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Samsung X10? the first pancake is not always lumpy. Samsung's success or failure with flexible screens

Contents of delivery:

  • Notebook
  • Battery
  • Charger
  • Additional software
  • Documentation

Many have probably already seen ads for Samsung X-series notebooks from the new Be the Leader ad campaign. This series includes four models: X05, X10, X15, X30. Today we will talk about the X10 plus model, which is a modification of the X10 laptop, but differs in faster memory (DDR333 instead of DDR266) and a more powerful video adapter NVIDIA GeForce FX Go 5200 (in the previous modification, the GeForce FX 440 was installed).

The design of the laptop immediately attracts attention, a silver case with rounded edges, dark blue plastic inserts on the sides. Samsung laptops are designed with a general idea, so the company's products stand out from the crowd. The material from which the case is made is plastic, only the top cover is made of an aluminum-magnesium alloy in order to protect the display. The quality of the coating, as well as the assembly, raises no objections. The dimensions of the device are 315.5x259.7x23.8 mm, and the weight with a 2200 mAh battery is 1.8 kg. With 4400 mAh battery - 2 kg.

We tested a Samsung X10 plus laptop with the following configuration: Intel Pentium M 1.4 GHz (Banias) processor, 256 MB DDR333 RAM, 40 GB hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce FX Go 5200 video adapter with 64 MB DDR memory, DVD optical drive CD / RW.


The lid of the laptop is corrugated with the company logo on it.


On the bottom of the X10 plus are the battery latches, they are quite tight, and you have to apply a lot of force to open / close them. Perhaps this is a problem with a single sample. There is also a mini-PCI slot, two slots for memory modules (in our case, one of the slots was occupied), a hard drive bay, all of them are covered with covers with explanatory inscriptions.

At the front of the laptop there is a slot for Memory Stick, unfortunately, without support for Memory Stick PRO. There is also a latch for the laptop cover and two light indicators, namely, the battery charge and the device operation indicator. They are visible both with open and closed laptop lid.

Almost the entire rear surface of the X10 plus is occupied by a rechargeable battery, to the left of it there is an S-Video output, an optical S / PDIF output and a power supply connector. On the right is only the Kensington lock connector (port for connecting a combination lock).

On the left side surface there are connectors for connecting to a telephone network, to a local network, a VGA port for connecting an external monitor, one USB 2.0 port, a PCMCIA card slot and a 4-pin IEEE 1394 connector.

The right side surface houses audio connectors, an optical drive, and one USB 2.0 port.

The connectors are well located and easily accessible. What upset was the presence of only two USB ports, as well as a card reader that can only read Memory Stick format cards.


The working surface of the laptop is comfortable to work with. The keyboard layout is standard, the keys are blue, have a small stroke, they are a little tight, so users who are accustomed to soft keys will have to get used to working with this keyboard for some time. Among the inconveniences, it is possible to note the menu keys and the "Fn" function key included in the cursor control unit.

Under the keyboard is a touchpad with two keys and a scroll wheel. It is convenient to work with the wheel; an optional fingerprint scanner is installed in its place.

Above the keyboard, there are shortcuts for launching applications, an on / off key for the wireless adapter. There are also service indicators and a laptop on / off button.


The X10 has a 14.1 "display with a maximum resolution of XGA 1024x768, color depth of 18 bits (262,144 colors). The screen is bright and contrasting, the viewing angles cannot be called great, but they are sufficient for comfortable work. The brightness of the screen (8 levels in total) is adjusted by pressing the key combination - "Fn" + the up or down key. You can connect an external monitor to your laptop through the VGA connector. It supports resolutions up to 1920x1200.

The sound system is implemented in the form of two speakers of 1 W each, which are located on the lower part of the work surface. This arrangement leads to the fact that when working with the keyboard, the speakers will be covered with hands. The sound is loud, but the quality is poor, so you should use headphones or external speakers to watch a movie or listen to music. There is no built-in microphone in the X10, but it is possible to connect an external one.

The combined optical disc drive installed in the laptop is Samsung CDRW / DVD SU-324B. The drive works without any problem. Its characteristics are as follows:

  • CD read 24x
  • CD-R write 24x
  • CD-RW write 8x
  • DVD-ROM read 8x

The card reader in the Samsung X10 plus, as mentioned above, works only with Memory Stick cards. To work with cards of a different format, we recommend purchasing a PCMCIA card reader in order not to occupy the USB port.

The laptop is built on the Centrino platform. Processor - Intel Pentium M 1.4 GHz (Banias), 256 MB of SO-DIMM DDR333 RAM, two slots, one of which was free in our case. The hard disk is 40 GB manufactured by IBM (4200 rpm), the disk buffer is 2 MB. An integral part of Centrino-based laptops is the presence of a wireless adapter, Intel PRO / Wireless LAN 2100 3B mini-PCI (802.11 b) is installed here.

The video adapter installed in the laptop is NVIDIA GeForce FX Go 5200 with 64 MB DDR memory. This card is not the most powerful, its performance is enough to work with most applications, but this video adapter is not suitable for modern 3D games.

Below you can see the test results of the card, for comparison we used the test results of an Asus A4G laptop (Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor, 512 MB of DDR333 RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 64 MB video card), Asus W1N (Intel Pentium M 1700 MHz processor, 512 MB DDR333 RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 64 MB video card) and Sony Vaio V505EX (Intel Pentium M 1.5 GHz processor, 512 MB DDR333 RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 32 MB video card).


From the test results, you can see that the X10 is ahead of the Sony Vaio V505EX (Radeon 9200), but loses to the Asus A4G (Radeon 9600) and Asus W1N (Radeon 9700).

In our version, a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 4400 mAh was supplied with the laptop (the operating time declared by the manufacturer is up to 4.5 hours), with a charge indicator. The most interesting thing is that you can see the charge level only by removing the battery. This battery protrudes from the case in the form of a small cylinder and increases the weight of the laptop by 200 g (total weight of the laptop is 2 kg). The battery is securely fastened, there is no backlash. There are also options for supplying a laptop with a 2200 mAh battery, which does not protrude from the case and reduces the weight of the laptop by 200 g (the total weight of the laptop will be 1.8 kg). Batteries with a capacity of 2200 mAh are available for sale at an average price in Moscow of $ 60, 4400 mAh at a price of about $ 90.


The battery life of the laptop with 4400 mAh batteries, while playing a movie from a DVD disc, was 2 hours 37 minutes. When testing battery life using the Mobile Mark 2002 test suite, the laptop ran 194 minutes, and the performance rating in office applications is 123 .

The heat dissipation of the X10 plus is moderate. During operation, the working surface does not heat up, warm air is discharged from the left, therefore, when working with the mouse, no discomfort is felt. There is practically no noise during operation, the fan rarely turns on, mainly when working with resource-intensive applications.

conclusions

I liked the X10 plus laptop primarily for its small dimensions and weight. The presence of an external video adapter from NVIDIA can be regarded as a pleasant addition rather than an undeniable plus. The presence of a scroll wheel adds convenience in working with documents, but, unfortunately, if the user decides to purchase a model with a fingerprint scanner, he will lose this convenient function.

The disadvantages include the presence of only two USB ports and a card reader that only works with Memory Stick cards. Also, some users may not like the fact that a more capacious battery protrudes from the case, but here you really have to choose between battery life and appearance.

The average price in Moscow for a Samsung X10 plus laptop in a configuration that was tested (at the time of publication of the review) is $ 1650.

Specifications Samsung X10 plus
(declared by the manufacturer)

  • Intel Pentium M 1.4 GHz processor
  • Color matrix TFT with a diagonal of 14.1 "(XGA) 1024х768
  • Chipset (Chipset) Intel 855 PM
  • Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 64MB DDR Video Card
  • Supports up to 1GB DDR333 RAM
  • 40GB Hard Drive (4200 RPM, Ultra DMA100)
  • Built-in DVD / CD-RWCombo optical drive (8x 24x / 24x / 24x)
  • Built-in V.92 56K modem and 10/100 network card
  • 802.11b wireless network adapter (mini-PCI module)
  • Built-in Memory Stick Reader
  • Communication ports: 2xUSB2.0, 1xIEEE1394, 1xPCMCIA Type II, VGA, Headphone-Out,
    Microphone-In, S-Video, S / PDIF
  • Rechargeable battery (6 cells, 11.1V, 4400mAh)
  • AC "97, 2 speakers, 1 W each
  • Touchpad cursor control with scroll wheel
  • Pre-installed operating system Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition (Russian version)
  • Laptop dimensions (LxWxH) 315.5x259.7x23.8 mm
  • Laptop weight 2 kg

It seems that Samsung is seriously engaged in capturing the computer market. Recently, the announcement that the company is going to become a leader in the production of hard drives by 2005, and now Samsung has introduced its laptop computers to the Russian market. Indeed, the laptop market is growing, and the desire to "bite off a little more of it" is quite natural. For the first acquaintance, we chose a model based on the new Intel Centrino platform - Samsung X10.

Specifications Samsung X10
(declared by the manufacturer)

CPUIntel Pentium M processor based on Centrino technology (on the tested model - 1.6GHz)
ChipsetIntel 855PM
Memory2 SO-DIMM PC2100 (266 MHz) or PC1600 (200 MHz) up to 2GB (on the tested model - 256MB)
Screen14.1 "TFT LCD XGA 1024 × 768 (24 bit)
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 440 Go, 64 MB DDR
Maximum resolution of external monitor1920 × 1200, 32 bit
AudioBuilt-in AC "97 2.2 Compliant CODEC, CS 4202. Built-in 1W speakers
HDD30/40/60 GB (IBM, Hitachi, Fujitsu) (on the tested model - Hitachi_DK23EA-60 with a capacity of 60 GB)
Optical devices8xDVD-ROM / 8xRW / 8xCD-R / 24xCD-ROM DVD + CDRW Combo (on the tested model - Samsung CDRW / DVD SU-408B)
PCMCIA1xType II Ricoh R5C590
Network devices
  • fax modem 56 kb / s V.90 (AC "97 S / W Modem, RJ11 output)
  • 10/100 Ethernet UTP network card (3Com 3C920-V3, RJ45 output)
  • wireless network card Wireless LAN (interface 802.11b, Mini-PCI type, Hermes-I, Ruby)
  • built-in dual band antenna
Safety
  • hardware - fingerprint reader (optional, present on tested model)
  • firmware - boot password
Interface ports
  • VGA port / Mini D-sub 15-pin
  • 2 USB ports with USB 2.0 support
  • 3 audio connectors: microphone, headphones, S / PDIF output
  • video output (SVHS)
  • LAN RJ-45
  • Phone RJ-11
  • IEEE 1394
  • Memory Stick slot
Power supply system
  • adapter 13 Wt DC / 3.0 A
  • SSB-X10LS3 battery (3 cells, Smart Li-Ion Battery 11,1V 4400mAh)
  • battery life more than 2 hours (with standard battery)
Dimensions and weight
  • 315.5x259x23.8 mm
  • 1.8 kg (with built-in battery)

So, the first thing that catches your eye is the unusual graphics. Until now, the Centrino notebooks that have been in my hands were equipped with either integrated graphics or an ATI M9 graphics controller. And Samsung chose NVIDIA. What are we going to see. Security devices based on fingerprint scanning are no longer exotic (I, for example, wrote about something similar in the ASUS review); in my opinion, it is the best way to protect information in a laptop (not taking into account the resistance to hacking and the probability of errors) - it's hard to forget a finger :).

Delivery set:

  • the laptop itself
  • power supply with cord
  • telephone cable
  • warranty card
  • System Software CD (drivers, utilities, electronic user manual)
  • System Recovery CD (Windows XP Pro)
  • FingerPrint Recognition Software CD
  • CD with Cyberlink PowerDVD XP4.0
  • Nero Burning Rom V 5.5 kit with instructions
  • XP Pro Getting Started brochure
  • quick guide to fingerprint recognition software in Russian
  • Windows Registration booklet in English

The only drawback, in my opinion, is the lack of a printed user manual.

First impressions

The first impression of a laptop is lightness. And this feeling appears even before you pick up the computer. Trying to analyze the sensations, I came to the conclusion that the reason is the small thickness (23.8 mm - less than an inch), well-chosen colors and thoughtful design of the top cover.

In general, I liked the laptop right away, so I apologize in advance if it seems to someone that I am abusing photographs, both of my own production and those provided by Samsung. The Samsung X10 is worth looking at in my opinion.

At the front there are main indicators and a Memory Stick slot.

The rear end surface is not so full of connectors. The reason is the battery taking center stage. To the left of it are located:

  • S-Video out
  • S / PDIF out
  • power supply connector

It should be noted that Samsung has abandoned the usual practice of "combined" S / PDIF output. In my opinion, this is the right decision. The headphone output should, in theory, be located in an easily accessible place, closer to the front of the computer. For the optical output, the very place is at the rear end. To the right of the battery is the Kensington lock slot.

As a result of the "unloading" of the rear end, the connectors migrated to the side surfaces.

On the left are located:

  • ventilation system grill
  • telephone line connector
  • LAN connector
  • external monitor connector
  • USB port
  • PCMCIA slot
  • IEEE 1394 connector

In general, during "stationary" work with a laptop, most of the wires will come up on the left. I cannot say that this is the most successful option, but at least it is logical.

On the right are audio jacks, a combo drive, and another USB port. It is pushed in a little further, but this does not create any particular inconvenience. And of course this arrangement is better than the "standard" one - on the rear end.

Ergonomics and work

The first thing that attracts attention when the lid is open is a rather coarse-grained coating.

On the top panel, the extremely original location of the fingerprint scanning sensor immediately catches the eye. Of course, I understand that this is an option, and I didn't want to make an extra hole in the panel. But why is this option set INSTEAD OF scrolling? Why can't I get Both in the "top" model? Unclear.

Moreover, when working, your finger every now and then "out of habit" tries to press the scroll key. The rest of the touchpad is comfortable. The keyboard is pretty standard. Only the block of cursor control keys includes the menu key and the "Fn" key. Honestly, I like it better when these places are left unused - less likely to miss. Of the original solutions, I will note the possibility of calling up information about the power supply on the screen (when you press "Fn + F2" in the upper left corner, the power supply symbol from the mains or from batteries lights up for a while, then the battery charge level in percent) and enable / disable from the optical keyboard exit.

Shortcut keys for applications, on / off wireless communication and a block of auxiliary indicators are located as standard - at the top of the panel.

In general, working with a laptop is pleasant. However, it is really very lightweight. The specifications show a weight of 1.8 kg with a standard battery. But in my tests, as it is easy to be convinced, I visited a laptop with a battery of increased capacity with a charge indicator.

Therefore, I could not resist the temptation to check the manufacturer's data. Here's what I got: the weight of the Samsung X10 without a battery is 1.65 kg, with a battery of increased capacity - 2 kg. By the way, if I bought this model, I would probably stop at a standard battery. And not because of the savings of 200 grams (which, however, is also important), but because of the appearance. Still, the cylinder protruding from behind spoils it.

Another, I'm not afraid of this word, a design find by Samsung is a power supply. I have not seen anything better.

It's not about the original form, but the usability. The cord leading from the power supply unit to the computer is wound around the unit body through the slot. In this case, the profile of the body is made in such a way that the turn "goes" under the bend of the cover, freeing up space for the next one. Moreover, there is a protrusion on the plug, with which it is fixed in the same slot.

And all this design does not interfere with the connection of the power cord at all! To be honest, this simple product caused a kind of childish delight in me. How well done!

Restoring the operating system and installing drivers

Since this is the first laptop from Samsung to have been in our tests, I will focus on the system recovery options. Includes two discs - a System Recovery CD and a System Software CD. The first of them contains the Russian version of the Windows XP professional operating system. The disk is bootable; when using it, the system is installed normally. The second disk contains drivers and utilities. Drivers can be installed either individually or as a "kit".

Note that the installation of support for the Intel Pentium M (Banias) processor is automated here (the CPU checkbox), whereas in early samples of notebooks on the Centrino platform this procedure had to be done manually, and in a rather tricky way. A set of utilities can be installed from the same disk.

Fingerprint recognition system

The system software is on a separate CD. Unfortunately, it is not Russified. True, there is a booklet in the kit, which describes in Russian what actions must be taken to activate a particular function of the system. The functions are standard - logging into the system, registering on sites, encrypting files. The only problem is that the program is a command center in ... German. Personally, because of this, I could not get to the bottom of all the possibilities. Thank goodness the fingerprint scanning software is in English. Although this combination is mysterious. I honestly tried to find any language settings - I couldn't find it. But we still managed to test the protection at system startup.

So, when you start the system, you are prompted to scan your fingerprint or enter a password.

Either one or the other is enough for the system, so if you hurt your finger, you will be able to start the computer. The password is entered after scanning the fingerprints and does not have to be the same as the operating system login password. I did not make any particularly active attempts to hack, but I can say that the system functions independently of the BIOS and does not allow booting from any medium without identifying the person. Identity errors happen, but it didn't take more than two attempts to download. In general, at first glance, the system is quite successful.

Warranty and service. Site

The laptop comes with a standard Samsung 3-year warranty (1 year full warranty and two years free repair). The list of service centers is given on the Russian website. True, it does not indicate which centers serve exactly laptops. After calling a couple of times at random, I heard that Samsung laptops are out of service. In general, I would like to be more specific with service centers. In the same place, on the site, you can send a description of the problem to Samsung - a kind of online support. True, the "control question" was not answered during the working day. We wait.

There are addresses of stores selling Samsung products (though I'm not sure that laptops are sold in all the indicated places), information about models and their specifications. Much to my regret, I did not find any drivers or user manuals. The disadvantage is significant. In general, the level of user support is not sufficient. I hope that the situation will be corrected in the near future. But on the site there is a forum, from which I learned that, in the opinion of the forum moderator, the Russian site had a typo in the characteristics of the matrix - the color depth is indicated at 18 bits, while in fact the color depth is 24 bits. Whether this is really so is not yet sure. There is no official information.

Modernization

The laptop just asks for the hands of a real Russian self-taught master. Each hatch on the bottom cover is provided with explanatory inscriptions.

So, increasing the amount of memory, replacing the hard drive or installing mini-PCI cards should not cause difficulties. Another thing is that it makes sense to take such actions only after the expiration of the warranty period.

Laptop testing

For comparison, let's take a model based on the Intel Centrino platform with integrated graphics - ASUS M2N, as well as a model with ATI M9 graphics - Bliss 501C.


The laptops are almost equal in offline performance. In terms of battery life, the Samsung X10, which has the smallest energy reserve, has overtaken the Bliss 501C. On the one hand, it's good - apparently, graphics from NVIDIA have lower power consumption. On the other hand, the Samsung laptop showed these results when working with a high-capacity battery, which, by the way, is included in the package. The characteristics of the "standard" battery are unknown to me, but the declared battery life of 2 hours is clearly not enough for this class of portable computers.

Now - work from the power supply.

Unfortunately, the Bliss 501C SysMark 2002 benchmark passed only half of it. In this half, he is the leader. Samsung X10 confidently, although not much, outperforms ASUS M2N with integrated graphics.

Quite an unexpected result - in Business Winstone Samsung X10 yielded to ASUS M2N. It looks like the GeForce 440Go doesn't like this test very much.

Now - 3D graphics. Based on experience and common sense, we can assume that ASUS M2N will be left far behind, while Bliss 501C will slightly overtake Samsung X10. Let's see if we have got some bastards. So, MadOnion 3DMark 2001 SE (32 bit color, 32 bit Texture Format, 24 bit Z-buffer depth, Frame Buffer - Double buffering)

No, they didn’t start. The results are quite expected.

Grand total. conclusions

Contrary to the well-known proverb, Samsung's first pancake of laptop-building was by no means a lump. The Samsung X10 is a very decent model. Light and thin computer, leaving a feeling of friendliness, will suit both a woman and a man, and a student, and a businessman. True, a student is unlikely to be able to buy it - after all, $ 2910 from the Oldie company for a model with a complete set that has been tested is a lot. And $ 2050 for the "younger" model (processor - 1.3GHz, RAM - 256MB, hard disk - 30GB) is also not cheap. To promote the brand, prices could have been set lower. Apparently, Samsung believes that there is no need to promote their brand. Well, at least this model turned out to be very successful. The only drawback is the not entirely clear choice between scrolling and fingerprint scanning.

According to an extremely authoritative Korean publication, within the framework of the CES 2018 exhibition, a Samsung Galaxy X smartphone was closed. could get there, were forced to hand over all the electronics. Such measures helped Samsung avoid information leakage.

Just the other day, images of the fantastic folding smartphone Samsung Galaxy X were leaked on the network, on which this mobile device can be viewed from all sides. It is expected that the new flagship of the South Korean corporation will look exactly like this, although, most likely, by the time of its official announcement in November-December 2018, the designers will change something, making it even more attractive.

Smartphone Samsung Galaxy X, judging by the pictures, is equipped with a single flexible AMOLED-screen that occupies 99% of the space on the front. The body of the phone is made of Kevlar composite material, thanks to which it can be bent an unlimited number of times without the risk of damaging the device one day. For those who don't know, Kevlar is practically the most durable material on Earth.

When folded, the diagonal of the AMOLED display of the Samsung Galaxy X smartphone is 5-inches with a QHD resolution (2560 by 1440 pixels), while when unfolded, the top-end mobile device turns into a real tablet with an 8-inch display and already with a 4K resolution ( 4096 by 3072 pixels). In both cases, support for HDR 10 technology is implemented, which makes the picture even more realistic.

On the back of this fantastic foldable Samsung smartphone is a single main camera, right under which there is room for an LED flash and a couple of sensors. Slightly below is the fingerprint scanner familiar to everyone. The front of the phone houses the earpiece, dual front camera, and a few more sensors.

It's scary to even think about how much the Samsung Galaxy X will cost when it goes on sale. The price tag will definitely exceed $ 1000, so it is quite possible that the new South Korean flagship, even if it is revolutionary, will become the most expensive mobile device in the world. The official announcement of the novelty is expected at the very end of 2018, while it should arrive on store shelves a few months later.

Join us at

"If a laptop, then Centrino" - this is the slogan put forward by Intel in 2003. Most of the mobile PC manufacturers have followed this rule by releasing their Centrino models one after another. Thus, at the time of this review, there are already over 60 types of mobile PCs in the world that support the newfangled technology. We got our hands on a South Korean brother. The Samsung X-10 / 1.3G is a brand new laptop launched earlier this month.

Specifications

Samsung X-10 / 1.3G is the first representative of the family of notebooks from the South Korean company of the same name, made using Intel Centrino technology. The model carries:

  • 14.1 "TFT screen supporting 1024x768 screen resolution;
  • Pentium M 1300 MHz processor with 1024 KB L2 cache;
  • chipset: 855PM;
  • memory: 256MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM;
  • player: Combo 8xDVD - Samsung 8x8x24CD-RW;
  • video subsystem: GeForce4-460Go with 64MB of virtual memory;
  • hard drive: IDE 2.5 "Ultra DMA 30 GB;
  • communication facilities: 56Kb (V.90) modem, 10/100 ALS, 802.11b;
  • Ports and connectors: 2xUSB 2.0, IEEE-1394, RJ-45, RJ-11, S-Video out, 1xVGA, Memory stick slot.

Equipment


The laptop box turned out to be very large. Inside it can be seen the X-10, which is neatly wrapped in a plastic bag and rests on two foam bases. The rest of the space is occupied by the following:

  • Power supply unit with power cord;
  • Modem cord;
  • CD with OEM version of Windows XP Professional;
  • CD with Nero - Burning Rom;
  • CD with Power DVD;
  • CD-ROM manual;
  • A brochure from Microsoft on WinXP's usefulness;
  • Documentation in Russian.

Ergonomics, appearance, keyboard


The X-10 is light (1.8kg) and has very modest dimensions: 315.5x259x23.8mm, therefore it belongs to the category of slim-notebooks. The appearance of the model is impressive, the combination of silver and black plastic makes the laptop serious and prestigious. The design is like a Porsche: the X-10 is a pleasure to touch, the surface of the model is smooth and smooth from all sides and sides. The canvas of a 14 "monitor is completely dark and looks noble. The keyboard is stylish black, the keystrokes are soft and quiet. Taking a closer look, you can find 7 function keys, including the "battery symbol" (shows the battery charge level, "?" (A new-fashioned and very relevant euro sign), etc. Using the function key, you can adjust the brightness of the screen and increase / decrease the sound power ...


The location of the indicators and their lighting solution are well thought out, they are all clearly visible and, at the same time, do not dazzle with too bright bulbs. Some of the indicators (Num Lock, Caps Lock, Scroll and hard drive) are located in the upper right part of the keyboard, and two more (power and battery indicator) are displayed on the front end of the laptop. In addition, on the left above the keyboard, there are indicators of the arrival of fresh e-mail, the operation of the built-in Wi-Fi controller and "reset", which instantly sends the laptop into hibernation mode.


USB connectors are located on both sides, which is convenient when connecting a mouse; the bad thing is that there are only two such ports, but I would like to have at least 4. The lack of a COM port is upsetting, since the number of devices for it is still produced quite a lot. There is no infrared port either, which is unlikely to please the owners of mobile phones who like to access the Internet via their cell phones. Well, the rest of the input / output devices are presented in sufficient volume, there is even a slot for Memory stick cards, which allows you to quickly work with these cards.

The sound system of the laptop is an integrated two-channel solution based on the AC "97 standard. The speakers are located on the front panel and have a high power reserve, there were no wheezing at maximum volume, and the sound is consistently clear.


The cooling fan is located under the case, it is quiet, and it turns on very rarely. Winchester behaves in the same way and does not make noise when working. In general, the laptop does not heat up unnecessarily. Of course, if it is specially loaded with tests, it heats up from below, but if the work is limited to office applications and the Internet, then you may not find a hot spot on a laptop.

Filling

Here is the Windows XP Device Manager

It's funny, but the video adapter is listed as GeForce4-440 MX, although in fact it should be GeForce4-440Go. The thing is that I installed Detonator version 43, without which a good part of the game and game tests simply did not work.

Processors

We've written quite a bit about the mobile Intel Pentium-M processor, and yet a little theory won't hurt us. So, the CPU is built using 0.13 micron technology, contains 77 million transistors, uses a 400 MHz system bus, and has 1 MB of L2 cache. In addition to the extended cache, a mobile processor differs from a conventional processor in that it uses a number of functions for automatically lowering its power. The Pentium-M can turn off unused blocks in on-board memory, and also supports enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology with a choice of multiple operating frequencies and supply voltages. It is no secret that many computer applications do not use all the power of the computer during their work (for example, 400 Hz CPU is enough to watch MPEG4 video), so the mobile processor successfully uses this property and each time resets its frequency to the limit. That is why in various informative sources and properties it was possible to notice that the processor frequency is only 500/600/700/1000 MHz, and not 1300 declared.

The nVidia GeForce4-460Go graphics processor is modeled after the GeForce4-460 chip (it has a memory bandwidth of 8 Gb / s, a fill rate of 1 Mtexels / s and a core clock speed of 250 MHz), but it supports a number of special technologies:

  • PowerMizer Technology - Gives notebook users control over power consumption by monitoring the power of the two most demanding parts of the system: the CPU and LCD, as well as the power supply of the laptop.
  • Enhanced Full Screen Anti-Aliasing - First introduced only in NVIDIA mobile GPUs. The effect works without any performance loss in games or 3D applications.
  • Video Processing Engine (VPE) - Improves overall system performance by taking the most resource-intensive tasks from the CPU: decoding, processing and playing video and DVDs.

    Battery, energy saving


    First of all, one of the most important characteristics of the laptop was checked - the battery life using the Battery Eater "2003 test, which continuously and maximally loads all the subsystems of the computer at maximum screen brightness. The X-10 laptop has a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of only 2200 This is very, very small considering that most Centrino-based mobile manufacturers are not shy about installing 4000-6000 mAh batteries.

    The Battery Eater test was able to fully discharge the X-10 in 42 minutes. In normal office work (Internet + Word), the user can count on a maximum of one and a half hours of battery life when the power saving function is turned on. Watching a movie and playing a video game with the same parameters can be enjoyed for no more than an hour. The result is deplorable, but one must bear in mind that this problem can be solved by alternating the use of several power supplies (which is somewhat inconvenient) or replacing it with a more powerful "battery".

    Classic tests

    To establish the performance of the X-10, the classical tests were carried out in two modes: 1) when working with a mains connection; 2) for mobile use using battery power saving mode. The settings are standard.

    3dMark, marks (1024x768)
    3dMark 20003dMark 2001 SE3dMark 2003
    Working from the Network7554 5447 237
    Battery operation6251 4140 156
    % difference17,25 23,99 34,59
    PC Mark 2002
    CPUMemoryHDD
    Working from the Network4310 4524 493
    Battery operation1986 3173 492
    % difference53,92 29,86 0,20
    CPU Arithmetic Benchmark - SiSoftware Sandra "2003
    ALU, MIPSFPU, MFLOPSiSSE2, MFLOPS
    Working from the Network4322 1731 2558
    Battery operation1987 797 1178
    % difference54,03 53,96 53,95

    Based on the tests, we can draw two conclusions: 1) the built-in graphics processor GeForce4-460 copes well with the gaming load; 2) Pentium M processor is superbly optimized for power saving function and can reduce its power by half with a total performance loss of up to 35%. I will also note the X-10's real endurance. I deliberately left the X-10 on for the whole night (over 6 hours) with the 3DMark test cycle "2001. By the morning I found that the benchmark was still working. This stability indicates a balanced hardware (although initially there was no doubt about it).

    I did not run the SysMark 2002 test, so it is clear that the X-10 user will not have any problems with office applications. But he gave the main tests from SiSoftware Sandra, in order to compare the power of the laptop in question with various desktop systems.


    Draw your own conclusions. In my opinion, the results are quite decent. The performance of the X-10 is about the same as a desktop Pentium4 1.6 GHz + GeForce4-440 MX, which is very, very good for a mobile PC.

    Game tests

    As an avid gamer, I put a lot of emphasis on video games, playing classics from a variety of genres on the X-10. To determine the performance, I used the Fraps utility, which displays the number of frames per second (fps) on the screen. All games were launched at maximum settings and a resolution of 1024x768. And here's what I got:

    In principle, all modern games on this laptop can be played comfortably, given that the settings can be lowered to medium and minimum levels. I didn’t do any anti-aliasing tests. on a TFT screen, the picture is obtained practically without ladders (the effect of hardware full-screen anti-aliasing is evident, as we discussed above).

    conclusions

    Overall, the Samsung X-10 / 1.3G is a very attractive and highly productive laptop that can replace a desktop computer in office and multimedia applications, including complex 3D games. For true mobility, the model lacks only the presence of a more capacious battery, which would make it an excellent assistant during long journeys. Another limiting factor is the high price, which can scare off even a middle-class businessman who can buy a more solid, in his opinion, system for the same money. Fortunately, the aforementioned shortcomings can only be of a temporary nature, which is what we will hope for. And finally, once again, all the pros and cons:

      Flaws:
    • weak battery power;
    • lack of an infrared port;
    • the presence of only two USB ports;
    • high price of $ 2,000.
      Dignity
    • excellent design;
    • lightness and small size;
    • clear and loud sound from built-in speakers;
    • noiselessness;
    • excellent performance in office and gaming applications.
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