Which model is better? Optimus vs Nova?

R

rogue

Member
Hello everyone,

I think I am close to buying a new laptop, so wanted to get an opinion from you guys. I posted here early last month to get a rough idea. Now I am mainly split between Nova (Ryzen 3600, RTX 2070) and Optimus (4800H, RTX 2060), where I am leaning more towards Nova because of slightly better GPU. (Nova is like 150 GBP more than Optimus)

I just have a few questions about these 2 before I finalize my decision. It would be great if anyone could pitch in. Thank you so much.

1- Does one of them have better temperatures than the other? I was going through forums, and for instance, it seems that a new BIOS for Nova results in better temperatures.
I think temperature is one of the biggest concerns for me in this comparison (partly also because of my current ACER laptop that has had many temp issues). If one of them is fairly better than the other in temperatures, then I might lean towards that.

2. I have an Oculus Rift which needs an HDMI port. Will it work with both of these laptops because I am not sure if they have an HDMI port and if a converter works?

3. Finally, we know that prices had risen because of the COVID-19 situation. Are they any better now or still the same? For instance, I am thinking of getting the following build for 1222 GBP. What do you think the price would have been in normal circumstances? I just want to get an idea of how much extra I might be paying :D Thank you very much again.

Chassis & Display
Nova Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1800MB/sR | 1800MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Nova Series Detachable 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.2 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
15" NOVA SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Clevo NH55AFW (8GB RTX-2070, 144Hz N7, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,222.00 including VAT and Delivery
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
They are 2 very different products.

The Optimus is a standard laptop.

The Nova is a DTR (Desktop Replacement). You need to understand the benefits and drawbacks of this. A DTR uses desktop processors so far more powerful than any laptop. As such it's much thicker and heavier than a standard laptop as the cooling has to be much more robust to deal with the increased power. It has extremely poor battery life as it's not designed to be portable but to be used as a SFF type build.

So long as you're comfortable with that, then there's absolutely no contest, the Nova is the superior device by miles both in cooling and performance.

I'm guessing prices on laptops may have gone up around £100 due to covid. It's not as bad as I would have thought it to be. I think desktops have been hit harder due to shortages of stocks.

Both the Optimus and the Nova have 1 x HDMI, 1 x Mini DP, 1 x DP via USB-C (don't confuse USB-C with thunderbolt, they are exclusive things).
 
R

rogue

Member
SpyderTracks said:
They are 2 very different products.

The Optimus is a standard laptop.

The Nova is a DTR (Desktop Replacement). You need to understand the benefits and drawbacks of this. A DTR uses desktop processors so far more powerful than any laptop. As such it's much thicker and heavier than a standard laptop as the cooling has to be much more robust to deal with the increased power. It has extremely poor battery life as it's not designed to be portable but to be used as a SFF type build.

So long as you're comfortable with that, then there's absolutely no contest, the Nova is the superior device by miles both in cooling and performance.

I'm guessing prices on laptops may have gone up around £100 due to covid. It's not as bad as I would have thought it to be. I think desktops have been hit harder due to shortages of stocks.

Both the Optimus and the Nova have 1 x HDMI, 1 x Mini DP, 1 x DP via USB-C (don't confuse USB-C with thunderbolt, they are exclusive things).
Click to expand...

Hi, nice to see you again :D

Thank you for answering all the questions. I guess that narrows it down for me, where the only question for me now is the form factor and battery life.

Just halfway through my message, I found out that there is a detailed specification page for each laptop though lol. My current laptop is 2.5 kg so that shouldn't be much of an issue. I guess battery might be important though since it says 'under 2 hours' for Nova. And upon more searching, I have found that people are stating it be more around 1hr. If that's the case, I guess Optimus is probably the best option for me then for under/around 1200 GBP. What do you think?

Thanks :)
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
rogue said:
Hi, nice to see you again :D

Thank you for answering all the questions. I guess that narrows it down for me, where the only question for me now is the form factor and battery life.

Just halfway through my message, I found out that there is a detailed specification page for each laptop though lol. My current laptop is 2.5 kg so that shouldn't be much of an issue. I guess battery might be important though since it says 'under 2 hours' for Nova. And upon more searching, I have found that people are stating it be more around 1hr. If that's the case, I guess Optimus is probably the best option for me then for under/around 1200 GBP. What do you think?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...
If it's down to budget then it would be the best option if you need battery life.
 
K

KeepingItRetro

Active member
The Nova has a desktop Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and the Laptop has a Ryzen 7 4800H Mobile CPU. However the 4800H is more powerful it would seem. The Nova has a nice upgrade path though to stronger CPU's down the line if you need to upgrade.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
KeepingItRetro said:
The Nova has a desktop Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and the Laptop has a Ryzen 7 4800H Mobile CPU. However the 4800H is more powerful it would seem. The Nova has a nice upgrade path though to stronger CPU's down the line if you need to upgrade.
Click to expand...
The Nova can have a 3600, 3700x or 3900. For just gaming though you’d stick with the 3600.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
KeepingItRetro said:
4800H beats it in both single and multi core. Probably by 10%ish in Multicore I would say.
Click to expand...
Where are you getting those results? In all third party benchmarks for the standard performance tests they come out neck and neck in single threaded, there is a slight advantage in multithreaded between about 5 and 10%
 
K

KeepingItRetro

Active member
SpyderTracks said:
Where are you getting those results? In all third party benchmarks for the standard performance tests they come out neck and neck in single threaded, there is a slight advantage in multithreaded between about 5 and 10%
Click to expand...

That's what I said 10%ish lol

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K

KeepingItRetro

Active member
SpyderTracks said:
That's in one bench.... in most you'll find they're neck and neck, in some the 3600 is actually faster in single threaded. Overall though they're about neck and neck in single threaded.
Click to expand...
I posted 3 benchmarks (Cinebench,Passmark and Geekbench. Looks like 5-10% increase in Multi Core performance. (y)
 
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