Packard Bell NX69 review

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.

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.

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.

Typing on the Chiclet-style keyboard was very comfortable, as there’s plenty of room between each key. Key travel was good and there was a firm springy action to each key press, but we did notice some flex in the keyboard tray. The glossy coating on the touchpad creates a small amount of friction, but we were still able to navigate the desktop without too many problems.

The touchpad also acts as both the left and right mouse buttons, which proved irritating in everyday use. There’s very little feedback from each button press and, while you can click pretty much anywhere for a left-click, you have to click right on the bottom-right touchpad for right-clicks to register consistently.

The NX69 is one of the more expensive mid-range laptops around right now, an there’s little doubt that you’re paying for portability over performance. That said, thanks to Intel’s 2nd Generation Core processors there’s still plenty of power on tap if required. Packard Bell adds some welcome extra touches, such as such as the keyboard cover that doubles as a mouse mat and screen cleaner, and the complete version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, so it feels like you get what you pay for. If you don’t need a dedicated graphics card, there are very few laptops in this price range that are quite so versatile.