Andy gives the PCSpecialist Elimina a good going over. Useful timestamps to jump to the relevant content:
00:28 – unboxing
05:38 – first boot
08:53 – spec list
09:52 – benchmarks
13:00 – power modes and thermals
19:20 – setup and software
23:09 – conclusion
Overview
At a time when many custom system builds are on hold waiting for a GPU, one alternative may be to go down the laptop route. Today, we look at the PCSpecialist Elimina laptop, representing the base gaming and editing model.
The laptop has a dark-grey matte finish which along with a subtle PCSpecialist logo on the lid is fairly clean and understated. The hydropearl-like finish is pleasant to the touch, too, and not a total fingerprint magnet. After a couple of weeks of use, however, there were some grubby marks from lunch at the desk, but nothing a quick wipe with a damp cloth couldn’t remove.
The RGB keyboard, meanwhile, is a bit limited on colours with just 15, but it is bright and clear and can be turned off if unwanted. The software to control it, the different power modes for the laptop, and fan control is fairly simple and straight forward, but isn’t given much of a mention in the start-up guide so could be overlooked.
Sporting an 8-core 16-thread Core i7-11800H CPU with Intel’s latest Tiger Lake architecture, 16GB of DDR4 at 2,933MHz, 1TB M.2 NVMe drive, plus a GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, the laptop has enough performance to breeze through our benchmark suite. The CPU, in particular, is a sign of things to come from Intel and its 10nm SuperFin process node delivers desktop Core i5-11600K levels of performance in Cinebench R23 at 60 percent of the power consumption.
In the thin-ish chassis it does throttle a little when under sustained multi-threaded workload and the fans can get pretty loud, but even still, the performance is impressive. The scores in 3DMark Time Spy suggests that the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti will be more than enough for the 15.6in 144Hz 1080p panel, and the screen itself has bright vivid colours and very little light bleed.
At £1,056 for this exact spec, it represents pretty decent value, with strong, snappy performance, ease-of-use and suited to anything you care to throw at it. Be it office/production work, gaming or even just a film in bed, the two little speakers put out a deep soundscape thanks to SoundBlaster Cinema 6 Software.
Overall, a solid effort from the folks at PCSpecialist.
Pros:
– Good screen with vibrant colours and no light bleed
– Decent sound from the speakers for Netflix and chill
– Core i5-11600K/Ryzen 5 5600X-level performance from a laptop CPU
– GeForce RTX 3050 Ti more than enough for the 1080p, 144Hz screen
– Plain but pleasant appearance
– Laptop systems software simple to use
Cons:
– Power-saving mode didn’t extend battery life in PCMark 10 test
– Fans get rather too loud when under load
– Thin form factor results in mild cpu throttling
– Limited colours for the RGB keyboard
The reviewed laptop can be purchased from PCSpecialist here.