X-bit labs

14" Widescreen: Most Optimal Solution? 10 Contemporary Notebooks Roundup (page 23)

Category: Mobile

by Vasily Melnik

[ 06/07/2006 | 10:56 PM ]

Samsung X11

A representative of the new generation of Samsung notebooks, the Centrino Duo-based X11 follows the X1 model in exterior design:

The color scheme of the new model just copies the X1, but this is the only thing they have in common. The X11 is a classically designed notebook you don’t have to get used to after you’ve switched to it from some other model. When closed, the X11 is a copy of the X1:

It is just a little thicker. It may seem strange, but the thicker X11 looks somewhat more appealing than the X1 while the extra centimeter of thickness brings the user quite an advanced configuration: a full-featured Intel Core Duo processor (T2300), a most recent mobile hardware platform, a 100GB hard disk drive, and a discrete last-generation graphics controller from Nvidia (GeForce Go 7400 TC). I guess all this makes up with interest for the slight increase in the notebook’s thickness.

Well, if you are not comparing the two models side by side, you don’t immediately see that the X11 is thicker, especially from the front:

Just like the X1, this model has nothing except a card-reader on its front panel. It’s the rear view that betrays that the notebook has got fatter:

The X1 was no thicker than its battery, but this model has about 5 millimeters above and below the battery. All the connectors are on the sides of the case. The connectors on the left panel are almost the same as on the X1’s one…

…except that there’s no USB port here and the speakers are in their usual place. But the power adapter connector is in the screen hinge:

That’s an original and convenient solution, at least it’s easy to connect the power adapter by touch. The left panel carries an optical drive, the three available USB ports, and video output.