Packard Bell rolls out 13.4-inch EasyNote Butterfly laptop
By Donald Melanson 
posted Apr 14th 2009 12:59PM
posted Apr 14th 2009 12:59PM
While Acer is keeping plenty of its latest and greatest laptops for itself, it's also keeping its Packard Bell subsidiary fairly well supplied with some gear to reshape and rebrand, with this new EasyNote Butterfly model only the latest to surface following a pair of new DOT netbooks. This one steps above netbook territory with a 13.4-inch LED-backlit display, however, along with an unspecified Intel Ultra Low Voltage processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 graphics, your choice of an SSD or standard hard drive, a multitouch trackpad, optional 3G, and a promised eight hours of battery life. No word on a price just yet, but, as with the netbooks, this one will be reserved for the European market.
[Thanks, Pat]
[Thanks, Pat]
Nice.
But why limit it to the European markets?
Well I suppose they don't really have a feasible distribution model in place for the NA markets, but they are missing out on thousands if not millions of potential sales.
Packard bell doesn't sell their products in the us. Maybe that'll change in a few years, but not now.
Ironically enough, there was once a time when they didn't sell their products OUTSIDE of the US.
Yep, first computer was a Packard Bell w/ an Intel i486DX-2 CPU. "Blazing fast" back then.
I've seen them in some other markets too.
Packard Bell? WTF?
Nice
Great design, or just a right cam angle?
I was thinking that too, but It does look nice. :)
Perhaps the neo chipset or is that not out yet?
Holy crap Packard Bell is still around?
Holy Crap PB is around and making....really cool stuff.
Acer bought em up last year. I know what you mean though, I thought that company itself was gone. I had previously assumed HP bought them up (The Packard in Hewlett Packard.)
How the hell is Acer and Packard Bell related. Thought HP bought this company too.
Via Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_Bell):
Packard Bell is a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Acer. It is a name used by two different consumer electronics companies. The first was an American radio manufacturer founded in 1926, that later became a defense contractor and manufacturer of other consumer electronics, such as television sets. Teledyne acquired the business in 1978. In 1986, investors bought the name for a newly formed personal computer manufacturer. Originally the company produced discount computers in the US, it later became a leader in the European market. NEC took it over in the late 1990s. Taiwanese Acer acquired it in 2008.
In spite of the similarity of their names, there has never been any corporate connection between the original or later Packard Bell and Hewlett Packard, or Bell System.
It actually looks very decent!
My first computer was a Packard Bell 486. So hideous I wasn't able to google up any pictures. I used to think the monitor mounted speakers were cool, and the rippled mouse was simply bas ass - until the left button died like within a month.
They're still in business?
I could never buy this. Just like if Yugo came back and started selling really hot sports cars, I couldn't buy one of those either. Not without feeling embarrassed.
Nice keyboard.
They never shut down/left the PC Market. They just Stopped selling in North America.
Packard Bell is the european version of gateway. Acer bought both brands it will hock cheap stuff in the states as Gateway and rebrand it Packard Bell in europe, I have an NEC made PB laptop (I got it for free 2nd hand) not bad actually and I'm sure Acer make a better quality laptop than NEC.
In the UK this Easter, PC World(high st PC shop) was selling a Packard Bell lappy for £299 and it looked ok hope Acer loose the round touchpads though.
Where's the turbo button?
Those things were awesome...
I want one with a lever that has a turtle and a rabbit...
This is the same product as this i believe:
http://www.acer.com/timeline/
To be honest i am really looking forward to this it the price is below the normal Macbooks that is.
what i like about the timeline atleast is
1) HDMI
2) 3G modem
3) looooong battery time (8h i think)
4) the weight is about 1,5kg
no other laptop on the market can offer all the above so if this baby is truly the same product as Acer Timeline i will definitely buy one.
When I think "Butterfly" in a laptop, I expect a butterfly keyborad.
I'm really tired to look at the advertising shots sporting matte screens just to find plain damn glass in the shop. Or do we have a miracle here?