Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/01/17/review_evesham_c550/
Review As the dust settles on the Intel Centrino Duo launch, several machines based on the new technology have started to appear on the market. After the Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi our second Centrino Duo laptop comes from a UK company - not what you expect when you have massive players like Dell, IBM and HP on the case. The Voyager C550 is rather cunningly based on an established Asus chassis and this is why Evesham has a product available so soon after the launch...
If you want all the technical details about the new platform, take a look at the Acer review (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/12/review_acer_8204wlmi/) as it covers everything the new Centrino Duo platform has to offer. The Voyager C550 isn't as highly specified as the 8204WLMi, but it costs a lot less as a result. The processor is an Intel Core Duo T2400 clocked at 1.83GHz, offering not only a decent speed also the best price:performance value in the Core Duo range, since it costs considerably less than the 2GHz T2500 used in the Acer.
With 1GB of 667MHz DDR 2 memory and a 100GB 7,200rpm SATA hard drive, the base specs are very good indeed. Add to this an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics chip with 256MB of memory and you get close to a desktop spec laptop. Besides the slower CPU and more modest memory complement, the Voyager C550's specification is quite similar to the Acer's. It does of course use the same Intel ProWireless 3945ABG 802.11a/b/g wireless card, as this is part of the new Centrino standard. Bluetooth 2.0 is also part of the package.
The DVD writer is from LG and handles all types of writeable DVD media. It will write to DVD±R media at 8x, DVD±RW at 4x, DVD±R Dual Layer at 2.4x and DVD-RAM at 5x. In terms of design the Voyager C550 looks almost identical to the Asus A6Km-Q002H, which isn't bad but definitely not as stylish as the carbon fibre-finished Acer.
For ports, you've got the optical drive on the left; the rear is home to four USB 2.0 ports, both D-SUB and DVI ports and the power connector. Moving on to the right-hand side reveals the modem and network ports - the Voyager C550 has integrated Gigabit Ethernet - along with a four-pin FireWire port and three audio connectors of which one doubles as an optical S/PDIF out. Sadly, the Voyager C550 doesn't support more than two channels of analogue sound despite having an HD codec that supports 7.1 audio.
Finally, there's an IrDA port, a PC Card slot - Express Card is missing - and a multi-format card reader for SD, MMC, MemoryStick and MemoryStick Pro cards. The screen is a 15.4in widescreen with a native resolution of 1,680 x 1,050 - which is the same as the Acer. The Voyager C550 also features the 1.3-megapixel webcam just above the screen but the Acer tops it by having a rotating camera.
Both machines weigh 2.9kg. The Voyager C550 measures 34.5 x 28.4 x 3.5cm compared to 36.3 x 26.6 x 3.4cm for the Acer, so there isn't much of a difference there, either.
Performance-wise the Voyager C550 lags behind the Acer, although this was kind of expected due to the slower processor and lower amount of memory. However, the gap between the two was a lot bigger than we'd anticipated: as the Evesham only scored 290 in SYSMark 2002 - 72 points slower than the Acer. The PCMark 2005 scores were much closer together and the faster hard drive in the Voyager C550 scored it a few extra points. The MobileMark 2005 performance score is also a way behind the Acer with 184 up against 259 points.
Sadly, the battery life was less than impressive. The Voyager C550 turned in a time a minute short of two hours in MobileMark 2005 - not what I expected to see from a brand new Centrino Duo notebook. This might improve slightly on production models - we tested a pre-production sample that wasn't set up entirely as well as it should've been. The DVD playback test in MobileMark 2005 showed equally poor battery life at 113 minutes - seven minutes short of two hours - so forget about watching even the normal version of a Lord of the Rings movie on the Voyager C550, at least while you're away from mains power.
The X1600 chipset is more than capable of producing playable frame rates in the latest games, albeit some won't be able to do this at the full-screen resolution. The Voyager C550 managed 66.35fps in Far Cry at 1,024 x 768 which is very playable.
Where Evesham does beat Acer is on the warranty as you get no less than three years' cover with the Voyager C550, although this only applies in the UK and the last year is return to base instead of on site. The price is lower too, with Evesham asking only £1,249 for the Voyager C550 - £500 less than the Acer. Saying that, you get less for your money, not only in terms of features, but the Voyager C550 just isn't as well designed as the Acer. Still, if you can't afford the Acer the Voyager C550 isn't a bad laptop by any means.
Due to some supply issues with the 1,680 x 1,050 panels from Asus, initial models of the Voyager C550 will ship with 1,280 x 800 panels. Consequently, Evesham has reduced the price on these models to £1,199 inc. VAT.
It's impressive to see a Centrino Duo machine this quick from a UK system integrator but the Evesham Voyager C550 falls short in more ways than one, with most disappointing aspect being the poor battery life. That said, it does sport a decent specification and a very attractive price.
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 | Evesham Voyager C550 |
| Summary | A Centrino Duo notebook at a very attractive price... |
|---|---|
| Rating | 70% |
| Price | £1199 (1280 x 800 LCD); £1249 (1680 x 1050 LCD) |
| More info | Evesham's notebooks page (http://www.evesham.com/PCs/List.asp?e=3806135C-255E-4727-89DD-22696DFE2071) |
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