Pegasus Ti - PC Plus Magazine
(Sep '04)
Performance Award
With an eye-catching black and silver chassis, Rock’s Pegasus
Ti notebook offers the fastest Pentium M chip currently available.
But while the new Dothan-core processor inside will undoubtedly
turn heads, the Ti needs to do more to impress than simply power
down the MobileMark straight. In such a high-end, high-priced
system, we’re looking for more than number crunching. We
demand an all-rounder.
The
Pegasus Ti is built around a 2.GHz Pentium M processor, and it
looks to be a system that packs quite a punch. Stacked with 1GB
of RAM, the other core component is an excellent 60GB hard drive.
Looking at the numbers, it’s the best performer here, posting
a first-rate MobileMark score of 212, and a battery life of approximately
172 minutes. The high MobileMark score that shows just how good
the core performance of the Dothan-core processor is - only
the top-end P4s post scores anywhere close to it.
As
far as it’s other features are concerned, the Pegasus Ti
boasts a DVD/RW, a powerful step up from a DVD/CDRW unit, plus
a decent 15.4in widescreen 1280x800-pixel LCD, although it lacks
the pure clarity of the X-Black display on Sony’s S1XP.
Rock does have its own equivalent - dubbed X-Glass -
and perhaps it will incorporate it into future models.
The
Ti is yet another machine that incorporates ATI’s Mobility
Radeon 9700 and this posts a stunning 3Dmark 2001SE score of 10,470
and a rating of 2,930 under slightly harsher 3Dmark03 conditions.
Obviously this model represents the top of Rock’s Ti range
and its 9700 -series chipset imbues it with the visual oomph
to handle everything from Excel to Everquest. Alongside the 2GHz
Pentium M chip, this machine is a beast.
The
Ti arguably represents the beast that the Centrino platform has
to offer and other highlights include a 3-in-1 card reader, integrated
subwoofer and 802.11bg wireless LAN. The battery life is a little
disappointing, but the Ti is still a better all-rounder than some
of the P4 systems we’ve seen recently. Reports suggest that
Intel will push the Dothan core to 2.1GHz before the year is out,
upping the mobile performance by another 5 or 10 percent.
Cheaper
machines are available but few can match the TI’s 200+ MobileMark
scores. All it needs to become perfect portable is a higher resolution
display, more storage capacity and a dual layer DVD/RW.
