New Laptop Purchase

[micada329]

I would be grateful for any advice and comments with regard to this proposed laptop purchase.

The spec is a preliminary one , as our old Fortune Technologies(clevo) Laptop has finally expired.
(we were very happy with it btw).

I am new to PCspecialist and would welcome any help that people can offer please.
Thank you

Spec follows :
Chassis & Display
Vortex Series:17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2860QM (2.50GHz) 8MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 2GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BC-5550H 4x BLURAY COMBO DRIVE & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£59)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ HD-Audiophile-Grade Sound External (£79)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N NETWORK CARD
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 32 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Carry Case
TARGUS XL CITY GEAR 16" - 17.3" LAPTOP CASE TCG417 (£43)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,930.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Finn]

Whats the intended usage of the laptop? Thats a pretty high end (and expensive) CPU, personally I'd drop the CPU down a level and go up to 8gb of memory and still save quite a few quid.

 

[micada329]

Thank you Finn

It is for business use but I also do quite a bit of gaming and content design.

Autocad, Maya, Daz 3d, Blender, Zbrush etc

It has been sometime since I ordered a new Laptop and things have moved on a lot, so any advice is very much appreciated.
ty

 

[Finn]

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series:17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2760QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BC-5550H 4x BLURAY COMBO DRIVE & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£59)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ULTIMATE-N 6300 (450Mbps)
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Carry Case
TARGUS XL CITY GEAR 16" - 17.3" LAPTOP CASE TCG417 (£43)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,838.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/vortexIII-17/

I skipped the external audio, as unless you have a good reason you wont need it (these laptops have optical out so you can still get 5.1 output). Since the apps you listed can be fairly memory hungry I'd have thought you would be better with more memory rather than faster memory and with the money you save you can get an SSD in there, faster startup times = less wasted time. The 17" has 2 drive bays + optical so feel free to play with the options there.

 

[micada329]

Thank you Finn

Can I also ask,
I have been running XP for years and love it to be honest.

I dreaded the day I had to upgrade to Win 7.

I would happily stay on XP, if it wasn't for the future lack of support.

Do you think the choice of OS above is the correct one ?

thank you

 

[Finn]

There is a comparison chart here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare as to the different versions.

I personally love windows 7, but I didnt find vista *that* objectionable, however dont get me started on Windows 8... XP looks quite dated to me now but I do like my eye candy!

Since I assume your going to be running it on a corporate network (domain) you will probably want professional over home edition. The main thing ultimate adds is bitlocker I think and if you wanted full drive level encryption then you could download truecrypt for that for free. I run pro both at home and at work so I cant say if you could get away with home edition or not since I havent actually used it.

 

[micada329]

Thank you again Finn

I'll follow your advice.

Take care and thank you for your time.

 

[micada329]

Finn (or anyone else who would like to answer)

can I ask why you have chosen to have two hard drives please ?

Thank you

 

[marvir]

Generally the first hard drive is an SSD, which is expensive, but very fast, so you generally only install your OS and programs on it to get the most out of it, then all your data will be kept on the 2nd HDD.

 

[Finn]

Generally the first hard drive is an SSD, which is expensive, but very fast, so you generally only install your OS and programs on it to get the most out of it, then all your data will be kept on the 2nd HDD.

Exactly, SSD (Solid State Drives) are blindingly quick but small, so you just have windows and your most used programs on there and the laptop boots up and loads up those programs much much faster than normal. Then everything else goes on a conventional hard drive.

Your original spec had a hybrid hard drive which is the same in a single drive, but only had 8 gig or 16 gig (if I remember right) of SSD bit + 750gb of magnetic bit, and it tries to work out automatically what is best to store in the fast bit so basically it only speeds things up if you regularly run them. the SSD has 120 gig so will be able to hold windows and all of the apps you listed at once. In fact since your system drive is so quick and you need the space you could even swap the 750gb fast drive for a slower 1tb drive and not really feel the speed difference since its only your data. there are also larger SSD's if your willing to pay more money

 

[micada329]

Would like to thank you for your quick and very informative advice.
This is exactly why forums like this are so beneficial.

Thank you again tc

 

[micada329]

This is the final spec before I place the order .
I would appreciate any comments please , including any previous experience of PCSpecialist as I have no experience of this company.

Finn, hope you don't mind me asking but are you part of this company ?
Thank you for your help.

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series:17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2760QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BC-5550H 4x BLURAY COMBO DRIVE & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£59)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ULTIMATE-N 6300 (450Mbps)
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Carry Case
TARGUS XL CITY GEAR 16" - 17.3" LAPTOP CASE TCG417 (£43)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

 

[Rakk]

I would appreciate any comments please , including any previous experience of PCSpecialist as I have no experience of this company.

Well I'm on my second PCS pc, first one was bought in 2007 (ish), second one in 2010, and I've got a few extra bits and pieces from them as well (new hard drive and new monitor) seperate from the main orders. I've never had any problems (and from what I have seen and read on the forums over the past couple of years), and anything that does go wrong (as things inevitably do) is sorted quickly and helpful in the vast majority of cases, so I'm happy. And no, even though I am a moderator, I do not work for them, but have met a few of them at some LAN's

Finn, hope you don't mind me asking but are you part of this company ?

Only people marked as Admins work for PCS as far as I'm aware.

 

[micada329]

Thank you Rakk

Much appreciated.
Would appreciate any last comments with regard to the spec, as I am about to order .
tc

 

[Finn]

Nope, I'm just bored waiting for my vortex 3 to get out of building! I had never dealt with them before either.

 

[micada329]

Thank you Finn , hope you can post pics and information when it arrives.
Posting my order now tc

 

[Raptor]

Why... wouldn't you just buy a desktop? seeing as laptops have a shorter sustainability in the market than computers.. and are much weaker

 

[Finn]

Why... wouldn't you just buy a desktop? seeing as laptops have a shorter sustainability in the market than computers.. and are much weaker

I have a desktop and a current (old) gaming laptop, I actually have games sitting unplayed because I cant be bothered sitting in the corner of the room at the computer, I prefer to be on the laptop on the sofa, able to play but still look up and watch tv, respond to the mrs etc. I find it a lot more comfortable. It also means I can play games when commuting on the train, or at lunchtime at work

 

[micada329]

Raptor

I understand about desktops having more sustainability but I do the same as Finn , although I doubt I'll be carrying this one around much, given the weight !!!

Ideally, I would have a desktop and a smaller , portable laptop but I think it would end up costing me more.

I have now placed the order and will keep everyone updated with regard to progress, delivery, etc etc.

ty

 

[Daymos]

Your spec is actually identical to mine barrin your MS office options and ive not opted for an extra keyboard or mouse.

I see your HD is the 750mb 7200rpm and im actually wondering if it would be wastfull to have my 2nd drive as a hybrid or just get a normal 1tb drive.

Enjoy yours when it arrives