General impressions:
Overall, I’m very impressed with this laptop. The gaming and thermal performance are both excellent. The screen is great. The keyboard is better than average. There is a reasonable selection of ports. There are a few things that remind you this is at the more budget end of mid-range gaming laptops (the all-plastic build, the trackpad, fairly tinny speakers, poor battery life, no thunderbolt or G-Sync), but if like me you're willing to compromise on those things, it’s a great machine.
Case:
The case feels solid, and a lot less cheap than it looked in some of the third-party pictures I've seen. The only slight exception to this is the PCS logo on the lid, which is not etched into the plastic; it's just a rubbery decal, which I predict is likely to rub off over time. Overall, the case feels solid without being heavy. The hinge is pretty stiff. On the upside this means it will hold the lid at any angle. The downside is that it is not possible to open without holding the base in place. The screen does wobble a bit, e.g. when someone stomps across the room. There is a bit of lateral flex in the lid, but not much. The case shows some smudges, but a lot less than the matt finish on my 15.6” Optimus VI did. There is no keyboard shortcut to turn off the screen, which I would have liked (you’ll have to go into the Gaming Center if you want to do that). However, there is one to turn off the Windows key, which is pretty handy. The inbuilt button to switch between different power modes is also a nice feature. This laptop is definitely not slim (31mm), but despite that it manages to feel quite compact. In fact, the very narrow bezels mean that the laptop is only about 15mm wider than the aforementioned 15.6" Optimus VI, and the case is actually about 10mm shorter front to back.
Thermal Performance:
I have been really surprised with how well this case handles heat. This RTX 2060 is the refresh version, so runs at 115w. I thought this might push the cooling of the chassis. In fact, I am yet to see the GPU run above the low 60s C. The CPU gets up into the low 70s. This is playing Metro Exodus and Shadow of the Tomb Raider more or less maxed out on graphics, and using the 'Turbo' setting in the TongFang/PCS Gaming Center, but without the additional fan boost engaged. Even without the boost mode, the fans are not exactly quiet, but with a headset on I don't find them in the least bit off-putting, even when in-game ambient noise is low. I paid the extra for Arctic MX4 Paste, and I guess I might be reaping the dividends of that, but there is no way this is making the 10-20 degrees difference between what I'm getting and what some others have reported. I think those folks either got unlucky with their paste-jobs, or there has been an updated bios that has sorted out the fan curves. I use a stand that raises the back of the laptop, which perhaps also makes some difference.
Gaming Performance:
As I just said, I've played Metro Exodus and Shadow of the Tomb Raider in native 1080p, on more or less maximum settings, including ray tracing, maximum texture filtering, and full vertical sync (Metro I am only running ray tracing settings on high rather than ultra). I've been getting very playable framerates of 50-60fps, with occasional dips down into the mid-40s, and very occasional dips below 40 when there are lots of NPCs and/or light sources around, so lots of complex RTX shadows. I'm sure with a few tweaks those dips could be reduced, but to my eyes these framerates are smooth enough, and so far any dips have only really occurred in non-combat settings. Everything looks really nice, especially Metro. I can't quite believe how far things have come since I bought my last gaming laptop under 5 years ago...
Screen:
The screen is great. It isn't the brightest I've used, but the colours pop very nicely, and the viewing angles really are excellent (virtually no distortion or dimming, to my eye, even from very side-on angles). So far I've only calibrated using the inbuilt Windows colour management settings (I trimmed out a lot of green and red). I might experiment with something more sophisticated at some point. Before I ordered, a webchat agent had told me the panel is the BOE07B6. I did some googling and found that this panel is also used in the XMG Neo 17, which has been reviewed here. They found 18.8ms GtG and 12ms BtW, so I knew to expect some ghosting, but hopefully nothing major. The fastest paced game I play is probably CS:GO. Here the high FPS (up to 200, lol), 144hz refresh rate and better than average response times really come into their own. I barely see any ghosting or motion blur in game. I had a play around on an online ghosting test (https://www.testufo.com/ghosting) and this confirmed there definitely is some at higher speeds. But in my view, a bit of ghosting is a fair trade-off for having a screen with good colour, especially in a laptop of this price.
Keyboard:
Travel feels alright. There is a decent amount of give, without being too spongey. Typing feels pleasantly bouncy. This is not a mechanical keyboard (and doesn't claim to be) and using an online keyboard ghosting checker I did detect some missed strokes, but only after 5 other buttons are being held. This is the case at least around WASD, left ctrl, shift etc.. I don't think this will ever effect games that I play. The RGB I could care less about. I'm not going to be changing the colours much. It seems to work fine.
Trackpad:
This is a whole other story. It is bad. The buttons often fail to register clicks, especially the right click. The pad itself is a reasonable size and sensitivity, but the fairly smooth shiny finish creates quite a lot of friction, and can make an annoying squeaking/rattling noise. Overall this seems fine for occasional use, but I think I'll almost certainly be using a mouse for work now, as well as gaming.
Ports:
For me it has a fine selection of ports. I'm pleased that these are spaced out around the machine, in a way that feels intuitive: USBs on each side, display ports and power situated at the back. The USB 3.0s on the right side were initially very tight, but are already loosening a bit with use. The USB 2.0 on the left causes a lot of stuttering when I try to plug my mouse in there. I haven't tried any other devices there yet. Perhaps this could be resolved with a driver update.
Fan Noise:
As I said above, the fans run fairly loud when gaming, but are fine if you're using over-ear headphones (mine aren't even noise cancelling). On the office profile things are more or less silent most of the time, only whirring up very occasionally for a few seconds.
Speakers:
Not very loud. Pretty tinny. No noticeable bass. Fine for watching a few shows, but for anything more cinematic you're going to want external speakers or headphones.
Out of the box setup:
I got the laptop without an OS because I could get a free Windows License Key through my university. Windows installed super quick from a pen drive, and all drivers sorted themselves out through the Windows update utility. The only thing I had any issue with was the TongFang/PCS Gaming Center, which hadn’t been added to my list of available downloads in my PCS account. A webchat agent was able to send me a link to download it.
Battery life:
Save the worst for last. 46WH is never going to be enough if you're going to be spending long periods of time away from the mains. And the relative power efficiency of the Ryzen 4000 series does not turn that around. I reasoned that the most I'm ever likely to need on battery is 3 hours of MS Office use (the length of a long train journey, or an afternoon in the library). This battery seems like it can just manage that. But when video streaming it seems to manage only about 2 hours of playback time. It is perhaps a bit unfair to be reviewing this after less than a week, because I know batteries can take a little while to settle into their full capacity. If anything changes drastically I'll post an update.
Anyway, that's my review. If there's anything else you'd like to know, feel free to ask. Here's my full spec:
Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 Eight Core Processor 4800H (2.9GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
Change to: 512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Optimus Series Integrated 46WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.1 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS 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
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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)
The total price was £1,144 including the sub-orders I made.
Overall, I’m very impressed with this laptop. The gaming and thermal performance are both excellent. The screen is great. The keyboard is better than average. There is a reasonable selection of ports. There are a few things that remind you this is at the more budget end of mid-range gaming laptops (the all-plastic build, the trackpad, fairly tinny speakers, poor battery life, no thunderbolt or G-Sync), but if like me you're willing to compromise on those things, it’s a great machine.
Case:
The case feels solid, and a lot less cheap than it looked in some of the third-party pictures I've seen. The only slight exception to this is the PCS logo on the lid, which is not etched into the plastic; it's just a rubbery decal, which I predict is likely to rub off over time. Overall, the case feels solid without being heavy. The hinge is pretty stiff. On the upside this means it will hold the lid at any angle. The downside is that it is not possible to open without holding the base in place. The screen does wobble a bit, e.g. when someone stomps across the room. There is a bit of lateral flex in the lid, but not much. The case shows some smudges, but a lot less than the matt finish on my 15.6” Optimus VI did. There is no keyboard shortcut to turn off the screen, which I would have liked (you’ll have to go into the Gaming Center if you want to do that). However, there is one to turn off the Windows key, which is pretty handy. The inbuilt button to switch between different power modes is also a nice feature. This laptop is definitely not slim (31mm), but despite that it manages to feel quite compact. In fact, the very narrow bezels mean that the laptop is only about 15mm wider than the aforementioned 15.6" Optimus VI, and the case is actually about 10mm shorter front to back.
Thermal Performance:
I have been really surprised with how well this case handles heat. This RTX 2060 is the refresh version, so runs at 115w. I thought this might push the cooling of the chassis. In fact, I am yet to see the GPU run above the low 60s C. The CPU gets up into the low 70s. This is playing Metro Exodus and Shadow of the Tomb Raider more or less maxed out on graphics, and using the 'Turbo' setting in the TongFang/PCS Gaming Center, but without the additional fan boost engaged. Even without the boost mode, the fans are not exactly quiet, but with a headset on I don't find them in the least bit off-putting, even when in-game ambient noise is low. I paid the extra for Arctic MX4 Paste, and I guess I might be reaping the dividends of that, but there is no way this is making the 10-20 degrees difference between what I'm getting and what some others have reported. I think those folks either got unlucky with their paste-jobs, or there has been an updated bios that has sorted out the fan curves. I use a stand that raises the back of the laptop, which perhaps also makes some difference.
Gaming Performance:
As I just said, I've played Metro Exodus and Shadow of the Tomb Raider in native 1080p, on more or less maximum settings, including ray tracing, maximum texture filtering, and full vertical sync (Metro I am only running ray tracing settings on high rather than ultra). I've been getting very playable framerates of 50-60fps, with occasional dips down into the mid-40s, and very occasional dips below 40 when there are lots of NPCs and/or light sources around, so lots of complex RTX shadows. I'm sure with a few tweaks those dips could be reduced, but to my eyes these framerates are smooth enough, and so far any dips have only really occurred in non-combat settings. Everything looks really nice, especially Metro. I can't quite believe how far things have come since I bought my last gaming laptop under 5 years ago...
Screen:
The screen is great. It isn't the brightest I've used, but the colours pop very nicely, and the viewing angles really are excellent (virtually no distortion or dimming, to my eye, even from very side-on angles). So far I've only calibrated using the inbuilt Windows colour management settings (I trimmed out a lot of green and red). I might experiment with something more sophisticated at some point. Before I ordered, a webchat agent had told me the panel is the BOE07B6. I did some googling and found that this panel is also used in the XMG Neo 17, which has been reviewed here. They found 18.8ms GtG and 12ms BtW, so I knew to expect some ghosting, but hopefully nothing major. The fastest paced game I play is probably CS:GO. Here the high FPS (up to 200, lol), 144hz refresh rate and better than average response times really come into their own. I barely see any ghosting or motion blur in game. I had a play around on an online ghosting test (https://www.testufo.com/ghosting) and this confirmed there definitely is some at higher speeds. But in my view, a bit of ghosting is a fair trade-off for having a screen with good colour, especially in a laptop of this price.
Keyboard:
Travel feels alright. There is a decent amount of give, without being too spongey. Typing feels pleasantly bouncy. This is not a mechanical keyboard (and doesn't claim to be) and using an online keyboard ghosting checker I did detect some missed strokes, but only after 5 other buttons are being held. This is the case at least around WASD, left ctrl, shift etc.. I don't think this will ever effect games that I play. The RGB I could care less about. I'm not going to be changing the colours much. It seems to work fine.
Trackpad:
This is a whole other story. It is bad. The buttons often fail to register clicks, especially the right click. The pad itself is a reasonable size and sensitivity, but the fairly smooth shiny finish creates quite a lot of friction, and can make an annoying squeaking/rattling noise. Overall this seems fine for occasional use, but I think I'll almost certainly be using a mouse for work now, as well as gaming.
Ports:
For me it has a fine selection of ports. I'm pleased that these are spaced out around the machine, in a way that feels intuitive: USBs on each side, display ports and power situated at the back. The USB 3.0s on the right side were initially very tight, but are already loosening a bit with use. The USB 2.0 on the left causes a lot of stuttering when I try to plug my mouse in there. I haven't tried any other devices there yet. Perhaps this could be resolved with a driver update.
Fan Noise:
As I said above, the fans run fairly loud when gaming, but are fine if you're using over-ear headphones (mine aren't even noise cancelling). On the office profile things are more or less silent most of the time, only whirring up very occasionally for a few seconds.
Speakers:
Not very loud. Pretty tinny. No noticeable bass. Fine for watching a few shows, but for anything more cinematic you're going to want external speakers or headphones.
Out of the box setup:
I got the laptop without an OS because I could get a free Windows License Key through my university. Windows installed super quick from a pen drive, and all drivers sorted themselves out through the Windows update utility. The only thing I had any issue with was the TongFang/PCS Gaming Center, which hadn’t been added to my list of available downloads in my PCS account. A webchat agent was able to send me a link to download it.
Battery life:
Save the worst for last. 46WH is never going to be enough if you're going to be spending long periods of time away from the mains. And the relative power efficiency of the Ryzen 4000 series does not turn that around. I reasoned that the most I'm ever likely to need on battery is 3 hours of MS Office use (the length of a long train journey, or an afternoon in the library). This battery seems like it can just manage that. But when video streaming it seems to manage only about 2 hours of playback time. It is perhaps a bit unfair to be reviewing this after less than a week, because I know batteries can take a little while to settle into their full capacity. If anything changes drastically I'll post an update.
Anyway, that's my review. If there's anything else you'd like to know, feel free to ask. Here's my full spec:
Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 Eight Core Processor 4800H (2.9GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
Change to: 512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Optimus Series Integrated 46WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.1 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS 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
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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)
The total price was £1,144 including the sub-orders I made.
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