ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop (11.5 Hours of Reviews

Customer Ratings:

EDIT: An updated and revised review of this laptop can be found at over at Expert Laptop Review:

I recently went on a laptop buying rampage and have ended up with the Dell Studio 14z, HP dm3z (L625 + Radeon 4330), and the Asus UL80VT-A1 in possession all at once. The first part of this review will focus solely on the Asus UL80VT-A1 and the second part of this review will compare it with my experience with the Dell Studio 14z and the HP dm3z.

ASUS UL80VT-A1 DETAILED REVIEW

First and foremost, let me say that I ordered the UL80VT-A1 because I thought it was simply an awesome idea to have switchable graphics in a laptop because you get excellent battery life + excellent performance when needed. There were no reviews of the UL80VT out when I purchased it, so I purchased the UL80VT-A1 from , which has a 100 percent refund on purchases just in case things didn't work out with me and the new lady.

While I was waiting to recieve the laptop in the mail, I read a review over at . Oh boy, was I disappointed considering all the bad things the reviewer had to say about it (i.e. bad keyboard, bad track pad, horrible build quality, poor gaming performance). Needless to say, I had second thoughts about even opening up the Asus UL80VT-A1 because I didn't think it was worth my time considering the all the problems the reviewer had with his review model.

So that morning I got my HP dm3z in the mail and was really excited about how incredibly beautiful the laptop was. It is definitely sexier (in my opinion) than every other ultraportable out there, including the Macbook Pro 13" and HP Envy 13. I'll get to the dm3z a little later... either way, my first impression led me to believe that I'd probably be keeping the dm3z and just returning the Asus. When the Asus came in the mail, I wasn't even watching for it like I had been the dm3z. But I did take it upstairs and opened it up. (Unboxing video coming soon...)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

My first impression was astoundingly contradictory to review I had read. I picked it up, squeezed it, pushed on the keyboard, which had minimal flex that wasn't noticeable to me when typing. My other first impressions were just how well the trackpad worked. The two finger scroll worked flawlessly (though it isn't as smooth of a scroll as Apple's, it functions equally responsively and is just as useful).

GRAPHICS PERFORMANCE Rating 9/10

Over the last view days, I've been taking the UL80VT-A1 out for spin in a series of gaming tests. The first game I tested was the ever popular Counter-Strike: Source. I was astounded by the computer's ability to put out 150 FPS in the stress test at native resolution of 1366x768. I had been expecting to get closer to 80-100 FPS. I then tested it with 4x AA on, and it resulted in 99 FPS, which is phenomenal considering that AA usually cripple weaker graphics cards like the Nvidia 210M.

I was eager to test out the UL80VT's performance in some of the latest games because of the previous review I had read that had denounced its ability to play modern games. I had recently purchased Batman: Arkham Asylum. I loaded it up with the default settings, which were set on Very High at native 1366x768 resolution. Game play was moderately smooth and playable, but it was also noticably choppy at times with those settings (26 FPS average in the video stress test), so I dropped the settings down to medium. This time the Asus got 40 FPS average in the video stress test, and the game play was perfectly playable and smooth.

I then downloaded Team Fortress 2. It has been known to give ultraportable gaming machines a tough time due to its high shader requirements. When playing, I averaged about 50-60 FPS at native resolution with everything on High with no AA. I noticed drops down to 30 FPS when in heavy action, but it was not too disruptive to game play. I don't think it went below 30 FPS during the time I played.

After hearing claims that Asus UL80VT could not run Need For Speed: Shift well. I downloaded the demo to see if these claims were true. Fortunately, they were not. I was able to achieve playable frame rates, though it was a little choopy with the default settings, which had the screen at 1024x768 resolution and everything else up in detail. I tried changing the settings, but after changing the settings to lower the resolution to 800x600, the game repeatedly gave me an error and crashed right as the race was about to start. Unfortunately, I was not able to do a formal test, but it was clear that the game was getting at least 30 FPS at 800x600 resolution with texture settings on High. I would expect the game to be very playable as long as you are content with 800x600 (or maybe slightly better res) and medium settings.

I also managed to squeeze in a little play time in Protoype, another recent game that was released earlier this year. It played very smoothly at the default 1280x720 (which was the max res for some reason) and on the default medium settings.

Another game I was able to try was Call of Duty: World at War, which has identical specs to the latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. People will be glad to know that I was able to achieve 35-40 FPS constant at native resolution 1366x768 with texture settings on "normal" (except for "shader settings" which I set to "low"). I also turned off all of the extra graphical features, which didn't make much of a difference in visuals anyway.

In conclusion regarding the gaming peformance of this ultraportable laptop, it has excellent performance and handles most modern games fluidly at native resolution.

BATTERY LIFE Rating 10/10

Yesterday, I used the laptop for 3 hours early in the morning with wifi on and brightness up. Later that day, I used it for about 15 minutes running Batman: AA. I then used it about 7 hours more with brightness at about 20% (2.5 hours with wifi on and 4.5 with it off). In total the laptop lasted me 10.25 hours between a mixture of wifi, gaming, and note taking/paper writing. I was extremely happy to get this excellent of performance out of it. This was precisely what I was looking for in terms of battery life.

BUILD QUALITY Rating 6/10

My initial impression was that the build quality was just average--not great, but nothing bad about it either, but now after having it for a couple days, I now agree with Charles' review about some of the issues with build quality. Yesterday morning when I was typing, I noticed that when I pressed down on the front edge of the left palm rest it squeaked annoyingly (it hadn't pressed down on this part of the laptop when it was on a hard surface yet because it had always been on my laptop up until this point).

I began squeezing the front edge and noticed that top part of the chassis isn't cemented to the bottom part of the chassis very well so that when you put pressure on it (such as when you rest your palm on it) it made a noise. I tried placing about an inch long piece of scotch tape across the part that was sqeaking, and the squeaking went away completely. It was disappointing to find this because it was the first issue with the build quality. Also, I now understand what Charles meant when he said that when he pressed in the center of the laptop it causes the bottom of the laptop to touch the surface it is resting on...

It's not if you press in the middle of the keyboard like I had thought Charles had said (my bad!!)... it's if you press on the trackpad buttons (like Charles had really said), he was right that you can feel the laptop touch the surface it is resting on, but the thing Charles was wrong about is that it isn't the bottom of the laptop touching the surface below it... it's a little "support peg/foot" that protrudes from the bottom of the laptop about 1/10" of an inch.

The overall chassis does flex a tad, but it is just the peg touching, and the peg is maybe moving 1/16" of an inch tops (probably less). So yes, the chassis does flex just a hair, but not as bad as the review makes it sound (I think the review should be updated with this information personally).

I am thinking about putting a drop of super glue on the edge of the left palm rest to keep it from squeaking. I'm pretty sure it would work without a hitch unless you put too much glue and then tried to take the casing apart and wasn't able to. I figure it wouldn't void the 1 year accidental warranty but maybe the 2 year standard warranty if they figured out what I did. I'm not sure though... I figure you can always "cut through" the glue so that the chassis can be opened if you needed to send it in for repairs.

I also noticed that the entire surface (including the aluminum top) acquires fingerprints. I was disappointed that the aluminum top also was prone to oils from my fingers.

HEAT MANAGEMENT Rating 10/10

The heat on this bad-boy is hardly noticeable. I think more heat is generated because it is restricting the airflow over your lap more than anything. Whenever my lap started to feel a little warm, I would feel the bottom of the laptop but the bottom of the laptop never got hot. It was always just the fact that my legs weren't getting as much air to cool them down.

I was also able to play Batman:AA while on my lap just fine, though it was starting to be mildly uncomfortable by the time 30 mins rolled around. Still, as far as gaming on the lap goes, I think it would be doable, and far more doable than on any other laptop I have ever tried.

This laptop is by far the coolest running laptop I have ever owned (I've owned about 14 different laptops...). For this reason, I give it a 10/10 in heat management.

KEYBOARD Rating 8/10

Overall, I find the keyboard to be a little above average. I do not like the fact that there are no keys dedicated to playing and pausing music. To access media controls, you must hold the FN button down and tap the arrow keys (down arrow = play/pause). I do not notice any flex when typing. The primary concern that I had was from the squeaky palm rest edge when typing. After I fixed that issue, the keyboard became quite pleasant to use.

TRACK PAD Rating 9/10

I find the track pad to be the best track pad I have ever used on a PC. It does have a glossy surface, but I did not find that the surface was not nearly as sticky as the surface on many HPs (including the dm3z). I also found the trackpad to be responsive and that the multitouch gestures such as two-finger scrolling to work perfectly nearly every time.

The ELAN touch pad has configurable options to enable you to change the sensitivity of the two-finger scroll as well as enable you to use two and three finger taps to do customizable actions. I have my two-finger tap to do a right click and my three-finger tap to show my desktop.

My only complaint regarding the touch pad is that the uni-button. The uni-button looks like only one button, but has a left side and right side that makes up two buttons. When the uni-button was pressed towards the middle, it was very difficult to click, but if you pressed it near the ends the button became more usable. This was also the case with the Acer Timeline 4810t that I had owned for some time. I have found that the tap to click function is very usable, especially since I can just use two fingers if I need to right click. Therefore, I hardly use the button anymore anyway. My system works just fine.

OVERALL VERDICT Rating 9/10

Despite its (fixable) flaws in build quality and poor touch pad button (again just use "tap to click" instead), I'm still impressed with laptop and can definitely recommend it to friends who aren't particularly picky about build quality. The UL80VT-A1 will provide the performance most casual gamers want in a portable package that has a very long battery life and is inexpensive compared to similar models. [Oh, wait, scratch that... There has never been anything like the UL80VT-A1 to ever come out before... except maybe the Acer Timeline 3810TG that had switchable graphics, but that computer was only available in the UK. ]

COMPARED TO THE COMPETITION (DELL STUDIO 14Z and HP DM3Z)

I have now owned a Dell Studio 14z for about two months. I also purchased a HP dm3z, which I had originally planned on writing a review of but I don't know if I'll find the time. Maybe I'll just do a video review...

Anyway, the HP dm3z initially impressed me tremendously with its fantastic metal looks and thin profile. However, two issues became immediately apparent that prevented me from considering the laptop further: the HP dm3z produced a tremendous amount of heat even while just idling (the bottom got roasting hot while playing games... though the palm rests stayed pretty cool) and I quickly became frustrated by track pad lag and malfunctioning two-finger scrolling. The problem with the two finger scroll is due to the fact that it does not always register that you are actually using two fingers, therefore, it thinks you only have one finger down and shoots your mouse all the way across the screen where you didn't want it to go.

Beside the two-finger scroll I noticed minimal track pad lag (though there was lag). The track pad was definitely usable and should not prevent someone entirely from purchasing it for that sole reason, but after trying out the UL80VT's track pad and comparing the two. It was night and day. The UL80VT's was immediately responsive and the two-finger scrolling worked perfectly pretty much all the time. I have sorely missed two-finger scrolling since getting rid of my Macbook Pro a year ago. I am very glad that PCs are starting to make it standard on the majority of notebooks today. Unfortunately, the HP dm3z did not have good enough drivers to make the two-finger scrolling worthwhile.

One thing that I really liked about the dm3z is that it had an excellent keyboard with zero flex and it included media control buttons for the function keys (like Dell Studio 14z). I would definitely recommend the dm3z to people as long as you understand that it is going to produce a lot of heat (especially while watching video/playing games), the track pad is just going to be so-so, and you aren't going to achieve the same battery life you would if you went with the UL80VT (unless you went with the intel version with integrated graphics).

I began searching for a new laptop shortly after I found paint chipping on my Dell Studio 14z. It was frustrating since I try to take excellent care of my laptops and chipped paint tends to bring the resale value of laptops down tremendously. All in all, I found my experience with the 14z to be a good one and would recommend the laptop to someone who has a strict budget and can't afford a UL80VT.

With the dell, I was typically able to get about 3.5-4.5 hours of battery life (8-cell in windows 7) while surfing the internet-writing documents. The HP dm3z seems to get about 4.5 hrs of web surfing time. The Asus literally doubles the length of my time I am going to be away from the wall (with both the HP and the Dell...).

My primary complaints with the Dell Studio 14z were related to the build quality (paint chipping and noticeable keyboard flex that was causing me discomfort). I loved the back-lit keyboard and will miss that feature on the UL80VT, though I am a touch typist so it will make little difference in terms of actual functionality.

I love the fact that my UL80VT has a DVD-RW because I like to watch DVDs at Starbucks that I rent from Redbox. I couldn't do that with the 14z because it lacked an optical drive, but I can do that with the Asus.

It should also be noted that the UL80VT has a better screen than both the Dell and the HP (in my opinion).

IN CONCLUSION

After I discovered the flex, I began contemplating switching over to a Macbook Pro 13". So I went to my local Best Buy to compare sizes, keyboard, touchpad, etc... I got to the store and there was a bestbuy sales guy there that I got to know pretty well when I bought my Dell Studio 14z. I began explaining to him how the 14z hadn't met my needs due to a sucky touch pad and paint chipping off for no reason, etc. I pulled my UL80VT out of my bag and explain to him the features of the laptop (i.e. switchable graphics, 10 hour battery life). I loaded up Batman Arkham Asylum and he was amazed that it played smoothly at native resolution. I showed him squeaky palm rest and explained to him I was considering getting a 13" Macbook Pro. He responded pretty quickly that he didn't think that apple would have anything that would be an upgrade from this so just recommended that I just stick with the Asus... (lol and he's a sales guy that is supposed to sell laptops for best buy, not recommend for me not to buy them... lol)

I agree with the guy at Best Buy. Apple's got nothing on the Asus UL80VT... except maybe better build quality, poorer performance, and a $500 dollar increase in price. Hint: get the Asus, unless build quality is of utmost importance to you.

I'm sorry that this review was so scatter-brained. I like to keep things more organized, but I also just wanted to get this review posted!!

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I don't usually spend my time putting in reviews because it doesn't benefit me much (I know, kind of selfish) but this product was just too good to not leave a review, especially since there's no review here yet.

I've been looking at laptops for years now, always looking for the one that hits all the sweet spot. I didn't NEED it so I was able to just keep waiting for the right one. Here were all the things I was looking for.

Fast speed For gaming like World of Warcraaft, etc.

Long battery life It's not mobile if you're chained to power cord.

Decent price Nobody should be paying more than a grand for a laptop.

Temperature This is something many people don't think much about until too late. Laptops get HOT, and then they're no longer LAPtop, but a DESKtop.

DVD drive Because I like to keep my options open.

Every laptops I've seen through deal sites, etc NEVER met all of these criteria. Until now. This computer really is THE laptop to get right now.

Pros-------------

Great speed I just ran World of Warcraft and it runs SMOOTH with mid-high setting. I also saw from another review that this can run Farcry2 or Crysis2 at 40fps which is pretty damn good.

LED screen This takes some getting used to since I'm not used to seeing such rich black on monitor but it looks bright, crisp, and shiny. (latter might be issue if you live with many light fixtures)

Video YES it has Nvidia video card on top of Intel integrated. This allows for awesome gaming which many other laptops just can't do.

Temperature It doesn't burn! :D It still gets warm, especially on left side near vent but it's not so hot that I have to put something underneath to shield my lap like previous laptops I had.

Weight I'm kinda scrawny guy and I can lift this with one hand with no issue. This will be handy as you move around the house or carry in yer bag.

Battery life AWESOME. just check any other review on this because they'll all tell you this thing last a loong time. It was tough to find laptops that can last long WHILE also having great performance AND be under a grand. Now there is.

ExpressGate It allows you to turn on a laptop from off or hibernation mode, into special operating system that has skype, photo, and web browser among others. So if you need to google something quick, now you can! There's downside to that in cons section.

Cons----------------------

Keyboard This is very minor annoyance but I want to be thorough. When you type, sometimes, you hear this light metal ringing-ish sound that's coming from metal underneath the keyboard. It's not the quietest keyboard you'll use but it won't drive you crazy either.

Touchpad I had to figure out the issue with this because it was bugging the hell out of me. It has two and three finger gestures like scroll and right/middle click. Issue was it wasn't accurate and working sporadically. Scroll especially was driving me nuts because it'll scroll at its own speed/time. I tried pressing my fingers lightly/heavily but difference. Then I figured it out. You have to have you movement straight up and down or left/right. When people use the touchpad, we usually have our hand in an angle so we end up scrolling in almost like \ instead of |. Well, touchpad doesn't like that. Same goes for right/middle click that requires 2-3 fingers. It works best if you have your fingers in same x axis. Some people won't be affected since they'll use mouse but if you'll be using touchpad a lot, be prepared for bit of adjustment. Oh, and if you prefer to click the button instead of tapping the touchpad for mouse clicks, exercise your finger because button's bit harder to press than other touchpad buttons I've used.

ExpressGate Idea is great. Execution, not quite. I was expecting instant on like when you come out of sleep mode but unfortunately, there's still some wait involved. 10-ish seconds I believe. Also, Asus installed regular monitor version of expressgate onto this widescreen laptop so everything's stretched to fit widescreen. So far, I haven't figured out how to change resolution in this mode. It's good for quick browsing but not for long session.

Power cable OMG, where do ASUS think people live in? Castles!? Power cord is the longest I've ever seen. About 10-11 ft total (big power block right in the mid point). And although it comes with velcro strip to manage the cable, I found there's too much cable to roll the cable neatly. Just prepare for some mess when packing cable. Good thing this has 10 hour battery life so you won't have to deal with cable too much.

All in all, Pros are all important crucial items and Cons are minor annoyance at best. This is really the best laptop you could get at this price with this much features and performance. I remember coming across Sony and HP that had similarity (good speed, light weight, dvd) and those were going for 1800ish.. and it didn't even have 10hr battery life. If you don't believe me, when you go out for laptop shopping, just have this computer's feature written down and compare. You ain't gonna find one that beats it easily.

EDIT:

Couple things I came across after prolonged use.

1. It does get hot, especially near vent but only when I'm using it intensely like 3d games. but it doesn't get hot on the surface much. Just underneath near vent.

2. Changing performance mode requires you to quit any apps that use video card, such as Photoshop, games, etc. So change before you load them. Otherwise, when you press the button to change the power mode, nothing happens.

3. OMG FINGERPRINT MAGNET. EVERYWHERE. >.<

Still loving it though.

Best Deals for ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop (11.5 Hours of

I have never written a review of any kind, not that I don't come across good products or service, but it's like the next item on one's list which one never gets to. However, the ul80vt-a1 is just too awesome a laptop that after one week of ownership, I am still jumping up and down like a little puppy, given my typical enthusiasm normally lasts no more than 48 hours.

By the time you read my review, you've already known all the good things about this laptop -very long battery life, fast performance, cool to touch, bright screen with sharp resolution, clear and loud speakers, thin and light weight in spite of the presence of an optical drive, fast to boot. The list goes on and on, and it is all true. By the way, there is one item I haven't seen mentioned yet -the battery charges extremely fast without getting hot. And no, I don't work for Asus. In fact, before I started researching for a good laptop to buy, I didn't even know who or what Asus was, and I still cannot pronounce its name.

But what makes me so happy is that all the bad things I heard in these reviews are also not true. Not every single feature is perfect. There are some items one can fault with, but they really amount to nothing. This is what I want everyone to know so one doesn't gloss over this great laptop because someone out there doesn't like the feel of the keyboard.

1. Regardless of what other people said, the build quality of my laptop is very high, no different from the HP's, the Dell's and the Lenovo's I have owned. No, it is not flimsy, and everything snaps correctly with no gap or sharp edge.

2. The keyboard is fine. It does not feel the same as a Lenovo, but it doesn't flex like others say either. It's just that the keys are not as bouncy, so they feel a little bit soft.

3. Some reviewers mentioned the screen does not have sharp contrast. It is true when the brightness is set on high, the screen may look a little washed out, but it's not something you cannot solve by tilting the screen a little up or down. By the way, reflection from the glossy screen is not an issue, to my surprise, and you can see fine outdoor.

4. The touch pad arguably is the worst feature on this laptop. It is more sticky than one with a matte finish, and once in a while you will go out of boundary without realising it. The large single touch pad button below is positioned awkwardly and is quite honestly hard to press because the frame the button is set in is in the way. The touch pad one can get used to; the button, highly questionable.

5. Yes, fingerprints do show up, but they can be readily wiped off without much fanfare. However, if you like having a bag of greasy chips in one hand and use the computer with the other, this laptop can be a problem for you. On the other hand, it may help one kick one's junk food addiction.

6. So far I have two minor problems. Both are related to switching the power management mode:

6a. When I plug and unplug from the power cord, the screen does black out for a couple of seconds, unlike other laptops I've owned. Furthermore, sometimes when the screen comes back on, it will flicker when I mouse over something on the screen. The only remedy I have found so far is to close the application (IE 8 in my case) and start it again.

6b. When I press the Graphix Boost button, it changes the time zone automatically to pacific time (GMT-8). I haven't tried changing through the power management tool by selecting any of the Power4Gear options, but it probably will change the time zone just the same. It's minor to change the time zone back, provided you notice something is wrong with the time.

I genuinely think there is more than a good chance you will be very happy with the laptop. I know I am.

p.s. If reliability is important to you, a Nov 2009 study published by SquareTrade on the 3 year reliability records of 30,000 laptops from 9 vendors ranked Asus at the top.

Honest reviews on ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop (11.5 Hours of

I went through a long, 6-month search before I finally settled on the ASUS UL80Vt. As a college student, I had many seemingly contradictory criterion. I wanted:

Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of RAM, for general productivity

Long battery life, for working on campus and in class

Decent portability, for carrying it around all the time

Discrete graphics, for the occasional game

CD Drives, USB ports and HDMI, because connectivity is important

Like any college student, I looked at MacBooks, Dells and the idea of a netbook/desktop setup, but for the net $720 I got this computer for, the ASUS UL80Vt blew them away. On to the review...

PRODUCTIVITY SPEED: 8/10

A little technical note: At stock speeds, the Core2Duo SU7300 is a 1.3 GHz processor with a 800Mhz FSB. Asus overclocks this to a 1.73 GHz on a 1066Mhz FSB, matching the 4GB of DDR3 DRAM. For those who, like me, were deciding between this and laptops with faster processors, you will not notice the difference with most software. Microsoft Office works like a charm, even on massive Excel financial models and graphic presentations. Web browsing is quick even with the 11 tabs I have open right now. The only time I've noticed faster Core 2 Duos matter was on extracting large RAR files, and even then the difference is less than a minute for a 4GB file.

PHYSICAL PORTABILITY: 7/10

Definitely heavier and larger than I expected. The 14-inch screen is balanced with a decent bezel on the top and bottom. The 8-cell battery weighs a lot more than it looks. However, it is definitely smaller and lighter than the MacBook Pro. It is also very thin, topping at slightly more than 1 in. It weighs in at 4.74 lbs., and I would say is actually light for its power. However, this is not as much a Thin-and-Light as others in its class, so do adjust your expectations.

BATTERY LIFE: 11/10

Incredible battery life. On integrated graphics, I regularly get 9 hours with 30% brightness, overclocked and WLAN on, surfing the web and taking notes. 11.5 hours may actually be realistic without the overclocking or WLAN. I've watched two full-length 720p movies and still had 25% left. On the discrete graphics, you can get 3 hours of solid gaming before you're drained. This blows netbooks, MacBooks, Dells, etc. away. Simply unbelievable.

GAMING: 8/10

This laptop has both integrated Intel graphics and a discrete nVidia G210M with 512MB of memory. I have mine slightly overclocked, and it gets 4000 points on 3DMark06 with the discrete card. Can play Dragon Age, Civilization 4, Sims 3, NBA 2K9, Warcraft III and WoW with at least medium settings at native resolution. This is probably not important to most people but I love having the flexibility to play games or play movies more smoothly with the discrete graphics. This is not a gaming rig, but can play most modern games well enough.

PORTS AND CONNECTIVITY: 8/10

It has a DVD SuperDrive (burns DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, Double-Layer), 3 USB ports, an Ethernet port, a 4-in-1 memory card reader (MMC, SD, MS/MS Pro), and HDMI port, a VGA port, a microphone jack and a mic jack. It also has a 0.3 megapixel webcam and mic integrated. There's an integrated b/g/n WLAN solution, although it is not as strong as the Intel ones. A solid selection, especially on such a thin laptop. The only gripes here are the lack of eSATA and Bluetooth.

WARRANTY & SUPPORT: 10/10

2 year limited warranty with 1 year of accidental damage protection. Most laptops just come with 1 year of limited warranty. In general, extended warranties are not worth the cost, but in this case it's a welcome plus. Asus has also been very helpful with a solid support site and staff who answer questions even here.

TEMPERATURE: 10/10

Does not burn your lap. Stays very very cool. Right now the CPU is at about 98F, hard drives at 104F and the ACPI is at 118F. On load, CPU hits 130F and the GPU's have hit 180F, but still feels very cool to the touch. Can get a bit warm near the fan area on full load, but normally the fan doesn't even need to turn. The fan is also very quiet; even on max load it only has a soft hum.

Finally... to address some common gripes

BUILD QUALITY: 6/10

Definitely the weak point of this computer. Quality is not as subpar as most reviewers would have it--most laptops not called ThinkPads have some flex and give--but definitely give. The bezel is not entirely cemented to the screen, and there's a lot of give right below the screen. Keyboard flex is fine by itself; it seems extreme when you're on a desk, but that's because the entire chassis flexes when it's slightly raised. That in itself is the bigger problem. On the bottom, the two chassis halves are not cemented well together, and there is some give there. I bought a padded laptop sleeve which seems to protect it fine. I would not put too much weight on the keyboard when it's on a desk (as opposed to on your lap).

DISPLAY: 8/10

To be fair, it's a standard 1366x768 screen, plays 720p videos fine. It's a very bright LED screen, and can outshine the outdoors even though the screen is very glossy. The noted contrast problems are really a device driver problem; on integrated graphics, contrast will sometimes decrease noticeably, perhaps in a play to reduce necessary brightness. On discrete graphics, great contrast, sharp screen.

AUDIO: 7/10

Altec Lansing speakers located on the bottom of the front of the chassis. By no means audiophile-quality at all, but much better than most laptop speakers. You will sometimes block the speakers while it's on your lap, but in general distortion is lower than in, for example, ThinkPads, and volume is better than a Mac's.

In conclusion, I am highly satisfied with this purchase. If there were better speakers and better build quality, I would award this product 10/10, but as of now I am willing to rate it a 9/10 and round up. Amazon was also very helpful; I was allowed to still purchase through the $100 Gift Card promotion even after the link stopped working.

For those interested in the next generation, the UL80Jt incorporates a low-voltage dual-core Core i7 overclocked to 1.73 Ghz and an nVidia 310M with 1GB. It promises even better performance and battery life, but will clock in at just over $1,000.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop (11.5 Hours of

This is also my first review of a product. I was really looking forward to this laptop and when I received it and turned it on I was pretty disappointed. The display on this laptop is very poor. The contrast ratio is low, so everything looks a little washed out. Its not terrible and would be tolerable but the horizontal viewing angle is horrible! You have to get the angle perfect to make the display look acceptable. If you move it slightly towards or away from you, it looks discolored and is pretty much unusable. I have owned several laptops over the last couple years from a 13 dell xps to 18.4 inch hp hdx and I have never had a problem with or complained about a display before. I've never even considered examining a display because I'm not that picky, but that was the first thing (and only thing really) that stood out through all of my time using the laptop. The only reason I'm writing this review is to caution people about the display. If it is not that important to you than this is a great laptop. It's speedy, fairly well made, great battery life, relatively thin and light, and windows 7 rocks. If the display was better it would get 5 stars. If I had the choice to return this laptop for a full refund I would, only because of the display.

NOTE: I also have asus eee pc 105ha and it has a much better display than this laptop for contrast and viewing angles.

**UPDATE** I feel the need to clarify this because I have received a few comments with tips or information about this display. I have owned and used many laptops of all brands, price ranges, manufacturers etc... This is a BAD display, it's not just my subjective opinion. Here is a link with actual data on the subject=

I'm not saying this laptop is bad, I gave it three stars, but Asus absolutely skimped on the display!

Apple MacBook MB402LL/A 13.3-inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) Review

Customer Ratings:

I went back and forth between the MacBook and MacBook Pro. Which one? Will it be powerful enough? Big enough...?

Maybe a Sony Vaio would be better?

I'm a Windows software developer but I'm going back to school for my MBA and I wanted a smaller, simple notebook for papers and internet communication for classwork. It needs to be durable and I need it to work without a lot of fussing around with system bits.

After much research I chose the MacBook over the pro because of the smaller size and the fact that the aluminum on the pro although cool, can dent easily. The matte black finish on the MacBook is elegant, tough, and the build quality it top notch. Does the the black eventually get smears on it from your hands and fingers? Yes it does but just wipe them off every so often. It's not a big deal.

IMO, aside from a few points in processor speed the major technical thing the Pro gets your over the MacBook is a dedicated video card. The card in the MacBook uses part of your system memory and that's not a big deal if you aren't doing complex things like 3D Rendering or gaming. Even most photo editing tasks on the little MacBook will work well *if* you have enough RAM. I recommend 2GB or more.

My MacBook arrived and I couldn't be happier. I personally think the black is nicer looking than the aluminum model. And this thing is fast! It makes my dual Intel Windows tower at work seem pokey. The glossy screen probably has more glare than a matte screen but the trade off in weight and size is well worth it.

Also the built in wireless Airport is great and reception is wonderful. Just turn it on and available networks show up in your menu. It's really so much nicer than Windows. The bonus is that I can dual boot with BootCamp and run all my Windows stuff when I need to. I installed Neo Office (open source office suite) and now I can open and create all the documents for my coursework.

Don't fool yourself into thinking the less expensive MacBook is less worthy for general computing tasks than the more sophisticated pro. It's very elegant looking and very powerful. If you don't need the power and size of the pro, I think you'll be happy and the money you save can be put toward other things. Maybe a new digital camera?

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I have always been a heavy Windows user dating all the way back to the release of version 3.1 (approx 16 years ago). I was never interested in the Mac do to what I perceived as the proprietary nature of their systems and what I thought was an expensive price tag. Here is what I discovered when I purchased this model of Mac:

1. It just works. The boot up time is less than half of what it takes my Windows laptop, and the shut down time (4 seconds) is only a fraction of the 30-40 seconds of my Toshiba.

2. It runs Windows Vista faster than my Toshiba. I still need to run a couple of Windows applications, so I went through the VERY easy bootcamp installation of Vista. It runs flawlessly and after having purchased Fusion for $79, I am now able to run Windows apps alongside Mac apps. Simply incredible.

3. Battery life is great. I can get 4 hours out of mine running in low power mode.

4. Why no card reader???? Almost all PCs now come with card readers to use with your digital camera. Why does Mac not include this??? :(

5. It does NOT require the regular restarts that my Windows systems have always required. Simply close the lid and put it to sleep at night, and the next morning lift the lid and you are back in business. I can do this with my Toshiba but start getting errors in Windows after a couple of days and need to reset. Also, my Macbook runs very cool (with little heat) in the sleep mode, thereby allowing me to put it in my brief case in sleep mode without it heating up. I could never do that with any of my PC laptops. They would always heat up.

6. No virus software needed. Happy, Happy, Happy. Surfing the internet is faster because of this. Also, opening a document in MS Word is faster because the Virus software is not screening it.

I purchased MS Office and loaded it. It runs great and is almost identical to its Windows counterpart in functionality. But, Word and Excel seem to boot up a bit slower than the Windows versions. This is one thing that I do not like.

7. I like the way the electric cord connects with a magnet instead of plugging in. This seems handier and better in design, but I wonder if the magnet will still be as strong two years from now?

All in all, I am extremely pleased with this Mac. When you compare the price with the included features, it is only slightly more expensive than a comparable PC. To me it is worth the extra $200.

Actually what is going to make this very expensive, is now that my wife and daughter have seen my Mac they are both wanting to replace their PCs as well. This is one expense I did NOT budget for.

Thanks for reading. Hope this helps

Best Deals for Apple MacBook MB402LL/A 13.3-inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

I have been a PC user for many years and have had no complaints, particularly since Windows XP was rolled out. My current HP is five years old and it was time to consider a replacement. The availability of a $1000 (with rebate) Penryn based entry level MacBook from Amazon proved irresistible to me and am glad I gave Apple a try. I understand it is not a good choice for gaming due to its lack of a dedicated graphics card.

I have been using it for two weeks now and have the following observations:

* Very snappy performance including boot up and shut down time

* Smaller screen than I am accustomed to but not a problem due to the excellent fonts

* Small size and light weight is a plus.

* Excellent wireless performance.

* Amazing battery life (never less than 4 hours at 90% screen brightness).

* Very little heat generation.

* Fan and hard drive noise is very low.

* Setting up a dual boot to Windows XP is well documented and easy to do.

* Running Windows creates much more heat and consequent lower battery life.

* 4 MEG of RAM can be purchased for under $100 but it runs very nicely with 1 MEG

* I miss the two button trackpad.

* It has a relatively sharp edge where one's palm usually rests when using trackpad

* Free software is available to allow reading Windows .wmv sound files.

* Built in automatic backup capability (Time Machine) is a plus.

* Nothing is perfect but this is pretty close given the price and current technology.

For those considering a switch and willing to learn a new operating system, I highly recommend it!

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook MB402LL/A 13.3-inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

I am a software engineer with twenty years experience developing system services for MS Windows and generic UNIX platforms. For the last ten years, my experience has been with MS based servers and workstations. The last time I used an Apple personal computer was in 1980 when I owned an Apple II+.

On a whim I purchased a MacBook running OS X 10.5.2 for my wife who has virtually no computer experience and avoids all things computer. She was not happy with my home MS Windows systems and she was not happy with the available portable computers running windows.

She has taken to the MacBook like a duck takes to water. She likes the package design, the display, and the desktop layout. She does not have the experience to appreciate the thoughtful interfaces and bundled applications that come with OS X. She just knows the entire package is enjoyable and not intimidating.

Me I like the UNIX foundation to OS-X. Knowing the internals of both operating systems, UNIX is the clear winner when it comes to reliability, durability, predictability, consistency, and security. Additionally, UNIX (with its open source variants) does not suffer from conflict of interest between operating systems and applications. One always wonders if some MS Windows quirk exists to solve a development problem in some MS application. I quickly put the terminal icon on the MacBook desktop so I could indulge myself with the UNIX shell command line any time I want ;-).

I installed a third party wireless router and configured internet services on the MacBook in a few minutes. I also added a third party optical bluetooth mouse in about thirty seconds. It took longer to install the mouse batteries than configure the MacBook bluetooth capability.

Apple has a very solid package with the current MacBook. There is little that one needs to add to the MacBook. It comes with just about every hardware interface available today. It has ample processor, RAM, and hard disk storage for average users. It comes with dual layer DVD RW. The bundled suite of applications is adequate for the full spectrum of casual computing (e.g., web browsing, email, chat, word processing, photo/video/audio processing). Apple stuff is a bit pricy but you receive the value you pay for.

If you want a good comprehensive companion book for your MacBook, I recommend David Pogue's "Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual". This book is large and contains much technical detail but is very well written. It is not for the casual computing novice that finds reading and comprehension tedious.

I have used Apple support one time and found the wait to be acceptable and support engineer to be competent, efficient and attentive. I have used MS support many times over the years and found them to be equally capable.

I have not found anything I dislike about the MacBook after thirty days of usage. My wife, however, would like the Apple logo on the lid to glow red instead of white when the MacBook is powered up.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Apple MacBook MB402LL/A 13.3-inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

***** 5 Stars (UPDATED BELOW)

'Nuff said about how great this computer and Leopard are.

HOWEVER, out of the box I have one DEAD PIXEL just off center which shows as a black dot the size of a small period. According to Amazon and Apple, one dead pixel is not enough to warrant replacement of a brand new computer. I know it's one tiny pixel out of a million but once you notice it you always seem to see it. It just seems to me that for $1300 you should be able to receive a computer without screen imperfections. I wouldn't care about discoloration or scratches on the case but the screen should be perfect. I don't buy Amazon's & Apple's excuse that this is acceptable: no Mac I've ever owned had dead pixels; none of my friends' Macs have dead pixels; none I've seen in Apple stores have dead pixels etc. Had I purchased in an Apple store I could have walked in within 30 days and they would have swapped it out. How can everyone I know and even my giant LCD TV not have any dead pixels but my brand new macbook has a permanent dot? On-line buyers beware.

(END OF ORIGINAL REVIEW)

UPDATE: AMAZON HAS COME THROUGH WITH FLYING COLORS AND SENT ME A BRAND NEW MACBOOK WITH NO DEAD PIXELS AT NO CHARGE. After a visit to the Apple Store (to confirm that if purchased there, they would replace it) I gave Amazon one more chance. Using the call-back feature, customer service instantly called me and without any hassle, told me that they would replace my defective Macbook. Sure enough, 1 day later my new Macbook arrived via FedEx and after staring intently at each and every pixel, I am completely satisfied. This is the kind of customer service I would expect, and makes me very happy to use and recommend Amazon in the future.

A few things I've learned in this process. If you're worried about pixel issues, as soon as you get your new computer, download a Pixel Checker program or change your background to Red, Green, Blue, White, Black (separately) and check for any stuck or dead pixels. If there is a problem and you can live with it enjoy your new computer, otherwise contact your dealer ASAP. Also, I had much better results dealing with the telephone support people as opposed to trying to resolve this by email. As long as Amazon takes care of its customers like this, I will be a lifelong user.

I wish I could change the star ratings to 5-star but you're not allowed to edit that. This is really a great computer. Super fast and perfect for my needs. Weighs 5 lbs which is fine with me not ultralight like the Airbook, but it seems lightweight enough to me. Leopard is a great OS and the bundled programs are fun and easy to use.

Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) Review

Customer Ratings:

The Macbook Pro has just been updated on April 13th 2010. There are some upgrades and a few changes between this year and last years model, detailed below.

UPGRADES

1) The MBP 13 now has 4 gb of ram standard (2 x 2 gb sticks). This allows you to multi-task easily without any issues ( last years model had only 2gb of ram which was inadequate) Now there's no need to spend more money upgrading your ram UNLESS you're really into heavy duty multimedia work

2) It also features the Nvidia GeForce 320M integrated graphics processor with 48 processing cores. This is an improvement compared to the Geforce 9400M graphics chip in last years model and will help in graphics and content creation.

3) The included hard drive is 250 gb (160gb in last years model).

4) Mini display port now supports video AND sound with a compatible Mini-DP to HDMI adapter (last years model only supported video)

STANDARD FEATURES from last years 13 inch model (minor changes noted in brackets) are

An Aluminum unibody,

Core 2 Duo Processor ( 2.4 ghz up from 2.26ghz ),

1280 x 800 resolution Glossy LED backlit screen,

iSight camera,

8x slot-loading SuperDrive dvd burner

Large glass multi-touch trackpad ( Intertial scrolling is now enabled ),

Backlit keyboard with comfortable chiclet keys

Magsafe power adapter (with redesigned tip to reduce stress on the cable)

1 Firewire 800 port,

2 USB 2.0 ports ,

SD Card slot,

Wi-Fi 802.11n specification; 802.11a/b/g compatible, Bluetooth 2.1 and Gigabit Ethernet -10/100/1000.

Software included is OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and the iLife 09 suite of content creation tools. A 1 year warranty on parts and 90 day telephone technical support is standard.

The lack of the latest Intel Core i5 or i3 processors processors in this machine is disappointing ( Anybody paying $1200 for a notebook positioned as a pro product, would expect new rather than "old" processors to be part of the configuration ) but I'd still recommended the MBP 13 to people looking to buy the lightest and most portable Macbook Pro as well as a capable machine in it's own right. Demanding applications like Skype, Photoshop, Lightroom, iMovie run smoothly.

I would also consider purchasing applecare AppleCare Protection Plan MC258LL/A For Portable Apple Computers 13.3 Inches and Below along with the notebook.

The truth is, Apple uses most of the same parts (hard drives, processors, dvd drives, wireless cards) that other laptop manufacturers use so their reliability is no worse or better than other laptop manufacturers. Unfortunately what most customers don't know is that if a product / part malfunction occurs after the first year limited warranty has ended, Apple charges extremely high fees for repairing and replacing parts (when compared to other laptop manufacturers ) IF you don't have Applecare.

Keep in mind, the A.P.P. only covers hardware failure not accidental damage so it's still expensive for what you get but it's better than paying Apple's prices for repair/replacement parts.

Another warranty extension option to consider is Squaretrade (which also includes damage protection). It's better to pay once for Applecare or Squaretrade (whatever you prefer) and be covered for 2 more years after the first year is up than pay exorbitant repair/replacement fees if a part malfunctions.

About the battery, Apple advertises it as lasting for 9 to 10 hours of use. In reality, it allows you to be mobile for 3 to 6 hours depending on what task you're using the computer for. Also, it's an inbuilt battery so once it's exhausted, you will have to take your machine back to an Apple store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider for replacement. However, Apple states that the battery will hold 80% of it's charge for up to a 1000 charges which means approximately 3 to 4 years of daily use. So it should be a while before you have to go in for that battery replacement.

Also, Since the MBP has a mini display port, you'll have to buy a MiniDP to VGA convertor or MiniDP to DVI convertor if you ever want to connect your MB Pro to a larger monitor since Apple does not include it with the machine it will cost you $30 more IF you buy it from Apple. Here's a cheaper option Mini DisplayPort to DVI Female Adapter Cable for Apple Macbook, Macbook Pro, iMac, Macbook Air, Mac Mini Laptop

For those who are confused about whether they should purchase the $1199 MBP 13 or the $1499 MBP 13 the only difference between this model and the higher priced model is processor speed and hard drive space the $1199 MBP 13 has a 2.4 ghz processor and 250 gb hard drive and the $1499 MBP 13 has a 2.66ghz processor and 320 gb hard drive. Whether a 266 mhz (10% difference) and 70 gb more of hard drive space is worth 300 dollars more is your call. (Although you can purchase a 500 gb notebook hard drive for approximately $80 and install it yourself. Instructions are in the MBP 13 manual and you'll need a Philips #00 screwdriver. Installation videos are also available online)

Hope this helps!

UPDATE The MBP has a good quality screen but I have to add that it may not be for everybody. Online reports on Apple's MB Pro support forums and personal experience indicate that the glossy LED screen causes tremendous eye strain and headaches for some people. A few users have said that they cannot use the computer for more than an hour at a time because of the eye strain and headaches.

Mine and other's issues with the screen are individual cases but the possibility does exist that the screen may not suit you and cause eye strain and other health issues. At the same time, you may not face any of these issues. My advice would be to use the MB Pro as a notebook extensively within the fourteen day return window and if you face any of these issues, do not hesitate to return it. If you do not face any of these issues, then please enjoy using your MB Pro.

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This is my umpteenth Mac and as usual, it's a very satisfying purchase. Although the styling of this laptop, with the dark hinge and keyboard isn't quite my cup of tea (and is a matter of taste), this machine is far and away the most solidly built. It feels like it would stop a bullet, and it probably could. It's reassuring rigidity gives it a feeling of quality and sturdiness second to none. For someone who man handles his laptop all day every day, this is very important.

To be seen over the next months and years is if the reliability of the machine is as good as its build quality.

One final, off-topic note on delivery: Amazon service has been excellent. Yes, their systems are not perfect, but their customer service has made up for it. I originally got an inexplicable delivery date, but a call fixed that.

Best Deals for Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

i just picked one of these up and I love it. I have read reviews complaining that Apple did not try to cram an i5 or larger CPU into this 13 inch machine. True, the chose to use the Core 2 Duo but that's not all bad. This is a stable, cool running, capable processor. The machine now includes 4 G of ram and a much improved video card from the previous version. I use this mostly for work where stability, battery life, portability, and longevity are the most important things to me. I rarely play games. I wouldn't use a portable for video work when I have a desktop available. I run office applications, safari, email, ever note, and skype. It all works great. The machine feels substantial in my hands. Pick it up and try to twist it. It is perfectly rigid. My Toshiba feels like the battery would fall out if I twisted a bit more. This one feels well built. I especially like the backlit keyboard.

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

I never write reviews. NEVER. But this is something that just has to be reviewed because everyone should have one of these. It's a little long but I feel that this has to be said. If I can't convince you, go to the store and mess around with one if you'd like. Better yet, read all the reviews. They all can't be wrong.

I've been a windows user for all my life. The experience has been great all the way through XP. With all the negativity surrounding Vista, I decided not to persue it. I've had relatively little problems with windows honestly except dealing with all the problems I deal with on a daily basis (Help Desk Tech). If there's anything that I feel like touching least when I come home, it was my XP machine.

Why did I go Mac? I've seen the hundreds of things that can go wrong with Windows. I've heard all the complaints about Vista. Haven't played much with 7 but just messing around with it @ Best Buy I thought, "Yea maybe it's better than Vista but it's pretty much the SAME OLD WINDOWS when it comes down to it." I'm deploying soon and I had a 17" Dell Inspirion 1705 Windows XP machine (See how long that is? I am happy to say that when someone asks me what I'm rollin with, I reply, "13-inch MacBook Pro" A lot shorter but that's besides the point). Anyways, the screen is HUGE and there was no way I'm taking that tank with me over there. WAY to heavy and WAY to bulky! So I was in the market for a Laptop that was at most 14". When it comes to electronics, I research a ton.

What was the first thing I typed up when I was looking for a new PC?

"What is the best brand of laptops (Windows)?"

Yea that didn't help any. I got "HP is the best!" Then I got "HP is the worse!" So it was a lot of mixed reviews for mostly all of them. So I thought that I'd venture into Mac since I've never owned one. Went to the site and it gave me 2 options: Macbook and Macbook Pro. I opted for the Macbook Pro because 1) I wanted 4GB of RAM (I read it just works better all around) and 2) I wanted an SD slot. There are other reasons why Macbook Pro is nicer but I'll get into that later.

What was my only doubt before buying Mac? What if I need Office? Well there's bootcamp. I'll tell you what, so far I've had no use for Windows yet (waiting to see how Office for Mac 2011 is before I decide). So I did it and let me tell you, I've never had more fun messing with a computer than I've had with my Mac. Ok enough ranting, what do I like? What don't I like?

Pros:

+Great designA reason to get Macbook Pro over Macbook: the construction. All PCs=Plastic

+OS is so easyNavigating through my files couldn't be easier. No more "Well that file is in c:\windows\localprofile\temp\settings\...ETC" It's all simple to find (It also helps using Spotlight)

+Dashboard and ExposeWidgets + Easy way to find what you have open = FUN

+iLifeBottom like, iPhoto and iMovie BLOW AWAY windows standard photoviewer and windows movie maker (garbage, cheap)

+ The touchpadIt's more than just being big, it's amazing. The gestures make the experience so much easier and fun. Want to scroll down? Place to fingers on the pad and swipe down. There are others but hard to explain ;)

+ It's just flat out fun to useWindows just started getting dull for me. Mac is fresh and exciting. When you buy a car do you want to get a transportation (PC) or do you want to get something that you enjoy driving (MAC)? I enjoy driving Mac everyday.

Cons:

Adjusting: It's difficult adjusting using windows all my life. But apple has set up many videos online to help you along. Thanks!

The little things I was used to: again goes back to adjusting to a new OS. Alt+F4 is now Command+W. Gotta get used to it. No biggie.

Honestly, maybe I'm being biased (sue me) but I can't find a lot of cons yet as I'm still very new to this.

Bottom Line: You want a mac. Start a new adventure in your life. It's not too late. Mac will make your life easier in ways you couldn't imagine.

And hey, you might just have a little fun while you're at it ;)

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

This is my fourth Mac and they keep getting better.I had some reservations about the glossy screen and even though it does reflect it works and works very well.I loved the matte screen but this has taken little time to accept and get used to.

Now,the track pad and this is impressive in that it is not a gimmick and eliminates so much clicking and dragging and fishing around for back buttons and the like.And all done with subtle gestures on the good sized trackpad.Be sure to activate the tap to click function so you can use this subtle method to click or secondary click or drag with one finger.No need to go up for a back button to go back page-just swipe three fingers.Desktop and expose can be activated by vertical swipes,etc.It even has a lighted keyboard for a poor typer like myself.

The case is of course milled from a solid piece of aluminum and along with the Mac OS this is a thing of beauty.Apple is to computers what Leica is to cameras so even though I never got that Leica I do have this Macbook Pro in my hand right now.Treat yourself if you can.

Best Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5C-S01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver) Deals

Customer Ratings:

The laptop out of the box looks amazing, very thin, about 0.1 thinner than the Macbook Pro (non-retina) version. The Intel i7 3615QM is extremely fast, almost as fast as my desktop i7 2600K (without overclocking). 6GB RAM is good for the average user, but graphics/design and game intensive users, it is a bit low. There is only 1 RAM slot, a 2GB DDR3 1600Mhz stuck in there, the other 4GB are on the mother board. So, if you want to upgrade, you need to buy a single PC3-12800 1600Mhz 4GB or 8GB stick to perform the best. It is a bit of a hassle because a single 8GB 1600Mhz for laptops are hard to come by at a cheap price. The screen is pretty nice with sharp colors, 1600x900 resolution is actually a plus for this laptop compared to 1920x1080 resolution. Why? This laptop comes with a dedicated Nvidia 640M graphics card with 1GB of GDDR5 VRAM, it is a mid-range chip a bit slower than the 650M. At 1600x900, the GDDR5 640M can outperform a 650M at 1920x1080. Max Payne 3 and Metro 2033 ran smoother on this Samsung compared to the retina Macbook Pro with 650M set to 1920x1080.

The construction is a bit flimsy, thin aluminum screen assembly and plastic bottom. If you are considering upgrading this with an SSD, you have to be VERY careful. This laptop is equipped with a 8GB Express Cache mounted to the motherboard for speeding up load times. It does not do a good job, it is a Sandisk 8GB iSSD that reads about 110MB/s and writes 70MB/s with latency of around 10ms random read. Many SSDs today read and write well over 400MB/s with latency under 0.5ms, so you are stuck with a 8GB flash drive on your mother board pretty much... It is very tricky to work around the express cache when installing Windows 7 to the upgraded SSD without some sort of problem. If you look on Sandisk's website, the lifespan of this 8GB iSSD is well under 3 years with heavy usage everyday. You'd just wish Samsung charged $200 more and sold you a laptop with a 200+GB SSD installed.

With all that aside, the keyboard is very responsive and a plus with the full keyboard. The keyboard back-lit is nice. The mouse pad however is disappointing. It's got all the features like an Apple multi-touch pad, but so much less responsive and inaccurate at control. The ambient light sensor is a joke, either too dark or flash me with the brightest setting... The sensor software sometimes takes about 45 seconds to 1 minute to load with the stock 7200RPM 750GB Hard Drive.... imagine that... The Express Cache does not help at all.

The laptop runs dead silent. Samsung provides an option to only charge your battery only to 80% full to extend battery lifespan over the years, I feel like this is kind of ironic. The system comes loaded with useless software, deleting some of those actually speeds up the start-up time.

At the given price, it is still a good bargain system. Good for PC professionals.

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I am currently typing on my new Samsung Series 7 laptop, and what a joy it is. I spent over a month extensively searching for a laptop that would meet all of my needs as an incoming college student studying engineering, and I found this laptop is the champion in that regard. I plan to use this laptop for heavy programming, moderate gaming, and needing something powerful that was portable and rugged.

Hardware:

-Intel 3615QM Processor-clocked at 2.3 but turbo boost to 3.3; this processor can handle anything you throw at it, while the fan stays very quiet and the heat output is minimal

-nVidia 640M with Optimus Technology/Intel Graphics 4000; the Intel saves battery power, but I've noticed it's able to handle most of my programs anyways, and the nVidia only kicked in when it was actually needed. Optimus saves me a lot of battery power.

-6GB ram=No nonsense. Running a couple graphics intensive games, one compiler, and ms word and chrome uses about 5.2 gb. And in no situation would I ever be running all of these at the same time. It's DDR3, fast and plentiful. Upgradeable if you want

-750 HDD; Plenty of space, not much more to say

-8GB ExpressCache SSD: Having it disabled and enabled I can tell it makes a real-world difference in the use of this computer. Chrome, Word, and bootup are very quick and convenient

-Keyboard: very responsive and fun to type on. I wouldn't be typing this much without it. The add-on of a numeric keyboard on a 15 inch machine is awesome and the function keys work as well as I can hope. High build quality and no lag whatsoever.

-Screen: Matte, great viewing angles, can go super bright, not much you can ask for. I wish all manufacturers went matte and 1600x900 looks great. Because of the 16:9 ratio, the computer itself is more rectangular than others. But that just helps it fit into my backpack better. Colors are reproduced well, and I can use it in intense sunlight. But the high brightness eats battery like no other.

Touchpad: A lot of users have complained about the touchpad, but after you alter the settings and practice with it for a week, it's well tuned and works rather well. I was frustrated the first couple days but I learned and am pleased with the response and abilities of the touchpad. Decent palm rejection. Surface is smooth matte, click is clicky.

-Speakers-get pretty loud. For a laptop, quality is pretty good.

-Build Quality: Fantastic. Great aluminum body; yes, the bottom is plastic, but it keeps the weight lower and actually might keep the computer cooler. It's not really noticeable. Very stylish and smooth. The extra thin bezel is great, actually gives it a smaller form factor. And theres just a simple SAMSUNG logo on the lid, and just below the screen. No nonsense design. All around beautiful computer

Actually not much bloatware was installed compared to others, and Windows 7 ran well. Samsung Easy Settings is pretty useful. More convenient than control panel.

I enthusiastically recommend this computer as a high functioning, highly portable machine with great build quality and rock solid performance.

EDIT 1: I forgot to comment on the battery life: with brightness at 70% and wifi on with continuous web browsing, I get 5.5 hours. That's impressive. With brightness at 50% (which isn't as bad as it sounds) and no wifi and watching a movie, I get 6 hours straight video viewing.

-Webcam: Viewing is smooth and the image quality is great for a webcam. Colors can sometimes get grainy when the surroundings are dark, but that's to be expected. The microphone is decent.

-There are some reviews complaining about the wifi reception and strength, but I found it to be strong and reliable, and comparing it to my family's macbook air and iMac, the wifi strength was on par. Using speedtest.net on all three in the same room yielded equal speeds.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5C-S01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver)

I recieved this computer today and let me tell you exceeds my expectations! Just to expand on the specs:

from the box:

Intel Core i7 3615qm duh

300nit screen

Nvida GT640m Gddr5 1Gb_hybrid

6GB memory

750GB HD

Intel 6235 Wirless and 4.0 Bluetooth

I immediately replaced with a SSD and this thing is blazing! I also own the np700z3a-s06us which is the slower 14inch model but worth every penny! Also to note it appears they fixed something with the track pad because it is a billion times better than the one on my np700z3a! Glad I went with these Series 7 Laptops from Samsung, Thin and Light... Beautiful!

Update: I did have a slight issue with the screen having a defect, dark spot along the edge. I noticed it after about an hour, but Amazons awesome customer service had me a replacement at my door today! This one looks better, I know the display is a deal breaker for some but I encourage you to check this system out before you buy if you can, I think you will see it will be far past 90% of people's expectations. Although, being very computer savy and deep into the tech world I do have to agree that this screen coming from the top High Def TV manufacture is very disappointing. This for me is not the deal breaker; I think it's still hard to find a package that provides a thin sexy platform along with still having a optical drive with excellent battery life. Along with the third gen intel i7 this machine is incredible in the performance category.

I still give samsung 5 stars for this laptop but if I could they would get 41/2 for the display!

Update 06/13/2012: OK reducing my rating to a 4 star review because of some reliability issues. Maybe its because this is the first run of the third core edition? First time it was the screen not its the DVD drive. When I received the second unit everything appeared to running AWESOME had zero issues until today. I decided to load a program from a cd media and found that the drive was dead. I thought maybe just my cd nope i tried everything and nothing. So Im waiting on my second replacement, I still have faith in Samsung and this particular computer because I own the 14in version and it is ROCK SOLID! So I am reducing my rating to 4 stars because of my personal experience and the display as i mentioned earlier. I think third times the charm! Fingers Crossed!!!

As an added kudos for Amazon, I have never had this many problems with an item before that i purchased online, but Amazon has got to be the most efficiently and helpful company I have ever delt with even in brick and mortar stores. THANK YOU AMAZON FOR THE EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5C-S01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver)

I have used many brand new PC's in the last year including a samsung series 9, but I thought given the price this series 7 would be worth it. I was wrong. My issues are:

1. Windows/Samsung software issues. When first received, I couldn't change the brightness level on my computer. The button simply did not work. I thought it was a manufacturer defect until I googled it and found out I had install samsung's "easy settings" program, common with such computers. I did so, but I have to start that program every time the lighting issue comes up.

2. Power Management. 80-90% of the time when I plug in, windows recognizes its plugged in, but it won't charge and the extra fans turn on, about 2 seconds later the fan is off and its charging, less than 5 seconds later it reverts back. It does slowly charge the battery, but not efficiently. This messes up the brightness of the screen as well, even with the easy settings program. I have checked google and the other samsung and windows power management settings and couldn't figure it out.

3. Touch Pad I have used many touch pads where the pad itself was used to click and haven't had problems. But after 2 months, this one is starting to stick and windows beeps sometimes when I am scrolling. I'm not heavily using the item, maybe 2 hrs a day, so there is no reason that this should be happening.

Stay away from this product, there are many better ones out there with similar features. I'm stuck with it due to Amazon's return policy.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5C-S01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver)

I did a lot of research before finally deciding to buy this laptop. I looked at HP's DV6 line with Ivy Bridge, the new Asus UX-32VD, and other Asus thin and lights with dedicated graphics, and none of those met the price to performance benchmark laid out by this machine. It's well built, incredibly fast, good for gaming and is portable with good battery life. With a few minor drawbacks, this computer is among the best I've ever owned.

PROs:

Construction:

The construction and build quality are booth excellent. The front and palm rest are brushed aluminum and feel / look great. Some have complained about the plastic on the bottom, but I count it as a plus. It was designed this way intentionally to keep the laptop cool. Ever felt the bottom of a MBP while under load gaming? That thing can burn skin.

Speed:

This is a fast laptop. For those concerned with processing speed for their work, be it photo / video editing or compressing, encryption or modeling, this will be just fine. This is one of the fastest mobile chips available today and will handle just about anything.

Gaming:

I've maxed out Skyrim, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 and Battlefield 3 on this machine without much issue. Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 run at 40-50fps with AA, and can easily push past the 100's with lowered settings. Battlefield 3 isn't really playable at Ultra settings (FPS in the 20s), but is perfectly playable on Medium (60fps in 32 man MP maps). Skyrim runs at ~30fps at max, but is 50+ on High. All games were played at the native 1600x900.

Keyboard:

The keyboard is large and incredibly comfortable. The keys have good travel and are made of a soft-touch plastic-type material. They don't get cold, and aren't very loud to type on. The number pad is nice, though the keys are a bit smaller than the letter keys. The autodetecting backlight is a bit finicky but overall works well. It illuminates the keys well and isn't too bright on the eyes in a dark room.

Sound:

The sound is overall good. Yes, it's a little bit tinny and gets distorted when the volume is maxed out, the quality and bass are excellent for a laptop. It has stereo speakers and a built in subwoofer, and gets the job done for casual multimedia. I wouldn't consider this laptop a full-fledged entertainment PC, so sound quality wasn't a huge issue to me.

Price:

I got this PC for $1200 plus a free xbox (Mom is doing continuing ed, hehe). This is a great price for this much power and quality. Though I hate to do it... the best comparison may be the 15" Macbook Pro. For similar specs, you'd be spending over 2k for the MBP equivalent. Not bad Samsung, not bad.

Hard Drive:

This computer comes with a 750GB 7200rpm drive, and an 8GB 'express cache' soldered onto the motherboard. I've noticed that my most commonly used programs load instantaneously (Chrome, Outlook, Excel, Skype), and Windows boots fast. I haven't timed it but it is certainly sub-30 seconds.

RAM:

My version came with 8GB of 1600mhz DDR3--some of the fastest ram you can buy for laptops. Multitasking is fast, and I tend to keep a lot of things open. With 100 tabs in Chrome and a bunch of emails open and big spreadsheet and a 1080p YouTube video, everything is butter.

CONs:

Battery:

Samsung claims 8hrs battery life on this machine--I haven't been able to get that. With wifi on, screen set to 1/2 brightness, I can do web-browsing, email and productivity for 7hrs max. This isn't horrible by any means, and is great for a machine this powerful, but keep in mind that it's hard to get the advertised 8hrs.

Screen:

This is a pro and a con. The resolution is excellent. I think 1600x900 is a good resolution for a 15" laptop. I would take 1080p if it were available, but really this is probably more comfortable for long-term use. Unfortunately, the viewing angles aren't amazing. Colors can wash out quickly on the vertical end. Horizontal is a lot better, but nothing compared to the IPS screens found on the MBP and HP Envy series. Also, there is slight light bleeding in the middle of my model, which is only visible on an all-black screen. I could probably return it for a replacement with these issues, but honestly I just don't care enough :P

WiFi:

WiFi connection seems to be a little spotty so far. When this laptop is sitting right next to my desktop (connected to my WiFi network using a cheapo $20 WiFi dongle), the desktop gets a better connection than the laptop. It's been so bad sometimes that I'll have to leave BF3 or SC2 games with latencies above 1000. Not good. I'm hoping this gets some driver updates in the near future.

Overall I am one pleased customer. I would recommend this laptop to anyone, especially enthusiasts who want a thin and light machine with some oomph. It's probably overkill for 99% of the average consumer's uses, but computing in excess is the hallmark of all enthusiasts in the first place. I give this baby 5/5 stars.

Review of Samsung Series 9 NP900X1B-A01 11.6-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I've had this for about 5 days now. I traded in the Series 3 11.6 (Princeton) for this one.

Build:

I can attest to the machine's toughness. While I have yet to drop it...I haven't exactly been delicate with it either. I was able to pry off the bottom to have a look inside. No problem. The screen doesn't seem to flex as others have mentioned in their review (seems pretty solid) and I do keep leaving the sliding doors to the ports open when I threw the laptop in by pack going to work (it's just a regular pack...no padded laptop pocket and I didn't have a case or anything to put the laptop into. Doors seem to be working fine (not that I enjoy testing my luck...I just keep forgetting)

Hardware:

I love the keyboard and display (especially the keyboard backlighting) Wifi seems low-end for a high-end model (same chip as in the 13.3 inch Series 9 (bcm4357). I did a skype test of the in low light...it seemed ok but not great (basically I had to be right up to the camera to be seen). Speakers are pretty good (I did prefer the Samsung Series 3 which had their speakers above the keyboard instead of underneath the unit). Speakers seem to be loud enough and stereo sound (even when placing the laptop on a chair or bed). YMMV (I"m not expecting the speakers to compete with bigger laptops or external speakers). The battery life seems to be sub-par (2 1/2 to 3 hours using continuously not even streaming video or audio and, yes, Ubuntu has power management settings which I've configured)

Popping the bottom off to look at the hardware, there is no 204 pin memory modules so it looks like replacing/upgrading the memory is difficult/impossible (I'm not brave enough to try extracting the motherboard to see if the modules are on the other side below the keyboard). I do love the fact that the SSD is PCI-E (and can be replaced..as opposed to soldered on the motherboard like macbook air.) I'm going to replace the wifi card with a Centrino 6230 (as soon as it gets here)

Software:

I reformatted to Ubuntu Natty 64 bit and loaded VMware player for Windows 7. I haven't had any issues with the touchpad. All the complaints about multi-touch gestures not working or limited seem to be a Windows only issue. Specifically two-finger scrolling and two-finger tap (for right-click) work flawlessly. Since the touchpad works on my Win7 install via vmware tools this functionality is still present when I'm in Windows. (win7 Pro 32 bit)...althugh I haven't played around very much on the Windows side since I use the Unity mode and just launch Outlook and IE mostly. The Broadcom chip seemed to work for me (I'm using it until my Centrino 6230 gets here) I'm on kernel 2.6.38.11 if that helps out anyone.

I can't give it 5 stars because of the wifi and battery. All in all, I like the laptop very much. Other than the wifi card and the battery life...this was worth the $400 over the Samsung Series 3

...while Apple offers configuration options for the Macbook Air 11 inch...the price tag is $1649 (core i7, 256 gb ssd option) + $249 or so for the applecare 2 year warranty. While I like OS X...I want to use Ubuntu as my OS (and not through vmware)

If you're a windows user and want a thin and light laptop the Series 9 is the way to go.

1/5/12 update Ok, I've had my Series 9 for 4 months now. Still love it. Since the last review I've reformatted from Ubuntu to Win7 (Ultimate 64-bit). I installed the Intel Centrino 6230 card and it works flawlessly. I ended up taking the sliding port doors off.

Hardware Under Windows 7 I Installed all hardware drivers that were available from Windows update and the rest from the Samsung support site. I do think the battery has a little better performance under win7 . I use sleep mode (left it asleep at 50% battery life all night and most of the day). When I woke it up...the battery was at 49%. I used it for a bit and put it back asleep. When I got home I got back on it. Battery life now at 31% (using it for about 1/2 hour). Compared to Ubuntu I'd say I'm eeking out an extra 1/2 hour or so on windows.

Software Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit (SP1) all updates from windows installed (except the 35 language packs...don't need those). Use the drivers from Microsoft and only install the drivers you need from Samsung. Use the battery life extender (software section) from the Samsung site. And the firmware update 1.0.0.2 (firmware section) on samsung site.

In conclusion You will need to replace the wifi card (I recommend the Intel Centrino 6230). You will want to install a fresh copy of your flavor of windows (or linux) 64 bit edition and delete the existing partitions during the OS install. Under Windows 7, when you get updates just create a new restore point...you don't need a separate recovery partition. If you are going to create an image you will definately want to do this via network. If you're just worried about your data and settings...just use Windows Easy Transfer (enable and login as administrator). I've got 2 external monitors running...one is on a USB display (UGA USB video adapter) and the other is through the mini HDMI port. Run the USB video adapter on a USB hub works great.

11/17/12 1 year and 3 months...

Laptop still functioning like a pro. I would recommend using the Samsung AA-AH1NAMB/US Micro HDMI To VGA Adapter. I was using an VGA > HDMI > micro HDMI and connectivity was extremely sensitive.

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Prior to this, I used Macbook Air (11 inch screen) and it was not up to challenge for the relatively simple computing tasks and it lacked so many ports. This Samsung on the other hand is very powerful, lightweight,functional with a slick design(given, not as slick as Macbook Air), I would strongly recommend anyone who is looking for a lightweight, powerful laptop.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 9 NP900X1B-A01 11.6-Inch Laptop

The stats listed for this item are not false. This is one of the few 11.6 inch laptops that was manufactured with a 128 GB SSD drive, and 4GB of ram. I thought it was a typo, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was exactly as was listed.

The only disappointment, is that this came with the faulty wifi card that's usually associated with the Series 9. I purchased an Intel Centrino combination bluetooth and wifi card for this and replaced it right away. The wifi now works perfectly. I had a tricky time opening the laptop up due to some stubborn screws. Be very careful not to strip the tiny things or it may be permanently sealed forever.

I should also mention that I'm typically someone who is very bothered when electronics are made of fingerprint prone materials. A good example would be the glass on touch screen phones. Many people say that this computer is a 'fingerprint magnet', but I actually found this to be false. While you WILL have some finger printing for every day use, it's only a 'magnet' if you're doing something like eating popcorn or a cheeseburger while using it. There is a glossy plastic frame around the screen that I would deem as a 'magnet', but you shouldn't be touching the screen with your fingers anyway.

Fantastic little computer once you replace the wifi card.

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 9 NP900X1B-A01 11.6-Inch Laptop

I'm a heavy computer user. When I wanted to buy this laptop I saw the bad reviews about WiFi so when I ordered this laptop I ordered an external wifi adapter in case! When I received this laptop every thing was good. Its about 2 months and wifi was perfect so far.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 9 NP900X1B-A01 11.6-Inch Laptop

I think there are some serious quality issues with this version of the Samsung device. The packaging I received seemed to already have been opened at one point, so I think my device may have already been returned once, fixed, and resold. Anyway, after one week of use the SSD drive failed and everything on it was lost. Yeah, should have been backing up everyday I guess, but I usually back up every week and the machine didn't even last that long.

Samsung Series 5 NP530U3B-A02US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver) Review

Customer Ratings:

I purchased this laptop after my Thinkpad from 6 years ago finally gave up the ghost. What I wanted in a laptop was something that was very portable, but didn't compromise any system specifications in making it so. I decided to purchase this laptop after a little bit of thinking, since it has some really solid system specifications. Granted, it's only been a few weeks, but overall I have been quite pleased with the purchase.

Display/Speakers

The 14 inch screen is nice and bright, and has 1366x768 max resolution. For me, this resolution is perfect. Probably what I like the most about the display is the matte finish. Glossy finishes may be snazzy and shiny, for those who are attracted to shiny things, but the matte finish really makes it much easier to see the display in daylight. The speakers are pretty much what you'd expect for laptop speakers.

Keyboard/Trackpad

I have to admit that prior to purchasing this laptop I was wary of the keyboard, since the display unit in the store had a lot of keyboard flex. When I got home, however, I have been pleased to report that the flex on this computer is nearly non-existent. It took me a little bit to become accustomed to the shallow keyboard, since on my last laptop, the keyboard felt like a regular desktop keyboard. Now that I have become accustomed to the shallow profile, I've found that the keyboard is quite good. There are things that can be improved, like backlighting, and including some kind of an indicator on the hardware that you have caps lock on instead of relying on the short-lived on-screen notification. I did have to adjust the settings on the trackpad to address accidental palm touches while typing, but after making the adjustment (the manual details how to get to the necessary screen), I have no real issues. On the subject of the trackpad, it's quite large, and plenty sensitive. The trackpad is programmed by default to respond to gestures similar to what you'd expect for MacBook. While it wasn't directly discussed in the manual how to set the trackpad for scrolling based on edge input on the trackpad, I was able to get to the correct settings menu to enable this feature. The trackpad has two buttons, instead of what you see many times now with laptops where the buttons are a part of the touchpad.

Cooling

This is probably my favorite part of this computer. Historically I have not necessarily been good to my laptops when it comes to cooling. I tend to compute in bed. I suspect that a good portion of my former laptop's issues were actually because I didn't let it properly cool. Regardless, I am quite pleased with this computer's cooling system. It is completely silent. Completely. I can hear it, just barely, if I put the computer right next to my ear. It's that quiet. The cooling system uses vents that are located on the bottom and ejects the heated air into the hinge. Even then, the heated air isn't really all that hot. It's more slightly warm air. I will say that if you use the computer for hours on end, you will notice the keyboard becoming slightly warm, but in terms of warm laptops, this is not a temperature I typically concern myself with. I've been watching the internal temperature too, and I've never seen it go above 68C, most of the time being around 50C, and that's when running some processor-intense programs.

Performance/Ports/bloatware/wireless card

As far as the performance goes This is definitely the best performing machine I've ever owned, probably even the best performing that I've ever used. The SSD in combination with the quad core processor makes this a very enjoyable experience. After getting my computer set up, it took 23 seconds to completely boot up, and 6 seconds to return from sleep. This was before running a boot time optimization setting that Samsung includes with the computer. For the sake of ....ahem... research, I even ran this laptop through a grueling test the Civilization V test. The computer handled the middle-of-the-road graphics settings like a pro. I didn't try the higher-level graphics, but I wouldn't be surprised if it performed well under those circumstances as well. The computer has a smattering of ports, none of which I've had a chance to use yet save the USB ports, but I will surely be happy that they're there when I need them. The same kind of philosophy applies for the DVD drive. While I don't use it every day, I do use it for things like backups, and am happy to have the option. The wireless works flawlessly. I actually get a much better signal reading on the laptop than I do on my other devices, and that's when the devices are directly next to the laptop. I will say that I am a bit disappointed that Samsung chose to include bloatware on this otherwise fabulous machine. Luckily I was able to uninstall them, but it's frustrating nevertheless. Also, one of the big draws to this machine was the large internal hard drive. Never again will I have to be worried about a full hard drive.

Size and Weight/Aesthetics/Price

This is an ultrabook. Make no mistakes. It is thin, lightweight, looks like a real charmer, and costs about what you'd expect for an ultrabook. Actually, comparing to other machines, I'd say that for an ultrabook this is reasonably priced. Yes, it has a 14 inch screen. Yes, it's a little bit thicker than other ultrabooks on the market. Yes, it's a touch heavier than other ultrabooks on the market. But there's a trade-off between the ultimate thin and light machine and an overall robust machine. You get a heavier machine with the larger screen, with the hard drive, with the DVD drive. Would I rather skip those items to get a slightly lighter machine? No. This model is already very portable.

Summary Positive/Negatives

All in all, it's a really good machine. I had to do some configuration work out of the box. Aside from that and overall, some pretty minor complaints, this is a real gem.

Positives:

Thin, light, portable

500gb hard drive

FAST

Great cooling system

Nice 14 inch display with a matte finish

overall comfortable keyboard, minimal flex

Negatives:

-Keyboard is not backlight

-Needed to make minor adjustments to trackpad settings out of the box

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After I'd operated with a decent late 2009-vintage gaming laptop for home primary use and a netbook for my commute, and having built a gaming desktop, I found myself wanting to make some changes in how I operate my computers. I'm a systems engineer/administrator and really, really persnickity about my technology needs, and I'd already sampled the Asus Zenbook and Acer Aspire S3 completely unusable if you're a decent typist. The HP Folio 13 seems to garner high reviews, but I have serious distrust of their support and build quality, reviews aside.

In any case, I ordered the Samsung Series 5. This is a good ultrabook if you don't need it to store all the data you'll ever have the SSD is an amazing performer, but it's small after Samsung's recovery partition is set up. If you're an advanced user, you can delete it and probably have the wherewithal to do a barebones Win 7 install from the ground up. But if you're like me and want one travel notebook and don't mind not being able to play hardcore 3D games on it, you could do a lot worse in an ultrabook. 802.11n wireless networking performance over a Verizon FiOS router/modem is quite nice and USB 3.0 improved the performance of my main flash drive.

The keyboard is perfect, and Samsung chose to go with a nicely sized Elan multitouch touchpad instead of the clickpad that other ultrabooks and laptops are using to ape Mac products. I like this layout I never have to worry about resting one thumb on a button and having it impact touchpad use. Two easily-clickable buttons, a well-customizable multitouch touchpad, and a very good keyboard without the quirky sensitivity of the Zenbook means this is probably one of the best typing ultrabooks on the market today. The only drawback: it's not backlit. I'm a good typist so normal use isn't an issue, but it's been a minor fumble to adjust the brightness in the dark.

Appearance: 4 out of 5

Samsung has done a decent job of making a nice, sexy looking laptop. I dock it because the outer materials feel like plastic. I can't tell if it's metal with a plastic veneer, but it is definitely not the smooth black metallic surface of the way more expensive Series 9. However, it's not the chintzy plastic of the Toshiba Z830 or Z835. The surfaces blend well into each other and the front part of the laptop has a curve that lips upward from the bottom part. It had a lot of wow factor when I showed it to my co-workers. Moreover, Samsung proves that it knows people will be using this ultrabook in environments where lights are lit up no glossy screen here! I could clearly see the display with the sun shining behind me on the train. The 1366x768 resolution display is perfectly fine for 720p HD video, and the integrated graphics would probably have issues with real 1080p content anyway.

Portability: 5 out of 5

Okay, this should be the singular standard by which a current 13.3" ultrabook is measured. My Asus T101MT convertible netbook was 2.8lbs to the Series 5's 3.24lbs. The Asus was smaller, leading it to feel denser when it was in my light-load single-strap ergo backpack with my rooted Touchpad, papers, and small load of tech tools. I don't feel the weight difference since the Series 5's weight is well distributed for its size. I can carry it in one hand for a decent amount of time while walking around.

Functionality: 4 out of 5

This is a beastly performer of a laptop, I won't lie. I timed it over three cold boots and it went from no power whatsoever to a usable Windows desktop services and startup applications launched and running on an average of 17.375 seconds. This is phenomenal for any machine; I've only gotten close to that on my homebuilt PC when it was fresh, and that boots off a Kingston SSD. I'm told no direct means to confirm yet that the SSD itself is Samsung components, as is its controller. It loses points, though, for battery life: with wireless on and connected, a hi10p h.264 MKV video playing, 9 Google Chrome tabs open (one of which is Google Docs and the other is a Java IRC session) with the screen at medium brightness, it projects battery life at 100% charge to be 4 hours, 15 minutes. While that's better than my netbook, which had a lower-voltage processor, I was hoping that throttling down to "Silent mode" would increase battery life. Also, it has noticeable heat on the bottom left hand part of the laptop. It's not as bad as it could be, but I wish there was more of a spaced-out means of letting the heat venilate. It felt OK on my leg, though, but sitting on a memory-foam sleeve caused it to heat up noticeably.

Software/bloatware: 3 out of 5

There's a lot of crap on this laptop. If you're Joe Consumer, it's safe for you to uninstall Norton Antivirus and use the free, effective Microsoft Security Essentials. If you're an IT professional, you're going to tear your hair out over how much Samsung-proprietary crap is required to get basic usage out of the laptop. The brightness, volume, and wireless network switches are all function keys that won't just do their job with a driver no, you have to keep a Samsung utility installed. Really frustrating. It's not as bad as HP, though, and probably better than Dell's future ultrabook offering. If you know what you're doing you can extend the life of this ultrabook greatly by removing the junk.

Overall, I can't instantly recommend this ultrabook. I really would have liked to have tried an HP Folio 13 after cleaning off the bloatware, or better yet the Dell XPS 13 coming down the pipe soon. For $1100, though about $200 more than the Folio I think I can rest easy with this ultrabook. I may get the Folio and return whichever falls within the Amazon return period, but this is one hell of a machine that has really launched a missile at the Macbook Air in terms of design, usability, portability, and sexiness.

Also, just an FYI when I stopped playing the video and just typed this review, my battery life jumped to 5 hours 21 minutes with 86% remaining. That's with wireless on and display at medium. This is really on or close to Samsung's approximate 6 hour life span and, to me, way impressive. This is a real keeper of a machine!

Edit: (2/29/12) Added a note about the keyboard not being backlit.

Edit: (6/18/12) The speakers have been giving me constant problems. The right speaker simply stops working and restores itself after indeterminate and different amounts of time five minutes, three or so days, etc. It's covered under the warranty but I don't have a portable enough laptop to use for work. I'm really not happy with this issue and would urge future Series 5 Ultra buyers to beware.

Edit (8/28/12) I make this edit after traumatic experiences with Samsung support. Based on the failures I've encountered I've lost a lot of trust in Samsung as a company and am extremely, EXTREMELY wary about buying any other products.

After the speaker issue above persisted, the trackpad simply failed to recognize any input on August 4th. I work in IT so I was able to do all the basics uninstall/reinstall drivers, test external mice, play around with sensitivity, etc. When I called 1-800-SAMSUNG the rep on the phone at least didn't make me jump through hoops. He set up a repair at a depot, and while it was about 20 miles away, their hours didn't jive with my work schedule. I sent the laptop in for service on August 6th.

On August 16, it came back, but no better for the wear. The sound and trackpad are fine, but whoever put it back together did so with a small divot pushing UP FROM THE INSIDE OF THE PALMREST. As in there was about a 1-cm raised pimple-like protrusion coming upwards. Moreover, the wireless network card was degraded to uselessness I only got two bars when I was three feet from my router with clear line of sight (my wife was two rooms away and had four). I performed the usual troubleshooting, called Samsung back, and got a new ticket to send it back in, and I send it in on 8/17. On 8/20, the Samsung repair tracker shows that the laptop was received and service was again in progress.

Another week passes or so passes. Yesterday (8/28) it comes back. I open it up and push the power button nothing. Okay, maybe it's just fully discharged. I plug it in to AC power and instead of the usual orange charging light, I get a green light. Uh-oh.

Powering it on, it boots normally, but the battery indicator shows "no battery connected" and if I disconnect AC power... off it goes. Since it's an ultrabook, the battery is sealed inside the unit and it isn't the kind of laptop that you can take apart without a service manual which, of course, isn't anywhere to be found online.

I called 1-800-SAMSUNG, gave them my ticket numbers, and requested that they advance-exchange the laptop: send me a new one, I send back the continually defective one. I'm given a transaction number and am sent to Executive Customer Relations. There, I'm told that their policy forbids any action on a defective laptop unless it's evaluated by a Samsung tech... the same techs who made things less useful each time I've sent it in.

They can make no offers of a rental in the meantime, no offer to see what can be done. I ask to speak to a manager, and after a few minutes, none are found and they ask my info for a call back the next day.

At noon the next day, rounding out a month without a laptop, I call back and am told again no supervisor is available. "They may be talking to other people or unable to assist," I'm told. "They're very busy." Not as busy as I've had to be, catching up on work due to lost time since my laptop is, well, not portable or usable anymore after each repair visit. It's out of the timeframe for me to file a chargeback on my credit card and Amazon doesn't have any options to put pressure on Samsung.

I sent my story to Consumerist in hopes that it might get some kind of response. Failing that, my only real option is to start mass-mailing Samsung execs and Cc the media in hopes of prodding them into action. This laptop performed great until it had the gall to require basic repair. Don't even waste the $800 they now charge not worth the hassle.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 5 NP530U3B-A02US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver)

I bought this laptop for my wife at best buy.

She wanted a thin and light laptop preferably with a dvd drive (although personally I think a dvd drive is not really essential anymore these days)

I looked at a lot of "ultrabooks", including the acer s3, the asus zenbook, and so on.

This Samsung sticks out for 3 reasons:

1. it has a dvd drive

2. its 14 inches instead of 11 or 13,3 inches like most "ultrabooks

3. and most importantly it has a matte screen (more about that later)

While Samsung likes to call this an ultrabook (when you start up the first time, you even get a pop-up with the word Ultrabook and the Intel logo), this laptop does not qualify the Intel standards of an ultrabook. While its light, its heavier then the other ultrabooks (the dvd drive and the 14 inch screen are to blame).

Something what I found very nice is the adapter that comes with the laptop. While they are normally very bulky and heavy, the power adapter is very small (about 1/4 of my Sony Vaio adapter) and light. An extra benefit for when you are carrying this laptop with you.

This laptop comes equipped with a 500gb hard drive and a 16gb ssd from Sandisk for the booting and waking up. This makes that the laptop boots rather fast (20 to 30 seconds) but all other tasks go on normal speed (because of the normal hard drive). The fact that it doesn't have a full pledge ssd drive has it advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side you have more storage (500 gb), on the min side, its less fast.

The biggest plus and the main reason to choose this "ultrabook" is the fact that it has a matte screen. Samsung seems to be the only laptop manufacturer for the moment that understands the need for this kind of laptop to have a non reflective screen. The whole idea of making laptops more portable is so you can bring them everywhere and use whenever and wherever you want. Now you can also do this in daylight. The viewing angles are also very good.

I did have a problem with the Wifi on this model. This is however not Samsung's fault but with the intel wireless card. I had to change a setting in my verizon router (disable the qos) for it to make a stable connection with my network (took me a while to figure this out), but luckily there is google and other people with similar problems :-)

overall this is a very good laptop. the build quality is very nice. Its heavier then other ultrabooks. If you want a lighter more portable one, I suggest you look at the 13,3 inch version of this model (you do loose the dvd drive)

One last thing. On the forum here on Amazon there was some confusion about the graphics. Some press releases by Samsung mention that this model comes equipped with a separate graphics card (also mentioned in the Amazon description), this is however not the case. It has the intel shared graphics. Its more then enough for the daily stuff, but you will not be playing the latest games with this machine (the bottleneck for the Windows rating was the graphics, by the way)

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 5 NP530U3B-A02US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver)

I bought the Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook 14Inch a few weeks after its release. I was extremely excited to use it as soon as I got it. This ultrabook is promising and gives a lot of the things it mentions, but one thing I do not like about this notebook is the heating system. The vent is in the bottom of the laptop, and another one is located in between the speaker, allowing the heat to release above. I was worried that it may overheat, so I bought a cooling pad. My predictions were true. This laptop ONLY overheats when you charge it while in use. I recommend you turn off your laptop when you decide to charge it, because it gets extremely hot. But after you've finished charging, you can take off the plug, and use it normally. The heat stays neutral and you cant feel the hotness anymore.

So, this is the only thing I absolutely HATE about this laptop, is the cooling vent, because it's located in the bottom & becomes hot when you use your laptop as the same time you charge it.

--Edit

After owning this laptop for approximately 6months, I believe the heating had gotten worse, to the point where it had melted a portion of my video card chip set. A few minutes of using this laptop, the pictures & colors becomes disoriented and I always had to restart it to get its original colors back. There are also times when it fully turns white for a couple of minutes which has got to be the most frustrating thing ever, since I'd have to wait for the screen to load back. These started to happen two weeks ago. It has a one year warranty so I'm getting it checked up, but hopefully it doesn't happen to any of you. I shall provide pictures of it below.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 5 NP530U3B-A02US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver)

I did a lot of kicking around for a lot of the so-called ultrabooks. I know...some wouldn't consider this an ultrabook, but nevermind that. What I wanted was a lightweight laptop with a good battery life. I chose the Samsung Series 5 Ultra because it offered all of that, and still gave me a decent sized hard drive (I got the version with the 500Gig). Peformance wise, the SSD cache drive really makes a major impact over a traditional hard drive. You won't notice it initially...but after using it for a few days, the system seems to cache out the files I use the most and it really makes an impact on load times for your favorite apps (email, twitter, web browser, Lightroom, etc). Of course at a later date, i can always upgrade the hard drive (confirmed by Samsung) when the SSD drives are more economical and a bit larger. But that's neither here nor there.

I really like the keyboard. Coming from a more traditional laptop keyboard, the island design and the short travel of the keys took some getting used to. But it has a better more tactile feel than I'm used to, and it's really accurate. I type really fast and have no experienced any problems with the keyboard. My only complaint about the keyboard is that I wish I had dedicated page up, page down, home and end buttons (you have to do a key-combination with the 'Fn' button). albeit, there's not a lot of real-estate for such keys...but even so. I also wish the wifi button was mapped to just turn the wifi off/on...instead it pulls up the configuration manager, so that's an extra step.

The track pad is a really good quality track pad. It suppors multi-touch, and so things like zooming and scrolling are very easy (two finger slide down to scroll, pinch to zoom, etc). It's also very large with makes for easy use. However, it does take some getting used to. The upper edge is very close to the keys, and so I find myself lazily resting one of my fingers on the upper-right corner of the pad, which means when I'm trying to move with my other finger, I'm actually pinch-zooming, which is kinda annoying. But that's habitual and nothing necessarily wrong with the laptop. Besides, I shouldn't be resting my hands on the laptop in that way anyhow (bad posture). EDIT: One minor annoyance...if you start typing, or if you are holding a keyboard button, the trackpad locks up. I believe this is by design to prevent palm clicks or redirects, but there doesn't seem to be an option to change this behavior. Fro my needs, it's fine. But when it comes to gaming, this would limit the playability factor.

Let's talk battery life. By default, many of the battery saving settings are not enabled. So the first few days I thought the battery was mediocre...3-4 hours at best, and I was somewhat disappointed (and besides, I admit I never read the manual at the time). Then I discovered all of the battery saving features such as the power profiles (learn these, tweak these and use them) and some of the other tweaks. Now I'm getting 6 hours of battery life consistently. A bonus feature that I appreciate is that you can enable an option that preserves the longevity of the battery. It prevents the charger from charging the battery past 80%. Sure, you lose some battery time o the short term, but such a charging technique has been proven to increase the overall life of the battery. So I enable it, and I recommend that you should too. Side note about the charger it's small, very small. More than half the size of my old laptops "brick". Bonus.

Overall, it's a great laptop and I would recommend it to anyone. It has a few shortcomings for those of you who need a bit more performance, but this laptop (nor any of the ultrabooks) is designed for super high-performance. But I do really push this guy beyond limits. I use Photoshop and Photoshop lightroom regularly, I do play my fair share of games. And I love it.