Samsung X360: a sleek notebook that isn't missing much

A new super-slim notebook hits the pavement today, this time coming from Samsung. Aside from the Samsung Q1-line of Ultra Mobile PCs, Samsung doesn't sell notebooks in the United States, but I think people will be lobbying for a change in that policy based on the new X360.

This svelte machine has enough room for an Intel Centrino ULV CPU and a gig of RAM standard... don't worry, there's room for up to four times that amount of memory. As expected in this type of notebook, you can go old-school traditional with a 120 GB magnetic hard drive or opt for either a 64- or 128-GB solid state disk. Like the MacBook Air and the Lenovo X300, the 13.3-inch display offers 1280 x 800 resolution. There's no optical drive of course, but it does have three USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, VGA-out, HDMI, Ethernet jack, 7-in-1 card reader, WiFi and integrated 1.3-megapixel camera. In short, just about everything you need is there in this 2.8-pound package.

Samsung suggests that you'll see 6- to 10-hours of runtime with the X360, but that 10 hour figure entails a 6-cell extended battery. One nice tidbit? The Samsung X360 includes a docking port, making it easier to use when not on the run. No word yet on pricing, but I'd hazard a guess that the X360 will see a price around $1,500 to $1,700 for starters.

Comments

[asiriusgeek]

Here's hoping that included docking station gets to be a more common offering. I think they make a LOT of sense for home use as well as office given all the USB peripherals many of us use, along with external monitors.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Completely agree. The dock apparently adds seven USB ports as well. That's more than enough for me!

[Richard Yoo]

I'm typing this from my Lenovo X300 and its display is 1440x900 and not 1280x800 as your post says.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Sorry Richard. I forgot that Lenovo went with a higher resolution on the X300; I had the X200 specs in my head. Additionally, the X300 offers an integrated optical drive too; something that neither the MacBook Air nor the new Samsung X360 offer. Thanks!