Vortex III - Would anyone care to check over the spec...

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Stuk71

Member
Hi, looks like a great forum for information, tips and advice. Looking forward to making my first purchase with PC Specialist. Have been reading up on various components and interested in a Vortex III laptop, would be great to hear from some of you.

- 42 years old, not practical to have a powerful desktop anymore, life gets in the way...
- enjoy getting into a game preferring them to look good and work flawlessly (battlefield, Crysis, simcity, anno 2070)
- bluray player a big +
- budget £1200

Thanks in advance :)


Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB

8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675MX - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

20GB INTEL® 313 mSATA SSD - SLC CACHE DRIVE- SPEED UP HDD

4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE

ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack

GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH


NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)


Price: £1,145.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
Toxophilix

Toxophilix

Bright Spark
How about this:

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 SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675MX - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 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)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
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
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Intel Anti-Theft Technology
FREE 90 Day Intel Anti-Theft Trial - Prevent Data Access upon Theft
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,187.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/vortexIII-17/Ly6rD_eay4/

Changes are a 120 GB SSD in place of the mSATA plus a better and bigger HDD. Imo this is better value. You put everything really speed-sensitive on the SSD - ie the OS and a few favourite games (especially ones that read from disk frequently) and have a very respectable HDD as back-up. Sure, the HDD doesn't have an mSATA cache but most of the time you're using the SSD anyway. On the other hand, if you wanted to speed up the regular HDD accesses then you could switch the WD Scorpio for the Seagate Momentus, which has a built-in 8GB solid-state cache. That comes to £1216 though.

One other thing to consider might be the 7970M graphics card. It has better performance than the GTX-675MX but has been plagued by driver problems. However, there has been a new release of the drivers recently which is said to have resolved things. Obviously you'd want to confirm that though. There's a stickied thread in the laptop support forum about it - https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?22603-HD-7970M-Status-January-2013 - [ Edit: reading that thread again, you might conclude that it's hassle you don't want with a new high-end PC, and the GTX-675MX is itself an excellent GPU, so I might stick with it ]
 
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Stuk71

Member
Thank you very much for your advice there, and sounds good too. I have never really taken to Radion... driver issues being one of them. Although the 7970m is meant to be a beast and hot too, but I do like the sound of 675mx and the new Kepler Achitecture. More storage should never be sniffed at and I like your choice of SSD main and HDD secondary... I had not heard of SSD as cache and liked the sound of it but then in your config can keep the whole OS on SSD which can only be a good thing.

Checked out the seagate momentus... I make it all coming in at £1196... This all sounds great and saved ready to make the oreder. Thanks again for looking over it all.


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 SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675MX - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
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® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,196.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
B

BobbySixKiller

Bronze Level Poster
Looks good, though I think the 7970 is worth the extra £34 it costs as performance wise it's catching up with the 680 and it appears most of the driver issues have been resolved, maybe swap the Samsung ram for Kingston. Other than that it's pretty much the same as my order
 
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darsmi

Bronze Level Poster
Nice spec stuk71........Ive just ordered a new gaming laptop from PCS(posted in forum).....and im similar in age (43) and like you i dont want a desktop as with kids around it would just get abused and ruined. I also wanted something that i can play high spec games at maximum details with no probs ( for a good few years to come) !!! People always say "you can get a desktop as good as the laptop ive ordered...for half the price" But for some people a desktop is just not feasible. Thats why i want a laptop !!
Have you got yours yet??? If so, whats it like....how does it perform etc??? Keep us updated.

All the best
 
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Stuk71

Member
Hey darsmi

I made the order first thing this morning after Toxophilix made a couple of recommendations. (Trying to curtail my excitement in public, almost 42 and all that...) Had a look at your setup and it looks like a beast. I much prefer to have a laptop now... When I was younger having a big desktop with great monitor always connected to speakers was great but is now not practical. I did a self build on a multimedia unit for the lounge a few years back, but could never get on it as it was attached to the main TV in house. Got myself an ipad last year, great portability for surfing, email etc and controlling music through Apple TV but miss getting my teeth into a good game. We will both 'probably' get out laptops at the same time. I guess it depends if there is a wait for any stock etc.

I have now amended my order to include a years worth of pixel death insurance
 
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Toxophilix

Toxophilix

Bright Spark
I think desktops vs laptops is like the joke about the fox and the hedgehog: "The fox knows many tricks, the hedgehog only one. One good one."

A desktop is better than a laptop in almost every possible way, but there comes a time when the laptop's one good trick is what you need and in that situation the laptop that you can use is infinitely better than the notionally superior desktop that you can't.
 
D

darsmi

Bronze Level Poster
Hi again Stuk71....

Im the same....much prefer a lappy these days.....I have a much better chance of keeping the kids off my lappy than i would any desktop, as they tend to be "for the whole family type things".
Also, i will set up so many passwords etc for this lappy.....it will be like trying to hack into NASA by the time im finished with it LOL.
Plus i just got paid a big lump of compensation for a accident i had 3 yrs ago.....so i was lucky enough to be able to spend quite a bit more that i would of normally done. And like i said, im hoping it will last me for a while, as i dont plan on replacing it for at least 4-5 yrs.
Gotta say though......i did get a massive ear ache from the missus for spending that much lol.......She wants to buy silly things like curtains and a new cooker etc etc lol.
Did you do the fast track option?? Cos i bought the 3 day dispatch, so im hoping to get it by Wednesday or Thursday.....and even thats too long :)

Stuk71 said:
Hey darsmi

I made the order first thing this morning after Toxophilix made a couple of recommendations. (Trying to curtail my excitement in public, almost 42 and all that...) Had a look at your setup and it looks like a beast. I much prefer to have a laptop now... When I was younger having a big desktop with great monitor always connected to speakers was great but is now not practical. I did a self build on a multimedia unit for the lounge a few years back, but could never get on it as it was attached to the main TV in house. Got myself an ipad last year, great portability for surfing, email etc and controlling music through Apple TV but miss getting my teeth into a good game. We will both 'probably' get out laptops at the same time. I guess it depends if there is a wait for any stock etc.

I have now amended my order to include a years worth of pixel death insurance
Click to expand...
 
S

Stuk71

Member
I admit I told a little bit of a fib when i was asked how much it was...

Did not take the fast track option though. Will be selling my Dell XPS first anyway, did a back up of all my important files this morning ready to reset it back to factory settings so, all starting to feel very real now.
 
D

darsmi

Bronze Level Poster
Stuk71 said:
I admit I told a little bit of a fib when i was asked how much it was...

Did not take the fast track option though. Will be selling my Dell XPS first anyway, did a back up of all my important files this morning ready to reset it back to factory settings so, all starting to feel very real now.
Click to expand...

Haha....I love it how we all tell the little white lies to the other half....I actually told her it was £2000......i accidently forgot to mention the other £300....Ooooops :)
 
S

Stuk71

Member
Lol.. Yes, I have been confronted with "oh it's ok for you to buy a £1000 computer" all day long. And I'm thinking a £1000?... and the rest :)

But on the other hand, I think I will now think about getting that sofa and chair that we have been looking at... That should hopefully give me a break to get some serious game time in.
 
D

darsmi

Bronze Level Poster
Stuk71 said:
Lol.. Yes, I have been confronted with "oh it's ok for you to buy a £1000 computer" all day long. And I'm thinking a £1000?... and the rest :)

But on the other hand, I think I will now think about getting that sofa and chair that we have been looking at... That should hopefully give me a break to get some serious game time in.
Click to expand...

Lol....."and the rest". Funny. I know where you're coming from. Having said that...that sofa or chair will come in really handy when you're gaming :)

Btw.....does anyone know how I change my user name ?? It gave me darsmi for some stupid reason.
 
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RS2OOO

RS2OOO

Gold Level Poster
Stuk71 said:
I admit I told a little bit of a fib when i was asked how much it was...
.
Click to expand...

Lol..... My plan was much more devious....

I bought it and she saw the price and was OK with it.

Then as soon as she was gone I upgraded almost everything!
 
P

Primavera

New member
Hi guys, I'm 44, currently on a Dell XPS and looking to get a Vortex 3. This thread is great, so many of us in the same boat. I've already given her a 1250 ballpark figure so we'll take it from there.

If I get any grief about the price of hardware I just remind her that I spent 2 grand on a Pentium desktop in 1995 so this is peanuts in comparison. That doesnt always help though, I suspect it makes her wonder why she got interested in me in the first place....
 
S

Stuk71

Member
After much deliberation (web surfing) I have decided to go amend my order to a Full HD Glossy screen... Everything I currently own, use and enjoy has a glossy screen. Personally love how colours pop and movies look etc, so felt to avoid buyer blues when it arrives stick to what I know I like
 
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