Rock Pegasus P665-T76 Core 2 Duo laptop

On the software side of things you get Windows XP Home Edition as standard, although upgrade options are available at extra cost. Rock also supplies a copy of Microsoft Work, a trial of Microsoft Office, Roxio CD/DVD writing software and BullGuard anti-virus. The machine is also imaged and it's very easy to restore it back to its default installation, which takes about ten minutes.

Battery performance is lacklustre, as the Pegasus P665-T76 doesn't even manage two hours' battery life. That's very poor by today's standards. There is a BIOS setting that is meant to improve the battery life, but this wasn't enabled by default. There's also a switch just above the keyboard that puts the machine into low-power mode, but this also reduces the speed of the machine significantly.

Poor battery life meant good performance numbers in MobileMark 2005, but not significantly better than the Asus Lamborghini VX1, which had a slower processor. However, the GeForce Go 7600 is significantly faster than the VX1's 7400 VX, so the Rock wins hands down when it comes to games. Just don't expect to be able to play all games at 1,680 x 1,050, although there should be enough grunt to play most games on the lower resolution display without any problems. It also beats the Asus hands down in PCMark05, but this wasn't unexpected due to the Rock's higher specifications.

Our review configuration would set you back almost £1,257, which is rather a lot for what you get. Rock has a range of CPU options and if you can live with a slightly slower processor you can save a couple of hundred quid. It's not that the Pegasus P665-T76 is a terrible notebook - it's not, by any means - but you can get something that feels a lot more solid for similar money from better known brands.

Verdict

The Rock Pegasus P665-T76 is a mixed bag, it offers good performance but poor battery life. It's also quite chunky and has a few rough edges that make it feel a little cheap. ®