Experience with PWN PCs

I ordered a Clevo P170SM this morning (Monday 29th July) from the folks at PWN PCs. I intend to keep a log of my experience during the build process and delivery here.

Status

29/07 [am] - submitted order
29/07 [pm] - 'processing'
31/07 [pm] - 'in building'
31/07 [pm] - 'testing & QA'
02/08 [am] - 'awaiting dispatch'
02/08 [pm] - collected by DPD
03/08 [am] - 'completed'
05/08 [am] - delivered by DPD at 10:50am

Comments

Pre-sale: Scott (from PWN PCs and who is active on these forums) was very accommodating, quick to reply to my emails and enabled me to customise my order to include a Samsung 840 Pro 512GB instead of the usual SSDs offered by the configurator tool on their website. Additionally, I was offered a free upgrade to Kingston Hyper-X RAM, which was very much appreciated!

Ordering process: The website is a bit clunky, you have to wait for the configurator to finish processing your request - which takes at least 10 seconds for each option before changing another option. Other than that it all was a very simple and easy process. I did get a slight temporary issue involving the anti-spam technology on the website, which was blocking my account from making a purchase for a while, but this soon went away and allowed me to complete my order. I made payment by bank transfer. Useful extras such as an optional year long dead pixel guarantee is available, along with free SPYDER 4 professional screen calibration, free IC Diamond/Arctic Silver thermal paste, free custom BIOS, optional overclocking of the CPU/GPU/RAM, a 2 year warranty as standard and an estimated build time of 5 days with overnight delivery.

Build time: Very short build time. Again, Scott very quick to reply to my emails. Didn't take long until testing & QA started. They kept it back an extra day to make sure it was thoroughly tested, as I has selected the optional overclocking option for CPU/GPU/RAM. I have no doubts that they've given it a good inspection to make sure it's up to par!

Delivery: The delivery is being handled by DPD. I got a tracking number for DPD's website and texts sent to my mobile phone with updates to the delivery process, which is very convenient. Scheduled for delivery Monday 5th August. UPDATE: delivered at 10:50am. All working. Nice. Now to play around with my new toy

Will update my impressions of laptop soon, still testing it all works etc. No major flaw as far as I can see, or minor for that matter - hope it stays that way! First impressions are good. Wouldn't hesitate to use PWN PCs again - thanks you!

 

Sweet, my W230ST should come this week from PWN PCs, can't wait...

OT: Long time no see. When did you stop being a Mod here and renamed your nick?

 

Sorry to disappoint, but I have never been a mod on this forum - you must be thinking of someone else!

Out of interest how long have you been waiting for your laptop to arrive? When did you order? I'll admit I'm an impatient guy - hoping for a Friday delivery - playing on my GT 650M just doesn't feel the same knowing what's just around the corner!

 

Ooops, sorry it was the Avatar that you are using...
My Notebook was ready last week, but like you I had asked them for "an off the menu part" that needed to specially ordered...they are waiting for it to arrive now...

 

I ordered my Clevo W230ST from Scott at PWN PCS and I've had an excellent experience with him. I ordered it on I think 22 July, and it was in my hands a week later on 29 July. He is responsive on email and a super nice guy (for a kiwi). They did a repaste job on the CPU/GPU (as standard) and did the Spyder4Express colour calibration. They do a bare bones install with zero bloatware, which I appreciated (I like adding my own bloat!). I paid for the zero dead pixel guarantee (luckily) and I also got upgraded to Kingston HyperX RAM.

PWN appears to be a corporate partner of Prema's so they should be able to supply Prema's bios (when he's completed it) without voiding warranty - which I cant wait to get hold of!

The laptop itself is great, although I have two relatively minor niggles - the trackpad has a deadzone along its bottom strip and I have found a dead pixel, which I will liaise with Scott about.

So far, I've really liked the personal nature of the contact with Scott and his team, and their attention to detail - not to mention a very good product. I would certainly recommend.

Petrov.

 

lol

 

EDIT: Just got email that it had now started to be built. I also got an email that stated it was put in Q&A testing less than an hour later! Now THAT is what I call fast building! Fingers crossed for Friday delivery!

So close now. The waiting game sucks indeed. Anyone have a time machine I can borrow?

 

Not long now, hopefully?

 

It's now awaiting dispatch! Scheduled for a Monday delivery. Just have to get through the weekend... why is this waiting business so hard!

 

Haha, it'll be worth it!

 

It's arrived! First impressions: IT'S MASSIVE!!!

Review soon and benchmarks

THANKS PWN PCS!!!

 

One of the lads at work has a P170EM and that is massive, so presume its very similar.
My P150SM is big enough for me!

Enjoy it mate.

 

EDIT: I realise that I have updated to the latest beta driver 326.41 from the 320.49 that they had installed and had tested on - would this have made the difference? I know NVIDIAs drivers have been a bit weird of late, and it is only a beta.

Well, this is weird. Left it on the default overclock settings that they've (PWN PCs) provided me with on MSI Afterburner -> (+97 core/+655 mem). Run 3DMark 2013 Firestrike -> ARTIFACTS EVERYWHERE!!!

I can't quite believe it. They've tested the machine thoroughly with 3DMark 11, Unigine Heaven and 3DMark Vantage for stability and apparently it passed - but yet when I run 3DMark 2013, the memory artifacts like mad!!! No way is it stable at those clocks. I really don't know what's going on here!

The good news is that I tried my own clocks (+135 core/+608 mem) which not only seemed to be stable (I'll need more testing though)!

The main reason why I chose the overclock option was a) because I don't know how to overclock a CPU so thought it best that they handle it and b) so that they could thoroughly test the system for stability when it's all overclocked including GPU!!! But if the overclock they've provided and deemed safe in their labs is unstable, well I don't honestly know what to think. I haven't tried any other benchmark yet or game for that matter, but heck, if it was artifacting that much in this test I doubt it'll suddenly be stable in any others. Weird.

I'll do more testing and report back but this is a bit concerning - not the actual system itself - it appears to handle overclocks like any other laptop out there - but the fact that PWN PCs provided me with an unstable overclocked GPU when they were meant to completely test it for stability - they even delayed delivery by a day to make sure they had properly tested it. Not the end of the world, easily remedied by myself. I just find it very puzzling.

Will report back soon after more testing... as well as give my thoughts on the build quality, sound, screen etc etc etc.

 

and thats exactly why ive never overclocked

congrats and welcome to the clevo family.

 

Do you still get the artifacts with the drivers that came preconfigured?

I would highly doubt they sent out the machine that was causing problems like that.

 

I do too. That's why I find it so strange. No I installed the new beta straight away. Should I revert back to the 320.49 driver they had installed and test it? EDIT: I'm doing that now... let's see what happens...

 

Give it a go and let us know, won't hurt to try.

 

Well fancy that - it was the drivers! Runs absolutely fine on 320.49!!! No artifacts. How very odd. I had no idea that drivers could impact the overclockability of a GPU until now. I trusted PWN PCs to do their testing properly, they seemed so professional and helpful when dealing with me, which is why I was so shocked that I was getting artifacts! But it seems they did indeed do their jobs properly, it was silly me for updating the drivers

I'm sticking with 320.49 for now. I guess that's why 326.41 is called a beta driver!

Benchmarks soon... and review of actual laptop!

 

Well that explains it then! Suppose that means stay away from those beta drivers then!

 

NVIDIA pushes some funny drivers recently...

 

on new systems its always advisable to stick with the gpu driver loaded as this is normally a oem driver and fully tested for the laptop.
i updated a year ago as soon as a whql was released and it was the worst thing i could have done. the oem driver wasnt available on nvidia and no matter what i tried i couldnt get any others to work. only way around it was a system restore even after driver cleaner pro it brought them back and worked fine ever since.

 

Scott or Prema - any news on timing for the Prema bios for the w230ST (I ask here as PWN is a "partner" for Prema)?

Petrov.

 

I can't promise any date, but it will come...

EDIT: BTW, received my W230ST from PWNPCS and LOVE IT!

 

Awesome on both counts Prema!

Scott - I'm back from holidays now so wondering how we might go about fixing the mouse track pad (bottom half is dead) and the screen replacement (dead pixel)? By the way, what's a striking off application (in the legal/corporate sense)?

Thanks,
P.

 

Let me tell you, I am so glad I did not buy from Pwn Pcs. Good customer feedback kept me interested but so many reasons appeared to warn me off.

Striking Off Application means Pwn Pcs Limited is closing. Look at Companies House

Accounting Reference Date: 31/07
Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due: 19/04/2013 OVERDUE
Last Return Made Up To: 19/07/2012
Next Return Due: 16/08/2013 OVERDUE

This is very bad.

Pwn Pcs website now says "Pwn Technical" - is this name change - no, company is closing. So it is sole trader? What happens to warranty once company closes?

Why have no accounts and no company return been filed? Two reasons, they have something to hide OR just they can not complete accounts. Whatever, customers will not find confidence in Pwn Pcs, or do we call then Pwn Technical? Closing company before return or accounts are filed leaves no financial proof the company ever existed.....

Then you add first concerns - website has no trading address, phone number hidden but still only mobile number. Then I also find out they used to call the laptops "Sager" to try and take advantage of customers. When I ask about phone number on forum, Pwn says:

"If it weren't a legal requirement I wouldn't have it there at all! Do you really want your mobile number on the internet?! If you've got questions don't hesitate to email me and I'll get you answers as promptly as I can! I know a lot about laptops but not everything so I do have to spend a bit of time researching from time to time hence email being a lot easier! "

Wow. So I have suggestions: 1/ get a company office and phone, do not use your own mobile 2/ learn more about the laptops you sell.

So my advice follows:

Buy from Pwn if you want reported good customer service and want "mate" to build laptop in his flat for you.

Don't buy from Pwn because of all reasons above.

 

It's no longer a Limited company because my business partner left (went back to NZ) and it made more sense for me to run it this way - it's not bad at all. It's PWN Technical so it can bind my other ventures. Obviously warranties are still valid.

 

Scott,thanks for clarifying, much appreciated!


DeltaS, you seemed to jump down pwn's throat pretty quick for a guy with 3 posts to his name - want to share with us all what your interest is in all this? I'm guessing not...

Petrov.

 

It's funny, we had 1 member who god banned, he was a long time member here, anyways he went berserk at some point and then we had another 1 and he got banned too or went afk, no idea.

Now this. Man people are really taking this seriously, private investigation detective work level over 9k.

 

Yeah, LOL...guess PWN can be happy not to have gained a customer like that.

@ALL I can tell you that Scott-PWNPC is one of the good guys and one of the most honest people in the whole Clevo scene, period.