Samsung X60 first impressions

Hello to all in this forum, from a newcomer

Having had the X60 (T2400, 1Gb RAM - soon to be upgraded to 2Gb, 100Gb HDD, WSXGA+, ATI graphics 256Mb) for a week now, and being the owner (during the last 12 months) of a VAIO S4 (13.3", 2GHz, 1Gb RAM, 100Gb HDD, DVD DL, Wi-Fi, <2kg wt., etc.), my very first impressions can be summarized as follows:

1. SIZE: It is a major change in size, coming from a true 'notebook' computer, to try and use this 15.4" LCD tool. I have now realized how convenient it is to have a small, true notebook size pc, that can go anywhere, that can fit in almost any bag/briefcase (I actually use for my VAIO an excellent Billingham bag with good padding, so this enables me to carry also my Oly E-1 if and when I desire.) However, the 13.3" LCD is quite small for office/home use or if you have to do serious photo (PS) work. That's where the X60 is unbeatable. I now carry the VAIO with me every day in the office and in the field (shipyard) and when I come back home in the evening I use exclusively the Samsung X60. Which one would I take with me if I needed to travel? I guess that for a short trip it would be the SONY, for longer trips the SAMSUNG...
Rank: X60 7/10; VAIO 7/10.

2. CPU SPEED: Big difference with the SONY. The X60 appears considerably faster, the Dual Processor seems to have made a difference.
Rank: X60 7.5/10; VAIO 6/10.

3. CONSTRUCTION: The SONY was 'Made in Japan', the X60 is 'Made in China'. The X60 looks and feels solidly built, however only time will tell. But to be honest, I don't think such a well designed and carefully thought machine will ever disappoint its owner even after very hard use. First impression, therefore, is very good. Keyboard feeling is somewhat different to that of the VAIO, and in my honest opinion the silver-coloured keyboard buttons of the X60 have a more 'plastic' feeling, but I wouldn't say that there is a great difference in overall build quality between the two.
Rank: X60 6/10; VAIO 7/10.

4. LCD: Tha famous for their overall clarity and accurate colour reproduction SONY displays are indeed hard to beat - Samsung has tried hard and the WSXGA+ (1650x1050) is good, although it could be a little bit more bright. However, with that resolution, I personally have absolutely no complaints.
Rank: X60 7/10; VAIO 7/10.

5. SOUND: Great - although I am not a gamer nor do I watch DVD movies, sound reproduction (with surround effects) is very good for a notebook PC.
Rank: X60 6.5/10; VAIO 4/10.

6. DESIGN: If this is important to you, then the X60 is a pleasure to have and work with. Well designed (with many design awards and credentials), all buttons and the general keyboard layout are well thought out, and will not disappoint the user, especially after many hours of work in a single day. The CD drive is indeed not good to be placed on the right hand side of the machine as it really interferes with the mouse pad when opened (for right-handers, that is), but we can't have everything in this world, can we?
Rank: X60 7/10; VAIO 5.5/10.

7. BATTERY CHARGER and BATTERY LIFE: Sorry, no opinion yet. However, one thing I can say is that the SAMSUNG battery charger is approx. 25% ligther and smaller in size compared to that of the VAIO, a considerable improvement, again. To be honest, before purchasing the SAMSUNG I read John Ratsey's review on the X60 and thought the battery charger would be much bigger that my SONY's, however now I can say I am very happy with the unexpectedly small and handy size of the SAMSUNG charger. Of course, it would be ideal to have a precise estimate of battery duration, however, on this I'll have to get back to you.
Rank: X60 6/10; VAIO 4.5/10.

8. TEMPERATURES: I can confirm (based on my short experience with the X60) John Ratsey's opinion that it is indeed a relatively cool machine. The fan is always on, but it is fairly quiet and considerably quieter that that of the VAIO. The VAIO was not as cool (temperature-wise) as the X60, and its fan was quite noisy, up to the point of even being disturbing sometimes (this was actually one of the reasons for me getting another laptop).
Rank: X60 6.5/10; VAIO 3.5/10.

9. SUPPORT: Not needed so far, however, the SAMSUNG site has nearly everything one may need, firmware updates, drivers, manuals, all readily accessible.
Rank: X60 6.5/10; VAIO 5.5/10.

CONCLUSION: I had (and still actually have) a high quality true notebook, but wanted another fast-CPU one for redundancy, for having the ability to work long hours quietly with heavy-duty applications (e.g. CAD-work or photo processing work). I originally intended to buy the IBM T60, however based on the fact that I am currently located in South Korea I went for the Samsung, and can so far say that the X60 has truly fulfilled every expectation. Well done to the Koreans.

Note: My Samsung X60 was purchased in the Republic of Korea, for approx. USD 1,560.00 one week ago. This is not intended to be a truly technical and with actual benchmarks carried-out review. It simply reflects the (as much as practically possible) non-prejudiced opinion of a notebook(s) user and PC enthusiast.

Regards to all

Constantine

 

wow....that is a great price for such a package! it seemed really expensive when purchased in the uk. is your keyboard in english and were you able to get it with the english version of your os?

 

Computer came with Korean Win XP Home and no English OS could be supplied (I'm not in Seoul, I'm down south where I suppose one should make special request and wait a while for a machine with English OS to be delivered, if that was possible in any case).

On the same day I bought it, I formatted the HDD, installed an original set of Win XP Pro XP2 English (which I had purchased before coming here in Korea), then installed all drivers using the 'media software cd' supplied in the box by Samsung.

Media software cd cover and instructions were all in Korean, but I inserted the cd in one of the display laptops at the store and had the salesman translate to me what exactly was each option that comes on the screen before you attempt custom user installation - so thereafter I knew exactly what to avoid installing or not.

Great help was from the Samsung available online english manual (pdf downloaded) since I did that on the night before taking delivery of the X60 and therefore I knew what to look for and ask on the day I got the computer in my hands.

Then I installed all other necessary software that I regularly use, and also connected to the internet where Win XP Pro SP2 automatically downloaded all latest updates. DSL connection speeds here in Korea are absolutely incredble, so it takes minimum amount of time to download anything you might want.

Therefore absolutely no problem.

Samsung also supplies in the box a 'system restore cd' and that's in Korean as well, perhaps I may request from Samsung Korea to send me an English version by post or I may have a look online as they may have something available in their global support site. But once you can format and set up the machine from scratch (and don't forget to take regular backups of your data), then you don't really need the 'restore' feature, since this will install different OS from the one you have and also will recover Samsung supplied software, won't it?

Also, I don't use the terrestrial DMB tuner (for Korea only).

BTW, I found here in Korea, Samsung extra slim portable HDDs for approx. USD 150 (100Gb).

Rgds,

Constantine

 

...and keyboard is in U.S. English and Korean - in the Win XP I installed U.S. English and Greek languages (I originally come from Greece).

Incidentally, my VAIO had U.K. English keyboard, since it was supplied as new from Sony support in the U.K. (I originally purchased the S3 but returned it back as the fan was very noisy and they replaced the notebook with a new one, however by that time the new model S4 was out, so I got that one instead). Sony European support is ok but if you're not in the U.K. then you don't have local (i.e. in your country) support at all and this delays you a lot in sending back and receiving new/repaired equipment. Also, the S4 has already given me a bad pixel (only one so far).

Rgds

 

wow what a review! awsome price, can you post a link to the site/store you bought it from plz.

Also what video card is it? X1600 or X1400.

can you run Super Pi @ 2 million

3dMark05

And i guess try a batterylife test, on normal working paramters for you, that suit you, and see how much u get.

Thanks again! Man i wish US had them.

MysticGolem

 

MysticGolem, thanks for the comments

However, as I mentioned earlier, it's not intended really to be a 'review'
I am neither a pc expert nor have I tried and worked extensively with many different notebook/laptop brands, so opinions posted simply reflect my first impressions on a new newly acquired machine/tool.

I wrote this thread since it is a new machine and possibly many people would like a couple of additional opinions/impressions to the very good review by John Ratsey. To be honest, I don't think my first impressions 'review' adds many new things to what has already been in detail covered and well described by John.

Nevertheless, as I am an expat located in South Korea and can transfer impressions and other issues from the people and the market here, perhaps some other fellow(s) could benefit from what I have seen and observed so far in this country.

Now, regarding the price: I have the impression that electronics in general (digital cameras, etc.) are not so cheap here in South Korea. Before coming here in early April '06, I stopped in Dubai and I also checked prices in the Duty Free over there - same feeling, electronic goods not as cheap as expected. Without going into much detail (also irrelevant to this thread & forum) I dare to say that the cheapest prices I regurlarly find are in the U.S. only. All my digital cameras (compacts, SLRs, lenses) and electrionic equipment in general are bought in the U.S.

I do understand that Samsung notebook products are not yet available in the North American market. But you guys can anything you want for a very good price: IBM (if you work out in the field there's no better laptop you can buy), Toshiba, Sony, etc. If you try to get one of these machines in the U.K. or in Northern Europe, you'd have to pay at least 40% more. So think about this and be happy.

Link for the SAMSUNG store from which the X60 was purchased: http://www.livingplaza.com
Tel. no. at the store: +82 55 645 8488
Fax no.: +82 55 645 9982
Original retail (list) price here is currently about KRW2,590,000 (i.e. approx. USD 2,750 or Eur 2,150 or GBP 1,470) - I paid by cc and got a discount of approx. USD 100, plus a Samsung carry case, headset, mouse).

I think it's a new model and they did not want to give a better discount; perhaps if I could wait a little while I could get a much better deal - also, LG store I tried next door gave me similar (almost identical specs) model at approx. 20% cheaper price.

Graphics card is ATI X1600 GPU with the higher resolution WSXGA+ display (256MB DDR2 RAM).

I do not know what's Super Pi @ 2m that you ask, apologies for this.

I also trust that 3dMark05 that you mention is a benchmark test that can one do to test 3d graphics ability of the machine - do not have it, but even if I can easily get it, I do not intend to do so at the moment, as I am quite busy at work (on-site team manager representing a Greek shipping company building chemical tankers in a South Korean shipyard) and more testing for the new X60 is postponed for later until my workload calms a little bit, sorry about this.

Battery Life Test: as above. I have a website under construction which I'm desperately trying to set up properly (you know, finish the code, test the pages, etc.), so as soon as I have this ready I will post pics and more details of the X60.

Today I went to the store where I purchased the X60 (btw, it's called the SENS X60 here in Korea) and asked about additional RAM modules for upgrading. Approximate figures are KRW120,000 (i.e. USD 128 or Eur 100 or GBP 69) for the 1Gb RAM module and they do not have any in stock, they do special order to Samsung.

Hope all above covers your queries.

Constantine

 

Yup, thanks for the info helped alot.

That's one awsome laptop!

Thanks for sharing your experience with it.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

i'm confused. before, you said you paid $1560 us. so did you pay $2650 or was your discount actually $1000 u.s.? or was the previous number a typo?

 

Apologies, you're absolutely correct (it's a typo - $2650 was actual price paid)

tks and rgds

 

lol....that make a lot more sense. thanks for the info!

 

@N_Architect: I recommend you to contact abaxter. He always wants reviews and you can earn money for writing it.

 

thanx, .tom - I've already thought about this, perhaps I may do it

 

Hello there

thanks for the comments, when you formatted the hard drive was it easy to remove the media player software or was that built into it. Someone told me that it takes up around 15Gb, which is a lot just to be able to play dvd's and mp3's without booting into windows.

What other software came ready-installed,

Cheers again

Jamie

 

15 Gb for the AV Station Premium?????????????

I didn't know that...

Computer came in with the following software installed:

1. Samsung's software:
AV Station Premium 3.7
Network Manager
Samsung Recovery Utility
Magic Doctor (disk cleanup, etc.)
Battery Manager
Easybox (BIOS changes, etc.)
Voice recorder
Magic Keyboard
No-ad
DMB (Digital Broadcasting Receiving)

2. Norton AntiVirus, trial edition for 90 days

3. Adobe Reader

Rgds

 

I think 15GB is too much. I started with 86GB of space on my 100GB HDD, but (a) the advertised 100GB is never 100GB, (b) there was a basic installation of Windows and software.

PartitiionMagic shows a partition type LANstep with 3.5GB which is not seen by Windows.

John

 

That's correct, John, I confirm also having an unformatted 3.5 Gb partition.

I formatted this partition (NTFS) and now use as 'scratch disk' for my PSCS work.

Is that ok or should have I not formatted it?

(I think there's no problem, but it wouldn't hurt just to check with you...)

Btw, PSCS now rocks (especially after the RAM upgrade to 2Gb)

Constantine

 

I can't believe that the new AVStation takes 15 GB. My older version takes 1 GB ....

 

Hi

i'm gonna buy the X60 XIH with the Intel Integrated graphic card (Intel GMA 950) for 1000€. The hard drive is only 80GB and because the AVStation takes so much place (15GB!), I would like to know if it is possible to reduce the size of the AVS partition down to 7/8 GB for instance ?

Samsung claims the battery life for this model is 5 hours with the standard 6-cell battery (11,1V/5200mAh - 57,72Wh).
The notebookreview test is on a ATI dedicated graphic card model and the lifespan is about 3 hours.
- Do you think the ATI graphic card consumes such an amount of energy?
- Will be able to reach a 4-hour trip with the Intel GMA 950 built-in model?

thanks !

 

This is maybe a bit too early - I plan to write a full review of X60, as I mentioned in a different thread - but I have to mention 2 things:

1. AV station uses only 370MB for me.
2. The first partition is a recovery partition. It has a regular NTFS file system containing an XP preinstall, just the FS type has been intentionally changed to something Windows can not recognize. This is in order to prevent you to accidentally delete files on it, which would render the recovery partition unusable. This partition kicks in automatically in case your OS does not start. This is a VERY neat feature, for those awkward moments where you just HAVE TO GAIN ACCESS to your files somehow. However, I too, chose to delete the whole partition (of course I took a backup image of it beforehand) and recrete it, because I wanted to have a more recent snapshot of my OS (preinstalled with a set of applications I fancy) - just in case.

My opinion is that you should have not formatted it, but this advice is late, isn't it?

 

An off-track qn: does the AVS Recovery procedure provide a step to partition/format an unpartition HDD? Cos e manual states it can't recover AVS AFTER Windows installation, yet if I wanna recover AVS 1st, I need some way to partition/format my fresh HDD 1st right?

Confused...

 

Unfortunately I don't know much about AV Station. I thought it is just a media player, that you can operate with the built-in remote. Is it something more? It did not seem like that. Or maybe it is something on of the DVDs I got with the notebook. Anyway, If you would like to do these kinds of tasks I recommend to have a look on the following on google:
Super WinPE
911 recovery CD
Acronis TrueImage *
Acronis DiskDirector Suite *

* the latter two being HIGHLY!!!! recommended. Apart from working from within windows they also allow you to create a bootable CD, using which you can partition/resize/backup/recover/access networks and stuff ....

Matyas

 

In response to the running time on the standard battery:

Effective capacity to about 5% is about 55WHr. MobileMeter shows the battery drain of my X60 (T2300 + ATI X1400 + 1.5GB RAM) under light load (with no Wireless or Bluetooth and ATI PowerPlay on max battery) is usually in the range of 16-20W depending mainly on screen brightness (I have seen values below 14W for short periods). Divide 55 by those numbers and you get durations in the range of 3.5 hours to 2.75 hours. To get a running time of 5 hours the power consumption will need to drop to 11W.

4 hours running time may be feasible with low display brightness and the Intel integrated graphics. For comparison, my Asus W3A with P-M 750 undervolted to 0.7V, Intel graphics and usable screen brightness used around 14-15W. The Core series CPUs can't be undervolted below 0.95V although I believe most would safely run at a lower voltage and save a further Watt or two in power consumption (and avoid the need for the fan to cut in at intervals).

John

 

Thank you!

 

John,

is it possible tu underwolt and/or overclock X60? If yes, what tools would one use? I understand the BIOS does not give you any such possibility...

 

Undervolting is easy. I use RMClock from http://cpu.rightmark.org/products/rmclock.shtml which is easy to set up. Others use Notebook Hardware Control (NHC) from http://www.pbus-167.com/ .My T2300 has been running happily at 1.05V at max speed instead of 1.263V default. This means that the CPU temperature stays quite low and the fan never gets above the lowest setting (note that with BIOS 08XA the fan operates intermittently - previous BIOS versions had the fan running continuously). The bad news is that the Core series CPUs can't be undervolted at their minimum speed. One is stuck with the default 0.95V whereas there is a strong possibility that the CPU would run safely at a lower voltage and prolong the battery.

As far as I know, it is not possible to overclock the CPU. Few, if any notebooks have this facility and, to be honest, the performance of the T2300 is good enough that a moderate speed increase would not be noticeable in normal use.

John

 

This is not entirely clear to me. Does it mean that you run it on 1.05V in the whole speed range(300mhz-1.66Ghz)? or you wanted to say, that at 300Mhz it could well operate with 0.7V (for example?)

Anyway, I don't think you will notice substantial battery savings with an undervolted CPU. The main thing that eats the most juice is the backlight & full throttle CPU+GPU, which you have rarely, unless you play games? Or am I wrong? What is your estimated runtime on batteries with your undervolted CPU?

I read somewhere that the fastest models (T2500) are the most optimal ones in terms of power consumption, i.e. if you run it at maximum speed you carry out the same work faster and with less power than with a T2300. But maybe I understood it wrong - again

 

Answer to first point: The default CPU voltage at the minimum speed of 6X (1GHz) is 0.95V and cannot be reduced. The previous Dothan CPUs could have their voltage reduced down to 0.7V. The result is that undervolting the Core Duo gives no significant increase in battery life under light load with CPU on minumum speed. My X60 will manage 3 hours on battery under light load and the backlight at less than half brightness.

Comment on second point: I agree with the theory provided that the operating voltage at maximum speed is the same. However, if the T2500s don't undervolt as well as the T2300 then the latter might prove more economical in terms of power use. I suspect that the difference would be difficult to measure.

John

 

There are two different products with similarly names. AVStation Now! is the player which you can start and run without having running Windows or Linux while AVStation a fat media player for Windows is.

 

just curious, does it not annoy you that there is no integrated camera? I'm slightly annoyed about it, as it would lift it above the Sony Vaio's more....

or are you guys not bothered/do not use video messaging?

 

No, I'm not annoyed at all by the lack of a built-in web cam. I'm currently at the end of a connection that is not good enough for voice, never mind video and I have never had the urge to try video messaging.

John

 

I don't bother video messages. In my opinon this service is a waste of time ...

 

I wanted to have a built-in camera as well, but once you try them out, you will not want them They are fixed, and even if they say it's turnable, it is still not thelevel of freedom I would expect. So I bought a nice little webcam on eBay, and I am fully satisfied with it in conjunction with my X60.