Packard Bell IGO 5581

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Very fast
Look & Feel	Excellent
Comfort & Portability	Good
Robustness & Durability	Good
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Powerful laptop .   Loads of memory .   CDRW/DVD Combo drive .   Fast booter .  Good quality .   large screen .
Disadvantages:	Crappy speakers .   Skimped on the software .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

OK, so you get the general idea from the title of this review that I am the proud owner of 2 laptops. I bought my Advent 7002 (now Advent 7006) in February of this year (2002) which is one laptop. I am now the owner of a Packard Bell Igo 5581 after winning it recently in a competition. I may well be lucky owning two excellent laptops, but I can only use one at a time though!

Right, enough waffle and let’s get down and dirty with the nitty gritty of my new PB Igo 5581, the specs, the good and the bad points so you can see what one of these machines is made of!
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Price: … …: The PB Igo 5581 has a retail price of £1499 in Curry’s, Dixon’s, PCWorld and other stockists, so it’s no cheap toy by any means. I did notice the other night though that PC World was offering £100 off the price for a limited time. They are also reducing the price of other laptops at the same time though, so you may still get a bargain if you are after a laptop. Anyway, here’s what you get for your money:
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CPU/Processor: … …: AMD Mobile Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53GHz in reality). I have to admit that the mobile Athlon XP CPUs are excellent. They save power when you are doing less power hungry tasks and run at lower speeds. Then when you need the power they will pull out the stops and roar along, making life that much easier. If you were using the Likes of MS Word, the CPU speed would drop to around 500 MHz which would be more than adequate for the task, but if you were playing a game the speed would increase when needed. 1.53GHz is powerful enough to perform virtually any tasks that you throw at it and not be found wanting. The fan for the CPU is pretty quiet, but speeds up when it detects that the CPU is gaining in heat, therefore keeping the CPU cool.
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Memory/RAM: … …: 384 MB DDR-SDRAM. This amount of memory will see you through virtually any task that you may face on your laptop. Being DDR (Double Data Rate) rather than the older, slower PC 100/133, means that you will suffer from fewer bottlenecks (slowdowns caused by your memory), which happens more frequently with older memory if you are doing memory hungry tasks.

The only downside is that your graphics card uses up to 32 MB of your system memory. This leaves you a minimum of 352 MB though, which is still plenty. You can decrease the amount of memory that’s allotted to the graphics though which is good.
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Graphics: … …: Not too bad here in all honesty. You have a Via/S3- S3 Twister K+ Hotkey, which when translated into plain speak means that your graphics card is an S3 Savage4 chip. It’s capable of playing 3D games well enough, but not as well as a full desktop graphics card would. None the less, it does the job it was intended for.

As I mentioned above, the graphics card can have up to 32 MB of system memory allotted to it, but you are free to choose amounts between 4 MB and 32 MB to suite yourself and your graphics needs. Changing the allotted amount of memory can be done in either of two ways, the easiest being via the ‘Display Properties’ panel within the Control Panel. The other way is through the BIOS when you turn your laptop on.

I benchmarked the system using Mad Onion’s 3D Marks 2001 SE and got a score of 1030 on default settings. This is a respectable score for a laptop, especially considering that the software is designed to be run on desktop computers!
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Sound: … …: Here you get an Avance AC97 integrated sound card. This is the same as the sound on my 7002 laptop and gives the same decent results. The problem is the speakers as they are crap, as are those found on most laptops. The AC97 chip is widely used in many makes of laptop and desktop computers alike and will do the job. (Personally though, I’m seriously thinking of investing some money in a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Extigy external USB sound card for my 7002 as it is excellent)
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Monitor: … …: The PB Igo 5581 has a 15.3” monitor which is big for laptops. Colours are clear and vivid and it’s certainly a good quality screen. When playing DVDs the pictures are nice and as good as those that you get from your TV.

One thing that I have noticed that some may see as a bit of a negative point is the fact that the maximum resolution of the screen is 1024 x 768 @ 60 MHz. All of the screen resolutions are at 60 MHz though. Saying that, the screen works well enough and you get good results, regardless whether you’re playing games, watching DVDs or manipulating images.
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Hard Drive: … …: 30 GB Fujitsu (MHR-2030 AT). The drive is split into two partitions, a small 2GB one used for the complete installation of the Windows XP Home CD and the other a 26 GB one used for installing your operating system and programs. It’s also quite fast and quiet at the same time which is nice!
It’s a fair sized drive when you think about it and has plenty of room for all the programs that you may need installed. There’s room for games, work software, images and music.

If, for some reason you decided to change the drive, then that’s easy enough via the easy access panel on the under side of the laptop base unit. Just undo a few screws and change the drives over.
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Combo Drive: … …: NEC CB-2100A CDRW/DVD-ROM combination drive. Basically it’s an 8 speed DVD drive which is fine for watching DVD movies or using DVD data cds.

The CDRW writes at 8 speed (or up to), re-writes at 8 speed (or up to) and is a 24 speed CD-ROM drive, so it’s about the normal for a laptop combination drive. You’ll get plenty of good results with the stability and reliability of this drive when ever you use it.
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Modem: … …: Smart Link MDC V.92 56K. A pretty nifty modem at the end of the day. I’ve tested it using 2 phone lines and have had a constant and consistent connection speed of 52kbps, which is very good for a 56K modem. As usual, you get the RJ11 phone to modem connection cable, plus a connection adapter.
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Mouse/Touch pad: … …: Your typical Synaptics PS/2 port touch pad mouse. This one has 2 buttons and a 4-directional scroll button. It’s not bad at all, but takes a while to get used to if you haven’t used one before. You can use the Synaptics software which is in the ‘Control Panel’ to alter settings and button settings to your own configuration though.
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Keyboard: … …: A standard 90 key laptop keyboard in all honesty. The real difference is that the keys are a translucent blue which is nice for a change. The keys are very responsive, but like all keyboards, you can fiddle with the setting via the ‘Control Panel’ until you’re happy with it.
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Infrared: … …: Here you get a Via Fast Infrared Controller for all those peripherals that require this type of connection. Personally I have no use for this at present, but one day I may!
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Ports/Sockets & Slots: … …: USB : … : You get a generous 4 (YES! I did say 4!) USB ports at the back of the laptop. These are split into 2 pairs of 2, which is handy as it reduces the chances\of tangles wires. Having 4 ports means that you shouldn’t really need a USB Hub and should be able to connect most of your needed USB devices without problems. My 7002 only has 2 USB ports, but I added a PCMCIA SB hub for another 2 as I needed them.
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Ports/Sockets & Slots: … …: Printer : … : A standard Parallel Printer port her for your printer or scanner. You may want to use it if you have an old Zip drive that needs a parallel port.
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Ports/Sockets & Slots: … …: TV-Out : … : An S-Video port so that you can connect you laptop up to your TV, should you want to. To do so you will need an S-Video lead. If your TV requires a SCART lead you will have to get a converter, but they’re not hard to get your hands on.
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Ports/Sockets & Slots: … …: VGA-Out : … : Connecting your laptop to an external monitor is made Childs play with this and a lot of people use it.
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Ports/Sockets & Slots: … … : IEEE1394 : … : This is more commonly known as a Firewire port. This is for connecting up your digital camcorder to your laptop so that you can play with your movies. Some external drives also use this port as it gives faster speed. Newer, more expensive web cams are Firewire too, which makes a big speed difference apparently.
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Ports/Sockets & Slots: … … : Ethernet : … : A laptop wouldn’t be complete these days without an Ethernet socket. Here you get a Via 10/100 Fast Ethernet Adapter so that you can hook your laptop up to your desktop or other computer. The easiest way to connect 2 computers that are in the same house is via a ‘Crossover’ cable. This will give you the top speed and is very reliable to say the least!
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Ports/Sockets & Slots: … … : Sound : … : On the front of the laptop you will find the 3 sound sockets. These are 1 x Line In, 1 x Line Out and the other is for your Mic. Beside these sockets you will also find the volume control wheel. They are set into a small groove, which helps keep them from being knocked when lines are connected.
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Ports/Sockets & Slots: … … : PCMCIA : You have another way to expand your laptop using the PCMCIA card bus port. This is a Texas Instruments PCI 1410 Type II PCMCIA Cardbus slot. Here you can connect USB hubs, drives, modems, network cards & other stuff with the greatest of ease. One thing that you will find is that most PCMCIA\cards aren’t very cheap. My 2 port hub was £55.
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Size: … … : The PB Igo 5581 isn’t the smallest of laptops, which is mainly due to having the 15.3”monitor. The 5581 measures (W x D x H) in at: 328mm x 278mm x 40.4mm. This is just over an inch in width and depth bigger than my 7002. If you want the bigger monitor, you have to have a bigger laptop!
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Weight: … … : This beauty weighs in at an even 3 .0 Kilos, so it’s also not the lightest of laptops. You will notice the weight more if you had to carry it for prolonged periods, so a backpack laptop holdall would be advisable!
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Battery: … … : Li-Ion 9 cell battery. This battery will last roughly about 2.5 hours, so should be adequate enough to let you work or play away until you get to a mains socket. Naturally, the more stuff that’s running from the laptop and drawing power from it, the shorter the battery time will be. Around the home or office you would be wise to use the mains adapter instead of the battery.
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Colour: … … : It’s silver with a translucent blue keyboard, which is rather nifty looking to say the least. There are several Packard Bell hard plastic logos on the cover and case, but they are clear plastic and quite attractive so add to the looks of the laptop. The case is made out of hard plastic, which most seem to be made out of, but it’s pretty durable.
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Hardware Overall: … … : That’s my finished rundown of the PB Igo 5581 and what’s inside it. Basically, it’s a solid performer, that’s stylish, durable, has plenty of power and can easily replace your desktop computer. Now to let you know what software comes with this beast!

All of the following software is preinstalled and unless otherwise stated, you don’t get a separate CD.

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Your operating system. I like it, but prefer the Professional version though)

Microsoft Word 2002

Microsoft Money 2002

Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2002 (separate CD included)

Microsoft Interactive Training (This is specifically there to teach you about using and getting the best out of Windows XP Home Edition. I had a good look at this and found that it’s a serious tutor that will help those that are new to XP Home)

Norton Anti-Virus 2002 (Only 90 days of updates though before you have to buy a new license! You’d be better with the likes of AVG 6.0 which is 100% FREE!)

Power DVD (As a software DVD player, I found this was lacking in most departments. You would do better if you have a copy of Win DVD or the likes as I have found it to be a solid performer)

There’s some other software, not much, but some that I haven’t mentioned here, but you can find out all about it from the Packard Bell site.

In the box: … … : When you purchase your PB Igo 5581, you will get a nice, sturdy box. This contains your new laptop, power adapter for the mains, battery, cds, manuals, RJ11 phone line and adapter. That’s all well packaged for safety and shouldn’t get damaged if you dropped it.

Marks out of 10 would be about 8 in my opinion. I have deducted marks because the speakers could have been much better, rather than the useless ones built on and because there was a lot of skimping on the supplied software. Saying that, you will have a great laptop should you decide to buy one! -

…Thanks for your time! …. Tom