LG's S1 Review

Thanks, everyone for the suggestions... and apologies in advance for YALPing (Yet Another Long Post)....

As I said in the FAQ, I'm not sure I'm prepared to go 14" just yet (W3J or LW40), so I'm sticking with what I know and like: 15.4". And I want some CPU power but with some style. Finally, I want something with at least one year International Warranty.

I did a bit of research into how much it would cost to bring this machine (LG P1) with me into the UK, from Canada, and I found out it would add significantly to the price (some 20%)...I never thought it'd be that much...(just as a curiosity, an Asus V6j here in the UK is sold at CAD$2700!!! - no-go - in fact all Asus here are soooo expensive when compared to Canada).

While I was looking into the UK Customs and Excise pages to know more about bringing a machine from Canada, I learned that from within the EU there is no import tax on laptops. So I started looking into each EU country for LG P1's (not every single one of the 25 countries, but a good half-dozen)...and hey presto! I found what I consider a good deal in Portugal. I've emailed them to know if they would ship and YES! we are onto something here...

The machine itself comes at CAD$1975 and I expect to pay another CAD$100 for next day delivery, so not bad at all...now the (not-that-big-a-) catch...it's a T2300 instead of a T2500 CPU, and a X1400, instead of a X1600...but on the bright side it's 100GB HD instead of 80GB (horaaay!)...and I do have 2 years International Warranty!!! comments on how both CPU's perform the same are welcome (those that say the T2500 is soooo much faster than the T2300 are not ).

Not a done deal yet, but nearly there (in terms of decisions)...so, as they say, if anyone has any objection against me getting a P1, say it now or hold your peace forever (or something like that)...

Moving on...

I agree, bran, always that something missing...and here is a "niche" for ASUS...they already do customised machines (it took me a couple of minutes googling around to learn what BOA meant..."Which manufacturer is this, that I've never heard of?")...now, just make them good looking as the ensemble ones!!! Ok, yes, I can see their ensemble market would plummet, but still, there is that feeling that you want to customise laptops the way you do with desktops...oh well, the day will come...

A tiny remark, MysticGolem (and I apologise if I'm ALL wrong here). I'm not up-to-date with the "news" regarding the developments at Intel (the Conroe)...I've heard it's good...haven't heard how much it costs...and where you can buy it...so I would not change my mind just yet that AMD is the best in desktops...and best (for me) does not mean fastest (as if I had infinitely deep pockets)...it means best cost benefit...I do not mind paying half the price and get at the same result 0.03ms later in the benchmarks.

Finally, a philosophical question: Has any one here had REAL (meaning long-term, every day) experience with the MBP? Is it just a major "market hype"? Like "I've always wanted to have one, because it looks so beautiful, and now that I can run windows on it, I'll impress all my friends"...but on the "every day work" (away from your friends) it's not THAT wonderful an experience that justifies the premium paid...you realise it's just....a laptop!!! It just looks that little bit nicer (for some people)...

Oh, well...I warned you...it was YALP!

Thank you all very much for the comments/suggestions.

 

the read wasn't so bad nicely paragraphed for easy reading

Firstly, CPU difference between the T2500 and T2300 you will not notice a big difference, honestly prolly nothing at all. One thing you will notice is that a slower CPU gives you longer batterylife. So expect another 10-20 mins.
I saw some info that stated this and i was surprised

One big downfall is the GPU, X1400 is HALF as powerfull as the X1600, however the X1400 may just be all that you need. Once again, you will get an increase in batterylife by roughly 10-20 mins, plus a slightly cooler running laptop.

JUST an FYI, most people who buy laptops oversea just take their laptop as carryon luggage, so that you can avoid paying taxes.

Another method is to tell the seller to send it as a gift. <- but i don't think this works anymore, nor do the retailers would do this for you. Tho im not 100% sure.


BOA = Built On ASUS, now if you look at the market for laptops, 50% of laptops are roughly manufactured preset and assembled. THe other 50% is a combinations of customizable laptops by manufacturer or retailer assembly.

DELL has the winning solution for making the best and most amount of money, called DIRECT Sales. Plus they sell fully customised and the best looking laptops they can get for cheap and sell at high profits.

A company like HP offers direct sales but no customization plus somewhat pricy stuff.

ASUS does both Ensemble and BOA (customizable) this gives them access to almost all markets but one at this time. They are missing in high end gaming units... especially customizable ones, like the Dell M1710 and SAger 9xxx series.

Conroe will not be released for several months, AMD right now is the BEST thing you can have in your desktop. After Intel releases Conroe intel becomes the best. It really just a game lol. Costs i have no clue, but Merom will have very similar prices to Yonah, hence you'll pay roughly the same.

As for the MBP, check out the Apple forums. Also try to find someone you know that has it and you can play around with it. I am pretty sure people just use em normaly without a fuss. either running windows or tiger, they seem to be happy dual booting.

Hope this helps, good luck.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Bought this Laptop too LG S1 Express Dual. I'm quite impressed by the performance for this kind of small machine, but one thing is bugging me a LOT! .. the lack of driver updates for the x1600 video chipset. ... The version i'm running now is 8.206 ... and ATI's latest drivers (Catalyst 6.4 are 8.241) something like that... Mobility Catalyst 6.3 has driver version of 8.231 ...

ATI mobility 6.4 Catalyst Drivers. Not Compatible with this machine.. x1600 not listed as supperted chipset.

LG's drivers are OLD!! and note very good. When playing Oblivion I notice many glitches and annoying elements.

Omega Drivers arn't very good on this machine. I can't even start Maya using them, and that's pretty crusial to my work.

So, i'm stuck with old drivers and quite anoyed when i know other manufacturers have much newer updates to their machines with the same Chipset.

Running 3DMark05 i first got a score if 3000 wich i think is pretty low. I changed some settings in the Catalyst Center but i can't seem to get the score up to more than 3800 ....

I should be able to add at least 300 points more, or even more than that if i had some newer drivers... I'm satisfied with the performance overall, but things like lacking driver updates drives me nuts!! I like to keep my machine up to date and want the best working drivers and software available.

This is a big minus for this machine. But i hope i'll be more then satisfied when i see some newer drivers.

 

:::

So, Which other NB maker have newer x1600 Driver,
what is the version of them? Can you list them
out....??

:::

 

Yes i can... Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers...k/tm_8200.html
has drivers equvalent to Catalyst 6.3 for isntance.

HP Compaq nx9420
had new drivers released in 8 March... dont know what version though.

I don't have time to name them all but here's a list of models with x1600..
http://www.jeuxvideo.fr/acheter-ord...0-0-avec-567---ATI Mobility Radeon X1600.html

 

You could always try a patcher on the official ATI drivers to make them run on the x1600?

 

I am using Omega driver and 3DMark05 is 4120

 

yeah, im running omega drivers and getting around 3900 (havent try running maya on it tho)..


one thing to note is i had problems with the latest version of battery miser were the laptop would continually be throttled to 1ghz no matter what settings you had it on or if you ran on battery/ac power.

I was getting low scores in 3dmark05,, reinstalled the version which came on the cd and it fixed the problem..

good way to test is to run the Pi test, you should be getting around 1:15 secs at full speed..

 

I don't have problem of battery miser, but I didn't use it. My super Pi 2M test is 1:19, not sure why a little bit slow.

 

Oh my God,

What a beautiful notebook, what a hardware, what a 3dmark05 score!

Superb review! 10!

Charlie-Peru

 

Fantastic review.

 

I noticed that the LG S1 in the review has a WSXGA screen, but the ones listed on CanadaSys are all WXGA. Does anyone know if it's possible to get the S1 or P1 with a WSXGA screen in North America?

I'm very tempted to get the Asus W3J when it's released, but I'm concerned that the WXGA resolution won't provide enough screen real estate. So, I'm looking around for a 15.4" widescreen with higher resolution and similar specs (x1600, etc).

Unfortunately, there aren't many options! The MacBook Pro is a possibility, since it's WXGA+, but I'm bummed about the underclocked x1600 and the heat/noise issues. And I'm not interested in the Acer 8204 due to lacking build quality. So, the WSXGA LG models would theoretically be good picks, if I can actually get one in the USA.

Thanks!
Todd

 

I have the same question as loopdot. I just noticed that the only S1 model available in Canada is S1-P400A9 and the screen resolution is WXGA. At least this is the only model on the LG Canada website.

What is the model number of the S1 in the review in this thread? Is it possible to get the WSXGA in Canada?

I'm seriously considering buying this notebook, but I won't get it with the lower resolution.

 

Could anyone tell me if the S1 has SPDIF out? The specs mention SPDIF but I couldn't tell whether it was line-in or line-out

I wish it had a WSXGA screen and DVI out, because it would then be almost perfect for me

 

I think S1 is SPDIF Out. Not sure it will support Line in or not.

 

It does have s/pdif... The S1 has 3 plugs you can plug things into, and it actually lets you change what each does (ie, you can pick if it is line in, headphone, microphone, rear speakers, front speakers, center/sub..).

Has anyone fiddled with this yet? I tried plugging in two seperate sets of speakers and setting one to rear and the other to front, but both sets seem to only play the front sounds?

 

Is it a TOSLINK or coax interface?

 

Coax unfortunately

EDIT - Oh wait I'm wrong, it's definitly optical (I just had a look and saw a glowing red). Does anyone know where I could buy an optical cable that will actually fit into the coax slot?

 

It sounds as though it is a mini-TOSlink. One of these should work:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx...h&MenuName=TOSLINK TO MINI-TOSLINK CONVERTER

 

It works great
real 3D sound and SRS

 

Wow, that's a cool setup! Can you explain how the front/back speakers work? I set it up using the realtek program but when I do the soundtest (in the program) the sound sounds the same in both right speakers and the same in both left speakers. The only thing telling me that I've done something right is the fact that if I go into the volume control, the correct speaker's volume is affected when I change it. Other than that, they all play the same sound files

 

speadball could you please take a high-resolution photo of the side of the notebook with the audio connections? Thanks

 

I want an alienware laptop you can check it out at www.alienware.com but i live in INDIA!!!! please someone help me to find a way to get it here you only get them in america!!! THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!

 

just set it up like it's shown in the picture and it should work just fine.

 

umm how does the blue one work as an analogue and a digital out at the same time? It looks just like a regular 3.5mm analogue connection ...

 

How do you like the resolution? Is it too small when you read text on Internet and so on? Can you take a screenshot at your desktop?

 

It's both... When you activate digital, it turns on the optical light. Read above, you have to buy a minioptical cable, I got mine last night and it works great.

As for Spreadball, when you do the sound test, does the correct speaker play the correct sound? Because it doesn't for me

 

I really want this notebook, the desing is the best from PC laptops. But there is one big BUT, which has prevented me from buying S1 yet. It's the dark screen which is reported by many German users and also speadball in his review. I heard the screen in German model will be replaced (when? the store didn't know) because of the darkness.

 

Can Anybody confirm this?
Can we make a database with the windows identifier of the "dark screens" and the "new screens"?

 

Personally i don't think it's a dark screen.. Maybe becuz i have the version with 1280x800 Resolution ... That resolution fits me well, and the screen even seems a bit too bright sometimes. Using it in the evenings without much lights around I sometimes turn the brightness down becouse the screen feels too bright.

 

LG S1-P1-M1 screens are not dark,actually bright and crisp screens but no so much brite,no dual lamps and no vivid colors like Sony's Xbrite, Toshiba Qosmio engine type Trubrite.



regards,
Clearday

 

I've heard that 1680x1060 screens (WSXGA) ara a bit darker than 1280x800 screens (WXGA)

 

All right, I have to ask. Where/How can we find a P1/S1 in the US? Gotta be possible, but I'm not seeing it. Thanks all

 

lg is not sold in the u.s. danny from canadasys is planning to expand his business into the u.s. and will sell some lg models. however, it will not be for another few months.

 

I read at

http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/products1-2.aspx?modelid=2004058

That the soundcard in the S1 P3B3a is EAX1 and 2 compatible.. I loaded up Warcraft 3 and chose EAX sound and it said it couldn't load. Does anyone know how to get this going?

EDIT - I posted a little while ago about having trouble with the front and back speakers playing the same sounds. I ended up uninstalling the SRS program that came with the laptop, and now it works perfectly.. Go figure.. Did anyone else have this prob?

 

Hi everyone!
Some of you guys appear to have used your S1s for a while.
Are you still happy with them?

I am considering buying one, we have them here but i am not really sure about LG.
Feel free to comment/answer one or more of my questions/statments:
a) What about LG as a notebook manufactuer are they really good enough?
b) I saw that the dvd-drive contains macrovision circuitry. Not knowing alot about them i at least know they sell technology to prevent copying of media, lower quality of media sent out from video ports digitally etc.... Do you think this is this an issue something that limits the value of the media features? (its in the manual)
c) Fingerprint readers with provided software can be anything from really bad to very good.
Any experience from the LG implementation?
d) The reviewer mentions "lack of a latch" as a potential problem. Is it?
e) Is it really so sensitive to scratches so that it looks like s*it after a few and does it scratch _very_ easily?

And more generally on selecting notebook.....
I think the S1 has what i need.
I need:
1. docking
2. dc2500
3. 1g Ram
4. <3kilos
5. Bluetooth
6. WLAN
7. dvd-burner
8. Normally sized keys

From what i have read
a) Stay away from Acer 8204
b) Got money?: get a lenovo t60 2007
lacks media features but has other pros, nicely built, a 7200rpm drive
c) I can live without media features, built in: card readers, remote, tv tuner
d) No good docking solutions for any asus model

I think S1 has it all - is it good enough?
What do you guys think.
Thanks.

 

Well, i will put it one way, if everything fails, for example, the V1J and the W3J or any other ASUS laptop does not make enough of an impression on me, then i would personaly buy the S1, it is basicaly a good allround machine.

I just hope that lid doesn't get scratched up that badly.

your Q 1, yes the fact that LG is new to the notebook industry does make me question their integrity.

All LG Yonah ( Dual Core) laptops are Good, the older pentium-M models were ok...

I don't know the answer for the DVD Rom

Yes the fingerprint technology is hit and miss across all laptops, someone who owns one and uses it would tell you the answer.

The lack of the latch is an interesting choice of design, it make the notebook look cleaner, but depending how strong the magnetic lid is then it shouldn't be a problem.

Hope this info does help.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

I"ve had my S1 for over 2 months now and I can honestly say it is the best laptop I have ever used. I also own a Dell Inspiron 8600 and an Acer Ferrari 3400.

In reference to your questions:

a. Can't really help you with that one since I have never used an LG before.
b. No issues with the DVD drive. I was not even aware of the Macrovision circuitry. It works great, it's quiet and I can't see any difference from my Dell or Acer drives.
c. Finger print reader works flawlessly with the software provided. I don't really have the need to use it but just can't help playing with it It's good at work - keeps people away from your computer, and you do not need to remember any passwords.
d. The lack of latch does not seem to be a problem either. The lid closes and holds very nicely. I guess only time will show if that is a good solution
e. I would not say it's overly sensitive to scratches but it surely isn't a Thinkpad. After thorough examination I have noticed few minor scratches but you really need to look closely, with the right light, to notice them. That's after 2 months of heavy use.
I suppose if you plan to handle it rough then it is not the most fortunate choice, however if you will take care of it you should be fine

Overall I do not regret buying it one bit, look wise and performance wise it's worth every penny you spend.

 

Can anybody tell me some e-shops where I can buy this notebook from spain?

 

I've got a P1 and I really like the fingerprint reader. At first I thought it was a gimmic, but it is really quite functional. You can even encrypt files on you computer using it (in addition to the obvious use for passwords), which is a nice feature if you are sharing your laptop. My only gripe is that it doesn't work with Opera 9.

 

I checked www.lge.es and it seems that s1 is not officialy available in Spain, just the P1.

 

And some european e-shops?

 

quisoc,

how good is your Portuguese?

http://www.kuantokusta.pt/produtos....al&PHPSESSID=9921bd246a9c6593fecdd76d61415899

This site lists a few shops in Portugal, with prices...I guess it's a matter of contacting them to know availability and possibility of shipping to Spain.

Good Luck!

All the best.

 

Thanks mmiranda!!

My portuguese is very poor, but I speak catalan, spanish and a litte of galician and italian. I think that I can contact and undestand them!

The portuguese keyboard is the same that the spanish?

 

quisoc,

I don't know what the Spanish keyboard looks like, but here you can see the Portuguese one in close-up:

http://www.hardware.com.pt/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35303&start=0

All the best.

 

Thanks!
This isn't a spanish keyboard, but so I write in catalan or in english, it's ok for me.

 

mmiranda, are you portuguese? do you know some of the e-shops that appear on this site?

 

Hi quisoc,

sorry for the long delay to reply.

No, I'm not portuguese. I'm Brazilian (hence the interest in the portuguese keyboard), but live in the UK (hence, I do not have a clue about the service from the shops listed in the site). I'll be moving back to Brazil soon, so I'm interested in the portuguese keyboard, since it's a pain to put the accents (`'~) in words with the "wrong" keyboard.

All the best.

 

just wondered has anyone seen this? http://www.hardware.com.pt/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35303&start=0
I was just looking to understand how those amaxing 3D scores could be had and if it might cause instability...too much heat ect

 

Greets all,

olasamuelson, I think the S1 meets all eight of your points.

I picked up what might have been the only S1 in Ontario, Canada, a few weeks ago. I was told it wasn't officially available in Canada yet, although ncix and a few others had listings but no stock at the time. So I claim local exclusivity for a short time

But seriously, this is a beautiful machine. I'll post a formal review sometime after I've lived with it a bit. The original review and the comments in this forum were very helpful in my purchase decision and solving driver and software issues, thanks. Every works now, digital and analog surround out, fingerprint reader (except with Firefox), plays halflife2 well, even the remote works with my powerpoint presentations!

Still ecstatic ,
Eugene

LG S1 (Selene)(T2500)(2x1GB DDR2667)(x1600 512MB)(WXGA)(100GB 5400)