Packard Bell unleashed a big ol' set of machines in Italy today. Among the new laptops, the EasyNote RS65 13.3-incher cued some unusual design elements like red and chrome highlights and circular touchpad. It packs an Intel Centrino 2 and dedicated video card with DVI and HDMI. Other machines include the multimedia-friend ML (15.4-inch) and SL (17-inch) based on the
Puma platform. Also of note are the MT (15.4-inch) and ST (17-inch) laptops, which include a "Battery Boost" button that allows you to switch between dedicated video and integrated Intel GMA chipsets in order to conserve unwired time. Finally, the TN line (pictured above) is set to appeal to a younger audience with low prices and multimedia features. In the desktop category, Packard Bell intro'd new i-Media, family-Extreme, and i-Max machines that run the gamut from diminutive budget boxes to gamer-friendly powerhouses. Peep the read link (in Italian) to get a deeper scoop.
posted June 10th 2008 10:48AM
Yeah, I remember Packard Bell getting busted and sued out of business over here in the states in the 90's cause they were using used parts from older computers and selling them as new equipment.
Their computer were massively unreliable. I avoided them like the plague. lol
Can't believe someone would want to buy their ruined name.
According to Wikipedia, it IS the SAME company!
They just did better in Europe than they did in America and abandoned their native market.
Packard Bell? I remember those nightmare PC's. I thought they were long gone, I am an IT an PB had some of the worst PC's ever stay.
MY EYES!
Pfft.
I live in the UK and its fairly typical of the current PB laptop. Only thing thats changed is the top being aluminum or some other metal.
I have used one and the circular trackpad drives you nuts with in about 10 second.
I really advise against anyone getting one of these.
I think the real news here is that packard bell is still a company>???? That 300mhz pentium that came with a dvd player and diamond video card (it was garbage) , sorry packard bell from the looks of that track pad you still can't make a decent computer
I honestly feel stupid right now.
I thought Packard Bell was bought out and that's how HP started XP
Oops.
I had a Packard bell back in the 90's. Late 90's I think. It ran 93 and was a piece of shit.
There was never a happier day in my life than when I got to take a sledgehammer to the computer.
i want windows 93!!!
I must admit the name grabbed my attention, I too thought Packard Bell was long gone.
My first computer ever was a 100MHz Pentium with 32MB of RAM and an 8GB HD, I remember complaining that it came loaded with Windows 95 instead of 3.1. I played so many hours of doom, heretic , hexen, and quake on that thing.
I still have the old keyboard + mouse that came with the PB's at my mom's house. No wonder I got so good at PC troubleshooting looking back those computers really were garbage
Wow, they still make PCs.
THERE IS NO PROPER LOCATION FOR A VGA PORT!!!!
http://www.bronosky.com/?p=54
Think of Packard-Bell in the US for a minute. Combo modem/soundcards that took like 3 IRQs. HORRIBLE reliability. Used sold as new.
You're not kidding. My first job out of high school in 1996 was working for a company that did tech support for Packard Bells (that was a complete nightmare). I think 80% of the phone calls we got involved the soundcard/modem.
The circular trackpad *seems* to be ill conceived. However, if they've made use of the areas "outside" the rectangular bounding box *within* the trackpad, then maybe it's not such a bad thing. Such as volume control, along the top arc, vertical and horizontal scrolling along the right and bottom arc, and maybe zooming or something else along the left arc.
Provided, of course, that the circular pad is large enough entirely to begin with.
My Toshiba trackpad has these outside areas with special functions, and I can imagine that the rounded arcs might make for a nice smooth contour when using scroll and volume-slider functions.
I dunno, now i don't know a whole lot about PB, but the graphics card switch seems really convenient, although i'm not really sure how the execution of it will go.But if you aren't gaming or doing anything intensive, then an hour or two extra battery life would certainly be helpful, (especially if your stuck in an airport)
I was waiting for the RvB reference, saying the Puma is a made up animal.
lol, I didn't even see your comment before I posted mine
Why did they call it a puma laptop?
I think it looks more like a warthog. Or a walrus.
still funny :)
Hey guys! I am new here and I want a favour from you guys. Actually I want know about graphic cards for my system Few days back I was at http://fxvideocards.com and i found a new graphic card for $350.00. The graphic card has following freatures:
1GB GDDR3 frame buffer per GPU (2GB total)
256-bit memory interface
51.2 GB/sec memory bandwidth
Quad dual-link DVI-I display connectors
3-pin mini-DIN stereo connector
Two 6-pin PCI Express auxiliary power connectors
PCI Express x16 bus interface
226W maximum power consumption
ATX form factor, 4.36” (H) x 10.5” (L)
Number of slots, 2
Please can body tell should I go for this offer or not?