely impatient to fast track their order. It may not seem like a long time to wait but it seems like years when you're actually waiting.
Delivery/Packaging 10/10
Delivery was very prompt and received an email beforehand detailing what time they would be delivering. Laptop was well packaged so it couldn't move about during transit. Included in the box was the laptop (obviously), power cable, CD with drivers on (I'll come to that later), Nero Essentials CD (?), and a welcome booklet which would definitely be useful for those less adept with computers.
Performance 9/10
Haven't tested out its gaming capabilities much so far but from what I have seen, it seems very capable. Despite only having a 3DMark score of 2570 (http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/1006387), I find I can easily play on high/ultra settings on nearly every game without issues. It may not be the most powerful machine in the world but it certainly exceeded my expectations, especially for the rather humble price. Also, the 10 second boot times are great and I don't know how I had the patience to wait
Screen 10/10
The screen is definitely one of the laptops best features. Coming from a 5 year old Dell crap-book, the resolution and colour vibrancy is great even on the standard matte screen.
Audio 6/10
The speakers aren't the greatest but fortunately I normally only use headphones which produces fine quality so it's not really too much of a negative for me.
Other features 8/10
The keyboard is great and very comfortable to type on. I'm not entirely sure the number-pad was necessary and personally I could live without it, but that's probably because I'm just used to not having one. I also miss not having pause/play/next/previous buttons for music/video playback but it's not a major negative. The trackpad isn't brilliant but I use an external mouse so it's not an issue, although because of its placement I often brush it with my right hand while typing. This can be remedied by having it turn off when an external mouse is connected. It's nice to have 4 USB ports, so I can have everything connected at once. I've only briefly tested the webcam but it seems sufficient for basic Skype calls and whatnot. Just a small thing, but the AC power adapter is pretty big, about twice the size of a normal one.
Problems
Now I am sad to say I had a lot of problems with the laptop initially. The driver CD that came with the laptop wouldn't auto install as it said my OS was incompatible, which wasn't really a problem but not all of the drivers I needed were on the CD to manually install so I had to download them from manufacturers' websites, which proved slightly difficult until I got the Killer wireless driver. I am still unable to get the hotkey/airplane drivers to install after many fruitless attempts but this doesn't bother me too much as I don't think I would really use them anyway. I couldn't for the life of me get the sound blaster cinema software to work but I find the audio quality to be fine without it. I also had a problem with windows update prompting me to restart every time I booted the laptop which I eventually managed to fix.
The main problem I've had with the laptop is with the screws to get in the bottom compartments. I think PCS uses something like loctite to secure the screw which makes them very difficult to unscrew. I needed to access the bottom panel to install my SSD and replace the thermal paste, and after much blood sweat and tears I managed to open the panel to install the SSD. However I still can't unscrew the heatsink screws to replace the thermal paste, even after buying not one but two new screwdriver sets, so I guess that'll have to stay as the standard stuff.
Overall 9/10
A brilliant laptop, especially for the price. The performance, screen and keyboard are really great and I would definitely recommend this laptop to others. Although there are negatives, they are far outweighed by the positives. Despite the wait, PCS are an excellent company and I would use them again.
(More pictures to follow)
