Want to buy a new laptop...

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danjun

Member
Hello PCS Community!

I am a university student, and I would really like a laptop for university and of course some gaming too.
I have a desktop which I bought from PCS around 2012, but it has an AMD A6-3670 CPU and a Geforce GTX550Ti, which is quite outdated.


I am currently looking at the Optimus VII 15.6" with the i7 6700HQ and 8GB RAM.
How portable would this be? I mean it said it was going to be 2.5kg, would this be too heavy? What about the charger that comes with it, is it really bulky?

Also, I like to play MMORPGs, the one I am going to mostly, if not only play is Blade and Soul, if you know what that is.

Do you think the specs of the Optimus VII would be able to run it on say, decent settings?
I have played it on my desktop, but I have to put it to minimum settings and even then I get around 20-30fps on average, which kinda stutters....

Any suggestions and advices would be really appreciated!
 
GeorgeHillier

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
I have the cosmos which is 0.5kg lighter and is fine for me to take to uni.

As for the game I'm not sure since I've never played it, but it should be able to run anything you throw at it, you can look up benchmarks of the 960m to get an idea
 
D

danjun

Member
Thanks for the reply guys!

Stephen, my budget is probably enough to buy the Optimus with the i7, I am a poor uni student living on student loans! I am willing to pay by finance anyway and save up my salary from work to pay the rest off within 11 months....
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
Not sure what spec you were considering but the WD Black 7200rpm are great drives. PCS are good because they allow you to open up and work on the laptop without voiding the warranty. With that in mind you could go for a decent size storage 750GB WD Black and add a m2 SSD when or if funds become available. Perhaps you could write a nice letter to Santa :)
 
L

LFFPicard

Godlike
Currently £24.70 a month for the below, you can edit it to add carry case etc that you need and stick to the i5 to save some money.
The OS and Soul and Blade can go on the SSD and backup on the other drive.

Enjoy!

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 6300HQ (2.3GHz, 3.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD BLACK 2.5" WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive
250GB Crucial MX200 M.2 2280 SSD (upto 555MB/sR | 500MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 2
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7265 M.2 (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £808.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/optimusVII-15/6rsGMY9aov/
 
D

danjun

Member
LFFPicard said:
Currently £24.70 a month for the below, you can edit it to add carry case etc that you need and stick to the i5 to save some money.
The OS and Soul and Blade can go on the SSD and backup on the other drive.

Enjoy!

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 6300HQ (2.3GHz, 3.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD BLACK 2.5" WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive
250GB Crucial MX200 M.2 2280 SSD (upto 555MB/sR | 500MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 2
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7265 M.2 (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £808.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/optimusVII-15/6rsGMY9aov/
Click to expand...

Thank you for your suggestion!
But isn't there a big difference between the i5 and the i7 CPUs?
 
D

danjun

Member
Thanks for your reply!
But don't the i5 and i7 have a big difference in performance?
Or is it not worth the money for the i7?

And also for the hard drives, I guess I'm alright with having just one! I found 500GB to be enough for me, including the OS....
 
I

ihavenoideawhatiamdoing

Rising Star
I think the i7 has hyper threading whereas the i5 does not meaning the i7 has eight threads and the i5 has 4. Though I may be wrong. On the topic of hard drive space the more the merrier. I had a 160GB hard drive for 7 years and never quite managed to fill it, yet on my new laptop I have already use about 300GB!
 
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danjun

Member
I see.... I'm not an expert at computer specs but is there a much faster difference between a normal HDD and an SSD? Why would you recommend having both of them in?
 
D

danjun

Member
Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ (2.6GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk
500GB WD BLACK 2.5" WD5000LPLX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 2
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7265 M.2 (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)
Power Cable
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD 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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

This is also the spec I am looking to get anyway... would this be ok? I dont think anything over 800GBP would be possible...
 
D

danjun

Member
ahh right I see..... if I lose the OS and get a cheap deal on the internet, and I go for a SSD instead, how can I install the OS to the SSD? I've never done this kind of thing before haha, so I would need some help...
 
L

LFFPicard

Godlike
Personally I would stick with the build I showed you.
For gaming and general uni work the i7 wont make any difference, so unless your planning on converting/encoding a lot (And I mean a lot like an art/media student) then the i5 will be fine.

The benefits of SSD are speed, I chose to do 2 drives for you as the SSD will be your main drive for windows and 1-2 of your most played games, then any other stuff like other games or backups etc can go on the normal drive.
The SSD will allow your Laptop to boot in a matter of seconds as opposed to the normal hard drive taking a couple of minutes. It will also allow your games to load much quicker hence why I said you can put 1-2 of your most played games on there.

If you really want to drop it below £800 then remove the arctic cooling paste and just go for the standard, but I wouldn't recommend it. The arctic paste transfers heat better so will stop your laptop getting as hot (It will still get warm mind). To be fair the spec I gave your is pretty spot on for a £800 build, you wont get much better for performance.
 
F

fieldgoals

Member
actually that is also the problem I met, I'm not sure if PCS will install a trial version or not.If so,we just need a active code.
Because I think how can they evaluate and test laptop fully without OS?
If not, I need to learn that,well,everything has the first time.
 
D

danjun

Member
LFFPicard, many thanks for your information!

I'm beginning to agree with you, but if I lose the OS, the cost is around 730GBP, which is great,
but, for the SSD, would there be a big difference with the 250GB Cruial and the 120GB Kingston SSD? The game I want to install is probably around 30GB, how much space should I look to accomodate the OS and the game? I would like to save money
where possible!
 
L

LFFPicard

Godlike
In theory windows 10 will take 11gb for the install, then anything else on top like apps etc will take up space.
Don't forget, most things will save in your documents, or appdata folders so saved games etc can save to the SSD and take up space.
Plus your 30gb for the game, and lets say another 5gb for future patches etc.

So that's say for safety sake 70gb taken up.

It's doable, really you want to leave 10% space free on a SSD for optimal performance so that's 12gb gone there. So as long as your strict with the usage of the SSD and have everything else on the other drive it is possible.

If your unsure of your way around computers it is not great to drop the OS, technically the machine will come with a OS on pre-stall. But as you would not have purchased a licence you wont be able to set it up or activate it, it was simply used to test the machine then reset.
 
D

danjun

Member
Right, I have just tried to purchase the laptop, but to my disappointment my application for finace has been declined, I do not know why... maybe it's because I'm a student and have never used a credit card before...
so right now I am thinking of just doing a one-time payment with my debit card, so I would like to lose some of the things that I had...

If I lose the SSD and just go with the 7200rpm HDD, would there be a lot of a difference?
 
GeorgeHillier

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
danjun said:
Right, I have just tried to purchase the laptop, but to my disappointment my application for finace has been declined, I do not know why... maybe it's because I'm a student and have never used a credit card before...
so right now I am thinking of just doing a one-time payment with my debit card, so I would like to lose some of the things that I had...

If I lose the SSD and just go with the 7200rpm HDD, would there be a lot of a difference?
Click to expand...

It will take longer to boot up and load applications you would've put on the SSD, but nothing other than that. I had a 7200rpm drive in my laptop at first and then added an SSD later on
 
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