PC Specialist

This is the second custom laptop I have ordered from PC Specialist, and the quality and service have only got better in age. I made a very powerful spec laptop, I9, 64gb ram, 3080 TI GFX as I would be traveling a lot and wanted to have the option to game in the evenings when stuck in a hotel. This was perfect, lighter than I expected but the power even holds great for my VR kit. There was an issue on my order when they did not have 64GB of ram in stock but that was communicated to me and it only delayed the build by 2 days which was nothing really. Then my order was supposed to be delivered on the 2 hottest days in the UK which understandably could not happen due to health and safety. but it arrived the day after. the Box came well packed and protected.
When I ever want a new laptop or even a PC I would be looking at contacting PC Specialist to satisfy my needs.

I have been further impressed by the technical expertise and excellent service that PC Specialist provide, having bought my last system from them 10 years ago (which is still working well).
The online specification process is fairly intuitive and provides many options.
But for those of us customers with rather limited up-to-date knowledge there is a danger of over-specifying one's true requirements. On discussing my order with a PC Specialist expert he was able to give me a refund of over £1000 because I had not realised that I did not need a workstation motherboard or more expensive Microsoft licence as I will not be using the computer as a server.
They also advised me on a more appropriate case which was in stock.
My order included a new keyboard and mouse but I ordered my new monitor (Dell U3023E 16:10) and specialist full duplex sound card (ESI Maya 44eX) separately.
Their after sales advice has also been excellent.

Would give zero stars if possible
First time to ever have to do this but so upset over our experience. Would give zero stars if possible.
We have sent our brand new laptop for repair 3 times and pcspecialists are now refusing to offer a repacement or refund and claiming it's fine even though their own IT support remoted on and confirmed the fault. Alo their repair centre confirmed onsite it was running CPU over 100 degrees c. Laptop overheating, hot to the touch, blue screening. CPU running at over 100' which they're claiming now is perfectly normal. Really poor after sales customer care. 9 year old saved up for 2 years to get his 1st gaming laptop and really upset over this whole experience. Shame on you pcspecialists. Been back and forward on this since March 😞 hours of phone calls and emails.
We spent a further hour on to your help desk where several support agents remoted on trying an hour of troubleshooting and all confirmed that 100 degrees plus is not normal operating CPU temperatures, these temps would cause damage to other parts over time and blue screens and hot keyboards and roaring fans due to these temps (playing simple games like terraria, astroneer and Roblox) are not satisfactory user conditions.
A quick Google will confirm that these temps are damaging and not normal and it was passed to the refunds team who are now saying they are normal temps!! Just Google it!
We are now being told by the refunds team that these temps are fine and we are not entitled to a refund.
We have zero confidence in this device and most decent companies at this stage of a customers bad experience with their device would offer a goodwill gesture. Let alone the fact that all other staff agreed with us that this machine still is faulty after a 3rd RMA. Absolutely awful customer service.

Ordered a 17.3 Ionico Laptop for my business.
I opted for the fast track production and delivery and the turnaround was very quick - Laptop was ordered on the Thursday and arrived the following Monday.
Laptop itself is excellent. Only point I would make is if you order a high powered laptop (which I did) you need to get your head around how to adjust it in order to optimise performance. Both the CPU and GPU run quite hot out of the box but PCSpecialise provide links within your account to download the Command Centre software which allows you to tweak settings and reduce the power load on both the CPU and the GPU. Doing this my laptop is still extremely fast and does not get hot at all unless it is under heavy load.
All round a very good experience with this company and will be considering them for any future purchases.

Atrocious experience. Took 3 weeks to deliver £1200 laptop after purchase & then the power system broke within 2 months. Then 3 weeks to repair & it worked for a month & then the same problem recurred. Sent it back for repair & was told a new motherboard is needed from China after 3 weeks without an update. 6 more weeks have now passed. At each point I've been patronised & gaslit by deliberately misleading claims. I insisted on a refund & they offered me only a partial sum even though it's only 6 months into the guarantee. PCS's arrogance, incompetence & dishonesty is unmatchable. I've heard that they're now using cheaper components, but they now also treat their customers with contempt. This is a company in serious decline. I've placed the matter in the hands of Trading Standards. Save your sanity & your money; use a reputable supplier; & avoid these appalling barrow-boys like the plague.

I had no clue when it came to putting together my first gaming PC, so I signed up to the PCSpecialist forum and received help from a lovely mod who helped balance out things I had chosen, in turn making it run better.
My PC can basically run anything at recommended, which is what I was after. I still have no clue about it all but I’m sure I’ll learn in time.
From the time it took to build to the time it was in my hands was 5 working days, so I didn’t even need to pay for the fast track service.
I also accidentally used the wrong address for delivery, so contacted their customer service who promptly changed it for me.
All around my experience with everything was very pleasant.

I was investing a large sum in a new laptop (£2k to £3k)for business purposes and primarily to handle CAD / 3D render files. Having shopped about and read reviews PC Specialist configuration of the machine was easy with online help ( that actually worked !) as required. Following purchase updates were accurate and regular. The laptop arrived a day early ( bonus !) and was easy to set up with preloads and spec of drives as expected.
Its early days to comment on the expected capability / reliability, there have been (as is noted in the config notes) a few times where onboard fans have gone into super speed mode and x2 occasions when the laptop has 'bombed out' ie: switched off mid-use, neither of which was when using the 3D software which is unusual. I'm notifying PC Specialist and expect it will be swiftly dealt with as with everything else so far. The 'bomb outs' is why I'm giving 3 stars at the moment but will revisit this. In summary customer service excellent, hardware reliability some questions.

I would highly recommend PC Specialist. I wanted to spec my own machine, and they had a large list to choose from of every component. this allowed me to put my money into the important items, and save on the less vital, but necessary ones. the spec chosen is checked automatically, to make sure its all compatible, and useful suggestions are offered if anything is unsuitable, which I found invaluable. I phoned to check something out which I was unsure about, and the technician was very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. He understood what I wanted from my build, and even made a suggestion that saved me money. The prices are very reasonable, the online process was easy and efficient, the build was quick, as was delivery, and the PC was packed very securely and safely. I am very pleased with my new PC, which has been assembled well, very neat and logical cabling etc., and of course worked straight away. Thank you PC Specialist!

I purchased this PC for my parents who just need a basic PC, but needed the ability to add a previously purchased hard drive and graphics cards. I could not find a branded pre-built system that had the specification that I wanted, but PC Specialist's PC configurator give me all the options I could want and more.
The PC configurator is very good and does highlight incompatibilities between components, but I can see how this would be daunting for someone that has no knowledge of computer components, but if you know what you are looking for they offer excellent choice.
This is the second machine I have bought from PC Specialist and I doubt it will be the last, I have also recommended them to friends in the past.

I very rarely give 5 stars for anything, but the service at PCSpecialist was exemplary. I'd tried half a dozen "Build your own..." online configuration sites, and the PCS one was the best to use. It was also one of the most competitively priced. Because I had an unusual, non-gaming requirement for a gaming PC, I did call PCS for confirmation of my selections. They quickly researched what I was using the PC for, did some careful configuration checks, made one adjustment to the spec' and then built, tested and delivered the machine faster than I thought they would. The resultant machine worked flawlessly from the start.
I would certainly recommend PCSpecialist to anyone that wants something more than a standard 'off the shelf' computer!

Excellent support during pre-purchase and very satisfied with laptops puchased.
Just two relatively minor complaints: (1) Delivery to Ireland was a bit slow (5 days from despatch to arrival) and when it did arrive Fedex left £5k worth of laptops in the hallway of a multi-tenanted office building without looking for any signature as POD. (2) One of the laptops wouldn't boot to Windows...got it sorted with excellent tech support from PCSpecialist but it did take about 3 hours all-told, and not sure how it arose in the first place since laptops were supposed to have been tested pre-despatch. All things considered, would definitely order from PCSpecialist again and happy to recommend.

The pricing and attention to detail of the builders is incredible the PC was well built however the case fan options need improvement as some people like myself like to have all the case fans the same so I went ahead and stuck my own in as soon as I got it. Another thing I did not realise was how tall the RAM was and I wanted the AIO at the top so again I went ahead and switched this out and unfortunately will have to sell the RAM but that’s partly my fault.
Overall it’s a solid PC with Solid pricing and the only thing which doesn’t make it 5 stars is the configuration doesn’t give u many options such as the way you want your AIO mounted or if you could switch out your AIO fans and case fans and not just stop saying “this case has 2 fans already” blah blah lol but overall I’m happy and I do recommend them over any other system builder!

My first time buying a PC in almost a decade. All my setup was severely outdated and I've been terrified of spending money on a prebuilt. But eventually for my 23rd birthday I took a shot at PCSpecialist and bought a prebuilt from them. I did research beforehand and chose my own specs.
Before making the purchase, I emailed them with questions regarding my specs, and they gave me swift responses with helpful information which eased my worries. They even complimented my choices. The waiting game between making the order and waiting for it to arrive was great, as they keep you updated regularly with emails. I genuinely was checking my emails every few hours. Great communication. It was built and delivered surprisingly fast, and the packaging was stuffed with protective styrofoam to prevent any damage during transit. I cannot describe the joy I felt with unboxing a brand new PC.
Of course, when plugging everything in, there's the fear that it either won't turn on or it'll blow up. But it was all running perfectly smooth. And now, almost 2 weeks later, I can safely say I've had no issues and it's criminal how quiet it is. I've spent years with a dust-coated PC that turned into an oven every time I did anything intense. So to have this stay stone-cold and very silent... it's a dream.
One thing I did want to mention was how bad the delivery driver was. He slammed the package down onto the doorstep and had zero concern for its safety. But that's not the fault of PCSpecialist, which is why I haven't affected my review score because of it. And thankfully, like I said, the packaging was full with protective styrofoam (and the inside of the PC was secure in place), which meant any sudden impact did no damage.
Overall, an extremely professional UK-based company that's great for prebuilts. And I'll always be grateful to them for making my birthday a special one.

The quick turn around from order to delivery was pretty fast and the pc has been built really well and also I seemed to have got a PSU upgrade that they didnt try and charge me for so that was really nice.
Only reason I did not give 5 stars is because I paid extra for a Corsair case and I now have a PC Specialist branded plastic trim (Same sort of thing as the plastic car model name on back of cars Focus, Astra) And also I am not hugely happy with having a PC Specialist Bios flash on boot up.
But I will be honest and say thats more me being very picky as I really cannot fault the pc at all as they really did do everything they were supposed to and delivered very well packed etc.

The PC is great, it is the third time I have ordered from PC-Specialist and I would do so again.
Two minor points I think could be improved. The box with unused wires and screws was quite a mess, some of the bags had come open, or were never closed, and potentially smaller screws have been lost in transit because of it. It made it a bit of a daunting thing to open. But of course these are just surplus screws and parts that have been taken out due to up-grades to my PC build. However, it would be great if these were a bit more organised and maybe labelled? The number of braided wires did make me wonder for a moment if I would have to connect it all up myself. It was a bit of a confusing thing to open among an otherwise fantastically packed and protected PC.
The expanding packing pillow inside the PC unit had expanded a bit behind the graphics card. I definitely see how it helped protect the PC during transit, but removing it was very difficult and I was worried I was going to damage the graphics card whilst doing this. It had expanded behind the graphics card, so there wasn't quite enough room to get it out easily.
It's working well and I'm very pleased with it.

I am really happy with PCS, this is my first time of purchasing from them but based on this experience I would do so again and would have no issue with recommending them to others.
The Forum community were most helpful and the integration between the Forums and the Ordering Systems is a nice feature.
The order was dispatched & delivered within a week, it was well packaged and included all the spare parts and manuals for the individual components.
Other than a user error I've not had a reason to contact support so can't make any comment on this. However I did make a mistake on the initial order and this was rectified and refunded without issue, this was before the PC had been delivered so again I can't really comment on the returns process but certainly the Customer Service I experienced was more than satisfactory.

Laptop delivered on time, and I was kept fully updated on its progress while it was being built and checked. It was securely packaged when delivered, and for the price (£700) easily out-performs any similarly-priced machine I could have picked "off the shelf". The laptop is fast and easily customisable with a first-class screen and battery life. And the lack of any annoying bloatware is a massive plus. The only downside - and this is purely down to personal preference - is that I'm not a fan of the old-school number pad to the right of the keyboard, which takes up unnecessary space and makes me type in a way that feels off-centre, so sometimes I hit the wrong keys. Other than this minor quibble, I couldn't be happier.

This was not my first purchase from PC Specialist, so a new purchase indicates my satisfaction generally. As for this purchase, the website made selecting components simple and once complete made recommendations as to any better component combinations or over specs with the option to accept or continue with my choice.
Ordering was easy and I was kept informed of build progress which was completed on the promised schedule and delivered with out damage despite being delayed by courier as it was despatched at the start of a bank holiday weekend.
The PC was easily set up. I had one hitch with some installed software purchased that refused to accept the authorisation code but this was quickly sorted out with one phone call.
The PC is now fully operational, is performing above my expectations and is whisper quiet, even when working hard rendering HD video.
Am I satisfied? Most definitely.

I have two PCs at home, and I make a point of replacing them at five yearly intervals. Drives don't last, software needs upgrading, and the machines get 'tired'. Nothing special, just something good for browsing and MS office, but they need to cope with up to 30 open tabs in Chrome!
I do look around each time I buy, but PC Specialist always seem to be the best price offering, and more importantly they allow extensive customization, so I can easy downgrade the processor and upgrade the memory, change the drive size and type, and add in only the extras I want. Great website, easy to customize and purchase. Order to build process is good - generally a few days wait in pre-production, then wizz - from build to test to dispatch in 24 hours. Arrive in good shape (well packaged).
I ordered two identical machines, but not at the same time (really do not like having to move everything to a new machine, so I always do mine first, then only when I have figured out how MS have made the task difficult this time around, and how to fix the issues, do I go ahead with the next one). My PC Specialist bugbear is that always, always I get two slightly different machines! This time - different integrated video cards, the same network card but operating slightly differently, and the pack of 'bits' had different numbers of spare screws. As my first machine did NOT have HDMI port, just a DP port, I had to buy a new DP cable which delayed things a bit. Down to the 'parts to hand' at the time and whoever builds it on the production line I guess. Then I bought a spare DP cable for the next machine, and hey - it had HDMI. Oh well...
Like the new machine - so light (switch mode power supply, solid state memory drive, no need for DVD writer, 98% of the case is fresh air). Really would like a smaller case, but the fashion today is for BIG ONES. Something a third the size would do, and I would not keep banging my knees on it.
And the problem? MS office 2021 as a digital licence. Oh what a palaver! The good: - PC Specialist have a responsive and available customer help team who were able to sort out the 'binding' and activate the licence, both times. A bit variable as it needs a back office boffin to whack MS and get the licence bound to Windows 11, then a first line technician to hack into the machine, run the update scripts to unload the 365 stuff, reload office, activate the licence, and get it all working. First time took 24 hours, second time all done on one call. Not PCS fault, but clearly MS have it in for those of us who want to buy the software licence once rather than pay annually to 'rent' it. Next time I'm going to give in and a) load all my personal data to the cloud b) use MS account on the machine (almost impossible to turn off) and c) rent MS office. OK MS you win. Mind you - that all sounds rather like having a Chromebook and not a MS Windows based PC. Hmmmmm. Maybe I will see you again in five years PCS, maybe not...

Order my new desktop pc which was delayed due to an error which needed testing, as a tester im fine with that and like the idea that PC's are tested before leaving your depot.
Desktop gets despatched and delivered, no problem.
I unpackage the desktop PC, check everything looks Ok, power it on and the noise coming from the PC was ridiculous, incredibly loud like a motorbike.
As per the instructions I can't reboot until Windows 11 is setup so spent the setup with this ridiculous loud noise. Reboot and the noise goes away but now the PC sounds like a really loud hoover.
It's completely unsuitable and I'm very disappointed that I get a desktop PC that is unusable.
I log a complaint which took two emails from myself before this was acknowledged and Im now 8 days on since receiving this PC and all ive had from PCSpecialist is an email confirming my complaint which I forced you to provide me.
I spent £1800K on a PC that was faulty on delivery, no decent customer service yet and I've no idea when I can expect this dealt with.
I've been using desktop PC's since 1990, i rely on my PC at home for work and personal interests, now im stuck using an old laptop till this is rectified.
Massively disappointed.
Attached are the two videos showing the initial setup noise and the hoover noise is makes when sitting idle with nothing running. How would i be able to use Teams on a PC that's so noisey?