PC Specialist Vortex IV X780 Gaming Notebook Review

Chris Hadley / 11 years ago

Final Thoughts

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When it comes to looking for a desktop replacement, there are not really that many laptops that pack very similar spec to their counterparts. As a result typically laptops always have the feel that they are lacking and this typically lies in the GPU department. Whilst there are a number of laptops out there such as the Dell XPS that I personally own that have NVIDIA graphics on-board, they’re not truly discrete and cannot be upgraded in the future. This is where systems such as the Vortex IV pull a strong lead – the list of components that PC Specialist have used here are not even right at the top of the list. Whilst this system is packing one mighty spec, there is still room for double the memory, bigger and faster SSDs, larger hard drives and even higher spec NICs to name but a few.

The spec we have here is by no means at all a slouch though. Looking across the benchmark results, this laptop is able to handle with ease whatever we had to throw at it and in the gaming benchmarks in particular, any user would be more than satisfied with the performance they would see in front of them.

Granted the SSD and CPU performance is not as high as one can achieve if they were to ‘max out’ the spec, but this is why the configuration pages are there. Some users will see the need to push the chassis to its limits and squeeze in every ounce of performance as they possibly can – regardless of the cost, whilst other customers may be more refined by sticking to a budget and getting the best balance of price vs. performance that they can.

When it comes down to the point of value for money, this is something that as mentioned above can be very subjective as due to the nature of the customisation system, there are countless numbers of different configurations that are one offer in this particular chassis, however using the spec as we have here, we will have to consider that a certain portion of the cost goes towards the customer service that you receive – as well as the product itself. When you take into account that you get a laptop that is built ground up based on your own personal specifications and then tested, followed by the service and after care from the technical team with a warranty that rivals other integrators, it soon stacks up that in some case it pays to pay that little bit more to get quality as well as performance. As it stands, this configuration from PC Specialist would set you back just over £1600 including VAT, however PC Specialist are offering a special review edition price, which will allow you buy one of these laptops with the exact same specification as I have had here for a fantastic price of £1449 inc VAT – that is a saving of just over £170. Please note that any deviation from the review spec will incur additional costs. Head over to this link where you can get one of these systems for the special offer price: ‘Review Edition’ Vortex IV X780m Gaming Laptop.

For a laptop to be as good as my desktop system, it really has to be something special and to be honest it has to offer nearly everything that my desktop does. With the ability to connect up to three external displays to the GTX 780m whilst harnessing the rest of the power that this chassis has the ability to hold, this system is very much worthy of our extreme performance award and I’d expect systems like this to start appearing at more and more LAN events such as the iSeries in the UK.

Pros

Well known system integrator
Top spec list of components
Fully customisable spec before purchase
Backlit keyboard
Discrete NVIDIA GTX780m graphics
Haswell CPU
3 Year Silver Warranty as standard
Great customer service
Ideal desktop gaming replacement for LANs

Cons

Not ideal for a day-to-day system to travel with

“The Vortex IV for PC Specialist has put a whirlwind of performance into the laptop market. With sleek looks, tons more room for performance and storage upgrades plus a customer service that is to rivalled with, this is one epic desktop replacement”