Samsung X460

Laptopmag and Cnet have done reviews. Both comment on the battery life.

 

Yeah thats right. And they all comment a battery life around 4 hours. So I was shocked after the statemant of Kiwibru. So would be nice if some real Users (and not tester from a magazine) could say something about their battery life in office use.

S.

 

I agree.

Notebookjournal only got 297 minutes with 30% CPU load. Does not look that promising either.

 

So my laptop came today and the first thing I tried was a DVD. I'm not sure how you can say these speakers are bad. So far they are one of the best sounding ones I've heard on a laptop this small. I had a Dell XPS 1330, and a ASUS G50V before this and these sound much better. At least watching a DVD they did.

I'll play around with it more, so far I like it except the fact that it holds fingerprints like there is no tomorrow.

 

Perhaps after a few charge / discharge cycles I can get more time. I was using wireless most of the time and screen was not toggled down.
I am thinking about using "gloves" when I work with this unit as yes the finger print magnet is well integrated

 

i dont see how the speakers could POSSIBLY be worse then any dell notebook.......

 

It's easier to just get used to the fingerprints!

John

 

So I've played with this laptop for a day now and here is what I have to report.

There is no way this laptop will last up to 6 hrs unplugged like Samsung claims, the best I've seen is about 5 hrs, with the wifi turned off and just staring at a screen not touching anything.

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Pros:
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I love the Chicklit type keyboard, there is no flex at all on this type of keyboard so its really nice.

This thing is light, I love the size and weight of it. It actually weights less and is thinner then an old 13.3 laptop I had.

The screen is amazing bright and clear, people were complaining about 1200x800 resolution, but it looks perfect to me. The side viewing angles are amazing.

The speakers are plenty loud on this laptop for a 14 inch, I've watched a few DVD's even with the TV playing in the background I have no issues hearing this at 70% volume.

Boots up very quickly (after I removed Mcafee and some other bloat).

Doesn't seem to get to hot at all.

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Cons:
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Doesn't seem to be a way to keep the Wireless off between restarts, and the Wi-Fi drains the battery like no tomorrow.

Fingerprints everywhere (ya everyone mentions this) I'm also concerned the red brush aluminum on the back will scratch easily, I already see 1 small scratch that may have started on it.

Vertical viewing angle is horrid.

Lot of Bloatware, preinstalled (not a huge deal, easy to uninstall)

Samsung Updater doesn't seem to work correctly, I noticed numerous updates for drivers on their website, but the updater said I was up to date.


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Few Random Questions if anyone has the answers to:
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Anyone know the exact ram currently installed, I'd like to pull out the 1 gig chip and replace it with another 2 gig chip? And would replacing all the ram with PC3 10666 instead of 8500 improve performance?

Can the DVD player be swapped for a Blu-Ray Player?

Will replacing the 5400 RPM HD, with a 7200 RPM effect the battery to much?

Can anyone recommend a good bag or neoprene sleeve?

Why in the world was lightscribe installed when this laptop uses label flash?

Is there anyway to keep the Wi-Fi off after shutting down, so its off next time you reboot?

What is the correct power adapter to order (as a backup) for this laptop? The one it comes with is a really tiny unit model Ad6019. But on Samsung's website under accessories it says SPA-P30/US

 

Thanks for this excellent info.

That doesn't surprise me. The nvidia GPU leaks some power. We need a version with Intel graphics for best battery life.

I've never been impressed by the Samsung Updater. However, Samsung have a habit of updating their download site by putting new dates on old drivers, so maybe those updates you see are not newer. You may need to check the software version numbers.

Use CPU-Z to check the details fo the RAM that is installed. Before you spend money on a RAM upgrade be aware that (i) the nominally faster RAM may have higher latency (CL) which means that the speed difference is minimal; and (ii) the chipset's maximum bandwidth is around 6500MB/s so this is the bottleneck. Probably, the only thing to check with the RAM is to make sure you have two modules the same size so that it runs in full dual channel. Asymmetric dual channel gives a small performance hit (but much bigger than the performance difference between PC8500 and PC10366) while single channel RAM gives a bigger performance check (you can see some comparative results in part 2 of my Dell E6400 review).

What model and thickness is the optical drive? I assume it is a 9.5mm thick unit. I'm note sure if anyone makes a Blu-Ray version, yet.

What model is the present HDD and what model do you propose to get. Some of the latest 7200rpm HDDs claim to have impressive power consumption figures. You can compare idle and full load power consumption at Tom's Hardware. Alternatively, you may want to consider a big 5400rpm HDD such as the WD5000BEVT which provides very high data transfer rates with low power consumption.

Which model burner? Maybe Samsung couldn't source the burner they normally use.

Have a look at the Boot menu in the BIOS. I think you will find a wireless device control and one option is to remember the last setting. The default is to start with the wireless on.

This site implies that the SPA-30 is an alternative to the AD6019.

John

 

Here is the info I got.

- The ram listed is PC3-8500F(533Mhz) so I'm guessing upgrading to 10366 would be a lot faster.

- I'm not sure the size, it just says Slimtype DVD A DU8a2s, I can't find any info on it.

- The model it came with is a Fujitsu MHZ2320bH g2

 

I think that any improvement you will get will be small.

PLDS DU-8A2S is the same burner as in my Dell E6400. It is a 9.5mm thick unit made by Philips-Liteon with SATA interface.

I've got a couple of those in my collection. It is more power-hungry than some of the new 5400rpm HDDs from other manufacturers and may be similar to some of the new 7200rpm HDDs.

John

 

I too have been considering upgrading to a Blu-Ray drive in my X460, according to mobileformfactors.org the DU-8A2S is a CBB compliant 9.5 mm ultra-slim SATA interface drive. CDR labs states Lite-On will be releasing a 9.5 mm Blu-Ray drive model DU-8A3S before mid 2009 which may be an upgrade option.

Ike

 

Picked up this sleeve for my laptop today, seems to fit the X460 pretty nicely. http://www.targus.com/AU/product_details.asp?sku=TSS059AU

 

I saw an X640 in a shop (Currys in Swindon) today - most surprised to see one there. The display looked very bright compared to most of the other models on display.

I also saw some notebooks (eg the Sony FW) with the 16:9 display. I can't understand how anyone would want such a display (nearly twice as wide as it is high) for serious computing use.

John

 

What is the heat and noise like with this laptop?

I noticed someone has mentioned it doesn't seem to get hot at all, but how about fan noise? How often does the fan kick in and is it audible?

 

The one I saw didn't feel hot, but it wouldn't have been under load. Under shop conditions I couldn't hear it.

Samsung normally give good attention to the cooling systems, although they might be able to fit the normal big fan into the X460's slim chassis.

If you need particularly quiet operation then Fn+F8 offers a silent mode where the CPU speed is limited and the fan operating temperature is raised so that the fan usually stays off.

John

 

Yeah unfortunately obviously shop conditions don't lend much help to assessing fans.

Does anyone who owns this have any views?

 

Video! That's not what I would call serious computing use, but I watch movies on my laptop quite frequently. I suspect that many people do.

 

new bios for the X460 on Samsung's website, build date is 1/6/2009, no info on what it fixes.

Ver. 04LY02LZ

 

Which people here still posting own the X460?

 

Yeah, I do. Fan does come on, but it is a lot less noise than others. My Sony FZ480E is noisy compared to the Samsung. I am getting closer to 5 hours use now but I make sure to turn off wireless. The screen toggles down automatically when on battery. Out of all the laptops I have had in the last ten years this one is very nice and a keeper.

 

Anyone annoyed Omnipass 5.0 that comes pre-installed on the X460 doesn't work with Firefox? I emailed both Samsung and the company that makes it. Samsung said they had no plans on an update and Omiipass told me to pay for an upgrade.

You'd think if I bought a $1500 laptop the fingerprint reader software would work on the 2nd most popular web browser.

 

How hot does it get? Will it cook your lap? I wasn't looking at a 14" notebook, but this one is thin and light and inexpensive enough right now to be a possibility.

Anyone other owners have any key pros or cons not covered already? Thanks!

 

To answer my own question, it remains only nicely warm on a lap in normal use. I bought the Samsung X460 last Friday. Buy.com delivered it Saturday, even though I only paid their $2.99 special for 2-day shipping. Thanks to Cin for the tip on this thread!

I needed a laptop for my blog, for travel and also for general surfing and Office. My old one was a 17” desktop replacement and a beast at well over 10 pounds with adapter. I was looking mostly at 13.3 inch models, but this one was just as light as others in my price range and met the rest of my criteria on this thread (though I didn’t get any input there lol).

So far, it’s a great value. I know it doesn’t blow away the trendy ultraportables, but most of those under 4 pounds were much pricier for similar features. This one was under $880, shipped (after rebate). Here are some quick pros and cons:

LIKES:

Great keyboard and touchpad
Barely over 4 pounds and 1 inch thick
Relatively quiet and doesn’t get too hot in normal use
4hr battery life for continuous light duty, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi both ON
Very bright screen, sharp text, good color and horizontal viewing angles
DVD burner, discrete graphics and HDMI a nice bonus

DISLIKES:

Vertical viewing angles are very poor, reducing contrast at the edges
Glossy finish is a smudge magnet
Very feeble sound, even for a notebook
Not a fan of the red color or aluminum backplate styling
User community for Samsung Notebooks is non-existent

So far, I like it. Can’t beat the features and portability for the price.

I also wrote a blog with a more detailed review and pics.

 

Thank you Scrod!!!

Enjoy your new purchase.

 

Hi:
New to the forum. Just got the x460-44p. Great laptop. Light, gorgeous, fantastic keyboard, does not get hot, blazingly fast. Went with this over a Macbook and could not be happier....but...

I took off Vista and installed XP (for several reasons, mainly work related). But now when I disconnect from the ac power and go to battery, the screen dims by more than half -- its really unusable in this mode. Its obviously the XP power management -- adjusting the backlighting through the control panel does not do the trick, nor does adjusting the NVIDIA settings or the Samsung power settings.

So I am assuming this is an XP issue and I have to adjust the power management in BIOS - anyone know what key to press to interupt start-up and accesss BIOS on the x460? I've tried several combos to no avail.....Thanks in advance -- and happy to answer any other ownership questinos for anyone else considering this otherwise great laptop.

 

Try pressing Esc when the BIOS screen is showing.

It should bring up a boot device menu which also contains an option to enter the BIOS setup.

John

 

On mine you have to hit F2 during the Samsung splash screen.

 

Small update- Battery life is pretty consistently 4.5 hours on "Normal" speedstep mode with the "Power Saver" plan. That's doing surfing and Microsoft Office with both wireless and bluetooth on and being used and brightness at 4/8 or 5/8.

Battery life watching a DVD at 5/8 or 6/8 is about 3 hours.

I estimate gaming in "Speed" mode with the "Performance Plan" to be almost 2.5 hours based on battery use rates and just having 55% battery life remaining after playing for just over an hour a couple different times. Granted, Warhammer Online at minimum settings at 1200x800 probably isn't too intensive.

 

That takes you straight to the BIOS. Esc gives a list of available boot devices and has an option to enter the BIOS setup.

John

 

Another update-

X460 going to Samsung for service. I've had sporadic Vista startup BSOD since day one. I thought they might have been something I did, but every attempt at restore, recovery and fresh Vista installs has resulted in the same thing. I don't have a lot of confidence they will be able to repair a sporadic problem like this, but I do have some documentation and crash dumps that I hope will help. I also found that Samsung models with Vista Business including the X460 qualify for an XP Professional downgrade, so I requested the free DVD to be sent to me. That will be the next step if they can't fix it.

Samsung service? So far, far better than HP. I got a person within 1 minute. It only took one call to get them to issue a service ticket. It did seem like he didn't understand me very well, but it was no where as bad as HP. On the minus side, he wanted to deny me warranty service because he claimed I voided the warranty as I admitted I had opened the hard drive bay and memory bay covers. I was a little miffed, because these are user accessible covers and no where in the manual or warranty card did it metion this. In fact, the manual gives instructions on how to upgrade the memory. I'll report on how this turns out, but if they deny warranty coverage, that would be a big reason to avoid this model. Having easy access to memory and hard drive were a selling point.

 

ok guys so i have read every single post from page 1 to 8. It seems like the biggest of the biggest problems seems to be
-the smudging
-low res screen
-battery life.

ive just gave away my Thinkpad T60 so im free to buy one w/ no regrets.
I was kinda sick of the bold IBM look and wanted to try something new.

1st thing to come in mind was this x460.

So w/ the flaws of 3~4hr battery life, 1200x800 screen and extreme smudging, is it still worth buying?
Also is there a version out that comes with a korean and a english keyboard and a black aluminum finishing on cover for sale in the states?

 

I'm getting 4.5 hours pretty consistently while surfing. I think this is quite good, especially with bluetooth and wi-fi enabled. I doubt there are any other 13.3 or 14.1 notebooks with similar features and discrete graphics that do much better without a bulky battery. You could get a netbook and sacrifice features or a model that has a big 9-cell battery standard. I think Samsung also has a pricey 9-cell battery if you need longer life, but it will be heavier and stick out somewhere.

I still find the screen vertical viewing angles and contrast to be the only real issue. If you can get by that, it's a great deal at $889, if the rebate is still available.

 

I would advise people to buy it from newegg. Buy.com gave me some BS about looking for my license card to "verifiy" something...yeah okay, why not just ask for my SSN instead?

Also, if you live in every state but 4, it's cheaper at newegg cause it's no tax. Just a heads up.

So far, my experience with this has been good. One of the USB-ports is extremely tight, to the point of scratching lines into my USB flashdrive. Is this an issue that will allow me to return it? I've already put a bunch of stuff on it, does that make a difference with newegg's 30 day return policy?

There is also a bit of backlight bleed. It reaches up to around 1/3 of the screen, starting from the bottom.

The speakers are beyond bad. Like really, they're horrible.

Smudging is a slight problem, yeah. You'll get used to it.

The trackpad is not as sensitive as I would have liked, and the buttons are very loud. What's not loud are the keyboard and the computer itself. Whisper silent, I actually can't hear it in a quiet room.

The fingerprint scanner...doesn't work too well. It's fun for a bit, but it took me about 20 tries to get it to register my finger, so either it or the program it uses is lacking a little.

That is about all I can think of. Sorry for the haphazardness of this quasi-review, I still really like it overall, really. I'm rambling. Peace~

 

It seems really nice but it sound like lot of flaws to it. I was really thinking about buying one but now i guess im going to have to reconsider it.
I dont understnad how the fingerprint can be bad? maybe you didnt register it too good in the beginning.

 

No no no no, overall I still think it's amazing. This thing is unbelievably light and has great battery life. The 3 gigs of ram are more than enough for anything basically (I've only gone up to 1.2gb usage so far). It's super quiet, and overall it's quite pretty.

I debated between this and a T400, and in the end I settled on the x460 cause it has basically the same innards, except it looks much sexier.

And yeah, the fingerprint scanner thing is probably an error on my part, but it doesn't really matter; the nvidia, intel, and windows stickers are right next to it so even if I don't want to use it, it's not an eyesore.

 

How much hours of battery life are you getting Huang?

 

I just unplugged it now, with firefox and IM, wireless on: 5 hours

 

thats pretty darn good how comfortable is this to use on like a couch/bed? Thank you for your responses

 

As long as you're not playing CoD4 or something on it, I think it would be very comfortable on a bed. And it weighs basically nothing, so you won't notice it sitting on your lap.

I like to do hw in bed sometimes, and it's definitely a lot easier to do it with this than my old hunk-o-junk.

 

I'm looking at picking one of these up to replace the studio xps 1340 that was such a disappointment. I keep hearing about bad viewing angles on the lcd...are the angles as bad as on the nc10?

 

I had the two side by side for a while. The vertical viewing angle on the X460 is clearly worse than the NC10. The horizontal viewing angle is slightly better on the X460 compared to the NC10.

 

hmmm, if the viewing angle on the x460 is worse than the nc10 I don't think it'd even be usable. My nc10 had about 2° of decent viewing before it washed out.

 

thats great to hear +rep for the info

 

^^ you two up there, I don't get that at all. I can tip the screen to the point where the words are illegible cause they're so stretched out, and it still doesn't wash out. Although maybe I'm not clear on the definition of "washed out". But in my opinion, the viewing angles are fine from every side and angle.

 

I think he means the color is all messed up.

The horizontal angles he said are fine though(side to side)

 

Well, I ordered mine today -- it was between an Asus N81Vp-C1 or another Macbook Unibody. The former would be a battery life nightmare (but FAST) and the Macbook just doesn't have the ports. REALLY looking forward to getting this baby It really looks like a killer deal on a killer notebook!

Me just excited !!!

(ps. where the devil are the manuals and drivers for this bugger? Linky please!)

 

Congrats this notebook is pretty sweet enjoy

 

I just got mine too. Really pleased with it so far, looking forward to seeing it running windows 7 soon. I've noticed the usim card slot behind the battery, not mentioned anywhere on specs lists, does it actually work? Seems like apart from reviews, that not a lot of people are talking about this laptop

Has anyone from the uk received the free monitor that goes with the promo btw?

 

Start here, but there is also a global download centre.

John