Samsung - Laptop / AMD E-Series Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 320GB Hard Drive

Purchased for new college student - Use will be for standard productivity programs, Movies, FB, Email. Games are not a priority in this purchase. Key to realize is that this is an AMD Fusion chip computer, which means it has decent HD graphics built in, and will output to your High Def computer via HDMI - great if your streaming NetFlix or running a DVD. The downside is that it is not the fastest chip ever made, so it is not going to run games at top frame speed. You get what you pay for. However my son has a Lenova with the same chip and it runs a full version of photoshop at an acceptable manner, which is not something other entry level computers do - a big advantage of the AMD Fusion chip As such, and for the intended us - very happy so far. Pros: Cost to Performance Ratio - low price, good performance (for intended use!). 4 G of memory, 500 g HD, decent screen, DVD burner, HDMI output, AMD Fusion Chip Cons: Overselling of "extras" by BB staff. Ext War, set up, etc.. When I say no thanks, I mean it. Finally had to tell the staffer if he said another word I was walking out.. Also, sales had no idea that the value the AMD fusion has and why it is the best entry level chip - probably because seling the lowest cost laptop on the floor is not what BB really wants to do. Having said that, set up is not a no brainer. Computer requires a fair bit of selective bloatware removal and required updates before it is ready to rock. Probably took about 2 hours to get it ready to go. Not that hard, but if you are a newbie to computers, you probably should pay for set up. Whats OK Battery life at 4.5 hours is good, but not steller. Keyboard is ok, not typical - try it out in the store. Frame flexes some. Overall - highly recomended for an entry level laptop

So far, I have advised two people to buy this computer, and so far, so good. It is a fantastic value for the price and performs well. I suspect that the computer is manufactured by HP, since it contains a "Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Pavilion DM1Z-3000 Host bridge". Google it, and you will find that the "Pavilion DM1Z" is HP's slighly more expensive computer based on the same AMD Zacate platform. CONSTRUCTION and COMPONENTS The computer seems well built, and has limited shiny surfaces so it doesn't attract as many finger prints as other models. The keyboard has island or chicklet keys, and it takes some getting used to. That said, Samsung has manged to squeeze in a number pad, and the Ctrl, Esc, and Del keys are in the corners where they should be. (Lenovo, for example, puts the "fn" key all the way in the bottom left instead of Ctrl) My only outright complaint in terms of construction is the microphone, which is below they keyboard instead of next to the webcam. My primary compaint however is that screen does have a habbit of getting a little flickery some times, and i don't know why, but it doesn't seem to cause any real problem and goes a way relatively quickly, so I won't harp on it much. SOFTWARE and DRIVERS The computer comes pre-installed with a smattering of bloatware. Less than most models, but annoying none the less. There is a lot of "Samsung Easy [Thing]", where [Thing] would be "Battery Manager" or "Display Manager" and so on. Definite plus, though, is that the restore DVD is actually just a Windows 7 Home Premium install disc, so it's easy to do a clean format, and get Windows running like a champ. If you have a computer-savvy friend, I highly recommend doing just that, plus you can reclaim the 18 gigabytes that the "Restore Partition" takes. Be warned, Windows 7 has limited driver support for this platform though. If you install either the Ethernet or Wireless LAN driver from the Samsung website, however, and begin applying Windows Updates, by the time there are no more updates left, ALL hardware will be working just fine, including the Ethernet port, which some people are saying is a problem (it is not.) LINUX If you like the idea of a computer that can run the Open Source Linux OS, this is DEFINITELY the computer for you. As near as I can tell, all the hardware works just fine out of the box. I haven't tested the microphone or SD card reader, but I have no reason to think that either of those would not work. The graphics, sound, webcam, and function buttons were all detected just fine, and work as expected. PERFORMANCE The performance is certainly the computer's strongest point. The Zacate platform has been hailed as being 40% faster for tasks such as gaming than an Intel Core i5. Certainly, once configured, the computer performs smoothly and quickly. Windows seems to not handle the multitasking as well as it could, but I do not believe this is the fault of the processor, since the performance slowdowns mirrors my quad-core desktop. Linux clocks the processor at around 3193 bogomips, and each core can run at an independent clock speed to save power. The Radeon HD graphics card is great, and should handle everything an average user needs with ease. If you are a casual gamer, you should also find the graphics card suitable. Don't expect to play things in full HD on an external display with maximum settings, but if you can sacrifice the fancy effects, you should be good to go.

Solid laptop for the price. Better than other Samsung's I have seen and considered purchasing. Laptop was well built--solid and doesn't feel cheap. Not too "plasticky". Screen is very clear. Key pad is solid. The touchpad has an odd feel and it takes getting used too. I've had Dells previously and something feels off but it's workable. 4 Gb memory meant things work relatively smoothly--not super fast but better than average. Samsung has lots of pre-installed junk that I got rid of ASAP and the initial loading of the laptop took some time. Pay attention to other reviews that mention that ethernet adapter doesnt work with the laptop--they are correct that the driver isn't installed-took some figuring out and some turning off of modem/pc/establishing IP address rigamarole but its fixable. Just a pain and not something you should have to deal with for a new laptop. Also don't try to play any graphic intensive games on this---don't let the AMD Radeon tag fool you...it cant handle anything too recent gaming wise (Call of Duty etc.)---but for the price you shouldn't expect it to. A good buy for the price and better than some pricier Samsungs that i've come across. To summarize I expected less for the price I paid so i'm very pleased.

PROS: Great graphics capabilities, very nice crisp screen, easy setup, fast, not too much bloatware, HDMI Out, DVD burner, clean look, price, number pad, runs Minecraft like a boss, decent battery life CONS: CPU (more below), cheap construction, screen is very reflective, keyboard has no proper separation This is an excellent computer for a budget. The capabilities are far and and away better than any comparable Intel machine in terms of graphics. It is at least a little better than the Celerons that usually come at this range. The keyboard is okay for speed typing, but there is a learning curve to the keyboard, as the home keys are not well spaced, and the keys all feel the same. The number pad makes up for this issue in spades. With an HDMI out port, it becomes a cheap and portable HTPC. In fact, Media Center is front and center on the home list in Windows. The bloatware is thankfully limited. After a quick round of uninstalls and installs, the system was ready to rock. The CPU matches the Windows index of a 4 year old Pentium dual core. This is to say that it is quite capable of doing your basic work, and can especially take advantage of multiple thread apps (Office thankfully included), there will be some "chug" when heavy multitasking is involved. The screen is very crisp, and looks great with movies. The sound is tinny, but actually very full from a low budget device. The settings make it easy to go even louder. The build quality is somewhat cheap as the price would indicate. The ridged topside is nice, but I suspect that it will become more of a nuisance and ugly as time goes on. The look is overall sleek, but, again, the keyboard and area underneath is somewhat creaky. This is a great choice for a cheap, budget gamine computer. It will play Rome Total War with many others being installed currently. As mentioned, it plays Minecraft like a champ. Overall, a great bargain at the price. Get it if you want a cheap gaming rig that will give you decent battery. Great job, Samsung and AMD!

My wife and I have been through four laptops in three years: a Toshiba, two HPs, and a Dell. Sometimes the issue is our making (e.g. spilled coffee on the keyboard) and sometimes it's the laptop (dead battery). But one thing I've learned is that nearly every company delivers products that have something wrong straight out-of-the-box. I've also learned to judge those companies by how well they address the issue. Which brings me to this Samsung. A few raves first: the display is very crisp (better than our other laptops) and the speed is fast, particularly considering it has a relatively slow processor. Its weight, keyboard, mousepad all get high marks. That's very subjective, and others may disagree, but for us, its look and feel are spot on. Now to the issue. When my wife typed the cursor jumped around. She'd be two lines into an email only to have the cursor jump back to the beginning. Very annoying. Turns out her palm was accidentally touching the pad and moving the cursor. There was no obvious fix - the laptop's guide explained how to fix it, but the driver to perform the fix was mixing. I took a deep breath and called Samsung's support. I've called pretty much every major PC maker's support numbers, and they almost always are lousy. But not this time. First, I didn't have to wait long to speak to someone. Second, when I reached general customer support and not tech support, I was quickly transfered - again, with no wait. Third, I actually understood the tech guy. Pretty sure it was a domestic call center. Fourth, he walked me through a simple fix (turning the touchpad on and off), and when I said that wasn't ideal, he walked me through downloading the driver from Samsung's site. It was a flawless experience. And the new driver (from Elan) not only fixed the issue but gives us a whole set of new features for the touchpad. Really cool. I rarely post reviews - and I'm sure we'll have more things come up with this laptop - but so far our experience has been stellar.

This computer was the cheapest computer with as much memory as it has. webcam-decent quality I haven't used it much though screen-bright and I mean bright the lowest setting is still really bright. It also will have a decent glare at a normal viewing angle, but I've found that changing the angle reduces a lot of the glare; just avoid sitting directly in front of a window speakers-no complaints here keyboard- took about a day to get used to but have had no response issues. i love the seperate keypad and volume control and screen brightness are on the arrow keys touchpad-its multitouch and there is a scroll feature. the left-click right-click buttons are loud though. battery- I have gotten roughly 5 hours of web-surfing and word-processing out of my computer As for setup, I picked mine up at the store and they had set it up for me, so I don't know about that. Also I have had no problem streaming movies from netflix or playing online games with a moderately strong wi-fi connection. Uploading a 18 track CD took about 3 minutes. The only real problem I've had is if I log off then try to log back on it tells me there are insufficient resources. However all I have to do is click ok then switch user (even though I'm the only user) and it logs on like normal.

My son bought one of these so he could stream video to his bedroom tv. I was pretty amazed at how much computer was truely offered at this price! So amazed that I went out the next night and bought one. THe Geeks at BB were extremly helpful with setup tips (I don't have any internet at my house except to tether my droid) and after the typical round of Windows updates I got this machine running very well (actually amazingly fast tethered to a cell phone!). I did do most of the updates at work on High speed (note the Ethernet card is a bit problamatic at fist but after playing around with the settings (inabeling file sharing seemed to do the trick) it started working wonderfully) and that did take a bit of time (about 3 hours). My only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 was the woeful lack of drivers, and a somewhat confusing ethernet setup. As a wireless devise this thing is great as it has great range and speeds thru detection (my old Dell took up to 10 mins to detect wireless connections- this one is done in less than 30 seconds!

I have given this Samsung 5 stars because the build quality is exceptional at this price level. I happen to like the feel of the separated "chicklet" style keys, since I sometimes use a MacBook. They are also easier to keep clean. I day trade stocks, and Windows machines are much better for that purpose. Our family purchased a Dell Studio at Best Buy in Spring 2009 for about $900, a Vista machine that has similar specs and a less stable operating system. The Samsung feels more solid, and the case and hinge appear to be built to tighter tolerances. As others have noted, at this price level one is usually limited to netbooks or Celeron-based closeouts. I have watched a Netflix movie without a problem, used Skype for a video chat, and traded stocks without any issues. The sound quality through headphones is excellent - better than our Dell studio - with the built in speakers, about average. Everything works as promised, and it's only $350. At this price level, what more could you ask for?