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PC Specialist ship the Vortex III HD7S protected underneath various protective sheets.
These cover the lid, screen and various parts of the chassis. It actually took several minutes to carefully remove all of these. It is always a great first impression to notice that the company spent some time ensuring that none of the surfaces would be subjected to minor surface scratches during potentially rough shipping.
The Vortex III HD7S is not going to win any awards for radical styling although I like the functional, clean lines and businesslike appearance. I do admire some of the more flamboyant designs such as the Alienware M17X or M18X, however my personal desires would be more suited to the Dell Precision range. I think this Clevo chassis is very similar to a Dell Precision design, which is a plus point in my opinion.
Our sample was shipped with a glossy LED screen which delivered fantastic results. Colours are well saturated and fine text is accurately rendered. At full brightness the display is visible outdoors, although not in direct sunlight. Indoors it is perfectly usable around half brightness, improving battery life.
The panel delivered great results with high definition movies and when playing games, but I did find it highly reflective with even moderate ambient back lighting in the room. PC Specialist are aware that the glossy screen might not suit everyone and they offer a Matte screen for an extra £79.00.
The PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S is nicely finished although I found it was prone to attracting fingerprints. The image above right highlights the lovely textured surface visible only under direct light.
The left side of the laptop has 2 USB 3.0 ports, and an eSATA/USB combo port. Next to these is a IEEE 1394 port, GB LAN and multi card reader. The right side of the laptop has the optical drive, a single USB 2.0 port, and audio out connectors alongside a microphone port.
The rear of the machine is home to the power connector. Next to these are a full sized DVI port, HDMI port and DisplayPort. These cover all digital bases. On either side of these ports are two large cooling vents.
There are no cooling vents under the machine, so we can ascertain from the chassis design that warm air will be expelled out of the rear of the machine. This can be a beneficial design decision as it can reduce heat when the machine is positioned on a lap.
This Clevo chassis uses Onkyo speakers visible in various positions across the chassis. The onboard sound is actually very good with even a hint of bass response, although it goes without saying that dedicated standalone speakers are the best way to enjoy movies and games.
The machine uses a full sized keyboard with numpad on the right. It doesn't quite meet the same grade as the class leading keyboard on the Lenovo Thinkpad X1, but it is certainly above average.
