Reviews / Xtreme 770 - PC Gamer
» PC Gamer says 82%

Xtreme 770, Rock £2099

The latest update to Rock·s successful Xtreme 770 sees the familiar chassis kitted out with the very latest in internal gubbins. The CPU is the top-of-the-range Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000, which means it·s the fastest specced of the brand new 45nm Penryn-based chips.

It·s a smaller, faster and theoretically more power-efficient chip than the slightly older Core 2 line-up. So if you were wondering why the Rock is quite a bit more expensive than other laptops on test here, there·s your 2.8GHz answer.

Is it worth the premium? Well, on top of that Core 2 CPU you also get the last word in laptop graphics with a GeForce 8800M GTX. Just the one of them, mind you, although an SLI model will be along later on. Performance, as you can see from the benchmarks below is the best here for a single graphics card, and comparing it to the slightly older inside the Dell is revealing.

It packs a lot of extras too: optical audio out, a TV tuner and more, while the metal-lidded case gives the whole chassis an earnest, classy feel. More practically, the hard drive is a full 7,200rpm model, so overall this machine feels a lot more responsive than most of the others on test here.

All is not perfect in the Xtreme world however, and for this price we really expect it to be. The keyboard is a standard laptop one, and feels insubstantial next to the harder-wearing Dell. The screen, too, is not quite as evenly lit as that of the XPS. The outboard speakers are nothing special either, and aside from the lid the trim is starting to show the age of its design compared to, say, the Asus or Alienware models reviewed here.

Isn·t it what·s inside that counts? Yes, but you still have to communicate with those insides, so our biggest reservation is that keyboard: here·s hoping that the next refresh of the 770 sees the outside given as much attention as the astounding innards.


RESULTS

82%