Samsung R20 notebook (14" widescreen)

The Samsung offices in each country order one or more models from the factory with specifications which they think will sell. In the UK, Samsung lanuched the R20 with the T2250 CPU which offered very good performance at the price.

As for the power / battery life problem:

1. It seems that the battery does not reach its full working capacity until 3 or 4 charge-discharge cycles have been completed. Vista also seems to be more active during the first few days while it tries to work out what the user does and which files to pre-load.

2. The BIOS update which enables C3 on battery is 11SH (or newer) at SamsungPC.com.

3. I recommend setting the visual effects to "Best performance" (that is my normal setting, but with smooth screen fonts enabled).

4. The display brightness will affect the battery life (the R20's display has a strong backlight) so turn the backlight down when running on battery.

5. I found that animated Flash graphics in an open web brower had a significant impact on battery life. I now use Firefox with Flashblock (which stops the flash graphics from running). Turning off the wireless will improve battery life.

6. We have to wait and see whether Samsung will issue an updated chipset / graphics driver which properly enables all the power-saving features which ATI claim are present.

On my Q35 I found that the Samsung Optimised power profile was as good as the Power Saving power profile. However, you should try the different profiles and see the effect.

I hope this helps, but 2 hours seems to be the realistic upper limit of the R20 with 4-cell battery.

John

 

Thanks.

I've changed my settings concerning the battery life. I will test it.

About graphic card's performance, where is the setting concerning "Best performance"?

I've installed the last bios update and test C3 with the "perfmon" graphic command. The C3 state seems to be enable when I am on battery.
I am going to read more about the core 2 duo C3's state.

Kevin.

 

Very true. In Portugal, apparently they think it won't sell enough at all (I suppose they think Samsung laptops don't reach enough market quota, but with these new models and a fair price I sincerely doubt it would be a flop), cause they have not released anything new in more than a year. The last new models are from 2005. A pity.

 

See this thread for a link to the ATI Catalyst 7.5.

The first post in the thread points to Catalyst™ 7.5 Display Driver for Windows Vista (32 bit) - Motherboard/IGP Drivers. There is also an updated Southbridge driver for the chipset.

There might be some tweaking of graphics performance on the R20. There is a small possibility that these updates might address some of the power managment issues.

John

 

Hello!

First of all: Thanks for the discussion! It is really helpful, especially to a non-notebook-expert trying to find a suitable one... This is exactly what I have been looking for as I'm thinking of getting the Samsung R20.

The R20 line includes the better, more expensive Deva and the cheaper, but still good Declan.

The Deva looks excellent, but I'm not sure if I really need it all. I only use my notebook for the basics, Microsoft Office, Internet, movies, ...

May I ask, do you think the Declan would be sufficient for me? I'm a little worried that it might not cope with Vista well. Do you think I'm worrying for no reasons? And the battery lifetime is a little too short. I heard that I can buy extra cells? Since clueless about this: Do I just exchange the cells in the back (??) and then it will run, let's say two hours longer (6 cells)?

Do you think the R20 would be a good choice for me? I want it to last for a while.

I really appreciate any help!!

Thanks!

Lizzie

 

Let us compare the specification of Declan and Deva:

So Deva has a faster CPU (around 25% faster, + 15% for the faster clock speed and + 10% for the bigger cache), 2GB RAM compared to 1GB, 160GB HDD compared to 120GB and built-in Bluetooth. There are some different words for the AV Station, but it may not be different in reality.

Deva will run Vista fine. The limitation on the Vista Experience Index is the GPU, which is the same for both versions. Declan is only worthwhile if you have big CPU-intensive tasks, which you do not have. I would get Declan. It would benefit from more RAM, but that is a simple upgrade which you can do at any time.

The battery clips on at the back - see the attached extract from the manual. The standard battery has 4 cells. There is also an 8-cell battery. In UK, Samsung's prices for spare batteries is high but other people supply a compatible battery. This is discussed much further up this thread.

Hope this helps,

John

PS: Can someone explain what "Gehäuse aus Magnesium-Legierung" means?

 

Something like Casing of Magnesium Alloy. I'm not totally sure about the Gehäuse, but by decomposing the word (coming from haus) that's what it should be. I've always been surprised with that description. I suppose they are referring the internal part of the casing as the rest is made of plastic?

 

It means: Magnesium Alloy Body
Gehäuse=Body

If you have problems translating from German into English check:
http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=on&search=geh%E4use&relink=on

This is a reliable source. You could also translate from English into German.

 

Thanks for the clarifications.

I couldn't see any metal alloy in the British R20. The whole chassis is plastic. I looked under the keyboard as well as under the covers on the bottom.

I wonder if notebook.de got that part of the description wrong.

John

 

I suppose they did some Ctrl-C -> Ctrl-V from another Samsung model that really does have metal alloy. And there won´t be a difference between the British and the German R20. They are all Korean...

Edit:
I wrote an email to Notebook.de asking if R20 body is really made of metal alloy which i doubt. Their answer will be posted here

 

Hey John!

Thanks a lot for your opinion!

I saw that you can get the Declan for 799 euros with 1024 RAM and for 100 euros more with 2048 RAM. Do you think it's worth it??

FYI: I saw a 6 cell battery for 146,90 euros, which is approx. 100 pounds.

You all have a nice evening!

Lizzie

 

Would the 2GB RAM be DDR2-667 (PC5300) or DDR2-533 (PC4200)?

The first type is a little faster. If the 100 Euro includes this type then I think it would be worthwhile to save you having to buy the RAM separately.

If the 2GB upgrade is PC4200 then I think you can buy 2 x 1GB PC5300 for 90 to 100 Euros.

Or you could buy one 2GB module for about 100 Euro and have a total of 2.5GB RAM. However, this would run at the speed of the 512MB module which came with the computer.

Decisions, decisions....

John

 

Ahhh... well...

The Samsung page tells me: 1.024 MB PC2-5300, so I assume the 2GB RAM will be the PC4200... !?

As far as I understand it wouldn't be too bad to invest the money in it... ??

Another advantage for me would be that I've got it already and don't have to find out first, what to get, where to get it from, how much I have to pay for it, what I have to do with it once I've got it, and if it actually helps.

Makes sense...

As you can see: Not dealing with an expert here.... I'm trying to understand it though!

Thanks!

Lizzie

 

If the 1GB is PC5300 then I would hope that the 2GB would also be PC5300. Provided that is correct, it makes sense to do that instead of buying your own RAM upgrade.

Do you have a link to the page with the 2GB? I see that notebook.de wants 249 Euro to upgrade from 1GB to 2GB, so you must be looking somewhere else.

John

 

On the website says case and casing as well, besides chassis, body, I'm relieved to see.

Perhaps, in English, casing is not the best word for it? In my country we usually use the word chassis to refer the body of laptops.

Thanks for the link. It will be handy in the future.

 

There is a comparison of the two on the following website:

http://www.notebook.de/samsung-r20-serie-g-604/

I can't find out though if the one for 899,00 euros also has PC5300. I have only seen the notebook with the double RAM on one other page (with no solid description). It doesn't seem to be around a lot...

 

OK. Now I see it at the bottom of the page. It clearly says 667MHz for the RAM. I was previously looking at the RAM option for Artikel: 2 von 3 which shows the upgrade to 2GB as +249 Euro!

John

 

667MHz for the RAM... Good??

 

Samsung calls the "Gehäuse mit Magnesium Legierung" Magnesium alloy body.
See X11 feature list: http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/mobilecomputing/xseries/np_x11tv02suk.asp?page=Features
I´m sure that other expressions could be used, too.

Não sei como é que isso se chama em português
(this is for bluesyrio)

 

One thing about faster RAM, it use a bit more power and given the pathetic small battery capacity(that is the number one complain I have about the R20/R40), I would give it a second thought if is intended to be used on the road a lot. But then, R20 really cannot be on the road a lot, not that it eats a lot power but the battery is so small.

 

In theory the faster RAM will use a little more power, but if it lets the CPU finish a task faster before going back to sleep then that additional power consumption may be offset.

The R20 benefits twice from using faster RAM: Not only do CPU activities run faster but also the graphics run a bit faster because the GPU uses the system RAM.

The real performance benefit comes from having 2GB of RAM instead of 1GB.

I hope that because both the R20 and the R40 plus use the same ATI chipset then Samsung will continue to work on BIOS / driver improvements which will extend the battery life. Perhaps more complaints about poor battery life from people with these computers would stimulate futher development.

John

 

John, Notebook.de told me that the metal alloy in R20 description was an error. They already corrected this on their website.

 

Thanks for the feedback and update.

Notebook.de seem to respond quickly to enquiries, which is good.

John

 

Hello!

Thanks for all the advice! I have decided to buy the Declan notebook with 2048 RAM! Can't wait to finally have it! Thanks again!

Lizzie

 

Just purchased the R20-F0004. Very very happy with it, however have noticed sometimes the CD-ROM makes some vibrating noise when it's in action... otherwise I would recommend the R20 as a budget laptop to anyone.

 

Most optical drives make some noise and vibrations under certain conditions such as an installation disc where the optical sensor has to keep moving around to read different parts of the disc. Some discs are out of balance and damaged discs can also cause problems.

A fair test would be DVD playback. This should be smooth and noise-free because the data is in sequence.

John

 

Does someone owning bluetooth R20 can show us a photo to see if the module is near the memory?

My keyboard make some noise when I hit de spacebar. Someone meet the same problem?

Bye,
Kevin.

 

If that's a hollow noise, maybe the keyboard is not seated properly. There are some small sprung clips around the edge which should hold it down.

The attached picture is for the Q35 keyboard but I think the R20 has similar fixings. In the picture, one of the clips is just in front of the Windows key. The best way to make sure the keyboard is seated is to turn the computer off and then firmly push down on a part of the keyboard with the palms of both hands. Move around the keyboard pushing on different areas. If you hear a click, that will be the keyboard getting fixed by one of the sprung latches.

John

 

Thank you very much John for your speedy response and for the picture.
I've verified the keyboard's clips but they're all well placed. I think one of the spring of the spacebar is noisy. Then I think I would have to dismount the key to place the spring correctly, but there is very little elements and I dont want to break one.
Kevin.

 

I agree that pulling keys apart is not the way forward.

You may find that some use will fix the problem. Overall, I found the R20 keyboard to be better than on the slimmer, more expensive, models.

John

 

Hi All,

i'm a newb to the site. great thread going on, helped me a lot with my choice of laptop.

so my R20 arrived today, set up, all seems fine, i'm going to order the 2x1gb recommended to give it the edge.

just one thing, it keeps dropping the internet connection, i can be sat next to the router and it will lose connection?!?

any ideas?

 

Are you sure it's the laptop losing connection, not the router? You could check samsung support and downloads for the latest wireless drivers.

 

there is one athero driver update in Vista which may help(though not sure).

 

First run the Samsung Update Plus software, which should be on the R20's desktop. This should look for, download and install any updated software and drivers.

I don't know if Update Plus will detect the latest BIOS. You can download it from SamsungPC. The Windows version works fine.

John

 

thanks for the replies guys,

i'm 99% sure it's not the router as my flatmates laptops and my desktop are all fine on the network.

i'll run all the updates i can and let you know if that fixes.

cheers

 

I confirm that sometimes there is some problem with the wifi which loose connection with the router. Moreover, I've got an access point and vista doesn't want to connect to it. But I think there is a compatibility issue with some routers / access points. Perhaps a new driver or update will fix the problem.

Concerning the battery, you can find a high capacity on AboutBatteries.com for 115€ (including shipping). This is a french website but they deliver everywhere in Europe.
Link here: R20 battery

Finally, I am really interested by the possibility of adding a bluetooth module on the R20. If someone have any information, it would be a good thing.

Kevin.

 

Thanks for the link to the high capacity battery.

One network problem in Vista is the Broadcast Flag problem. See Microsoft KB 928233.

John

 

Drivers and hotfixes for Vista now available for download here.

 

OK, I've tested the registry's modifications ( Microsoft KB 928233) but there is no changes.
I had met the same problem when I had install Vista for the first time on my old computer. It didn't want to connect to my acces point. I have to seek some information on the Web.

Kevin.

 

hi guys

thanks john / chimpanzee / all

i updated the atheros 5006x driver and that seems to have done the trick, i now have full signal strength on my wireless connection (how it should be) and it hasn't dropped (at least in the hour i've been online this morning)



Nebelwand: regarding those drivers and hotfixes, do they need to be installed?

how come under the Vista Drivers section they say "windows xp chipset driver..." etc and not windows Vista driver??

 

im wondering why some homepages say, the r20 has a core 2 duo and some say that the r20 has a core duo. and one more question: is the battery really so bad?! is it sufficient to buy a better battery?

and is the processor of the r20 fast enough to work with it without having lags or slowdowns?

thanks for your answers..
nico

 

The R20 is available with several different CPUs. In Uk we currently have a version of the R20 with the Celeron 430 CPU (single core, 1.73GHz); a version with the T2250 CPU (1.73GHz Core Duo); a version with the T5300 CPU (1.73GHz Core 2 Duo); and a version with the T5500 CPU (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo).

The Celeron version should be avoided. The others are dual core and all have sufficient speed for normal use for the next few years. Core 2 Duo has 64-bit support (which most users will never need) and internal improvements make it about 10% faster than the equivalent speed Core Duo CPU. Therefore the T5500 has about the same speed as the T2250, but the T5300 is about 5% faster than both. I would not be surprised to see a T2350 in the R20. This would have about the same speed as the T5300.

Choice between these different Core / Core 2 CPUs should be based on price. The most effective investment to boost smoothness of performance would be to upgrade the RAM to 2GB. The 1GB normally supplied is the bare minimum to run Vista.

John

 

ok thx... and the battery is really so bad like everyone says?

 

how long lasts the battery, when everything is set to the lowest?

 

My findings on the battery life are set out in my review of the R20. You may get just over two hours. This is not outstanding and is the result of a combination of a relatively small (4 cell) battery plus inadequate power mangement in the chipset and integrated GPU. It is possible that ATI and Samsung may make improvements to this aspect, but I wouldn't bank on it. If you like the R20 but need more battery life then you have to look for the 8 cell battery.

John

 

With this battery, you can play quietly to your favourite game during an hour and more in the train. If you need a high capacity battery, you can buy one on the web for approximately 78£.

Kevin

 

hello john!could u pls check the link below and tell me if this will be good for my R20?
thanks
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Crucial-1Gb-L...ryZ80202QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

The offered RAM is PC4200 (533MHz) but PC5300 (667MHz) will give slightly better performance, including the graphics which share the system memory. But if you have PC4200 and are planning to replace only one module then this is not a problem. Check
the speed of the RAM currently in your R20? (Look at CPU-Z's memory page: 266 = 533 DDR, 333 = 667 DDR).

Your existing RAM probably has chips on both sides. The new RAM may need to be the same if you are planning to run one old + one new. So you need to check your RAM and get the seller to check theirs. (Someone had a problem with this a couple of days ago). If you are planning to buy two of these modules then this should not be a problem.

Check out RAM prices from other sources such as Crucial (free shipping).

John

 

hi john!thanks again.i'll look into it. i am actually looking to replace both ram modules so i have 2gb in total.

 

I think that particular ebay bid is for one module only.

As for my comment about preferring PC5300 RAM, the overall performance difference isn't very much. A maximum of 10% and probably nearer 5%.

So it's down to price. If you can get RAM on ebay for half of Crucual's price then it would be worthwhile accepting the slower RAM, but if you get near to Crucial's price then I would go for the faster RAM from Crucial. I was looking at the RAM on ebay and saw one seller wanting £8 for postage!

Sometimes people pay more on ebay than they would need to pay shopping elsewhere. ebay is not necessarily cheap.

John