My Aftershock X15S-V2

[dark_knight83]

Have seen quite a lot of discussion on this forum lately about Aftershock gaming laptops, and being a new and happy customer, I'd like to share some thoughts about my new machine as well.

Firstly, my motivations for wanting to get a gaming laptop.

Now, I have a gaming PC which was configured at SLS in 2007, I'm no expert in such stuff and pretty much left it to the staff to recommend me some specs. I spent about $1.5k on that desktop, and although it was ok in the beginning, its performance somehow deteriorated rather quickly. I remember trying to play GTA4 on it and it frequently crashed.

Because of its lacklustre performance, I gradually reduced the amount of time I spent on it. A pity for me because I love gaming - intense action games, that is. Third-person games like GTA, Splinter Cell, Batman, FPSes like Bioshock, FEAR, Call of Duty. Been hunting for an alternative gaming machine then.

My room tends to get very dusty - dust accumulates everywhere and with my previous desktop, all the dust really got on my nerves. I also didn't like hassling with all the cables (when I tried to clean them or shift things around) that a full desktop configuration requires.

I've also recently added an exercise bench and a dips-stand into my room, so I'm quite tight on space. An ideal gaming machine would be something that doesn't take up excessive space, and something that I can tuck away into a drawer when its not needed. I don't game on weekday evenings so I won't need the gaming machine to be there the whole time.

After some considerations, a gaming laptop seemed to fit what I was looking for. But game performance on laptops won't match up to full desktops, or so I thought.

 

[dark_knight83]

Why an Aftershock laptop?
Really, this is after reading all the amazing reviews on this forum - customer-oriented service and after-sales support. And also, looking across other brands, for the same tech specs, Aftershock really is value for money. I like it that each gaming laptop is configured with optimal gaming performance in mind, and the different configurations caters to different needs. Since its a local brand, if anything happens to the laptop, i can be rest assured that tech support is at hand.

I'm not looking for mobility - my gaming machine is going to stay at home, I don't quite see myself lugging the laptop around to game elsewhere. So even though some of the Aftershock laptops are quite big, I don't mind at all.



And so, I went over to the Aftershock office at Serangoon on the 1st June 2014, when the PC show promotions were up. I wanted to speak with the staff there so that they can run me through the specs. Was glad to meet with Marcus, who let me try out BF4 on his colleague's laptop. They didnt have many other laptops to try out on, since they were in the midst of preparing for the upcoming PC Show.

I was blown away by the graphics on the laptop and was certain on my purchase. Marcus went through the specs of the laptop together with me and I placed my order for an X15S-V2, since I wanted the latest graphics card (880m) (i'm a sucker for graphics).

These are the specs of the laptop:
- Intel Haswell Core, i7-4710MQ (quad core)
- nVidia GeForce 880m GTX 8GB GDDR5
- 8GB DDR3L 1600MHz
- 15.6" FHD Matte display with 95% NTSC Wide-Colour Gamut
- 120GB Samsung Evo SSD
- 1TB Hitachi 7200RPM HDD
- 8x DVD Super Multi Drive
- Intel 7260 AC Wifi+BT
- Windows 8.1 64 bit
- Warranty: 2 year parts, 3 year service
Total cost: $2938


I received a text message the next day informing me that the laptop was ready. I made a request to pick it up from the Funan branch, and it was ready for collection there on a Tuesday.

The staff at the Funan branch helped me to set up the machine, verify that all my requested components were in place, and also ran through some techniques in using the laptop, such as Aftershock's custom control panel to adjust the laptop settings for different modes - Quiet, Power Saving, Performance, Entertainment. You can disable the left Windows key, set Fan speeds, etc.


On Tuesday night the laptop was finally at my home and here're some pictures to run you through the process:

 

[dark_knight83]

simple packaging. the laptop wasnt that heavy, so carrying it from Funan to my home (i stay in the west side) wasnt difficult

Components: the laptop and the power brick (which really isnt very big)

I didnt opt for any design on the lid - my laptop will stay at home anyway. I kinda like the simple Aftershock logo

beautiful matte screen

with SSD, from pushing the power button to being able to use the com takes only 3-4 seconds

 

[dark_knight83]

The first thing i did was to install Steam, and download the game which i was playing halfway on my desktop and didnt get to complete : Batman Arkham City.

I think the main question on a lot of people's minds would be: how does game graphics actually look on the laptop?

I'm playing Arkahm City on these settings:

Here are some actual screenshots from the game itself. I'll let the quality of the graphics speak for themselves, in case anyone here reading this thread is also thinking of getting an Aftershock:

 

[dark_knight83]

 

[dark_knight83]

I've completed the game since, and different outfits are unlocked for Batman

 

[dark_knight83]

 

[watzup_ken]

Personally, I've played Arkham City on my older GTX 680M, and it had no issues running at maxed out settings. I noted that you are running it at a lower resolution, 1600x900. Try bumping the settings up, it should manage.

 

[shadow84]

I've completed the game since, and different outfits are unlocked for Batman

Your batman in this costume macham put on weight.. Sibei fat sia.. lol..

 

[dark_knight83]

Personally, I've played Arkham City on my older GTX 680M, and it had no issues running at maxed out settings. I noted that you are running it at a lower resolution, 1600x900. Try bumping the settings up, it should manage.

thanks for pointing that out! i was used to seeing that resolution on my old desktop, so i didn't think of increasing it further. will go try it out

 

[dark_knight83]

Your batman in this costume macham put on weight.. Sibei fat sia.. lol..

that's the suit in The Dark Knight Returns comic. apparently also the inspiration for ben affleck's suit in the upcoming Batman VS Superman:

First Look At The Batman Vs. Superman’s Batsuit And Batmobile Revealed : Flick-Films

 

[dark_knight83]

Have been using my Aftershock laptop for some time now and i must say that i've been very satisfied with its performance.

Here are a few more screenshots of the current game i'm playing - Dishonored. A very engaging game recommended for those who like FPS/Stealth.

I've cranked up the graphics to maximum for all settings, so it's also a good look at the capabilities of the laptop:

 

[dark_knight83]

 

[watzup_ken]

Looks great. I think Tomb Raider was one of the first few games that I played on my X17 that blew me away with the gameplay and graphics.

 

[dark_knight83]

More updates. Now playing Bioshock Infinite on Ultra settings.

This is an amazingly beautiful game.

 

[dark_knight83]

 

[BradenHeat]

Welcome in =D


just remember, to regularly check with Markus and Ken, here, should you consider updating your nvidia gfx drivers.

now rolled back to an older version...

the rest is giving me the driver_power failure..

non the less, enjoy as much, though i doubt you wana try lifting the corner of your machine =x by one hand


regards from a older 780m, 17"er batch hehe ,

 

[watzup_ken]

non the less, enjoy as much, though i doubt you wana try lifting the corner of your machine =x by one hand

You still lifting the laptop that way now? I still have not train my wrist to do that.

Anyway, my take is not to update the driver so often. If it ain't broken, don't try to fix it. For me, only if the game I am playing is having issues, I will then look out for a driver that can resolve the issue. Even after doing a clean reinstall about a couple of weeks back, I installed the older display driver back since it was working fine for me.

 

[watzup_ken]

Nice. I was blown away by the graphics when I first launch the game. It is a great game too, though the game was quite challenging for me towards the end.

 

[dark_knight83]

Welcome in =D


just remember, to regularly check with Markus and Ken, here, should you consider updating your nvidia gfx drivers.

now rolled back to an older version...

the rest is giving me the driver_power failure..

non the less, enjoy as much, though i doubt you wana try lifting the corner of your machine =x by one hand


regards from a older 780m, 17"er batch hehe ,

Thanks! I'm not that familiar with driver updates - typically I'll update from the nVidia control panel, whenever there's new stuff available. So far it's still going good!