Samsung X120 Ultraportable Laptop Review

Screen

The 11.6in screen is LED backlit, which helps the X120 be thinner and lighter than if it had used a CCFL backlight. The 1,366 x 768 resolution is lacking a bit in vertical pixels, but is fine for most websites and applications, and the screen in nice and bright when on full brightness.

The viewing angles are predictably narrow, with the brightness and colour fading the instant you mode your head vertically, and when viewing the screen at roughly 45 degrees off-centre horizontally. Still, that means it’s perfectly fine for one person to use, and this is very much a one-person machine.

Trackpad

After a while we got fairly used to the mouse buttons being on either side of the trackpad, rather than below, but we still wonder why Samsung arranged the trackpad and keyboard this way in the first place. At least the buttons are reasonably solid and responsive.

We never really got used to the multi-touch element of the trackpad, however. The main benefit that we could see was that by pressing with a pair of fingers we could scroll the screen, but the response was variable and the scroll rate unwieldy. Worse still, we would fairly regularly scroll accidentally, which we found annoying.


The trackpad itself was fine though. It may look to be on the small side, but the relatively low resolution of the screen meant that we could still zip about without too many repeat swipes. The surface has exactly the right texture for swiping a finger across it too – neither too sticky, nor too bumpy. Goldilocks would be pleased.

Ports, Slots and Outputs

Samsung has printed icons of the ports on the silver trim of the main body, possibly with the idea that you can see these and just plug in your cable without having to look. However, the trim mainly faces outwards, rather than up, so we still had to crane our neck round to see which port was which. In fairness, it’s probably a usability requirement to include the symbols for the ports on your laptop, and with the elegant underside of the chassis, the silver trim was one of a few places to put them.

The ports are scattered around the two sides only, with the rear portless due to the way the screen opens back to cover it. The front edge holds only the power slider and the SD/SDHC/MMC media card reader.


On the right are all three of the USB 2 ports, plus the pair of 3.5mm mini-jacks for microphone and headphone. Two of the USB ports are toward the rear, while the third is mounted further forward, with the minijacks the closest to the front edge. On the left there are the HDMI and D-Sub outputs nearest the front, with the Gigabite LAN port between them. The power connector is at the rear of the left-hand side.

The port layout is pretty neat, as a headset is unlikely to tangle with a USB mouse or flash drive due to the placement of the mini-jacks. Connecting to a second display and wired internet at the same time might cause some tangles, but that’s what the on-board wireless is there for. If you don’t want the tangle of some headphones, the speakers are fine for occasional use – they’re loud and clear, but too tinny and lightweight to be truly enjoyable.