My new laptop review

[RutBur]

My review of my laptop is mixed. The positive: The laptop is fast. I went for a reasonably high spec to ensure this. It loads fast and responds well. I haven't tried it with anything heavy duty (Premiere, Photoshop mega files) but so far no complaints on this.

The negative: It is very ugly (it has a kind of old-fashioned 1970s vibe - my heart sank when I opened the box), very, very heavy and very bulky. It has a weird sticking out thing at the back that adds to the 'depth' (front to back) and the height (at side - top to bottom) is 2ins at the back!! Plus it comes with two 'chargers/ power connectors' (see photos - they are the two bricks at the back left of the laptop) that are also heavy and must both be plugged into the laptop for charging. There is a weird keyboard multi-colour lightshow as well. What on earth is that about?

So basically this is a desktop computer masquerading (very badly) as a laptop. I guess it's my own fault for buying something 'unseen' but I would not have purchased this laptop if I had known it was so bulky and so heavy. I like to migrate around the house with my laptop and this is just not possible with a mega heavy laptop connected by lots of cabling to two heavy 'power charger' bricks... I also always take my laptops on holiday. Absolutely not possible to carry a tank onto a plane... But since we are in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, I guess I don't need to worry about this for a bit.

I considered sending it back, but it IS fast and the screen resolution seems good so I have decided to keep it. I am however still needing to use my old PC laptop whenever I am elsewhere (not in my home office).

 

[barlew]

So to summarise you bought a DTR and your biggest complaint is that its a DTR?

 

[barlew]

Well I stand corrected PCS do not advertise it as part of their DTR line which I find bizarre.
OP is right though it is a hideous looking bit of kit.

 

[RutBur]

So to summarise you bought a DTR and your biggest complaint is that its a DTR?

So to summarise you bought a DTR and your biggest complaint is that its a DTR?

I thought I was buying a laptop. Not a desktop. It does not give a weight nor was it clear in the specs that I pulled together (with help from a friend) that it would include the two charger 'bricks'.

 

[RutBur]

To be fair, not everyone will realise that it is powered by a desktop CPU...and will assume the 2 power adapters allows for a spare rather than needing both.

However, the weight is quoted in the detailed specs so that shouldn't have been a surprise

I missed the weight thing in the specs. Don't recall that at all... worse luck!

 

[RutBur]

I did try plugging in just one of the chargers bricks and it did not work. You have to plug in both for the laptop to charge.

 

[RutBur]

Yeah, the weight (3.8KG) is listed under the "detailed specification" on the configurator..you have to click on it to find it out.

The 2 power bricks are specified in the spec....you can't select anything else

This DTR is definitely the Recoil as the Nova comes with a single adapter. And, yeah, it won't work with a single adapter as the CPU needs more power, especially as it's an Intel chip which is more power intensive

Well, my bad. Didn't interpret the specs properly. I was seriously surprised by the bricks Hey ho, it is fast... I have used the laptop's non - porterability as an excuse to splurge on an ipad pro as an early Christmas present to myself. It is beautiful, light and fast. So y'know, silver lining... sort of.

 

[barlew]

Well, my bad. Didn't interpret the specs properly. I was seriously surprised by the bricks Hey ho, it is fast... I have used the laptop's non - porterability as an excuse to splurge on an ipad pro as an early Christmas present to myself. It is beautiful, light and fast. So y'know, silver lining... sort of.

The size issue and the fact it looks like it belongs on the set of Knight rider aside I bet its an absolutely monstrous laptop, what are the specs?

 

[ubuysa]

I thought I was buying a laptop. Not a desktop. It does not give a weight nor was it clear in the specs that I pulled together (with help from a friend) that it would include the two charger 'bricks'.

At the risk of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, it would have been wise to ask for advice on here before buying.

If you're not 100% happy I would send it back for a refund and ask advice on here for a laptop more suited to your needs.

 

[Bhuna50]

Stupid question but are those power bricks designed to be stacked like that - is that not vent holes on the top to allow them to remain cool and therefore stacked like that you are blocking / possibly causing the brick underneath to get hotter than it should do?

 

[RutBur]

The size issue and the fact it looks like it belongs on the set of Knight rider aside I bet its an absolutely monstrous laptop, what are the specs?

The spec:
Intel(R) Core (TM) i9-10850k CPU @ 3.60Ghz 3.60 GHz
Vyper Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 SUPER - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)

 

[RutBur]

Stupid question but are those power bricks designed to be stacked like that - is that not vent holes on the top to allow them to remain cool and therefore stacked like that you are blocking / possibly causing the brick underneath to get hotter than it should do?

The 'shelving' came with the bricks so I presumed that is how it should go... They don't seem to overheat?

 

[Bhuna50]

Ah its shelving for it - it looks like they were two large bricks with some fancy venting on the top of each brick LOL

 

[barlew]

The spec:
Intel® Core™ i7 8-Core Processor 10875HGeForce RTX 2060 / 2070 / 2070 Super / 2080 Max-Q144Hz FHD Panel (1920 x 1080), 72% NTSCMagnesium Alloy ChassisHuge 91WH BatteryThunderbolt™ 3RGB Backlit KeyboardSuperSpeed USB 3.1HDMI Output Connection1.0MP WebcamWireless
32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 SUPER - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)

That is the important bit. Lovely spec machine. Does it have GSync?

 

[DAS]

Is it possible to upgrade the GPU card also? Let's say with an RTX 3070.

 

[DAS]

Perfect thank you for the info

 

[DAS]

Just realised you aren't the OP of the thread and may not have bought a laptop (judging from your post history I'm guessing not yet) so you can't check in the account section.

However, as said, I don't believe any of the PCS laptops have replaceable GPUs so you really need to spec it for what you want at the beginning

Yes indeed. While searching for the best setup for my work the new cpu from AMD and gpu from nVidia is were released to the market. That made my decision very difficult because for the same amount of money I could get better specs. The idea of buying a DTR laptop is still on the table though. I found a really amazing offer with Ryan 9 5900HX , 64GB ram, RTX 3070 for around 1600 euro but the cpu is a mobile one so I won;t be able to upgrade it in the future. Anyway long story short I decided that is best to wait a couple of months to see if the prices will drop or if its worth to buy a system with newer technology.