Rock Xtreme 685 review

Performance can make or break any laptop, and unfortunately it’s here where the Xtreme falters. Rock has used a mid-range Intel Core i5 processor, rather than the more powerful Core i7 chips other manufacturers install in similarly priced machines. The dual-core i5-2540m runs at 2.6GHz, rising to 3.3GHz with Turbo Boost, and is paired with 4GB of RAM. It managed a respectably 64 overall in our multimedia benchmarks, which should be enough for most tasks, but heavily multi-threaded programs might struggle with only two physical processor cores.

By using a slightly cheaper processor, Rock has focused on gaming performance by installing a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 460M GTX graphics card. It might not be a new model, but is still powerful. It flew through our Dirt 3 benchmark at an impressive 67fps. Even once we’d raised the resolution to 1,920×1,080 and enabled the High detail setting, it still managed a playable 48fps. Unfortunately, without Optimus to switch to integrated graphics, battery life suffered: the Xtreme barely managed two and a half hours away from the mains in our light-use test.

The Xtreme 685 makes sense as a replacement for a desktop PC; connectivity is almost unparalleled for a laptop, with five USB ports, full 5.1 audio outputs, DVI, HDMI ports and a Blu-ray player, but it doesn’t work quite so well as a laptop. It’s big, bulky, has very poor battery life and less processing power than some laptops costing half as much. Even factoring in the powerful graphics card, it’s still poor value compared to more well-rounded models from other manufacturers.