Korean Dream | Bangkok Post: tech

While HP holds on to its major share of the notebook market, smaller players are left to fight for the competitive minor placings.

Samsung, the Korean electronic manufacturer, has approached this with heavy marketing campaigns - images of the Samsung Jet smartphone went around the world last year - and market-conscious releases in both established and new segments.

Fresh on the scene is Samsung's X418 from the company's X-Series, which aims to combine style with portability and performance in new measures, in an attempt to carve out a new niche for itself in portable computing.

Let's take a look at the X418 and see if Samsung has balanced these components accurately to meet consumer demands.

SAMSUNG NP-X418-DA02TH

This new notebook is basically a larger version of the popular X120 netbook, with a bigger screen and a power upgrade to match. The X418 continues Samsung's trend of sturdy-yet-stylish machines that appeal to a wide variety of users. First impressions are strong. The striking metallic sheen in the external gloss finish has attracted flattering comments by many users. And the chrome trim around the outside edge seals the X418 smartly. Inside the lid, the black matt surface is a good choice as it won't attract annoying fingerprints - something many manufacturers seem to care too little about. The 14-inch LED HD WXGA back-lit screen with a 1,366 by 768 resolution perhaps lacks a little brightness and is glossy, which is not great for outdoor use. It is in the popular 16:9 ratio, which is good for watching movies, but annoying for photo or web browsing. One feature is its ultra light weight of 1.76kg and its skinny 32mm thickness, afforded by the exclusion of an optical drive (an external drive is included in the box). This is a sign of the future, as DVD drives are gradually replaced by flash drives, hinting at a new class of notebook, somewhere between netbooks and traditional notebooks.

At the heart of the X418 is an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz) processor from the new line of Intel's Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage processors, providing enough power to handle most portable computing tasks well. This will deter gamers and professional photo editors, who are probably elsewhere anyway. The 3MB RAM and 320GB HDD match the power specs accordingly. The Intel GMA X4500M HD graphics chipset smooths out video playback nicely. And the unit also features Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g and interestingly "n", which will become the favoured wireless data transfer protocol in the not-too-distant future.

In terms of functionality, the six-cell battery is reported to last an impressive 9.5 hours, but ran for around six hours for us with normal use, which we were impressed with. Two hours of battery life in a notebook just isn't enough, but many manufacturers haven't realised this yet.

I had some problems with Wi-Fi connectivity, which was perhaps due to the Ubuntu Linux distribution that the review machine was shipped with.

The full-size keyboard is a welcome change from the finicky layout of many netbooks, but the track pad is too small for multi-touch operation, and the LED indicators are strangely located under the trackpad, hence are hidden beneath the hand during use. The screen's viewing angle is fine horizontally, but lack range vertically. Others have complained of the flimsy feel of the keyboard, but we had no problems here.

The speakers are adequate for online multimedia content perusal, but you would need some plug-in speakers for a better portable video experience. Importantly in Bangkok, the unit stayed cool on the underside even with heavy use.

In conclusion, the X418 is an appealing and well-rounded offering from Samsung. It represents reasonable value, and its stylish exterior, portability and ample power specs will lure plenty of shoppers. The most interesting aspect of the unit is its push into a new class of computer - perhaps the sub-notebook or smartbook class - that offers both increased power and portability. Such innovation should keep buyers of the X418 happy and will help Samsung survive in the jostling portable computing market.

The Samsung NP-X418-DA02TH is 23,900 baht from the Samsung Shop, Siam Paragon, call 02-610-9584.

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