Systems

PC Specialist Proteus II Review

vortez
July 13, 2015 10 Min Read
2 0

A stylish gaming notebook which features the renowned NVIDIA GTX 960M and other high-quality components including Intel Core i7-4720HQ, Kingston DDR3 and more!


Product on Review: The 15.6” Proteus II
Manufacturer & Sponsor: PC Specialist
Street price: £799 GBP

Gaming on-the-go is an ever increasing leisure activity and while some desktop computers are easy to transport to events the notebook still retains a stronghold on portable gaming. In order to match, or even better a desktop computer, it’s essential for a gaming notebook to feature the very best hardware. Many brands fail to update their notebooks with the very latest technology, but PC Specialist are a reputable brand which engage in regular updates for their product lines.

Today we are set to look at a mid-range gaming notebook from PC Specialist which features the capable GTX 960M mobile GPU. Our Proteus II notebook also boasts a strong lineup of other hardware including Intel’s Core i7-4720HQ and DDR3 and an SSD from Kingston.


PCS on their Proteus II
Designed for high end gaming with the Nvidia GTX 960M and GTX 970M graphics cards and supporting 4th Generation Intel CPUs, the 15.6″ Proteus II is a powerful high-end notebook at an affordable price.

Featuring a backlit keyboard, trackpad and cover (which can be turned on/off) this laptop is striking and ready to destroy the enemy when you are!

Technical Specifcations

– Chassis & Display Proteus Series: 15.6″ Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920×1080)
– Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4720HQ (2.60GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
– Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
– Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M – 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM – DirectX® 11
– Storage 1TB WD SLIM BLUE WD10SPCX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive 120GB Kingston SSDNow mS200 mSATA (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
– Memory Card Reader Integrated 4 in 1 Card Reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC)
– Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Proteus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200mAh)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 150W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language PROTEUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit – inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
DVD Recovery Media Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY – FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 720P 30 FPS HD WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build – Approximately 4 to 6 working days

Packaging & Bundle




PC Specialist do a fantastic job in getting the notebook over to you in a safe manner. The notebook arrives in a large external box which has heavy duty air pockets to prevent any damage during transit. Inside this box we have another box to which the items are all concealed. It’s nice to see a brand taking extra care with delivery of products.


Inside the box PCS supply the bundled items within a separate box to the notebook. This box has various compartments and includes the following:

• DC Charging Unit (150W)
• UK Wall Socket Plug
• Windows 8.1 DVD
• Surplus screws – DDR3 packet

Closer Look




Adopting a design which is more suited to the gamer, Proteus II has a concaved plastic lid which has two red accents. Both accents glow when the notebook is powered up. Our only feedback for this area is that at this level we might have expected higher quality material used such as steel or aluminium.


Flipping Proteus II over, we have five rubber feet to prevent the unit from sliding on smooth surfaces. There are various areas which feature ventilation cut-outs for the internal components to have an outlet for heat dissipation. There is a large subwoofer to enhance the audio experience and supply some bass.

The battery unit on Proteus II is fixed inside the protective cover and is not detachable. This battery is 8 Cell Lithium – 5,200mAh.

The reverse also features the serial number and technical details in case you need to contact PCS for support.


Around the back of Proteus II there are two areas for ventilation to support the CPU/GPU and in the middle there are various ports including:

• AC power port
• Gigabit LAN port (RJ45)
• VGA port
• HDMI


Over on the left edge of the notebook there is a wide selection of functionality. From left to right we have:

• USB 3.0 port
• USB 2.0 port (Extra power to charge mobile devices)
• SDXC card slot reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC)
• Battery, HDD and WiFi LEDs

It’s great to see that our notebook has a super-charge port for charging devices such as mobile phone or tablet and that we also have an SD card slot reader.


While on the alternate side we have even more functionality by way of:

• Headphone & microphone jacks
• 2x USB 3.0 ports
• Kensington lock

On the next page we’ll be continuing our analysis of Proteus II.

Closer Look (Continued)



Opening the lid we have a 15.6″ FHD, LED widescreen display which provides a maximum resolution of 1920×1080. At the very top of this screen PCS has included a 720p webcam which also offers up to 30FPS. This isn’t always included with notebooks so it’s a handy feature to have if you’re on-the-go and need to engage in any Skype calls etc.


Opening the lid also reveals the keyboard which PCS has equipped Proteus II to have. The layout and design is great and a brushed aluminium section covers the entire keyboard area. This keyboard is LED backlit and the brightness has two modes and can be switched off also.

In the upper section there is a button to control the lighting (turning it on or off) and some additional M buttons.


Towards the bottom of the notebook we have a large touchpad which blends into the design of the keyboard area very well. Around the edge there is a red line which glows red when the unit is powered up – this light can be switched off if desired.

Proteus II’s hardware specification

Inside Proteus II we have the following core components:

• CPU Intel Core i7-4720HQ (2.6GHz – 3.6GHz)
• Memory 8GBGB 1600MHZ DDR3
• GPU NVIDIA GTX 960M 2GB GDDR5
• HDDs 120GB MSATA SSD + 1TB 5400RPM

Proteus II has some impressive hardware under the hood, including the quad-core Intel processor, NVIDIA’s GTX 960M and a super-fast MSATA SSD for the boot drive.

PCS has done a great job in delivering a strong product in the Proteus II but to reach a verdict we need to run a series of tests!

Benchmarks: Temperatures, Boot Time & Battery Uptime

For our first benchmark tests we observe the max. CPU/GPU temperatures of the system during 3DMark and THIEF. We also monitor how quickly the notebook boots into Windows 8.1 using a digital stopwatch. Battery uptime is another aspect which is observed… in its idle state (not performing any tasks) – uptime will be affected when the notebook is used, so expect less than the recorded result below.





Benchmarks: Cinebench R15

CINEBENCH can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. This test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor is.


Benchmarks: X264 HD

Simply put, this test measures how fast your machine can encode a short, DVD quality MPEG-2 video clip into a high-quality x264 video clip. What’s x264, you ask? It’s more or less the next-generation Xvid/DivX codec. We think it’s ideal for a benchmark because the application (x264.exe) reports fairly accurate compression results (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encoding process and it uses multi-core processors very efficiently.

Benchmarks: PCMark 8

PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 8 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. It’s the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.

Benchmarks: 3DMark & Heaven 4.0

The new 3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. And it’s not just for Windows. With 3DMark you can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It’s the most powerful and flexible 3DMark we’ve ever created.

Benchmarks: Far Cry 4, Assassin’s Creed Unity, BF4, The Witcher 3

Our PCS Proteus II uses GTX 960M for graphics delivery. To test how effective the 3D capabilities are, we use FRAPS to obtain the average framerate.

Conclusion


From the packaging all the way through to the product itself, Proteus II is a superb notebook which is furnished with a strong lineup of hardware from reputable brands.

The overall look and feel of Proteus II is certainly geared more in the direction of the gamer but the option to switch LED lighting on/off offers choice and doesn’t lock the user into a set-design. Beyond this, PCS has packed in a wide selection of functionality; including a handy super-charge port for topping up that smartphone/tablet battery.

Putting Proteus II into the gaming arena we discovered the included GTX 960M is more than capable of handling the biggest titles at high-detail settings, this is encouraging for a mid-range notebook of this calibre. Furthermore, Proteus II excelled in other benchmarks also and thanks to the MSATA SSD this unit boots into Windows 8.1 in just eight seconds.


Our experience with Proteus II is definitely positive but there are a few areas which could be improved. The audio whilst good, could be better but we also appreciate that many using a notebook are more likely to use a headset anyway. Also, at this price-point notebooks generally start to feature metallic lids and this is something we expect to see.

PCS Proteus II is priced at £799 GBP and represents good value for money when you observe the performance, included features and generous 3-year warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour). Bearing all aspects of this notebook in mind it’s our pleasure to hand out a strong silver award for this product and we look forward to checking our more products from PCS.

The Proteus II is ideal for casual gamers that want to enjoy the latest gaming titles while on-the-go. A strong feature-set and attractive warranty make this a good buy!

Pros
+ Pleasing to the eye
+ Reputable hardware
+ Great performance results
+ Plenty of useful ports
+ LED backlit keyboard
+ Choice to turn LEDs on/off

Cons
– Weighty
– Plastic lid

Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.

Tags:

PC Specialist

Share Article

vortez