Samsung NP-RV711-A01US Laptop Intel i3-380M 4 GB 500GB 17.3" HD LED WEBCAM

This is a good 17" laptop but if you plan on doing skype or other video conference you better get a USB webcam (with mic) or an entirely different laptop.

Usually most laptops have similar specs and will perform pretty much on par with the others. What you look for in a review is things other than performance... things that might prevent you from buying the item or make it more appealing to another.

Pros

-Screen is bright and brilliant

-Touchpad has some handy multi-touch features

-Not too heavy for a 17"

Cons

-Webcam: It does fine in good light but absolutely terribly in low light. Having a bedside lamp on does not seem to be enough for this thing. This is in comparison to a built in webcam on a laptop that was 3 years older. But again, in good light it looks just fine.

-Microphone: This is by far the worst part of this laptop. I purchased this laptop for my significant other with the idea that we would be skyping while she is out of town (which is quite often). The microphone does a poor job at picking up any sound over a few feet away and picks up EVERY noise that is going on in the laptop. When the fan kicks on for the CPU it's a deafening roar until it turns off. There are little clicks and squeaks that I'm really not sure where they are coming from. I would say hard drive noise but it now has an SSD. It's disturbing that a company like Samsung cannot seem to get this part right. Their phones and tablets have great cameras and microphones... why not the laptops?

In saying all of that it's possible that I've bought a laptop that just has a poorly mounted mic or something but I don't think that's the case.

It gets three stars because the video conferencing ability was a primary feature for us when buying this laptop. If you never use skype or the mic... then it would be great.