A few questions regarding the Optimus II 15.6" model

[Kushan]

Hi guys,

First here's the spec I've been playing with -

Chassis & Display
Optimus II: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2630QM (2.00GHz) 6MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102 WIRELESS 802.11N - IDEAL FOR ONLINE GAMING
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery - 48.85WH
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W Adaptor (GT 540M) / 120W Adaptor (GT 555M)
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 1.3 MEGAPIXEL 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 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

I have a couple of questions, though.

1) My main issue with a lot of laptops these days is they come with cheap, nasty trackpads and for various reasons, I need the trackpad to be decent. I don't mean it has to be perfect, but it has to do "slide-scrolling". Can anyone confirm how usable the trackpad on the optimus is? I've read some reviews of laptops from other people with the same chassis and they say their feelings on the trackpad is fairly mixed, but mostly from a "it looks used very quickly", which doesn't bother me but I wouldn't mind knowing what the functionality is like. Or better yet, can anyone confirm if it's a synaptics trackpad as I believe they're the only ones that do proper "slide-scrolling".

2) The i7-2630QM supports the AES instruction set, but some manufacturers disable it in the BIOS and don't offer a way to enable it. Can anyone confirm if the Optimus' BIOS handles the i7-2630QM's AES instruction set?

Mobile: all Core i7. Though the Intel web pages originally listed the 2630QM and 2635QM as not supporting it, those web pages have been updated to indicate that they do.[4][5] Several vendors have shipped BIOS configurations with the extension disabled,[6] requiring a BIOS update to fix. All Core i5 except 2410M[7] support it.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AES_instruction_set#CPUs_and_GPUs_with_AES_instruction_set

3) I'd like an SSD, but the intel ones are really expensive and I'd prefer one with a Sandforce controller anyway, but PCS only offers the intel ones and there's no option to have no hard drives with the machine. I know that if people want different screens on their laptops (like matte ones), PCS is more than happy to fit them before they ship the laptop. Would something like that be possible if I were to send off my own SSD? If so, what would happen regarding the mandatory HDD from the configurator, would there be a slight refund or would I get an extra HDD with the package? (i.e. if I get the HDD separate, I may as well just install the SSD myself - which is fine).

4) Bit of a long shot, this. The Graphics chip with this laptop comes in two flavours, one with DDR3 RAM and one with GDDR5. Sadly, PCS only offers the DDR3 variety. It's a somewhat minor thing, but is there any chance/way of getting the GDDR5 variant instead?

5) I'm stuck on which wireless to go for. The Killer 1102 and the Intel 6300 are both the same cost. I've done a bit of research and from what I can tell, they're pretty evenly matched except the Killer 1102 can outpace it in some very specific situations (mostly large UDP packets, which aren't that common and slightly lower ping times, which on a LAN is rather superfluous anyway), while the Intel can get quite a bit more range. Anyone got any input on which they prefer or anything that'd help me decide? I'm leaning towards the Killer 1102 if only because I'm not generally that far away from my wireless.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kushan]

Sorry, I realise that bumping a thread can be quite rude, but never the less...


*bump*

 

[Teaz]

What would you be using the laptop for?

I can answer 3 and 5 but the rest, you will need to call up PCS an ask them: 0844 499 4000
as im not entirely sure of it. unless an admin can answer it for on here but id still make the call.

you can check the que/waiting times here

3. personally i wouldnt recommend an ssd on a laptop without a secondary drive that is a hdd. you can get a second drive on this optimus but you will have to sacrifice the optical disc drive to get the option of fitting in a second drive. reason is, they are expensive and they have small capacity and if its the only drive youre using on a laptop, your constantly writing from small to large data depending and that slowly writes off the ssd's read/write life cycle which slowly degrades it performance. its why i personally recommend a secondary hdd drive or an external hdd drive as backup or storage. I would just go for the seagate hybrid drive in my view which is a very decent fast drive for a laptop.

reason i remeber why the intel ssds are only the possible options for the laptop provided by pcs is that the other ssds like ocz has problems so pcs doesnt recommend them on the laptop, only the intel. you can send in your own but you will have to contact pcs to ask about that first. if you did do that, the hdd that you chose in the configurator can be an option of having it in the laptop but you will forfeit the optical drive or you can still have the optical drive but only having the ssd as your only drive.

5. you can go for any but if your not gaming, i would just go for the intel and not the killer as the killer was designed for gaming and everyday normal use is not really noticeable from the two. but whichever you prefer as its your choice, im just providing advice

apart from all that, the spec looks good.

 

[Kushan]

Thanks for the reply!

I'll be doing a little bit of everything on the laptop, but its main purpose will be development. However, I intend to develop some personal game projects, which is why I'm going for something with decent graphics capabilities, even though gaming is a secondary aspect of it (although I intend to do some of that as well).
I have a proper rig at home which is where I'll do most of my bulk storage, I don't intend on doing a lot of downloading or whatever on the laptop so I don't see the problem with having an SSD. My old laptop came with a 320Gb HDD and I don't think I ever used more than 100GB of it at any one time, over a period of several years. That's why I'd be happy with about 200Gb of Storage, which fits nicely into the price range of SSDs I was looking at. Sadly, the Intel SSDs have their own share of problems (I believe Intel released a firmware update only recently, in the last couple of weeks, to try and address the issues), so in that regard you're screwed in any case. The SSD's I was looking at come with good warranties anyway. I'm not absolutely, 100% completely sold on the SSD thing but I'm definitely leaning towards it.

 

[onlynik]

I have a Vortex II, I have had 2 Vertex 3 240 GB drives die due to panic locking, one within an hour, the replacement within 48 hours. I would strongly advise against the Vertex 3 at the moment. There is no point in having a good warranty when the failure of a drive stops your machine dead. I now have a Intel 510 250GB in and it's nearly full as I have my Steam games on it.

I have a secondary drive int he laptop for storage.

 

[Teaz]

Thanks for the reply!

I'll be doing a little bit of everything on the laptop, but its main purpose will be development. However, I intend to develop some personal game projects, which is why I'm going for something with decent graphics capabilities, even though gaming is a secondary aspect of it (although I intend to do some of that as well).
I have a proper rig at home which is where I'll do most of my bulk storage, I don't intend on doing a lot of downloading or whatever on the laptop so I don't see the problem with having an SSD. My old laptop came with a 320Gb HDD and I don't think I ever used more than 100GB of it at any one time, over a period of several years. That's why I'd be happy with about 200Gb of Storage, which fits nicely into the price range of SSDs I was looking at. Sadly, the Intel SSDs have their own share of problems (I believe Intel released a firmware update only recently, in the last couple of weeks, to try and address the issues), so in that regard you're screwed in any case. The SSD's I was looking at come with good warranties anyway. I'm not absolutely, 100% completely sold on the SSD thing but I'm definitely leaning towards it.

fair enough we all have good reasons i would just get in contact with pcs and ask about the 555m gpu. as for the killer, its optional, if you think it will help on your project, id go for it, if not the intel one is fine.
the intel 320 and 510 ssd has the longest warranty on an ssd that i know of currently which is 5 years so not sure on whats higher for other brands and the intel ssds are actually reliable and good from what ive seen. they do fix issues and its not like they dont and no ssd is really perfect here. i think the intel ssds are a fine reasonable good choice to go for. if not you will have to check with pcs on the ssd you have in mind for use on the laptop.

 

[PCS]

Great spec you've put together there!

1. The touchpad is as follows: Built in touch pad with multi-gesture and scrolling function. Unfortunately I don't have any details about the brand of the touchpad fitted.

2. I cannot answer this question unfortunately - we can run CPUz on a chassis to confirm that AES is there, but whether or not it's enabled is another story. We can request further information from Clevo if it's important for you?

4. We don't offer the DDR5 version, only the DDR3 version sorry.

 

[Kushan]

Great spec you've put together there!

1. The touchpad is as follows: Built in touch pad with multi-gesture and scrolling function. Unfortunately I don't have any details about the brand of the touchpad fitted.

2. I cannot answer this question unfortunately - we can run CPUz on a chassis to confirm that AES is there, but whether or not it's enabled is another story. We can request further information from Clevo if it's important for you?

4. We don't offer the DDR5 version, only the DDR3 version sorry.

Thanks for the response!

1) That's all the information I could find out regarding the trackpad as well. Can you at least confirm if it has a "slide-scrolling" mechanism? I.e. whereby on a section of the trackpad (usually the right hand side) you can slide your finger up and down to scroll up and down. I realise it's a trivial thing, but you'd be surprised at how many laptops are missing such a feature.
I'm also not sure what it means by "multi-gesture". It would imply that it can handle more than one gesture command, but equally could mean "multi-touch" gestures. I'm not bothered if it isn't multiple touch, but the slide-scrolling is pretty essential.

2) CPU-Z would be perfect! From what I've been able to determine, if CPU-Z shows the instruction, then it is indeed enabled in the BIOS as other people have posted that CPU-Z doesn't show it when it's disabled. This isn't a massive deal breaker for me, it's just that the company I work for uses a lot of encryption so having it done via hardware would be a nice bonus.

4) Thanks, I realise it was a long shot but as they say, if you don't ask you don't get.

 

[PCS]

UPDATE

The Optimus II does support side scrolling, as in using the right hand side of the touchpad to scroll vertically on websites.

On checking the instruction set in CPUz, the AES instruction set is listed. We have not tested this other than by loading CPUz to check that it is loaded. The CPU tested was not the 2630QM, but given that the 2630QM supports AES there should not be a difference.

 

[Kushan]

Oh thanks for that, that's a big relief!
That's actually the wrong processor, the iffy one is the 2630QM, but no matter as I said the AES instructions aren't a deal breaker so I'm happy enough with that. The slide-scroll was my biggest concern so as long as it does that, I have no reason not to!

I'll probably be putting the order through in the next couple of weeks, depending on how financials work out.

 

[Dunk_13]

Is the touchpad multi-touch? if not what do you mean by multi-gesture?

 

[dananski]

The touchpad is from Synaptics and is multitouch with all kinds of useful customisable features - I just installed the drivers for mine.

You get horizontal and vertical sidescrolling and/or two finger scrolling, and you can use 3-finger gestures to go forward and back in a browser or other supported application (I'm still a bit clumsy with that). All can be enabled/disabled and tweaked.

I was quite happy to discover this as I had actually asked in PCS chat whether the pad was multitouch and was told it wasn't. If I'd had the money I might've gone for a Macbook for the multitouch pad instead, but now I'm really glad I didn't, because this touchpad is great!

 

[PCS]

The touchpad is from Synaptics and is multitouch with all kinds of useful customisable features - I just installed the drivers for mine.

You get horizontal and vertical sidescrolling and/or two finger scrolling, and you can use 3-finger gestures to go forward and back in a browser or other supported application (I'm still a bit clumsy with that). All can be enabled/disabled and tweaked.

I was quite happy to discover this as I had actually asked in PCS chat whether the pad was multitouch and was told it wasn't. If I'd had the money I might've gone for a Macbook for the multitouch pad instead, but now I'm really glad I didn't, because this touchpad is great!

That's good feedback, thanks +rep. We will carry out further tests and update our specification.

 

[onlynik]

AES isn't loaded on teh 2630QM