Epic EX7 Review

The System: Epic EX7
Integrated V.92 56K Fax/Data Modem
8X DVD / 24X-10X-24 CD-R/W Combo Drive w/ Recording Software
Built-in ATA Hardware RAID Controller
Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Intel® 915P+ICH6 LGA-775 Mobile Motherboard (EX7)
Internal 802.11G 54Mbps Wireless Mini PCI Network Adapter & Bluetooth
Built-in 4-Speaker 3D Sound System w/ 8.1 Channel S/PDIF Output
7 in 1 Flash Media Card Reader Bay
ATI Mobility Radeon X800 PCI-Express 256MB
MS Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 CD & Manual SP2
17" WUXGA 1920x1200 VividView™ Display w/ Super Clear Glossy Surface
1 Year Platinum Warranty with 24/7 Toll-Free Tech Support
4 x 1024MB PC4200 DDR2-533 SODIMM
Built-in MCE TV Tuner with Remote Control for EPIC EX7
EPIC EX7: 17" Windows Media Center Notebook PC
3.80GHz Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 670 (with EM64T)
EPIC EX7 in Silver with Graphite Accents
8X DVD ± R/W Drive Dual Layer w/ DVD Recording Software & LightScribe
80GB 7200rpm Serial-ATA Hard Drive with NCQ & 8MB Cache
120GB 5400rpm Serial-ATA Hard Drive with NCQ & 8MB Cache

Order Process: The order was made on 10SEP2005 and processed quickly. I was given an expected ship date of 28SEP2005. On 23SEP2005 I was contacted and told that my order was delayed due to the 100GB SATA drive I ordered. I was contacted again on 03OCT2006 and asked if I wanted to wait for the 100GB HDD. The delay continued until 09NOV2005 when I was again contacted to ascertain if I wanted to wait longer. I finally consented to accept 80GB HDD instead of 100GB as I had ordered. The price was adjusted accordingly. Throughout this entire time, Hypersonic continued to list the 100GB HDD as an option on their website, although they told me they didn’t have them and didn’t know when they would get them. I received my laptop on 22NOV2006.

Shipping: The package arrived quickly and everything was present, intact and well packaged and protected.

First Impression: FAST!!! I spent five wonderful weeks using my laptop with no fear of it being overwhelmed. I used Media Center to watch TV, and I used the video editing software to make a DVD of the old VHS tapes of family events. I played several games, ran multiple programs, and surfed the internet all at the same time without a problem.

Display: No dead pixels, clear and sharp. Just beautiful.

Sound: Great, but I mostly use headphones. I haven’t tested the speakers and sound extensively.

Games: I play the Mechwarrior games and I have never been able to run them maxed out in performance and graphics before I got this laptop. I also play the Alien vs Predator games, and frequently my old Compaq Presario 2115 would lock up during gameplay. Amazing graphics and speed. I started a DVD burning, then cranked up Mechwarrior and it didn’t even blink.

Detailed Summary: I work in a remote location overseas. I wanted a dependable high end laptop that would be my primary source of recreation, game playing, and for watching TV. I researched and saved for two years before buying from Hypersonic. They offered the most options and the most flexibility in configurations. Reviews were not too impressive in some instances, but in comparing them to other companies that made similar products, it didn't seem to be any worse.
I bought a Hypersonic Epic EX7 at a cost of $4331. I ordered the laptop on 10SEP2005. It had an expected delivery date of 28SEP2005. On 23SEP2005 I was told the order was delayed because they didn't have the 100 GB HDD I ordered. I was forewarned of this, and expected it. I continued checking the Hypersonic website, and they continued to offer the 100GB SATA HDD like the one I ordered, even though customer service was telling me they didn't have any and didn't know when they would get them. After several weeks of waiting, I was finally given the choice of waiting longer, or choosing another hard drive. I opted for the 80 GB hard drive and the price was adjusted accordingly. My order was processed from there, and arrived on 22NOV2005.
The order arrived in good condition and the laptop was blazing fast, with a perfect screen, and no problems whatsoever. The machine was clean, the screen had no dead pixels, and I had a wonderful time getting used to doing whatever I wanted with no worry of the laptop being overwhelmed. I returned overseas after Christmas vacation and the machine seemed to be everything that a 4000 dollar plus laptop should be. Later, I found out that some of the built in memory card readers didn't work. I had used two of the slots while at home and they worked fine, but when I tried to use the CF card slot, it refused to recognize the card. The card worked fine in another card reader. I also had two episodes where the machine wouldn't start although the power indicator lights were in the green. Inexplicably, the machine started later. I had ordered the Lightscribe DVD burner, and it would not recognize the Lightscribe disk. It played DVDs and burned DVDs just fine, but wouldn't work when I tried to get it to recognize the Lightscribe disk for burning words and graphics. Even though the system had a Lightscribe icon on the desktop when I first received it, the software wasn't there. I could never get it to work, and I was researching what the problem might be when the next chapter unfolded.
On 30JAN2006 the laptop just died right in the middle of editing some home video. It never booted again, and the only indication it was even getting power was the indicator lights. I emailed tech support and it took them three days to reply (02FEB2006). They sent me several suggestions for a fix, but nothing worked. It then took them until 07FEB2006 to respond with a repair ticket number. I had to pay to insure it and mail it back since I wasn't located at my home address. Because of my location, I wasn't able to send it off until 27MAR2006. I mailed it and insured it at a cost of $53.
On 29MAR2006 I emailed Hypersonic with the insured mail number and other details about the problems with the laptop. I didn't get a reply until 04APR2006, and that was to tell me to send inquiries about my laptop to the repair department. On 05APR2006 I sent an email to the repair department telling them about the problems with my laptop and informing them of the insured mail number. They never replied. On 20APR2006 I had heard nothing so I emailed the repair department and cc the customer service department. I received a reply on 25APR2006, from customer service, that my email would be forwarded to the repair department. I never received a reply from the repair department.
On 01MAY2006 I received an email from Hypersonic advising me I needed to choose between them shipping it free to my home in Texas, or me paying them to ship it to me at the APO overseas. Apparently they had my computer the whole time and never acknowledged it, leaving me wondering if they had even received it.
I sent them a detailed email outlining what had happened up to and during the time it died. I also included the information about the card reader and Lightscribe drive. The repair department never replied to my emails period, even though I was told to address all emails to the repair department. I was never told what they did to repair my laptop, or if all of the issues I emailed them about were addressed.
I am disappointed so far with Hypersonic. A 4000 plus dollar machine should be more dependable and I don't believe they actually tested every aspect of the machine's operation before shipping it to me in November 2005. I have 200 combined gigabytes of storage on this laptop, but I can't trust keeping anything on it that isn't backed up, because it might just inexplicably die at any moment and I will be without a conputer for several weeks while it is sent back for repair. I gave $1100 for my old Compaq Presario 2115 in the year 2000. I have carried and used that laptop daily in my car at work, and later when I went to work overseas, I used it daily for work and entertainment, and it made the trip from Afghanistan back home and then back to Afghanistan four times. That basic, no frills Compaq never gave me any problems other than a bad DVD drive, and it was was slow. I got $1100 dollars worth of value out of it many times over. If things continue this way with my EX7 I doubt I can say that about it in five years. I hope I am wrong.
When a customer spends several thousand dollars on a laptop, you are buying customer service that should encompass the time before, during and after the sale, as well as the actual product. The amount of money spent on this purchase is supposed to get you a solid high performance machine and the efforts of everyone from management to customer service to provide service after the sale. Hypersonic's responses to me during the order process and later when problems arose were either excuses, or even worse, no reply at all. The machine died after five weeks, and sadly it seems I am not the only person this has happened to. I would not recommend buying from this company if you don’t live next door to them so you can carry your new but inoperable laptop over and complain in person.
I will of course append more information to this review after I get my laptop back and we see how it performs in the future. I hope that I can add more positive comments at a later date.

03MAY2006 - Emailed by Hypersonic Customer Service. They wanted to discuss my experience with having my computer repaired (from the viewpoint of Quality Assurance). They wanted me to call them because they had "heard" that I recently received my laptop back from their repair department. I received this email a day after I told them to mail it back to me at my location overseas (at my expense). No communication between the repair department and the customer service department. Regardless of whether or not I have my laptop back yet, I couldn't discuss my "Repair Experience" anyway because they never told me what was wrong with my laptop, or what they did to repair it.

I emailed Allison and she apologized for the repair department's lack of communication with me. She also reiterated the terms of the warranty and that they only use UPS for shipping and I was responsible for paying for shipping to and from an APO. I am upset at having to pay, but even more annoying is that no one would ever confirm for me that the laptop had even arrived there. I was preparing to start USPS tracking it when they emailed me to tell me it was repaired and they were charging to send it back.
Not only am I denied the use of my 4200 dolar laptop for several weeks, I had to pay round trip shipping to have my computer repaired, and then couldn't get the company to cooperate with me in confirming that the laptop arrived for repair. An apology is nice, but we aren't friends or neighbors. Hypersonic's dog didn't crap on my front lawn. This is business, and if I stonewalled Hypersonic on something I should have informed them about, would they accept a heartfelt apology and let it alone?
Heres a hypothetical situation. I bought a computer from Hypersonic. They never shipped it but they immediatly collected the money on my credit card. I got tired of waiting and canceled the order. But due to an error, the laptop is shipped to me anyway. I keep the money and the laptop. I use the laptop for several weeks until Hypersonic figures out what happened. They demend payment, and I apologize profusely and return the computer.
In this scenario I have denied them use of the computer for several weeks, making it a used item now and depreciating it's value. I am sure they will just accept my apology, accept the computer back, and forget the rest.
I really love the laptop, and I hope everything goes well in the second round. I will still stand by my earlier statement that I will never purchase anything else from this company again. I have teenage daughters and I am buying them laptops for Christmas. As I did with my purchase, I am researching and saving my money so I can get them good ones. It won't be Hypersonic.

I was contacted again by Allison at Hypersonic Customer Service. She asked about the items that needed repairing on my laptop, and said they would check into everything regarding my dissatisfaction. I am now awaiting the arrival of my laptop to see how everything works since the repairs. Crossing my fingers that it all works as it should, and I hope to be able to post some more positive comments later.

I received my laptop back in good working order. It was even polished up and a couple of minor scratches had been buffed away. Everything worked fine except the Lightscribe drive. Still no luck with it, and I emailed customer service. No reply yet, but at least I have my machine and it works (mostly).

I have been traveling for several weeks and haven't had internet access. When I have been able to play some games and use my EX7 for editing video, it has worked flawlessly. That is until the motherboard crashed again. I have owned it now for ten months, and it has been operational for about half that time.
On September 19th, it died right in the middle of an intense game of Hitman: Codename 47. My laptop will not boot now, and the power lights just blink when I press the power button. It is identical to the previous time the motherboard quit on me.
Of course I emailed tech support on September 19th. Then I waited. At the end of the day on September 20th I emailed them again. I got a reply that they needed to "look into the matter a little more closely".
On September 25th I finally got another email from them telling me to move the memory modules around and suggesting all of the other "fixes" that I believe are time wasting delays that they use to put customers off in hopes that the warranty runs out and they can then deny responsibility for repairs. I sent them an email expressing this opinion, and they haven't replied.
If you read the posts above, you will see what I went through previously. I also had an episode where my disaster recovery disk corrupted files onto my laptop, and I had to remove the hard drives, hook them up to another computer using a USB connection, and format them on the other computer. Then I had to do a complete re-install of Windows from the start. Through this all, Hypersonic ignored my emails and they never assisted me in getting my machine back up. After Pat@Hypersonce got involved, I received a reply and apology. I was given the excuse that the tech who received my email went on sick leave.
I reported Hypersonic to the BBB, and after three months of trying to get Hypersonic to respond, the BBB reported to me that Hypersonic ignored their inquiries, and refused to respond to my complaint. I understand that Hypersonic isn't a member of the BBB, and I can now see why. I have had a smoking fast machine for about five months, and a large expensive paperweight for about five months. At present, my machine is in paperweight mode.

Pat, I appreciate you getting involved, and I am sure everyone else who has ever had a problem like this does as well. I can understand the necessity to ensure a machine actually needs repairing before Hypersonic clears it to be sent back. The issue I have is the time wasted while I wait for replies. I reported this situation on September 19th, and again on the 20th after no reply. I got a reply on the 20th asking me to stand by while they researched. It was six days later before I received a response, and then another four days before I received the email with the repair ticket number. I could understand this happening once, but this was exactly the same thing that happened to me twice previously this year.
Email travels almost instantly, and if I send an email at the end of my day here, they get it at the beginning of their day there. That means that my emails sat in someones inbox for six days without the courtesy of an update. I'm not going to beat a dead horse, but the impression I get when I am ignored is that I am being intentionally delayed, or worse yet, no one there is motivated by management to care about the customer.
Again, I appreciate your help, and thank you for your assistance now and in the past.

Mountain Man has hit the nail on the head. When making a purchase like this, I consider customer service part of the price. After this experience, I won't buy anything that has warranty coverage through the mail. I will spend more and buy from a local business where I can take the machine back and talk face to face with someone.
I passed through a larger base not long ago and the PX had small Averatec laptops for $850. I almost bought one just to have a backup for when my EX7 is down. It reminded me of a Cadillac dealership in Dallas Texas back in the 80's. They offered a free Yugo along with a fully loaded Cadillac if you bought a service package. With the service package, they would come by your house once a month and pick up your Cadillac. It would be completely serviced and cleaned, and the free Yugo was so you would have a car to drive on that day.
After my computer is repaired this time, I won't be contacting Hypersonic anymore. I'll take my computer to a local repair shop if I have a problem I can't fix myself.