The X25 HVM 750 from Samsung has more wireless connectivity options than most notebooks and a thin, lightweight chassis. You'd think this would make the Samsung a perfect travelling companion but there's one big problem - battery life.
Just about managing to haul itself over the two-and-a-half hour mark in our tests, the Samsung has a battery life that's no better than average. When you consider that the HP Compaq nx8220 we tested in the July 05 issue lasted nearly twice as long, this really won't do.
Performance-wise, the Samsung does well - the WorldBench 5 score of 81 is perfectly adequate and the 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600 gave us the impression that it would have no trouble with the latest 3D games.
The screen gives a sharp image but as soon as the AC power is disconnected, it becomes very dull to preserve the battery.
The design is impressive, as you'd expect from Samsung, and it has included a fingerprint reader for additional security options. There's all the ports you'd expect, including a 6-pin FireWire port, which is slightly unusual - most notebooks have only mini-FireWire ports.
The real mystery about this notebook is the price - you could find something with the same specification for about £200 less.
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