Scan 3XS Review

Over the past few months I had been looking at buying a new laptop so I went looking around all the various UK based Clevo builders to see what was available and how the prices compare. After researching the current batch of Clevos I decided on a P170SM or P177SM (depending on which was available from the company I ended up ordering from). In the end I settled on 3XS from Scan for a couple of reasons. One reason was because they were the cheapest I could find with good options for the builds, the other reason was because I had used Scan for buying components for desktop computers in the past and they were the main supplier which my family's computer business used for many years.

I had seen a number of people complaining about poor communication and slow service, both posted here and on their official support forums, but I had seen the same complaints lodged against the other companies I was looking at too, so I was going into it expecting it to take a longer than the 5 day claim on their website and having to chase them up. So let's get on with the review:

Pre-Sale
When I researching the laptops I posted a number of questions on Scan's forum and they were very helpful, answering all my questions and giving advice and recommendations, all with reasonably quick responses. I was very pleased with the pre-sale support they gave, very friendly and encouraging, exactly what you want from pre-sale.

Order, Build & Delivery

• Friday 22nd: The machine was ordered in the afternoon. The automated confirmation email had an estimated delivery date of Monday, but I didn't expect they worked on weekends and it was ordered fairly late on Friday. So I expected them to start working on it on Monday.
• Monday 25th: They allocated parts to the build and discovered the hard drives I ordered, 2 1tb Travelstars, were out of stock. They sent an email explaining this and offering suggested replacements and said I could choose any hard drives from the main Scan site if the suggested hard drives weren't suitable. However, as it was ordered through my family's existing business account I didn't have access to the email account it was sent to.
• Tuesday 26th: I was forwarded the aforementioned email and I sent Scan a reply choosing 2 1tb WD drives. As I sent the reply from my email account instead of the account the original mail was sent to, I decided it best to drop a PM into one of Scan's support staff on their forum just to be sure they accepted it and I got a reply back within the hour saying they would make sure the guys building it would get the relevant information.
• Wednesday 27th: The machine was built that morning and tested that afternoon and dispatched that afternoon.
• Thursday 28th: Delivered to my family's business address that morning.

Pros
Cheap price
Good choices of components
Can swap components for anything in the catalogue on Scan's main site
Very fast service
Good, friendly communication

Cons
Such a fast service leaves a question mark over the extent of their QC and testing process *

Overall I was extremely impressed with this service, it was nothing like any of the complaints I had seen about them being slow or having poor communication. They communicated well through out the process and it was delivered 4 working days after being ordered, which is quicker than the 5 days their site says. I would definitely recommend them based on my experience.


* I won't be able actually get my hands on the machine for another few weeks as I live across the country from my family's business location and won't be visiting until Christmas, so I will update this review with a hands on about the build quality and such when I do.

 

I managed to get the laptop in my hands earlier than expected and having played with it for a day now I have had zero problems. It's stable and runs like a dream. There were even screencaps on the desktop of the burn-in and stability tests they ran so the machine was definitely well tested. I assume the different stages of the build progress page were updated when the stages were complete rather than when they had begun which would explain the seemingly short QC & testing period on the build progress page.

Suffice to say, a top notch experience all around, far better than the previous company I bought a Clevo from. I couldn't be happier with the process or the purchase. Top marks for Scan.

 

That's cool to hear, glad it's running well. What games have you tested?

 

Finally! review about scan 3xs. thanx.

 

I've only tested a couple of games so far, but all run really well. The two benchmarks I've done so far are Bioshock Infinite's benchmark on Ultra + DOF at 1080p which averaged around 60fps with minimal drops and Metro Last Light's benchmark with everything turned up full at 1080p which averaged at 21fps with peaks of 45fps and minimum of 11fps, which is better than I was expecting given what I had read about Metro Last Light. Overall I'm really impressed with the machine.

 

hey can you post pics.