Netbooks have become the popular must have in the world of portable computing. Smaller and lighter compared to their laptop and notebook brothers and sisters they are ideal for travelling around with you. I was so tempted by this idea that I went to the manufacturer who had built my beast of a home laptop and bought one!

However, I was interested to see how other manufacturers would fair so I put both hands up to be given the chance to try the Packard Bell Dot MA. My first home PC was a Packard Bell so I knew they were a brand to be trusted and reckoned with. The model I had to test was shiny, black and very sleek, just how I like my gadgets, although it also comes in red if that is more your colour. Being shiny means it is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, not too much of a problem though as it just gives me an excuse to keep polishing it. Yes I know I’m strange!! The first great thing I noticed is that Packard Bell provides a slip case, with Velcro fastening, in the box so there is no need to go shopping for a protective cover before you can take it out and about with you.

Well lets get technical ….the screen is a 11.6” HD LED LCD and is nice and clear. It is also packing a 2 GB memory and a 250 GB hard drive which is massive for its size. I thought that only having a 1.2 GHz processor might give it a few problems but it seemed to handle what I asked of it.

There are 3 usb sockets, a headphone, microphone and an Ethernet socket, a 5 in 1 multi card reader and a Kensington lock socket. Nice to know you can lock it to the table while you pop to the loo in your favourite coffee shop, although its compact size means you can just pick it up and take it with you if you want to. Just don’t get distracted on the internet while you’re in there or you won’t be popular with the other customers!

Speaking of surfing, it has Wi-Fi built in so you can connect wirelessly to the internet and I found it very easy to get connected which is always a big bonus.  Finally there is a webcam built into the screen and the whole thing, complete with a 6 cell battery, weighs just 1.48kg. Hard to believe that so much can be packed into a small item but they have!! The obvious thing to be sacrificed by its size is the fact that it doesn’t have an optical drive so no CD or DVD but for the usage it’s designed for I don’t think that is too much of a problem and you can always buy an external one to plug in if you need to.

The keyboard is clear and easy to type on but being a compact size means that some keys need to be doubled up, no big deal because all you need to do it press a button in addition to the one you want to use. On the netbook I have these secondary function keys are clearly marked in a nice blue colour and easy to read but Packard Bell have used a red/orange colour and with my bad eyesight I found this very difficult to see so I was not impressed by that.

I also found that the battery life was not as long as my netbook and only seemed to be producing the same life as a normal laptop which is not what I would expect from a 6 cell battery. I wondered whether the fact that they had chosen to use Vista Home Premium, rather than the older XP, as the operating system was causing it to be power hungry.

The one complaint I have about my current netbook is that it does not handle video very well and is very jerky so I was eager to try this out on the Dot MA and I was not disappointed. The same video which had been a trial to watch on my netbook was a complete pleasure to watch on the Dot MA, not a single jerk!!

Just one other thing I want to mention is that my netbook has Bluetooth which I have found invaluable when I’ve needed to connect my phone and move photos and things. The test model Dot MA did not have this and I felt a bit disappointed as this simple feature would add to its portability and cut the need to carry an extra cable.

On the whole the Dot MA did everything you would want from a netbook and is definitely up there with its competitors. I think I would be in trouble if I was to buy a 4th laptop/netbook though!!

See packardbell.co.uk for more information

Avaliable from Tesco Direct for £299.99