I need help for a new laptop

[Azryon]

Hello guys,
Im trying to configure a laptop for my sister with a bugdet of around 1200-1300 £.
She mainly uses it for gaming, editing software and school, the dilemma in which i am right now is the difference between these 2 configurations and if there is any alternative that you would suggest in that budget, is the difference between these 2 configurations only the monitor or am i missing something ?

1st Configuration:
Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 240Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10870H (2.2GHz, 5.0GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 665p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 2000MB/sR | 1925MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf European Power Cable
Battery
Defiance Series Integrated 3 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (73WH)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
17" DEFIANCE 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
Google Chrome™
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 PC70DP (6GB RTX-3060, i7-10870H, 240Hz N7, Blank KB)
Delivery
6 DAY DELIVERY TO ROMANIA
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Price: 1.117,50 £ including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/defianceVIII-17/SHy6FC5Ukt/

2nd Configuration:
Chassis & Display
Ionico Series: 17.3" Matte QHD 165Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1440)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 665p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 2000MB/sR | 1925MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Ionico Series Integrated 91WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless Network Card
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) + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
IONICO 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT 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
Google Chrome™
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
TongFang GM7MG0P (6GB RTX-3060, i7-10875H, 165Hz QHD, Blank KB)
Delivery
6 DAY DELIVERY TO ROMANIA
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Price: 1.177,50 £ including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/ionico-17/P!84DZGQzu/

Thanks in advance !

 

[Baki]

Hey mate, It's a good budget so either way she'll have a good one.
I'm not the best expert but I'd choose the second one (for the monitor resolution).
And I'll add another 500GB ssd m.2 to install games in it. That's what I did on my laptop. (better to put games in another drive than windows' one)
Also, buy a laptop "cooling pad" right away. I think it's better to use it directly from the first gaming session, otherwise the composant will heat quickly.
Anyway, I have on my side the Vyper 17.3 which looks exactly like the Ionico and it's really beautiful.

 

[Grumpywurzel]

Personally, it's down to looks but maybe the second laptop has a few extra options and as stated above has a better screen. I'd put a 512gb PCS M.2 drive in as the windows (primary) drive and then a second 1TB PCS M.2 drive in to save stuff onto (you could drop the primary down to 256GB if money is tight).

Weirdly I've followed your url and the second machine comes in as £1400+ before any tweaks, something is odd there??

 

[Azryon]

Thanks for your advice and recommendations, after searching through the forums on here a bit, i saw that PCS had some issues with TongFang Chassis's and people were recommending to go for Clevo instead, I couldn't find more details about what the issues are and i was curios if anyone knows more about that.

Hey mate, It's a good budget so either way she'll have a good one.
I'm not the best expert but I'd choose the second one (for the monitor resolution).
And I'll add another 500GB ssd m.2 to install games in it. That's what I did on my laptop. (better to put games in another drive than windows' one)
Also, buy a laptop "cooling pad" right away. I think it's better to use it directly from the first gaming session, otherwise the composant will heat quickly.
Anyway, I have on my side the Vyper 17.3 which looks exactly like the Ionico and it's really beautiful.

As soon as im gonna place the order ill start looking for a cooling pad ! I think you're very on point to have it right from the beginning.
I like the look of the Ionico as well !

Personally, it's down to looks but maybe the second laptop has a few extra options and as stated above has a better screen. I'd put a 512gb PCS M.2 drive in as the windows (primary) drive and then a second 1TB PCS M.2 drive in to save stuff onto (you could drop the primary down to 256GB if money is tight).

Weirdly I've followed your url and the second machine comes in as £1400+ before any tweaks, something is odd there??

After you and Baki mentioned a second drive, i thinked about it and for her the best option should be a 256GB for Windows + Programs as primary as she doesn't really uses a lot of them and 1TB secondary for Games and other Media files.
And to answer the price difference:
It may be due to the fact that it's shipped to Romania or the tax difference ? I was curios about the price difference as well as im the UK now and after i buy her the laptop i was thinking in March to buy one for myself here in the UK but the price difference between shipping it here instead of Romania is about 250-300£ more expensive here in the UK, maybe someone has more info about that ?

 

[Macco26]

Whichever you choose (I won't start the discussion in the forums 'Tongfang vs Clevo' as anybody here seems to hate the old gen Vyper 17*; personally I pre-ordered the Ionico 17 myself and see what I get), please for the love of God always choose dual RAM sticks. I've seen the Clevo with 1 single RAM stick. No way.

* @Baki how's your Vyper 17? Is really that bad once you unplug it from the power plug? How's your keyboard engraving lasting?

 

[barlew]

Thanks for your advice and recommendations, after searching through the forums on here a bit, i saw that PCS had some issues with TongFang Chassis's and people were recommending to go for Clevo instead, I couldn't find more details about what the issues are and i was curios if anyone knows more about that.

As soon as im gonna place the order ill start looking for a cooling pad ! I think you're very on point to have it right from the beginning.
I like the look of the Ionico as well !

After you and Baki mentioned a second drive, i thinked about it and for her the best option should be a 256GB for Windows + Programs as primary as she doesn't really uses a lot of them and 1TB secondary for Games and other Media files.
And to answer the price difference:
It may be due to the fact that it's shipped to Romania or the tax difference ? I was curios about the price difference as well as im the UK now and after i buy her the laptop i was thinking in March to buy one for myself here in the UK but the price difference between shipping it here instead of Romania is about 250-300£ more expensive here in the UK, maybe someone has more info about that ?

So last year there were a whole load of issues mainly surrounding QC. The most frequent ones were lettering rubbing off of the keyboard within weeks, really bad screen bleed and specifically on the Vyper 17 the laptop being un-useable on battery.

There also seemed to be quite a few users who had terminal failures such as frequent mother board failures.

Laptops break which is just a fact of life which is why they come with a warranty. The problem here was the same faults kept frequently cropping up specifically with the TongFang chassis.

 

[FerrariVie]

Thanks for your advice and recommendations, after searching through the forums on here a bit, i saw that PCS had some issues with TongFang Chassis's and people were recommending to go for Clevo instead, I couldn't find more details about what the issues are and i was curios if anyone knows more about that.

A few examples:

Optimus series 17.3" - Keyboard keys peeling off after 2 months.

Hello there! I got a Optimus series 17.3" laptop this September, however, after only 2 months of daily usage, some of the keys are starting to peel off... You can take a look at what I mean below. (See the difference between the A and Q keys?) Here is a close-up view of the worst looking key...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Bright spot on the laptop display, laptop doesn't sit flat and touchpad rattling

Hi all, hope you're doing well during these times! The Vyper has served me well so far, I've been working from home since March, and I purchased the Vyper at the end of August. Using it for heavy image retouch, video editing, playing AAA games. Unfortunately I'm writing a post here on the...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Vyper 17 Slow on Battery

There will also be a number of people that have never used their laptop on battery and it’s remained plugged in all the time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I would also imagine there are a lot of users who when told that "the drop in performance is to be expected when running on battery"...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Vyper Series: 15.6" laptop hinge attachment problem

Hi, Unfortunately one of the screen hinges of my Vyper Series: 15.6" laptop is separated from the back lcd cover which I suspect is broken (because I could see some pieces of plastic on the screw. The screen is perfect, and I can still use the laptop (I guess the other one is getting a bit...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[Azryon]

Considering the last 2 comments and what I've read, ill go on the safe side and go with the Clevo Chassis, thank you very much for the replies and recommendations, i really appreciate it !

 

[Macco26]

A few examples:

Optimus series 17.3" - Keyboard keys peeling off after 2 months.

Hello there! I got a Optimus series 17.3" laptop this September, however, after only 2 months of daily usage, some of the keys are starting to peel off... You can take a look at what I mean below. (See the difference between the A and Q keys?) Here is a close-up view of the worst looking key...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Are you sure the Optimus series was a Tongfang? There are so many variants in the Internet that I can't judge and might need your PCS veteran experience. But the latest Optimus XI still sold in the website appears to me a Clevo, so...

 

[FerrariVie]

Are you sure the Optimus series was a Tongfang? There are so many variants in the Internet that I can't judge and might need your PCS veteran experience. But the latest Optimus XI still sold in the website appears to me a Clevo, so...

It was a 17" Optimus, so it's a TongFang GK7MRFR, while the 15" Optimus is indeed a Clevo NH55DCQ .

I get your frustration, don't know who names those laptops... it's very confusing 🙄

 

[Stephen M]

Thanks for saving a search, was sure the Optimus I got was a Clevo. It was a few years ago.

 

[Macco26]

You're right sorry. It's pretty much the same chassis of Elimina PRO which I did know was a TF, my bad.

 

[FerrariVie]

Thanks for saving a search, was sure the Optimus I got was a Clevo. It was a few years ago.

Yeah, but that doesn't mean that the Optimus from a few years ago has the same manufacturer as this years, as I believe they can change the name from one year to another as well (like calling a Clevo 15" as Nova now and then in a few years they decide to call Nova a TongFang 15"🙄 )

Just to make things clear guys: I'm not saying that this year's TongFangs will have the same issues, but it's my opinion that I personally would not like to be the guinea pig on testing something that has proved to cause issues in the past. I really hope they had addressed those problems after many RMAs and complaints from clients and resellers, but until the new versions start arriving and people start using them for a few months, we'll never know for sure.

 

[Baki]

* @Baki how's your Vyper 17? Is really that bad once you unplug it from the power plug? How's your keyboard engraving lasting?

I'm totally satisfied with it. The keyboard is still okay because I usually use an external one (because I use two screen)
About the unplug mode, it's actually solved since few days. It was really bad, but I didn't use it unplugged a lot. I've had some troubles with the drivers at the beginning (one of the device was not updated but I decided to let it be).
And after a little mistake on my side, I've had to reinstall some drivers, I noticed that PCS updated "my download" section, so I reinstalled some, and now my thunderbolt device is updated, and it looks like the battery is really better. I tried yesterday and I totally forgot it was unplug until it stop because of low battery lol.
So I would say that my experience with the Vyper is really good, aside from the fact that the chassis is really beautiful and sober, the performances in game are great, and for working it's a real pleasure.

 

[Azryon]

Hello,
So after hours of "research" i think i almost made up my mind on what is the best option that i can get for my budget, but i have some questions that i would appreciate some help with before ordering.
The build looks as following :

Spoiler: Laptop Build

Chassis & Display
Valeon Series: 17.3" Matte QHD 165Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1440)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen™ 9 Eight Core Processor 5900HX (3.3GHz, 4.6GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3080 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2300MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Valeon Series Integrated 62WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 M.2 GAMING + BLUETOOTH 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
VALEON 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT 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
Google Chrome™
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)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM7ZG8M (16GB RTX-3080, R9-5900HX, 165Hz QHD, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £2,102.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/valeon-17/KjCCxXTV5q/

I just want to know that im making the best decision for my budget which is around 2000£, i went a bit over it to get the 3800, so my questions are :

Is it worth getting the 3800 at the moment considering that most of the gaming i will do on it will probably be CoD: Warzone and rest of the time i will use it for video editing and processing ?

The other question that i would have is, am i missing something ? Can i get something better than this for 2000£ ?
Also, im open to any advice/suggestions on the build, please feel free to share your opinion on any parts of it.

 

[Azryon]

I don't understand why the moderators choose to merge my new post with the post from February as I've already ordered the laptop from that post and i wanted help/feedback for another laptop with different specs/questions, but nonetheless i still need help from anyone available to assist me.
Thanks in advance !

 

[solidus1983]

The only thing i can see that should be changed if you can within budget is the Single Channel 1 x 16GB and place it to 2 x 8GB Sticks for Dual Channel on the first spec.

Then the only deciding factor is screen real estate, bare in mind that gaming 1080p on a 1440p screen can have issues with interpellation.

Also i have noticed it says NTSC 72% that should be around 99% SRGB.

 

[Azryon]

The only thing i can see that should be changed if you can within budget is the Single Channel 1 x 16GB and place it to 2 x 8GB Sticks for Dual Channel on the first spec.

Then the only deciding factor is screen real estate, bare in mind that gaming 1080p on a 1440p screen can have issues with interpellation.

Also i have noticed it says NTSC 72% that should be around 99% SRGB.

Thanks for the advice, but as I've said above, I've already ordered the laptop from the post from February (with 2 x 8GB as someone else also suggested above) and i would only need help/suggestions on the build that i posted today.
^ I mostly made this reply so people don't get confused and give feedback to the post from February, as that is no longer necessary, it would've been better if the moderators didn't merge the post's so i wouldn't have to waste everyone's time to scroll through the post all the way down and we would've avoided this confusion.

As about interpellation, no idea what that is, I've tried to look it up but to no avail, could you detail that a bit when you have the time please ?

 

[solidus1983]

Basically the image can sometimes show shifted slightly similar to a slight screen tear. Some people may not notice it however some people can.

Or at least that's what I have noticed in the past.

Its nothing bad it can just be off putting to some users.

Sent from my SNE-LX1 using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member 17413]

Generally speaking, you take the highest GPU you can in a laptop for gaming.
Its not something thats upgraded as you go, you're stuck with it.

What games/reason is it you want to take 32GB RAM?