Product: Samsung X10 Price: HK$14,780 for 1.3GHz, 256MB DDR-Ram; and HK$19,880 for 1.6GHz, 512MB DDR-Ram Pros: Well designed, sharp display and very light Cons: Short battery life
One of the first laptops to sport Intel Centrino mobile technology, the Samsung X10 is a beautiful, sleek machine that turned heads everywhere it went.
To put its embedded 802.11b technology to the test, I wrote most of my stories this week on the X10 in PCCW hot spots such as Pacific Coffee cafes while chugging down grande lattes - tough job, but someone has to do it.
Obviously inspired by Apple's PowerBook designs, the X10 sported the same tough but elegant looks. Just 23.8mm thick and weighing 1.8kg, the X10 claims to be the thinnest and lightest two-drive notebook computer in the market.
At its heart spins an Intel Pentium-M 1.3 gigahertz or 1.6GHz processor. The 1.6GHz model I road-tested was loaded with 256 megabytes of double data rate random access memory, 30 gigabytes of hard-disk storage and a combo DVD-Rom and CD-RW combo drive. It came with a Nero DVD-Rom burning CD, so you can burn CDs that can be played on most DVD players.
The X10 comes with a wide 14.1-inch thin-film transistor display, a Memory Stick slot and two USB ports. This is the first non-Sony laptop that I have seen with an MS slot.
I managed to upload 79 images from a 128MB Memory Stick on to an online photo site, Ofoto.com, in just under eight minutes using Wi-Fi at the Pacific Coffee in PCCW Tower, connecting at about four megabytes per second.
