My Evesham X5 arrived yesterday, 1 week to the day since I ordered it. I have been planning this purchase for so long that I was quite amazed with my own restraint - I managed to put my baby girls to bed, eat my dinner and tidy up before ripping open the packaging! It was getting quite late by the time I had taken some photos and put them on my website. Here is my review based on last night's fun.
This is the specification -
PM 745 (1.8) CPU
ATI RADEON 9700 128MB GPU
60 GB 7200rpm HDD
1 GB PC2700 (333mhz) RAM
DVD-RW/CD-RW Slot loading drive
I paid £1518 for this set-up (including VAT and delivery). Strangely, this is £80+ less than if you buy it from the Evesham website.
The first thing I installed on the machine was FreshDiagnose. This small utility enabled me to create a quick report on the hardware components, just to make sure everything was as I had ordered. It was.
Here are some (poor quality) photos I took last night. The room I work in is quite dark and so without the flash the detail is not so hot. Still, you get the idea -
http://www.grumpyman.co.uk/laptop.asp
SCREEN
The first thing you notice when you have started up the X5 is the superb colour rendering of the screen. Although not as bright as my old 15" monitor (on the default settings anyway), the screen's viewing angle is quite amazing - right up there with the Sony screens I have seen, but less reflective.
I put a black screen up to check for light leakage and detected a small amount at the bottom. This is consistent with all the other laptops I have used, certainly no worse.
After quite a few minutes with my face pressed up against the screen I was satisfied that there were no dead/stuck pixels (praise the pixel gods!)
I put on a Kill Bill DVD and it looked great, incredibly smooth and crisp.
BUILD
The X5 feels light but solid. I was worried before purchasing because the screen surround/lid is not metal but plastic, but there is no 'give'
anywhere on the chassis (unlike the Inspiron 8600 I played with).
Surprisingly, the keyboard is also solid as a rock. I was expecting some keyboard flex because virtually every laptop I have ever used has some bending, especially in the middle. However, the X5 keyboard is extremely solid and satisfying to use.
One thing I really like is the logo on the lid. The silver/white 'bubble' is very pretty and understated, giving the machine a nice professional look. I had only seen Rock's logo on this machine before from some picture on their website and I thought that was nice and funky - but I like this one even better.
DVD DRIVE
For some reason I was expecting a 'tray' style DVD-drive. This nice slot drive was a bonus. It's action is so satisfying that I found myself putting a DVD in the slot and ejecting it again over and over again. The sound is a nice gentle whirring.
SOUND
I had heard some negative comments about the sound on this machine and so I was pleasantly surprised when I added a PJ Harvey MP3 via my dongle (flash
drive) and turned up the sound. There was no distortion and the tonal range was very good, aided I'm sure by the small 'bass' speaker on the bottom.
I plugged in my iPod headphones and it sounded much better (no surprise).
However, the sound without using headphones is certainly loud enough for a group of people to gather round the machine and watch a DVD (and the great viewing angle of the screen makes this even more practical).
GAMING
Because my desktop is so old (PIII, 32MB GPU) the most demanding game I own is Medieval Total War. I installed this and started a 'quick battle' with all the visual extras switched on and the army size set to 'Huge'. This would have (literally) crashed my old desktop but the X5 breezed through the game with no performance lag whatsoever. Amazing really - thousands of these little guys hacking each other to bits in the best detail I have ever seen.
I can't wait until Rome: Total War comes out, that game will be a real test of the X5's gaming credentials.
LEG TEST
After being on for 4 hours gaming and running benchmarks, the X5 was getting a little warm on the left palm rest. I decided to see if it would be possible to rest the machine on my bare legs.
Wow - it was comfortable. I could sit with the laptop on my bare legs and the warmth was not at all troubling. So, it's official - the X5 is a laptop, not a notebook
WARNING: Do not try this if you are the owner of a machine with a desktop processor in it!
BENCHMARKS
It was getting quite late but I thought I'd run the one benchmark I had managed to find to finish off.
3D Mark 2001
This is quite a nice benchmark just to sit and watch. The frame rates on all the tests looked good and I was expecting quite a high score. However...
7446
Disaster! I know that the 9700 card should be giving a score of around the 10,000 mark. Something is clearly very wrong.
I adjusted the power management settings in case the CPU was being clocked down. I set the power management scheme to 'Minimal power management' and ran the benchmark again. The score was the same.
I checked in the system properties and the processor is listed as a 600Mhz.
Argh! I remember reading in a forum posting somewhere about someone who experienced the same problem but after searching on the web for 30 minutes I could not find an answer. It was getting very late now.
I installed the SpeedStep utility and ran a processor check - it listed the MAXIMUM processor speed as 600Mhz.
I unplugged the battery so that the AC adapter was the only power source and checked again - still a maximum CPU click of 600 Mhz.
It's a shame the first evening with my new toy ended with such a glitch.
However, I am sure this is a software/settings issue and can be resolved quickly. I will post benchmark scores again when things are working properly. Any help solving this would be much appreciated.
I hope people find this review useful.
This is the specification -
PM 745 (1.8) CPU
ATI RADEON 9700 128MB GPU
60 GB 7200rpm HDD
1 GB PC2700 (333mhz) RAM
DVD-RW/CD-RW Slot loading drive
I paid £1518 for this set-up (including VAT and delivery). Strangely, this is £80+ less than if you buy it from the Evesham website.
The first thing I installed on the machine was FreshDiagnose. This small utility enabled me to create a quick report on the hardware components, just to make sure everything was as I had ordered. It was.
Here are some (poor quality) photos I took last night. The room I work in is quite dark and so without the flash the detail is not so hot. Still, you get the idea -
http://www.grumpyman.co.uk/laptop.asp
SCREEN
The first thing you notice when you have started up the X5 is the superb colour rendering of the screen. Although not as bright as my old 15" monitor (on the default settings anyway), the screen's viewing angle is quite amazing - right up there with the Sony screens I have seen, but less reflective.
I put a black screen up to check for light leakage and detected a small amount at the bottom. This is consistent with all the other laptops I have used, certainly no worse.
After quite a few minutes with my face pressed up against the screen I was satisfied that there were no dead/stuck pixels (praise the pixel gods!)
I put on a Kill Bill DVD and it looked great, incredibly smooth and crisp.
BUILD
The X5 feels light but solid. I was worried before purchasing because the screen surround/lid is not metal but plastic, but there is no 'give'
anywhere on the chassis (unlike the Inspiron 8600 I played with).
Surprisingly, the keyboard is also solid as a rock. I was expecting some keyboard flex because virtually every laptop I have ever used has some bending, especially in the middle. However, the X5 keyboard is extremely solid and satisfying to use.
One thing I really like is the logo on the lid. The silver/white 'bubble' is very pretty and understated, giving the machine a nice professional look. I had only seen Rock's logo on this machine before from some picture on their website and I thought that was nice and funky - but I like this one even better.
DVD DRIVE
For some reason I was expecting a 'tray' style DVD-drive. This nice slot drive was a bonus. It's action is so satisfying that I found myself putting a DVD in the slot and ejecting it again over and over again. The sound is a nice gentle whirring.
SOUND
I had heard some negative comments about the sound on this machine and so I was pleasantly surprised when I added a PJ Harvey MP3 via my dongle (flash
drive) and turned up the sound. There was no distortion and the tonal range was very good, aided I'm sure by the small 'bass' speaker on the bottom.
I plugged in my iPod headphones and it sounded much better (no surprise).
However, the sound without using headphones is certainly loud enough for a group of people to gather round the machine and watch a DVD (and the great viewing angle of the screen makes this even more practical).
GAMING
Because my desktop is so old (PIII, 32MB GPU) the most demanding game I own is Medieval Total War. I installed this and started a 'quick battle' with all the visual extras switched on and the army size set to 'Huge'. This would have (literally) crashed my old desktop but the X5 breezed through the game with no performance lag whatsoever. Amazing really - thousands of these little guys hacking each other to bits in the best detail I have ever seen.
I can't wait until Rome: Total War comes out, that game will be a real test of the X5's gaming credentials.
LEG TEST
After being on for 4 hours gaming and running benchmarks, the X5 was getting a little warm on the left palm rest. I decided to see if it would be possible to rest the machine on my bare legs.
Wow - it was comfortable. I could sit with the laptop on my bare legs and the warmth was not at all troubling. So, it's official - the X5 is a laptop, not a notebook
WARNING: Do not try this if you are the owner of a machine with a desktop processor in it!
BENCHMARKS
It was getting quite late but I thought I'd run the one benchmark I had managed to find to finish off.
3D Mark 2001
This is quite a nice benchmark just to sit and watch. The frame rates on all the tests looked good and I was expecting quite a high score. However...
7446
Disaster! I know that the 9700 card should be giving a score of around the 10,000 mark. Something is clearly very wrong.
I adjusted the power management settings in case the CPU was being clocked down. I set the power management scheme to 'Minimal power management' and ran the benchmark again. The score was the same.
I checked in the system properties and the processor is listed as a 600Mhz.
Argh! I remember reading in a forum posting somewhere about someone who experienced the same problem but after searching on the web for 30 minutes I could not find an answer. It was getting very late now.
I installed the SpeedStep utility and ran a processor check - it listed the MAXIMUM processor speed as 600Mhz.
I unplugged the battery so that the AC adapter was the only power source and checked again - still a maximum CPU click of 600 Mhz.
It's a shame the first evening with my new toy ended with such a glitch.
However, I am sure this is a software/settings issue and can be resolved quickly. I will post benchmark scores again when things are working properly. Any help solving this would be much appreciated.
I hope people find this review useful.
There were no 'artifacts' or signs of degredation, either.
