The distinction between netbooks and laptops has long been erased on the mobile computer market, because every manufacturer, trying to please customers, creates a product with the least weight and maximum portability. We can’t do without IT experts in the portable devices segment, only they are able to determine the purpose of the mobile gadget and give an opinion on the appropriateness of the purchase.
The focus of the article is the Packard bell Dot S laptop. Features, review, photos and owner reviews will help the reader get more information about the device, which belongs to the netbook family. And the recommendations of experts will allow potential buyers to understand whether they need such a gadget in everyday life or not.
Product positioning
The manufacturer, in pursuit of profit, decided to offer the Packard bell Dot S netbook in several segments at once. For an inexpensive laptop, the cost of 15,000 rubles is simply not possible. But the fact remains. So the device was in the following niches:
- portable office device;
- compact laptop for a student;
- Elegant female helper.
Naturally, many experts in the field of IT became interested in whether one device is able to cope with any tasks and satisfy all customers from these segments. The fact is that only the cost of the product unites all niches, but the functionality, convenience and performance go apart. The reader will be able to verify this on their own by examining the characteristics of the device in this article.
First meeting
A colorfully decorated cardboard box made in the form of a small diplomat will naturally attract the attention of all potential buyers. Inside the package, the buyer will find a netbook, battery, charger, instructions, transportation bag and cloth for wiping the screen of Packard bell Dot S. Drivers (Windows XP and Windows 7) are supplied only if the netbook is sold with the operating system installed. In other cases, the manufacturer recommends downloading software from the official site.
In their reviews, users positively describe the configuration of the device. All owners without exception, regardless of gender, liked the fabric briefcase for transporting the netbook. It is not only convenient, but also able to protect the device from shock when dropped.
Appearance and build quality
Questions begin with buyers in a detailed study of the Packard bell Dot S laptop. If an ordinary user can still be bribed by appearance, then an expert is generally unrealistic. In fact, before the buyer Acer Aspire One - this is evident not only in technical specifications, but also in appearance, including the location of the ports, as well as the identity of many components. A serious difference is only in price - the culprit of the review is almost one and a half times cheaper.
As for the build quality, there are no questions to the manufacturer. All plastic components are perfectly matched to each other, there are no backlashes or problems with alignment. Confuses only the glossy coating of the device cover - it is easy to scratch it, and plastic collects fingerprints perfectly. The bottom of the device has a matte finish and is equipped with four rubberized legs, which ensure the stability of the netbook on smooth surfaces.
System performance
For a portable Packard bell Dot S device, specifications are not basic parameters, but many potential buyers are still interested in the performance of a small laptop. Oddly enough, the potential of a netbook has:
- Intel Atom N550 processor operating at a frequency of 1500 MHz;
- DDR3 memory is limited to 2 GB;
- Integrated Intel GMA 3150 Graphics
- 320 GB magnetic hard drive with a spindle speed of 5400 rpm.
In general, in the market a user can come across many modifications of a portable device. All of them differ in the installed components. So, the most powerful configuration built on the basis of a model with two cores - the Atom N2600 - comes to the market, or the user is offered to purchase the cheapest netbook in a budget class with 1 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive.
Screen specifications
All owners of Packard bell Dot S laptops can forget about viewing high-quality FullHD video. The characteristics of the LCD screen leave much to be desired. A ten-inch display with a resolution of 1024x600 dpi is only suitable for working with documentation and surfing the Internet. Yes, multimedia is subject to a netbook, but color rendering is unlikely to appeal to users.
But the display of information in sunny weather will please any owner. The manufacturer has equipped its mobile product with a decent LED-backlight, which is able to show the image even in bright light. It is convenient to work with such a netbook not only in the office or cafe, but also in nature.
Input Devices
It is easy to guess that a small laptop cannot be equipped with a full keyboard. The manufacturer tried to provide the user with all the necessary buttons, however, this decision seriously affected the usability of the Packard bell Dot S laptop. Owner reviews in the media about the keyboard are negative. In addition to the multifunctionality of the keys, the manufacturer allowed himself to equip the device with buttons with a short stroke and with no recoil in the finger. Working with text on such a device is inconvenient.
As for the touch pad, the opposite is true - the touchpad is large, comfortable, supports multi-touch and the owners of the laptop have no questions about it. It is worth noting that the touch pad does not have a shutdown button, however, during operation, you do not need to deactivate the touchpad. The fact is that the sensitive area does not respond to random touches and “ghostly” clicks.
Work with interfaces
Packard bell Dot S provides users with a convenient netbook with a complete lack of interfaces and ports on the front and back of the mobile device. Naturally, you will have to pay for comfort with functionality. So, on the right side of the device, the owner will find: an input and output for connecting speakers, one USB port, Kensington lock, LAN port and a device for reading memory cards.
On the left panel there are: an interface for connecting a charger, two USB ports and a D-Sub video output. It is rather strange that the manufacturer did not provide the netbook with the popular HDMI interface, because there is plenty of room for its installation.
In addition to wired interfaces, the portable device is equipped with wireless modules WiFi and Bluetooth. There are many questions regarding the operation of these interfaces. The manufacturer claims that WiFi works in 802.11 g / n networks, but in practice, everything turns out to be slightly different. Making the laptop work on both networks fails - you need to choose one standard.
Multimedia in a portable device
You can communicate with friends and relatives via video using the Packard bell Dot S netbook, but only in case of emergency. The thing is that the manufacturer did not pay due attention to the multimedia tools responsible for transmitting voice and video messages. The built-in microphone located on the upper edge of the display does not have sound noise reduction. It is extremely inconvenient to work with such a device. Correct the situation can only an external microphone for which there is an audio input.
As for the video camera, its quality is not enough even to create a regular photo, not to mention the transmission of video in real time. What the manufacturer was thinking about is unknown, but obviously not about the work of multimedia in this device.
Upgrade options
Not everything is so simple and with an increase in the productivity of a mobile device. The manufacturer did not leave loopholes for its fans who want to upgrade the Packard bell Dot S laptop . The memory is limited at the hardware level to two gigabytes (the motherboard does not see larger modules), and the IDE hard drive cannot be replaced with a modern SSD drive. Alternatively, you can install flash memory as a hard drive, and expand the RAM with memory cards, but this solution will cost the user too much.
As for overclocking potential, you can also forget about it - the budget representative, due to its compactness, has a weak cooling system that can not cope with overheating of the processor or an integrated chip responsible for video output.
Solution of problems
A netbook is no different from other portable equipment in terms of performance, so any breakdowns that may occur during operation are resolved in a similar way. The most common problem that a user may encounter is the inoperability of the network driver (wired and wireless) in the Windows operating environment. The issue is solved by installing third-party drivers released for Acer Aspire One laptops.
If the Packard bell Dot S netbook does not turn on, you do not have to rush it to a service center. It is recommended to disconnect the removable battery for 10 seconds, reconnect and try to start the mobile device. In general, power problems haunt this gadget. For example, it is better not to leave the Hipro charger unattended connected to the network, since it can not only overheat, but also burn out.
Finally
In their reviews, many owners dubbed the Packard bell Dot S laptop a kind of symbiosis of a calculator with a notebook. And there is something about it. The netbook clearly needs to be improved - whatever you touch, everything looks somehow efficient, but not 100 percent:
- cheap low-resolution screen, but with LED backlight;
- low performance components that cannot be improved;
- Wireless interfaces for which original drivers are not suitable;
- the presence of multimedia, which does not work as many would like.
The choice, of course, is for the potential buyer, who decides what is more important for him - affordable price, functionality or performance. As practice shows, it is impossible to satisfy all the needs with one device.