Hello everybody! This is my new laptop to substitute my 5 year-old one. If I had checked the forum earlier maybe I could have upgraded warranty and thermal paste. It was slightly above my top budget, but I couldn't resist to own this 970M card and no other alternative I have seen gives more value for money.
Here are the specs:
Chassis & Display Proteus Series:------15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)------Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4720HQ (2.60GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)------8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card------NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk------750GB WD SLIM BLUE WD7500LPCX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive------120GB Kingston SSDNow mS200 mSATA (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader------Integrated 4 in 1 Card Reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC)
Thermal Paste------STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card------Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless------GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options------3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery------Proteus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200mAh)
Power Lead & Adaptor------1 x European Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language------PROTEUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System------NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Notebook Mouse------INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam------INTEGRATED 720P 30 FPS HD WEBCAM
Warranty------3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery------STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time------Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) €945.00
Price €1,134.00
Mini review:
You will find already enough info about this model in the forum, so I will just comment quickly on it and the tweaks I have made.
In general, my opinion is that this is a great gaming hardware (CPU/GPU) with average-quality components in every other sense. Which makes it affordable and just perfect for a first gaming laptop. However, if you are used to a high-end PC, you might be disappointed.
I will try to be as objective as I can: it has this gaming looks, but without the lights it does not draw so much attention. I myself was certainly more pleased when I saw it in reality than in the photos. The chassis is solid and the materials feel good to touch. The screen hinge is smooth and looks solid enough. The laptop is not too heavy despite having non-detachable battery. Its dimensions are somewhat bigger than an average 15.6'', which ensures better cooling. Though the ripples in the screen backside cover are bulky.
After the reviews I had seen, I expected something much worse. The screen is the weakest point, though I would say that, after calibration, it is as good as an average laptop screen. Unfortunately you cannot do anything about viewing angles (except replacing the screen) but it is bearable.
Personally, I have come to like the LED light features. I would have appreciated a regular font type for the keyboard print letters, as they are modern but somewhat confusing (for me). Audio feels like damped but after tuning the equalizer I think it sounds pretty good. Still the output is not very powerful. Trackpad is good, but the driver software needed some tuning - now it feels good. Lastly, the power connector at the laptop end does not plug very deep and it feels like easily plugged out.
Pros: hardware, price, ports and plugs placed wisely, cooling*, keyboard, weight, battery.
Cons: screen*, no CD/DVD, bulky case.
Some tips:
Screen calibration: in INTEL graphics properties I have put: Hue=7, Saturation=10 and for BLUE colour only, contrast to 45. (This is the best I achieved, I preferred it over lowering Gamma to 0.8 as I have seen online).
Cooling: I found that fans were either off or kicking on very loudly. After looking for answers, there is little help for this model. However, pressing Fn+9 you turn off CPU Turbo and that gets the fans more relaxed. Fn+1 turns fans 100%.
Audio: inside Realtek manager, in Digital Output, I set an equalizer that looks like a mountain with a peak at 500 (I will upload a screenshot).
Trackpad: this is much up to you, but most of all I found annoying the drag block feature. I disabled it and I still can drag windows without unblock delay. I also set higher Sensitivity.
Screenshots
Here are the specs:
Chassis & Display Proteus Series:------15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)------Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4720HQ (2.60GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)------8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card------NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk------750GB WD SLIM BLUE WD7500LPCX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive------120GB Kingston SSDNow mS200 mSATA (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader------Integrated 4 in 1 Card Reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC)
Thermal Paste------STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card------Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless------GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options------3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery------Proteus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200mAh)
Power Lead & Adaptor------1 x European Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language------PROTEUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System------NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Notebook Mouse------INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam------INTEGRATED 720P 30 FPS HD WEBCAM
Warranty------3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery------STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time------Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) €945.00
Price €1,134.00
Mini review:
You will find already enough info about this model in the forum, so I will just comment quickly on it and the tweaks I have made.
In general, my opinion is that this is a great gaming hardware (CPU/GPU) with average-quality components in every other sense. Which makes it affordable and just perfect for a first gaming laptop. However, if you are used to a high-end PC, you might be disappointed.
I will try to be as objective as I can: it has this gaming looks, but without the lights it does not draw so much attention. I myself was certainly more pleased when I saw it in reality than in the photos. The chassis is solid and the materials feel good to touch. The screen hinge is smooth and looks solid enough. The laptop is not too heavy despite having non-detachable battery. Its dimensions are somewhat bigger than an average 15.6'', which ensures better cooling. Though the ripples in the screen backside cover are bulky.
After the reviews I had seen, I expected something much worse. The screen is the weakest point, though I would say that, after calibration, it is as good as an average laptop screen. Unfortunately you cannot do anything about viewing angles (except replacing the screen) but it is bearable.
Personally, I have come to like the LED light features. I would have appreciated a regular font type for the keyboard print letters, as they are modern but somewhat confusing (for me). Audio feels like damped but after tuning the equalizer I think it sounds pretty good. Still the output is not very powerful. Trackpad is good, but the driver software needed some tuning - now it feels good. Lastly, the power connector at the laptop end does not plug very deep and it feels like easily plugged out.
Pros: hardware, price, ports and plugs placed wisely, cooling*, keyboard, weight, battery.
Cons: screen*, no CD/DVD, bulky case.
Some tips:
Screen calibration: in INTEL graphics properties I have put: Hue=7, Saturation=10 and for BLUE colour only, contrast to 45. (This is the best I achieved, I preferred it over lowering Gamma to 0.8 as I have seen online).
Cooling: I found that fans were either off or kicking on very loudly. After looking for answers, there is little help for this model. However, pressing Fn+9 you turn off CPU Turbo and that gets the fans more relaxed. Fn+1 turns fans 100%.
Audio: inside Realtek manager, in Digital Output, I set an equalizer that looks like a mountain with a peak at 500 (I will upload a screenshot).
Trackpad: this is much up to you, but most of all I found annoying the drag block feature. I disabled it and I still can drag windows without unblock delay. I also set higher Sensitivity.
Screenshots
