New lightweight Samsung X360 (13.3")

.. showed by SAMSUNG on IFA fair Berlin, looks quite interesting.

(link to German page)
http://tinyurl.com/6nndve

EDIT: also on gizmodo:
http://tinyurl.com/5ze3kz

1280 × 800 13.3" display
dual core ULV U9300 with 1,2 GHz
up to 10 hours on batteries
X4500 graphics chipset
120 GB HD (1,8") (SSD optional)
Ports: USB, VGA, HDMI, ExpressCard/34, LAN, Cardreader
1,3 kg
no optical drive
price around EUR 1600 (from October 2008)


Pictures:
http://www.heise.de/ifa/bilderstrecke/460/nt51c1a1

 

Saw this on Engadget. Very beautiful machine!

 

Thanks for this. It looks very interesting. I had got the impression that Samsung had abandoned the X series.

Is there any clue as to whether the display uses an LED backlight?

John

 

According to Samsung, it does

http://ifa.samsung.de/flash/default.aspx?deeplink=p_i1.swf&cid=de:lbc-b2c-ifa2008:intern:nl1_prc

Really great news I think.

 

the question is -- do you think the processor is powerful enough to do fullHD playback smoothly (over hdmi of course)?

 

According to Intel, the GPU should handle the HD playback workload.

There's X360 another first look at Tom's Hardware.

John

 

I'll keep tabs on this, maybe an alternative to the MSI Wind. All depends on cost.

 

I think that Samsung is going to struggle to sell these in Europe. The trackpad and buttons look very similar to those that are used on some of Samsung's cheaper lines. This is going to be like £1,300 in the UK.

Unlike Sony Samsung are not so well known for doing premium notebooks. You can buy an ultraportable TZ for about that much money. You can also buy a Z for not much more for £1,367 and buy an extended battery also for better battery life.

I should imagine that you would be to manage about 6 or possibly closer to 7 hours (these notebooks do not come with an LED screen) with the x4500HD ( for just office work) with the Q210/Q310. You get a DVD drive and a faster processor with these models as well.
The weight for either of those notebooks for most people is still very decent. This notebook carries quite a fairly large price premium over Samsung's more budget current 12.1-13.3 range.

This notebook is kind of similar to the MBA or the X300/1 in terms of specs but with Apple people buy that for the brand, design and Mac OSX. From what i have seen sales of the MBA have not been great in the EU anyway.

For my own personal use the X301 offers me more but i think it is still priced a bit to high. I just wish that you could configure this notebook without an SSD drive so that is one good thing that the x360 has going. It would cost me about £1,700 to configure the X301 the way that i would like.

In terms of looks though the x360 i think might have the edge.

The thin and light 13.1-13.3" market is very competitive right now.

 

Let's wait and see where the pricing lands. I wouldn't be surprised to see a version at around the £1,000 mark. That's were the Q30 used to sit.

I agree that Samsung doesn't have the same level of consumer awareness as Sony when it comes to notebooks, but they have a good record for producing some quality smaller notebooks. The Dell X1 was a rebadged Samsung.

John

 

A sort of 'preview' of the x360 here:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/noteb...360-13-3in-Notebook---Exclusive-First-Look/p1

 

Laptops Direct is listing two versions of the X360.

NP-X360-AA02UK @ £1300

NP-X360-AA01UK @ £1500

So that's +£200 for the 128GB SSD.

Availability is said to be 2-7 days.

Dabs.com is also listing these models.

AA01 is a more reasonable £1420 and AA02 is £1220.

However, they say availability 1st November 2008.

John

PS. More evidence that next week is improbable is that, so far, only the X360 BIOS is on the Samsung download site. Normally, all the drivers and software are posted before a new notebook leaves the factory.

 

Thanks for that info, John!

And the extra GB. Not as hefty as the SSD upgrade but an upgrade nonetheless .

 

The X360 is also at notebook.de. €1600 for the HDD version with 4GB RAM. They say availability is 2 - 3 weeks.

John

 

The X360 drivers and software are now posted on the Samsung download site, which usually indicates that it is in production.

The User Guide is an enormous download. I have extracted a few interesting pages. Of note is that the touchpad supports gestures such as pinching and the memory slots are under the keyboard but detailed instructions are given.

John

 

Any news on when the new 14" (that looks like the X360) will be available?

 

The X460 has its own thread. However, to answer your question I would guess that it is several weeks away because, at the moment, only the BIOS is on the Samsung download site.

John

 

http://pages.samsung.com/us/notebooks/x360video.html

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/...pherals&type=mobilecomputing&subtype=notebook

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/type/type.do?group=computersperipherals&type=mobilecomputing#

 

That will please a lot of people. Presumably the X460 will follow.

John

 

X360 is on the Samsung US site. See here.

John

 

X360 review/test data posted yesterday on PCM mag's link below -
SU9300+120GB option.

http://www.pcmweb.nl/hardware_review.jsp?productid=3489&WT.mc_id=rss

 

Thanks. Over 8 hours on battery is looking promising, but the SSD probably helps.

John

 

extremely interested in one of these.. do you guys think the performance of the machine would be adequate for someone who does web browsing, word processing, excel, ppt, email, video streaming, and watching HD movies?

Those make up 99% of what I do. And maybe even downloading, uploading etc.

Would the 1.4ghz ulv processor be too slow?

 

Please don't cross-post. Video streaming is the possible weak link. The Intel GPU supports HD decoding so that takes the load off the CPU ( see part 2 of my Dell E6400 review). Other applications will run OK although there might be a hint of lag from time to time: if there is something processor intensive then it would take 50% longer than, for example, a 2.1GHz CPU.

John

 

Sorry, wasn't aware of the cross posting rule.

Another question. I know the higher end version of the x360 comes with 128 SSD. How do i find out more information about the SSD? Is it mlc or slc? Im not too familiar with the topic, but I definitely wanna know the quality of these ssd's.

 

Cross-posting is more of a netiquette thing rather than a rule.

The SLC variant of a 128GB SSD would be prohibitively expensive. It would be reasonable to assume that it's MLC, and using Samsung chips. Probably the same drive that they supply to Dell (which they label the 'Mobility' version).

 

If the resolution was just a bit higher I would be willing to make this my main unit, but I need more resolution for photoshop & stuff. Still its so sexxy.

the x4500 IGP should be pretty strong.

x360 throws me off, keep thinking xbox360...

 

I'm in Seoul (sth korea) at the moment and just went and had a look at this baby, It really is a sexy machine and looks better in person than even the photos do. It did feel heavier than I expected though, even without the battery attached.. not heavy just not as OMG light as I had thought it would.

the glossy isn't as bad as alot of previews make out either, the keyboard is very tactile and the overall build quality is fitting of its excessive price tag, 2,800,000 Korean Won for the HDD version I saw.

I will probably go back and visit it and the X460 one more time if anybody has any questions about them

 

Very nice looking machine, but its hard to understand why its so expensive, seeing as a Q310 is like half that.
Is it purely build quality and the SSD?
The keyboard looks like fun, its like a cross between a standard keyboard and the macbooks

 

I expect that the X360 has a lightweight metal chassis and display back which are more expensive materials and a bigger challenge to make than whatever material (plastic?) is used for the Q310. However, as with almost any consumer product, the profit margins tend to be bigger at the more expensive end of the product range.

John

 

I've noticed that these Samsung x360 are becoming available at various retailers. But mostly in pink/black color?

I recall seeing a black/black version in a gallery. Does anyone know where to buy that one?

 

bump ;'(

Has anyone gotten their Samsung x360 yet? I noticed that UK amazon.com carries a black/black version, but their processor is capped at 1.2 ghz

Btw, looks wise, how do you think this one will compare to the Sony Vaio Z?

 

Notebook.de has photos of both red and black but doesn't indication an option to choose which colour.

The X360 is lighter than the Sony Z but contains less powerful hardware and should give a longer battery life (8 hours claimed). The HDD is only 1.8" and I can't see any optical drive.

John

 

Looks wise, I think it will be more sexy than Sony Z. It's thinner, lighter and a lot more shiny.

Sony Z looks more like a professional tool.

Sony Z is a lot more powerful though as John said.

 

Yeah.. Looks wise, I like the samsung x360 more as it appears just slightly more fashionable than the sleek vaio z. I'm running out of patience with the Samsung x360. And have no clue if the black version will ever come out in the U.S.

Hopefully they reveal some more info.

 

Review of the X360 SU9400 1.4 GHz, SSD option, at Tomsguide website

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Samsung-X360-Notebook,review-1161.html

 

Interesting read that review. The screen sounds very promising.

 

Anyone here has purchased one yet? A lil customer review would be nice =)

If they offered the black/black version, I would have purchased already =(

 

Full review of the X360, including all kind of measurements:
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/samsung_x360_premium_su9300-677

Most remarkable to me is the excellent stiffnes and workmanship. The contrast is disappointing with 124:1.

Real weight is 1.390,00 gram
Batterylife under 30% CPU load: 246,00 min

 

you know i know this is a bit off topic but where is samsung's SUPREME gaming machine?? Im a samsung nut myself and and i would love to see them with something to compete against the m1730, m17x, Q305, etc. any word if this is coming?

 

I would rather go for the X460

 

That makes sense if you don't mind 1.9kg.

X360 is an ultraportable though.

 

samsung x360 is a hottie. only if they would have offered black lid version =[

 

im sure i saw a black lid version. could have been the x460 though, they have the same look.

 

The all black ones exist that's for sure.
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/samsung_x360_premium_su9300-677

 

anyone seen these out yet?

also, i dont read german but Leistung and the Display rating seem quite low. I recall reading that the samsung display was actually much better than other competitors, as well as its gcard - seeing as other laptops int he same range barley have one.

Can anyone explain/understand the ratings?

 

The measured contrast is disappointing (1:122). The brightness is very good. Some people don't mind low contrast displays though, I do.

Macbook Air and Sony SR have around 1:500 contrast levels.

X360
durchschnittl. Luminanz cd/m² 296,00
Schwarzwert bei 100 cd/m2 cd/m² 0,82
Schwarzwert bei maximaler Helligkeit cd/m² 2,39
Kontrast bei 100 cd/m2 :1 122,00
Kontrast bei maximaler Helligkeit :1 124,00

 

What does contrast mean? lol

 

" The contrast ratio is a measure of a display system, defined as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest color (black) that the system is capable of producing. A high contrast ratio is a desired aspect of any display"

 

Yeah contrast is one of the things proven time and time again to be highly inflated by many manufactures since there is no "real" way to measure it.

I would not let contrast figures sway you in one way or the other. See it with your own eyes thats the only way to really see

Plus glossy screens tend to give much more visual contrast than matte but I would prefer a matte screen any day of the week, or atleast a only semi glossy screen. The very glossy ones suck.

 

You are right when referring to specified contrast by manufacturers. The contrast I was talking about is measured with professional equipment by Notebookjournal.

So 1:122 of the Samsung was measured with the same equipment as the 1:500 of the Macbook Air.

I returned my Macbook for the disappointing contrast rates (1:150), so the X360 is definetely a no go for me. I hope the X460 will do better.

But I know some people are completely hapy with 1:150 contrast rastes.