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“I bought my Packard Bell iPower 5000 laptop in June...”

written by shade82000 on 07/03/2004

Good Points
Although low battery life - very fast machine
More than adequate for the average user
I use it to produce music / play games and it has not hung up on me once.

Bad Points
flimsy display hinges - come loose after a few months
Quite noisy fan

General Comments
I bought my Packard Bell iPower 5000 laptop in June 2003 and I paid 1199 for it. Since then (it is now Mar 2004) it is still available, but for around 800, depending on where you shop. I thought it was a good deal then because the likes of Tosh and Sony were selling machines without CDRWs, no memory card readers and smaller displays for about 400-500 more - just paying for the brand name! And they were only reaching 2000 MHz. Fine, if you are a train tart who must get your machine out on your journey home and make people see the brand name while you figure out if you have met your sales target for the day - you need an 18mm thick portable with no noise - but you must learn to take your tie and trenchcoat off on the train! But the main reason I bought my machine was because I am a music producer. I dont need a machine that I can use on the move, but I need a machine that I can move between studios and then plug into the mains when I get there - a desktop is too big for that and a Tosh is simply not powerful enough and overpriced. This machine is more than enough for what I need, although on batteries it only lasts for about 2.25 hours. I have the iPower 2.66GHz/512MB/60GB version which has a 32MB GeForce Go graphics adapter, 4xUSB and 1xIEEE1394 for great connectivity. When we are done producing music for the day, we plug the ceiling projector into the VGA port and play games on a 8'x5' diaplay on the wall - at resolutions of 1024x768 in 32-bit colour, the machine has no problem with that at all. This, all from a portable. I know this machine is not built for using on the move, maybe there should be categories for 'laptop,' 'portable' and desktop machines in the world of PCs and this would definately fall into the portable section. It is not the toughest machine in the world compared to some of the IBM thinkpads, but if you are prepared to look after it properly and treat it right then there is an abundance of power waiting for you. Quite importantly, they have managed as far as possible to retain the original 102 layout of the PC keyboard, minus the numpad. I have used 40-50 different portables of many different brands and the keyboard on this is by *far* the best, both alt keys, both ctrl keys, both shift keys, both start button keys, everything is in place. A fine portable! Also, they have brought out the 3.06GHz version, with 512MB or 1024 MB (I cant remember!) and a 64MB Geforce Go GFX adapter, although they have removed the 5-memory card reader for some reason. All for the same price (1199) that I paid for my 2.66 in June 2003. I must go get me one of those!