PC Specialist Octane VI RTX – 9900K & RTX 2080 Max-P in a Laptop!

Octane VI RTX is an impressive desktop replacement laptop that packs a full-fat 8-core CPU and RTX 2080 graphics. Balanced against that it is fairly hopeless as a laptop because the size and weight mean it is far too hefty to carry around with ease. We doubt you would find many places on a train or in a plane where you might fire the beast into life. In addition the requirement for a mains power socket surely mean the Octane VI RTX is destined to spend its life on a table, in wheeled luggage or in the boot of a car.

If you take the Octane VI RTX on its own terms as a mobile PC that can be used as a workstation or gaming machine then it is fairly impressive. Clearly you will want to line up serious workloads such as Blender or Adobe Premiere, perhaps with an AAA game or two for the evening hours, which necessarily limits the potential market for this laptop.

Once the laptop is sat on your table and ready for action it is easy to use with ports and connectors on both sides, as well as graphics outputs on the rear next to the power connector. There is no denying the huge chassis looks rather rudimentary and the screen bezel is huge. Whatever else you may say about the Octane VI RTX, the word ‘sophisticated’ is unlikely to be your chosen adjective.

We consider it something of a shame that PC Specialist only offers a choice of two display panels for this laptop. The 144Hz G-Sync display measures 17.3-inches on the diagonal and simply feels too low-res at 1,920×1,080 resolution. The alternative 4K panel has the resolution we desire but only has a refresh rate of 60Hz and does not include G-Sync. That seems like a move from one extreme to the other. How about a 1440p panel with 100Hz refresh? Would that be too much to ask?

The choice of display panels strikes us as confused, and it is a similar story with the RGB lighting. Perhaps Clevo considers that any laptop that is not for pure business use automatically requires RGB but in this instance we have to disagree. The Control Centre 2.0 utility does a perfectly reasonable job but you can barely see the RGB unless the room is dark and even then you will struggle with some of the lighting patterns.

Getting bogged down in these details is clearly the route to frustration, so let’s stand back and look at the big picture. PC Specialist has delivered a laptop with epic CPU and graphics power at a reasonable price. We understand most laptop customers want to work on the move and the Octane VI RTX fails to deliver on that front –  however, we are confident a fair few people will look at those performance charts and will be simply blown away.

You can buy this spec (as reviewed) of the Octane VI RTX from PC Specialist HERE

Pros:

• Desktop CPU with 8-cores and 16 threads.
• RTX 2080 Max-P graphics set a new standard.
• Very reasonable price.
• Cooling system is very effective.
• Good arrangement of USB ports, including Thunderbolt.

Cons:

• The 1080p screen resolution is too low for a 17.3-inch giant.
• Weight and size mean this is a desktop replacement, rather than a laptop.
• Large screen bezel and general styling look elderly.

KitGuru says: It's an epic combination of CPU and GPU power in a luggable laptop.

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