Aesthetically Pleasing, But..., Aesthetically Pleasing, But...
I was shopping for a new laptop in Best Buy after dropping my Gateway and cracking its screen when this laptop caught my eye. It's considerably thin when closed and has a very sleek modern look, with its shiny silver encasement and a keyboard outlined in a hard glossy black plastic. After looking at the specs what shocked me even more was the price. For $550, this laptop offers 500 GB of hard drive space, 4 GB of RAM, and an Intel i3 processor. Anyone who's in the market for a new laptop knows that for those features, that's a pretty good price, right? The salesman gave me reasoning for such a good price, "Samsung is just getting their feet wet with computers, so..." That was convincing and I've had such good luck with Samsung products in the past. I had even considered fixing my 2 year old Gateway, which never worked quite right in the first place, but I decided that going ahead and buying a brand new laptop was the better choice and scooped this one up. Here are the upsides:
-Obviously, the 500 GB of hard drive is a plus, even though I store most of my media/data on an external hard drive. It's good to know that if I need it, it's there.
-Believe it or not, the i3 is a mighty little processor. Teamed up with 4 Gigs of RAM, it's impressive. Programs move pretty fast and when I open my laptop after closing, it quickly resumes the operating system. Nice!
-The LED display is average notebook size at 15.
Great laptop, I bought this laptop about 8 months ago and I absolutely love it. I am a teacher and move from school to school during the day so it travels everywhere with me. I have not had a single problem with it so far, despite the abuse it takes on a daily basis. I absolutely love the "quick restart" after closing the lid because when I am teaching it is nice that my computer is back on in 5 seconds. My old computer took a minute before I could get back on and access programs. The keyboard types very easily and it doesn't feel like a "laptop" keyboard to me. Having a side number keypad was absolutely essential for me as well, which this computer does. My only complaint is that the silver finish near the keyboard is a little scratched up, but again, I am not easy on it. As long as it is still working okay, it doesn't bother me. Despite the wear, I still have students saying how fancy the laptop looks even though this was relatively cheap compared to comparable laptops of equal build. I love the screen - it is very bright and I usually keep the brightness near the lowest setting to help with battery life and I find the brightest settings are just too bright for my eyes. The computer is great at multitasking - I am often running MS Word, PowerPoint, and internet at the same time, and sometimes have Adobe Photoshop going too, which is a huge program. I was hesitant when I bought it to break away from the more popular brands of computers (Dell, Compaq, HP, etc.) but I am so glad I did. I am so much happier with this computer than I was with my last few and would buy another one in a heartbeat! I highly recommend it if you are looking for a durable, quality computer.
hmm., I just bought this computer 2 days ago,
I had a much more expensive HP before hand, it broke within a year & never operated correctly...
I couldn't install windows 7 on it because something messed up the first time and I had to do a complete system reboot to even be able to watch videos or listen to music on it.... essentially it wasn't worth what I paid...and I/computer techs couldn't figure out this problem for 6 months! so essentially I didn't watch videos or listen to music for 6 months on a comp... HP finally fixed it with a system reboot.
So I began researching Samsung considering we have a tv and a phone in my house by them (we got the tv to replace a sony tv that blew out within a year, don't buy a sony tv ppl!) and it seemed like they have about the same standards as most hp's...if not better.
but I find the design better, I don't feel like i'm going to break it if I drop it. I dropped my HP and it broke, the costs were almost as much as my new samsung to fix it... it just wasn't worth it.
the whole bezel as they called it was connected to the other side of the computer, all the way across the 16' laptop, on my samsung, it has 2 hinges connected to the bottom verses all the way across, it seems like a cheaper fix if it did break.
I love everything about this laptop, the keyboard gives me the feeling that i'm using a mac, it doesn't have the deep crevices that you can't clean like regular laptops, it's buttons are almost flush with the actual computer which I like...
Perfect laptop for Linux freaks, The previous reviews covered most (if not all) of the positives about this computers. As for one reviewer's dislike of the keyboard, that's clearly a matter of taste as I find the keyboard OK, position-wise and the feel of the keys.
Anyhow, to take up the issue stated in this review title. The first thing I did after acquiring the RV-511 was to junk Windows 7 and install GNU-Linux Ubuntu 10.04. This is the most recent Long Term Support Ubuntu distro. It installed without ANY problems at all. And needed only the Broadcom driver to get wifi working faultlessly. I disabled the touchpad (it is very sensitive) and use a mouse instead. The screen is bright with good color rendition. The sound, well, mediocre comes to mind.
The RV-511 runs very quietly and cool. I've monitored the temperatures fairly frequently and they are well below the point where the fan needs to cut in.
For the few Windows apps that don't have any near (or as good as) Linux equivalents available from the repositories, I installed VirtualBox with Windows XP SP3 as the guest OS. I've had this on a desktop for over a year now and it is ultra stable, no problems at all.
I'm very pleased with this machine. It has been running now for 3 months It performs very well and, so far, no hassles. As far as looks are concerned, it's an attractive package, silver and black lid, silver case and a nice glossy black keyboard panel.
Poor functionality with this computer!!, I purchased a Samsung RV 511 a few months ago and it has been one of the most annoying computers I have ever owned! When typing, then curser jumps all over the screen placing and moving text at random. The computer freezes and crashes on a regular basis. I have spent a huge amount of time trying to get help from Samsung customer service, but with no positive results.
6-Cell Li-ion battery Intel Core i3-380M 2.53 GHz CPU Samsung RV511-A01 Core i3-380M Dual-Core 2.53 GHz 15.6-inch Laptop General Features: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit pre-installed w/CoA reinstallation partition Silver textured finish with black keyboard 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM (supports up to 8 GB, actual available memory may be less)
6-Cell Li-ion battery Intel Core i3-380M 2.53 GHz CPU.Samsung RV511-A01 Core i3-380M Dual-Core 2.53 GHz 15.6-inch Laptop General Features:.Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit pre-installed w/CoA reinstallation partition.Silver textured finish with black keyboard.4 GB DDR3 SDRAM (supports up to 8 GB, actual available memory may be less). Powerful Processing The RV511 has a state-of-the-art Intel® CoreTM i3 processor with Hyper-Threading Technology. This uses the processor resources more efficiently, enabling multiple threads to run on each core. It will enable better graphics and allow you to run demanding applications, simultaneously. Vibrant LED-Backlit HD Display The RV511's 15.6" LED-backlit LCD HD display produces bright, colorful HD images and is combined with SRS premium sound for impressive gaming and multimedia. With a 16:9 aspect ratio, you can watch true HD movies in 16:9 widescreen format that fits the full size of the screen, without any black bands. You'll see images that are fine-tuned with the sharpest details and boldest colors.Power Back up in 3 Seconds with Fast Start You no longer have to shut down your Samsung computer, just close its lid and it goes into a special powerless sleep mode. When you open the lid your computer comes back to life in 3 seconds and you are exactly at the same place as when you shut the lid. Fast Start saves your data and system configurations to your hard drive and PC memory. So, when you power it back on it is just like you left it.Your Favorite Content on Your Big Screen Intel® Wireless Display (WiDi) brings all your photos, videos, online content, and more-right from this compact notebook and onto your big screen. Simply connect an adapter* from the RV511 to your TV, follow a few simple steps then sit back and enjoy your digital life with the great image quality and sound of your TV. *adapter sold separatelyStay Connected The RV511 lets you easily connect to your digital life, with 3 USB 2.0 ports to connect your camera, printer and phone, VGA for an external monitor, RJ45 LAN to easily connect to a network, and a 4-in-1 multi-card slot to wirelessly transfer media such as videos, music and photos. And if you need to be in touch face-to-face, the built-in webcam makes videoconferencing possible from virtually anywhere.
