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Packard Bell NX69 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £700
inc VAT

It’s portable, powerful and looks great. If you can look past a few minor touchpad issues, the NX69 is a great mid-range laptop

Specifications

14 in 1,366×768 display, 2.3kg, 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M, 4.00GB RAM, 500GB disk, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

http://www.pcworld.co.uk

We’re used to Packard Bell laptops having a little extra design flair over the competition – it is Acer’s style brand, after all – but it’s rare that we see something that stands out for more than just its good looks. The EasyNote NX69 has done just that with its slim chassis and attractive design, but still includes plenty of high performance hardware inside.

Packard Bell NX69 right

With a 14in screen and weighing 2.3kg, the NX69 is surprisingly portable, but an Intel Core i5-2410M processor running at 2.3GHz means there’s no shortage of power when you need it. Thanks to Hyper Threading Windows sees four processor cores, while Turbo Boost means the CPU can overclock itself to 2.9GHz when under load. A healthy 4GB of RAM will also help when running multiple applications. Our multimedia benchmark still proved taxing, but an overall score of 54 is about what we would expect from a mid-range laptop.

Unsurprisingly, there’s no room for a dedicated graphics card in the slim chassis, so Packard Bell has used Intel’s integrated HD 3000 chip to provide the 3D muscle. It’s more than capable of playing high definition video on the 1,366×768 laptop screen, or in 1080p on an external display, but it isn’t well-suited to playing today’s demanding games. Our Dirt 3 test brought it to its knees with an unplayable 12fps at 720p; you’ll have to sacrifice anti-aliasing and detail settings to get a playable frame rate. On the plus side, the lack of dedicated graphics means battery life doesn’t suffer; in our light-use test, the NX69 managed a stellar eight hours away from the mains. As long as you stick to light tasks, it should be able to last an entire working day between charges.

Packard Bell NX69 keyboard

Once we sat down to use the NX69, we were instantly impressed with the superb screen. It might use a cheaper TN panel rather than IPS, but the incredibly vivid colours looked fantastic. The maximum resolution is big enough to keep two browser windows open side-by-side, and everything looked incredibly sharp. There were some downsides: limited viewing angles meant we had to sit in an exact position for colours to look their best, and the glossy screen finish reflects even the smallest amount of light.

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Basic Specifications

Rating ****
Processor Intel Core i5-2410M
Processor clock speed 2.3GHz
Memory 4.00GB
Memory slots 2
Memory slots free 0
Maximum memory 8GB
Size 22x342x245mm
Weight 2.3kg
Sound Conexant High Definition Audio
Pointing device touchpad

Display

Viewable size 14 in
Native resolution 1,366×768
Graphics Processor Intel HD 3000 Graphics
Graphics/video ports VGA, HDMI
Graphics Memory 384MB

Storage

Total storage capacity 500GB
Optical drive type DVD+/-RW +/-DL

Ports and Expansion

USB ports 3
Bluetooth no
Wired network ports 1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support 802.11n
PC Card slots none
Supported memory cards SDHC, MMC, Memory Stick Pro/Duo, xD
Other ports minijack audio output, minijack microphone input, 1x USB3

Miscellaneous

Carrying case No
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Operating system restore option restore partition
Software included Adobe Photoshop Elements 8
Optional extras none

Buying Information

Warranty one year RTB
Price £700
Details www.packardbell.co.uk
Supplier http://www.pcworld.co.uk