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Mesh’s Edge17 HD CS is a large desktop-replacement laptop. Its 17in display is a chunk larger than the 15.4in screens that come with most laptops. Sadly, it has a resolution of 1,440×900, whereas similarly priced 17in laptops from other manufacturers manage a much higher resolution of 1,600×900. This could be forgiven somewhat if the quality of the screen was incredible, but that isn’t the case. We found that it was dark and suffered from poor viewing angles. The size of the screen means there’s plenty of room for a decent keyboard. The large keys have plenty of feedback, and we found typing at speed was both easy and comfortable. There’s room for a numeric keypad, too, but its layout is a little odd, with the + and Enter keys not in their usual positions on the side. Inside the case there’s a 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo T6500 processor and 4GB of RAM. These helped the Edge17 to decent scores in our 2D benchmarks, but it lagged behind similarly specified models. We think the culprit is likely to be the SiS chipset, which supports only single- rather than dual-channel memory. The Nvidia GeForce G 105M graphics chip is a step up from integrated Intel graphics, although its score of 8.4fps in our Call of Duty 4 test shows that high-end gaming is beyond it. Older and less-demanding titles, such as strategy games, should run well. The 250GB hard disk seems a little stingy at this price, although Mesh has fitted a faster 7,200rpm drive rather than a 5,400rpm drive. While this may slightly improve performance, we’d favour storage space over disk speed. It didn’t take much for the laptop’s fans to whirr up to an audible level, indicating that it’s generating a fair amount of heat. The fact that it doesn’t run particularly cool could also be part of the reason behind the poor battery score; the Edge17 lasted just one hour and 41 minutes. However, weighing 3kg, it’s unlikely you’ll be taking it on too many journeys.
The Edge17 HD CS is far from poor, but MSI’s CX700 has a larger hard disk, faster graphics and a higher-resolution screen.
