I stumbled upon the bad reviews left for this laptop and felt the need to share my experience. I converted from mac, since macbook airs were exceeding my budget. I cannot do windows, so I installed the next best thing to macos: ubuntu linux. A review I saw online suggested installing linux on the build-in SSD drive, which is used for windows fast boot otherwise. It works like a charm. My laptop now boots super fast and stays super fast. It loads firefox in 4 sec (initial load, not from cache) under Ubuntu. Oh, I also did not have to load any drivers for Linux, everything just works.All of the components of this laptop function flawlessly. The problems reported by other reviewers, such as spotty wireless, slowness, etc must be due to windows 8. It is not fair to blame this laptop for those. I also kept windows 8 and playing with it from time to time, and have not seen any problems there as well.
I like the keyboard and trackpad the most. They are very comfortable to use.
For this price, this laptop is highly recommended.
This machine has the most spotty wifi I've ever seen, it will connect to a network, then after you close the lid, putting it to sleep, it won't connect to the same exact network it was just on when you wake it up 5 minutes later (and I'm talking even giving it a full 5 minutes to wake up)! I've uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers about 50 times, as it's the only way to get it to reconnect.
For a Core i5 with "ExpressChache" it boots up, and runs programs, slower than my wife's basic Core i3 HP Pavilion laptop that was half the price and has more USB 3 ports and an optical drive....
The customer service is awful. I never complain about tech support in other countries, as I personally feels it gives customers the benefit of 24/7 tech support, but when you can't understand a word the technician is saying and they can't understand you, it's kind of a problem. I'm used to them forcing you to try steps you've already tried before but when they don't even understand what you are saying when you try to explain what you've already done... Ugh.
Also, and I'm not sure if this was mentioned in previous reviews, the Samsung specific apps that come installed with the machine don't work properly. The "SW Update" (to update drivers and Bios and programs) won't let you hide updates you don't want, like it keeps telling me I need to reinstall the Norton Suite it came with despite my having another antivirus installed, and half the driver updates fail. There's even an update for the wireless card but it fails every time, even when I'm hard-wire connected by Ethernet! The "S Service" app (which is supposed to allow Samsung techs to connect remotely to your PC through the internet) starts up, says "there is an update to this program", downloads the update, starts back up, says "there is an update to this program", downloads it, restarts... You get it, over and over again. I let it do this for 5 hours hoping it just had a lot of information to download but it was still going!
Now my biggest irk. I called customer care about the wireless issue, which I've seen reported everywhere EXCEPT on the Samsung Support Webpages, and after a while I was told to send the Ultrabook back to Samsung. They paid for shipping but I was responsible for packaging the Ultrabook, where as most other companies will send you a box to make sure the machine is protected in transit, and told if the software needs to be re-installed, they will charge me $40 even when it's under warranty!!!
My advice, if you have the money to waste on something that won't work correctly right from the start, waste it on something else.This item absolutelly overperforms its price, good price, great sound, perfect size, the touch screen wroks great, I'd buy I again if i went back on time. I've had it for 4 months and I've had no problems with it plus I've found it very easy to carry in my constant tripsI purchased the Samsung NP540U3C-A01UB in December 2012, along with a very similar Sony SVT13126CXS Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabook. I first applied all available software updates from the vendor and from Microsoft, and then connected them wirelessly to an elevated ASUS RT-AC66U router and installed the Intel Anti-Theft technology software (see my review at Amazon if interested). For the purposes of this review I will compare the Samsung to the Sony, since these machines are quite different from the Windows 7 PCs that I have in the same environment.
Regarding the utility of Windows 8 and touchscreens, using this system feels like a cross between using a Windows computer and a smartphone. Using the touchscreen lets you do some fun things with multi-touch gestures, but the price to be paid is that content creators (i.e. users of Desktop legacy software) have to do a few extra keystrokes or touches to start their tasks. Since all new Windows laptops ship with Windows 8, I thought it best to pay a little extra and get a touchscreen ultrabook. Certainly the light weight and 6 hour battery life are a big improvement over my Dell E6510 laptop. However the Dell achieves twice the wireless throughput (90 Mbit/second at 45 foot range through 4 walls) of either the Samsung or the Sony.
The Samsung is about 0.3 inches narrower and shallower than the Sony, and looks smaller, due to its rounded outer edges. It has been criticized for its sharp inside edge, although I haven't found that to be a problem. Both systems fit in a Case Logic 13 inch ultrabook case. The Samsung's Windows 8 Experience Index Score (top to bottom) is 6.9/5.9/4.7/6.2/5.9. Compared to the Sony, the weak points of the Samsung are: (1) Wireless adapter sometimes drops the connection (at locations where other computers can stream video with no problems), (2) Samsung software (e.g. the substitute for the Windows 7 Start Menu) and touchpad driver sometimes stops working or glitches, and is fairly annoying and confusing in that the software update application keeps prompting you to install software you may not want or need, (3) The Windows 8 Experience Index memory score is only 5.9, vs. 7.3 on the Sony, and the same-priced Sony ships with 6GB instead of 4GB RAM, and (4) The AC power connector is very small and could be accidentally damaged.
It is possible that the Samsung may have longer battery life than the Sony, because its memory runs slower and its fan runs less often. The Samsung also has more comprehensive advanced processor power management settings than the Sony does (e.g. a System cooling policy).
The bottom line for me is that I like the Sony better, but if Samsung improves their software and the memory issues prove not to be a problem, then the NP540U3C-A01UB deserves consideration if minimum size, sleek design, and longest battery life are paramount for you.I purchased this laptop about 3 weeks ago and exchanged it today for a Macbook Air.
1st complaint: Windows 8
Windows 8 is not user friendly or easy to get used to.... did not enjoy having to go online to look up how to do simple things. The app tiles are obnoxious and not handy. Windows 7 was functional....Windows 8 took about 50 steps in the wrong direction. :/
2nd complaint: Slowwwww
So slowwww, slow to switch between apps, slow to open apps, slow in general.
3rd complaint: Fan noise
On the days Skype would open and I was talking to a friend, he asked me if someone was mowing the lawn D: and this was just the fan noise going directly into the built-in microphone.
4th complaint: Picture files
Pictures save to multiple locations, not all to the same one. I am used to Macs where everything just makes sense intuitively....this did not make sense. Every camera app ends up having it's own file of photos. :/
These are the reasons I had to return. Did work very well for Netflix, enjoyed the screen clarity and great audio. Touch screen was responsive but I found it to be gimmicky and not actually that useful. Maybe fun for kids (playing games) but for that purpose, why not just get a tablet or iPad?
1 comments:
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