Reviews / Pegasus 680 - PC Advisor
» PC Advisor says 4/5

Rock Pegasus 680

The Rock Pegasus 680 T8300 is a high specification laptop aimed at the demanding gaming market.

The Rock Pegasus 680 T8300 exploits the latest technology, not just in terms of the Windows Vista Ultimate operating system, but also Intel’s ‘Penryn’ Core 2 Duo T8300 processor running at 2.4GHz, and a built-in screen in the lid allowing you to use Windows Sideshow.

Sideshow allows you to use limited functions on the 2.6in lid-top screen while the Rock Pegasus 680 T8300·s case is closed, so for example you can check your email, listen to music or play the built-in Solitaire game. That said a simple card game is unlikely to appeal to the target market for the Rock Pegasus 680 T8300.

The processor is boosted by 2GB of DDR2 RAM, and there’s a 160GB hard drive for storage. This impressive hardware line-up gave the Rock Pegasus 680 T8300 a Worldbench 6 speed score of 88. Not the best, but when you add in that graphics performance then this model is hard to beat.

The Rock Pegasus 680 T8300 is the only laptop we·ve seen able to run the Company of Heroes test at a resolution of 1680x1050, and it turned in a creditable score of 20.3 frames per second (fps) - impressive for a laptop.
At 1024x768 the Rock Pegasus 680 T8300 managed 37.1fps using its Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT card with 512MB of memory. In the FEAR tests it managed 56fps at 1024x768, the best laptop we·ve seen by a mile.

The Rock Pegasus 680 T8300·s 15.4in screen was clear and bright and the ultra high resolution meant that image quality was pin sharp.

It comes with all the usual features you’d expect, Bluetooth and 802.11 a/g/n, a generous four USB 2.0 ports, webcam and a couple of software apps – Roxio Creator 7 and Bullguard antivirus. Our review Rock Pegasus 680 T8300 was a pre-production model, so there was no optical drive, but it will come with a DVD writer too.

With a chunky chassis and weighing in at 3kg, the Rock Pegasus 680 T8300 is not the most lightweight and portable of laptops. But as it’s clearly designed to appeal to the desktop replacement market, and would work well in that role, the Rock Pegasus 680 T8300·s bulk isn’t too much of a problem.

Verdict
Rock has put together a well-powered laptop, which turned in a good graphics performance against the competition. It’s no slouch in the overall performance stakes either. The Rock Pegasus 680 T8300 is not the cheapest laptop on the market, but then the high-end operating system does push up the price. A good option for demanding users seeking a desktop replacement.

RESULTS
4 / 5