The very best laptop with the very best specs for just under or over £1000 .

[PeterW]

No worries Peter. it depends on the laptop but the Defiance and Octane have four RAM slots, some other do as well I think. It is simple to add, just take the back off and the RAM slots are visible. Unlike some PC sellers, PCS do not void the warranty if you open it up, so unless you break anything you can look around inside and add things without penalty.

That's very good of them - I think I'm going to go with the Defiance 17.3" and a 970M Graphics Card - I'm going to buy it in the New Year when I'll have a little more savings [ if I can get through Christmas ! ] so I can have the best specs I can afford - it's coming to £1327-00 at the moment with 500GB SSD and the 750GB WD Slim Blue so a little more money is required .
The problem I have is choosing whether to have 2 Drives and how to spread them about - eg do I go 240GB SSD for the first Drive with 1TB in the 2nd or give myself more oomph with 500GB SSD in the 1st and 750GB in the 2nd - do I need two Drives ? And what about the M/Satas ?

 

[Stephen M]

I like two drives as it makes it cheaper, the SSD for boot up and quick loading of programmes and the HDD for storage. A m.2 drive will free up space for a second HDD if you need it, although I tend to go with about 1TB total on the laptop and keep a few USB drives for back up and extra storage.

 

[PeterW]

I like two drives as it makes it cheaper, the SSD for boot up and quick loading of programmes and the HDD for storage. A m.2 drive will free up space for a second HDD if you need it, although I tend to go with about 1TB total on the laptop and keep a few USB drives for back up and extra storage.

I became disabled in 2011 after an operation on my spine failed to cure my problem - luckily for me I was offered voluntary redundancy and with part of the money I treated myself to a digital camera [ a Nikon D7000 ] having not had a proper hobby in years , eventually I had to buy an external hard drive to store my photographs . They're very handy and quite inexpensive , I have a 2TB Seagate which I recommend .
I'll probably invest in another soon .

 

[Stephen M]

I really like Seagate USB drives, have never had any problems with them and they are good value. I have a couple of 2TB drives which require a power source, they are fine for my back up and cheaper than the USB powered, although have a 2TB USB powered for use when I am travelling. Music has been a passion of mine for years and after copying all my CDs and my old vinyl, although not finished that yet, I am closing in on 2TB of music.
Sorry to hear of your problems, I can empathise to an extent, as a result of my haemophilia I use a crutch, sometimes two, to get around.

 

[PeterW]

I really like Seagate USB drives, have never had any problems with them and they are good value. I have a couple of 2TB drives which require a power source, they are fine for my back up and cheaper than the USB powered, although have a 2TB USB powered for use when I am travelling. Music has been a passion of mine for years and after copying all my CDs and my old vinyl, although not finished that yet, I am closing in on 2TB of music.
Sorry to hear of your problems, I can empathise to an extent, as a result of my haemophilia I use a crutch, sometimes two, to get around.

It started in 2003 , everything had been fine up till then - I had had a couple of physical jobs in the past and I was a Gardener at the time - anyway it was only a roundabout way of telling you how I could afford to pay £1200 for a camera [ damn things are £500 or less now ! ] - it was hard to accept at the time but now I'm quite happy - we could have races as I have to use two sticks for walking but can only go very short distances without having to sit down , like I say I'm used to it now . I contracted sepsis in 2012 , my sole kidney and lungs packed up at our local hospital , I was flown to Paisley and was on a Life Support Machine and hooked up to a dialysis machine for 11 days - at one point I died , my Wife was told I'd passed away and in the same conversation the ICU Nurse told her ' He's back with us ! ' - my heart stopped for quite a few minutes [ long enough for the Nurse to think I was dead ! ] - the Doctors were convinced I would die or if I lived suffer from brain damage - well , neither of those things happened I'm pleased to report - I was in hospital for 3 months and it took me around 9 months to completely recover / learn to walk again .
OK , no more drama I promise !
Haemophilia must be a difficult condition to live with , Stephen - are there various degrees of the condition or if you cut yourself you carry on bleeding ?
My skin has thinned after over use of betnovate for eczema - I had chronic eczema and asthma all my Life [ well the eczema eased up when I gave up alcohol completely ] - I'm forever cutting myself nowadays , in fact I broke my skin yesterday while cutting some invasive vegetation - you must have to be so careful - is there medication available these days ?
Ah well , now you know my Life Story !!
My current laptop is a Lenovo T410 , 8GB , 1TB , it has a 14" screen , I bought it refurbished , to be fair it's not too bad but like cameras we're always looking for something better !

 

[PeterW]

How big do USB Drives go to then ?

 

[PeterW]

Does anyone have any experience of the Serial Ata 11 drives especially the 2TB version ?
Would it be worth adding as Hard Drive 2 on the Optimus V11 ?

 

[Stephen M]

4TB is about the biggest standard drive, although a 16TB has been produced but I dread to think how much that will cost.
The haemophilia is quite manageable these days, I inject Factor VIII every other day. Yes, there are degrees, depending on how much, or little, Factor VIII you have, I am classified severe with <1% but it is no longer a big problem for me. Glad you are getting on OK now that sounds a very rough number of years you had.

 

[PeterW]

I'm fine now apart from the walking problem - apologies for the long rant , I get carried away sometimes .

It's great that you are able to cope with your condition - I best change the subject before folk mistake this for a Medical Forum !

 

[PeterW]

Stephen - do you know who manufactures the 2TB Serial ATA 11 hard drive which is an option on the Optimus V11 17.3" laptop ?
I've tried looking for reviews etc and I've tried looking if it exists to purchase again without any luck .

 

[Stephen M]

Not sure about that drive, you would need to check with PCS.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Stephen - do you know who manufactures the 2TB Serial ATA 11 hard drive which is an option on the Optimus V11 17.3" laptop ?
I've tried looking for reviews etc and I've tried looking if it exists to purchase again without any luck .

I believe they're Seagates.

 

[PeterW]

I believe they're Seagates.

So quite good then ?

I'm torn between the Optimus and the Defiance 17.3" , the only drawback in the former is the 960M but there again my main interest is Photography - the machine would have to handle Lightroom 6 and possibly Adobe CS6 .
I want the best I can afford , something that will last 5-6 years .

 

[n1ghtwish]

Unless you need a lot of internal storage for some reason, then I would not bother with a 2TB internal drive on a laptop. I don't personally rate Seagate, I'd rather have a Western Digital drive.

Your best bet in my opinion is: SSD for O/S and essential applications. Probably in the M2 slot. Recommend a minimum of 240GB.
Storage drive if required, best bang for buck looks like the 750GB WD black to me, it's not much more than the 500GB version, and it will be quicker than the 1TB Blue.

If you need to store a lot of stuff and you aren't mobile with it too much, consider a NAS for holding volume data. I have had two Synology ones and I can recommend them on a personal level. I currently have an 8 Bay beast sat in my cupboard. DS1815+

I have the Optimus VII, which I "reviewed" here (if you can call it a review lol!). https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?45323-Optimus-VII-17-3-quot

Still early days, but for the price I paid, which was a bit over £700 without O/S, the laptop does have a premium feel. Downside as you say is that the 960 is not a gaming beast, but for light gaming it will be fine. Wouldn't expect it to run Witcher 3 though unless I was just playing Gwent or something.

 

[Stephen M]

I like the Seagate external drives, have a few but stick with WD Black for internal HDDs and will do unless I see good reports of any new drives. I have only seen one person on these fora run down WD and as he claimed a 5900rpm drive was faster than a 7200rpm I decided to ignore it.

I agree about not bothering with the 2TB on a laptop, unless really needed I would utilise it in a docking bay as a back up drive. Luckily my Octane can take two HDDs, so will be going for a 2xWD Black and m2 set up.

 

[PeterW]

Thanks for adding your review of the Optimus V11 , N1ghtwish , very kind of you - that backlight bleed ? you talk about , would it affect the printing of a photograph directly from the laptop ?
Should I be worried about this heating thing , I've had my old T410 on since 6am this morning and it doesn't heat up at all ?

 

[Braden031]

There are some reviews of it on the configure the Defiance page. I think the Octane looks more sturdy because of its size, the Defiance is 3.2kg with battery, the Octane 3.9kg. I think it a difficult comparison as the Octane is a strange beast, a desktop replacement rather than a normal laptop. One review mentions the lid being a bit wobbly but goes on to state the rest of the machine is solid. There are very few online reviews at the moment, hopefully more will appear. Another way to search or reviews is with this: Clevo P670RA, at the moment noe but that should change.

 

[PeterW]

Thanks , Stephen , thanks Braden - it's tiring work choosing a laptop !

 

[PeterW]

There are some reviews of it on the configure the Defiance page. I think the Octane looks more sturdy because of its size, the Defiance is 3.2kg with battery, the Octane 3.9kg. I think it a difficult comparison as the Octane is a strange beast, a desktop replacement rather than a normal laptop. One review mentions the lid being a bit wobbly but goes on to state the rest of the machine is solid. There are very few online reviews at the moment, hopefully more will appear. Another way to search or reviews is with this: Clevo P670RA, at the moment noe but that should change.
If you want to know the Clevo chassis of other, try this: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptops/clevo-laptops/40/

Dear Stephen ,
Sincere apologies , Sir - I only just noticed your link to the ' Clevo chassis ' link - Do PC Specialist still sell these Clevo laptops then ? - whenever I look for the top specced laptops I am directed to the Optimus , Defiance , Octane and Vortex series .

 

[Stephen M]

No worries, try this page: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptops/clevo-laptops/40/ It is another version of the laptop page but instead of the PCS names gives the Clevo chassis numbers.