Rock Xtreme SLI notebook

Conclusions

This really is one of those products where you either get it or you don't. Either you look at this 19" beast and think... "Hey, this is exactly what I've always wanted," or you think "That is absolutely ludicrous". There isn't much in between, and the system has really polarised opinions in the bit-tech office. Some of us think think this is an ultra-cool LAN machine, and some of us think it's just a non-upgradeable small form factor machine.

The comparison is probably appropriate. Although this is an all-in-one system - there's no keyboard or monitor to connect - its portability really does rank more in line with small form factor systems than with traditional laptops. You won't be slinging this in your bag and taking it to college, but you might pack it up and move it to a friend's house for a night of multiplayer action.

Of course, this is also good for people who want a more portable media experience. For students, it could be perfect: a laptop they can take back and forth from home to college each term, but which gives them a big enough screen on which to entertain their mates with DVDs.

The graphics power really is so far beyond anything we've ever seen in a notebook. The NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX was really desktop-level performance, and this takes it to SLI-desktop-level performance. The limitations of notebook processors and motherboards are such that you're never going to get 100% of desktop performance in a 'portable' system, but with this you really are getting about as close as humanly possible.

The major stumbling block to the particular system that we have here is the fact that the screen is so low resolution. If you have SLI, the minimum you want to be running is 1600x1200, in my opinion, and this screen tops out before you get to that. 1920x1200 would be a really nice size to be running at, and would allow you to stretch your graphics subsystem to the limit.

At just over £2300, it's not a cheap bit of kit. In fact, you could build a very, very cool desktop system for that amount of money, so you really will have to want the base level of portability that the Rock notebook offers to justify buying it over a standard system.

NVIDIA continues to push the boat out when it comes to graphics, and this is as much a technology showcase as it is a real, viable product that can sell and make money. It's mostly about being able to say: "Our graphics platform can support dual graphics in a notebook. Can yours?" The answer, right now, is no, if you're ATI. Regardless of the worth of the system to the user, its one score for NVIDIA over its arch rivals.

We're intrigued to know what you make of this system - total lust object, or complete waste of time? Let us know your opinions over in the forums.