Samsung X30

One of the things lacking in many notebooks is portability. Samsung's X30 shows mercy to the biceps but you'll lose more than a few pounds sterling carrying it out of the shop.

The X30 is designed for entertainment - the pearl-look case is only 2.4cm thick and its 15.4in widescreen display is well suited to the latest epic. All this is reflected in its price tag though, with the 1.7GHz model costing £1,899. But then this is a PCW debut for a Pentium M running at 1.7GHz in a notebook, so early models will attract a premium.

Our tests delivered a Sysmark 2004 score of 137. A hard disk capacity of 80GB should satisfy most needs, while its 512MB of memory is enough for Windows XP. One of Centrino's best features is its effect on battery life. Samsung claims you will get more than four hours from the X30, and our tests fell only slightly short of this. The internal bridge will enable you to pop in a new battery with the notebook in standby mode, giving a safety margin of three minutes.

The X30 also caters well to gamers, as the onboard Nvidia Geforce FX 5200Go card is good enough for the occasional gaming session.

One feature that marks out the X30 is its fingerprint recognition, which can replace passwords or encrypt documents.

There's little to quibble with in terms of quality, although a DVD rewriter would have been useful. All that leaves is the cost which, like a Hollywood starlet, is dazzling.

Contact: Samsung 01932 455 000
www.samsungelectronics.co.uk

Specifications:

• Windows XP Pro
• Intel Pentium M 1.7GHz
• 512MB DDR of Ram
• 80GB hard disk
• DVD/CD-RW combo drive
• 15.4in 1,680 x 1,050 LCD
• Nvidia GeforceFX 5200Go 64MB graphics card
• 360 x 265 x 23.9mm (w x d x h)
• 2.4kg
• 1yr collect and return warranty