LabsBig-brand notebooks
IMPORTANT NOTE The Evesham is based around the same chassis as the Rock Xtreme, so there's little to distinguish them from each other visually apart from the colour of the lid - black brushed metal on the Evesham; silver on the Rock. Inside, though, the machines do differ slightly. Weighing more than 5kg along with the charger, this isn't a portable machine, a fact reinforced by a battery life of less than two hours under light use. The design would suggest this is a gaming machine, with striking touches
With a Core 2 Duo T7500 and 2GB of RAM, it performed well in our benchmarks, scoring a nippy 1.07. In our 3D tests, the same GeForce 8700M GT graphics as the Rock carried it to an identical average of 49fps in Call of Duty 2 at our lowest settings. At our top settings, it still managed 26fps, making the Evesham a perfectly capable gaming laptop. The 17in 1,920 x 1,200 widescreen has enough room to fit two A4 pages side by side in Word. It's also well suited to video, again partly because of the screen ratio, and comes equipped with a digital TV tuner and Media Center. The good-quality built-in speakers are loud, although they distort at high volumes. There's certainly plenty of room for games and media on the 250GB hard disk. Because of the large chassis, the keyboard doesn't feel cramped and even features a number pad on the right. The Evesham's design is firmly aimed at gamers, and the 3D performance is certainly up to scratch, so whether you choose the Evesham or the Rock depends on features. The Rock costs £160 more but has an HD DVD drive and superior warranty as trump cards; by contrast, this notebook has a larger hard disk and a TV tuner. With entertainment at the fore we could go either way, but the HD possibilities give the Rock the edge this month. |
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