A dream come true
When i first embarked on a long and tedious quest to choose my first gaming/multimedia laptop, i was fazed
by the literal sea of options which the computer industry had to offer. Indeed, there were literally hundreds,
or maybe even thousands of options to choose from, from the likes of dell (xps and alienware), toshiba (qosmio),
MSI, Sager and Asus, just to name a few. Pricey tags aside, what really daunted me in the beginning, was the fact
that these machines were not only bulky and thick, but also had dismal battery capacities.
After trawling through countless web pages and forums, i narrowed down my options to either the Sager np9150,
the Alienware m15x, or the MSI ge60 series. After some serious consideration, i pinpointed the sager np9150 as
my most viable option, due to its discreet looks, and reasonable graphics performance.
Just as i was about to place my order on the Mucro Asia website, a post on hardwarezone Singapore caught my eye.
On that particular discussion thread (on sager laptops), a user mentioned a "similar, yet distinctively unique" (not really the exact quote
, i cant really remember what it exactly said)
local (Singaporean) brand, which marketed themselves as a custom gaming notebook company. The first emotion/thought
which crossed my mind was that of skepticism, followed by a shadow of doubt. After all, how could a newly established,
home grown brand hope to compete against the likes of multinational tech giants such as Dell, Sager and MSI?
The answer: dedicated customer service, and a vast, comprehensive array of laptop customization options.
My first experience with the aftershock staff left me with a pleasant impression overall. The staff (Marcus, Joe and Zen)
are helpful, knowledgeable and eager to help. They gave me valuable advice on the various components of the laptops, and
their own personal opinions and choices. This really helped me (a self professed tech rookie) to make an informed decision.
Compared to mainstream laptop salesmen, these folks are really interested in what they do. Rather than pushing and pressurizing
consumers to purchase their brand in order to maximize profits, these people give their all in passing on sound advice to
customers, and help customers achieve the best price/performance ratio (even if it means recommending a competitor's product)
The passion which unites them in their hobby is the very same passion which drives us gamers; the passion to excel and succeed.
The laptops have superb build quality, and offer a wide array of graphic processing units, from the intermediate nvidia gtx660m, to the
enthusiast level gt680m gtx SLI and the amd 7970 crossfire. Likewise, the cpu (central processing unit), wireless card, ram, storage drives,
disc drive, screens and even the thermal paste, which regulates the core temperatures of the laptop are also customisable, with a wide
array of options.
In the end, i settled for an Aftershock XM17, with the following specs:
3rd generation intel ivy bridge core i7-3720QM
NVIDIA GEFORCE GT660M GTX 2GB DDR5
CORSAIR VENGENCE 16GB DDR3 1600mhz ram (as an afterthought, though 8gb was reccomended, i decided to go with the 16gb option instead, as means
of future proof my system)
IC Diamond thermal compund CPU+GPU
Hard drive 1 (storing my boot drive) PLEXTOR M5 PRO 256GB SSD
Hard Drive 2 (for mass storage) western digital black scorpio 750GB 7200RPM HDD
17.3 inch FHD Premium Matte LED display (1920x1080), 72% colour gamut
WI-FI Bluetooth: intel wireless N Advanced 6235 + Bluetooth combo card
Windows 7 home premium x64
during the system build phase after i placed my order on the aftershock website, i literally messaged the aftershock team every
single day on their website, badgering them for news on my laptop which was being built. Despite my nagging tendencies, as well as over-eager
streak, the staff at aftershock answered every single one of my questions almost instantaneously, and kept me well informed as to the progress
of building. I especially feel that Marcus deserves special mention here, as he unfailingly attended to every single one of my requests, no
matter how whimsical or insignificant they were, from requesting changes in my order, to ensuring that my favorite programmes would run
smoothly on the laptop.
Having just taken delivery of my laptop on Christmas eve, i have since been playing with it, and enjoying every second on this fantastic machine.
the system, on the plextor m5 pro runs as smooth as butter, with literally no hiccups. boot time is roughly 12-13 seconds on win 7, which makes
it great for both school and home usage. The nvidia 660m GTX scored an average of 2680 on the 3d mark11 benchmark, and runs most games smoothly on
medium-high settings (and of course, ultra for games like cod). Though it may not live up to top end gaming laptops like the
Alienware m17x or aftershock's very own dual-gpu aftershock titan, it is more than enough for a student like me, who plays the occasional
battlefield or call of duty game with friends.
all in all, factoring in the impeccable, near flawless customer service, as well as high quality notebooks which aftershock produces,
this company is indeed worthy of praise, and has earned itself a loyal customer.