So it's been just over two weeks since I took delivery on my new megabeast and thought it was about time I gave a little feedback on my experience so far...
Final Spec
Chassis & Display Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
1st Hard 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY 4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Ordering
Overall the process was brilliant from start to finish. I spoke to PCS sales team on the phone and live chat and they were always very helpful. Ordering the unit was a breeze and amending/updating the specifications post order couldn't have been simpler. Payment seemed secure and processed swiftly without any problems. Once I'd finally settled on the spec and left the guys to work their magic I was impressed with the regular updates I received with the progress and even surprised how quickly it sped through the various stages. From other posts I think it's fair to say I was quite lucky with speed that my order was processed - 7 days from processing to dispatch
Delivery came next day with DPD who were even kind enough to text me with a delivery window. I had a slight heart attack when I saw the delivery guy take my (rather large) box off of the van as there was a rather distinct puncture hole in the side. Luckily everything was fine and there was no damage whatsoever. She was packed beautifully, double boxed with foam pads holding everything in place and all the relevant bits where you would expect.
Design & Build
At the very least she's a tank but the overall design of the Vortex III is rather nice. The back-lit keyboard is a great invention and overall pretty easy to navigate and work with. I'm just about used to the smaller enter key but the odd # does make an appearance now and again. Until today I couldn't work out if there was a intermittent fault or if I kept catching the trackpad with the edge of my palms but after discovering the Fn+F1 shortcut I can say it's definitely a user error
Display
Stunning, vibrant and crisp. Colours jump out at you and Blu-Rays take it a step further with the detail. I do wonder what the upgraded screen would be like but I'm more than happy (and £100 better off!) with what I chose.
Performance
From the initial boot I've been impressed with it's speed and ability to handle everything I throw at it. Booting from the SSD is delightful and typically varies between 18 - 21 seconds. At first it was a little slower than expected but perhaps I was just expecting a little too much from her. Gaming is a sheer pleasure (although I've only racked up about twenty hours total so far), Bioshock Infinite looks stunning and doesn't ever miss a beat (1080p & ultra) and SC2 is a joy to behold and I've even re-watched some of the cut scenes as they look so good. Hitman hasn't seen much action yet although after a quick attempt at the initial mission/tutorial it's a little jumpy with everything maxed out.
Overall
Extremely happy with the purchase and the whole experience with PCS. My only regret is having so little time to put her to good use over the last few weeks. The PC Games thread isn't helping with the guilt as I've got plenty to keep me going for the next few months but I can't help just wanting to add more!
I'm just updating the Nvidia drivers at the moment so I'll see if they over the quoted improvements (not that I'll really notice them) and if I get the time I'll try and get some screenshots posted along with some average frame rates for Bioshock etc over the weekend.
Anyway, Big thumbs up from a very happy customer!
Final Spec
Chassis & Display Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
1st Hard 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY 4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Ordering
Overall the process was brilliant from start to finish. I spoke to PCS sales team on the phone and live chat and they were always very helpful. Ordering the unit was a breeze and amending/updating the specifications post order couldn't have been simpler. Payment seemed secure and processed swiftly without any problems. Once I'd finally settled on the spec and left the guys to work their magic I was impressed with the regular updates I received with the progress and even surprised how quickly it sped through the various stages. From other posts I think it's fair to say I was quite lucky with speed that my order was processed - 7 days from processing to dispatch
Delivery came next day with DPD who were even kind enough to text me with a delivery window. I had a slight heart attack when I saw the delivery guy take my (rather large) box off of the van as there was a rather distinct puncture hole in the side. Luckily everything was fine and there was no damage whatsoever. She was packed beautifully, double boxed with foam pads holding everything in place and all the relevant bits where you would expect.
Design & Build
At the very least she's a tank but the overall design of the Vortex III is rather nice. The back-lit keyboard is a great invention and overall pretty easy to navigate and work with. I'm just about used to the smaller enter key but the odd # does make an appearance now and again. Until today I couldn't work out if there was a intermittent fault or if I kept catching the trackpad with the edge of my palms but after discovering the Fn+F1 shortcut I can say it's definitely a user error
Display
Stunning, vibrant and crisp. Colours jump out at you and Blu-Rays take it a step further with the detail. I do wonder what the upgraded screen would be like but I'm more than happy (and £100 better off!) with what I chose.
Performance
From the initial boot I've been impressed with it's speed and ability to handle everything I throw at it. Booting from the SSD is delightful and typically varies between 18 - 21 seconds. At first it was a little slower than expected but perhaps I was just expecting a little too much from her. Gaming is a sheer pleasure (although I've only racked up about twenty hours total so far), Bioshock Infinite looks stunning and doesn't ever miss a beat (1080p & ultra) and SC2 is a joy to behold and I've even re-watched some of the cut scenes as they look so good. Hitman hasn't seen much action yet although after a quick attempt at the initial mission/tutorial it's a little jumpy with everything maxed out.
Overall
Extremely happy with the purchase and the whole experience with PCS. My only regret is having so little time to put her to good use over the last few weeks. The PC Games thread isn't helping with the guilt as I've got plenty to keep me going for the next few months but I can't help just wanting to add more!
I'm just updating the Nvidia drivers at the moment so I'll see if they over the quoted improvements (not that I'll really notice them) and if I get the time I'll try and get some screenshots posted along with some average frame rates for Bioshock etc over the weekend.
Anyway, Big thumbs up from a very happy customer!
