Review: Rock Pegasus T12 T7400 notebook computer

Sitting in a rather plain and straight-edged chassis, the Pegasus T12 T7400 from Rock is aimed at those wanting both performance and lots of battery life.  And powered by a fast Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 processor - only Intel's T7600 beats it in terms of performance - it's certainly no slouch.

The Rock Pegasus T12 T7400 opens up to reveal a sizeable 15.4in widescreen display. When viewed straight-on the screen is both bright and clear, but move to view it at an angle and, although still perfectly viewable, it dims quite considerably.

Notebooks often suffer from sub-standard keyboards, but on the T12 T7400 keys are well-spaced, feel good to type on and don't emit a nasty clacking noise with each key press.
Dotted around the case you'll find ports including four USB2 and a PCI Express slot, but Rock has decided against both Firewire and a memory card reader; the latter will disappoint those with digital cameras. Stereo speakers and a microphone are built in, but you'll need to add a webcam to take part in video chats.

Although there's no problem with T12 T7400 in terms of processing power, the use of Intel's integrated graphics means it will struggle to play anything but the most basic of games. Storing files isn't an issue though, a 120GB hard disk provides ample space and should keep you going for some time; if your collection of digital photos, music and videos gets the better of you, the DVD-writer lets you quickly archive files to free up space.

As expected, wifi is built in so, provided you've got a wireless network at home, you'll be able to surf the internet from your sofa. Bluetooth, however, isn't included.

In our battery tests, the notebook excelled. In our least-demanding benchmark that simulates simple document-reading activities, the Pegasus T12 T7400 kept going for an astonishing eight hours and 21 minutes. In our productivity test this dropped to seven hours 45 minutes, which is still jaw-dropping, while it clocked up five hours 11 minutes in our DVD playback simulation before finally giving up the ghost.

But in order to stay away from the mains for so long the Rock relies on an oversized battery that juts out 4cm out from the rear of the chassis. It also adds a fair bit of weight to the notebook, tilting the scales at 3.1kg. Although there are plenty of heavier notebook computers around, if you're carrying it around all day you might find your arms give up long before the battery.

The Pegasus T12 T7400 ships with Windows Vista Home Premium as standard, so you'll get to play around with Vista's impressive Aero interface as well as make use of applications such as Media Center.

If the thought of learning how to use Vista doesn't appeal, Rock is also willing to ship this notebook with a copy of good old Windows XP Home, but we'd definitely recommend opting for Microsoft's latest operating system.

If games don't concern you and you're simply after a powerful computer that isn't tied to the mains, this notebook would be an excellent choice. The weight won't appeal to those looking for a true ultra portable, and on a £1,000 notebook we expect to see common extras such Firewire and a card reader as standard, but the Pegasus T12 T7400 still offers a lot for your money

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