Reviews / Xtreme SL Pro - What Laptop

rock Xtreme SL Pro makes gaming a pleasure

The rock Xtreme SL Pro (£2499 inc. VAT) is the largest laptop in the group, with a 20-inch display and weighs in at 7.3kg. The screen’s glossy Super-TFT coating results in stunning quality, with deep and vibrant colours and images appearing larger than life. A native resolution of 1680 x 1024 pixels (WSXGA+) is lower than the Dell and Alienware, so you won’t be able to get full resolutions in all games.

Graphics technology is as cutting-edge as it gets, featuring two nVidia GeForce GO 7950GTX cards in an SLI (Scalable Link Interface) setup. With other SLI machines still using older 7900 cards, the rock has a useful advantage when it comes to gaming. This was highlighted in our benchmarking tests where the rock was way ahead of the opposition. In our 3Dmark 2003 test, the SL Pro achieved a score of 30,474 – considerably more than anything we’ve seen before, but you do have to pay for the privilege

Sturdy materials are used throughout the rock’s chassis, allowing for a relatively thin display. After the magnesium-built Dell, the rock offers the strongest chassis in the group. However, the keyboard is cramped considering the size of the chassis.

After an hour or so of gaming, the system generated a lot of heat. This is a common problem within this group, due to the high-performance components used, but is nothing to worry about.

Processing is dealt with by an AMD Turion x2 TL-60 chip. With both cores running at 2GHz, there’s plenty of performance on offer. Memory is relatively low at 1024Mb, but we experienced minimal lag when running everyday applications. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to establish a MobileMark 2005 score, as the battery ran out before we could reach a score. However, performance in daily use was stunning.

The two 100Gb hard drives offer more than enough storage space. Spinning at 7200rpm, performance is also given a boost. When it comes to out-and-out gaming performance, the rock Xtreme SL Pro is without peer. There are flaws – the lack of mobility is a major disadvantage. However, the huge screen makes gaming a pleasure, and the rock deals with the current crop of games with ease.