LG's XNOTE TX ultra-portable laptop with DMB

LG just rang our Pavlovian bell with the introduction of their latest XNOTE laptop, the TX. This ultra-portable laptop weighs in at just 2.4-pounds yet throws down a 12.1-inch WXGA LCD, 60GB disk, up to 2GB RAM, and Geforce Go 7300 all powered by a 1.3GHz Intel Pentium-M. And near as we can tell from the Babelrean translation, it also features 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 1.2, three USB ports, and a 5-in-1 memory card slot. And because it's Korean, they also slap in a DMB-module for that mobile digital TV chill. Yeah, it's no Core Duo, but it'll do. More pics after the break.

[Mr. Matt @ Mar 2nd 2006 9:53AM]

Holy crap, I want one NOW.

[Jerome @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:00AM]

How about the battery life?

It is hot!

[Damo @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:03AM]

You forgot the 37 minute battery life :-(

[sean @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:32AM]

Can they fit anything faster in terms of Processor.
I know its a stupid question but that thing is TINY.

[Timerider @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:38AM]

My God, thats beautiful. The only things wrong are:

1) Probably not good for games.
2) Does this have an optical drive? If it doesn't, a lot of that functionality goes down the toilet.
3) 37 minutes of battery life?! Whats the point of making it a laptop if the battery life is that short. I've got my PowerMac plugged into a UPS. Should I call that a laptop? It would get over 10 minutes of battery life! Yay, thats about as useful as this thing, and its more powerful.

[Martin @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:42AM]

Battery life

With internal battery: 2 h 02 min (max)
With internal and additional battery: 4.5 to 5 h
With internal battery and attached optical drive: 1 h 12 min

See: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.notegear.com%2FContent%2FContent_View.asp%3FTNum%3D348%26kind%3D2%26gotopage%3D&langpair=ko%7Cen&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

[Brandon @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:48AM]

Finally, some Windows based notebooks are finally starting to get as desirable as my Apple Powerbook G4. It's not like they should have a hard time putting nice hardware design out, but i've been startled to find that very few laptops really make me say anything but "...another butt ugly one?!"

[umijin @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:51AM]

Yo, Apple. Pay attention!

This is the size of laptop you folks need to make in order to keep up in the laptop biz. Keep it thin, and light - no bigger than 1.2 kg - OK?

[Somehow, I think they just don't get it. We'll probably see another aircraft carrier flight deck like the 17" PowerBook before anything like this.... *Sigh*]

[Nick @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:51AM]

That's pretty sweet. I've been hoping for some type of replacement for the old PictureBook.

[steve-o @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:55AM]

http://board2.nbinside.com/zb40/zboard.php?id=notebook&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&category=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=2101
** power is supplied by two standard batteries,600mAh 3cell Lithium Ion battery and 3,800mAh 6cell Lithium Ion battery. When using both sets of batteries, 7hrs of continuous operation is possible.

There's also a core duo version called LG XNOTE S1. It has larger 100GB HDD, better video card ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 and includes remote control. One standard battery 2,600mAh, 6cell Lithium Ion, 15.4in WXGA+ LCD, weighing in at 2.88lbs w/ the battery and sized 358 x 264 x 31.7 ~ 38.5mm, bigger than the ultra portable XNOTE shown here 293 x 203 x 23mm.


http://board2.nbinside.com/zb40/zboard.php?id=notebook&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=2081

[Dirty6 @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:03AM]

Mmmm, yummy. Don't know why this wouldn't be good for games, if it throws down a dedicated Nvidia chip. That makes it better for games than Dell's X1 and Toshiba's R-200, which rely on Intel integrated video chips. Its not going to play the biggest, baddest games at full go, but it should get you through quite a bit.

And the 1.3Ghz chip might seem underpowered, but thats b/c its underpowered. Course, I am talking about power consumption. The Dell X1 uses a 1.1Ghz processor b/c it is a Ultra Low Voltage deal. This is probably the same thing. The reason, as I understand it, is that power consumption is just as important in these ultraportables as power performance. It is also quite standard in these ultraportables to make the optical drive external, see the Dell X1 and Toshiba R-200.

This bad boy sounds sweet to me, I dig the Nvidia chip, that alone puts it over the Dell X1 in my book. Wish it had S-video out and firewire, but dems da breaks.

[ron @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:05AM]

Now if they would bring that to the US!!!

Games?? Come on on an ultra-portable...

please this is pointed at execs and consultants that travel alot. I would love to have this to replace my old dying Dell LS.

I want sub 3lbs no optical...who needs it? my 1GB flash is all I need...

GigE would be nice...please spare me the modem...

For those who are gonna say...optical to watch movie...

rip it to a file...

come on 100gb hd... plenty of space... rip a couple of movies prior to the trip....

[steve @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:06AM]

this thing is giving my x41 a run for its money. i love my tablet functionality but damn that thing looks sweet!

[kev @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:09AM]

Buddy, that's 2.88Kg. Big difference here.

[alex @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:15AM]

"One standard battery 2,600mAh, 6cell Lithium Ion, 15.4in WXGA+ LCD, weighing in at 2.88lbs"

All that at 2.88lbs?!? Dream on. Best take another look buddy. 2.88kg does not equal 2.88lbs. It's actually 6.3lbs brother.

[Joe Vitale @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:16AM]

Where can I order this baby?
joseph

[Dirty6 @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:28AM]

Yeah, I wouldn't buy this to play games, but the occasional LAN party does start up during a boring lecture or two, ya know? That's why I dig the Nvidia chip. This basically does everything the Dell X1 does that I drool all over, plus Nvidia plus more (and faster) RAM. I would love to see this in the States, though I would hate to see the price.

[Ruan Caiman @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:33AM]

"And because it's Korean, they also slap in a DMB-module for that mobile digital TV chill."

Who knew the Dave Matthews Band had so many fans in Korea?

[Steve Henderson @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:40AM]

OMGZ! It is the world's most desireable laptop!

[Stanley Shih @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:43AM]

Ironically, the discussion here is heavily charged, which is more than we can say for the battery on this XNOTE.

I think that this is a great illustration of the larger issue which doesn't get much press (because it's mundane): battery size & battery life are currently the limiting factors in portable electronic design.

Does anyone here seriously think that Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, and even Dell couldn't make something like this XNOTE? They could, but none of the above could make the battery last for more than 1 hour.

Similarly battery life is hindering convergence of phone / PMP's etc.

[Tim @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:55AM]

Neither can LG. 1h 12m on battery with optical drive? And the optical drive isn't even internal, but "attached"?

You can be sure that lifespan is not a conservative estimate either. I'd bet in real world use, it's easily less than 1h.

It's certainly a nice notebook, but I don't think any of the big boys are going to lose sleep over it's existance in the market.

[steve-o @ Mar 2nd 2006 12:09PM]

#15, You're right. The XNOTE TX weighs 1.1Kg and XNOTE S1 weighs 2.88Kg. S1 is definitely not ultra portable like TX. It has optical, core duo at 2.16Ghz, DVD burner, 100GB, X1600, etc. so it's a larger but more powerful cousin.

[Michael @ Mar 2nd 2006 12:17PM]

My sony T150 is roughly the same size and weight (3 lbs)... including all the specs the LG has aprt from 5-in-1, it has an internal dvd-rw and the newer models have dual layer... yet battery life lasts 6h+. ive never run out even when using wlan and full screen brightness..

[Ken @ Mar 2nd 2006 12:19PM]

Anyone bother to check LG's site?

http://www.lge.com/prodmodeldetail.do?actType=search&page=1&modelCategoryId=060115&categoryId=060115&parentId=06&modelCodeDisplay=TXEXPRESS&contentsTypeFlag=null&model=0&quality_spec_id=&quality_spec_value=&pagePerNum=6

[mike @ Mar 2nd 2006 12:36PM]

8hrs? I'm taking out a loan...

[Matt M @ Mar 2nd 2006 12:48PM]

Are you comparing this to the sony T150?? Uh, this one is lighter than the sony, has a 12.1 scren instead of a 10, it's running a Pentium M, and not a ULV chip, this one has an Nvidia chip instead of integrated intel graphics. it's all these things which cause the crappy battery life. Granted, if you're happy sacrificing performance and feature for battery life, great, but that's pretty much the case with every laptop up the line. My dell 700m is cheaper than your sony, and has all the features of yours plus a larger screen, faster processor, good battery life, tv out, etc.. and only about a pound heavier... the point im making is that sure you can always do a tad better by sacrificing something else.

What i think makes this laptop great is that they're playing to the crowd that aknowledges that an ultraportable is great for out of the office, but also knows how to treat some people who want a little more out of an ultralight. I think perhaps if they can follow in the footsteps of other companies and fit 2 video chips on a laptop (on board and add-in), so you can switch between them depending on task (being able to conserve battery life when you want to by using integrated). If they can do this while retaining some of these same kinda specs, then i believe perhaps in time we can find a very nice ultraportable / multimedia computer hybrid.

That's my hope anyway.

[Jack @ Mar 2nd 2006 1:18PM]

you know, external optical drive isnt that bad. just get some 1 gig memory cards if you have to, or just load everything on via the optical drive @ home, then take it all on the go. Or you can download the games via Direct2Drive. This thing would be great for WoW. Its more than powerful enough to run it at high settings, and WoW doesn't require a CD to run. With a USB mouse, this thing would probly be pretty good for LAN parties too.

[danny @ Mar 2nd 2006 1:26PM]

Doesn't hold a candle to Sony's X505, reviewed here almost two years ago: http://www.engadget.com/2004/06/09/review-of-sonys-superslim-x505-laptop/

1.7 pounds, quarter-inch thick (folded!).

You can have my X505 when you can pry it from my cold dead fingers!

[E @ Mar 2nd 2006 2:29PM]

This machine is just fast enough that I can do some 3D work on. ATM I am lugging around a laptop that's around 12-14lb with the power supply, plus all the other crap in my bag. it has a 3.2 Ghz P4, and It's fast as hell, but when you have a mini render farm at home like I do, this is just enough to get by during the day and plug it into the network for rendering overnight.

Personally I don't give a rat's ass about an optical drive being external. How often do you REALLY need it? To install software?? I useit MAYBE once per month at most. If you're at a place that has a network or you have little USB drive or an iPod, you're covered for transferrring large files.

All in all, I am positive most people don't even come close to really taxing their systems like I do. This is fine for most applications, and really it's the sort of thing that people like myself - who have to commute in a place like NYC are concerned with. If you're driving somewhere, big deal...

Do any of these lightweight laptops have the ability to scale up their processing power? That would be cool for when you're working in a location that you have access to an outlet. You know like a little "turbo" button like they had on the old 286/386 machines.

[passerby @ Mar 2nd 2006 2:49PM]

the rest of the world is catching up to Apple design.

hey whatcha doin friday night Xnote TX? our gaze lock, as if fantasizing if we will wake up together on Saturday morning ... hehe

[Osiris @ Mar 2nd 2006 3:31PM]

I'm sick of all this new technology that sacrifices run time for performance and features.

I think it's about time someone brought out a laptop that has optimised hardware that may be slightly lower spec than current hardware but that has a battery life to be proud of.

That way it could be affordable too.
I know a lot of people just want a laptop that can last, not for gaming or resource hungry software; people like students.

[palmer Woodrow @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:43PM]

"WXGA"? STOP WITH THE MEANINGLESS MONIKERS.

Why have we gone back to the early '90s bullshit alphabet-soup resolution specs?

So you saved FOUR WHOLE CHARACTERS by saying "WXGA" instead of 1366x768.

Stupid.

[Ken @ Mar 2nd 2006 6:44PM]

Kind of agree with that last note. I hate having to click through four pages to find out what the acronym actually means this time.

[Gazman @ Mar 2nd 2006 8:03PM]

Its up on the lg website in English so stop speculating

http://www.lge.com/prodmodeldetail.do?actType=search&page=1&modelCategoryId=060115&categoryId=060115&parentId=0601&modelCodeDisplay=TXEXPRESS&contentsTypeFlag=null&model=NOTHING&quality_spec_id=&quality_spec_value=&pagePerNum=6

[Nogami @ Mar 2nd 2006 9:42PM]

Looks expensive... I'd like one, but I wouldn't shell-out over $1500 for it.

N.

[xuyun @ Mar 2nd 2006 10:13PM]

i love it want to change mine right now

[Marc @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:14AM]

These sound like great machines.

However, I hope that whoever designed their web site had nothing to do with the machines themselves:

They put everything in slow-to-load images including plain old text. Hello HTML!

Plus, if you click on the index entry for a particular model it does a search for it instead of just taking you to that model. How idiotic!

Remind me not to buy an LG.

[Max Irwin @ Mar 3rd 2006 6:38AM]

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://www.lgnara.com/lgnara/catalog/SmallCategory.jhtml%3Fid%3Dcat15451%26navCount%3D0%26navAction%3Djump&prev=/search%3Fq%3DXnote%2BTX%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2006-08,GGLG:en%26sa%3DN

I am in Bangkok now so I might be able to score one here in a month or so, BUT...
As of 6:31PM GMT+7 today,
2650000 Won = 2,735.62 USD

Also, I love the descripton on the translation:
"2 things ~3 checking try to compare the dog product rightly"

[James @ Mar 3rd 2006 12:30PM]

5. apple, i hope youre watching. the ibook is lacking more and more every day.

it's always been lacking.

[x @ Mar 4th 2006 12:00AM]

??! $2,700??! Nah...that is too expensive. I am sure there are other options on the table.

[The ZeroCorpse @ Mar 4th 2006 2:39PM]

Yeah, but it's still stuck running Windows or Linux, right?

It could be the best form factor ever, and it wouldn't matter if it had Windows on it. This is kind of like the reverse of the phrase "putting makeup on a pig."

Hmmm. . . Putting s**t on a supermodel?

[x @ Mar 4th 2006 6:39PM]

Hey, there are some people who do like that (not that I do)...

[demi @ Jan 21st 2008 4:49AM]

In korea's capital seoul, you can see most of TV channel with cool quality except a few indoor case =)
And other 1/3 korean can see it not bad quality. And... the most important thing is it's free*0*

[demi @ Mar 15th 2006 3:25AM]

In korea's capital seoul, you can see most of TV channel with cool quality except a few indoor case =)
And other 1/3 korean can see it not bad quality. And... the most important thing is it's free*0*

[Jordan @ Oct 23rd 2006 1:05PM]

these are crazy an exchange student in my class has one, i want one SO BAD!

[jane colle @ Mar 17th 2007 8:46AM]

Good day
i am an auto dealer based in saudi arebia,i am interested in buying your
item to my store in west africa, I will like to know if you would accept
paypal for the payment of the order,i also need to know the price and
your full name and address including your phone and your paypal account
details . i will also like to know if is still in good condition and shape.urgent
response is needed for for the shipment of the order

Regard