Vortex 3, one year (and a bit) on.

[HonestFlames]

I bought my Vortex 3 a little over a year ago and it's been used almost daily since then. PCS were good enough to send me a reminder email, asking me how I was getting on with it.

I'm getting on just fine!

Not really had many issues with it, but I'll list some of the negatives here:

1. The sound is dreadful.
a) The speakers are pitifully weak and tinny. The right-hand one has 'blown' - rattles like buggery if I put the volume anywhere above 30%.
b) The audio output from the headphone jack is devoid of all bass. I've had to purchase a FiiO external DAC to get decent playback from my laptop.

2. The screen has quite severe sensitivity to vertical viewing angle. Really messes up the contrast of the image.

3. I was running the laptop through HDMI for an extended period just a week ago. Despite the lid being closed and the backlight being off, Windows' taskbar caused 'screen burn' on the internal display. This resolved itself after some use, but was quite worrying at the time.

4. Some small connectivity issues using the 802.11ac networking, especially after resume from sleep. It wouldn't drop signal, but throughput would be poor until I switched to 802.11n and back again to 802.11ac. I put this down to compatibility with my router (Netgear).

5. The keyboard is missing the Windows secondary menu key. 'home' and 'end' are relegated to a secondary function (really, this is the worst for a coder!). There is 'ghosting' when playing games.

6. The PSU socket/plug is really crap. The plug falls out at every opportunity.


Now the positives: -

I ordered my laptop with minimal RAM and HD. I upgraded these myself much more cost effectively than speccing higher through PCS. 2x4GB RAM and two OCZ Vertex SSD's plus a Seagate Momentus 750GB hybrid drive ensure things really fly when I need them to. This is a laptop for serious work and serious play.

Everything still works, which is something I cannot say of my previous Dell XPS M1730 when it was a year old.

The screen, despite vertical viewing limitations, is absolutely brilliant compared to my Dell. I chose the AUO matte screen and I'm extremely glad I did so. Reflections are minimal, yet colours still 'pop' and contrast is very good indeed.

Fan noise is fairly inconspicuous. Heat production is more than tolerable.

It's light. Nearly half the weight of my old Dell.


It also still feels fast, despite that it's only an Ivy Bridge 2.7GHz part. The GTX680m keeps games running very nicely. I can play all the games from the latest Steam summer sale with no problems at all. Even Crysis 2 from the last Humble Bundle runs acceptably well with everything turned up to maximum quality.


I'm very happy with PCS. Their order process, delivery time and quality of product are absolutely top-notch. I was going to buy Alienware but when I'd finished speccing one of those up and realised how much it would be, I thought there must be a better way. Thankfully, I found PCS and specced up almost the same machine for £1800 (the Alienware was closer to £4K!). I know I listed some negatives, but they are issues that I can absolutely live with, considering how good the overall quality and performance is.

I've recommended PCS to quite a few people since my original purchase. Long may they stay in business. My next laptop purchase will definitely be with PCS!

 

[rickne]

Good post. Im a year in myself and inspires me to do as you have, however you may find alot of it strikingly similar. The speakers ARE indeed shocking but then thats something I think is well known about Clevos. Msi win the race on sound quality.
The "BASE" buzzes like a hive of angry bees with some music. I counter it usually with external speakers or headset with an ASUS Xonar usb sound card.

I have the AUO screen which is faultless ...almost , Ive had a replacement because of a dead pixel. The replacement had the same but was in a less intrusive place. Decided to grin and bare it despite having a years DPG.

The Network card has been a niggly pain in the butt from get go. Different Intel drivers work better for some routers rather than others. I find myself lately rolling back and forth depending where Im based and on the connection used. Its the Ultimate-n 6300 card. Shame Killer wasn't an option when I got mine.

Keyboard...yep pretty nasty but I've gotten used to it. My old Alienware layout was far superior. It wasnt all squished like the clevo. The spongy plastic deckchair keys are a pain too at times . My A key is in need of a good cleaning.

Pro's are what I purchased it for and these are all performance related. My 680m chip is outstanding and I still have little problems with all the latest games. I think the only game Ive had to tone things down on are Battlefield 3 and tomb Raider 3. BF3 while itll play on Ultra . For someone who enjoys 64 player conquest maps the fps just wont do at 30-40. Very high at 60 is still outstanding. Tombraider has optimisation issue from the get go so im not disapointed too much. It played on medium just fine. This may be better now but Ive not tested as I played it way back on release.
I can get almost 60fps on Arma 3 on very high in multiplayer so Im all set for a while yet. Will see how the 680 copes with next gen. I expect it to hang in there for a couple more years.

 

[mdwh]

I get annoyed by the power lead dropping out too.

I also dislike some of the insensivity of keys near the middle of the keyboard - I've mostly got used to it, but I often have to retype certain letters.

But performance is excellent, and noise/heat seem not an issue.

 

[rickne]

I get annoyed by the power lead dropping out too.

I also dislike some of the insensivity of keys near the middle of the keyboard - I've mostly got used to it, but I often have to retype certain letters.

But performance is excellent, and noise/heat seem not an issue.

Missing keystrokes ..another signature Clevo trait im afraid.

 

[westerdaled]

Hi

I have had the Vortex III for for about a year for my IT work: I7 ( 2.4Ghz) ,32GB for RAM , 250GB Hyper-X Kingston SSD and the 750GB Hybrid disk ( I think it is the SCORPIO) .

My only niggles are the the power lead that can often fall out if you have the laptop on lap and also the noisy fan. I am trying to investigate the latter with support and look a the memory leaking IAStoreDataSvc ( in Task Manager) as well as any updates to firmware. I wonder if others have had a similar issue.