Samsung R20 notebook (14" widescreen)

See the second page of this thread for comments on speaker and display quality.

Regarding RAM, you need 200-pin DDR2 SODIMM. Ideally PC5300 or higher with CL=4 at 667MHz. CL means clock latency or the clock cycles delay in accessing the memory. Most PC5300 notebook RAM has CL=5, so CL=4 will be a bit faster. I recall reading a few weeks ago that someone had found this RAM in stock somewhere..

You don't need to buy 2GB at one time. A 1GB module will give you 1.5GB for intermediate improvement at intermediate cost. If you use two different modules, your computer will use the speed of the slower module, but having more RAM will improve overall performance. I have not found that the dual channel mode that theoretically happens when you have two modules of the same type/ size actually give any beneifts. Perhaps dual channel isn't being reported correctly. I would expect the 2 x 512MB which came in my X60 plus to run in dual channel but I would not expect the 256MB + 1GB in my Q35 to be dual channel although CPU-Z says it is.

John

 

An interesting statistic: This thread about the R20 is now the 5th most viewed thread in the Samsung forum - 4793 views as of writing since the thread was started on 16th February.

There's still some way to go to overtake the others, which are:

No. 4: Samsung X1 - 6513 views since 27 August 2005
No. 3: Samsung X60 - 8045 views since on 10 January 2006
No. 2: Q35 first thoughts - 8740 views since 01 June 2006
No. 1: Samsung X50 - 9023 views since 23 March 2005

Let's keep the R20 facts, comments, questions and answers flowing and attract more readers.

John

PS: I didn't expect when I posted this that by 11th April this thread would have clocked up over 12,000 views.

 

Hello Guys,

I wanted to say thanks for your advice on this thread. I am in the process of buying a laptop and was torn between a few however reading your forum and some websurfing I decided to order the R20 from Comet.

The reviews and advice has helped swing me away from Advent,HP and Philips (?)

I will post a review for you all as soon as I get it and spent some time with it.

 

Welcome merc2k6,

I hope you won't be disappointed (although be aware that no one makes the perfect notebook - different people have different expectations - so you might find some aspects aren't perfect).

We will appreciate your comments once you have had a chance to get the box and open it.

John

 

Hello, Just to keep you all updated my laptop was Supposed to be delivered between 7am and 12pm taday by Comet. It didnt arrive by 12:45 (I have to be in work for 2pm) so I rang Comet who say they use Business post to deliver the laptop.

They refunded the delivery and after being pushed from piller to post by the courier I actually spoke to the driver who apologised (!) and said he will deliver it tomorrow!! So much for Comet's delivery system!!!!! GRRRRR!!

I have to wait an extra day for my shiny new Samsung but i'll keep you posted and write a review and take a few photos as well.

 

I got my Q35 from Comet and waited patiently on the chosen morning (I had booked a 7 to 12 slot) wondering whether the computer would shop up since the website was showing the status as "Your order has been taken and is waiting to be dispatched.". Anyway, the computer showed up at about 11am. The order status is still the same, nearly 2 months later!

Anyway, I share your frustration. I've had similar experiences, most recently with Laptops Direct about a year ago when nothing showed up after I had paid extra for the next day delivery.

John

 

Time for a quick update.. I FINALLY got my laptop at 12:15pm today a whole 24hrs and 15mins late!! This was after me having to yell at the actual driver to deliver it! ANYWAY, I didnt get chance to open it as I had to then go to work but interestingly when I looked on the side of the box it says it comes with s Dual Core 2 T5500!! I was expecting the T5200 (as a guess because the specs for this laptop say Dual Core 2 was TBC!!)

I will update you all when I get chance to play a bit!!

 

Thanks for pointing this out. The T5500 Core 2 Duo CPU helps to justify the slight price premium over the NP-R20F000/SUK model sold by most retailers.

As for "specs to be confirmed" you wouldn't be the first to get something different to what was expected. When the X60 plus came out, it was advertised as having the X1600 GPU and 100GB HDD but actually had the X1700 and 120GB. Samsung eventually agreed that it was the X1700 but have never updated their HDD size. Maybe I, and a few others, were lucky!

John

 

Hi guys. I've recently bought myself the r20 as my first laptop and my experiences thus far have been good.
I've been trying to find suitable RAM to upgrade to 2GB and looking at the advice above i came across this: http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CT2KIT12864AC667

Could anyone tell me if this will work fine with the r20?

Thanks in advance

 

My R20 Review

The R20 looked from the news articles and internet pieces done like a good machine but with a distinct plasticky feel, now I own one and have spend some time with it ill try to cobble together a review.

Out of the box the Samsung R20 changed my opinion about laptops. I had owned a Compaq Pressario a while ago and was impressed but let down by how dated the machine was. I wanted it to last for a few years I ended up putting it on EBAY within 6 months.

Let’s clear the first point up, the black ‘piano’ finish works!! I deliberately put finger marks over the fresh new top and it didn’t leave hardly any residue on it. It’s black, it’s shiny and my god it looks lovely!! Even the inside matched the sleek outside but more about that later.

The R20 is surprisingly light! Much lighter than my Compaq and a few other laptops I have worked with. I opened it after pulling it out of the well packaged box and again was amazed. The keyboard is sprung brilliantly and it has a slightly rough feel to it making typing a dream (I find my fingers slide off the keys on others). The keyboard it contoured to the case which gives you a nice sleek finish and there are 2 USB ports on the left side on top of each other which it may sound like a daft idea but I had a notebook mouse and a USB storage key plugged in comfortably! (This also is cool as I am left handed!!) There are vents on the side which keeps the R20 the coolest I have had a notebook. I had it on my lap for an hour and a half of the 2 hour battery life and it did not overheat or get too warm!!!

There is a USB port built into the battery case at the back which is handy and that brings me onto the battery subject……the battery is light and came charged!!

The software setup happens in stages and this takes about 30 mins to 1 hour to complete. It partitions the drive and configures windows VISTA which is done extremely smoothly.

Now onto the performance, it is worth making a small bios change as the RAM setting is set to ‘auto’ meaning that technically the Radeon chip can use as much RAM as it needs to execute the desired function. I set it to 128mbs!

The Core Duo 2 seems to run nice and fast executing programs with ease and allowing for some good multitasking. The multicard reader is just one slot in the front to put your cards in not multiple slots like on other laptops.

The RAM is adequate to run vista even after giving the graphics a set amount however I would suggest a memory upgrade (ADVICE: take it to PC WORLD and get them to do it as you will be covered by insurance it anything goes wrong!!)

The LCD screen is absolutely stunning!! The first thing I did was put in Casino Royale and the colour and depth was incredible for a laptop! (ADVICE: I bought an Antler laptop bag which can hold up to 15ins size but as it is a widescreen laptop it means not all the cable fit in the main bit!)

The bloatware is present here you get Mcafee antivirus 60 day trial and office 2007 trail which came straight off!!

Apologies if the review seems rubbish but I will report on it after a few weeks and will happily answer any questions you may have. Please let me know if I have missed anything you want clarification on.

I highly recommend this laptop without question as it is light,stylish and seems like it has a ‘Bugatti Veyron’ performance wise under the hood and looks just as nice as one!!!

 

ANDREW BURNS... I am unsure of what type of memory it has as i want to upgrade mine as well. I suggest a trip to PC world otherwise if you open it yourself be careful as you can invalidate any warranty on the Laptop.

 

That Crucial RAM ticks all the right boxes. However, I would suggest you also look at the Corsair Value Select CL=4 RAM. The CL=4 means one clock sycle lower latency than the common CL=5 RAM. This will give a small performance boost.

As for the question of paying someone to upgrade your RAM compared with doing it yourself, a RAM upgrade is the easiest change to do. The procedure is set out in the R20 manual (page 127 of the PDF version that I downloaded a few weeks ago). There needs to be the usual warning about static electricity (a rare problem in the damp British climate) and if the upgrade doesn't work then the usual problem is that the modules weren't pushed far enough into the slot.

The warranty for your R20 covers the original RAM supplied with the computer, so keep the modules and replace should you need warranty attention. The warranty for the new RAM is with the supplier / manufacturer.

John

 

Not a rubbish review at all, but a very constructive set of comments. I'm sure a lot of people are wondering how the computer performs, particularly the ATI graphics. Could you try 3DMark05 and 3DMark06? For comparison, the Intel 850 GPU in my Q35 scored 447 and 106 respectively (running Windows XP - Vista could affect the results).

John

 

Hallo everyone. Quite a cliffhanger sequence of posts about R20.
Do u have any opinions about this:

• Why do they say “plastic feel”? is it Magnesium alloy or is it plastic?
• What is ”Security lock slot (cable lock sold separately)”??? “
• What exactly is “2 Year Warranty Extension - Samsung Fastguard - NPC-DP2AA? I mean, would you pay for it? Is it worthy to give £109.97(inc.vat)???”
• Is it ok if I buy “R20F000/SUK” and do a clean install of XP? Probably I am “Vista sceptic” but i need 160GB capacity
• Is it true that with Vista you cannot have broken programs?
What about firewire? in Samsung's site mentions that R20 features firewire but in many of the links given they say that doesn't feature. Anyway, even in CEbit's site says: firewire - 1 x Fire-Wire (IEEE 1394)...

cheers...

 

I'll add this to the R20 thread rather than start another:

There is a new BIOS 08SH posted 28 March 07 at the Samsung download site.

Improved items

1.Fixed the touchpad & keyboard could not work sometimes after system resume from S3 & S4.
2.Fixed ESCD corrupt error message would appear during POST sometimes.

John

 

I think I can answer some of these questions but could R20 owners check and confirm.

I think it is plastic (similar to my red Q35) but it seems to be a strong plastic.

This is the small rectangular hole for a security cable, also known as the Kensington Lock. On the R20 it is on the back near a corner and won't get in the way of other ports.

The 2 year warranty extension means that you have an extra two years on top of your standard warranty when if your computer breaks during fair usage then Samsung will fix it. I understand that you can purchase and register this extension at any time before the end of the basic 1 year warranty.

I can't see why not, but you will need a separate XP licence. XP versions of R20 drivers and software are on the Samsung downloads site.

Can't answer.

I see no trace of a Firewire port in the R20 manual and it is not listed in the specs on the Samsung UK site. Bluetooth is an option as is the RJ11 (modem) port. Firewire is something I like to have available although I rarely use it. Bluetooth USB dongles are cheap, but I do need to use a modem sometimes when travelling.

I would suggest that you download and study the R20 manual. I attach the specifications page.

John

 

Wow the thread exploded while I was away! I have the R20 myself now too. Have to confirm the good feeling overall. Only thing is Vista, which runs a bit slow, so I was thinking about RAM upgrade. John: do I really need to keep the old RAM? I was thinking of selling them on ebay.

Also having my right hand on the notebook to write, sometimes the chasis seems to cede a bit and makes a tiny rumor. Anyone else had this feeling? Looks like it is the hdd-slot which is right beneath there. This is a bit spooky but probably nothing to worry about
A seller states the chasiss is magnesium alloy, which I think it is. The plastic look trustedreviews said the R20 to have, is not true, at least in my eyes.

One more thing, does anyone have and idea or actual experience with non-samsung batteries? I saw the 8-cell for half of the price. Are these trustable? (Its the same as the one for the x11 btw)

Anyone running vista and Xp and or has changed the partitioning?

thanks all and bye

 

1024MB SO-DIMM Corsair PC2-533 CL4 VS1GSDS533D2 or better PC2-667 with CL5?

would this be ok?

 

1. You can check with Samsung support about keeping the old RAM, but my understanding is that the warranty covers the system as supplied. So, if you need to show there is a problem, that problem has to be with the original RAM (and other components).

2. I wouldn't disagree with the material for the chassis. The other component which is sometimes metal alloy is the display back. My X60 plus uses metal for this but I'm sure the Q35 is plastic. The two tests are (i) is it cold to touch (metal usually feels colder than plastic) and is there a separate strip at the top (this is plastic to reduce blocking the signal from the wireless antenna). Can you push on the back of the R20's display or bend the corners and cause ripples on the screen?

It would be OK. Is it the same as the link I posted earlier which appears to be CL=4 at 667MHz (ie slightly faster, but you would need 2 modules to get the benefit).

John

 

Hello, I thought I would try to answer some questions:
Firstly, John the 3DMark 06 score is 470!!.
1.The chassis is plastic.

2. No firewire ports unfortunately.

3. A little bug I found is that the cursor does stick sometimes when the notebook is processing lots of stuff.

4. Believe it or not, Vista does run exceptionally well on this notebook. I have a copy of vista OEM which I put onto my custom built desktop and ended up removing it after a week! (That is running an AMD dual core as well and 2 gig of ram!!)

4. The drives are as follows:
Drive C: 51.4GB Free of 69.0GIG
Drive D: 69.8GIG Free of 69.9GIG

Let me know if you have anymore.

 

That's over 4 x faster than the Intel IGP and impressive for integrated graphics. Can someone else confirm this before we put this info into the graphics forum?

Thanks also for the other comments. The sticking cursor needs further investigation. Something is hogging the input. Are you willing to try the new BIOS? (See my post a few notches higher up - Samsung's BIOS upgrade works in Windows and is dead easy). Maybe it fixes this problem.

John

 

Iwas suprised myself! Take a look at this
http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonxpress1250mob/index.html
It give you an example of the chips power. I will try the BIOS update but cant get to the site yet as its showing its down. BTW I ran 3DMARK twice 'cos I was suprised at the first result and it came out the same!

 

John, I just installed the new bios all looks fine till now. Will let you know my score as soon asap.

poma

 

BIOS updated and all seems ok.

 

It's hinted at in one or two of the posts, but is the preinstalled 1GB RAM definitely made up of two 512MB modules? Would be nice if there was a spare slot, especially considering the warranty situation John mentioned.

Another tip may be to make use of Vista's Readyboost system where you can increase performance by using a removable media card (SD etc.) sort of like extra memory.

I'm very interested in this laptop, thanks to all for the info so far.

 

Glaswolf...You won't be disappointed as I have stated it is a beast of a laptop for the money! I imagine it is 2x512mb modules as this makes sense. I would say that it is worth upgrading the RAM but not at the minute for me anyway as it runs really well on a GIG of RAM.

I have used the Readyboost system before on my desktop with a 2gig stick and it works quite well although I would say its designed for people who need that extra boost if you have lots running or are planning to do some serious multitasking.

 

It is definitely 2x512, I tried to find one with just one stick but no fortune. I don't know why all the notebook manufacturers don't think for the customer..

I once heard the readyboost is bollox as USB can't give you the speed, just a marketing gag of MS.

John: My 3DMark score was 477.

 

Nice score Poma!! You beat mine probably because I have selected only 128mbs of the RAM for the graphics. Its a good benchmark to go by if you want to dedicate some RAM to graphics of let the machine decide. The reason for 2x512mb is for dual channelling (see this link) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel
The memory sticks must be identical that is why the ones John pasted look the business and are a really good price too!

 

Thanks both of you for the confirmation - food for thought...

 

Thank you. so the graphics are at least four times faster than the Intel 845 / 850. A key selling point.

My own tests on the X60 plus with different RAM combinations did not show any significant difference in throughput. The overall benchmarks always showed that more RAM is better. However, the ATI chipset may do a better job of properly using dual channel RAM. Could someone try the SiSoftware Sandra memory bandwidth test with different module combinations starting with 1 module? (It would be interesting to also run the other Sandra benchmarks - we may see some different results on account of the ATI chipset). Sandra has a built-in database but I can also make comparisons with my Q35.

And another question before I forget: What rating / part number is the R20's PSU?

All these snippets add to this thread being one of the leading global resource centres on the details of the R20.

John

 

My benchmark was done with 128mb.
I did the changes in the BIOS as pointed out by someone in here.
have a nice weekend all, and yes John this is a good thread

 

Im always slighty dubious when people mention the dual channel process. I have 2x512mb and 1x 1gig in my desktop all by elixir and the dual channel doesnt work. I agree that always more RAM is better but manafacturers use the dual channel thing as a selling point so my advice would be more RAM.

The graphics chip and performance suprised even me (someone who has worked in the IT industry for 15 years!). I noticed that when I went into my local Comet before I purchased my R20, they didnt have one on display!

 

In my experience, dual channel makes no difference with the Intel 845 chipset (it may not help that CPU-Z tells me that my Q35 with 1.25GB RAM is dual channel when that's against common sense). My point is that it would be very helpful if someone could run 3DMark06 and the Sandra memory bandwidth benchmark for both 2 x 512MB and 1 x 1GB configurations (and preferably also 1 x 512MB + 1GB). If ATI have done one better than Intel and the performance does depend on dual channel operation, the sooner people know then the sooner they can be planning to upgrade to 2GB. And maybe Samsung will add a 2GB model to the line-up.

The R20 has come from nowhere quite quickly. I started this thread on 16th February when I spotted one listed on-line and they got onto the shelves just before the end of February. Samsung did not pre-announce or make any serious launch effort and the R20 was shown at CeBIT as a new model. I wonder when Comet decided to stock the R20? Perhaps after they got a pile of red Q35s at the end of January and shifted them very quickly. And having decided to sell the R20 and put it on their web site they may be finding that the web sales leave none spare to reach the stores.

John

 

Thats a likely situation. At Comet we've found a bit of a delay in getting the Q35 available even to order. This is not the case with most new product launches.

 

I just got myself a Hong Kong spec R20. So it is a T5500 (1.66Ghz) with 1GB ( 667mhz) and a 100GB HD. and comes with chinese version of vista.


Basically I have been wondering. do you think it is possible for me to install the english version of vista using the same OEM license that is stuck on the back of my machine?

Currently I am using winxp pro on the machine.

Also, can any of you guys tell me what sort of software did ur UK spec R20 came with?

cheers

 

I can't answer the Vista key question. It is possible that the key is tied to Chinese Vista and/or Samsung OEM Vista. I suggest that you contact Samsung support for the answer. You can email them through their ERMS.

As for the software with the UK R20, these specifications list:

OS CD, System S/W CD,
Cyberlink DVD Solution (Depend on model)
Adobe Reader,
AVS Premium / Viewer,
Samsung Network Manager,
Battery Manager,
Update Plus,
Easy Box etc.

Would UK R20 owners please check and update this list.

John

 

It comes with:
mcafee 60 day trial
Office 2007 30 day trail
PlayAVstation
samsung backup tool (cant remember the proper name as I am in work)

 

thanks. guess the software was about the same. I just check the driver disc. it looks like u get a vista version of adobe reader as well.



Personally, I got the r20 because I think it is best value for its price, it also came with a free carry case and a few other freebies. But most of all, it plays C&C3 fine at 1200*800


John, I've tried contacting them before to see if I could get the english version of the r20. They never replied back.

 

SSGG:-Sweet I was looking to get C&C3 for my desktop but if my R20 will play it..... The best advice I can give you is you can buy an OEM copy of vista for about £60-70 which is worth the investment as it does run nice on the R20.

 

Sorry forgot the link http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MS-VHP32O+

 

merc2k6: I think you misread ssgg's problem. They already have R20 with Vista but want to change to English Vista without paying more tax to Bill Gates. So there are two issues: (1) How to get hold of a copy of the English R20 Vista (I presume it comes as a pre-built recovery disc like the Samsung XP discs); and (2) would it need and work with the existing key?

Any suggestions, since Samsung HK don't seem to know the answer?

John

 

Ah now i understand! The problem is this as far as I am concerned:
Samsung HK would have Windows Vista keys allocated for their region so it would (i assume) only work with HK Vista.
The idea you PM'ed me about might work and I will leave it to you to contact the relevant party ;0)

 

Just to add... We have a lot of licence keys coming through our office (we buy in bulk!!) and I have heared about licence keys not working when some of our guys get notebooks from HP in the USA and use a british key for XP or 2K.

 

Ic, thanks for the update mec2k6.

so most likely it wouldn't work if I just borrow an original copy of vista and use my key. Guess I will stick to XP. Hopefully all the free stuff like AVG, openoffice still runs fine on xp over the next few years.


anyway, C&C3 at 1280*800 works fine when all the graphics settings r set to the lowest.

 

just to let everyone know. This is my first laptop. Don't really need to build my "ultimate" PCs anymore. don't really play games that much these days.

And thanks to this thread I decided to buy the R20. I think it is very good value for money. (will not see much portable use though)

There is one odd thing about the R20 though, it seems to have only one speaker at the bottom of the laptop. but the weirdest thing is that sound seems to come from the keyboard palm rest as well.

 

I had seen from the specs or manual that the R20 had only one speaker. Perhaps Samsung opted to provide one bigger speaker to give a better quality output than two smaller ones. Stereo from two speakers less than 30cm apart requires good imagination. The Q35 has two bottom mounted speakers which do a surprisingly good job in terms of volume. I've just had another listen and the sound seems to come up through the keyboard. It is quite possible that the R20 has a similar arrangement and the holes underneath are to facilitate air movement for the speaker cone rather than be the primary outlet for the sound.

John

 

well, I think this one speaker system works quite well. Because laptop speakers can sound rather tinny.

Originally I thought they came up with a new system that allows you to feel and hear music from the palm rest as well. lol. Maybe they should do something like that.

before buying this machine, I was split between getting this or the Compaq Presario B1967TU . After using it for awhile now, I think the samsung with the faster graphics chipset is the better machine.

btw, did you guys get a free original samsung laptop carry case with your UK speced machine as well?

 

No we didn't GRRRRRR! I had to buy my own laptop case. On the subject of the speaker is does kick out a really good sound for a single speaker. The more I use my R20 the more a like it!

 

Just ordered the Corsair RAM, will update you guys on it. Does anyone have the bigger cell battery or any information about it, how long does it last? Do the "noname" (I read they are Samsung anyway sometimes) work as good?

thanks

 

Hi,

All of those who already have the laptop, can you tell me how the touchpad feels? Are the buttons very hard and clicky or soft and quiet? Does the scroll work well? How does the pad feel: rough or smooth? Thanks in advance.