Evesham? Thoughts on new Notebook?

Ok, so recently I bought a DELL M1730 to replace my desktop system. This was to replace it for all tasks, including (and especially) gaming. Now putting aside the merits of gaming on notebooks, and desktops, and the cost ~ I was not happy with the general performance (and especially with games) of the M1730. So i returned it.

About this time NVIDIA pop out the 8800M. I see the reviews and becnhmarks and its impressive, so I take a look round for anyone selling such systems in the UK.

There was only one choice, ROCKDIRECT. Their prices were a little higher than I was looking for but the 8800M was worth it, and the extra wait is tough but also worth it considering the difference it will make>

So I purchased (well ordered) one of the following systems...
http://www.rockdirect.com/viewNotebook.php?pName=XTREME 770
for a grand total of £2068. For that you get the Clevo based notebook, 2.4ghz C2D, 2GB 800Mhz DDR, 160GB HDD (7200RPM) and 1GB INTEL TURBO MEMORY.

Ok so thats sorted, just got to wait for it to arrive. Sometime mid-december (god willing). Then i caught a glimpse of this.....

http://www.evesham.com/products/info.asp?e=F2FBE0BA-A6F3-4F3C-AAEF-00BCBCACF336

More or less came out today (30th November) and its £68 less than my current, waiting order, for the ROCK X770. Except (and this is the main point) it comes with a Core2 Extreme 2.8Ghz, 4GB of RAM, 200GB HDD.... 8800M GTX ect.... which is quite a specification leap indeed. The kicker was that its based on the same Clevo notebook.

My problem? Evesham's troubled past.
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/11/05/evesham_creditors_meeting/

I have tried to search for information but not had much luck. The only thing ive been able to find out for sure (more or less) is that Geemore Technology now own them and trade under their name (are these related to TIME PC?).

What i really want to know is how the company is right now. While the specification of their notebook is astounding for the money, its going to be useless to me if :-

1) They vanish along with the warrenty in a few months.
2) Their service/support is a joke.

None of the above matter, unless there is a problem with it. If it was a desktop system id be less concerned (since id be able to fix anything that went wrong with that myself if Evesham wouldnt cough up) but with a notebook things are a little more difficult (and expensive).

So any thoughts? Hopefully someone else will know more than me about this company, and maybe some people in the forums have bought from them recently.

Regards

 

Hi there,
yeah i noticed the new Evesham just today hence why i posted it on my thread about the UK getting all the new 8800 laptops.

I bought a Desktop PC from evesham about 3 years ago and it has been and still is working brilliantly. There was a problem with the DVD-RW drive about a year ago (wouldn't write dvd's) but all it took was a call to evesham and i guy came round and popped in a new DVD-RW drive then and then. That is the ONLY problem i have had for 3 years of this desktop, and i'm pretty sure that one problem was a one-off fault with the drive.

For me Evesham is one of those companies that you never hear of, and then when you hear of them you start seeing their name everywhere. They had a similar laptop (the Zieo N650-HDS £1399) reviewed in last months PC-PRO i think and it lost out to the (more expensive) Rock laptop just due to the fact that the rock had a HD drive. The review must have been written before either laptop had 8800 cards in because the reviews both have the 8700. My point is that i dont think you will go wrong with evesham atall, they're just not a Bigbranded laptop seller like dell, they're more like a lesser rockdirect.

Im so jealous that you have £2000 to spend on a laptop, i have a spending limit of £1200 and don't know whether having 512mb 8600M GT graphics with top specs everywhere else (4GB ram etc...) is better or worse for me then a 512mb 8700M GT card with specs like 1gb ram and under 2ghz processor?

Summed up: I have had a Evesham PC for 3 years, its caused me one minor problem and it has pleanty of life left.

 

Sounds resonable i guess (did a live chat). I'm just trying to think if i should cancle my order with ROCK or not. A few people in the ROCK forums (members not staff) have hinted that this might be "bait" to get money.

Guess i will have to think about it over the weekend.

 

well if your budget is less check out the same clevo machine on
www.novatech.com
£1400 for the same spec as a 2k rock? sure it doent have HD-DVD or 3 YEAR warranty but its £600 less!!!

 

I don't think Evesham will need your 2000 bucks when they are in debt amounting to millions.

 

Evesham have been around for years so I can't see them Vanishing any time soon.

As for service, I have no idea, but they're based in Evesham in Worcestershire which is southwest England, if you do hve any issues it might be wrth turning up in person if possible.

 

Just buy it on credit card, then if the worst comes to the worst...

Nox

 

tho i got mine from novatech, would have to recommend them (but i do only live round the corner!)

Nox