Quaddra XS - PC Home Magazine (Jun '03)

With a stylish build and a heap of features, could we find any faults with the Quaddra XS from Rockdirect?

Over the past couple of years, notebook manufacturers have been fighting it out with each other to produce the thinnest and lightest model. These days, you’ll find some of them are so thin you’re afraid to type on the keyboard for fear of snapping it. Although these models have their obvious advantages, they always lack in areas such as connectivity, internal drives and battery power.

It’s great to have an ultra-light notebook, but when you realise you’ve got to buy an external floppy and CD drive, the novelty soon wears off. Thankfully, the Quaddra XS from Rockdirect isn’t ashamed to be a little heavier and larger than the rest, weighing in at 3.3Kg. In return, you’re provided with a notebook that really should meet all your needs.

Powerful components
Beating at the heart of the system is a powerful Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 2.4GHz, which is backed up by a more than suitable 512Mb of ultra-fast DDR RAM and a large 40Gb hard drive. What really impressed us is that along with the standard floppy drive, a CD-RW/DVD combo drive has also been included in the package. Being able to write CDs as well as watch DVD movies on the go is really something to behold as well. If you think the Quaddra will let you down when it comes to connectivity, think again. With a grand total of three USB ports, one FireWire, a TV-out and the usual collection of PC card, serial, parallel and PS/2 keyboard sockets, you certainly won’t be wanting any more. What’s more, the screen won’t disappoint you either; the dazzling images produced by the whopping 15” TFT display puts any standard CRT monitor to shame and is a real treat for the eyes.

Stealth mode
Upon turning the notebook on for the first time, we were a little unsure if there was any battery power left in it - it was so quiet that we really couldn’t hear anything at all. Sure enough, the fan leapt into action after about five minutes of use, but it wasn’t long before it went back into Stealth mode. The Quaddra XS supplies top-notch performance and superb value.

PROS

The fact that you really do get everything you need in one package.

CONS

Nothing major though, naturally, it is on the chunky side.

RATING

90%