Looking for advice kindly please

[St3rling]

Hi all,

I would like some advice please on this spec below, yes I know for that money I could build a super desktop etc but due to my lifestyle that cannot be done.
Laptop will be used for high-end gaming and the usual day to day but focusing on gaming. This laptop would replace my Asus ROG G751JY laptop.

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 120Hz IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-7700 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 2 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Firefox™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL 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
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,892.00 including VAT and delivery

Top is 2k Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thank you guys

 

[Stephen M]

The Octane is great, i have one but at nearly 4kg and with a massive power brick it is not the most portable of laptops. It will certainly do all you need it for but so might a Defiance and that would be a lot better for moving around. What will you do when the 30-day trials of Bullguard and Office finish, you could go for Avast for anti virus and Libre or Open Office as they are all free and as good as paid for versions.

 

[Oussebon]

If gaming is the focus, you could look at the Defiance - it has a laptop i7 7700HQ rather than a desktop i7 7700, but many games aren't going to care a great deal and the Defiance is a lot cheaper.

 

[St3rling]

Thank you for the advice guys, much appreciate it!
The weight is not that of a huge problem as I do travel but not ultra frequent, I can coop with that. What about the cooling aspect of things, would it be the same or similar any input on that? as the housing would be different. I just do not really want high temp on CPU nor GPU and overall due insufficient cooling. Is the hdd/ssd managment ok or shall i change smth there? Video card I was reading up on and not much maybe 10-15% increase on the 1080 so guessing 1070 will be just fine.

Sorry a lot of questions but I'd like to clarify everything as this will be a huge spend after a long time saving

Thank you!

 

[Stephen M]

The m2 you have chosen is the one I would have gone for, the 1TB SATA 7200rpm HDD is only about eight GBP more than the 500 so I would change up there, you may well need the storage space and it is not a big outlay.
I have not had heat issues with my Octane but I do not game, although do a lot of video work and that can get temps going up. Whatever model you choose I would recommend a cooling tray as they do help and in any intensive use temps will go up but if you get a 17.3" laptop check the tray can take it as there are some advertised as OK for large laptops but barely take a 15.6"
I will leave the GPU advice to others as not being a gamer am not in position to say.

 

[St3rling]

Hi Stephen M and thank you for your advice
The thing is I will need the 17.3 screen as simply got used to it in the past years but definitely upgrade for a bigger HDD, true not much of price difference and gives me more space.

Yet I'd still like some more clarification on GPU and drive management and is it worth getting 32GB ram or 16GB will suffice? Doubt though yet still worth asking but that's fine you've helped a lot already, much appreciate it!

Thank you!

 

[Stephen M]

I have a Xigmatek cooling tray, PCS used to sell them but that was three years ago but if you can find one they do fit 17.3" laptops. I agree about the screen size, although my reasons are also down to eyesight issues as am an old git. You may also find a cheaper external DVD drive if you shop about.

 

[Rakk]

and is it worth getting 32GB ram or 16GB will suffice? Doubt though yet still worth asking but that's fine you've helped a lot already, much appreciate it!

Given it looks like you'll be using it for gaming and other generic stuff, 32GB of RAM is unnecessary - 16GB of it would unlikely ever be used, so 16GB will be plenty.

 

[St3rling]

Thanks Stephen M and Rakk for the input, wow you are all very helpful, love it as for the RAM shall I opt for the 2400Mhz, that might be a nob question and I know there is literally no difference in gaming maybe 1-2 fps increase but it only cost 2 quid more would it be compatible with everything instead of the 2133Mhz one?

 

[Stephen M]

It should be OK and worth it. When you put the specs in the configurator and click on "proceed" if there is anything not compatible it will warn you then

 

[St3rling]

Yes, I have tried it and it was all ok except it asked me whether I'd like the OS installed on ssd or the hdd and the ssd drive was recommended in brackets, supposing it is the right way doing that so.

 

[Rakk]

Yes, I have tried it and it was all ok except it asked me whether I'd like the OS installed on ssd or the hdd and the ssd drive was recommended in brackets, supposing it is the right way doing that so.

Yes, you definitely want the OS on the SSD

 

[St3rling]

In that case I think it will look like this:

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 120Hz IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-7700 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
1TB SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 2 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Firefox™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL 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
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,911.00 including VAT and delivery


Looks solid to me, what do you guys think? Any other tweaks/changes you'd make?