X-bit labs

14" Widescreen: Most Optimal Solution? 10 Contemporary Notebooks Roundup (page 25)

Category: Mobile

by Vasily Melnik

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

The touchpad is classic, with a large sensitive area, a vertical scrolling zone and big handy buttons that feel nice to the touch:

Samsung seems to be very fond of stickers:

The first sticker reports that the notebook is equipped with a Bluetooth 2.0+EDR adapter; the last two are obligatory. As for the Nvidia logotype, there’s nothing to boast about because the GeForce Go 7400 TC cannot compete even with good old X600/X700 not to mention the mobile 6600 Go with its nearly ideal price/performance ratio. The reason is simple: all these graphics adapters have dedicated graphics memory rather than eat some from system RAM. However good a graphics core may be, its advantages are all negated by its using slow system memory.

I’ve said everything about the display in the previous section because the X11 produces the same picture as the X1. The X11 suits for office work quite well, but if you compare it with the leaders of today’s tests, the difference is striking. Well, even without any comparisons, it’s no fun to view photographs on either of the two Samsungs.

The bracket of the lid lock looks cute here:

Even small quantities of chromium-plated metal add appeal to a device.

The X11 offers more upgrade opportunities than the X1:

It has a connector for a docking station, too:

So, functionality can be extended if you buy a docking station.

The battery is simply a joke:

It’s the same reduced-capacity battery the X1 comes with, but the X1 was equipped with an ultra low voltage Pentium M and had a much more modest configuration. When used in an X11, this battery is more like an integrated UPS than a mobile power source. I wonder if additional batteries will be included in mass-shipped versions of the X11, because without them it is sort of transportable desktop notebook.

The power adapter is similar to the X1’s, but more powerful due to the notebook’s configuration:

The conclusion is this: the X11 is a good notebook designed by the classic guidelines, but equipped with a low-capacity battery and not the best of displays. Regrettably, Samsung positions this model quite high, so you cannot expect it to come at a modest price. Considering this, I can’t recommend it for purchase. The company may try to make it more appealing by including a normal battery and putting an appropriate price tag that would make up for the low display quality. I wouldn’t hope much for that, though.