Reviews / Pegasus 665 - PC Pro
» PC Pro says 5/6

A powerful and well-featured notebook, but it simply can’t match the HP for value

The Rock Pegasus 665 won several fans in this Labs, partially because it matched the HP Pavillion punch for punch for both performance and battery life. And, with a 15.4in screen, it has the advantage of being smaller the the 17in HP and nearly half a kilo lighter. You even get a basic carry case to aid portability.

Admittedly, the 665 certainly can’t compete in the style stakes with its off-the-shelf dark grey chassis, but it’s built to last and this is bolstered by the fact that it comes with a fantastic three year collect-and-return warranty with European coverage. The Keyboard is well laid out, with the Enter and cursor keys where you’d expect them to be, and the touchpad has a handy disable button for those long typing sessions.

On your travels the battery will give you a shade under 3 hours use, and when running intensive applications this falls to around an hour – similar times to the HP. The Rock edges it for 2D performance, its Core 2 Duo T5600 providing 5% quicker than the HP’s Turion 64 X2 TL-60, and both have the same GeForce GO 7600 graphics. Despite this, the Rock couldn’t quite keep up in Call of Duty 2, although it remains to be seen whether this is simply down to early Vista drivers.

The HP may have the larger TFT, but the Rock’s 1,680 x 1,050 resolution is the higher and will allow you to fit more on your desktop at once. This compensates for the fact that it isn’t quite as bright as the HP’s and colours are a little muted. The speakers however are loud, only distorting at top volume.

There are plenty of ports on offer: DVI and S-Video for external displays; ExpressCard/54 for expansion cards; a slot for SD, MMC and Memory Stick media cards; plus, Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet for networking. There’s also a wireless switch on the front and a physical volume control knob on the side.
The Pegasus 665 suffers from a £20 delivery charge and, with its small 80GB hard disk, sits in the HP’s shade. But it has plenty to offer in its own right and, if your priorities are both power and portability, it’s a fine alternative.


VERDICT

Overall ***** (5/6 Star)