Packard Bell EasyNote TS45-HR-965UK review

The Packard Bell EasyNote TS45-HR-965UK is a Tesco exclusive that looks like a direct upgrade of the TS44-HR-035UK we saw last year. The TS44 was the first we’d seen of the new Core i3 processors, and the TS45 continues this. It gave the TS45 a slight edge in our benchmarks over most comparably priced laptops, with an Overall score of 46.

This is more than enough performance for most people’s everyday computing, and only heavy multimedia editing work should slow the TS45 down. Like its predecessor, however, it uses the Core i3’s integrated graphics chip for 3D work, so gaming is limited to casual titles. A 17fps result in our Dirt3 benchmark shows that you’re unlikely to get playable frame rates in 3D action games, even with graphical settings turned down.

In stark contrast to the TS45’s beefy processor, its design consists of a white case with a patterned pink lid and a wrist rest. Its build quality is good, although we found the keyboard’s keys to be a bit wobbly. They do have a light action, however, as well as a distinct bite at the top of the stroke that provides excellent feedback for touch-typists.

We were disappointed to see that Packard Bell has chosen to swap the function of the Function key, which means that it now modifies the top row of keys to activate the F1-12 keys, rather than the shortcuts they represent. We would also question why two pairs of keys (the left Shift key and the Backslash key, and the Enter and Hash keys) are placed so close to each other. The first pair in particular is bound to cause some frustration.

Surprisingly, the TS45 comes equipped with a 1TB hard disk, the largest this month, which might explain why the price at the time of writing is £529 rather than the £499 that Packard Bell’s representative promised us. With the hard disk industry still recovering after the floods in Thailand, the price may still fluctuate.

With such a large disk to fill up, we were disappointed to see that the TS45 has dropped the USB3 port found on the TS44. Instead, you get three USB2 ports, and they’re placed towards the front of the case where they might interfere with an attached mouse. The rest of the TS45-HR-965UK’s port selection is fairly standard, and consists of VGA and HDMI video outputs, a pair of audio ports, a Gigabit Ethernet network port and a four-in-one memory card slot.

Most impressive of all is the screen, which is one of the best here. It has an even, bright backlight with no hint of a cast. Vertical viewing angles are a problem, as are reflections cast by overhead lights on the glossy finish, but once you’ve adjusted the tilt of the screen carefully you’re rewarded with great contrast and bold, accurate colours.

With its massive hard disk and great screen, the TS45 is ideal for those who like watching movies or taking lots of hi-res photos, which makes the inclusion of full versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9 all the more convenient. However, the TS45’s Core i3 processor isn’t really fast enough if you’re doing lots of photo or video editing work; Asus’s powerful X53E would be a better choice for that.

Overall, the Dell Inspiron 17R is better value for money because of its 17in screen and better choice of expansion ports, but for the sheer convenience of it (a massive hard disk, plus free photo and video-editing software) the TS45 is quite unique, as long as you like pink.