Vortex II 15.6" - SSD and Bluetooth question

[marmin]

Ok, after days of wobbling around between this or the 17" 3D, I've decided to stick to the 15" chassis as I travel and the 17" will be too much of a beast.

Only questions I have are:

1) I have a Crucial C300 256Gb SSD which I want to install as the primary HD. Is it compatible, and is it still possible to have the 500Gb secondary HD *and* the Bluray?

2) Does the Killer wifi include Bluetooth? It's one of those things you never need until you need it.

Chassis & Display
Vortex II: 15.6" Matte 95% Gamut LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2760QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD® Radeon® HD 6990M - DirectX® 11 (15.6" Vortex II)
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BD-5730S 6x BLURAY WRITER & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£79)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N NETWORK CARD
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,556.00 including VAT and delivery.


Cheers!

Mario

 

[InfernalBadger]

You can't have 2 hard drives and an optical drive. The 2nd hard drive replaces the optical drive. I've just ordered a Vortex II 15" with 2 an SSD and HDD (Kingston 250gb and WD 750gb ). I intend to buy an external DVD drive for the rare times I need one. You could probably do the same with a blu ray drive. However I think you can have 2 hard drives and an optical drive in the 17"

Afaik the Killer wifi does not have bluetooth, I've ordered it under that assumption anyway. Any time I've used bluetooth it has generally not worked great.

 

[marmin]

Nice one - that's what I thought on both counts but it would have been nice. I guess I will get it ordered!

 

[DSG]

You can't have 2 hard drives and an optical drive. The 2nd hard drive replaces the optical drive.

Is this right? I ask because I've been looking at specs and if I choose to have 2xHDDs and leave the ODD selected, then when I press proceed the popup says my specs have been checked and are OK. If I deselect the ODD then the price drops a few quid.

Is the Configurator wrong (unlikely) or does the site just assume everyone should know that you can't have 2xHDDs plus 1xODD in a laptop? It's not a major problem if I have to use an external ODD but I need to know since I'll have to get one immediately (most apps I need to load are on CD).

Cheers...

 

[InfernalBadger]

Were you configuring the Vortex II 15 or 17?

The 15 definitely doesnt allow two hard drives and an optical drive as I tried that when ordering mine, lol.

Unfortunately this laptop can only support one of the following combinations of hard drives/DVD/Blu-ray drives:

a) 1 x hard drive and 1 x DVD/Blu-ray drive;
b) 2 x hard drives and 0 x DVD/Blu-ray drives.

 

[marmin]

Ditto - I ordered mine yesterday and I expressly had to order 1 HD and a DVD, then email them to remove the DVD and have the HDD in the 2nd bay with an empty primary for my SSD.

 

[DSG]

Hmm...well I tried the Configurator on the Vortex after reading this thread, but I've looked at Enigma and Optimus and they're all the same (15in only).

Seems like a fairly basic error - I've seen lots of positives about PCS and it seems to be a well-established company with a good rep for service, so I'm surprised the Configurator doesn't flag a fault if you choose two HDDs and one ODD.

Thanks for the prompt replies.

Cheers...

 

[marmin]

I've tried a bunch of them just now and they all give a warning when you click 'Proceed'. Were you expecting an immediate warning maybe? Failing that, which browser and addons are you using? I guess it's possible that some sort of Java/Flash blocker might be getting in the way.

On the original topic (my build unk I'm buying it through a business. Through a fluke in VAT legislation it has actually made sense for me to up the spec to the 580M and SSD for the same effective price. So I have!

 

[InfernalBadger]

I'm not sure if there is any real difference between the 6990m and the 580m. Except the £180ish more it costs. I would spend that extra on something else (I went for a 240gb SSD rather than a 120gb )

 

[marmin]

I'm inclined to agree that the 580M is totally not worth the extra money. I had however thrown in the 240Gb SSD already, and the next processor up was a bit too far. So I went for the 580m - might do a bit of Cuda (it's been on the todo list for a while) although I can't do any bitcoin mining I think.

 

[marmin]

One year on!

Nuke me if this is considered necromancy, but one year on and my Vortex II has been a great buy. I went for the AMD 6990M in the end though. I am however looking to replace the keyboard with the backlit one from the Vortex III. Does anyone know if this is possible?

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Hey Marmin,

Yeah i have the same lappy and still happy with it although its away back to PCS for a look at the GPU.

The vortex 3 back lit keyboard is quite different from the Vortex 2, the 3 has what i consider a dell type keyboard and the light coming from underneath obviously and the Vortex 2 having an Apple like keyboard with individual keys.

End of the line being that its not possible to replace with a backlit one.

Personally i dont like the V3's keyboard but if it was a Back lit V2 keyboard it would be perfect.

Sorry its not the news you want but hope it helps.

 

[marmin]

I like the look of the V3s keyboard as I can't really get used to chiclets. Backlit is awesome though, I'd settle for a V2 backlit. I'll see if PCS feel like answering

Also - weird - almost same phone, same consoles except I've gone for AOKP

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

I'm sure they answered already but i can seem to find the forum. If i see it i'll let you know, think it was something to do with the Chasis

I changed to AOPK about a month ago because the ROM i had wouldn't keep a signal =D

Both have good taste lol