Packard Bell debuts 15.6-inch EasyNote Butterfly m laptop
By Donald Melanson 
posted Sep 8th 2009 8:49PM
posted Sep 8th 2009 8:49PM
Well, we didn't get a chance to check it out first hand at IFA, but Packard Bell did make a showing of its own at the show, and took the opportunity to debut this new EasyNote Butterfly m laptop. As you can see above, this new model one-ups the smaller 13.4-inch EasyNote ButterFly with a slightly sleeker design (and a shiny silver exterior), but it keeps things mostly in check inside, with it packing an unspecified low-voltage processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics (which can be switched off to save power), a max 640GB hard drive, up to 4GB of RAM, and all the usual niceties like a multi-touch trackpad, Bluetooth 2.1, and 802.11n WiFi. Still no word on a release over here, but folks in Europe should be able to pick one up next month for a starting price of €599 (or just under $900).
[Via Notebook Italia]
[Via Notebook Italia]
Packard who?
Hell.
Packard Hell.
Thats how we used to call those pieces of junk
Aren't they still owned by the Sheinhardt Wig Company?
No, they're owned by Acer now.
Which means great value.
How un-awesomely mediocre.
I prefer alot more THOUGHT to go into the building of my laptop, not a generic cookie cutter piece of crap.
Do you always drink Perrier instead of plain water too?
I don't know about the price, but this seems like a great laptop. =]
Well in 1995 it was the worst computer I have ever owned...
Whoa time warp, is it back to the 90s.
inb4 "Wait Packard Bell is still around?, my first computer was a Packard Bell, are we in the 90s again?, etc."
Aw, crap. Already beat.
The thing could be an Intel i9 8 core 3.5Ghz that turbo's to 8Ghz, 500GB of RAM, a petabyte of RAID 1 SSD with 100TB/s transfer rate, a holographic display, a quantum entangled 802.11Q that allows you to get WIFI from anywhere on the planet, and battery life measured in the weeks; and I still wouldn't touch it.
I occasionally wake up screaming in the middle of the night without remembering what I was dreaming about....I'm certain it was the days when I had to deal with my Packard Bell and IRQ jumper hell.
pfffft. you'd need 2000 512 GB SSDs at $1500 a piece. that's 3 million bucks right there.they're also 220 MB/s each, so you'd get at most 440 GB/s. Core i9 is 6 core, not 8. and 500 GB of RAM will cost $521,000 (based on what Dell is charging for 192 GB of RAM, $200,000). Also quantum entanglement can't be used by electronics, once you measure the result, waveform collapse disintegrates your data.
I believe that Packard Bell is a much better company in regards to quality in Europe, hell, I think I heard its even regarded as high-end over there. Its a subsidiary of Acer just like Gateway and EMachines.
Packard Bell is not high end, it is sold by retail stores such as pissy werld (Think best buy with less knowledgeable staff)
No, NerdyDesi, that is most certainly not the case over here. Trash is trash no matter who's throwing it out the window.
Expect a Gateway rebadging in the future.
I'm sure you are right (it'll see a Gateway branding eventually), but I'd expect it as an upgrade to current Acer models first, since it looks _just like_ my 15.6" Aspire Timeline. I/O ports are a bit rearranged, but the fan vent, keyboard, trackpad, front LED, and overall case design are pretty much identical. It does, however, have an ATI graphics chip and Bluetooth, which mine doesn't.
is it ture?
Packard Bell, the computer cases that look like they were forgotten on a bbq grill. Packard Bell, the computers that had a crazy proprietary ISA card handling both sound and modem functions causing you do karate kicks in config.sys and autoexec.bat in order to get the thing to work. Packard Bell, the computers with monitors that look like they have hemorrhoids. Packard Bell, 1993 called and says it still hates you.
i think ide rather have a comqrap xD
with there just modifyed enogh so ONLY there drivers will wrk with there HW not standerd drivers -.-'
never really had much experiance with pakerdbell suprised they are still makeing computers o.o
Flashback to 1990 and all Bestbuy sold were garbage computers from Packard Bell and Acer. You went to a computer store or mail order from dell/gateway if you wanted better quality stuff. However, nowadays just about every computer is junk made in China so while Bestbuys selection went up their quality stayed the same, most computer stores are now out of business and dell, gateway, hp, etc. are all Chinese POS as well. If there was ever a time for Packard Bell to make a comeback it would be now.
"ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics (which can be switched off to save power)"
should read:
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics (which can be switched off to save power; may decide to switch off whenever it wants to)
I like Hewlett Packard!
Wait...
Are we seriously bashing this product because of the name and past rep.? We don't even know the full specs...
You guys constantly say "Engadget stop hating Nokia stop plzzzz", and this...is just hypocritical...
=/
Well, honestly, I'm expecting for this to be a basic run-of-the-mill laptop... it looks OK, will probably perform average.
hey is that a numeric keypad to the right of the keyboard? not too many 15.6" notebooks offer this feature... HP's dv6-1230 is the only current 15.6" notebook that I can think of with an integrated numeric keypad...
Sweet my first PC was a Packard Bell... 286. :)
I like the name "Butterfly" in electronics. It reminds me of quick, light, pretty things. That said, Packard Bell haunts my nightmares and that computer is not quick, light, nor pretty. What a waste of a naming license...