Blackhawk XR5 Canada

Having spent over 9 months on this forum (even before I registered) I was trying to decide what to buy to replace the "Cheese Grater" aka Mac Pro - that thing was hard to travel with to technical demonstrations to say the least, not to mention how long it would take to clear customs and setup.

Finally decided to buy the Clevo D901C, picking the assembler was another problem. I waited for a long time for the processor refresh, needed to make sure the new processors were supported. Finally PCMW and EC released the processors before everyone else but at premium.

I actually had correspondence with XoticPC, Eurocom and PCMW - all of them are amazing. XoticPC and Powernotebooks have the best prices and service combination.

I want to say that the only two reasons I went with PCMW is because of the better pricing and the amazing support, they actually called me in Canada to ask if I had any questions about my order.

Where Eurocom is concerned, don't judge a book by its cover or what others say about it, have a read - get in touch with them, your experience could be good. John Shore was working with me via email and we exchanged 6-7 emails in the span of two hours - he was helping me with pricing.


System Specs are as follows:

Black-Hawk XR5
Intel® XEON QUAD X3360 (2.83GHz/45nm/1333MHz/12MB)
4096MB Ultra Speed DDR2 800MHz Extreme Performance Memory
320GB @ 14,400RPM SATA300 Storage RAID 0 (2 x 160GB 7200RPM)
Standard 8X High Speed DVD-RW / CD-RW DL Burner
SLI Dual nVIDIA Geforce 8800M GTX 1GB DDR3 X-TREME GPU
17" HD WUXGA+ 1920x1200 Ultra Resolution GlassVision Wide Screen Cinema Display
8 Channel Advanced SRS WOW Surround Sound System
High Speed 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Networking Adapter
Internal High Speed V90k Dial Up Modem
Built In 802.11AGN 300mbps Ultra Speed Wireless Adapter
Integrated Advanced Bluetooth v2.0 Wireless Adapter

I have a feeling someone will ask about this so: I am getting the XEON because of the extended up times and obscene stress the machine is going to face during demonstrations and testing. The XEONs are server class processors and are thus built to handle a slightly higher temperature range.

I am ordering from Canada, so I'll let you guys know all the particulars of how the shipping and receiving goes. Package will be delivered by FedEx International Express and will be declared as manufactured in the US (so it won't pickup any duties, according to NAFTA and the FedEx tax/duties tools). I'll also let you know of the build quality and packaging as well as if I have any troubles getting the unit up and running. I'll get some unboxing pictures as well - I know I would have loved to have found some unboxing pictures of the D901C's so that I could have know what to expect when I got mine.


/Saad

 

WOW thats a nice laptop.

 

went with the Xeon i say... post some specs of that baby, processor wise (Wprime/SuperPI) wen u get it. ANother PCMW customer... good for u!

 

Thanks guys!

Will do.

First test is to see how long it takes PCMW to build and ship, not to mention if there are any problems with the unit once I get it - lets see how their quality control and build quality fares


/Saad

 

7200 rpm hdds are getting very warm, if I coould chhose now I would go with 320 GB at 5400 rpms.

PL

 

Why didn' t you post prices paid?

 

Anyway you won't regret this buy

 

I will switch to a single 320GB 5400RPM disk - thanks for the advice.


/Saad

 

What I meant was that 200 7200 RPM had comparable performance to 320 GB 5400 RPm. There is a topic on this forum why they have similar speeds. When copyin from one hdd to another I got about 60 MB/2 so it is quite fast. I have a 200 GB hdd at 7200 RPm and 320 GB hdd at 5400 RPM and the one at 7200 RPm gets quite hot. Maybe some other people can give more information on comparison between those different hdd. Please note that the hdd at 5400 rpm should be at least 320 GB ( somehting about the denisty of information, number of discs). In practice I guess no hdd will beat the 500 GB at 7200 RPMs, but when comparing 200 GB or less hdd at 7200 rpm the speed is amost or comparable to the 5400 RPMS hdd with 320GB. Good luck with your aquisition.

My temps show 49 degrees C for the 7200 RPm hdd and 35 for the 5400 RPM 320 GB hdd.

PL

 

Platter density is higher on the 320GB5K, data is stored closer together so the slower seek times don't have that much difference - shorter distances to travel between data chunks. The drive also consumes less power (I think) which could translate to more battery life and lower temperatures.

I was actually going to discard/set aside the 160GB HDDs when the laptop arrived and install my own 320GB from the lab, but hey since I am paying for it anyway might as well get the 320GB from PCMW.


/Saad

 

So I just found out my laptop has been shipped by PCMW - but all is not well...

I was promised Fedex International Priority shipping in exchange for student discount but got Fedex International Ground. Now the problem with this is that I am probably going to get hit by Duties and a 13% Tax on my total bill. I shall also assume that customs canada are going to hold my package to asses its value. I hope they cut me some slack - I've spent almost one months salary a laptop.

The Fedex shipping tools say that I should not get charged any Duties but will have to pay the tax - I am not to sure how true this is. Has anyone gotten Fedex ground and can confirm that I am going to get the shaft? Does anyone happen to know what the duty rates are?

So far my after sales experience with PCMW has been bitter sweet, I am going to write up a full summary once all is done. I am hoping that the shipping goes smoothly so that I can overlook/forget about all the crap that has happened so far. I can only hope that this machine isn't damaged in anyway cause I am going to send it back and get a refund.


/Saad

 

you have to pay taxes no matter what. you wont be charged duty. i would send it back and tell them to send it properly next time lol. nah but that does suck.

 

I wasn't expecting to be able to skip taxes, but I've heard of people who had to pay duty for stuff that came across the boarder by ground and was hoping to avoid that.

I don't think I can do anything now, the package has been sent already and is going to take till the 25th to get to me (Fedex site estimate). I needed the machine by this weekend (something I made very clear to them on several occasions) so that I could have it setup for a technical demo. It seems like I am going to be lugging around a MacPro now - thanks a lot PCMW. There was absolutely no point what so ever in me buying this machine if I don't have it by Saturday, what a waste.


/Saad

 

I think it was a courier fee rather than an import duty that was being charged for ground shipping.

 

Can't you tell this to PCMW and ask them to change the shipping method?

 

I'll find out if there is any duty when the courier turns up at my door with the bill that will also include taxes.

I've actually emailed them already asking them why/how this mess transpired - I wouldn't hold my breath on a reply though. I've been asking for a printed bill for my machine that is "sanitized", i.e.: is not off their webpage but on a proper PCMW letter head, I haven't gotten a reply yet. PCMW is amazing when you got them on the phone but not good over email.


/Saad

 

I am awaiting delivery of a similar Black-Hawk X5 system. Primary specs are:


Intel® XEON QUAD X3360 (2.83GHz/45nm/1333MHz/12MB)

8192MB High Speed DDR2 Extreme Performance Memory

192GB OCZ SSD2 Solid State Storage RAID 0 (3 x 64GB SSD)

50GB HD Blu-Ray-RW / DVD-RW / CD-RW DL Next Gen. Burner

SLI Dual nVIDIA Geforce 8800M GTX 1GB DDR3 X-TREME GPU

ExpressCard Advanced HSDPA High Speed Internet Connection

Advanced Digital / Analog Hybrid TV Tuner + Remote Control

Microsoft® Windows Vista Ultimate 64 + XP PRO 32 Dual Boot Config

Office® 2007 PRO


Before ordering, I could not fInd much in the way of recent reviews out there about the Black-Hawk with its currently available options, though PCMW seems to be generally in high regard. Hope you and other Black-Hawk owners will post real-world reviews of your short-term and long-term impressions of the actual real-world performance of this machine. So far, my experience with phone sales support has also been excellent, while email support has been substantively responsive after a 1 to 2 day lag in response time. Delivery of my system is delayed by 3 days awaiting the graphics card.

 

Thats a really nice machine, congratulations!

I am still awaiting my machine, the Shipping department at PCMW screwed up my shipping. It was supposed to be dispatched via Fedex International Express but I got Fedex Ground Direct, package was sent out on the 18th and the estimated delivery date is the 25th.

Make sure you call them and ensure they have all the details right. Fedex tracking on my package hasn't updated since the 19th so I effectively don't know where my 4K worth of hardware is. Very disappointed in the PCMW's shipping screw up to say the least.

Hope everything goes smoothly for you.


/Saad


<EDIT> Package is in transit, not sure which side of the boarder. </EDIT>