Destian Case - Possible Issue

[roadcone]

My Destian case has a line from where the left-hand hinge edge meets the top/back of the top panel. This line runs at a slight angle across the top, flat area and partially down the slope, towards the keyboard area. I don't recall this from new. I have attached a photo of both the left- and right-hand hinge areas. If I run my finger or finger-nail over the line it seems that I can feel it.

Customer support are consulting but they say that it is "there for better clearance for the CPU cooler having a look at the manual". They describe it as an "indentation" but it is really not that and is more a "disturbance" in the force, sorry, case. I've suggested that it may be a crack which has started to propagate and asked them to check a 'new out of the bag' case for comparison.

Am I being too concerned?

Clive

 

[SpyderTracks]

I would agree with @JustARandomPerson, I don't think that should be there and the fact you haven't noticed it until now suggests that also.

I would raise it with PCS and point them to this thread so they can see pictures.

I don't think that's right.

 

[roadcone]

Thank you both Random and SpyderT for your replies. I had sent them the two images which makes their comment odd. To my thinking it is clearly a crack so I hope that my request for them to check a new case will prompt the advice to return in. I am very pleased with this machine so I'd like to get this sorted.

Clive

 

[Aza]

I believe this might be PCS misunderstanding what you are referring to, it sounds like they are talking about the shaping of the case, and how you see a line/slight crease in the case that goes horizontally. I dont think they have noticed the vertical hairline crack.

Would suggest maybe using the first picture and drawing a big red circle around it and just bluntly tell them its a hairline crack in the case.
Would also maybe try a slightly different angle so it doesnt have that shadow projecting over the area, I had to look twice to see the crack myself.

 

[Aza]

Looking at the images on the site, it doesnt appear to be in the catalogue photos for the Destian
How long have you had it?

 

[roadcone]

Thank you for the additional responses.

Aza: I've had the laptop since 22 March 2022 - so, two months. I did wonder if customer services think I am referring to either the natural, soft corner bend in the case or the sharp, straight line that runs left-to-right along the whole top face. I have exported a full-size image without any annotations and pasted a copy into a Word document and added some lines (green=good; red=bad). I've sent both on to them.

Clive

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you for the additional responses.

Aza: I've had the laptop since 22 March 2022 - so, two months. I did wonder if customer services think I am referring to either the natural, soft corner bend in the case or the sharp, straight line that runs left-to-right along the whole top face. I have exported a full-size image without any annotations and pasted a copy into a Word document and added some lines (green=good; red=bad). I've sent both on to them.

Clive

Don't put images in word documents, it completely compresses them and you lose any visual fidelity.

Just send them the image file on it's own.

 

[roadcone]

SpyderT - Agreed. The Word version is to provide annotations. I have also sent a full-fat image without annotations.

 

[roadcone]

Full reply from PCSL below. So ... do I leave well alone; monitor it to see if it gets worse or send it back?

"Sorry about that I misunderstood thanks for clarifying.

Something like this is either due to the heat pipes or trapped cabling unfortunately having a look at that area will mean disassembly and removing the heatsink etc.

If you are concerned we can of course take a look at this if you want to book an RMA. Ultimately it isn't at that point where I am adamant an RMA is needed, I've seen some bulges where it is significantly worse than this and the system has been recoverable so if you didn't want to send it back it would still be a good idea to keep an eye on it but at this moment in time it is entirely up to you if you would like to send it back for repairs."

 

[AgentCooper]

Was that reply verbatim? If so, I wouldn’t be entirely happy with a ‘I’ve seen worse and it still worked’ answer.

But the final sentence is better, it is up to you to make the decision. Personally, I’d send it back. The laptop is only two months old and whilst the issue may not get worse… it certainly isn’t going to get better on it’s own.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Was that reply verbatim? If so, I wouldn’t be entirely happy with a ‘I’ve seen worse and it still worked’ answer.

But the final sentence is better, it is up to you to make the decision. Personally, I’d send it back. The laptop is only two months old and whilst the issue may not get worse… it certainly isn’t going to get better on it’s own.

I would agree with this. If it's got that far after 2 months there's no question it will deteriorate. I would get it fixed sooner rather than later, don't out up with it even if it works fine.

You've paid a lot of money for it and this is a defect that shouldn't be there.

 

[roadcone]

Yes, reply is verbatim. Yes, it won't fix itself and although not certain, it is likely to get worse.

OK - back it goes.

Clive

 

[roadcone]

Sent it back - and that was an experience! Got notification of the 'next day' collection, which did not happen and nor did it happen the following day. Emailed a complaint and got another 'next day' collection which, again, did not happen. Rang and lost it a bit with the Customer Services - they apologized and empathized (they always do) [aside - this is the fifth consecutive time over a six-month period that they have failed to collect 'next day']. Anyway, it was collected the day of the irate telephone call.

Got an update today (day after it arrived). Defect has been verified and case top replaced ... but ... and oh, what a but ... I have been sold an incompatible configuration. My Destian is fitted with an AMD Ryzen 9 processor but the mother board has insufficient VRMs to correctly power it so it is "likely" that the VRMs may become stressed and fail and / or the under-voltage may cause damage to the processor causing further possible damage. So, I can retain the '9' and take a chance or receive a refund or a drop-down to Ryzen 7 or 5. And a refund introduces the possibility of going with a Destian Intel i7-12xxx.

What to do?

Mostly routine stuff then photo processing of 20/80MB RAW files using Capture One and Affinity Photo. Also use of the other two Affinity products plus GIMP. Then audio processing of moderate files. With Capture One the most intensive process is batch export from unprocessed RAW to jpeg file.

Clive

 

[Jasontvnd]

Sorry to hear about the trouble you had , Have to say I had to RMA my laptop for a dodgy touchpad and was over the moon with the service , Had it picked up in 2 days and returned 3 days after that.

Honestly I would take the destian with the 12700, The 12 series on laptops have unparalleled processing power right now even comparing it to a 6900H.

Infact it's so good that when I decided to do a 4k video edit I used the laptop cause I was not at home , Really surprised with just how well it coped , Wasn't a huge amount less time to render than the 5950x.

 

[Aza]

I suppose it depends on your uses, I would be tempted to send it back for a full refund and try another build or downgrade the CPU if its mainly for gaming. Its a little strange they allow a config on a laptop that the board cant properly support, technically yes its compatible, but if it causes problems then theres teh headache of repairs and refunds that they'd have to deal with.

The i7 12700 is meant to be Intels top tier gaming cpu and I would of thought it good enough for editing too, perhaps that is the better option?

 

[barlew]

Sent it back - and that was an experience! Got notification of the 'next day' collection, which did not happen and nor did it happen the following day. Emailed a complaint and got another 'next day' collection which, again, did not happen. Rang and lost it a bit with the Customer Services - they apologized and empathized (they always do) [aside - this is the fifth consecutive time over a six-month period that they have failed to collect 'next day']. Anyway, it was collected the day of the irate telephone call.

Got an update today (day after it arrived). Defect has been verified and case top replaced ... but ... and oh, what a but ... I have been sold an incompatible configuration. My Destian is fitted with an AMD Ryzen 9 processor but the mother board has insufficient VRMs to correctly power it so it is "likely" that the VRMs may become stressed and fail and / or the under-voltage may cause damage to the processor causing further possible damage. So, I can retain the '9' and take a chance or receive a refund or a drop-down to Ryzen 7 or 5. And a refund introduces the possibility of going with a Destian Intel i7-12xxx.

What to do?

Mostly routine stuff then photo processing of 20/80MB RAW files using Capture One and Affinity Photo. Also use of the other two Affinity products plus GIMP. Then audio processing of moderate files. With Capture One the most intensive process is batch export from unprocessed RAW to jpeg file.

Clive

Wow In the decade I have been a member of this forum this is a first! Its a good job you sent the laptop back to them!
Absolutely 100% get a refund. If PCS are telling you that the configuration is incompatible and at best would cause performance issues at worse would cause damage you have got to return it.

 

[roadcone]

Its gone back. They will let me downgrade from a '9' to a '7' or '5' and in each case, I get a refund. They have now said I can change wholesale to an Intel 12700 for an additional £96. The amount of the change is reasonable but given that Model 1 had a problem which necessitated a change to Model 2 which went back twice and was also not fixed and necessitated a change to Model 3 which over-heated, cracked and now seems to have been mis-sold, and I still don't have a working replacement for the old laptop, then I thought they might be more understanding about the problem.

In fairness to the guy that did come back to me with a technical explanation - which was absolutely clear - I have pasted his comments below. And while I fully accept the explanation given and accept that they did not realise the problems at the time, they do, of course, have a responsibility for their actions - at least, the customer should not be picking up the cost of them not being able to replace like-for-like nor the additional cost of an equivalent replacement.

Quote ---

Thanks for your email, the reason why we're saying that you've been sold an incompatible configuration is due to the the higher TDP (Thermal Design Power - typical power of usage of the chip) of the Ryzen 9 chips. It was previously believed that the motherboard could cope with this but as longer term tests have revealed, this is not the case. During testing, we found the system is power limited to ~65W, which is the TDP of the Ryzen 7 5700X and Ryzen 5 5600X. While being power limited, the system is under-performing massively with an all core stress test showing the CPU hardly reaching 1GHz on all cores. What we mean by stable is that the system hasn't crashed or frozen during our overnight test.

If you were to retain the Ryzen 9, it would likely cause the VRMs (Voltage Regulator Module - controls power flow) to fail causing the system to cutout and long term this may cause the VRMs and/or the CPU to die due to excessive strain (in the case of the VRM) or damage from not getting enough power (in the case of the CPU).

Unquote ---

 

[roadcone]

PCS and I have reached a financial agreement and it leaves me entirely satisfied.