Optimus VIII Feedback

[Ellanth]

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)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti - 4.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
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 European 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
Hungary/Magyarország - Hungarian Language
DVD Recovery Media
NO DVD RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook 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)

First of all i always wanted a gaming laptop what is custom. Previously i owned other brands like MSI,Asus but to be honest this PcSpecialist notebook much better. The FHD ips screen looks even better than my IPS external monitor. The power of the GTX 1050 Ti 4gb is marginally better than the previous GTX 860m 4gb.
The notebook weight is also lower , well i guess because its full plastic but its not that cheap one, its really great. You are able to manage the cooling system with the notebook own software so its runs quiet and cool.I played with Diablo 3, R6 Siege, Killing floor 2,FF XII/XII-2,DMC 4 SE, CoD:Bo3 all with high/ultra settings and 60fps. I recommend to install drivers from PcSpecialist but Nvidia and intel graphics drivers. I also give a 10/10 to the PcSpecialist guys because i had many questions and many worries before and after purchase but the helped me a lot. This notebook really worth i hope its gonna be my long term weapon on gaming battlefield :walkman:


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Pros:
-cool and quiet
-"custom"
-many connection option
-beautiful screen
-nice keyboard
-very fast shipping
-absolutely fantastic support
-m2 samsung sm961 extremly fast

Cons:
-no service panel on the back
-full plastic case (but its strong plastic to be honest)
-audio system not the best is just "avarage"

 

[Oussebon]

Good review, covers a lot of things people often ask about.

You say the GTX 1050 ti is marginally better than the GTX 860M. It may vary from game to game but it should be about twice as powerful.

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks for the review.

What 'service panel on the back' were you expecting? You do know that PCS have an open case policy so you can open it up (for cleaning, adding RAM, disks, etc.) without voiding your warranty?

The Optimus series laptops are unfortunately well known for having poor onboard sound, I'm actually impressed you think it good enough to be 'average'.

The plastic is tough, my four year old Optimus IV lives on my sailboat and it stands up to that perfectly well (that's not my boat in the avatar, though that is me you can just see - my boat is much bigger!). The area around the keyboard does show wear marks where my palms rest but I've had that on several laptops from elsewhere.

The SM961 was an excellent choice!

 

[spooky23]

Also got a VIII. Sound through the speakers is not too much of a bother because I tend to plug in headphones. I guess I could purchase a decent set of stereo speakers in the future.

Love how quiet it runs compared to my dinosaur desktop that I recently retired. Got a 4k screen, looks fantastic and not struggled to sort out any minor scaling issues.

I know what you mean by the plastic but it's hardly cheap looking and I guess it helps with the weight of the device. Not had the chance to test out any games. I downloaded Halo Wars (as it was free) but tbh, I do most of my gaming on PS4 these days, although would be curious to see how well No Mans Sky with mods runs on it. More likely to end up playing the next Football Manager.

Back to the casing, if you tap the area your palms sit on when typing, does it echo a little? Probably not the best articulation there. Not saying it's a problem, probably being OCD about it.

 

[Ellanth]

About "service panel" where you can easily upgrade ssd, memory without remove the whole back, thats what im missing but yeah i know i can open it without voiding warranty but the plastic "tounges" can break easily after 2-3 disassembly


Onboard sound is clearly the weakest point of the notebook but i use headphones or speakers anyway so i dont worry about it too much.
The plastic case is tough i just wrote it to point to the others it doesnt have any aluminium or other metal part BUT its still viable for long term use as you just wrote

 

[Ellanth]

Also got a VIII. Sound through the speakers is not too much of a bother because I tend to plug in headphones. I guess I could purchase a decent set of stereo speakers in the future.

Love how quiet it runs compared to my dinosaur desktop that I recently retired. Got a 4k screen, looks fantastic and not struggled to sort out any minor scaling issues.

I know what you mean by the plastic but it's hardly cheap looking and I guess it helps with the weight of the device. Not had the chance to test out any games. I downloaded Halo Wars (as it was free) but tbh, I do most of my gaming on PS4 these days, although would be curious to see how well No Mans Sky with mods runs on it. More likely to end up playing the next Football Manager.

Back to the casing, if you tap the area your palms sit on when typing, does it echo a little? Probably not the best articulation there. Not saying it's a problem, probably being OCD about it.

I hear "Dizzy" sound like a screw or something like that. Not that annoying but really strange what it could be

 

[spooky23]

Yeah, it's not an issue as it's only apparent if I tap it but when typing fast and shifting my palms, I can occasionally hear it. I guess it's a consequence of it being hard plastic. Maybe.