Solved! Samsung Series 9 for College Engineering Student?

[dis1krazyazn]

I'm an undergrad majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I currently own a HP dv7-3160us 17in laptop. I bought it because I thought I'd be watching lots of movies and playing video games in college, but I ended up not doing so freshman year due to the course load.

The Samsung Series 9 is under CNET's best laptops and best ultraportable laptops http/reviews.cnet.com/best-laptops/ but I'm worried that it won't be able to run engineering programs and work that I will need to do my sophomore-senior year. During my freshman year, I just took lots of basic classes such as calculus and physics, so I'm not too familiar with all of the programs/work that I will be having to do in the future on my laptop.

Also what's the difference between these 2 Amazon links for the Samsung Series 9. One has 02 in the name and other 03, but I can't figure out what's different.
http/www.amazon.com/Samsung-NP900X3A-A02US-13-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B004NF3Z82
and
http/www.amazon.com/Samsung-NP900X3A-A03US-13-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B004NF5RU6

 

[WR2]

Hello dis1krazyazn;

What kind of hardware does the university use in the Electrical and Computer Engineering labs?
Does your school give you hardware specs for your major?

 

[dis1krazyazn]

Hello dis1krazyazn;

What kind of hardware does the university use in the Electrical and Computer Engineering labs?
Does your school give you hardware specs for your major?

Hi! I just searched and here's the recommendations for the 2011-2012 glass for PC Laptops
http://www.colorado.edu/its/recommendations/studentpclap.html

I told my dad about my concerns with the hard drive size and he said he can always give me an external drive if I need extra space or anything. He's also an engineer.

 

[WR2]

Minimum Recommendation: Core i5 2540M

The Samsung Series 9 ULV CPUs you linked @ Amazon don't meet the suggested min requirements for CPU by about 10%

Core i5 2540M CPU review PCMark Vantage score: 9499
Core i5-2537M CPU review PCMark Vantage score: 8657

 

[dis1krazyazn]

Minimum Recommendation: Core i5 2540M

The Samsung Series 9 ULV CPUs you linked @ Amazon don't meet the suggested min requirements for CPU by about 10%

Core i5 2540M CPU review PCMark Vantage score: 9499
Core i5-2537M CPU review PCMark Vantage score: 8657

So do you recommend I don't get it then or should I still get it? Because last year I followed the 2010-2011 help guide from the website too and got the HP dv7-3160us which met the requirements then. But the only programs I used for my class was Mathematica, Putty (a SSH client so we could learn to program in C), and this schematic thing to make a clock. And the only required one was Putty so we could work on our homework at home. Mathematica, and the schematic program were both available on the school computers. Plus we can also rent laptops from the IT, so those should meet the minimum requirements anyways, right? Incase I get the Samsung and it won't run something I need to do work on, then I could just rent a laptop or use the Engineering computer labs. But would the Series 9 be able to handle just beginners programming or maybe MatLab or something?

 

[WR2]

Neither the Amazon website of the Samsung Series 9 website is any help de-coding the model nbr differences between the A02US and A03US.
It could be something stupid like different models of 128GB SSD.

 

[dis1krazyazn]

Neither the Amazon website of the Samsung Series 9 website is any help de-coding the model nbr differences between the A02US and A03US.
It could be something stupid like different models of 128GB SSD.

Thanks for trying to search. I couldn't find anything either. All I noticed was that the A03 had cheaper prices and more reviews.

But regarding your 2nd most recent post about it being 10% less than the min requirements for CPU. Do you think I should get it or no? If I was to get it, I was going to hold off until 2 weeks into July so that way I could text the wifi at my house and then also at the school's dorms. Because all of the bad reviews on Amazon are giving it 1 or 2 stars due to the wifi connection. And apparently half of the people are getting their Series 9 with a good wifi, while the other half are having super bad wifi connections.

 

[WR2]

I think the CPU of the series 9 shouldn't hold you back from choosing it. I think it's 'close enough'.
In your place I'd sure enjoy having a higher resolution (1600x900 or better) screen to work on. Do you have an external monitor you keep in the dorm?

I was thinking something like a Dell Latitude E6420, a docking station and a 21.5" 1920x1080 LCD monitor all for around the same price as that Series 9.

 

[WR2]

Here is the Series 9 for about $180 less @ NewEgg
SAMSUNG Series 9 900X3A-A03 Notebook

 

[dis1krazyazn]

No I don't have an external monitor but I did see lots of the guys above me have them last year.

But now that I think about it...What's the chord you need to hook up your laptop to a TV screen/how can you tell if your TV has the correct outlet? Cuz I have a 20" TV screen that I brought to school last year to watch television at the dorm. But then my other friend was able to hook up his laptop to his TV screen with an HDMI cable I think. But I've had my TV for awhile so I don't think it would have an HDMI outlet...is there any other outlet it could have that would allow me to set up my laptop to it? Sorry for all the questions. I really appreciate all of your help!!

 

[trogdor796]

How old is the TV? If its a flat panel, there's a good chance it has HDMI. If it doesn't, it may have a VGA input, which nearly all laptops have a VGA out port. The quality wont be as good as HDMI, but not much worse. I don't know how far back it was that they started making TV's with VGA inputs, so I can't guess on the likely hood of yours having one.

 

[dis1krazyazn]

How old is the TV? If its a flat panel, there's a good chance it has HDMI. If it doesn't, it may have a VGA input, which nearly all laptops have a VGA out port. The quality wont be as good as HDMI, but not much worse. I don't know how far back it was that they started making TV's with VGA inputs, so I can't guess on the likely hood of yours having one.

here's a pic of the back i just took now for you

 

[trogdor796]

I'm afraid that there's no VGA or HDMI input on there. Hate to be bearer of bad news. Some laptops do have a "S-Video" output though. Besides that, I'm sure there are adapters that will allow you to display it on the tv. But if the TV is only standard definition, the picture wont really look good on it.

 

[dis1krazyazn]

no worries! what's a good size for an external monitor? maybe i'll look at some if i do get the series 9. so do you recommend me getting one with hdmi input more than vga, or does either one work?

 

[WR2]

You can get a HDMI to S-Video adapter cables to match up your laptop outputs with your TV inputs.

But on an older 4:3 aspect ratio TV you're going to be working with screen resolutions that are lower than even a standard 1366x768 LCD screen. Very little advantage to going that route if you have other options.

You can get good deals on space saving 21.5~23" 1920x1080 LCD monitors.
Here is a 23" model with digital TV tuner: SAMSUNG P2370HD-1 23" LCD HDTV Monitor & speakers $220