Having to D.I.Y. re-paste on a £2k+ laptop build?

[scout^]

I'm about 90% certain I'll be getting a 17.3" Clevo Octane III with a gtx 1080, so I've been doing as much research as possible across as many fora as provide answers to the questions I have.

Since perusing this site, I've been quite concerned to read about people having sloppy pasting jobs done on their builds that they've subsequently re-pasted themselves.

I have built many a Desktop from scratch, including pasting, but if I'm about to pay, what's pricing up to be over £2800 for this laptop, I'd find it quite frankly appalling to see a sloppy pasting job done that I'd have to do anything to.

This wasn't an issue I was actually looking for when I joined this forum, but it's now quite a big issue as it begs the question of quality control on their end, which is the last thing I thought would be a consideration.

Also, are the issues with the drivers and so forth now fixed, or do users have to put in the grunt work to fix what shouldn't be an issue in the first place, themselves?

How prominent are these issues out of the box, and has anyone had a flawless, problem free build on the Octane III out of the box?

At this kind of price point, I expected to have a pristine machine that had no issues for me to concern myself with except tweaking the CPU for OC and the like and I'm now having doubts that this will be the case. Am I wrong in my assumptions?

Thanks

 

[ubuysa]

Hi scout^ and welcome to the fora!

It's important to realise, especially when browsing these fora, that they are not a representative sample of PCS's customer base. The overwhelming majority of satisfied customers never post back on here to say how delighted they are nor how problem-free their new computers were. On the other hand, almost everyone who has some sort of problem does post on here. Thus, there is a massive skew towards the negative on these fora that doesn't begin to represent the quality of PCS builds.

Of course in an ideal world there wouldn't be any problems at all and I'm sure that's what PCS strive to achieve. Sadly, whenever humans are involved there are mistakes, and PCS are not immune to that. Nobody can guarantee that your build will be 100% perfect and if you are unfortunate to be in the small percentage of users who do have problems my experience is that PCS's after sales service will fix them for you, under warranty, and in a timely fashion.

One user actually wrote on here only a few days ago that 'Humans make mistakes. Hardware fails. It's how the company reacts to those things that I feel is the important thing and PCS really did step up to the mark'. (See https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?51946-Defiance-II-a-year-(and-a-bit)-on).

I've not bought an Octane but I bought a PCS built Optimus IV over three years ago that was perfect out of the box and is still perfect. More recently I've bough a desktop that has been equally perfect straight out of the box. I would not hesitate to buy from PCS again.

 

[Oussebon]

How prominent are these issues out of the box, and has anyone had a flawless, problem free build on the Octane III out of the box?

The most recent Octane review: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?51904-Review-of-15-6-quot-Octane-III-purchase seems to be an example of that. They've found that temps during gaming load are fine on the CPU and GPU and reported no quality control problems.

A couple of people I've seen have reported issues where they initially couldn't get the trackpad to turn off, but Neo's solution (in the above post) seems to work for them too (basically uninstall and reinstall the driver, problem fixed).

I've not seen other recent complaints about driver issues with the Octanes. It's also worth bearing in mind that some of the reviews will have been posted quite recently after the chassis were released and updated drivers were still only just becoming available from the hardware manufacturers, and that some users will choose to do clean installs of their OS on getting the machine anyway and will make a project of finding all the most recent drivers from far and wide.

 

[scout^]

Thanks for the replies, fellas!

I agree with the rationale put up as a counter to my opening post- I guess when preparing to put so much money down, I really, really don't want to be in the wars post-purchase.

If I build a desktop myself, I'm prepared for the headaches that sometimes ensue, but I guess I see part of my money in this laptop build going towards assurance these issues are quality checked out of existence before the machine even gets to me.

Beings as a build is a two-phase process of construction and then testing, it just made me wonder how these things have slipped the net, or, indeed how often they do. I agree the sample size here is minute enough to be negligible, and it's a truism to say those with no issues have almost no reason at all to visit the forum, so my mind is more at ease now than it was earlier having thought about it a bit.

Entrusting a build to anybody else but myself is a really surreal feeling, but I'm going to have to get over that and put my foot in the pool.

Cheers.

 

[ubuysa]

Entrusting a build to anybody else but myself is a really surreal feeling, but I'm going to have to get over that and put my foot in the pool.

That was true for all of us at some point. Come on in, the water's fine!

 

[Neo]

Since perusing this site, I've been quite concerned to read about people having sloppy pasting jobs done on their builds that they've subsequently re-pasted themselves.

This wasn't an issue I was actually looking for when I joined this forum, but it's now quite a big issue as it begs the question of quality control on their end, which is the last thing I thought would be a consideration.

Yes, I remember being in that position. I actually had more worries after reading the forums - when I was hoping they'd reassure me instead! I think as has already been mentioned that people are more inclined to bother writing something when it's gone wrong that when it's all gone fine. But I agree at this price point you want everything to run smoothly.

As I've put in my review (which was linked in a reply above) I've not had any trouble with overheating/temps even after hours of gaming.

There was another recent review of the octane where everything out of the box was fine. It's here (click)

How prominent are these issues out of the box, and has anyone had a flawless, problem free build on the Octane III out of the box?

I only had issues with the touchpad and the OC app. Both resolved by reinstalling the drivers available on the PCS website. I think it was probably the order in which they were initially put on that was the issue; but simple to fix.

The real bonus with the PCS build is not having any bloatware on there.

 

[scout^]

That was true for all of us at some point. Come on in, the water's fine!

:sweatdrop::yes:

Yes, I remember being in that position. I actually had more worries after reading the forums - when I was hoping they'd reassure me instead! I think as has already been mentioned that people are more inclined to bother writing something when it's gone wrong that when it's all gone fine. But I agree at this price point you want everything to run smoothly.

As I've put in my review (which was linked in a reply above) I've not had any trouble with overheating/temps even after hours of gaming.

There was another recent review of the octane where everything out of the box was fine. It's here (click)



I only had issues with the touchpad and the OC app. Both resolved by reinstalling the drivers available on the PCS website. I think it was probably the order in which they were initially put on that was the issue; but simple to fix.

The real bonus with the PCS build is not having any bloatware on there.

Thanks ffor the considered words. I'm about a day away from taking the plunge.

 

[Tony1044]

Also if you want a well written, unbiased review of how PCS handled things when they didn't go so well, check this one out: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?51946-Defiance-II-a-year-(and-a-bit)-on

Ok, it's mine, but my Defiance II was a good £2.5k and whilst early days could've gone smoother, ultimately, it's a purchase I have never regretted.

 

[scout^]

Thanks @Tony1044

Just waiting for them to get back to me and I think that's pretty much me ready to order.

Don't like the fact Germany and the US get so much more choice in build than we do. In fact, that's really annoying me as I would want 5ms panel

 

[Neo]

It's always a fine balance isn't it. There always something new round the corner that we'd like to wait for - but then it's always going to be like that so we have to take the plunge at some point!

I guess you need to weigh up out of all the components what matters the most. If the screen was your no.1 thing on your list I'd be tempted to wait until end of January to see if there is some new options added. If it's not top of your list (perhaps the CPU type, GPU and RAM were more important) then go for it!