Chassis & Display Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
Change to: Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Change to: 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 880M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
RAID NONE
mSATA SSD Drive NONE
2nd mSATA SSD Drive NONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 2nd/3rd HDD HARD DRIVE OPTICAL BAY CADDY (12.7mm)
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
Sound Card Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire 1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
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 NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser Microsoft® Internet Explorer
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
External Speakers NONE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL 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 30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Insurance NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £1,238.45
Price £1,486.14
Order Quantity 1
Bulk Discount £0.00
Total Order price (Ex VAT) £1,238.45
Total Order Price £1,486.14
P/O Number - Edit P/O Number
Payment Method Credit Card (will carry a 2% surcharge)
Courier Instructions
Production Dates
Processed Date 26-08-2014
Pre-Production Date 02-09-2014
Build Date 13-09-2014
Test Date 16-09-2014
QC Date 17-09-2014
Awaiting Dispatch Date 17-09-2014
Dispatch Date 17-09-2014
Who Worked on This Order?
Built By Mohammad Akhtar
Tested By Daniel Wan
QC'd By
Jonathon Brown
Packed By James Russell
My review
With so many new games coming out and my wife needing a better laptop I thought it was about time I ordered another laptop from PC Specialist. My old laptop was given to my wife as it still works great and has a GT 650m gpu, so the kids can still play Minecraft on it.
I wanted bigger and better for my new gaming beast so started specking it up and the results are above.
Build Quality
It's a solid piece of kit, however very heavy so not exactly portable (bought a good laptop rucksack to keep it safe). The brushed metal sections of the case look and feel nice, but do show up finger prints, not that it really matters but it does take away from the overall look once it has been used a lot. Mixed with the metal section we have a brushed hard plastic which really adds to the cases overall look, I like it and it does not feel cheap or flimsy. The mouse pad seems responsive and works well (however I and many other users would use a separate mouse). I'm not overly keen on the power light and HD access light, it does (too me anyway) look cheap, I would have preferred just a bar of light rather than a globe type shape.
The heat vents are to the rear of the laptop, which is great! No more burnt legs when the laptop is sitting on my lap (constant issue with my old laptop, vents at the side) and red thighs
.
The screen is nice, large and crisp clear, I have no issues with it at all. The back of the screen case uses the brushed metal and looks great at first but as with the main wrist rest, finger prints show up easily. I have started to cover the back of the laptop with stickers anyways
Speakers look nice and work well, although I mostly play at work using earphones, but the sound quality is a step up from my last laptop.
I'm very please with the overall build quality of the laptop. Solid and well constructed.
Keyboard Lights!
Yes, the keyboard lights up and there are lot of options available to the user. I suppose this is a bit of a gimmick, but I like it and it makes it feel more light a laptop solely used for gaming. Lots of colours to choose from, I'm partial to the pink/purple (6 year old daughters favourite colour)
[video=youtube;NP6ajE1PZtg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP6ajE1PZtg&list=UUt6LS8pa8LCicVAupU78F_g[/video]
So what's it like to use?
Booting up speeds are very quick with the benefit of the SSD drive for the operating system and the i7 processor is really good. Very responsive but I did have an issue getting earphones to work....with a bit of faffing about in the settings I managed to sort this, just need to make sure they are plugged in before running any games.
I tried a 3Dmark (FireStrike) and got approximately 5300 score, seems pretty good, but don't have a lot of experience with bench marking yet.
Gaming
WOW!
GTX 880m is excellent and using Shadowplay to record games is an extra benefit I really enjoy.
I have tried a lot of games at high and ultra settings and all are playable with far exceeding expectations. Even playing my favourite game, DayZ its running minimum of 25 fps at times but the majority of times over 40fps. I just love it. The Witcher 2 runs at full settings with high fps, my old laptop couldn't even run it (it was only a 650m).
I have noticed that the heat of the gpu doesn't seem to go above 80c even at ultra settings on many games.
Here are a few gameplay videos to let you see what its like.
[video=youtube;SkrKmkVyUA4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkrKmkVyUA4&index=11&list=UUt6LS8pa8LCicVAupU78F_g[/video]
[video=youtube;Xsc8ACpXtWM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsc8ACpXtWM&list=UUt6LS8pa8LCicVAupU78F_g&index=1[/video]
PC Specialists
A very good service, same as my first order a year ago. Build time was a bit longer and I'm not a patient man! In the end you are getting a custom built PC made to your specs....so its gonna take longer. I did have concerns with the screen but these were unfounded and my screen was fine.
Really please with the overall order and love the laptop..........I take it everywhere with me and have the benefit to being able to play at work on my lunch, I'm the office geek
Please take a look at my YouTube channel, only just started it - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt6LS8pa8LCicVAupU78F_g
Add me on Steam too if you want - Xenoaxle (Xeno)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
Change to: Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Change to: 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 880M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
RAID NONE
mSATA SSD Drive NONE
2nd mSATA SSD Drive NONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 2nd/3rd HDD HARD DRIVE OPTICAL BAY CADDY (12.7mm)
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
Sound Card Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire 1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
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 NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser Microsoft® Internet Explorer
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
External Speakers NONE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL 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 30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Insurance NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £1,238.45
Price £1,486.14
Order Quantity 1
Bulk Discount £0.00
Total Order price (Ex VAT) £1,238.45
Total Order Price £1,486.14
P/O Number - Edit P/O Number
Payment Method Credit Card (will carry a 2% surcharge)
Courier Instructions
Production Dates
Processed Date 26-08-2014
Pre-Production Date 02-09-2014
Build Date 13-09-2014
Test Date 16-09-2014
QC Date 17-09-2014
Awaiting Dispatch Date 17-09-2014
Dispatch Date 17-09-2014
Who Worked on This Order?
Built By Mohammad Akhtar
Tested By Daniel Wan
QC'd By
Jonathon Brown
Packed By James Russell
My review
With so many new games coming out and my wife needing a better laptop I thought it was about time I ordered another laptop from PC Specialist. My old laptop was given to my wife as it still works great and has a GT 650m gpu, so the kids can still play Minecraft on it.
I wanted bigger and better for my new gaming beast so started specking it up and the results are above.
Build Quality
It's a solid piece of kit, however very heavy so not exactly portable (bought a good laptop rucksack to keep it safe). The brushed metal sections of the case look and feel nice, but do show up finger prints, not that it really matters but it does take away from the overall look once it has been used a lot. Mixed with the metal section we have a brushed hard plastic which really adds to the cases overall look, I like it and it does not feel cheap or flimsy. The mouse pad seems responsive and works well (however I and many other users would use a separate mouse). I'm not overly keen on the power light and HD access light, it does (too me anyway) look cheap, I would have preferred just a bar of light rather than a globe type shape.
The heat vents are to the rear of the laptop, which is great! No more burnt legs when the laptop is sitting on my lap (constant issue with my old laptop, vents at the side) and red thighs
.The screen is nice, large and crisp clear, I have no issues with it at all. The back of the screen case uses the brushed metal and looks great at first but as with the main wrist rest, finger prints show up easily. I have started to cover the back of the laptop with stickers anyways
Speakers look nice and work well, although I mostly play at work using earphones, but the sound quality is a step up from my last laptop.
I'm very please with the overall build quality of the laptop. Solid and well constructed.
Keyboard Lights!
Yes, the keyboard lights up and there are lot of options available to the user. I suppose this is a bit of a gimmick, but I like it and it makes it feel more light a laptop solely used for gaming. Lots of colours to choose from, I'm partial to the pink/purple (6 year old daughters favourite colour)
[video=youtube;NP6ajE1PZtg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP6ajE1PZtg&list=UUt6LS8pa8LCicVAupU78F_g[/video]
So what's it like to use?
Booting up speeds are very quick with the benefit of the SSD drive for the operating system and the i7 processor is really good. Very responsive but I did have an issue getting earphones to work....with a bit of faffing about in the settings I managed to sort this, just need to make sure they are plugged in before running any games.
I tried a 3Dmark (FireStrike) and got approximately 5300 score, seems pretty good, but don't have a lot of experience with bench marking yet.
Gaming
WOW!
GTX 880m is excellent and using Shadowplay to record games is an extra benefit I really enjoy.
I have tried a lot of games at high and ultra settings and all are playable with far exceeding expectations. Even playing my favourite game, DayZ its running minimum of 25 fps at times but the majority of times over 40fps. I just love it. The Witcher 2 runs at full settings with high fps, my old laptop couldn't even run it (it was only a 650m).
I have noticed that the heat of the gpu doesn't seem to go above 80c even at ultra settings on many games.
Here are a few gameplay videos to let you see what its like.
[video=youtube;SkrKmkVyUA4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkrKmkVyUA4&index=11&list=UUt6LS8pa8LCicVAupU78F_g[/video]
[video=youtube;Xsc8ACpXtWM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsc8ACpXtWM&list=UUt6LS8pa8LCicVAupU78F_g&index=1[/video]
PC Specialists
A very good service, same as my first order a year ago. Build time was a bit longer and I'm not a patient man! In the end you are getting a custom built PC made to your specs....so its gonna take longer. I did have concerns with the screen but these were unfounded and my screen was fine.
Really please with the overall order and love the laptop..........I take it everywhere with me and have the benefit to being able to play at work on my lunch, I'm the office geek
Please take a look at my YouTube channel, only just started it - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt6LS8pa8LCicVAupU78F_g
Add me on Steam too if you want - Xenoaxle (Xeno)
Last edited:
