Exterior musings
Let's trot out the specification table for some serious salivating.| Laptop Name | Rockdirect Xtreme 64 4800+ |
| Processor | AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ dual core. 2.4GHz, 2MB L2 cache, Toledo core |
| Motherboard | VIA K8T890 PCI-Express |
| Memory | 2GByte (2x 1GByte Corsair Value Select DDR400 SODIMMs) @ DDR400 3-3-3-8 2T |
| Hard Drives | 2x 100GB Hitachi 7,200RPM, 8MB cache (non-RAID on review model) |
| Screen | 17" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) - X-Glass |
| Graphics card | NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra 256MB PCIe (450/1080) |
| Optical drive | NEC ND-6500A |
| Optical drive characteristics | 8x DVD-R, 8x DVD+R, 4x DVD+RW, 4x DVD-RW, 2.4x DVD+R9, 24x CD-R, 16x CD-RW, 8x DVD-ROM (read) |
| Sound | AC'97 - Realtek 8-channel (7.1) codec |
| Modem | Software 56k |
| Networking | Realtek RTL8169 Gigabit LAN, CB54G3 802.11b/g Wireless, MSI Bluetooth | Ports connectivity | 4x USB2.0, 2x 4-pin FireWire400, modem, GbE, S-Video, DVI, Parallel, Serial, audio, headphones |
| Operating system | Windows XP Home SP2 |
| Weight | 5.7kg (without charger) 7kg with |
| Dimensions | 397mm (w) x 298mm (d) x 49.5mm (h) |
| Warranty | Rockdirect 3-year collect-and-return |
| Price | £2349.99 inc. VAT (as at 21st December 2005) for 1GByte RAM model |
| Shipping | Included in above price |
| Other notables | 7-in-1 card reader, space for 2nd optical drive, display on front |
A couple of things to note before embarking on a visual tour of the laptop. Needless to say, it's the first laptop that we've reviewed which uses a dual-core CPU as its beating heart, and it's no surprise that Rockdirect has opted for AMD's Athlon 64 X2 series with this particular model, with choices ramping up from 'X2 4200+ to the current range-topping model, 'X2 4800+. Users can also specify a single-core Athlon 64 FX-57, too, although a performance laptop, we feel, will be more futureproof if based around dual-core processors.
Work your way down the spec. list and it's clear that Rockdirect has engineered this sample with pure power in mind. 2GBytes of dual-channel DDR400 RAM and a total of 200GBs of hard-drive space is what you'd expect to see in a reasonably high-end desktop, let alone a laptop. However, due to time constraints, our sample shipped with an NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra 256MB PCIe graphics adapter. It's fast enough in its own right but has recently been superceded by NVIDIA's GeForce Go 7800 256MB notebook card which is a generation ahead in terms of high-resolution gaming performance. Rockdirect assures us that the GeForce Go 7800, which really should be the only 3D partner for a laptop that's all about performance, will be available and shipped in Xtreme 64 laptops from mid-January 2006 at the latest, and the £2349.99 price here reflects a £100 (ex-VAT) discount for those of you that want a high-spec. machine right now and are happy with the previous generation's GeForce Go 6800 Ultra performance. £2466, then, will buy you full NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX power.
Rather than change a formula that works, Rockdirect has opted to stick with the Clevo D900-based chassis that its other performance-based laptops use. The obvious downsides are bulkiness and weight, with the laptop sitting almost 5cm high and weighing in at 5.7kg. It's a desktop replacement in the truest sense of the words, and with an 8kg travel weight (including charger and supplied carrying case) and relatively poor battery life, it's about as portable as a concrete slab. The front contains an LCD display and a range of buttons that allow you to play a CD without having to turn the laptop on, as long as the capacious battery still has a modicum of charge. The 5 inbuilt speakers are actually pretty good, providing decent levels of bass. The large lid is secured to the chassis by two latches.
The left-hand side is home to a S-video port for outputting video to external displays. 4 USB2.0 ports add in high-speed connectivity and a further 2 FireWire400 (4-pin, unpowered) keeps the high-speed theme ticking along. Microphone, speaker, and headphone ports are next, and, to the right, is space for a regular cardbus slot, IrDA (Infra-red) receiver, and a 7-in-1 cardreader. The design of the chassis is such that a steady stream of very warm air is pushed out from this side; a fact that's not so good for left-hand users who want to game with a mouse.
Turning it around to see the rear, there's a mass of copper that's required to cool the hot-running Athlon 64 X2 CPUs. It's important to note that they're simply desktop models with no real mobile-orientated technology, other than AMD's Cool'n'Quiet that knocks down CPU speed to 1GHz when doing non-intesive CPU tasks such as email reading and web surfing. The Athlon 64 X2 4800+ when running full bore and specified here, has a TDP of around 110W, which is around quadruple that of an Intel Pentium M 780. You can appreciate why so much attention has been put into cooling and why such a large chassis is needed in the first place. Power, serial, parallel, DVI, PS/2, Gigabit Ethernet and modem ports are just what we'd expect, and there's space for inputs that are only applicable if you choose to have the optional digital TV-tuner installed at the time of purchase (£79+VAT).
Nothing much to report on the right-hand side. The 5cm height of the laptop allows you to add in a second optical drive (at a wallet-unfriendly £99+VAT) that would sit below the NEC 6500A multiformat DVD burner. The drive doesn't support dual-layer writing and was extremely slow in transferring data from a Ritek G05 disk to the hard drive. It also had trouble in reading the game files from a slightly scratched copy of Half-Life 2, as well. The NEC 6650 would have been a better choice, really.
