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Chassis & Display
Inferno Series: 11.6" Matte HD LED Widescreen (1366x768) |
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Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-3380M (2.90GHz) 3MB |
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Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB) |
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Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11 |
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Memory - Hard Disk
250GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD2500BEKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm) |
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Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo) |
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Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9) |
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Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack |
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Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH |
he textured rubber feel of the casing is very unique and prevents the laptop from slipping off surfaces or your lap. The smallish keys were fine to type on, even for my large hands. The Trackpad isn't brilliant, but I think it's more down to the included software. I'm sure I could probably find a third party solution to make the trackpad behave more like other notebooks.
Temperature-wise the machine will idle at the desktop at around 50c and reach a maximum of 80c (even when throttling is disabled). The machine doesn't have the cooling for the CPU to go into Turboboost mode, but that's to be expected. From all the tests I did the games were bottlenecked by the GPU and not the CPU.
Acoustics are silent when at the desktop, rising to a slight whisper when not on a flat surface or doing light work. During gaming the fan was no louder than my old desktop Nvidia GTX 560. I imagine quite a few people will use headphones, however the volume was loud enough to drown out the more than tolerable fan noise. Once gaming has finished the fans go all the way to silent again in under 15 seconds which is pretty remarkable.
Sound quality out of the box was average, however with some tweaking in the included THX utility I was able to get a much more acceptable sound. I put Surround to 40% (which basically just gives better stereo separation from the stereo speakers), and the "Speaker" setting (essentially bass as far as I could tell) to 90%. I turned off all other adjustments.
The screen is excellent. I much prefer the ever so slight "dusty" look you get with a matte screen compared to mass reflections on a glossy screen. The only minor point I will say is that out of the box the colours were rather dull and the gamma was a touch too high. I simply changed the Saturation to +10 and Gamma to 0.9 and the image was much more on par with my usual 24" gaming monitor. There was no input lag or ghosting.
Performance was fantastic for such a small and light device. I used Nvidia Inspector to force Adaptive Vsync since for some reason it's missing in the Nvidia control panel for the mobile 6xx series.
In Borderlands 2 with most settings on maximum I was getting highs of 60 and lows of 30 during intense firefights. I'd say at an average I get around 45fps. This is still much more than the consoles and looks much nicer.
Diablo 3 was always 60fps, never dropping.
Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed was always 60fps, never dropping.
Sadly I don't have a great camera, so I'll simply just include these photos that I think show how nice the build and screen are. This was taken in typical home lighting. Any glaring, over saturation and colour bleeding will be due to my poor camera. The screen looks much nicer than this in person.
Temperature-wise the machine will idle at the desktop at around 50c and reach a maximum of 80c (even when throttling is disabled). The machine doesn't have the cooling for the CPU to go into Turboboost mode, but that's to be expected. From all the tests I did the games were bottlenecked by the GPU and not the CPU.
Acoustics are silent when at the desktop, rising to a slight whisper when not on a flat surface or doing light work. During gaming the fan was no louder than my old desktop Nvidia GTX 560. I imagine quite a few people will use headphones, however the volume was loud enough to drown out the more than tolerable fan noise. Once gaming has finished the fans go all the way to silent again in under 15 seconds which is pretty remarkable.
Sound quality out of the box was average, however with some tweaking in the included THX utility I was able to get a much more acceptable sound. I put Surround to 40% (which basically just gives better stereo separation from the stereo speakers), and the "Speaker" setting (essentially bass as far as I could tell) to 90%. I turned off all other adjustments.
The screen is excellent. I much prefer the ever so slight "dusty" look you get with a matte screen compared to mass reflections on a glossy screen. The only minor point I will say is that out of the box the colours were rather dull and the gamma was a touch too high. I simply changed the Saturation to +10 and Gamma to 0.9 and the image was much more on par with my usual 24" gaming monitor. There was no input lag or ghosting.
Performance was fantastic for such a small and light device. I used Nvidia Inspector to force Adaptive Vsync since for some reason it's missing in the Nvidia control panel for the mobile 6xx series.
In Borderlands 2 with most settings on maximum I was getting highs of 60 and lows of 30 during intense firefights. I'd say at an average I get around 45fps. This is still much more than the consoles and looks much nicer.
Diablo 3 was always 60fps, never dropping.
Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed was always 60fps, never dropping.
Sadly I don't have a great camera, so I'll simply just include these photos that I think show how nice the build and screen are. This was taken in typical home lighting. Any glaring, over saturation and colour bleeding will be due to my poor camera. The screen looks much nicer than this in person.
Laptop case
The case it self is far beyond what i was expecting, its beauty is quite understated and i think it is one of the nicest looking small gaming laptops.
The case is very sturdy with no flex in the main body and very little in the middle of the keyboard (nothing you notice in use unless you like to poke in between your keys when your bored)
All the buttons have a really nice feeling, firm and responsive juts the way i like them, although the keyboard is very cramped even for my tiny hands iam already getting used to it. I can not do my attempt at touch typing but you can still mange to get a good rate on it.
The track pad is not my favorite, actually i hate track pads completely but i had used better, its sensitive enough but every now and then it comes up with one of the multi touch options, i could be me accidentally touching it but either way it dose annoy me
I also happily found the button to disable the track pad (fn + F1 ) This is a small understated feature that should be on every laptop and is implemented well.
Some of the other quick buttons are not as good i feel. The brightness and volume keys show no indication of the level unless you are on the desktop. Also i find that the brightness buttons work to quickly from low to high to be used that often.
The screen is sharp and pleasant to look at. The panel itself is very sturdy and although i would not do it, it could be picked up by the screen with out damaging it. Also the hinges are of fantastic quality and they look and feel sturdy.
Currently i have a white patch just left of center screen when the screen is showing black (windows loading screen, game loading screens, dark movies) Iam unsure of the cause but i will be getting i touch with customer service shortly to look into this.
All in all the case is 10/10, the screen is 9/10 due to the white patch.
Cooling
This laptop is fine desktop and media use on the lap with out to much heat, while gaming a mat or tray is needed, you could probably have it your lap, it dose not burn but the hot air coming out the exhaust vent is enough to tell you it dose not need the heat from your lap or extra effort required to pull cool air in. As long as the fan is not blocked i have no concerns about the heating, it preforms as well as the likes of alien ware but it also dose it quieter! I hate alien ware!
Performance
This laptop is quick in all respects, it boots fast, transfers files fast and the gaming i amazing for such a tiny laptop. ( i only wish i had put a SSD in)
I did a quick test using fraps to test it on Battlefield 3, if any one wants a specific game please ask, if i have it i will do it for you.
Battlefield 3
Campaign (fraps)
LOW HIGH AVERAGE
LOW 54 63 57
MEDIUM 41 62 54
HIGH 32 60 42
ULTRA 17 43 22
As seen this laptop will play on ultra, and except a couple of moments its actually playable. But you can just bump down to high and enjoy.
This is with v sync on and the normal screen res.
I will be updating this when i get a chance to put it onto a 1080p monitor to see how it handles it.
Other games again it handled really well and it is a joy to play.
Conclusion
All in all this laptop fulfilled all my expectations and stomped on any doubts i had.
I recommend this laptop not as a traveling laptop but as a gaming laptop!
I would rate this as 9/10 only because i feel with a ssd this laptop would have it all.
And just one more thank you you all the guys at PCS who have done an excellent job and provided a excellent service.
Also any other questions i will try to answer, and photos should be uploading!
The case it self is far beyond what i was expecting, its beauty is quite understated and i think it is one of the nicest looking small gaming laptops.
The case is very sturdy with no flex in the main body and very little in the middle of the keyboard (nothing you notice in use unless you like to poke in between your keys when your bored)
All the buttons have a really nice feeling, firm and responsive juts the way i like them, although the keyboard is very cramped even for my tiny hands iam already getting used to it. I can not do my attempt at touch typing but you can still mange to get a good rate on it.
The track pad is not my favorite, actually i hate track pads completely but i had used better, its sensitive enough but every now and then it comes up with one of the multi touch options, i could be me accidentally touching it but either way it dose annoy me
I also happily found the button to disable the track pad (fn + F1 ) This is a small understated feature that should be on every laptop and is implemented well.
Some of the other quick buttons are not as good i feel. The brightness and volume keys show no indication of the level unless you are on the desktop. Also i find that the brightness buttons work to quickly from low to high to be used that often.
The screen is sharp and pleasant to look at. The panel itself is very sturdy and although i would not do it, it could be picked up by the screen with out damaging it. Also the hinges are of fantastic quality and they look and feel sturdy.
Currently i have a white patch just left of center screen when the screen is showing black (windows loading screen, game loading screens, dark movies) Iam unsure of the cause but i will be getting i touch with customer service shortly to look into this.
All in all the case is 10/10, the screen is 9/10 due to the white patch.
Cooling
This laptop is fine desktop and media use on the lap with out to much heat, while gaming a mat or tray is needed, you could probably have it your lap, it dose not burn but the hot air coming out the exhaust vent is enough to tell you it dose not need the heat from your lap or extra effort required to pull cool air in. As long as the fan is not blocked i have no concerns about the heating, it preforms as well as the likes of alien ware but it also dose it quieter! I hate alien ware!
Performance
This laptop is quick in all respects, it boots fast, transfers files fast and the gaming i amazing for such a tiny laptop. ( i only wish i had put a SSD in)
I did a quick test using fraps to test it on Battlefield 3, if any one wants a specific game please ask, if i have it i will do it for you.
Battlefield 3
Campaign (fraps)
LOW HIGH AVERAGE
LOW 54 63 57
MEDIUM 41 62 54
HIGH 32 60 42
ULTRA 17 43 22
As seen this laptop will play on ultra, and except a couple of moments its actually playable. But you can just bump down to high and enjoy.
This is with v sync on and the normal screen res.
I will be updating this when i get a chance to put it onto a 1080p monitor to see how it handles it.
Other games again it handled really well and it is a joy to play.
Conclusion
All in all this laptop fulfilled all my expectations and stomped on any doubts i had.
I recommend this laptop not as a traveling laptop but as a gaming laptop!
I would rate this as 9/10 only because i feel with a ssd this laptop would have it all.
And just one more thank you you all the guys at PCS who have done an excellent job and provided a excellent service.
Also any other questions i will try to answer, and photos should be uploading!
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