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PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S 17.3″ Laptop Review (i7/7970m)

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats.

Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology.

New and Improved Features

  • Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously.
  • Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention.
  • Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices.
  • Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment.
  • Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A.
  • Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier.

For our testing today we are converting a 3.3GB 720p MKV file (2h:12mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power. We are using the newest version which has been optimised for Sandybridge processors.

Hardware acceleration is enabled.

A score of 12 minutes and 24 seconds is excellent and a class leading result for a laptop system. By comparison, an Intel ATOM processor will take around 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the same task.

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16 comments

  1. is the link working, cant see it for sale?

  2. I like the appearance, i must be one of the few people who hate that Dell star trek keyboard font. its hard to read.

    Good specifications, but id prefer this in 15.6 inch as they are more portable and tend to have better battery life.

    is it possible to put the 7970m in a 15 inch chassis though? might not g et enough airflow. GTX680 seems better for heat.

  3. Is this a limited ‘offer’ for kitguru readers? I cant afford a new machine just yet, but will do in the next couple of months. Ive marked this machine down as the price seems good.

  4. Yes, the link should be working. This model is available to purchase here – http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/reviews/.

    The HD7970M is available in the 15.6″ Vortex III, along with the GTX670M & GTX675M.

    This model will be available to buy at this price as long as we have the parts in stock. As they’re all new, it should be for quite a while 😀

  5. Great looking machine, much nicer than that flashy Alienware bollocks.

    Priced well too. im tempted, but dont tell the missus.

    Good range of systems they have too, never heard of them.

  6. @John.

    thank you for the feedback.

    I know you probably wont have the information at hand, but how does the 7970m handle in a smaller chassis? it seems to demand a lot of power and generate a lot of heat/fan noise. not exclusive to your system as all of them have a problem cooling it.

    Have you any ideas how it runs in the 15.6 inch machine as I just dont like 17 inch laptops, they are too big.

  7. Can I confirm the keyboard backlight is purple? why purple? thats a pretty difficult colour to deal with. Can it be changed?

  8. We need a few more good system builders in Holland lately, i bought an Acer in January and its just away for repair.

    Id be concerned with this machine however long term as the HD7970m is g etting a lot of negative press in forums for heat. I can predict failures if the the cooling system starts to weaken over the year with dust etc.

  9. It is good to see another 17″ with a numer pad squashed in. The design looks very professional and my P100 17″ also has a brick for a power adapter.
    How thick is it? I sometimes have to take my P100 out on plane rides to fit my bag on board. As nice as this is, I have my eye set on the MSI GE70 although MSI is very rare in NZ.

  10. @Harry
    “Can I confirm the keyboard backlight is purple? why purple? thats a pretty difficult colour to deal with. Can it be changed?”

    I read in another review that the backlight colour can be adjusted, and it looks blue on Zardon’s pics.

  11. Screaming Weasel

    I would just like to say that I bought a high end gaming laptop from here the The Vortex III HD7S 17.3 inch which was fully spec’d and it is the best thing I ever did! It wasn’t cheap, but the quality is amazing and the follow up from pcspecialist has been impressive. I am future proof for a few years now, but i will not hesitate to go back to this company for my next gaming laptop. Brilliant!!

  12. excellent good to hear our review helped!

  13. Chaotic Entropy

    Just to say that I’ve been umming and ahing about buying this laptop and this review has definitely swung my opinion in favour of purchasing. So thanks very much!

  14. I’ve got this and they’re right it’s awesome! It’s a fair point they make about the fans being loud when the system is pushed, however I don’t even notice it anymore as I’m enjoying myself too much!