Samsung V20 XVC 2400

Samsung's V20 series, unveiled last October, professes to be all things to all men, with a model to suit everyone from students to mobile workers.

The V20 XVC 2400 sits at the top of the range, targeting the business market, with a copy of XP Professional bundled with the notebook as standard.

As this model is built around a 2.4GHz P4 processor and 512MB of PC133 memory, we were expecting some robust results in our tests. But although the overall score of 133 in Sysmark 2002 would cope with most office-related tasks, it was a little lacklustre.

Battery life was pretty average, albeit better than many other notebooks, at one hour 30 minutes.

Ethernet, 802.11b wireless Lan and two USB2 ports come as standard, and on the right-hand side there is also a PC Card Type II slot, while a serial port, S-Video socket, mic and headphone jack are tucked away under a flap on the left.

The V20 XVC 2400 boasts three speakers, two of which are located at the front so you can still listen to CDs on the CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo drive while the notebook is shut.

If you want to watch DVDs, however, you may be disappointed by the 15.1in TFT LCD screen. It has a maximum resolution of 1,024 x 768 but produces dull, grainy image quality with a fairly limited viewing angle.

The touchpad was, however, responsive and pleasant to use, and we liked the inclusion of a scroll wheel between the two mouse buttons.

Typing on the keyboard was comfortable; the buttons were a decent size and located in their usual positions.

SPECS

• 2.4GHz P4 processor
• 512MB of PC133 memory
• 30GB UltraDMA hard disk
• 8x 8x 8x 24x CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo
• Intel 845GL chipset
• Onboard graphics, 64MB UMA memory
• 15.1in TFT LCD screen
• V.90 MDC modem
• Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
• 802.11b wireless Lan
• PC Card Type II
• XP Pro
• 2.8kg
• 320 x 265 x 39.5mm (w x d x h)

DETAILS

Price: £1,249 (£1,062.98 ex VAT)

Contact: Samsung
www.samsungelectronics.co.uk