Samsung R20 notebook (14" widescreen)

You won't see any significant difference in general performance although XP may feel a bit smoother with only 1GB RAM. Is there a particular reason for moving to XP? Unless you have a spare XP lying around, the cost of XP is similar to the cost of upgrading to 2GB and Vista run better.

Any 2.5" external HDD should plug in and run, but some may need to use two USB sockets to get enough power. Check the manufacturer's websites for details.

John

 

Thanks John,

Yeh I do have a spare copy of XP lying around and as I was thinkning of running this laptop on two screens I didn't want to have vista adversing the performance.

I was thinking of this HDD:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Passport-Portable-WDXMS1200TE/dp/B000TXVG2Y

 

The WD HDDs are OK. I've put the 250GB into my current notebook. However, I have not tried one of the ready-made external HDDs.

You might want to also look through the selection of external HDDs at Komplett. The 120GB pasport is <£50 there. I've bought several things from Komplett. The deliveries get carried in bulk from Europe to Parcel Force in Coventry for distribution. It's a two day system, but it works.

John

 

And did you take those drivers from the x60plus for the r20 of your daughter? e.g. the gpu driver of the x60plus for the R20? Are there any positive things you can tell us?
I am still angry about the not existing powerplay support for the r20. Is it so difficult? I think samsung should enable it in the system Bios an for those who are intersested in it or have win xp running on the r20 can try get it working. I mean if I am on the move I am nusually not using any 3D programs...
I want to write so text and stuff like this.
If I want gaming I take my Home PC ...

 

Not X60 plus, R60+, which is a new model with the current family style but much the same internal hardware as the R20 and R40+.

I can't see any positive improvements with the newer drivers except that I think it was the R60+ chipset driver which got RMClock to recognise the chipset and get the CPU into the C3 low power state. The R20 downloads doesn't list a separate ATI chipset driver.

However, in spite of undervolting (that T2250 ran at full speed at 0.95V but I left it 1.0V) and the C3 power state the estimated battery life wouldn't go beyond about 1:50.

Anyway, there's no sign of any GPU power management in either the R20 or the X60 plus (see separate thread). But do we know if other manufacturer's have got the PowerPlay working and, if they have, what battery life they are getting? We might be blaming Samsung when the real problem lies with ATI (now swallowed by AMD).

John

 

Hi John,
sorry of course I meant the R not the X modell.
well as far as I can see, the HP Compag 6715s has the same onboard gpu and this thread and in a german thread two users did post that it supports powerplay. I do not know if it matters but the hp has a AMD processor (AMD M690T Chipset) instead of of an intel processor. The small battery is a 6 cell with 47 Wh and it should run maximum 3h40min with it (info from the hp website) . The user "Nebelwand" did allready post it in this thread with hp nb. maybe he know the real lifetime with the powerplay and the hp...
In a other thread about the HP 6715s I read that the fan is only running for 45 seconds every 10-15 minutes at its lowest level (same noise like HD) when powerplay is active. The installed OS on the HP NB is Vista Business.
For me this sounds as if Samsung is too lazy to develop. Or they do not want to give their cheap products too much quality to give their customers a reason to buy the more professional versions of their notebooks.
I decided for me, that a professional nb is a macbook pro or something from IBM but nothing from samsung, if they are not able to develop products to the end, the successtory will end pretty soon...

 

hi guys,
can anyone tell me how to do a clean install of vista on the R20?i tried to do it but wasnt able to completely format the hard-drive.was left with about 35gb on my C drive.is this normal?was hoping to get it to how it was when i got it.

 

Just been reading John_Ratseys's comments on overclocking the R20 (page 30). My question is:

Are all models of the R20 open to overclocking using ClockGen and if yes is a certain configuration more suited to overclocking than others?

If I was to get an R20 I would definately want to take advantage of this ability when Film Editing/Sound encoding for my degree course.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

What size is the HDD meant to be? Do you have more than one partition? (Look in Computer management > Disk Management). It is possible that your new installation of Vista has put all the previous installation of Vista and the user files into a special folder. I think it is called Windows.old. It may have hidden it as a system file. Once you are sure there is nothing you want then you can delete it.

As far as I know, all the R20s use the same ATI 1250M chipset (as does the R60+) so you can tweak the FSB. It is pot luck how far you can overclock a particular computer. The two major constraints are (i) the CPU (the better it undervolts then the more likely it will overclock) and (ii) the RAM. The earlier R20s has 533MHz RAM which is, most likely a downclocked 667MHz part.

John

 

hi john,
thanks.i found the windows.old file and deleted it.however,when i start up my laptop,instead of loading straight up,it takes me to a screen where i have to choose which operating system i want to load.it currently shows 2 windows vista.could the old installation still be residing in my laptop?and if it is,how do i get rid of it?

thanks again

 

From memory (I'm running XP at this moment), go into the Advanced Settings > Advanced > Startup and Recovery. The startup options will be listing both Vista installations. Delete the one you don't want (don't ask me which that is, but I had to do this last week on the R20 I got for the family. I guess it is the second since boot will default to the first on the list).

OK?

John

 

hey john,
just tried what you said but it wouldnt give me the option to delete.maybe i'll try re-installing it to another partition and formatting...thanks for your help and if you do think of anythin else,pls let me know..

thanks again

 

OK. I've fired up Vista.

How about: Control Panel > Administrative Tools > System Configuration > Boot?

Or Start > Run > msconfig > Boot? (which gets you to the same place a bit faster). I should have remembered.

While you are there, the place to disable UAC is under the Tools menu.

John

 

hey john,
thanks a million!it worked!i also tried overclocking my R20.its the duo core 1.73ghz.how do i do the under-volting?its currently running at 1740cpu,134fsb,200.01pcie,66.67pci.how far can i push without causing any damage?

 

OK. Overclocking and undervolting.

I would start with the undervolting in order to see how much thermal headroom you have. I use RMClock. You will also need Prime95. Install and start RMClock and go to the monitoring page. This shows CPU speed, voltage and temperature.

Unzip Prime95 into two separate folders and start each copy of Prime95 and select the torture test with maximum CPU stress. Run these for about 10 minutes and note where your CPU temperature has got to (my guess is around 80 to 85C). Also see what the CPU voltage is at full speed.

Now you can set up RMClock to do some undervolting (but leave your 2 x Prime95 running). Go to the main profiles page and make sure Index 0 is set to the lowest available voltage (0.95V?). Then lower the voltage of the last index to, say, 1.15V. Then go to the Performance on Demand page, select the Use P state transitions then go down the list and tick each index value. Press the apply button. Then go back to the main Profiles page and select the current AC profile as Performance on Demand, then press apply.

Go back to the monitoring page and you should see that the maximum voltage has dropped and the temperature is going down. If nothing has crashed (or Prime95 may stop and report an error) go back to the main Profiles page and drop the maximum index voltage to 1.10V. Look at the temperature again. If there are no ill-effects then drop the voltage to 1.075V. Then 1.05V. Below 1.05V you are getting close to the limit, so go down one step at a time. Remember where you are at because at any time on of the Prime95s may report an error, or hour computer may BSOD and reboot. You might even get all the way to the minimum voltage without a crash.

The rule of thumb is that the safe voltage is 2 or 3 steps above the minimum / crash voltage. This is best confirmed by leaving 2 x Prime95 running overnight.

If you are lucky and have a CPU which is stable at 1.0V at 1.73GHz then there is a better chance that it will overclock well. However, as you overclock you will generate more heat (the electrons are having to move faster) and the electrons will need some more voltage.

My suggested overclocking setting would be to put the voltage half way between your safe voltage at normal speed and the design voltage and move the slider in ClockGen to put the FSB up from 533MHZ to 667MHz. This puts the CPU at 2.16GHz. It is more than likely that both the CPU and the RAM will be comfortable at that speed and your full load CPU temperature will be below the the original temperature before undervolting.

If you can get to this stage without any problems then I will leave it to you to experiment with either further increasing the clock speed or dropping the maximum voltage at the new maximum speed in order to get everything as cool as possible.

You can also use Clockgen to underclock. Dropping the FSB speed by 20% may give a few more minutes on battery.

I hope the foregoing is sufficient. Report back on how you get on or if you need clarification.

John

 

ok john,i'll give it a try n let u know the outcome.

 

PS: Prime95 V25.4 is multi-threaded so you only need to run one copy. I had been using version 24.14 which is single-threaded.

John

 

The UK computer magazine PC Pro has just (issue 157) discovered the R20 and is listing it as the best value notebook.

The model they looked at is R20F003/SUK with the T2350 supplied by Amazon for £500. I would rate this as better value than the R20F004/SUK with the T5300 CPU.

John

PS: Laptops Direct is listing the R20F003/SUK for £460.

 

Phew. Hello! Just finished reading all the way through this thread after buying my R20 (F004) from laptopsdirect.co.uk about a week ago and I am very happy with it. I have updated the BIOS to 14sh and haven't come across any real problems yet, apart from feeling a little low on RAM (2x 512). I wanted to buy the R20F005 from Micro Anvika that is the same as the F004 but with 2 Gig RAM but the've sold out and I'm on a limited budget!

I've got one quick question which I have posted a seperate thread about, but thought I would add it to this one. Is there any way of remapping / reassigning the AV Station button next to the Power button? I'm never intending to use it (I've no idea why samsung wanted to join an already over competitive race for a media centre, when it's hard enough choosing between Microsofts and Apples iTunes!?) but it is there and I would love to be able to use it to launch iTune or some other programme that I use on a regualr basis.

Any help on that would be lovely!

Thank you to everyone who has posted on here so far. The last time i bought a computer was 9 years ago so getting back in the market for a laptop was a steep learning curve and your comments have really helped!

 

I can't help with the remapping of that button, but maybe play.com can help with the RAM. 2GB for £50. Or you can get two of these from ebuyer and qualify for free delivery. That will probably give you a total cost that is less than the R20 from Micro Anvika.

John

 

Perhaps this could help a little:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/firmware/hotstart.mspx

 

interestingly, in vista if you go to Performance Information and Tools >> Advanced it tells you a list of the progs that are slowing the start up of the computer down. McAfee McSheild.exe adds a whopping 41.9 seconds into the CPU start up time! I also added some SonyEricsson software for syncing my phone which Vista tells me is adding 180 seconds to the shut down of the laptop! that is coming right off now!!

 

Yes! I've only gone and worked out how to get that useless old AV button next to the on/off button to launch different programmes; and it's so easy!

a big thank you to ipanema77 above for post a link to some microsoft gobbledegook about setting hot buttons, for which about 2 paragraphs were useful and the rest I didn't understand...

so here is how it is done:

in the windows pop up menu search for "regedit" and open the Registry Editor. from the list of files on the side, choose the following folders:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CURRENT CONTROL SET -> CONTROL -> MOBILE PC -> HOT START BUTTONS

Under Hot Start Buttons there should be 5 folders, numbered 1-5. in each of them simply change the path listed to whatever application you want to open when the button is pressed. In my case it was iTunes. for saftey reasons I did this in all 5 folders and have kept a record of the path I deleted, in case I need to reset the computer at any point (they are all the same, launching Samsung AV Station Now, but they seem to point to different aspects of that programme; for instanace one starts the movies section, one the music and one the TV. I set them all to point at the iTunes.exe file on my Hard Dive).

Exit. Reboot and press your now very useful little quick-launch button above your keyboard. Nice! Woo!

 

I think I'll give it up with the Ait Powerplay support of the R20, Samsung's customer support answered me the same like R40 owners: the r20 will crash down with ati powerplay and the x1250 gpu. It is quite strange that they build the gpu into various notebooks, also in the new business versions of the r20, the p400 pro and p500 pro. These have only 128 shared memory and a better cpu and win xp. Now they changed the battery life time into max. 2h.
I do not understand why they keep on using a gpu which they are not able to configure right on the used chipset.
For me it sounds clear: samsung gives a s... about the customers, using cheap components and hopeing nobody will discover it that their products are not fully developed.
Really strange company philosophy...

 

I don't know who to blame for the (lack of) PowerPlay. It's an even bigger problem with the X1700 version of the X60. However, user reports indicate that the X22 with the new ATI 2400 GPU can get past 2 hours on a 4 cell battery. What we don't know is whether the problem lies with Samsung or ATI or both, but it's quite likely that ATI have put their effort into the new CPU range.

However, the battery life of the R20, which is a budget machine, needs to be seen in context: I can't get my Zepto 6024W, with Intel chipset and GPU, past 3 hours on a 6 cell battery and Intel is better known for good power power management. In terms of general specs these notebooks are similar except the Zepto has a 1440 x 900 display and a much higher price.

The bottom line is that the R20 and its close relatives are good budget machines that provide good value for money provided excellent battery time is not a primary concern. The Q35 / Q35 demonstrate that someone in Samsung knows how to get good battery life.

John

 

Im thinking I want to install a new HDD on my r20 to make up for the pathetic 60GB one it was shipped with. Is this difficult?
I've installed hdd's on desktop computer's before but never a laptop, will it be hard finding one that fits and will it consume more power?

 

Changing the R20's HDD is quite easy.

There's a photo of the inside of the HDD compartment in my R20 review. Using a small screwdriver as a level you should be able to slide the HDD towards the side of the notebook and then lift it out once it is clear of the connector. You will need to transfer the metal plate and any other fixings to the new HDD.

I expect your HDD to be SATA, but double check by looking up the model number in Device Manager and then Googling. If it is SATA then you have a big choice. See Komplett for a selection. If you get a 5400rpm HDD then it should use no more power than the existing HDD (unless it is Fujitsu, which are a bit slow but tend to have below average power requirements). See Tom's Hardware.

If you don't want to do a clean install of everything, you can clone your existing HDD by putting the new HD in a SATA-USB enclosure (you can find cheaper elsewhere but there's a delivery cost to add) and then running Acronis Migrate Easy.

John

 

I'm new to using notebooks, and have an R20.

Is it normal to hear the hard disk working away (grinding)?
Or should the machine be silent?

Cheers.

 

Grinding, or making a noise like a flock of pecking chickens? Have you, by chance, a Hitachi HDD? Look up the model number in Device Manager.

Does it start with HTS? If so, wander over to Hitachi support and get Feature Tool. You have to make a bootable disc (the CD image is the easiest) then change the acoustic management setting to "Lowest acoustic emanation". The will be a slight drop in performance (which you won't notice) and a much bigger drop in the noise. I hope this will leave you with a slight hum which will be difficult to hear.

I'm mystified why Samsung don't use their own HDDs, which are very quiet, but perhaps they can buy from Hitachi for less then they sell their own.

John

 

Hi John

I'm looking to buy 2GB of ram as well as only having 1GB is doing my head in. I was wondering which one of those two you suggested you'd go for. I have no clue myself, is there any difference in performance or should I just go for the cheaper one?

Thanks for the help.

 

PLay has the PNY 2 x 1GB kit for £49.99 including postage.

ebuyer has 1GB modules for £20.99, but deliver is extra bringing the total to £44.56. If you can find something else which you want to push the base cost over £50 then you can get free delivery.

For a little more money you can get this Transcend 2GB module to give yourself 2.5GB RAM (I bought that module several months back and it works in the R20 although it was fussy about which slot). Vista likes as much RAM as it can find.

John

 

Thanks John. 2.5GB sounds good but I always hear how you should have matched modules for best performance or something. Does this make not make a difference?

 

I could bore you with a stack of results from tests I did on the R20 with different RAM combinations. Provided you have two RAM modules on board then the benchmark results fall in a very narrow range. This thread discusses the Intel chipset but the ATI chipset behaves similarly. However, the general experience is that Vista thrives on more RAM and 2GB module may be more use in the future than a 1GB module.

John

 

Cheers John. Seems like 2.5GB is the way to go. Much appreciated.

 

Hi everyone, i brought my R20 when it's first come out on the hongkong market. this is my first laptop and i have a great experience on this laptop. however, a little problem has discovered on my laptop. the fans seems non stop and my cpu temperature is keeping around 49 to 50 degree celsius. does anyone experience the same problem as me?

 

The CPU temperature is OK. However, which CPU is it and what speed is the CPU running at? Use the monitoring page of RMclock to see how the CPU speed, load and temperature are changing with time. Does this change if you use the "Silent Mode" (Fn+F8)?

I would also suggest that you update the BIOS to the latest version (14SH at the moment) which may contain improved settings for fan operation.

John

 

Yes it is an Hitachi.
Will give that a try if it gets annoying.
As long as I know it's not a faulty unit.


Thank you for the quick advice.

 

Hi Every one in this forum,

First of all let me thank you for your time and in forming this very useful forum which is a really nice guide for people who wants to buy Samsung R20. After reading this forum alomist all messages, for the past three days , i have decided to buy Samsung R20. But i need few more informations.

Could any one tell me what configuration of Samsung R 20 can i choos to buy now, like the processor, Ram, HDD etc. As there are lots of recommendations by various users i am bit uncertain about this and similarly from which online shop do i get a competetive deal?

Again thank you all for your inputs, it is a really nice forum to which i will also make contribution in the future.

Regards
Chandra
UK

 

I forgot to add another piece of information.
I just spoke with 2 online sshops in UK,
1) laptopsdirect - NP-R20F004 with 2GB Ram instead 1 GB for £599.
2) MicroAnvika - T5300(1.73GHz), 2GB Ram, 160GB HDD for £599

anybody has any experience with these shops and also any comments about these configurations?
I plan to use it for browsing word processing and some intensive MATLAB Computations(simulations).

Thanks for your opinions in advance

Regards
Chandra
UK

 

I see that Laptops Direct have sold out of their £460 version of the Samsung R20. Perhaps you should look at the R20-F003/SUK at Amazon.co.uk for £500 then grab a couple of these RAM modules at 7dayshop.com also at play.com (they are the best prices for 1GB I have seen recently). Alternatively, get a 2GB module for a total of 2.5GB RAM. (Or buy 1 x 1GB now for an intermediate upgrade).

T2350 Core Duo at 1.86MHz will be as fast as T5300 Core 2 Duo at 1.73MHz and either will be faster than a 3GHz Pentium 4 desktop, plus there is potential for overclocking. 2GB is better than 1GB for Vista.

The R60+ would give you slightly more speed at a lower price, but is a size bigger.

John

PS: Should you not be convinced about the merits of Vista, then R20R001/SUK with XP Pro is also good value but needs more RAM and maybe a bigger HDD in the longer term.

 

Hi John

Thank You very much for your reply. Some how i have started liking R20 after reading this forum/threading. My need is perfromance and mobility. So i lam convinced R20 is for that. I don't want to go for 15.4".

I think i will consider the amazon option for £499 and upgrading RAM from 7dayshop or play.com. which comes to 499+35 = £534 for 2Gb RAM . That's great. Could you tell me is it reliable to buy on amazon. If i come across any problems how easy it would be to get hold of persons and solve the issue, any sugesstions please?

Thanks and Regards
Chandra
UK

 

Amazon has, in my experience, a good customer service system (I recall it is all done through messaging, no phones) although the Samsung support would be your first point of contact if you hit a problem (they also have a messaging system).

John

 

Hi John,

Thanks for sharing your experience about R20 and amzon. I have also noticed a similar configuration as of Amazon.co.uk on laptopsdirect,which is written as PCPro recommended. This has the same configuration,T2350 1.86GhZ,1Gb RAM,120Gb HDD but for just £459.97. I just the give link here for the reference.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Samsung_R20_Laptop_NP-R20F003-SUK/version-1.asp

For me they look similar,but,Could you please tell me is there any hitches in the configuration between amazon and this laptopsdirect as it is cheaper by £40than amazon one?

Thanks and Regards

Chandra
UK

 

The R20F003/SUK at Laptops Direct is the same as at Amazon. They can't be making much profit at that price.

John

 

Thanks John.

I will place an order by tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks for all your help and the knowledge given in the forum by all others.

Regards
Chandra
UK

 

Hi John,

Just few more information. The software package(for my work/education) i use all XP based. They are not compatible with vista. I asked two online shops,laptopsdirect and microanvika today, they said they cannot supply with XP. But i can install XP on my own. My questions is,
1) will this F003 at amazon or latopdirect or ebuyer, can support Dual booting with vista and XP.
2) How easy it is to dual boot a system and will it reduce the r20s performance, speed etc?
3)If i do this and/or upgrade the ram to 2Gb on my own, will i be violating the warrenty conditions?

Could you thrwo some light on this please?

Thanks and Regards

Chandra
UK

 

At the sametime, the i also want to avoid the hazzle of chnaging/upgrading the HDD later on if i choose R20R001/SUK now.

So i think the best thing is get the R20 with vista and go for dual booting or remove vista and install XP and later on when it is needed i can install upload vista. BTW, do they give a vista CD along with R20?

Regards
Chandra

 

There's an XP version or two of the R20. This one or this one or this one. This may be the best route if you want XP now. You can always get an OEM Vista disc later if you want to upgrade. The computer comes with an operating system recovery disc.

It is possible to set a machine to dual boot. Adding Vista to XP is easier than the other way round. Dual booting will not affect performance. Upgrading RAM will not invalidate the warranty provided you follow the procedure in the User Guide but the warranty for the computer is for the supplied RAM. Similarly, Samsung support will only help you troubleshoot operating system problems for whatever is supplied (but their general recommendation will be to reinstall).

John

 

Hi John

Thank you for the technical information on dual booting. Regarding the XPP version laptops, all of them have lesser RAM size and HDD size(ex,512MB,80Gb). I am a bit hesistant at the moment if i buy this hardware configuration now, inorder to get an XP based system, then later, may be after an year or so when i upgrade to vista or when my demand from my system inceases , wouldn't the hardware configuration be a crunch or a drawback? Moreover i am just thinking, buy a high hardware configuration like 1Gb RAM and 120 GB HDD with vista and remove vista and install XP,so that XP can give very high performance. Will this dream work or i am going wrong somewhere? Please advice on this.

Thanks and Regards
Chandra
UK

 

It is a myth that Vista is much slower than XP, even given the same configuration.

After some tweaking, I don't find my Vista to be noticeably slower(faster) than XP, it only needs a little bit more RAM(250M vs 180M for a bare desktop).

The only complain I have is browsing seems to be slower(IE 7 in both) which I don't understand why. The TCP stack is supposed to be better but I don't see the benefit, more like the opposite.