Physical examination II
The Solar Storm ships with a decent infra-red HID bundle from Logitech. The keyboard had just the right level of travel and the mouse was tactile and responsive.
Movin' on to the all-important screen, the ViewSonic 20in model is a 16:10 display with a native resolution of 1680x1050. Text was sharp and the screen was bright and even, right into the corners. A good choice for a £1,000 system.
The usual extras for a Media Center PC.
And here's how it all looks when set together.
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Software
The Evesham Solar Storm ships with Microsoft's Windows Vista Home Premium operating system, launched today. Vista Home Premium's features require a separate article but, in the main, it provides a new, easier-to-access user interface and a better set of entertainment tools than are present on XP. Specifically, Vista Home Premium incorporates all the benefits of Windows Media Center Edition 2005 and also supports the funky-looking Aero interface.Complementing the operating system is Microsoft's own Works 8.5. Burning is taken care of by Roxio's Easy Media Creator 9 and Evesham also bundles a seven-day trial of BullGuard anti-virus software.
Warranty considerations
Evesham provides a three-year warranty with the Solar Storm that's defined as Gold. The first two years are on-site and the third, which only covers labour costs, is back to Evesham's HQ in, well, Evesham.There is a technical support line - an 0870 number - which would be your first point of reference should things go awry. Should a problem be identified that requires an engineer's visit in the first two years, Evesham says it aims to have one out to you within three days. In the final year, however, the average turnaround, from pickup of a defective system to delivery of the repaired machine, is quoted as an average of 10 days.
The warranty begins on the purchase date and is not transferable should the machine be sold on during the warranty period.
The two-year on-site support is appreciated but the rest of the warranty is distinctly average.
Power requirements
Using our trusty watt meter, the complete system - base unit, monitor, speakers and input devices - consumed around 140W when idling in Windows Vista. Running the system with 3DMark06 at 1680x1050 with 4x AA/8x AF, to simulate maximum load conditions, pushed the overall power requirement to around 190W. To put that in some kind of financial perspective, and assuming a bunch of factors remain constant, the system would cost you around 5p per day, based on a daily three-hour usage pattern and electricity pricing of 8p per kilowatt power. Who says running PCs is expensive?Value for money?
System integrator pricing has become such that it's often impossible to source the components and build it cheaper yourself. We tallied up the individual cost of the components in the Evesham system, sourced from reputable e-tailers, and arrived at a figure of £960. Now, that excludes the building costs and warranty cover, but is around £80 cheaper than Evesham's option, including delivery. Building it yourself gives you finer control over every facet and, as such, you may choose different components to the ones specified by Evesham. System integrators are flexible enough to accommodate practically any request but, usually, at an upgrade cost that's higher than the street price.Evesham's Solar Storm, then, offers reasonable, if not extraordinary, value for money, based purely on an evaluation of the specification.
