Packard Bell EasyNote XS review

Packard Bell says the XS runs at a native resolution of 800x480 pixels, but our sample refused to play ball. It would only run at an interpolated resolution of 800x600 pixels or higher, meaning all the text was rendered incorrectly.

It's no surprise to learn the EasyNote XS comes with Wi-Fi. This is of the 802.11b/g variety so it'll connect to the most common wireless networks -- the likes of which you'll find in Starbucks, McDonalds or on the outskirts of your neighbour's garden. There's no support for 802.11n or Bluetooth, but that's no great loss for a machine of this ilk.

Whereas the Eee PC -- initially, at least -- sidestepped Windows in favour of a Linux-based operating system, the EasyNote XS uses Windows XP Home Edition. This will come as good news considering half the planet is familiar with the OS, but its presence does add a significant amount to the overall price of the system. No other software is installed as standard but you get a 1-year collect and return warranty should anything go wrong.

Performance
The EasyNote XS is pretty slow and we blame the C7-M CPU and VIA VX700 chipset. It's OK when you're running one application at a time or just surfing the Internet, but the minute you start multi-tasking -- and we're talking about something as basic as running Outlook and Word simultaneously -- things start to crawl. Oh, and you can forget about playing games -- it just not the EasyNote XS' forte.

The EasyNote XS should be impressive with its battery life, in theory at least. Unfortunately, our sample refused to retain any charge so it couldn't be used away from the mains. We've contacted Packard Bell about the problem are will update this review once we've got an explanation.

Conclusion
The EasyNote XS could have been a very good laptop but falls short in several key areas. The mouse input is awful, the performance is below par. Frankly, it's too expensive to be a serious competitor to the Eee PC.

Update: Packard Bell sent a second sample of of the EasyNote XS for us to re-evaluate. This had a battery life of 152 minutes, but still had the problem of not displaying the correct screen resolution.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday