Review: Evesham Voyager C720 DC Core 2 Duo notebook

The Evesham Voyager C720DC is one of the first notebooks released to feature Intel’s next generation of dual-core processors.

This model uses the Core 2 Duo T7200. Intel’s new range for notebooks is the mobile implementation of its Core Microarchitecture design.

This includes the ability to process more instructions simultaneously and to better handle memory.

There is also more emphasis on reducing power consumption in the notebook edition compared with the desktop.

As a consequence, it has a slower FSB (front-side bus).

The T7200 processor featured here runs at 2GHz and sits at the top end of the Core 2 Duo scale with 4MB of L2 cache.

This cache can be shared dynamically between both processor cores, enhancing the chip’s utility for many multimedia applications.

Evesham wisely backed up the processor with 1GB of fast DDR2 Ram.

This helped the Voyager C720DC to achieve a PCmark05 score of 5,562.

Although very impressive, it’s not a big leap in performance compared with the effect Core 2 Duo had on Intel’s desktop processors.

Graphics have not been neglected in this notebook and it comes with an Nvidia Geforce Go 7900GTX.

The card has 512MB of onboard Ram and is the fastest mobile GPU that Nvidia produces.

It’s no surprise then that the Voyager C720DC scored 8,261 in 3Dmark05.

It also managed to achieve 82.56fps (frames per second) in our Far Cry test.

Given its powerful mobile graphics, the Voyager C720DC will comfortably handle the requirements of Aero, the graphical interface to be used by the forthcoming Windows Vista.

Further enhancing the gaming and media capabilities of this notebook is its impressive 17in widescreen X-Bright display.

With a glossy coating that suits DVDs and gaming, the screen supports a huge native resolution of 1,920x1,200. A 1.3-megapixel camera is embedded at the top of the screen.

SRS Wow audio technology powers the speakers.

They are set into the sides of the chassis and the bass they provide combats the tinny sound often experienced with notebooks.

However, they are still no substitute for a set of surround-sound speakers and you may want to invest in a set of 5.1 speakers.

The Voyager C720DC is not light at 3.8kg, so it’s not ideal for frequent travellers.

But its dimensions mean you get a full-sized keyboard with numeric keypad, a spacious touchpad, sizeable mouse buttons and a four-way middle button to ease navigation in Windows and when browsing the internet.

Three program launch keys are placed beneath the screen and the front of the notebook houses a range of media controls and an LCD system activity panel.

Various ports are situated around the chassis, including an Express Card slot, memory card reader, Firewire port and four USB2 ports. Bluetooth and 802.11g Wifi are also integrated.

The Voyager C720DC ran for one hour, 47 minutes in our battery test.

It ships with Windows XP Media Center Edition and only applications such as gaming or heavy-duty video editing will take full advantage of this notebook’s power.

Overall Evesham has combined the latest technology to produce an impressively fast notebook

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