Reviews / Pegasus 670 - Computer Buyer
» Computer Buyer says 3/5

Great on paper, less so in the flesh.

Set next to MSI·s boldly styled GX600, the Rock looks decidedly plain, but beneath the surface there·s an impressive array of equipment.

Like the MSI, the Pegasus 670 has some pretty serious gaming credentials. With the second most powerful processor on test, an Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 running at 2.2GHz, the Rock achieved the second highest score of 150% in our general 2D benchmarks. And thanks to the nVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics chipset and its dedicated 512MB of memory, it sailed to the fastest Call of Duty 2 result in the whole group, a mighty 102%.

The short battery life, however, means you wouldn·t be able to enjoy this speedy performance for long away from the mains. And physically, the Rock isn·t quite so praiseworthy. The plain black chassis looks OK, but its build quality leaves a lot to be desired. Both the creaky base and lid felt a little too flexible for our taste, and putting even slight pressure on the lid resulted in worrying amounts of show-through on the display itself.

This lack of backbone showed up in other areas too. The flexible base doesn·t provide firm support for the keyboard, which, despite full-sized keys, made our typing feel slushy and indistinct. Even the trackpad failed to impress, with the left button making a dull click and the right a loud clack.

It was a similar story with the display. This may be one of only two laptops on test to boast a generous 1440x900 pixels, but its lack of brightness and contrast left our digital photos looking noticeably fuzzy and washed-out. We were excited by the prospect of watching HD DVD movies from the built-in drive, a feature that·s only just starting to appear in everyday PCs, but with muted colours and greyish blacks the results on the Pegasus· screen didn·t have us on the edge of our seat.

We really wanted to like the Rock. On paper it·s a fantastic machine, and its performance is exemplary. But when you·re spending this much money you expect a lot, and the Rock just doesn·t feel like the most expensive laptop on test.

RESULTS
3/5

Fast but quality doesn·t match the price tag.