Samsung R20 notebook (14" widescreen)

It seems that Samsung are adding the R20 to their line in UK. It is appearing on sites such as Dabs. There's another source here. A trawl of the Samsung download site reveals some more details.

The 160GB HDD is quite generous for a budget machine but the audio could be quite weak if there's only a single speaker located on the underside and a 4-cell battery won't give very good running time.

There could be a slot in the market for this model for those people who want something a little smaller than the standard 15.4" machines without having to pay a substantial price premium.

I will add more when additional information emerges.

John
Update: There is a review of the R20 published here.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the R20 John, 14" is my favorite form factor for notebooks. It doesn't look like this is going to use the latest and greatest internals (I see Core Duo and integrated graphics are being used) but if the price is competitive this will be of great interest. Please do update if you find more info/pics of this offering.

 

do you think they will be rollingout new models across the range to replace the X60, X11 and Q35. Lets hope so. The weight is a bit of an issue too, why so heavy, dabs quotes it as being 2.8Kg. Thats far too much, its more than my X60

Also, trustedreviews has some more info here

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/news/2007/02/21/Samsung-Creates-an-Aura/p1

Roll on Cebit. Anyone got any plans to go, I might try and swing it as a work trip.

Cheers

Jamie

 

Thanks for the link to Trusted Reviews. The weight quoted by that review, 2.39kg, is the same as in the Chinese R20 manual. DigiUK also puts the weight as 2.39kg which is credible with a 4 cell battery.

I've got no reason to believe that there are any other significant imminent changes to the other Samsung models. The new shipment of Q35s has 512MB RAM on board. Samsung (at least in UK) haven't yet discovered that the X60 now comes with the X1700 GPU. The X11 will look a bit lost if the R20 delivers similar performance at a better price. The X11 is a bit lighter but, compared with the R20, is out of touch on HDD capacity.

I wouldn't expect any big changes in the line-up until the new Intel chipset appears, but there is plenty of potential for variations with some component changes. For example, a lower power CPU in the Q35 would give a useful boost to the battery run time. I wonder whether they are working on a replacement for the [URL="http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?ProductID=3800&CategoryID=11&SubCategoryid=']X1[/URL], while I also think there is room to expand into the 13.3' size.

John

 

I wish i was incharge of samsungs design department, there's definitely enough larket space for them to move into the 13.3 area. They could take that niche and make it theirs. Come on samsung, get your act together.

Thanks John.

Jamie

 

Now there's a mention of the R20 at The Inquirer.

John

 

And now Samsung have the R20 listed on their UK business website. However, the specification doesn't include the T2250 CPU being offered by the retailers!

John

PS: 2nd March. They are now in stock at the retailers. eg D igiUK. Let us hope someone who gets one and reads this will prepare a review. I can't afford to buy another computer at the moment just to see how good it is.

 

Just thought I'd register and let you know I've ordered one! I'll let you know what I make of it...can't wait!

 

Welcome timjj. I hope we will hear again from you within a few days with your initial impressions. And, if you have the time and inclination, there is a modest payment for posted reviews.

John

 

Interesting appearance of the Q35 Red Core 2 Duo at Digi UK since its cropping up with a 1024MB RAM allocation which means that the 512MB of on-board RAM is now being released for the Red Q35. Hopefully that means that some retailers that used to stock the Q35 Red such as Comet will see them back in store.

 

hi,

I'm very interested in a review and user pictures of the r20 too. It looks like it is sold only in the UK till now? Are there shops that ship it to EU countries?

Thanks,
poma

 

recieved one today. nicely built. the lid is shinier than expected. nice solid construction, with good keyboard. touchpad is a bit rough compared to the usual smooth textured ones though. doesn't look quite as good as a macbook but it does look pretty **** good.

haven't fired her up yet, still charging the battery.

pics:

 

Awesome! If you're interested in doing a review the community (and I) would love you for it, here's a link to the guidelines for doing that:

http://www.notebookreview.com/

The pics are great, thanks for sharing that!

 

Nice pics (although a bit big if you are down the end of a slow connection). When you have figured out how to keep that shiny lid clean, tell us how you do it so I can use the technique on my Q35 with its shiny red lid.

In addition to a full review, I expect that there will be quite a few people who would be interested to learn how the ATI 1250M GPU handles 3DMark.

John

 

Nice laptop. I'm very jealous. Although I would miss my 15.4" widescreen!! If only the X60 was available in black.

 

computer isnt actually mine, it was bought for someone as a present. i still have it here though. first impressions:

-windows vista is very slick

- mono-channel speaker can be pretty loud, and surprisingly bassy. sound quality however is lacking.

-lid is a fingerprint/dust magnet. maybe a little anti static spray would be good for the dust? http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29000&source=2001&doy=search

-4 cell battery gives roughly 2-2.5 hours of usage on full charge. this is from general web surfing, a little bit of video, and some tinkering with the settings.


mine was bought from digiuk.com.

-screen quality is excellent. comparing it to my s96j, the contrast ratio seems to be higher, and so does maximum brightness.

-plastic used as body of laptop seems to attract a lot of grease. and no i am not greasy.

that is all for now. will post more impressions after a bit more use.

 

Hi everybody,

The R20 has also caught my eye. I have a relative who has a Samsung X20 and I've always been very well impressed with its quality: weight, build (magnesium alloy), etc. Plus, I've got the chance to use it now and then and all I have to say is good things.

I am looking for a new laptop. My number one choice right now is an LG P1 with Intel 2 Duo Core, 15"4, T7200 2.0Ghz, 1MB RAM, 160GB HD, Bluecore4, Gigabyte LAN, Vista Home Premium, etc.

I have no idea when the R20 will be sold in my country, but the specs are very similar between these two, except for screen (which is ok, I actually prefer 14"1 and 15"1 to 15"4) and the processor, which unlike the screen, is something really important to me. The T7200 is a minimum requirement.

I'm looking for a durable and time-proof laptop (mine is more than 5 years old now), within a reasonable budget, so the chassis quality, RAM upgrade capacity and a really good processor are important to me. I get the feeling that the R20 is made of plastic (not magnesium alloy) like the LG P1 (but is the quality similar?). I would really appreciate some opinions and advice on this matter. How do you think the P1 and the R20 compare? Should I wait for the R20 to be released? Thank you in advance.

 

Sorry for my delaying in getting back to you all.

I ordered one from Digi UK last Saturday and it arrived on Tuesday (standard delivery option so very impressed).

The build quality and weight of this laptop are very good. Ok, yes you can get notebooks that are less than 2KG, but I've been carrying it about a lot this week for work and it's not been a problem.

Expect the lid to get covered in finger prints, it's just like my phone! Doesn't bother me though, I love the design.

You will have noticed from the spec that this ships with a 4 cell battery; I'd recommend a higher capacity battery if you're going to be using it on the go a lot. I've not actually run the battery down yet, but I estimate that on the Samsung optimised profile under normal usage (with Wifi) you'll get about 2 hours, or less if you're doing a lot of downloading and installing software. This is not a problem for me because in my work I hot desk quite a lot so I'm always needs a mains socket.

A few of the reviews mention bluetooth, this is not a standard feature. Again not a concern for me because I've got a dongle. Because I'm usually plugged into the mains I just plug my phone in using the usb so it charges my phone at the same time ;-)

The card reader supports Sony Memory Sticks for anyone interested in that feature. There are 3 USB ports, two on the left and one at the rear.

I would agree that the track pad has a slightly rough texture.

Now onto the graphics card. I'm not a heavy gamer but do play the odd one therefore graphics cards are never top on my list of priorities. My Dell 4600 has a 128MB graphics card in it for example. The 1250M is a big improvement to what I am used to, with 256mb shared and I think it has 128mb dedicated as one set up screen I went into said 384mb available for graphics and there is 768mb RAM available. I installed Delta Force Extreme and it runs at 1024x768 with more detail and performs better than my Dell 4600.

I must admit I had reservations about running Windows Vista with 1GB RAM, especially knowing that some of that would be used by the shared graphics. However, once again I have not been disappointed! Vista runs fine and does indeed look very slick. Vista makes better use of the RAM that is available rather than leaving it idle like XP. My R20 with Vista and 1GB RAM runs better than my Dell 4600 2.8Ghz 1.5GB RAM (Win XP).

Another point worth mentioning is that compared to other laptops I have used (mostly Acer), this laptop seems to output a lot less heat. I was pleasantly surprised that I could sit this laptop on my lap without my leg getting scorched!

Are you looking for a reasonably light, well built and stylish that gives you good performance for your money? Look no further!

 

Timjj, thanks for the mainly positive feedback and additional info. Particularly the good news about the graphics. I think a lot of people would be interested if you could run 3DMark (ideally both 05 and 06).

The standard specs say that Bluetooth is a factory option. It is quite plausible that Samsung UK doesn't know the finer details of what is in the box and may have misinformed the retailers. However, given the low cost of Bluetooth dongles, its presence/absence is not a big deal.

You mention the Memory Stick reader. Samsung confusingly put the Sony Memory Stick logo above the slot but I think you will find that other card formats work fine (Samsung claim 6 in 1 card slot Memory Stick / Memory Stick Pro / SD / XD / MMC / MMC Plus). My Samsung notebooks will read both standard Sony MS and SD.

What model of 160GB HDD are Samsung using? Their own? I would guess that the ODD is the TS-L632D.

Your estimate of 2 hour battery life under normal use is much as I would expect, but it should be possible to push it nearer 3 hours by dimming the backlight and shutting down any CPU-hungry applications. Samsung's specs mention an 8-cell battery, but I don't think anyone has any stock yet.

That track pad will become smoother with use.

There is another, cheaper, version of the R20 around the corner. Insight have published the s pecs. I'm not convinced that it is a good idea to be offering Vista with only 512MB RAM and it could get the R20 a bad name.

Please keep more info trickling through.

John

 

Will do.

Re: card reader, I thought it looked slightly wider, I'll look into it further.

I agree that a lower spec R20 is not a good idea, you lose a lot of the value for money. Double ram and hard disk for £25 if you go by the price at digiuk...it's a no brainer.

The 160gb HDD is a Hitachi HTS 541616 J 9 SA 00 SATA.

Will keep you posted.

 

Comparing the Insight prices for the two R20 versions suggests a price difference of around £50. However, closer examination of the cheaper model reveals that it comes with XP Pro, so it represents an alternative for the Vista sceptics. It isn't in stock yet. Perhaps they are waiting until after 15th March so people who buy it can't cover their options by ordering a low cost Vista upgrade.

Hitachi HDD: They are good, although the Samsung HDDs are quieter (and very slightly slower). You can compare the performance at Tom's Hardware mobile HDD charts.

John

 

The below link there is talk about R19 and R21 too, does anyone know the specs of these?

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/EM/200701/20070130133733671/EN/main.html

 

R19 and R21?? Google can't find a hint that these exist. Maybe they will be for other continents. Someone in Samsung must have had something in mind. There would need to be a substantial difference to the R20 to deserve a different number, while retaining the same basic chassis.

There is an N T-R19 listed on the Samsung download site. NT- is the Korean version. Your can test your language skills by studying this manual and make some guesses about what could be in alternative models. One possibility could be that a version with the Intel chipset could be given a different model number.

John

 

Poma, I've found out that this UK website ships this model to Europe:

http://www.samsunginbusiness.co.uk/

There's always the keyboard (and the OS language, if that is a problem) issue, but I guess one can buy a new one later.

I was surprised though that in the UK this model is not available with Dual Core 2, only Dual Core according to the information I was given.

Elsewhere, in Europe, I've also seen it mentioned in one Spanish price comparison website (with specs like Dual 2 T7200 e 2GB RAM), but it's actually not on sale anywhere on spanish online stores.

 

New R20, R70, and Q45

http://www.samsung.com/common/microsite/exhibition/cebit2007/index.asp?pcode=pr33

Click on "Press Release" then "The birth of the Next Generation Samsung Notebooks" in first row.

 

Thank's for this news. It's a Q45, not R45. To quote:

" NOTEBOOK
Sleek and stylish next generation notebooks - black high gloss R70, R20 and Q45
Based on its new black, metallic 'Aura' design, which incorporates a high gloss finish and high resolution LCD screen, these latest notebooks provide consumers with an unrivalled combination of high performance and power, packaged in Samsung's consistent sleek and slim notebook design."

The R20 is already being sold in UK, so it appears we can look forward to a big version (R70, my guess is 17") and a small version (Q45, my guess is 12.1"). It remains to be seen what hardware is inside.

John

PS: There's also a new M60 - see NBR news.

 

It looks like in the UK they started selling the smallest spec of the R20 while in countries like Germany they started off with the Deva (highest spec till now).
Here's a link:

http://www.alternate.de/html/product/details.html?articleId=190945

I ordered a core duo version, hoping I won't regret it

 

Another link you might find interesting:

http://cebit.samsung.de/microsite/index.asp?cn=Cebit_type

 

Very useful link. I've captured a couple of screen shots with some specifications.

I need to consolidate all this into a Samsung News sticky thread.

John

 

not to forget the final trusted review: http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2007/03/15/Samsung-R20/p1

 

John, the R70 is 15.4".

Poma, thanks for the links.

 

I am still trying to work out what market Samsung are aiming at with the R20. The models available in the UK are priced at the budget end.

I'm hoping that Samsung will also offer a version of the R20 with a 1440 x 900 display, but this is not mentioned in the current specs. This could open up another market segment.

John

 

Thanks. I hadn't noticed that it had been updated. I deduce that in broad terms, based on the PCmark05 graphics result, that the ATI 1250 graphics are twice as fast as the Intel GMA850.

John

 

To all Vista users - I recently bought a Samsung Laptop R20 -

The spec says it has 1gb of RAM - But when I go to Task Manager under physical Memory (MB) it's got 765mb as Total memory.

I tried opening up the back to investigate but I don't have the right size philips screw driver to open it.

Where else can I find the total memory?

Thanks

 

Hi,

I am wondering how hot do samsungs become during normal workload / heavy workload (DVD playback let's say). And what about battery life? This is about R20 especially...


Karslter, maybe your video card is taking that RAM? Try reducing the amount of RAM dedicated for it in BIOS and see what happens

 

1. My experience is that Samsung notebooks have good cooling systems. The R20 has integrated graphics, which will help reduce the heat being generated. However, can some R20 owners comment on the heat aspect?

2. Yes, that missing RAM is being taken by the graphics chip which doesn't have its own memory. You should be able to change the amount of RAM taken by the GPU on the first page of the BIOS settings (see the attached extract from the manual). I would suggest using 128MB. To get into the BIOS press the F2 key when the Samsung logo shows at the start of the boot-up process.

John

 

Thanks John

Anyway, how about the battery life of R20? How does it compare with Toshiba and HP?

 

I've seen no specific test results for the R20's battery life. Perhaps the R20 owners can comment on this aspect.

Trusted Reviews (top of page 3) says unlikely to be more than 2 1/2 hours. I think this is a fair assessment. Working from first principles, the running time depends on the battery capacity, the hardware's appetite for power and the operating system and software's ability to keep the hardware busy.

The standard battery on the R20 is a 4 cell unit. My old Samsung X60 (T2300, 15.4" display and ATI X1400 GPU) used to just about get to 3 hours with a 6 cell battery while my Q35 (T5600, 12.1" display and Intel integrated graphics) can just about reach 5 hours also on 6 cell battery. The R20 sits between these two in size and power, which would indicate up to 4 hours on a 6 cell battery at low display brightness. 4hrs x 4/6 = 2hrs 40 mins but Vista probably takes more juice than XP, so maximum 2 1/2hrs is a good estimate.

Samsung's specs are, for a change, pessimistic about the battery life and state Max 1.9h / DVD Play 1.5h
(they claimed up to 7 hours for my Q35).

So we have a range of 1.9 to 2.5 hours. How does this compare with Toshiba and HP? I won't even try, because they make a big range of computers with a range of sizes of battery and widely differing hardware. All I can say is that my Q35 seems to have a slightly better battery life than the equivalent Toshiba U200.

If you like the look of the R20 and need more battery life, then the specs show an 8 cell battery as an option. This should have no difficulty in getting to 4 hours and maybe up to than 5 hours. However, I have yet to see anyone stocking the bigger battery.

Can R20 owners please comment on the battery life?

John

 

Thanks John,
4 cell battery might be a problem, since I am going to be able to get preconfigured laptops..

I am still hesitating- should I buy HP DV2000 (CD T2060, 1gb RAM, 120gb, 14" wide), Toshiba M100 (same, but 512 ram and 80 gb, screen got better reviews) or R20 (when it comes to my country).
LCD and HDD are the most important factors ( alot of storage for pics and good LCD to view them). Battery life is quite important too, at least 2 hrs of DVD playback are necessary...

Oh, by the way.

Question to R20 users
how about temperature and noise? Does the fan work all the time as in X60?

 

Thanks John - re: memory usage by graphics card.

ps: battery isn't too great. I got about 1.5 hours on dvd playback.
I am waiting for the 8 cell to be on sale in UK...

Colleagues were very impressed with the glossy grand piano looks - they all tought I paid over £800 for it...

 

Just bought one fo these and its great. It is however my first laptop and there are a couple of things I have noticed that i'd be grateful if anyone could help me on:

1. When the mains adapter is attached, the screen is brighter. Is this purely to save juice when it is running off battery?

2. When i attach my ipod to one of the two USB ports on the side, it comes up with a message saying it would perform faster if i connected to a 'high speed USB 2.0 connection'. I was under the impression that these were USB 2.0connections, or am i mistaken?

3. The hard drive is split up into C and D (for backup purposes i think). But both are classed as 69GB. Is the remainder of the 160GB used for the windows system?

4. Looking at the post above regarding the RAM, I noticed this also. If i change the video card to 128mb instead of 256, will it affect the laptop's ability to run games?

Apart from that, its a really good looking piece of kit and feels very solid too.

Thanks!

 

Welcome.

Yes. You should be able to change the default display brightness using Battery Manager, or just manually brighten the display using the function keys.

Definitely should be USB 2.0. What do others see when they plug something in? Does Device Manager list a USB 2 Enhanced Host Controller among the USB controllers? There could be a driver problem. Or is the computer telling you that the iPod is not USB 2?

First, I commend Samsung for partitioning the HDD. Keep all your files on D. If you ever need to use the Windows recovery CD it will wipe C. As for the disappearing space, around 10GB disappears because HDD manufacturers think Giga is 1000 cubed whereas computers think Giga is 1024 cubed and another chunk is consumed by a recovery partition and the AVstation partition. Be thankful you started with 160GB, these losses are much more significant with the smaller HDDs - 100GB became 86GB.

I can't give an answer to this. It will depend on the games. More RAM will probably help games with 3D graphics. I suggest you try the options and see what works best for you (then report back for the benefit of others).

John

 

Thanks, that's really helpful!

 

Some of you may be interested in this link. Comet are now selling the Core 2 Duo version for £599 which is same price as some places are selling the Core Duo version.

http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=384089

I'm tempted to go for this one, but can anyone tell me whether a Core 2 processor running at 1.66 ghz (I'm guessing it's the T5500 since the site doesn't say) would be worth the extra £100 compared to the Core Duo which runs at 1.73ghz? Would I really see that much of an improvement or is the lower spec a better value purchase?

 

archietype, I don't know about R20, but in all the other cases, core 2 duo adds just a little speed compared to simple core duo of equivalent class. Battery life difference is not even noticeable. So, in my opinion, it's not worth to get C2D. You could actually get additional RAM- this would significantly improve the performance. Or you could save 100 pounds for something more purposeful

OK, R20 seems fine. I am waiting one month to see, if they import it to my country. If not, I'll go with HP nx7300 or pavilion DV2000 both with 120gb (which is sad, because I need large HDD very much).. By the way, most of samsungs get 3 year warranty here. And that's sooooo coooool

 

Add the two R20 models at Comet to the two listed at Insight means there are at least four versions listed in UK.

R20F000/SUK:
# Intel® Core™ Duo T2250 Processor 1.73GHz
# 1GB, 160GB HDD & DVD/RW Super Multi DL Drive
# Microsoft® Windows® Vista™ Home Premium & Wireless 802.11 Super G LAN

R20-F001:
# Processor speed: 1.73 GHz
# Processor: Intel Core Duo
# Screen size: 14.1 inches
# Storage (hard drive): 80 GB
# Memory (RAM): 1024 MB
# Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium

R20-F002:
# Processor speed: 1.66 GHz
# Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5500
# Screen size: 14.1 inches
# Storage (hard drive): 160 GB
# Memory (RAM): 1024 MB
# Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium

R20R000/SUK:
# Intel® Core™ Duo T2250 Processor 1.73GHz
# 512MB, 80GB HDD & DVD/RW Super Multi DL Drive
# Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional & Wireless 802.11 Super G LAN

The last one is presumably aimed at the business market which is keeping to XP Pro until Vista has proved itself. People who want Vista have three choices: one has an 80GB HDD and one has the C2D CPU.

In general, the C2D series have some internal improvements which boost speed by around 5 to 10% over the CDs. However,unless you want the 64 bit capability, a 1.6GHz C2D (T5500) is going to have a slight overall speed increase compared with a 1.73GHz CD (T2250).

Model R20F000/SUK (the first one to be launched) seems to hit the sweet spot for value / performance.

Will PC World have their own version, as they have with the Q35?

A model with the bigger battery might be a better alternative to offer.

John

 

Does anyone know a place where they sell the 6 or 8-cell batteries for the R20? Are they out yet?Thanks
poma

 

I can't see the R20 anywhere on the PC World website as of yet. This could be a timed exclusive to Comet before DSG get the R20 or possibly an exclusive outright as the Q35 for PC World seems to be.

 

DigiUK is listing the 8 cell battery for the R20. It seems to be the same 8 cell battery as for the X1 and X11 (part number AA-PL0NC8B).

John

 

Thank you John. Do you happen to know what RAM is best to buy, I may wanted to upgrade to 2GB.

Also it would be nice to know how the screen is and the loudness from users who already have the R20.

thanks!