Packard Bell joins the UMPC fight

Darius Chang | Nov 27, 2007

If people are wondering whether the UMPC concept will catch on, the growing list of manufacturers pumping out ultra-mobile devices should silence the critics. Packard Bell is the latest to produce a 7-inch portable--christened the EasyNote XS20.

Available at the upcoming SITEX show in Singapore, it will have to contend with the ASUS Eee PC which will be making a maiden appearance at the same time. At S$1,298 (US$954.41), it is twice as costly as its ASUS rival. So the EasyNote XS20 will have to rely on its impressive hardware to make a good showing.

The design is not exactly awe-inspiring. In fact, the Eee PC looks a lot better. However, like the Gigabyte U60, the X20 is based on the VIA chipset with a blazing-fast (for a UMPC) 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of memory. The default operating system is Windows XP Home, though it should have no issues going for Vista. The screen, unfortunately, is a 7-inch display with a native resolution of only 800 x 480 pixels, which means side-scrolling for some of the wider Web pages which you may visit.

An interesting addition is a DVI port in place of a common VGA output. We are a little skeptical at this decision. On the one hand, DVI is certainly the way of the future. On the other, the frequent traveler is more likely to encounter a VGA display than a DVI one. Other features include an integrated Webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, memory card reader, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios as well as an Ethernet slot. The battery is also quite impressive, as it is rated for 3 hours with wireless turned on and 5 hours without.

For now, the X20 will be available only in Singapore for S$1,298 (US$954.41).

Filed under: Notebooks
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jhei

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jhei says...
As of looks alone, Asus has the edge on this. Practicalitywise, Asus is a better choice. And did I mention that the asus eee is shock proof??? :)

Nov 27, 2007 21:23