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Packard Bell burrows affordable niche with EasyNote TE: 400 euros, 15.6 inches, AMD inside
While parent company Acer eyes deeper pockets and higher margins, Packard Bell is soldiering on with its EasyNote range of laptops for thrifty Europeans. Spotted by the friendly folk at Pocket-lint, the EasyNote TE has just reached stores and should scrape under the €400 (£300, $500) mark -- thanks partly to its avoidance of the premium Intel processor found in the EasyNote TV. Instead, the TE relies on AMD's updated E-Series processor (the slower 1.4GHz E1-1200 version, to be precise), which comes with capable Radeon HD 7310 onboard graphics and supports a USB 3.0 port (in addition to twin USB 2.0) and HDMI output. You'll also find a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 display, 750GB of storage and a "multi-in-1" card slot -- which means the only spec we're missing is the RAM. Who'll take a bet on 4GB?
Packard Bell debuts 15.6-inch EasyNote Butterfly m laptop
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]
Packard Bell rolls out 13.4-inch EasyNote Butterfly laptop
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]
Packard Bell busts out new Puma laptops, trio of new desktop lines
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.
Packard Bell sneaks into Santa Rosa with the EasyNote SB85 and SB86
While the name Packard Bell usually just conjures up images of hopelessly-broken Windows 95 machines in Radio Shacks, the company has been sold several times since leaving these shores in 1999, and though the specs on the new EasyNote SB line aren't exactly turning us green with envy, they're respectable enough to make us think that current owner Lap Shun Hui knows what he's doing. Both the EasyNote SB85 and SB86 feature Intel's Centrino Duo chipset with 802.11n support, 15.4-inch screens with integrated 1.3 megapixel webcams, 2GB of RAM, dual layer DVD±RW drives, and HDMI ports. The lower-end SB85 will set our European friends back €1199 ($1624) and comes with a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo T7100, a 256MB GeForce 8600M GS, and a 160GB drive, while the €1499 ($2029) SB86 ups the processor to a 2GHz T7300 and the video card to a 512MB GeForce 8600 BS, while weirdly dropping the drive size to 120GB. Packard Bell says it'll be dropping the SB line later this month -- we're certain all of Europe is going crazy with anticipation. [Warning: PDF link][Via SlashGear]
