No DDR4 for Optimus VII?

[Frank of K]

Optimus VII is back up -

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/optimusVII-15/

I really wish they would just keep it up, I dont have the funds right now but Iwill be purchasing this model. The lack of consistency however is offputting.

But Im pleased to see they offer 4gb VRAM for the 965m, how about some regular DDR4 RAM to make it pretty much perfect. DDR4 is the standard now.

 

[Oussebon]

Why on earth would you want to buy that?


Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ (2.6GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 120W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 2
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & 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
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £813.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/optimusVII-15/YMr2XdKABg/


VS

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 7300HQ (2.5GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 - 2.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 120W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 3
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Battery
Cosmos VI Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language
SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & 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
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £806.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/optimusVIII-15/gptNzW5ZZA/


Or only £28 more (£21 more than the Optimus VII) for the much more powerful GTX 1050 ti.

how about some regular DDR4 RAM to make it pretty much perfect. DDR4 is the standard now.

The Optimus VII is an old model that takes DDR3L. I assume its design dates from the early days of Skylake when people were still bothering with DDR3L - as you say, now it's all DDR4. They can't offer DDR4 with that mobo because obviously DDR4 physically won't fit into the DDR3L sockets. That's part of what the Optimus VIII is for.

Its relative age is also why it has the fairly out of date Maxwell GPUs on it. The 960M won't get people very far for gaming, for example compared to the 1050. And if one were going for a 960M they could get an off-the-shelf model for a lot cheaper as other manufacturers try to clear their stocks (PCS already has had the older Optimuses on special offer in the past to clear theirs).

I assume it's also regularly out of stock because it's an old model and they only find themselves with stock from time to time. The question isn't why is it not always up, the question is why it's even up at all.

Perhaps they has some stock they meant to shift but didn't get around to it and now the impending release of the GT 1030 in laptop form is making them take care of it? I've no idea. If that were the case you'd expect the Cosmos to be going on sale soon too.

 

[Frank of K]

Well tbh the Optimus VII is the only decent gaming model with a disc drive.

 

[Oussebon]

Sadly though to some degree understandably laptop models are moving very heavily away from having ODDs as are desktops, as I guess you've noticed. I might suggest that an external drive is probably the better way forward, since otherwise quite a bit of performance and therefore useful lifespan is being sacrificed.

 

[Stephen M]

You can get decent USB DVD players for twenty quid or less. I have had an Optimus VII for some time but got it with an extra HDD as that is more useful than a rarely used player.

 

[amoshi]

Used my DVD drive from my Cosmos II once or twice over the past few years, my new Defiance III arriving today won't have it.
I would seriously reconsider whether you really need it.

 

[Tony1044]

Have to concur - since you can boot most OS's from a USB stick these days and it's usually significantly faster than a DVD / CD drive, combined with most things being downloads / burnable ISO files then I cannot actually recall the last time I used a DVD drive.

Even installing to servers - they have had virtual drives where you just mount an ISO file to for years.

Honestly I'd prefer extra drive space and newer hardware over an infrequently used drive any day.

 

[Frank of K]

Used my DVD drive from my Cosmos II once or twice over the past few years, my new Defiance III arriving today won't have it.
I would seriously reconsider whether you really need it.

Because I game from discs the old fashioned way. I cannot abide Steam or any third pary programs.

 

[Oussebon]

If you're gaming from discs then either you're not particularly mobile in your gaming, or you're already carting a laptop and some CD/DVDs around, in which case a thin external drive shouldn't be an issue.

Although with the exception of some games like Witcher 3, where you can just install off disc and manually download and apply update patches without DRM, I suppose you don't need the extra performance because your gaming needs are basically prehistoric.

I'm not sure how much there PCS can do about offering more choice for people with your needs though, as it's down to Clevo etc as to which chassis with what features they produce.