Review : Xenom Pegasus ACE 14 – For those who are not satisfied with 64-bit GPU

Whether the market demand is increasingly wanting thin, light & power efficient gaming notebooks or because of “coercion” from the chip provider, nowadays there are a lot of gaming notebooks with a slim and minimalist barebones design. As is known, the majority of gamers never care about the weight and ergonomics of the notebook they will use to play games. They need more options that can help improve the performance of their gaming notebooks. Customizable for example, agree? It’s different when it comes to design, notebook users will react quickly if a gaming notebook product has an unusual design.

Intel ULV plus Nvidia Geforce GT745M

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The success of the ASUS A46CB, may be a strong provision for several other vendors to release similar products. Not to forget the local vendor that Pemmz distributes, Xenom. Through their Pegasus series, Pegasus Ace PS14. Here, Xenom wants to provide a more advanced performance than that offered by the Asus A451LB as a replacement for the legendary A46CB. The advance that is meant is from several sides such as GPU performance, where the Pegasus Ace provides the Nvidia Geforce GT745M which has a 128-bit “memory interface”. Also several other advantages such as a matte LCD with more detailed resolution (HD +) as well as storage options with an extra m-SATA SSD. Want a more complete review? see the following article, pemmzholics.

Specification

Spec

Displays (LCD) : 14” 1600 x 900 HD+ (16:9) LED Backlit Antiglare Matte Type Display
Processor : 4th Generation Intel Core i5-4200U 1.6Ghz~2.3GHz
System Memory (RAM) : 8GB DDR3 at 1600MHz up to 16GB
mSATA SSD : mSATA Support 128-512GB (Optional)
1st Hard Drive (Primary drive) : 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Optical Drive / 2nd Hard Drive : NO ODD
Graphics Card : 2GB NVIDIA GT745M GDDR3 128-bit
Wireless : Integrated 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 3.0 Combo
Thermal Compound : FREE Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Compound – CPU + GPU
Keyboard : Full size isolated keyboard with numeric pad
Battery : 6 Cells Lithium-Ion Battery Pack 76.96WH
Power Adapter : 65W 110V/240V autoswitch AC Adapter
Warranty : 2 Years Xenom Warranty with LIFETIME Xenom Technical Support
Weight : 1.8Kg
Sales Package : Xenom Backpack, Gaming mouse LOGITECH

From the specifications it carries, in addition to the geforce gt745M, the Pegasus Ace has advantages in screen resolution, RAM upgrade options, as well as storage. This makes the price offered is quite worth it.

Design

As mentioned above, the barebones design of the Pegasus Ace 14 is closer to Ultrabook products. Plus the Ace 14 is not equipped with an optical drive, the more I think Ultrabook is this Ace 14. This slim size is obtained because of the use of components. As we know, the Ace uses a ULV type CPU which incidentally does not require a socket (BGA) as well as a more “cool” temperature so it doesn’t really need a large airflow space. With a thickness of less than 23mm on the back, the Ace looks sweeter than the A451LB if only the Pegasus was given a bright color.

Features

Another advantage besides the use of the GT745M GPU which has better performance compared to the GT740M is that there is a dual storage option, namely HDD + m-SATA. In the Pegasus Ace that Pemmz tested this time, we didn’t install the m-SATA SSD, but this point is very promising for those of you who like speed access. For those of you who want to use this slot as a place for your 3G modem, it is also possible. Because some time ago, the pemmz support team tested the compatibility of the Pegasus Ace with several mini PCI X interfaced modems, and everything worked smoothly.

The indicators are quite complete but rather difficult to monitor in a working position.

Connectivity

The connectivity side of the Xenom Pegasus Ace is fairly minimalist. By relying on 2 USB 3.0 ports that are located close together, even this type of connection is very risky to be “amputated” if one of the ports is used by a large device, such as a flash drive with rubber clothes for example. But it can be tricked by adding a USB docking or USB hub because the power provided is quite large.

In addition to USB, Pegasus ACE is quite complete for non-cable connectivity matters. WiFi bg is provided, Bluetooth 4.0, also for those of you who want to add a 3G model with a mini PCI interface, the Pegasus Ace already supports it. Not to forget the Gigabyte LAN and HDMI ports. Unfortunately, Analog (D-Sub) is absent on the Pegasus Ace.

Performance

For performance, Pemmz sees that Xenom seems to be targeting the Pegasus Ace to target users who are interested in slim gaming products. As is known, the ASUS A451LB and several notebooks with similar specifications are quite successful in winning the hearts of mobile computer users who are mostly “transmigrants” from those who previously used desktops.

Bench Page

Overall, the GT745M as can be seen in the illustration above, is about 15% more superior than the GT740M. In some scenarios, this number can be higher when used in some applications that require VRAM acceleration such as rendering graphics or videos.

Temperature conditions on Pegasus Ace just after the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (3x looping)

For more info, pemmzholics can see the video review below.

Battery Benchmark

Power management that has proven its toughness

The power management capabilities of Xenom products are unquestionable. Likewise for the Pegasus Ace 14, which is currently reviewing. With a 4 cell battery in his arms, this notebook is able to last 123 minutes in the battery endurance test that Pemmz did.

Upgrade Options

As mentioned above, the most prominent upgrade option on the Pegasus Ace is the availability of the m-SATA slot. It is very rare to find a middle-class product that provides this option, especially with the ability of a fairly reliable graphics chip. Two Memory slots that support capacities up to 16GB can also help improve performance significantly, especially reducing the possibility of bottlenecks. Through the tests we did, the dual channel configuration was able to increase the system performance almost 12% more on the same benchmark scenario.

Two access doors that are easy to access for upgrade & maintenance purposes.

This Accessible Door is also a sales point for the Pegasus Ace compared to similar notebooks. With ease of maintenance as well as access to components, no other notebook in its class can match this capability. In addition, the battery is easily detachable like a notebook in general.

But what needs to be considered, like other notebooks that use the Haswell ULV series processor, RAM is also required DDR3L version.

Conclusion

This type of notebook is perfect for those of you who need a lightweight gaming machine. You can still rely on it to continue pending game episodes (although with low settings of course), anywhere without having to worry about your adapter being left behind. Because from the tests we did, without an adapter, the GT745M can still be run full load (testing with Battlefield 4).