Samsung RC512

Hi guys! I saw this at Bestbuy online. I tried searching for reviews but couldn't find any maybe because its got the new Sandy Bridge processor. So what do you guys think? I might drop by Bestbuy to check it out. Is it a good buy for the specs ? ---> Samsung RC512

 

Well it is a pretty nice machine, minus the low resolution for a 15in, which I personally think & I know many others would agree. The min for 15in should be 1600 x 900 specially at that price, not 1366 x 768 that you see on even 10in netbooks. I would see if any local BB has one in person and try out the keyboard, mouse, and screen for yourself to see if it fits your needs or not.

 

Hey there,

thanks for posting this. I was actually waiting for this laptop as it's the first Intel Sandy Bridge laptop from Samsung. Unfortunately those specs listed on BestBuy make the laptop look really weak. Low resolution and very low battery life (3 hour). I guess the GPU is not switchable but always on?

 

The majority of 15.6" consumer laptops use only 1366 x 768 resolution. I assume that it is the cheapest option and manufacturers rely on consumers not knowing any better.

John

 

Thanks for the replies.
I also would've wished that it had a resolution of 1600 x 900 instead of what it currently has. Although I would still check it out if I get to see one at BestBuy.

 

Well there are other similarly priced laptops with about the same specs like the Vaio F(not the BB model as that was only place the quad core i7 was replaced with the i3, but came w/ blu-ray standard), and it comes with the 1600x900 display standard. I will say the RC512 does look like to be a on the lighter side of the 15in category.

 

I went to bestbuy today to buy a HDD
I saw this one, let me tell u what I think about it
1 screen, cheap and low quality , you can expect this one is same as those used on $399 screen
2 the feeling of material are average but doesn't match $1199 price tag, I think if it is 799 should be ok

Didn't play too long, but it's not worth $1199 since the screen is super crappy

 

Screen resolution is a deal breaker

 

I just brought the samsung rcn512-so1 at best buy during the weekend.

Today, I have read that intel is going to recall the new intel i5 /i7 sandy bridge processors.

Can someone tell me if this is the same i7 chip in the rcn512?

I checked the best buy site and now they stoped selling the rcn512. The entire page is gone. Could this be because of the intel recall?

Also, the rcn512 can't seem to update thru windows.

I'm thinking of returning this laptop if there are no restocking fees.

Don't want to risk of the processors failing on me in the future after warranty.
Anybody with info or advice please help.thanks.

 

I'm in the same situation as JL22GT.

Wikipedia's page for Intel mobile chipsets only shows the HM65 and HM67 as recalled, not the QM67 or QS67. I'm assuming the RC512 uses QM67 since it has the i7-2630QM cpu...

Samsung customer service chat says:
"The issue is being investigated and Samsung is working towards an immediate solution for the issue. An official notice will be posted on our website once all relevant information has been compiled."

edit:
re-edit:
We are not in the clear.

 

The samsung rc512-so1 uses the i7-2630Q. I guess we are okay. Hopefully?? I just don't understand why best buy stopped selling the laptop.?

Are any of u guys able to use window updates with the rcn512?

 

i have it also its been removed from best buy i think it was recalled but it gets about 5hrs of battery life 3hrs when the gpu is being used but when it switches to the integrated its about 4.5-5hrs of life its awesome for gaming i run bad company 2 on high but the resolution is the only minus also id like a backlit

 

Intel's page for identifying problematic chipsets changed. Looks like we are not in the clear.

Solution for the Intel Series 6 Chipset Design Error

In other words, the RC512 is affected by this design flaw and we should be expecting a statement from Samsung.

 

This sucks.
Do u guys think bestbuy will give me a full refund for this purchase without restocking fee.? It been exactly 1 week since my purchase.

 

They may give you store credit, but I haven't done a return there in a while.

 

Best Buy provides full refund or exchange within 14 days of purchase

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Help-To...es/pcmcat204400050023.c?id=pcmcat204400050023

 

If it is one of the affected models then it will need to go back to Samsung. You could reasonably expect a refund.

John

PS: One of the the Intel Q&As on this problem says:

 

Can't seem to find any info on the rc512 on samsung USA site. Samsung's site doesn't even recognize the model number. Is this laptop not even suppose to be out yet? Or are they just being lazy to update there site???

 

Samsung doesn't have the laptop on their site. I've chatted with the online support people twice now and they assure me information will be made available on their support page and that they care about my business. We'll see.

 

It could be a best buy only thing right now like the Vaio S.

 

My Laptop Has The Intel® 6 Series Chipset "Cougar Point", What Should I Do?

 

damn.. this is just BS!!
Got the RC512 last monday and couple of days later it is being recalled.

Im trying to decide if i should return this laptop at bestbuy or just wait until the recall process has started.

 

It is worthwhile talking to the shop and see whether they are willing for you to carry on using the computer until it can be replaced. The defect won't start causing problems immediately.

John

 

I have this Laptop as well and notice the posts. I just got off the phone with Samsung. They said they are doing a recall. I can either exchange it through them or through BestBuy. Im going through BestBuy since thats where I got it. They told me I can keep my RC512 until the new shipments become available and then go to BestBuy and exchange it. BestBuy will then transfer all my Data over to the new RC512 for free and I will be given the choice of either a $100 BestBuy card or $100 Samsung gift card. Contacted BestBuy about it and their Tech Support does not know anything about this but was told to contact customer support or the BestBuy store because they should have the info. Wasn't able to do so because its too late here. Hope this info helps fellas!

 

Also, Samsung said if you don't want to excahnge it then you can receive a refund or you can keep it. They said the new ones should be available at the end of Feb right from Samsung. Then shortly after, BestBuy will have them in stock. $100 gift card for alittle inconvience of data transfer and going to get a new one doesn't sound too bad.

 

Thanks for this info.

For me, the easiest way to do the data transfer would be to swap the hard disk (a five minute job). The hardware will be the same so Windows should boot on the new machine without noticing the difference.

John

 

If we exchange the laptop at bestbuy, we get a $100 gift card??
Who would I have to speak with? Did u do this over the phone or at the store?

 

Yes you get a $100 Best Buy gift card if you do the exchange there. The new units will not be available until later this month. I have comfirmed this info 4 times in the last 4 days with Samsung. I just talk to Bestbuy today, to their geek squad supervisor and they dont have all the info yet. All this info is very new and still have to go through the channels to get to every bestbuy, according to the Samsung Rep i talked to today. Call Samsung and give them your info. They are taking a list now of whether you are going to use them or Bestbuy to do the exchange. That way when the new units become available they can contact you. If you use Samsung you will have to send your RC512 to them and they will do a data transfer to the new unit and next day air it to you. Bestbuy will do it all in store. Hope this info helps. Go to Samsung.com and register your product and they will notify you. They called me like 3 times about the recall, giving me updates on whats going on. Let me know if you need moere info, because I have up to date info on all this since I've been in constant contact with Samsung.

-Joe

 

I just got a phone call from samsung. They said that my option now is to just return it to Best Buy.

 

Any updates??

 

Best buy has the RC512-s02 up on its website again..

 

Yea I saw that too. I called samsung and a tech guy should be calling me in the next couple of days to set up the exchange. Its pretty ridiculous that I didn't get a call about it. They called me about the recall and then the laptop becomes available and they don't even set up an exchange. I found out last night that bestbuy had the new ones in. Anyhow, call samsung and setup your ticket as they call it for an exchange.

 

We have to go thru samsung directly? This cant be done thru best buy without calling samsung? Are try still offering the 100$ gift card?

Just noticed that they dropped the price to 1099$. . Are we able to get this discount?

 

Samsung is telling me I can only do the exchange through them. I was thinking of calling Bestbuy and seeing what they have to say. Samsung said it will take atleast 5 business days from the time they get the defective Laptop to do the data transfer and send the new one. They said they are giving a $100 gift card as well. Not sure if thats a Samsung gift card or like one of those $100 universal visa gift cards. I wish they would just let us use Bestbuy. I dont want to be without my laptop for a week or more.

 

**UPDATE**

I just got my new Samsung RC512-S02.

I called my local Bestbuy where I first bought it and they told me I should do the exchange through them because if I go through Samsung my service plan wont transfer.

I just got back from Bestbuy and on the new RC512 now. Its exactly the same. Nothing looks different about it and all the specs are exactly the same. It was $100 cheaper so Bestbuy gace me $100 gift card. Only thing now is Im putting everything back on my new RC512 which sucks but oh well. Rather do it myself than wait a week or so to get it back with a basic data migration.

So call your local Bestbuy where you bought it to see if they have it in or look online and take your defective one back to exchange it for the new one. Just glad this is finally dealt with. Let me know if you need more info on anything.

 

The best and quickest way to do the data migration would be to swap the HDDs. This shouldn't take more than 10 minutes unless the HDDs are buried inside the chassis.

John

 

hi i am new to the forum i am thinking of buying this laptop just wanted to know what the people who bought it thought about it after using it ,just uming and aring about the screen Resolution any help with me making a decision would be a great help thanks

 

Honestly, if this laptop was not pretty awesome, I would have just got a refund when the recall came out. It's $100 cheaper too, than when I first bought it.

First it has the 2nd gen i7 processor, which will run anything you have to throw at it. 6GB DDR3 ram, lets you run mulitple programs with little delay. I running like 4 programs now and it still hasnt slowed. Downloading from a website, installing a game, transfering from my external hard drive. Its pretty amazing! Its got a blu ray player which looks great. The low res is the low point of the laptop. 1366x768. Not the highest but still HD. Not true Bluray quality but it still looks really good. Its an LED screen so the picture looks great. If your a gamer then this will do the job without breaking your wallet. I've been playing Left for Dead 1 & 2, Killing Floor, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, Sins of Solar Empire, and Rainbow Six VEgas 2 and they all look amazing. They look just as good as Xbox 360 if not better. I was shocked how good RB6 looked. The battery life is reasonable at around 3 hrs, but if your playing a game I would suggest keeping it plugged in or it wont last longer than 45 mins. The Nvidia GeForce GT525M graphics card and the i7 processor require alot of power. It holds alot of memory as well. it says 750 but with restoration allocated memory and what windows takes up, your looking at 667GB of play which is more than i need. it has 4 usb ports. 2 of which are the new USB 3.0 which transfer data 10x faster than USB 2.0. I transfered 8 GB from my external hard drive in like 6 mins. With USB 2.0 your looking at atleast 30 mins for that transfer. It has an HDMI port too. Keyboard layout is nice as well. Would have been cool to have a lite up keyboard but I can dream.
Anyhow, thats my input. The other guys on here might have a different out look but if they kept theirs through the recall transition they probably agree with me. Let me know if you need any more input or have info on any thing specific this rig can or cant do.

 

Did bestbuy transfer all files?

 

No they didnt transfer anything. I brought my defective laptop in and they handed me a brand new one still in the box. Took about 10 mins to do the excahnge. The new one was cheaper so they gave me a $91 on a gift card. Thats what it came to after the difference. If you dont want a gift card they will put the money back on your check/credit card.

 

Hi all.

I just bought the RC512-S02 a few days ago. I'm still not clear if this is the fixed model that Best Buy is exchanging for those that got the recalled model or not. I didn't buy a previous model.

I can't even register it at the Samsung site as the model doesn't come up. But when I put in the serial number it says manufactured 2/28/11 so that leads me to believe this is the fixed version.

CPUID says hardware is B2 and I though that was the recalled version and B3 was the fixed one. Because of the chipset and what you've all said here I'm just not sure what I have.

Sorry for asking. Just not sure if I need to contact Samsung or not. I had been looking for a Sandy Bridge laptop for a while and saw this was in stock at a Best Buy near me on Sunday so I purchased it online then picked up in the store.

 

Why they only give u 91$ gift card? Shouldn't the difference be at least 100$?

 

Hey JL22GT, Bestbuy didn't offer the $100 gift card. Only Samsung did if you did the exchange through them. So when I exchanged my defective model for the new one at Best Buy, the difference in price was $100 but because of taxes and how it computed, it came out to be $91 left over. Its only $9 so I'm not complaining. I didnt think I would even get the difference back.

Tersanyus - you do have the updated fixed model. The originial was NP-RC512-S01, so the new model is just S02 at the end because its the same model just updated. It is the same as before and I double checked the specs before leaving Best Buy. Im not familiar with the ID # for the CPU but it is exactly the same as the defective model, I can assure you that. The only thing different is the updated model has another little sticker on the keyboard, haha. It is the same bro, I wouldnt sweat it. As far as Samsung goes, when I first bought this laptop in Jan before the recall, Samsung didnt have this laptop on their website for awhile. I think they are slow to update their own website which is not surprising since they still havent called about doing an exchange but I used best buy because I was tired of waiting on them. Hope this helps you man!

 

Thanks for the info JoeyFUZZ911. It's the best laptop I have ever owned. It would have been a perfect laptop if it had a bigger, higher res screen and a backlit keyboard.

 

Tersanyus I know what you mean. Its the best laptop I ever had too. If you want all that extra stuff your gonna have to get an Alienware laptop. I wanted one of those but those are ridiculously expensive. My buddy at work has one and its sick. The keyboard lights up all different colors and the graphics card and resolution on it are insane but the RC512 is definetly a better price for what you get.

 

The thing that got me was the Best Buy website didn't mention it was Nvidia Optimus. I had heard about that but never thought much about it. First time I powered on this laptop I looked at the icons in the system tray and saw the Intel HD Graphics icon. I'm like ?? Then I look in Device Manager and saw both Intel HD Graphics and Nvidia 525M.

The laptop I would have bought from Best Buy was the Asus for $1500 if it were in stock. That met met all my wishes even though this Samsung was $400 less.

I may not know much about Optimus but why can't you install normal drivers for these? I read a bit about modified INI files but am not so sure about that.

 

Nvidia optimus is a new chip from nvidia for laptops. If you look on the nvidia website at the different graphic chips it will say new next to the GT 525M. All it is, is that your laptop to conserve battery power will run off the intel family HD graphics to run normal programs and internet pages/sites. Then if you install high graphic games, then the Nvidia GeForce card takes over. If you right click your mouse you can go to the nvidia setup and actually pick programs and choose what you want to run it on. High def games will auto select nvidia. I wouldn't recommend playing high def games on just battery power. You wont get but maybe 45 mind out of it cuz the nvidia card and the processor consume alot of power. As far as updating drivers for the nvidia, you don't need to right now. Its a brand new laptop that was just released and everything is up to date already, but don't worry. When updates become available you will know. There's a samsung update program installed on the laptop that monitors all that. If your a gamer then the nvidia on here is good enough unless you are trying to get crazy with it then alienware is where to go but I have RB Vegas 2, left for dead 1 & 2, killing floor, medieval total war, and a few others and the graphics are up there with xbox 360. Anyhow, I hope that answered your question on the nvidia optimum.

 

Thanks for the info on the Nvidia Optimus technology.

This laptop is in today's Best Buy Sunday Ad.

 

Quick help for users with this laptop or it could be a general question, but one day my Fn + Brightness stopped working, but the Fn + vol +/- still works. then I tried all the other shortcuts seems like they don't work anymore either except the mute shortcut, so from what I see is anything audio related still works but everything else stopped, did I accidentally press something? because I have no idea what to do to solve this problem.

 

Try reinstalling the Samsung Easy Display Manager which manages the Fn key commands (check the download site for the newest version).

John