Packard Bell’s EasyNote TS11HR039 features an Intel Core i5 processor and because of this the performance is great. You might wonder how Packard Bell has managed to keep the price under £400.
In answer to that question, there’s no dedicated graphics card. Instead an integrated Intel HD chip does the work and it really struggled in the FEAR tests. There’s also only 3GB of RAM – half of that in the HP, Lenovo G570 and Toshiba models.
If you’re not interested in gaming, though, this is of little consequence. And if you want a bit more RAM then it’s easy enough to add more, requiring you to remove just two screws to access the RAM modules.
Overall, though, the Packard Bell is an excellent all-rounder. The keyboard is large enough for typing to be comfortable over long periods, even if the arrow keys are a little small. The screen is bright and sharp with a good viewing angle, though it does have the seemingly ubiquitous glossy finish that so irks us. It looks smart and has a distinctive pattern and will blend in nicely in most rooms. It’s fairly portable at 2.6kg and a battery life just short of six hours suggests that the Packard Bell would make a good travelling companion. There are three USB 2.0 ports, which is generous enough, and HDMI and VGA ports as you’d expect.
There are some other concerns, though – the optical drive seems to be a bit too easy to spring open, meaning that you’ll get a surprise if you don’t pick the EasyNote up gently. It could also offer a little more hard disk space than 500GB but this is a minor quibble, and you can’t argue with a price of £399.
Comments
Robin Window said: Easynote ts11hr039 is being sold now in Curry's or PC World as refurbished for £349.99
Matt Egan said: Fair point. All we can do is review products as they are sent to us by the manufacturers. If subsequently, the stocks are so limited it pushes up the price, it does rather change the nature of the deal. All I can say is that at the price we were given, the product is as reviewed. If it costs more, reduce the star rating as appropriate.
Jdunne1 said: read the review on the EasyNote TS11-HR-039, spent all day trying to find one near the advertised price but with no luck. only one i can find was on amazon.com but at £535.99!I cant even find it on packard bell's own web site
Matt Egan said: Hi Graham. Ben's checking with PB and we'll report back in time, but we suspect it has been and gone. With a good deal such as this, often manufacturers put together a SKU with very little margin in order to entice purchasers, but leave them on sale for only a couple of months (or until stock runs out). For obvious reasons, these are often the products manufacturers are most keen for us to review!
Graham said: Perhaps Ben Camm-Jones can point interested buyers to a supplier that actually sells the Easynote ts11hr039 for under £400
peter said: The problem with the Easynote ts11hr039 is that it appears to be the best deal that can't be found at the moment.