Hands on with the Packard Bell EasyNote XS - the first Eee PC killer?

The newest low-cost ultra-portable has just arrived in the Mobile Computer office - the Packard Bell EasyNote XS. This is based on the VIA NanoBook that was announced at Computex earlier this year, which was supposedly an ultra-portable that would compete with the (now) £220 ASUS Eee PC.

The good news is that hardware-wise, the EasyNote XS looks like a worthy contender to the Eee PC. The bad news is that it's being sold through PC World at a ridiculous £500 and not the (still overpriced) £350 it was originally pitched at. More after the jump.

First impressions of the EasyNote XS are good. It's at least as well-made as the Eee PC and, thanks to the black finish, looks like a 'serious' laptop.

The dockable modules that were part of the NanoBook concept haven't been implements and instead the rather conspicuous space to the right of the screen is filled with a webcam. Speaking of the screen, this model is running at a non-native 800 x 600 and the driver won't switch back to the native 800 x 480. As a result, the display looks horrible, though there's certain to be a fix.

The keyboard is much the same as on the Eee PC - small, but good, in other words - but the pointing device is rather bizarre. It's a tiny trackpad with a 25mm diagonal that sits at the top right of the keyboard - the two mouse buttons sit on the other side.

We'll post a full review in the next day or two but in the meantime, here are some pics. Leave any questions the comments and we'll answer them in the review.