While the name Mesh may look slightly unfamiliar alongside Apple, Sony, and Asus, it could soon find itself residing permanently in the UK’s consumer electronics catalogue. A small computer and consumer electronics manufacturer based in the UK, Mesh Computers offers a growing range of desktop computers, laptops, and computing peripherals.
The Edge15 Value Plus is their entry-level model, a relatively standard fifteen-inch laptop boasting solid construction and surprisingly able performance. Priced at just £419 and available in a number of configurations, it’s a real surprise pick and one of our favourite entry-level consumer notebooks.
The Edge15 is housed in an unremarkable enclosure, one that looks out of place alongside the shiny aluminium laptop enclosures we’ve grown used to. However, it’s quite strong and reasonably good looking, if slightly utilitarian. The case is similar to that found on the previous generation’s Apple Macbook, though with a larger keyboard and less significantly effective touchpad.
With an isolated-key keyboard and tactile numeric buttons, the Edge15 Value Plus is an impressive workstation and a worthwhile business laptop. The keys are quite springy and responsive, making it easy to type lengthy documents and dictate information. There’s a slight keystroke noise that only becomes apparent after moderate use, although it’s far from a major issue.
With a modest £419 sticker price, the Edge15 Value Plus certainly isn’t a performance machine. An Intel Core 2 Duo processor is included as standard, allowing the Edge15 to carry out basic tasks smoothly and run most applications. 4GB of high-speed RAM is installed by default, giving the Edge15 decent simultaneous application performance and multitasking power.
But despite its limited power, the Edge15 Value Plus feels quite at home running office applications and browsing the internet. It’s certainly no match for this generation’s quad-core multimedia laptops lineup, but it offers sufficient processing power and usability for first-time buyers and workstation users.
Rounding out the laptop is a crisp fifteen-inch screen and the standard array of multimedia input ports. The display itself is vivid and bright, one of the best we’ve seen in such an inexpensive laptop. An HDMI port is not included, although users can attach a second monitor to the Edge15 for home use or as part of a desktop workstation.
Despite offering reasonable performance and impressive multimedia power, the Edge15 is a poor travel laptop. Its unremarkable design and bulky size hamper portability, while its limited battery power make it a poor choice when compared to the many ten-hour battery notebooks out there. We consistently achieved three-to-four hours on the Edge15‘s battery, though we suspect the figure would drop significantly when watching videos or gaming.
The Edge15 Value Plus is an inexpensive, user-friendly, and surprisingly flexible laptop. While we can’t recommend it to professionals or frequent travellers, we’re quite confident you won’t find a better home-based laptop for the price. With a large screen and a fantastic keyboard, the Edge15 Value Plus is one of our favourite entry-level consumer laptops.
