New Laptop advice, please...

[peterbeaumont]

Hello

I was considering buying this one...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-RV511-notebook-2-66GHz-Premium/dp/B004NSUG0E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313399450&sr=8-1

£500 being the most I want to spend.

Anyone have any comments, please, or any better suggestions that wouldn't exceed my budget?

Thank you.

[Rik]

I like Samsung's, Peter, the screens tend to be good, as does the build quality. The designs aren't that fancy, but then I don't really want people to admire the case.

[peterbeaumont]

Rik

Thanks for your comments, the only thing that troubled me was a comment I just read about having to decide on the size of the disk partitions on the initial boot. I'm completely gormless about disk partitions and would be worried about what choices to make...

[Rik]

Most people just use a single partition (which is what Windows wants you to do). Personally, I usually have three (separate physical drives in a desktop, partitions in a laptop). Drive C, 60-80GB for the OS. Drive D, around 80GB for apps, Drive E, the rest, for data. You can combine D & E if you only have the option for two partitions.

[Simon]

Shouldn't apps be on the same drive as the OS, though?

[Rik]

Not imo. A separate app drive has always worked well for me.

[Tina]

I purchased this laptop a  couple of weeks ago and really like it

[Rik]

Thanks, Tina.

[armadillo]

I have OS and apps on the same drive, with separate drive(s) for data.

I can see the logic for separating OS and apps but I have never had a problem when recovering the OS+app drive.

I do think it is important to keep data separate from both OS and programs though, since I find it helpful to recover OS without having to restore hundreds of gigs of data.

My OS is XP. In my PC, I have been using a separate physical drive (120GB) for OS and programs but have partitioned it and I have the OS and all my programs in a 22GB partition of which 7GB are free after 7 years of usage and I currently have well over 100 programs installed (probably more like 200). Later flavours of Windows would definitely need a bigger partition.

I have three physical drives in the PC
1. OS and programs
2. Data
3. Backup

On my laptop, which has only one hard disk (oh how I hate laptops!), I have two partitions
1. OS and programs
2. Data

I hate my Samsung laptop much less than I would hate many other brands because its screen is good for a laptop and it responds well to calibration and profiling.

[john]

Looks like a good spec for the money and I'm interested myself.

The only reservations I have is the spec quoted on Amazon correct (they have been known to get it wrong on occasions especially with products where it's likely to change) and is far superior to the one quoted on the Samsung website or on older reviews.

If you can confirm the spec is correct I think it would be a good buy.

Does anyone know what graphics memory and screen resolution it has ?

[john]

I've done a bit more research on this laptop.

I still think it seems a good spec for the price but it uses the Intel i5-480M processor. A similar Dell laptop for comparison would be this XPS 15 model at around £160 more but uses the slightly newer Intel i5-2410M processor with a smaller but faster 500Gb hard drive.

However if you were prepared to spend a little more Amazon are selling a Samsung RC520 laptop [/url] using the same i5-2410M processor for £556.40. There are some other difference such as a larger hard drive, the type of graphics card and the colour but otherwise seem similar in their design.

I don't know how much difference the processors/graphics cards etc would actually make in real life applications or whether it's worth the extra £56 but I think I may well buy this one.

It may be worth waiting a little while to see if anybody posts any comments or other recommendations here.

Edit :

I've noticed that Amazon also sell this one which has the newer processor but with only 4Gb of RAM for £515.46 and presumably you could always add extra RAM later if you felt the need to.

If you search on Amazon for 'samsung laptop core i5' under 'Electronics and Photo' it lists a number of similar machines of various spec/prices.

[john]

Re  my above post, I've just bought a Samsung RC520 to replace my Dell laptop that I've had since around 2006.

Yesterday Amazon were asking £565 but it appears to have gone up to £602, John Lewis's are a bit cheaper at £599 but I got it from Costco where it's currently on offer for £515 including the VAT with a two year warranty.

Plus Samsung are offering a £50 cashback on it too from participating dealers. I don't know if Costo qualifies but I'll send off a claim and even if they're not I still think it's a good deal.

Quick Spec :

• 
  
  Window Home Premium (64b)
  
  Intel Core i5 2410M
  
  15.6" LED display (16:9)
  
  Nvidia GT520m 1Gb
  
  6Gb RAM
  
  750Gb Hardrive
  

Should be more than adequate for my needs and hopefully will not need replacing for a few years.

[Rik]

That sounds a good buy, John. Personally, I've only had good experiences with Samsung equipment.

[john]

Ye, I think at one time Samsung were looked on as not being quite as big as Sony and Panasonic but they're major payers in the market now.

[Rik]

I'd say their TVs have the edge at the moment.

[sobranie]

jftr I believe Samsung make the screens for the Sony tv.

[dudwell]

 

Yesterday Amazon were asking £565 but it appears to have gone up to £602,

Just to say that I'm watching this thread with great interest because my Sony Vaio laptop is nearly six years old but still working well.

Though the price quoted in the centre of Amazon's page is currently £601.87 +£4.95 shipping (from etradeComputers) Amazon themselves appear to be offering it at £564.06 with free shipping under More Buying Choices to the right. I wonder if there's a catch?

[Rik]

Amazon often seem to hide the best price.

[john]

Well spotted, I've just looked today and it says £603.55 + £4.25 shipping from LambdaTek ComponentShop but in the 'More Buying chioces to the right it still quotes £564.06 with free shipping from Amazon. It also quotes 7 new from £520.

I decided to replace mine because my old Dell is a bit slow compared to newer models, the battery needs replacing and there is a fault on the display which shows a narrow horizontal white line which is a bit annoying (not sure if the fault is with the display itself or the graphics card).

I only unpacked it last night, created a couple of accounts, made some backups and a repair disk and checked the internet was accessible so can't give a proper review yet. It does start very quickly from hibernatation (around 3 seconds) so I think it will be fast enough but haven't tried any other applications yet.

It was quick and easy to set up for the first time abut did take nearly two hours to create a disk image to 4 DVD's though.

[Rik]

I wonder how much companies save by not providing disks? I'm sure it's a lot more than it costs us to make them.

[john]

In actual fact Rik it did come with a repair disk but for the small cost of a blank disk I thought I'd make another one using the machine itself as a backup and it only took a few minutes to do so.

[Rik]

That is unusual...

[FritzBox]

D

I wonder how much companies save by not providing disks? I'm sure it's a lot more than it costs us to make them.

Don't get me started on that one. I'm of the opinion that they should be legally obliged to supply a copy of the OS that you have paid for, especially if you ask for one. Asus would not supply me a copy of Windows 7 starter for my netbook, neither would Microsoft. I only bothered asking because the first thing I did with it was wipe the whole disc including recovery partition and install Ubuntu.

I also think I should be allowed to use the whole of the HDD I've paid for, without having it cluttered with a silly recovery partition, which would be absolutely no use what so ever if the HDD failed.

[Lance]

I've made use of the recovery partition on a few laptops before now (and removing the preloaded crud).  It was easier then digging out the windows disc and then finding the right drivers etc.

Of course, the laptops weren't mine as if they were the job would have been done properly!

[Rik]