I was in my local (dutch) Dixon's yesterday and they just received their (one and only) Packard Bell XS. I had the honour of unboxing it and starting it up so I thought you might like to hear about it...

First impressions are that it is an absolute winner. The size and weight are amazing. The screen though small is very clear (once we set it to 800x480 (the factory default was set higher which made for 3pt text). The screen did seem to have a lot of wasted space around it. I felt they could have got another cm in both directions out of it - it looked like the screen could have been a size bigger or the PC a size smaller, but I am sure there are good reasons why it is like this.

The price is €599 which seems very good (and MUCH better than the reported price in the UK)

The speed seems quite acceptable though this was hard to really check as the system is a plain vanilla WinXP. I started a few apps such as WordPad and did some typing - everything started up reasonably fast and there were no obvious delays.

The keyboard was small but useable, the keys were just what you expect from a basic laptop - fine for general use but I would not want to write War & Peace on it. Despite the small size it was not particularly hard to use (though I am not a touch-typist). There is a touchpad on the top-left corner of the keyboard that is *very* small - you have to brush across it 2 or 3 times to get across the screen. The mouse buttons are 2 small (and wobbly) buttons at the top-left. It was a bit awkward navigating but it was certainly do-able. I think a (very) small mouse would be a good addition to the pack.

Battery life was reported as 2:30 hrs with 89% charge (as it came out of the box). The charger is very small and light, not a real burden to carry with you.

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I bought an ASUS R2H UMPC last year when they first appeared and the XS seems much better. It is certainly faster and having the keyboard built in makes it very practical without seeming to have increased the size and weight. The R2H onscreen keyboard was impossible to use (it covered about 70% of the screen). The ASUS security and screen control 'utilities' made it a nightmare to operate - it was always going into unexpected modes and the security was so tight it just got scary. The XS just uses plain vanilla WinXP with no bells or whistles such as fingerprint readers. Whether you think this is good or bad depends on you of course!

To my mind, the form factor of these baby laptops seems to work much better than the UMPC.

In conclusion - if I had not bought the ASUS last year - and thought I could justify the XS to my accountant, I would definitely have walked out the shop with it yesterday! I think that anyone who is on the road and just needs the basic 'office' apps - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook etc. will have a great time with the XS.

I have been quoting Netherlands packardbell and dixons website prices in my ongoing debate with PCWorld UK.

I'm tempted to pop into my local UK PCWorld and offer them £350 cash !

DavidW.

Thanks very much for that. I think you're the first person ever to get hands-on and write about it!

Mind if I copy some of this onto the front page of the portal as a news item?

Steve.

DavidW
I hope you're ready for a lot of questions...i've just posted the news on the front page!

http://www.umpcportal.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1022

Was it being sold with UK keyboard and Windows?

Steve.

Hi Steve,

I only got to play with it on the counter so I can't make any in-depth comments! The OS was Dutch but the keyboard was probably the standard US - the Dutch don't have a special keyboard like the French or Germans - and I don't remember seeing a pound key etc.

David.

P.S. went back to Dixons today and it''s still on the shelf VERY temping !!!

Steve,

One point about the news: I believe that the Dutch Dixons is not part of the PCWorld group. They are owned by Vendex which is a big holding firm for some department stores, DIY stores and a range of 'high street' type stores (including the Dutch Halfords). I understand that both Dixons and Halfords are daughter companies of the British originals that bought themselves out and have now been absorbed into Vendex.
However I am not an expert on this so don't quote me too loud!!!

David.

You could well be right, there is no mention of a Dutch operation on DSGI website - all the international stuff is in Scandinavia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixons_(Netherlands)

Even if this is the case it is still another retail outlet selling the device at far below UK price.

David.

Where in Holland did you see the Easynote in Dixons? I'm only 3 hours away from Amst and also have some contacts in Den Haag that I will see in a few weeks. I'm tempted to go and buy one for a review.

Reference the non-UK Dixons. Maybe i'm wrong but the parent company must still have rights on the brand and the fact that they have the Easynote at all leads me to believe there are still links between UK and NL Dixons Group.

Steve.

This one is more expensive than my Everun Note with Dualcore (HUF were low that time) Turion 1024 x 600 touchscreen, space saving mouse sensor and a pocketable case. Maybe build quality is better but who knows?