Packard Bell Dot Netbook S : The first netbook with AMD ultra-thin technology

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Packard Bell pioneered the use of the PC in the home, taking an unfriendly but useful office tool and turning it into a friendly, indispensable feature of today's modern home. Stylish design, affordability and customer-oriented features are the hallmarks of all Packard Bell products, a unique combination that no other brand in the European market offers today. In 1986, Packard Bell also started designing and selling computers. The objective of the company was to provide affordable quality use computers to design and sell. Once successful in this market are the activities over the years, with several other consumer electronics such as DVD players, video and mp3 players, GPS and storage products.


Packard Bell dot S

In this review we see a netbook from Packard Bell, the 'dot s'. A lightweight netbook as we know the Asus EEE PC, Acer Aspire One, etc . Or is this Packard Bell laptop can distinguish it from other brands on the market will become clear in this review.

Packard Bell was recently acquired by Acer Inc.. and are now (since 2008) the third largest computer company in the world.Packard Bell was recently acquired by Acer Inc.. and are now (since 2008) the third largest computer company in the world.

Enhanced capabilities for true portability dot m/a is the first notebook on the market that comes equipped with the AMD Athlon™ 64 L110 low
power processor, especially designed for true portability .

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Specifications :

ATI Radeon™ X1270 graphics chipset with up to 512 MB HyperMemory, dot m/a offers outstanding graphic performance in its category. dot m/a is pre-installed with Microsoft Windows Vista® Basic or Windows Vista® Home Premium operating system, comes with a 160 GB hard disc drive and up to 1 GB Ram but can also support up to 320 GB HDD and up to 2GB Ram. dot m/a also supports Dolby® sound Headphones technology for great sound on the go. It’s available in a 3-cell battery version or with an optional 6-cell battery, for at least 4 hours battery life.

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Features :

An elegant & trendy digital diary

The new dot m/a offers a stylish look combining a chic glossy finish on the cover and a matt interior.Its design is particularly expressive thanks to elegant details such as the silver plated Packard Bell logo on the cover and on the touchpad, smooth silver hinges, rounded edges and a textured palm rest.

Choose your style
With a 11.6-inch display and the 16:9 ratio, dot m/a is available in black - the everlasting color of elegance, or in a very hot red and black color version to appeal to those who enjoy attracting attention or who simply choose an energetic way of life.

Enjoy the web anytime, anywhere
The dot m/a is all you need to enjoy a “mobile” lifestyle. It’s the perfect tool to access the internetanytime, with ease and reliability, enjoyment and comfort. Video chatting and social networking have never been so easy thanks to built in WiFi capabilities, the microphone, the webcam and Windows Live™ Messenger; optional Bluetooth and 3G modules give you a wider range of wireless connectivity.

Smart features

Easy to carry and ultra-light (1.25kg)1, dot m/a offers a smart keyboard, quite as large as a regular notebook’s one, for an easy on-the-road use.

The multi-gesture touchpad lets you browse conveniently and intuitively with its three capacitive functions.The circular motion scrolling gives you quick and seamless navigation up or down using a finger swirl, while the pinch-action zoom allows you to zoom in and out with a simple finger and thumb gesture. The flick gesture lets you browse photos, websites or documents back and forth by sliding two fingers horizontally.

Like the other dot series of the Packard Bell’s family, dot m/a comes equipped with the full version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, which allows you to update your travel blog, create scrapbooks and photo albums, that you can share online with friends and family. The 5-in-1 card reader enables you to transfer any kind of multimedia file.

Last but not least, dot m/a also offers an easy solution to synchronize data and mails with any other PC to enjoy them on the go: with PB XSync, transferring files to and from the netbook as well as synchronizing some documents with the main computer has never been so easy.

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Operating System

Windows XP operating system is installed and runs fine on the specifications. The user can require a little more just 2 GB DDR2 memory installed in his machine. Windows XP does immediately after charging the battery so that six and a half to go if you get all you need to make energy-saving features. In general you can say that the battery after five hours it had its longest time (internet and music). The off and turning the wireless connectivity is also a number of hours care.

The 'dot' is supplied with a full version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. It is therefore possible for your travel blog, scrapbook or photo album to work on the mobile device. In addition to Adobe's standard test version of Norton Internet Security installed.

Sound

The speakers of the netbook are processed at the bottom of the laptop. This ensures that you do not (ugly) speakers at the front of your monitor are. The biggest drawback that we experienced of this construction is that the noise almost completely disappears when the laptop is taken on your lap / lapdesk.

Moreover, the sound from the 3.5-mm jack plug fine and no different than an Asus, Acer and other netbook.


Conclusion

Maximum thrust of this laptop is definitely the price. By Asus you get that amount for an Intel Celeron M ULV 353 processor in the Asus 1000HD which by far does not reach the N280 Atom processor, the Packard Bell. Acer is probably more in the area with the Acer Aspire One Pro 531h, which has an Atom N270 and a very good battery (up to 7.5 hours) in addition, the laptop also has Bluetooth. However, the price of the Acer twenty higher euro what the difference is relatively smaller.

The Dot S consists largely of plastic for the latest laptop cheaper than for example an Asus 1002HA with a cover of brushed aluminum, but they also cost 100 euro more. Her and the late Dot what the stitches fall. There is use of an abundance of plastic. The keyboard feels cheap and the numbers / letters seem stuck. The on and off button and the Bluetooth on and off are quite fragile and the last button is even slightly tilted in the netbook processed. All in all, I would venture to say that the performance, looks and price are fully in harmony.