Packard Bell Easynote Umpc

[psj3809]

Bought one of these the other day so thought i would share it with you....

http://www.umpcportal.com/products/product.php?id=122

Would have got an eee but wanted a solid hard drive plus XP. I know you can put XP on the eee but wanted something straight out of the box. 1.2 mhz so its pretty fast.

The Easynote is quite expensive, got it from PC World. Usual resolution but with the Easynote you can change this to 1024 x 768 if you wish, obviously because of the smaller screen size it does squash the text on icons for example a bit but its useful to go to a larger resolution for various games etc.

Its got a 30 gig hard disk, about 15 gig is free because of XP/recovery section (can be deleted). Two USB ports.

I'm very impressed with it. Put on a lot of emulators, N64 runs well so been using that a lot. MAME/Spectrum/SNES and many other emulators run very well.

The keyboards just about big enough to touch type on, been using it for work a fair bit and surfing as its wireless.

One reason i bought it early was that otherwise it was going to be 'i'll wait 3 months to see the latest model' then 3 months later have to wait another 3 months to see the new models coming out ! If i didnt get one now i wouldnt have for ages !

Very useful UMPC been very impressed with it

 

[Nova]

Ooh, That's pretty. What's the damage? (£)

 

[icurafu]

I was going to get a cloudbook. Same thing, cost $400 and only comes with gOS 2.0.

I'd be interested to know how well it works. I had my doubts about the hardware performance, but the good news is that the CPU architecture makes windows a lot more zippy than the CPU in the Asus Eee PC.

But I'm just going to get a Pandora in April and a Silverthorne MID a couple of months later when they hit the market in bulk.

 

[psj3809]

Ooh, That's pretty. What's the damage? (£)

Hmmm pricey ! £399. I thought what the hell, put it on a credit card for 6 months interest free and it doesnt seem so bad !

Impressed it runs N64 and other emulators less than that. I'll try to put Playstation I and Dreamcast emulators on and see how that runs.

These UMPC's do look very cool though, having a mini version of Windows XP on it is superb !

Like i say i didnt know about the resolution as i thought it was stuck at 800 x 480 but i was impressed this could be changed (granted this 'squish' on the screen because of the smaller window).

Gonna be an exciting year for UMPC's though, come back in a month or two and i'm sure this one will drop down in price a lot. Like i said before its like the 90's with PC's when one month a 300 mhz cost the earth, a month later it was dirt cheap and 500 mhz then cost the earth and so on.

 

[icurafu]

6 months interest free? wow. Banks in UK are kick arse.

It sounds very exciting. N64 on the go would be great.



There isn't that much happening for the next 6 months.... other than the pandora.

Menlow UMPCs will not be released until very early 2H 2008 and AMD bobcat and vx800 will not exist until next year.

The vx700 is getting smaller and cheaper, which means that even cheaper version of the nanobook and MID like products are just around the corner.

I think Menlow will be the breaking point for MIDs and UMPCs. They are extreamly cheap to produce and give the user the perception that they are powerful.

 

[psj3809]

Well in PC World if you spend over a certain amount you get interest free for 6 or 9 months. Cant remember, think i had to spend over 500 quid to get 0% so i bought a few other things, eg blank dvds etc.

Would love to get hold of the oQo as that looks a cool device but the latest versions cost a ton (nearly 900 pounds !). The videos on youtube of them playing first person shooters look very good though. Would love one of these when they come down in price a lot !

http://www.umpcportal.com/products/product.php?id=131

 

[icurafu]

I saw a OQO before. It looks great and runs very very fast. They clock at 1.6Ghz these days.

I had my eye on the WiBrain as a gaming machine (Sadly I used to be an article writer on the largest S3 news site), but after benchmarks comparing Via UMPCs and McCaslin were released, I thought I'd wait.

You should try Baulder's Gate 2? I got a ton of retro games I would try on a NanoBook.

 

[finty]

Bit off topic but in argos if you spend over £90 you get intrest free for 6 months.

'Thought this was a great deal, gunna get a PSP this way then pay off like £30 per month.

Umm... nice UMPC .

 

[psj3809]

I saw a OQO before. It looks great and runs very very fast. They clock at 1.6Ghz these days.

I had my eye on the WiBrain as a gaming machine (Sadly I used to be an article writer on the largest S3 news site), but after benchmarks comparing Via UMPCs and McCaslin were released, I thought I'd wait.

You should try Baulder's Gate 2? I got a ton of retro games I would try on a NanoBook.

Yeah great idea about Baldurs gate. Wonder if i can do a full installation off dvd so i only need to connect an external dvd drive just once ? Let me know how it runs on your PC.

As long as i can do a full installation theres a lot of games i would like to try. I shall give it a test with some and see how it goes. I dont think it has the best graphics card but older games like Baldurs Gate etc would be great if they work.

Also like Finty says i know this UMPC was dear but when its 0% its more tempting to splash a bit more.

Have to get an oQo one day but i'll wait for more UMPC's to come out as the prices will fall a lot i reckon in the next 12 months or so.

The Vye UMPC's i also really like. Do a search on VYE on Youtube, they look very cool and the screen turns around so you could use it as a tablet

 

[chaos engineer]

Its got a 30 gig hard disk, about 15 gig is free because of XP/recovery section (can be deleted). Two USB ports.

is it risky to delete the recovery section? what is it for? (noob question I know)

btw, will receive my xs on Monday.

 

[icurafu]

Use Daemon tools. That way you dont need a CD Drive. With Baulders gate, you can play just one CD at a time on minimal install.

I'm still in wait-wait mode.

 

[psj3809]

is it risky to delete the recovery section? what is it for? (noob question I know)

btw, will receive my xs on Monday.

Where did you order yours from ?

Had a quick look at the manual for the first time, says you can delete it, surely once you have access to it you can just copy it onto a pen drive or a cd ? Tempted to get rid of mine.

Currently installing Duke Nukem and Quake 2. Also have Dark Forces I to install so i'll see how that goes.

Want to install Baldurs Gate, trying to think of how to do it, might install the dvd version or try for the single cd approach.

Was very impressed with the resolution as i said before as i didnt know you could switch to 1024 x 768 etc. MAME works very well, N64 works well, Mario Kart is superb apart from the intro sequences to a race where it splutters a bit but the actual in game works fine.

Let me know how you get on with yours

My one gripe is the wireless, i have my router in the basement, upstairs in the lounge my wifes laptop works perfectly, however unless i'm directly above the router in the kitchen i cant get a signal. The minute i pass into the lounge it cuts out ! Frustrating ! Might get some USB wireless connection for it or ideally move the router into the lounge.

 

[chaos engineer]

is it risky to delete the recovery section? what is it for? (noob question I know)

btw, will receive my xs on Monday.

Where did you order yours from ?

Had a quick look at the manual for the first time, says you can delete it, surely once you have access to it you can just copy it onto a pen drive or a cd ? Tempted to get rid of mine.

Currently installing Duke Nukem and Quake 2. Also have Dark Forces I to install so i'll see how that goes.

Want to install Baldurs Gate, trying to think of how to do it, might install the dvd version or try for the single cd approach.

Was very impressed with the resolution as i said before as i didnt know you could switch to 1024 x 768 etc. MAME works very well, N64 works well, Mario Kart is superb apart from the intro sequences to a race where it splutters a bit but the actual in game works fine.

Let me know how you get on with yours

My one gripe is the wireless, i have my router in the basement, upstairs in the lounge my wifes laptop works perfectly, however unless i'm directly above the router in the kitchen i cant get a signal. The minute i pass into the lounge it cuts out ! Frustrating ! Might get some USB wireless connection for it or ideally move the router into the lounge.


I have received mine yesterday evening, just had the time to connect it to my wireless router (no probs for me, but I have heard that wi-fi card is weak), to install all the basic programs like open office, firefox, antivir, realplayer etc. No gaming sessions yet. However, I will use it more as a pc for serious stuff like emails, vpn to my office server etc. Of course, the favourite emulators like mame, vice, uae will be on it. I have ordered mine from a Swiss internet dealer called www.microspot.ch (no customs, not taxes etc. for me).

Yeah, I saw the passage in the manual about the recovery function. Il will copy the recovery files to my external hard drive. Should be ok.

 

[psj3809]

Quake 2 runs perfectly on it, just added Duke Nukem.

Gonna have to faff around with Dark Forces to get that to install, would also like to put Baldurs Gate on it. As i play so many emulators i cant think of any other old classic games to put on it !

Like you say the wireless is weak but i have a USB wireless connector so i'm hoping i'll get that working with it and it'll be alright. Pain to have that on the side of it but better than being without the net.

I can touchtype very fast and on the smaller keyboard i'm getting used to it, very impressed with it so far. Just looks so cool this mini PC !

 

[chaos engineer]

I did it, copied the recovery files to my external hd and gained a second partition on the hd with 4 GB

 

[chaos engineer]

one problem of the bell packard is that the hard drive is really slow. Meaning that the limited flash memory of the ASUS eee PC has what speed concerns a clear advantage over the bell packard.

 

[psj3809]

Yeah the eee PC has an advantage there, happy to have a hard drive though with 15-20 gig on it though.

Once you get used to it the tiny touch pad works very well

 

[chaos engineer]

Yeah the eee PC has an advantage there, happy to have a hard drive though with 15-20 gig on it though.

Once you get used to it the tiny touch pad works very well

I really like the touch pad. Increased the speed setting and it works fine for me. Actually, I am just sitting in the lobby of the Hoxton Hotel (Shoreditch, London) with my easynote xs while I am tiping this post. really nice experience. this is my first trip with the bell packard. really cool mobile, mobile laptop.the hard slow hard drive isn´t that much an issue, if you just use the standby mode

 

[psj3809]

Serves me right for not looking at the instructions yet, wheres the speed setting ?

In that hotel i presume they have wireless, what do you find the range like ? Mine doesnt seem to be great

 

[chaos engineer]

settings / mouse / mouse options / speed (not sure, my OS is in German)