Quaddra Ti - Computer Active (Jan '05)
The Rock Quaddra Ti is a notebook computer designed to replace your desktop PC. Its most striking feature is a large 17in screen. This provides a bigger viewing area than a 17in desktop TFT monitor, thanks to its higher resolution, so it’s ideal for watching DVDs or playing games.
The Quaddra Ti uses an Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 3.4 GHz accompanied by a substantial 1Gb of memory. This provides performance in line with many desktop PCs, although the downside is that the machine can get quite hot and its cooling fans are somewhat noisy.
Notebooks aren’t known for their games performance, but the Quaddra Ti has ATi Radeon 9700 Pro graphics, with a whopping 256Mb of dedicated memory. This enables it to run the latest games, including the demanding Half Life 2, at high resolutions without compromising on speed. The most unusual addition in this notebook is its hard disk configuration. Two 60Gb hard disks are included, which automatically mirror the contents of the other. This means that if one should fail, your files can be retrieved from the other.
These drives can also be configured in a ‘striping’ mode, which allows for faster disk performance; ideal for tasks such as video editing. Alternatively, they can be installed as standard to provide a huge 120Gb of storage - an impressive amount for a notebook.
The Quaddra Ti’s other features are equally impressive. It includes a Bluetooth module, a memory card reader that accepts most popular formats, and a dual-layer recordable DVD drive that can copy up to 8.5Gb of data to compatible discs.
This substantial list of features means the Quaddra Ti is a heavy machine. At nearly 5kg, you won’t want to carry it with you for long; if you do, you may be disappointed by its very short battery life. In our tests, it only lasted around an hour away from the mains. Given its remarkable power this battery life is understandable.
If you’re after a notebook that can completely replace your desktop PC, the Quadra Ti is ideal. It is expensive but actually offers good value for money.
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