Reviews / Pegasus 520 - Personal Computer World
» PCW says 4/5

The latest addition to Rock’s Pegasus family of notebooks is the 15.4in 520. Currently there are two models, the 520-T9400 (with Intel’s Core 2 Duo T9400 processor) and our review sample, the 520-P8400.

Both models are packed with features and ideal for both work and pleasure while on the move.

The Pegasus 520 follows the current trend for shiny black lids, this time set off by a matt-black chassis and keyboard, and a metallic silver chassis top.

The notebook doesn’t sit flat on a surface but instead has a support leg in each corner and strategically placed plastic lugs over the chassis bottom to help keep a cooling airflow passing through the internals. It works very well as there is barely a whisper when you boot up the device.

As you may have guessed from the name, the Pegasus 520-P8400 is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU, which is clocked at 2.26GHz, and has a 1,066MHz front-side bus (FSB) and 3MB of L2 cache. The CPU is backed up by 2GB of PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 memory, giving the notebook enough power to run most everyday applications without missing a beat.

The specification’s power is confirmed by its PCmark05 score of 5,994, which puts it just in the top 10 of notebooks we have recently tested. It also scores a creditable 3,799 in the latest, more demanding PCmark Vantage benchmark.

At each end of the keyboard is a speaker, which although still tinny isn’t as ear-piercing as the normal notebook offerings. The keyboard itself doesn’t come with a separate number pad, but the keybed feels well made without any flex, and the keys are responsive, making typing a pleasure. The trackpad is also responsive without being too sensitive and has vertical scrolling but not horizontal. Equally precise are the two mouse buttons under the trackpad, which are separated by a fingerprint reader.

Driving the graphics is one of Nvidia’s 9650M GT graphic cores. The 9650M GT is a DirectX 10 part with a 575MHz core engine and 1GB of dedicated GDDR2 memory. While the Pegasus 520 doesn’t have the gaming performance of a dedicated gaming device (and Rock does produce a number of those) it can still give reasonable frame rates at lower resolutions and game detail settings. It also has Nvidia’s Purevideo HD engine, which supports full 1080p – handy if you opt for the £145 Blu-ray drive, and there’s an HDMI port built into the left-hand side of the chassis so you can connect to an external HD TV or monitor.

The 15.4in WSXGA screen has a native resolution of 1,680x1,050 pixels and offers clear text and good sharp colours. Although the glossy coating on the screen does reflect office lighting, it’s by no means the worst we have seen. Built into the top bezel of the screen is a two-megapixel webcam, housed in a mounting that turns through 360º.

As standard, the Pegasus 520 comes with a 250GB hard drive but if this isn’t enough storage space for you there are two 320GB hard drive options (with differing spin speeds). Battery life isn’t bad for this class of system: when tested with the Mobilemark 2007 DVD playback test it managed to last for three hours and 45 minutes, which is just about enough to watch a Peter Jackson movie.