rock Pegasus 335 review

The Pegasus 335 from rock is aimed at those who want a no-fuss laptop that's small and light enough to be taken on the move but also has enough power to be of use in the home.

It's quite reasonably priced at £749 but is the spec good enough to cover both these scenarios?

Strengths
The grey and black colour scheme looks slightly utilitarian. The laptop makes up for it in size, with smallish dimensions so you can easily shove it into a rucksack to take on the go. Despite the chassis' small size, the keyboard actually feels relatively spacious.

There are also a decent number of ports including three USB sockets, a mini FireWire port and an S-Video output for connecting it to a TV. You also get a 4-in-1 card reader, which will come in handy when you want to quickly transfer snaps from a camera.

One neat little extra is the Instant On mode. Press the S button at the top of the keyboard and the laptop will quickly start up a basic media player that lets you listen to music, play DVDs or view photos without having to fully boot into Windows.

As with most laptops these days, it uses a screen with a glossy coating. This means it produces more vivid-looking colours, which is ideal when you're viewing pictures or watching movies. This coating is also more reflective, so outdoor usage can be problematic.

The speakers, which are mounted on the front edge of the laptop, are not half bad for a machine of this size and are capable of kicking out quite a racket. However, they're mounted quite close together, so the stereo spread isn't as good as on some rival machines.

When it came to battery life, the Pegasus put in a respectable showing. It managed to keep running for and hour and 15 minutes in our Battery Eater test, which is pretty good for an ultraportable machine.