Clevo in the UK via reseller pcspecialist.co.uk?

Hi there.

Currently researching midrange workhorse laptops for heavy photo and video editing; Mostly photo editing (Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, After Effects).

I have heard several times about Clevo/Sager and they've definitely piqued my interest. I'm interested to hear several things. so:

1) Pc Specialist seems like the best reseller to go through in the UK. Anyone have any experience of them, what's their reputation like?

2) What are Clevo laptops builds like? The specs and cost seem pretty reasonable. I was interested in the Genesis IV, which with the inclusions of necessary upgrades (1080p auo matte screen, 16gb ram, core i5-3230m processor, 500gb scorpio black, nvidia geforce 635m, 300mbs wireless lan, silver warranty) comes to £767 which is a good chunk of cash, but for the specs seems good.

3) Do Clevo laptops overheat. Are they loud? I noticed on another model it offers custom heatsink paste, but not on this one.

4) What do the keyboards feel like. Is the trackpad any good?

5) How can I work out what the model number of an advertised laptop is (unless I'm missing something obvious I cannot see it anywhere)? Trying to match them up against the Clevo website to just dig out a bit more info.

6) Do you have any further thoughts on something I might have missed?

thanks

 

I've bought my Clevo from them (PCS Vortex II, predecessor of Vortex III) and can't say anything bad about them. They also have their own forums and feedback section where you can go to for clues, build suggestions etc. Only thing I can say about your build is that 16gb of ram seems an overkill compared to rest of the spec but on the other hand ram is dirt cheap nowadays.

 

thanks for your reply.

any thought on the quality of the keyboard/trackpad?

 

I also bought my vortex 3 (clevo 150em) and had no problem at all. Also know a few people that bought from them with no issues. I can only recomend them. The price was awesome, and I remember that when I ordered the 7970m they were one of the first that offered it and shipped. Plus they have 3 year waranty default , but dont know anything about how reliable they are If some problem accure. Luckilly my computer is working fine
About the keyboard, the build quality is perfect, no flex, I personally like it but there is some ghosting going on here and there, when you press multiple buttons together, but nothing terrible. I think that now they are shipping with a new Win 8 keyboard which has solved this issues. For me the trackpad is perfect- I came from a MSI GX660 and this is like night and day- its responsive, its multitouch and its working fine- thats all I need from it.

 

sorry to burst your bubble but read it closer.
standard 3 years is actually 1 month collect and return / 1 year parts / 3 years labour. so if anything goes wrong in 5 weeks you are already stumping up for courier charges.
and even if you pay for the top gold warranty it still only covers you for parts and courier for 2 years

very misleading.

 

Got Vortex 3 (170em+7970m) from PCS and I love it.

I haven't got the chance to test their RMA service (and I hope I will never do!) but CS and delivery was flawless and felt solid.
I would recommend them.

Btw I always pay extra for the best warranty possible and I've never regretted this = average AMD-GPU lifespan is 1 year, so go figure...

 

Has gone down after ATI was bought? My Mobility HD2400 and HD2600 are both still alive, it's only been nearly 5 years .

 

It has... gone down... yes.
There is still space for worst thou...

 

I'm currently waiting for two laptops ordered through them to be processed, my experience hasn't been that good. They're cheap, no denying that, but there are longer warranties out there (I paid extra for 2 years, but mysn offers 4 years), and my communications with CS have been kinda patchy, 5 emails sent and 3/5 have been responded to competently. Also they're pretty slow, my P150EM order took 12 days before I cancelled it (it hadn't entered manufacturing by then), my W550EU is either being built or has been built (website says building, email says built) after 9 days, and my P370EM is yet to start being built after 8 days. These are working days btw not just days.

I might've just been unlucky, we'll see.

 

I got a vortex 3 from them rapid delivery,laptop is solid and well built i would recomend them.

 

Hey, I got a Vortex III from PC Specialist back in June, and I bought an extra warranty as well (2 years collect & return and parts, 3 years labour). They've been pretty professional and helpful with my order and any problems since. For example I had a faulty keyboard, and my wireless card was acting up lately, so they brought me the new parts via courier - and also they were helpful when I wanted to update my bios.

Overall I haven't had any bad experience or trouble with them so far, so I'd personally recommend them.

 

thanks for all the replies. What I'm getting is a sense that they're a pretty decent reseller and that Clevo laptops are also pretty good.

 

One of the main selling points (at least for me) with clevos is the screens they come with. Auo v4 and it's glossy counterpart (and the 17" variants) are arguably amongst the best screens offered in laptops (especially compared to your everyday marketplace computers with their 15" 1366*768 cheap panels). Yes there is HPs IPS Dreamcolor and some others that might be even better but they tend to be an awful lot more expensive.

 

Wow, what had looked like a somewhat slow/bad experience has suddenly turned into a 10 day dispatch, just got the dispatch email for one of my systems and the other should come today. Ok I do recommend PC Specialist, they're just a bit variable when it comes to speed

 

it can vary for every single resseller on the planet. it just depends how many orders are in the queue at the time and if all parts are in stock.
10 days is roughly about average and thats how long mine took as well.
we are all like kids in a candy shop when it comes to ordering expensive equipment and as long as everything goes to plan we are happy but all it takes is a couple of days delay and all hell breaks lose (or so it seems with certain back posts on here).

congrats on your order.

 

It's better to wait a few days and have a machine go through proper testing than get one that was rushed and is not 100% working

 

ahmen to that Meaker

 

Just think how long shipping it back, having it tested/fixed and sent back takes. Also costs the reseller a fair penny, so it's best for all involved to get it right first time.