Samsung NP-RF710-S02US 17.3" Notebook PC

Ok, so I'm a radical computer geek. Have been for over 15 years. I'm partial to Windows PC, but before purchasing this Samsung laptop I researched price, capabilities, and speed for 3 months before purchase.

So, I picked up this Samsung on a killer deal $899. Comparable units sell for $1200+. As a computer geek I was intent on a Quad processor with minimum 4GB main RAM, and 1GB video RAM this unit has both. 4GB is just the minimum these days and this unit can support 8GB total. 1GB video RAM is essential if you are gaming or doing video/picture production. I to the latter doing photo retouches and video compilations. Of course I do some occassional gaming, but that is not my primary function.

Samsung TVs are renowned for their LCD/LED technology. The screen on this laptop is CRYSTAL clear, vibrant, and combined with the video card and video RAM snappy and responsive. It support full HD as well. And given that this unit comes with a Blu-ray player oh, baby. One of the key items I searched for was a powerful quad processing latop with a fantastic display but yet light weight. Most 17" laptop weigh in at 8-9lbs with the battery. This Samsun unit is just a little over 6lbs with battery. It is light weight and easy to move around with despite the 17" display. Nor does this unit heat up on your lap cool and comfortable. While the battery does ok, I also did buy a 8 cell battery either. Yet is easily handles my writing sessions when I kick back on the couch and don't want to be tethered.

Another feature I like as an IT person is that Samsung has carved out at 17GB space on the hard drive for the restore/recovery function. No DVD to boot from or risk of getting lost in the office. You can restore to factory shipping in a snap. Further, Samsung is innovative enough to provide the Samsun Recovery Solution. This is an app that, in the form of a wizard, guides you through creating a snapshot of your system that you can restore from. Now isn't that handy.

The keyboard is well made and has raised keys just like a Mac. Good idea and glad that Windows PC makers have finally embraced this design. The keys aren't backlit, so if you are a gamer who wants that, it might limit you. But let's be honest, if you are a gamer with any skillz, you won't need backlit keys it is all muscle memory, right? The sound on this system is crisp as well. First time my wife has ever told me to turn down the sound on a laptop. So, movies on the go won't require headphones or additional speakers for car or hotel use. No additional gear to lug around. The other enhanced features finally on Windows touchpads are scrolls and swipe shortcuts. The Samsung touchpad supports many of the typical Mac swipe short cuts, but the one I find most endearing is the scroll function that activates on a web page when you touch your finger along the right border of the touchpad. In doing so, with just the slight movement of your finger, you can scroll up/down the active page. Now that is handy, no?! :-)

Look, if you are looking for a combination laptop that is high performance, with sharp looks, a cutting edge display and some nice usability features, this Samsung unit will fill the bill. It is a "gamer performance" laptop but elegant and priced like a high end business laptop. And honestly, if you look at comparable units with similar displays and h/w specs (at $1200+), you'll see the the Samsung unit is well priced below the competition and even more so if you find it on sale like I did.

I love the computer... I am never buying anything less than 17 laptops again. THis PC is great for its cost. Be aware, you may need to update the nvidia software for the screen though... easy install...

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I searched for a laptop to replace old one.

Afrer comparison, I chose this one from Samsung.

It is silent, has a wide secrren, clear resolutin.

For the bucks, it is a recommendable product.

But, key pad is quite annoying, as it

lost its direction in the middle.

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Powerful processor. Same graphics as the Macbook Pro

Trackpad with Mac like advanced functions, however lacks touch sensitivity

Direction pad arrows overlap 10 key, making it annoying to navigate in word documents, Spreadsheets, flight sim, other games, or areas requiring key inputs.

Does have exception processing power as stated above. Can run a flight sim with full detail, on top of 30 tabbed out windows on Firefox, with 10 other applications running in the background. Will get occasional hiccup on video under these extreme conditions, but generally I can close some other programs to free up system resources, and in most realistic scenarios I will only have Word, Misc program and heavy Web Browsing, with no problems at all running a maxed out flight simulator.

SD CARD READER DOES NOT SPRING EJECT BY DESIGN TO SAVE MONEY. This is one annoying corner to have cut. You have to pick up the front of the laptop chassis and fish your card out using your fingernail. SERIOUSLY Samsung, what does the CARD EJECT SPRING SET YOU BACK IN PRODUCTION? No more than a Dollar, tops, maybe 50 cents. Its small subtleties like that which make me wonder how long this machine is engineered to last to begin with. Clearly this laptop is disposable in their eyes, and I would expect forced obsolescence well before Moore's Law would have it.

Lack of PCMCIA card bus slot, I guess I could live with out it, and most people probably don't utilize one, but I have some odd projects that now I must use my old laptop for (which was a Gateway NX860, and in my opinion, a better quality built keyboard, chassis, and with an eject-able memory card reader)

I really bought this thinking the i7 would help me keep up with the rest of the modern world, but it seems that the faster computers get, the more windows OS will demand of it making the improvements marginal at best.

I did like the dual HDD bay, as I was able to pull my old one and run them both with some degree of work. You can go into the BIOS and set HDD boot priority, loading into your old computer, considering you have the drivers available to do this, so before you put your old HDD, burn the drivers to CD, as the SD will likely have other drivers, and NIC will likely not work to DL them. Shutdowm, switch HDD, boot to new Samsung W7 64, make driver disk, shut down, switch to old HDD... It can become time consuming is all.

Works well with Ubuntu which I have on my other HDD, dual booting alongside my 32 bit version of Windows 7 on my old 500GB 7200 HDD Giving me over 1TB. I still would like the simplicity of XP, and may install that at a later date when I have time to do my massive HDD and File migration and reorganization project.

Screen seems to get marks from transport against keys. USE A CLOTH OR SOME BARRIER TO PROTECT YOUR SCREEN.

The Laptop will fit snugly into an OGIO Mastermind 17in Laptop bag.

http://www.amazon.com/Upscale-Mastermind-Messenger-Laptop-Backpack/dp/B00332MA1E/ref=pd_sbs_a_3

(the one I got did NOT have the White piping around the smaller outer pocket)

Will not fit the OGIO Metro.. FYI.

The Laptop has sharp corners that snag while trying to insert it into the Smaller Ogio Metro, overall chassis design is poorly laid out IMO.

Not really any bloatware to mention, one program to uninstall, which is nice, compared to HP, and if you have ever had one recently, you know what I am referring to.

Fast start is awesome.

Charging via USB, would be nice if it were accessible from a laptop backpack, more toward the edge of the corner where you might be able to leave slightly unzipped to have access to USB port, and to be able to plug AC Adapter in to charge the laptop in with minimal effort while on the go. As it is, you must remove the laptop to charge it (at least in my bag) my old laptop had the power AC plug located behind the corner. And on the same token, my classic car didn'd need smog or seat belt chimes either...

My next laptop will likely be a mac, as they integrate the i7 chipset into the 17" models, and they just work. This seemed like the next best thing, but with no stores I could try it in person near my house, or even state for that matter, I had to go off of the TigerDirect reviewer's push on YouTube.

This is a generally all around very decent laptop that I am using to go thru my Flight School and University endeavors, with short battery life, some corners cut to save money on production, 5400 Rpm HDD, etc, in otherwords, some compromises made on quality to be able to push an i7 chipset... Call me picky, but, stuff like the SD card reader and bulky protrusions on the edge of the laptop would have been easy fixes, as well as fixing the 10 key and D pad. I wouldn't return it, because at the time, there were no better laptops comparable to this for a grand. Biggest complaint is the Card reader and D Pad where the 0 should be on the 10 key. Oh, and the fact that Samsung seemed clueless when I called them to ask if the card reader had a broken spring and needed repair, or if it was just a poorly designed feature.

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