Syber Vapor K review

Opening up the Vapor K for upgrades is pleasingly simple. There’s just a single screw hidden behind a pop-off cap, which then allows you to slide off the top cover. Both memory slots come occupied but you can easily swap these out if you want to install up to 16GB of memory. The hard disk is mounted to a removable metal plate that also has a 120mm fan attached. This is installed over the graphics card, so will need to be removed first if you want to swap the graphics card out.

There’s a good array of connectivity including a headphone and microphone port on the front of the system, something the Alienware Alpha lacks. In addition to the front USBs, there are a further four USB3 ports and two standard USBs on the rear, along with two Ethernet ports and connections for an external Gigabyte 802.11ac Wi-Fi antenna. There are audio connections for up to 7.1 surround and an optical S/PDIF connection. Finally, the graphics card has HDMI, DisplayPort and two DVI outputs.

The Syber Vapor K is designed as a living room PC, so installing Steam and using Big Picture mode to easily navigate your gaming library using a controller is a must. Our system was set to auto-start Steam in Big Picture mode as soon as Windows booted, but this is something you can disable if you prefer to boot into a conventional desktop.

The Vapor K comes with a Logitech F710 wireless gaming controller that is an amalgamation of the PlayStation and Xbox style controller. The twin analogue sticks are positioned much like the PlayStation’s but the face buttons use the distinct Xbox colours and labels. The F710 isn’t our favourite controller to use, the triggers in particular don’t feel as responsive as we would like. We would have preferred if Syber had included an Xbox 360 controller and wireless adaptor instead.

The wireless keyboard with integrated touchpad that also comes bundled with the system is no larger than a smartphone. The keyboard’s keys are tiny but do a decent job as an alternative to reaching for a full-size keyboard if you’re on the couch. The touchpad was also surprisingly serviceable. It’s a welcome inclusion, but not something we would want to use for long periods of time.

The Vapor K is a competent gaming PC in a reasonably compact form factor. It’s no where near as small and innocuous as the Alienware Alpha but makes up for it by being eminently more powerful and more easily upgradeable. It runs a little hot and noisy for our liking, but overall it’s a fine choice if you want a living room PC without compromise.