HOW ARE SAMSUNG LAPTOPS? PLEASE GO THROUGH THE DETAILS.

[sarthaksia]

I am planning to buy Samsung 3 series NP305E5Z-S01IN. Specs are as follows :-
DOS
AMD Dual-Core A4-3305MX Accelerated Processor (1.9GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
AMD Radeon™ HD6470M (PowerXpress) (1GB DDR3 (Ext. Graphic))
4GB DDR3 System Memory at 1,333MHz (4GB x 1)
500GB S-ATA II Hard Drive (5,400RPM)

I've heard that since Samsung is new in laptops, its performance and service is doubtful. Basically, I will be working on CATIA and other CAD softwares on this laptop. They require higher CPU usage and better graphics. I won't play games on it. I will use it for office purpose, watching movies, internet surfing, etc.

Will it be able to run softwares like CATIA, ANSYS, UGX ? I will be using these softwares on beginner level, not professional. But I need atleast 3 GB RAM and 1 GB graphics card.

I've heard that there is HEATING PROBLEM in Samsung laptops. While playing games, one should switch off Silent Mode to increase fan speed and hence improve cooling. Also, its not easy to clean its cooling fan. Is it true? Obviously, cooling stand will help but to some extent. Its not possible to use it everywhere.

What about battery life?

Actually, my budget is at max. Rs. 30,000. And this laptop costs me Rs. 25,000. I've heard Dell, HP, Sony, etc. are good but none of them fit my budget with similar config. Is there any other brand or model better than this?

MY MAIN CONCERN IS RELIABILITY, DURABILITY AND PERFORMANCE OF "SAMSUNG".

What are the PROS & CONS of SAMSUNG laptops?

NEED URGENT HELP.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

A link would help, but if you are that worried buy another make...

All the best Brett

 

[RetiredChief]

Last three laptops in order of oldest purchase date.
Toshibia Dual core, Toshba core 2 daul, Samsung RF711-SO1.
The samsung (i5-2510M w/540m dGPU. 8 gigs ram, 2 x 256 gig SSDs, Blue ray Rom/DVD-RW drive) was purchased over a year ago.
I have hade No proms with any of the three laptops they are all 3 still in use.
The Only con I could identify is the HDD to MB connection. My samsung uses two short cables vs most Laptops using a connector that is mounted on MB. But then have had no problem with that and I often swap the One SSD in and ou often (one SSD has Win 8 and the Other SSD win 7. The 2nd HDD bay has the 2 nd storage SSD.

Dated but may still be relavent.
From Most reliable / least user problems:
Asus -> Toshibia -> sony -> dell -> HP -> Acer.
.. Dell and HP make some excellent "Expensive" enterprise models, their Consummer models do not fair as well.
.. Understand some of the newer Acer Models have improved on their quality.
.. Samsung Was not lisited at that time. Myself I'd probably rate them about on par with toshibia.

Battery Life, More dependent on system vs Battery size than on brand. I can watch a DVD on plan, but thats about it. Also battery life is seldem as advertised, Normally less and That is true For MOST all brands.

 

[assasin32]

I personally had a dell laptop, lets just say NEVER again. I can rant on about them for hours, they had a habit of never fixing or attempting to fix hardware problems when I sent it in. After sending it around 10times I gave up on them. I take some comfort in the fact I have probably steered more people than I care to count away from them due to my experience which easily cost them over 10k in lost sells.

As for Samsung and their quality of their laptops. I picked up the new arm based samsung chromebook and for $250 (or anything under 1k) I feel it is high build quality for what it is and I will go so far as to say I am impressed by it especially for this price point. As anything else in this price point feels cheap and doesn't work quite as well (that I've used).

Not quite what you want to know for info, but hope it helps somewhat.

 

[sarthaksia]

Thanks a lot guys.

What about CATIA and other CAD softwares? Is this configuration enough to run them? I've never used AMD processor. Plus its 1.9 GHz only.

Asus laptops are also good and cheap.

 

[RetiredChief]

Frequency (Speed) for CPUs has dropped off, but that is because of the improvements in design effiency, Both for AMD and Intel. More so for Intel.
Bottom line is that you can not compare the higher Speed of yester years with todays CPU.

That said, I try to stay away from amd vs Intel, but you may find that your CPU may be a wee on the slow side for CAD - BUT that is dependent on the CAD software.

Quote:
Processors are pretty much the most important part of a computer. They play a large role in CAD software. Basically, the computer uses the processor to do everything. All of the calculations a computer makes are handled by the processor. As such, the faster the processor, the quicker everything runs.
End Quote.
This is some what dated (Feb 2011) so Ivybridge and newer AMD chips are not included.
Read the entire articale to get a good feel.
Ref: http/www.studica.com/blog/building-a-cad-computer

Myself, based on that articale, Id, probably shoot for a i5-3xxxx with a Nvidia dGPU. emphasis on CPU and then on GPU. I'm Not sure How well the HD 4000 (iGPU for IB) will work for CAD, The iGPU for SB (ix-2xxx) is a much weaker HD3000.

The other reason I tend to lean toward Intel, is not really the CPU, but the chipsets that are used on the MB. Intel lately has provided better optimized Chipsets and more timely driver updates. Please Note this is primarily in the area of using an SSD currently. You are not going to use one based on budget, However a year after your purchase it MAY become an option.

 

[captgarrett]

Series 3 = turds
Series 5 @ up ok.

Samsung makes terrible platter hard drives, which they do use in their laptops. So overall I'd not get one. If you find one with a solid state HD in it, that's another story. Their SSD's are awesome.

 

[RetiredChief]

1) Samsung F3 was one of the best HDDs available (except for more expensive enterprise HDDs), Infact preferable over the WD blacks (these are the only 2 drives that I buy).
2) That said, Samsung sold most of their HDD lines to Seagate. The F3 is still made at the same plant, by the same people - hopefully Seagate will not degrade them.
3) May be correct on Laptop 2.5" drives, but then Toshibia laptop drives are not that great either. Other than Samsung and Toshibia, you take pot luck on what Brand/model HDD you get.

As to SSDs, Yes they are fantastic. Have two in my Samsung RF711 and two for My Tosibia laptop (have to swap in/out depending on what I'm doing.
.. However, I do NOT recommend Buying the laoptop with one installed.
A) the overcharge
B) Typically they are the slower, lower end models. Granted these are still way faster than a Mechnical HDD. But you can my a 256 gig Crucial M4 or a Samsung 830 for around $160 on sale. Since SSDs ater n the low side for capacity (500 gig SSDs ar still pretty expensive), you still need the HDD which can then be used as an external USB dive.