Samsung X420 review

Samsung is well known for putting a lot of effort into the design of its products, and this ultra-portable is no exception. The X420 has an unusual pebble-like shape, with silver accents to highlight the soft curves.

The grey metal-effect lid has a glossy finish, but underneath the entire body is made of matte black plastic. However, the sturdy construction and smooth texture mean the X420 doesn’t feel cheap. The 14in LED-backlit screen is very thin, sitting flush with the bezel to continue the crisp lines. Image quality was very good, with accurate colour reproduction and excellent brightness levels. Contrast wasn’t great, though, and this made very light images appear lacking in detail. Video playback was very smooth, with few artefacts even in fast-moving scenes. Audio quality was average, with decent mid-range, but bass was lacking and treble was slightly harsh. Volume wasn’t impressive, but was still reasonably loud from a metre away.

The keyboard was comfortable to use, although the keys themselves felt slightly loose and made a lot of noise when typing. Nearly every key was full-size, and even the function and arrow keys have only been shrunk a small amount, so touch-typist should be able to adjust from a desktop keyboard quickly. There aren’t any extra shortcut keys to break the minimalist design, so important actions are mapped to the function keys. The small touchpad was very responsive. The touchpad buttons were also small, with a small dead spot in the centre of the see-saw buttons, although we didn’t find it an issue during normal use.

Samsung has opted to use an Intel Core 2 Duo processor in the X420. It’s a low voltage model that runs slower than the normal mobile Core 2 Duo to extend battery life. Combined with 2GB of memory, performance wasn’t overly impressive. While it can comfortably outperform a netbook, newer Core i3 processors are much faster. The benefit, though, is a very impressive battery life of almost eight hours. This is netbook territory – long enough for a whole working day away from the mains. The X420 managed to stay cool and quiet throughout our testing too, never feeling hot and only audible when running at maximum load.

As with most ultra-portables, there isn’t an internal optical drive. This saves on weight and keeps the chassis thin, but can be an inconvenience for anyone that uses CDs or DVDs a great deal. However, Samsung has included an external USB-powered DVD re-writer in the box. This doesn’t impact too greatly on the cost of the laptop, but for portability an inbuilt drive is much more convenient.

When compared to laptops that use Intel’s newer Core processors, the X420 looks slow. Although it doesn’t have fantastic performance, the beautiful design and excellent battery life elevate it above other ultra-portables. If it weren’t for the high price, it would be a great alternative to a netbook for those wanting a bigger screen and more power.