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Gadgets Packard Bell Announces EasyNote XS UMPC
Wolfgang Hansson (Blog) - September 6, 2007 12:51 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 14 comment(s) - last by AstroCreep.. on Sep 6 at 2:04 PM

Packard Bell EasyNote XS UMPC  (Source: Image via Packard Bell)
New Packard Bell UMPC is barely an inch thick and weighs slightly more than two pounds

The name Packard Bell will probably ring a bell as the maker of personal desktops in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Packard Bell is still around, but it no longer operates in the United States.  However, that doesn't mean the company has been sitting around all these years doing nothing.

The Packard Bell EasyNote XS (PDF) features a 7-inch screen, measures only 30 mm (1.18 inch) thick and weighs 950 grams (2.09 pounds).

It’s too bad Packard Bell isn’t in America anymore as its recently announced ultra mobile notebook might have filled the void of the now axed Palm Foleo or recently handicapped ASUS Eee PC.

The system sports a full-size keyboard, touch-pad, and a built-in webcam along with a 4-in-1 memory card reader. The machine features a VIA's 1 Watt C7-M Ultra Mobile CPU and is able to run Windows XP Home Edition. VIA and Packard Bell claim battery life will last about three hours with WiFi on.

"For all of us who wants to stay connected in a comfortable way, this is the perfect companion," said Emmanuel Fromont, marketing vice president, Packard Bell. "It has all the functionalities of a notebook – it just happens to be very small."

Connectivity options include a pair of USB 2.0 connectors and storage is via a 30GB hard drive. The EasyNote XS can be configured with up to 1GB of RAM.

Currently pricing and shipping information are unknown for the EasyNote XS.

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Throught these guys were gone for good
By jak3676 on 9/6/2007 7:49:54 AM , Rating: 2
I have to admit, I was hoping I'd never hear these guys mentioned again. I'd like to say that they used to give me lots of business doing PC repair, but trying to repair a packard bell box always used to be impossible. These were the only guys I'd ever heard of that used to save a few pennies on their motherboards by soldering the components directly to the board, hence eliminating the socket the components were supposed to fit into. It seemed like what few connectors they would use were always some propietary junk. It got to the point where I wouldn't even bother trying to diagnose the problem on packerd bell's. If the problem couldn't fixed with a simple OS reload then I'd just tell the them to buy a new PC.

As much as this may be a great product, and their EU branch was better than their US counterpart I don't think they ever have a hope of trying to bring this brandname back to the US market. At least I hope not.




RE: Throught these guys were gone for good
By Lazarus Dark on 9/6/2007 7:57:01 AM , Rating: 1
You know you miss Packard Hell.
Admit it.

And, yeah. I honestly could care less about anything they do over in UK or wherever. I wouldn't touch it even to this day. Same as I wouldn't buy a Firestone tire. Some things you never forget.


RE: Throught these guys were gone for good
By hdd839 on 9/6/2007 10:08:56 AM , Rating: 2
They were definitely one of the early players that shot themselves in the foot. Slow, cheaply made computers full of bloat... They have a bad rep for a reason.

This does look like a nice little UMPC though.


By AstroCreep on 9/6/2007 2:04:08 PM , Rating: 2
The slow, cheap computers full of bloat wasn't the problem, it was the fact that they used refurbished and used equipment in new PCs being sold as 'New'.


Welcome back
By enlil242 on 9/6/2007 7:48:58 AM , Rating: 2
Looks to be rather sweet, however, I wonder how long before the nickname "Packard Smell" will remerge to this UMPC!




RE: Welcome back
By blwest on 9/6/2007 10:41:49 AM , Rating: 2
Looks good?!? It looks like one of those V-Tech learning toys children use!


Looks like a Libretto......?
By cheetah2k on 9/6/2007 9:11:33 AM , Rating: 2
Not that i dislike Packard bell, but give me my Toshiba Libretto U105 any day of the week and twice on Sundays..

Toshiba was doing this stuff right a damn long time ago. Everything else just seems like a copy




By Omega215D on 9/6/2007 1:11:08 PM , Rating: 2
The keys on the Libretto were pretty small, even for regular fingers.

Apparently the Packard Bell offers a full size keyboard.


I miss these guys
By Beavermatic on 9/6/2007 9:33:12 AM , Rating: 2
sure, they were junk and reused components (supposedly), but I never had a problem with my old PB Legend...

I was like 10 or 12, and it was my very first personal computer that was all for me (not the old piece of 286 that the family stilled used) that was purchased brand new for my birthday back in the early 90's...

I remember I even mailed in a slip to get my free upgrade to Windows 95 when it rolled out some several months later

486dx2 66mhz (later upgraded to an Evergreen pentium-knockoff 75mhz upgrade chip a year or so later), 8mb of RAM (later upgraded to 16 and then 32), Windows 3.1 and Dos 6 out of the box (later put win 95 on it), 16-bit all-in-wonder sound card, VESA SVGA... I think it even had a 600MB harddrive, and ooooohhh!!! it had my very first CD-ROM!!! WOOT!

Wolf3d, DOOM, Keen, blakestone, One must fall, jazz jackrabbit prince of persia, battlechess, FMV video games.... heh, i remember it came preloaded with some spiderman comic maker, tuneland, 3d dinosaur adventure, journeyman project turbo, and a free copy of mad dog mcree / who shot johnny rock wherever my parents got it from...

ahh those were the days...




By IndyJaws on 9/6/2007 11:50:27 AM , Rating: 2
"It’s too bad Packard Bell isn’t in America anymore..."

As someone who both sold and repaired Packard Hells from later 80's to mid-90's, I was glad to have put that name behind me. Although they made me good money (fat profit in PC's in the 80's, lots of $ in repair charges in 90's), I was so burned out on the brand that I never wanted to hear that name again.

Damn you, Packard Bell, for rearing your demonic head!




Biased
By MGSsancho on 9/6/07, Rating: -1
RE: Biased
By Zapp Brannigan on 9/6/2007 3:39:57 AM , Rating: 2
Sorry Man, Packard Bell has nothing to do with Pacific Bell, AT&T, Hewlett Packard or anybody else. It was just a indepedent pc maker which made shockingly unreliable pc's in the US, which is why they are not sold there anymore. The Company was owned by NEC and are only sold in europe because the european subsidiary made quality pc's. So you can hate them for making crap pc's but not for their non-existant monopolistic practices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_Bell


RE: Biased
By Guuts on 9/6/2007 3:48:56 AM , Rating: 2
I'm pretty sure you're not reading the article carefully enough to realize that the computer builder PACKARD Bell has nothing to do with the "Baby Bell" PACIFIC Bell.

As for thinking any business doesn't try to "squeeze money from consumers" or would somehow be more trustworthy with a name like "1337"....well, good luck with that, "d00d".


RE: Biased
By Lazarus Dark on 9/6/2007 7:52:18 AM , Rating: 1
Well, apparently this lucky bastard never had the "privilege" of owning a Packard Hell . If he had, I guarantee he would have remembered it and wouldn't confuse the name.


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