Packard Bell EasyNote MB review

Standard-definition video looks absolutely fine on the laptop's 15.4-inch widescreen display. It runs at a native resolution of 1,280x1,024 pixels, and is bright enough to use outdoors despite the glossy coating. There is some noticeable light bleeding from the bottom of the screen, and the contrast level seems a tad lower than we'd like, but there's no real cause for concern in this area.

The EasyNote MB has plenty of connectivity. There's an e-SATA port on the left for connecting external hard drives, a mini six-pin FireWire port, and a multimedia card reader. Interestingly, there's an aerial socket that's been blanked out -- hinting that the laptop is capable of accepting a TV tuner. But Packard Bell has chosen not to bother with this.

On the right, you'll find audio ports and three USB ports laying horizontally side by side. They're a tad too close for our liking -- some large USB devices can block adjacent ports. Round the back you get another USB port alongside the Ethernet port.

All the other little luxuries you expect from a modern laptop are present and correct. The EasyNote MB has 802.11b,g Wi-Fi, a webcam, and a copy of Norton 360 to keep all those Net-borne nasties at bay. The operating system supplied is Windows Vista Home Premium Edition.

The USB ports are tightly packed, meaning large USB peripherals could block adjacent ports

Performance
The 1.66GHz CPU helps the EasyNote MB chug along at a good pace. It clocked up 4,204 in PCMark 2005, which is what the average user should expect from a modern laptop.

It also racked up 2,686 in 3DMark 2006, which again indicates the laptop will run some fairly graphics-intensive applications, just not necessarily high-resolution games.

Conclusion
The EasyNote MB has an interesting, if slightly flawed design, but is good value for money. You may prefer to opt for a higher-price, higher-style Apple MacBook, or the slightly more appealing Toshiba Satellite A210-11P, but the EasyNote MB is the better bet for those with a thing for ivory. And orange.