OCZ DIY Gaming Notebook 15″

Packaging & Contents

True to the press release shots, the OCZ DIY 15″ comes in an extremely minimalistic white cardboard box complete with the orange DIY logo depicting a hand brandishing a screwdriver. Nowhere on the box is there any mention of what is contained within, not even a specifications label affixed to one of the edges or a barcode affixed to the bottom of the box. This possibly indicates that we are either looking at an early pre-release sample here, or maybe that the DIY range isn’t going to be finding its way onto the shelves of computer stores, possibly being restricted to online purchasing only.

OCZ DIY Box Front OCZ DIY Box Back
Opening the box, we can see that OCZ have wrapped the DIY notebook in a clear plastic bag and placed it in the centre of two large styrofoam blocks. The accessories have also received a similar treatment, with each and every component being placed inside its own sealed bag and securely stored inside the styrofoam padded accessories box.  The mains lead remains separate (probably so that OCZ can easily change the region of the notebook), but has still been given its own protection in the form of a cardboard sleeve.
OCZ DIY Box Open OCZ DIY Box Contents
 

As expected, everything you need to get up and running is included. From left to right, we have the mains lead and adaptor, software drivers and manual (for both x86 and x64), a 2.5″ hard disk caddy, several bags of screws, the battery pack and finally the CPU/GPU/NB cooler. For a system marketed as Do-It-Yourself, there’s certainly nothing too daunting here.

OCZ DIY Contents  OCZ DIY Manuals

Going in for a closer look at some of the more important accessories, we can see below that OCZ have provided the DIY with a 4400mAh 11.1v 6-Cell battery manufactured by SMP. This is at the lower end of ‘acceptable’ for a notebook (even my antiquated Sony Vaio has a 4800mAh) and will probably give around two hours of life when used for general tasks. Interestingly, the battery is also used by several other manufacturers and higher output ones (6000mAh+) that fit the laptop can be found online if you look in the right places.

OCZ DIY Battery OCZ DIY Battery

The cooler, although small, looks quite efficient with a combination of copper and aluminium being used in its construction. Heat is transferred from the CPU by means of a heatpipe connected directly to copper fins, and the GPU and NB chips also receive cooling via direct contact with the cooler’s aluminium base. A blower fan set centre is used to push hot air out the side of the laptop when things get too toasty.

OCZ DIY Cooler OCZ DIY Cooler
Now let’s check out the notebook in its full glory…