Mesh Elite Ice 7 wins PC Advisor Recommended Award

PC Advisor Magazine has awarded the Mesh Elite Ice 7 the PC Advisor Recommended Award. This £799 system was quoted as having "[The Mesh Elite Ice 7] is a good all-round PC system, featuring the Intel Core i7 920 processor at a new low price."

Here's an excerpt from the review

This PC system from Mesh represents a breakthrough specification at the price.

Priced at £749, the Mesh Elite Ice 7 is the first system we've seen at this price to include the Intel Core i7 processor, now reduced in price by Intel. Until now, to get one of Intel's quad-core i7 CPUs, system prices would be closer to £1,000.

The Mesh Elite Ice 7 is built around a Mesh-branded case, relatively solid and a step-up from some of the flimsier boxes we see in the Test Centre. On the silver-painted plastic front panel is a dual-layer DVD writer, and four different slots for various memory cards. Also here you'll find two USB plus a full-size FireWire 400 port.

An Asus P6T SE motherboard includes the usual raft of pre-configured ports, accessible from the rear panel, with interesting extras such as Toslink digital optical audio, another FireWire port, and even eSATA. Six RAM slots are populated by three 1GB cards, making future upgrades straightforward.

Other expansion possibilities include space for two more hard disks and three optical drives.

Aside from the two cooling fans built into the HEC 550W power supply, three more fans can be found: on the case rear panel, over the CPU and on the HIS-branded ATI HD 4850 graphics card. Overall, system noise was moderate.

Included in the package price is a 22in widescreen LCD monitor, the PCA Gold Award-winning Iiyama E2208HDS. Based on a 1920-1080 full-HD TN panel, it gives not the most colourful of images, but instead errs toward the neutral side. Combine that with its matt anti-glare finish, and you should find it to be more relaxing for long-term use than any shiny screen or one that over-saturates colour.

For the full review, please see PC Advisor's site, then head over to our site to see the Mesh Elite Ice 7

Mesh dumps big brands for Edge

MESH Computers launch the new customisable range of laptops as reported in Inquirer.

UK SYSTEM BUILDER Mesh Computers has decided to can 'famous brands' like Asus and MSI in favour of its own brand range of customisable notebooks it calls Edge.

Mesh's push towards Edge started out rather quietly about two weeks ago. The company reports it has already boosted sales and ASPs, adding that its margins are up as a result.

"As soon as we cut the old brands and pushed the Mesh Edge range into the market, we not only saw a significant jump in sales but ASPs have also increased by more than 30 per cent", said Tony Riccardi, Mesh's sales and marketing director.

"Mesh was first to market with many of the old SKUs from brands like Asus and MSI, but more recently our customers have been asking about greater levels of customisation and that is something that we can only offer with our own brand," explained Riccardi.

Pricing for Mesh's own brand machines starts at £599 for the T6400-based unit, going up to £1,999 for the Q900 Xtreme with GTX280 graphics, Blue-Ray drive and 18.4" screen.

"Mesh has 'priced these notebooks to sell' and every unit offers excellent value for money, perfect for the current financial market," said Riccardi.

Riccardi went on to tell the INQ that the laptop market is "booming", with more than nine million mobile PCs expected to be sold in the UK over the next 12 months. Making his case for dumping the big brand SKUs in favour of Mesh's own customisable Edge line, Riccardi told us "there will always be the 'smarter user' who knows exactly what they want. That's the kind of user we have been attracting."

Asked about the company's sourcing operation for notebooks, Riccardi told us, "It is definitely hard work." He added, "You need to spend a lot of time in China, speaking with the OEM/ODM factories before making your choice." But he concluded that the boost Mesh is seeing in notebook sales and profitability "both tell me that it was time well spent".