Packard Bell EasyNote TS44-HR-035UK review

Packard Bell’s new EasyNote TS44-HR-035UK looks very much like previous models, and the only clue to its novelty is the new Intel sticker on the wrist rest. Unseen inside is a new Intel Core i3-2310M processor running at 2.1GHz, along with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard disk, which makes the TS44 look like great value at £450.

This is budget territory, but the TS44 certainly isn’t ‘cheap’. Its 15.6in screen has a glossy finish, which adds a little vibrancy to colours but can distract you with reflections of lights and windows. The backlight is even but not the brightest, which makes images seem a bit washed out and reduces contrast, but our main problem was with the tight vertical viewing angles which forced us to adjust the screen’s tilt carefully. The 1,366×768 resolution is standard.

Design-wise, the TS44 looks similar to previous models such as the TM99, although thankfully the blue wrist rest has been replaced by a more subtle silver. The touchpad had a smooth surface and our fingers glided easily over it. It has a vertical scrolling areas and a single see-saw button which has a reasonably light action.

The keyboard has separated keys with a light action that provides adequate feedback for touch-typists. The keys’ flat tops mean you fingers can sometimes slip off them, and they’re slightly wobbly, but overall we found it comfortable to type on. There’s a numberpad to the right with four columns, but the top row is taken up by shortcut keys, so page navigation keys and the function keys themselves (F1-F12) are relegated to Function key combinations. Those used to using shortcuts such as F5 or Alt-F4 have to press the Function key as well, which is a pain.