Samsung Series 3

Looks like another potential winner:

Samsung Series 3 hands-on -- Engadget

 

Hope it will come with backlit keyboard.

 

Very excited
Price is ok it seems

 

dedicated video?

 

I read somewhere that most will have the Intel HD Graphics 3000. I am SUPER excited about the news. Was deciding between macbook pro 13 and asus u36sd, But now, Im just waiting for more info about this computer. Only concern is battery life.

 

saw that J&R has the 12.1" up for pre-order. does this mean it's getting released real soon?

JR.com: Samsung NP350U2B-A01US Series 3 12.1" Notebook PC - Black in PC Notebook Computers

i'm debating on returning my Galaxy Tab 10.1, so i could save up for the 11.6". anyone know what the pricing will be on that?

 

I kind of don't get having a 12.1in model and a 11.6in model as they are too close in size. Granted the 12.1in maybe a 16:10 aspect ratio vs the 16:9 on the 11.6in model. I would have thought the 12in would be 12.5in like the Series 4 business machines. I wonder if they will offer them all in black or is that just for the 15in model.

I guess I have to wait and see which Series 3 or 4 in the 11-13in size offer the best screen quality and maybe go from there. I want to say it would be the Series 4 as it offers a matte display, but we could get lucky and the Series 3 could offer an IPS display, maybe?

 

the Series 3 comes with a matte display also. you could see it on this photo:



Samsung Series 3 - Engadget Galleries

 

That is good news if I can get either the 11.6in or 12in in a matte. I just now have to see how the screen fairs against the 12.5 Series 4, and the Samsung P220.

 

Has anyone found if the laptop offers a SATA II or SATA III connection? I am thinking of swapping the slow 5400rpm HDD for an SSD if I buy the 12.1 system.

 

I just picked up one of these :

Samsung Series 3 Princeton 11.6" Laptop | Staples®

I will take some pictures later and post observations - first look is that it is a nice size and seems pretty sturdy.

 

What do you know, as my first post here I get to answer a question of interest.

I am the owner of a brand new Samsung Series 3 NP300-V5A-A02US. I gather they became available through Costco sooner than anywhere else, because that's where I got mine, about a week ago. They offered them as recently as 3 weeks ago, when I started shopping for a notebook in earnest.

This model is so new, it isn't even listed on Samsung's web page. Nor is it listed on Samsung's product support page.

As is often the case, the -A02US seems to be a special, Costco-only configuration. It is packed with goodies:
-Core i5-2410M CPU (2.3 GHz)
-8 GB DDR3 RAM (CPU-Z claims two 4 GB modules in 4 slots, but I could only see 2 slots)
-Hitachi 640 GB HDD, DVD/CD-RW drive (TSST Corp.)
-Intel a/b/g/n wireless and Bluetooth 3.0
-Intel HD 3000 graphics (you're not going to play Crysis, but sure beats the old Intel GMAs)

to name a few.

You may also ogle the Costco product page: Costco - Free Shipping Samsung Petronas Laptop Core i5-2410M 2.3GHz Microsoft Signature Experience

I'm not sure whether the SATA connections are SATA II or SATA III. Not like it makes a difference with the mechanical HDD. But it is a fairly decent drive, capable of transfers around 100 MB/s.

Other notable features:

Machine was supplied with a Windows 7 Home Premium install DVD. This is almost unheard of today. Very nice, Samsung.

"Optimized" startup. The specifics are not clear, except that the machine skips the BIOS POST screen on restart. That's handy, as Windows 7 frequently requires restarts to install updates.

Matte finish...except for the screen itself. While I loathe glare-gathering screens, I haven't had a big problem with the glossy screen on my Acer netbook. So maybe I can live with another glossy LCD. I hate shiny, cheap-looking plastic, but I sure wasn't going to pay for Duralumin (e.g. Series 9). Matte black plastic goes with everything.

Impossible to quantify but important: The keyboard feels like quality. Laptop keyboards are always a compromise, but the Series 3's keyboard is less compromised than many. One reason I bought the Samsung instead of an Acer, Toshiba, or Dell.

This machine would fly with an SSD, but that wasn't an option. Possibly, Samsung or its vendors will offer that option later. Due to the limited internal space, I would have to remove the optical drive to get both mechanical HDD and an SSD. I might actually do that later, as I do not use DVDs or CDs very much and SSDs are getting cheaper. For removable storage, the SD card reader and USB 3.0 ports are far more useful than shiny discs.

Backlit keyboards are not offered on the Series 3 as far as I can tell. Not surprising, as this is a sub-$1000 machine. I paid $700 for mine, which probably means I got a pretty good deal. Most vendors want more than that for a weaker machine (Core i3, 4 GB or less RAM, etc.).

FWIW, I bought this machine primarily for use at school. While I will be doing some technical computing, for example with Matlab, the specs are probably still vast overkill. Having a dedicated number pad was important, one reason I went for the 15.6" size.

Any questions?

 

The Staples product page is actually wrong - the laptop has a i3 Processor and not the pentium one listed.

Also the screen is a 200nit screen and seems to renders colors nicely.

 

OK, I thought that must be an error. According to everything else I've read, the Series 3's all have a Core i3 at minimum.

I'm in an unusual (for me) situation now, where my notebook has a more capable CPU (Core i5) and more RAM (8 GB) than my desktop (Core 2 Duo E8500 and 4 GB RAM). But then, I built my desktop 3 years ago, and the Series 3 is brand-spankin' new.

 

could you let us know how battery life, display and viewing angles, heat, and sound are? i was looking into this before i got my macbook air, but battery life on the air is barely 5hrs, so i may return if this is a good alternative. thanks!

 

I haven't tested battery extensively yet. Been using it plugged in most of the time. At 76% charge, with the machine idling, Windows 7 estimates 3.5 hours of battery remaining. Extrapolating from there suggests a maximum battery time of around 4.5 hours.

I'm not sure how your Macbook Air's specs compare to those of my Series 3, but I'd like to know how Apple is squeezing 5 hours or more out of the battery.

The Series 3 has an optional "Battery Life Extender" feature, which only allows the battery to charge to 80%. Supposedly, doing so makes the battery last for additional charging cycles. I use laptops plugged in more often than not, so to me it's worth it to extend battery service life but have less time between charges.

Other power management features work well. The machine wakes quickly from a Sleep state, a little less quickly from Hibernate.

The display is sharp and clear. Colors are typical for an LED-backlit LCD. Samsung doesn't specify the panel type, but it looks like a twisted nematic (TN). As is typical for a TN panel, the horizontal viewing arc is wider than the vertical, probably 170 degrees vs. 90 degrees if I had to give numbers.

Display brightness is sufficient for outdoor use. Even with the screen only turned up to 50% of maximum brightness,

Heat is not bad. The NP300-V5A does not seem to get as hot as my smaller, much less powerful Acer netbook. There is one large vent on the left side of the case, another vent in the center of the bottom, and a third ventilation grille over the RAM at the front right of the bottom.

I'm not sure whether you meant "sound" in terms of the computer's audio device, or how much noise it makes when cooling itself. As for noise, you can turn the cooling fan down or off if it annoys you (at the expense of throttling back the CPU to produce less heat). I have not found this to be necessary. Even at full blast, the cooling fan is quiet.

As for the audio device, it is a common Realtek chipset. The internal speakers are barely passable for watching movies, being insufficient in volume and tinny in tone. Typical for a laptop, that is.

Headphones/headset is a different matter; sounds is plenty loud and clean. I tried one voice chat app, Teamspeak 3. Others sounded fine, and they said they could hear me too.

Hope that answers your questions.

 

What is the casing made out of?

Also can you clarify on the weight? cause some sites put 2.8lb while others put over 4lb...

From what I read around the display should be good(300nit) but not the same as the 400nit one in the Series 9.

As for macbook air osx has better power management I hear but from what I read series 9 has similar battery life..is the series 3 also thin like the macbook air/series 9?

I have been spending a bunch of time trying to figure out the differences between the series 9 and the series 3..other then the price of course..

 

Case is plastic.

Weight is something like 5 lb. The 5.47 lb. figure on the Costco product page ( Costco - Free Shipping Samsung Petronas Laptop Core i5-2410M 2.3GHz Microsoft Signature Experience) sounds about right.

Thickness is very close to 1.25". Definitely thicker than any of the Macbook Air models, or even the smaller Series 3 models.

It doesn't really make sense to compare my NP300-V5A to any of the Macbook Airs. The largest Air has a 13.3" screen. The Airs all have solid state drives, and use ultra-low-power Core i5 CPUs (e.g. i5-2467M). The Series 3's use more conventional Core i5's (e.g. -2410M), running at not quite twice the clock speed, with power consumption higher as a result.

Apple simply builds a smaller machine, with a slower processor and non-mechanical hard drive. No wonder the battery lasts so long.

FWIW, my Series 3 doesn't seem to have the Wireless Display technology mentioned in some reviews of the Series 3. Either it's not there, or WiDi only shows up when a WiDi-capable HDTV is nearby. WiDi isn't mentioned in the (not very informative) product literature, and no Series 3 info is on the Samsung website yet.

I do have both HDMI and VGA ports. That is a nice feature, as I can use almost any monitor or TV anywhere as an external display.

 

thanks for your input.. i got confused for a sec tho.. until i realized that my questions were for corteen who said s/he has the 11.6". that's the one i want to compare my 11" MacBookB Air with.

 

Oh forget about getting info on the series 3..I tried to contact Samsung CS and I spent half an hour just for them to finally admit it existed (after showing them link to buy it)..then I after all that I asked if they have any info and they had 0....that is just sad.

Anyways, thanks for the info.

 

Confusingly, Samsung also has a line of HDTVs called "Series 3." Even some of the model numbers are similar (350 etc.).

A hint of progress: upon logging into the Samsung Owners page last night, I was finally able to register my machine. All available Series 3 models have been added to the list.

It does seem that Samsung is catching up their website with reality - albeit slowly.

FWIW, my NP300-V5A-A02US DOES have the wireless display facility. It just didn't have the necessary software (Samsung "Easy Content Sharing") installed from the factory. I was able to add it from the System Software disc I created with Samsung Recovery Solution 5.

As I said, I don't own any HDTVs or other wireless-capable displays. However, tomorrow I will visit a friend who has a fairly recent Sharp Aquos HDTV. He always buys the top-end model, so assuming it supports DLNA I should be able to try it out as an external display for my Series 3.

I am working on a long-winded, detailed review on my Series 3, which I will post in this forum soon under its own thread. It seems there is a lot of interest in the Series 3 but little available information.

 

The weight of the 11.6" is 2.8lbs...feels pretty light in the hand and is easy to carry around. I tried this out on battery last night, watching a movie, surfing and with screen brightness at 75% I still had 40% battery left after a two and a half hour movie.
Is there any particular battery run down test you want me to run ?

The screen seems plenty bright to me and renders colors nicely - I am going to take pictures tonight next to a MacBook Air 11 for comparison so you can see the size difference, at first look it seems smaller than the MBA.

Heat is reasonable and it is fairly quiet - much quieter than the i5 notebooks I have.

 

What about the 14 inch model? I've been looking for a 14 inch laptop for uni and so far the Asus U46SV is leading the pack.

 

great, that comparison would be really appreciated! so it sounds like 4.5 hours of battery life maybe 5 max on light web browsing is the average battery life? that's what i get on the MBA right now. could you comment on how the speakers are and the build quality? and could you also please take photos of the viewing angles next to your MBA? let me know if you prefer it over the Air. i have 2 days left to decide if i'll keep the Air or go with the Samsung 11". thanks again!

 

I have been looking for a new laptop for a long time to replace my old Acer. I finally jumped on the Series 3 Samsung 300V3A 13.3" GeForce GT520, Core i3-2310.

Does anyone here have this version? I just cant find any good details on this notebook, like - how is the screen, battery capacity, fan noise, heat etc.

Can the harddrive easily ble replaced? The one picture of the underside of the laptop shows just one small cover wich looks like the place for the memory.

Anyone got a link to the service manual og instruction manual?

I'll be taking pictures from the outside and inside as soon as it arrives.

 

They make one with a decent 3D device? Neat. How did you find out about that model? There is so little info on the web that I'm guessing you simply saw it in a store. That's how I learned of the NP300-V5A-A02US that I bought.

I doubt anyone will be able to link you to the service manual. None of the Series 3 machines are listed on the Samsung website yet, to include the support area. I was told in a tech support chat last week that the info will be up "soon," but these things can take a while.

As for replacing the HDD, that's a really good question. My larger 15.6" model also only has one obviously removable panel on the bottom, covering the RAM. There are however arrows molded into the plastic pointing at the four rubber feet, suggesting that there are screws underneath. Perhaps you have to remove the entire bottom of the case to get at the HDD etc. I haven't been brave enough to try it. The rubber feet do not come off easily and I do not want to ruin them.

update:
According to Device Manager, my Series 3 uses an Intel HM65 (Cougar-M) chipset. That means it has two SATA III (6 Gb/s max) and four SATA II (3 Gb/s) ports. Someone asked about SATA II/III earlier in the thread, and apparently the answer is "it has both."

It is likely that the two SATA III ports are assigned to the HDD and optical drive. So if you wanted to spring for one of the stupidly expensive SSDs that can actually take advantage of a SATA III connection, I guess you could.

 

We have a webshop called advance.no that puts out info on really fresh items, there are no good descriptions so you need to do some decoding - just headlines with i2310,4gb,320hdd,bt+wlan,3G,GFgt520M ..etc. Im getting old since i have to read stuff like that 5-6 times before i get it.

The 13,3 i ordered is NP300V3A-S02SE.

Hmm.. So you got arrows - that must mean that they point to something usefull, other than the rubber feets Guess i have to pop them off when this arrives and have a look for screws.

 

OK - I took a few pics next to the MacBook Air 11"
The Samsung is thicker but not as wide - the bezel on the MBA is larger than that on the Samsung and makes the Samsung look smaller than the Air.

I have noticed that in real world use I am getting 4-5 hrs out of the battery.

There is a small door on the base to access the memory - there is only 1 slot and that is filled with a 4GB chip. There is no way (other than complete dis-assembly) to get to the HD.

I have noticed over the last few days of working with this - the hinge at the back where the screen connects to the laptop feels very flimsy and is weak, showing bending of the casing with slight stress. This would be a major concern and may prompt me to return as I doubt the longevity of the laptop.

I took some pictures of the Samsung to compare with the MBA but haven't figured out how to post them into this forum - if you PM me I can send them to you directly.

 

I have attached the pictures I took of the 11" MBA and the 11.6" Samsung Series 3 - you can see the difference in thickness and the smaller width of the Samsung.

 

My new 13,3 NP300V3A with GT520M. First impressions, first time used:

The base must be removed to replace the harddrive, 4 crews under the rubber feets, it can be done, no big problem.

My first impressions; Build quality is so-so, cheap materials and a bit flimsy build, all plastic case. The screen however is really great, i am now using this in direct sunshine outside - i have no problems reading text and colours are good.

This computer actually uses a Intel wireless card insted of Atheros, Centrino N-130 + Bluetooth 3.0. I have not found any USB 3.0.

Almost no crapware, just Norton, some Cyberlink and Samsung stuff

The fan is running all the time, getting 4:20 with 80% remaining (wifi,bt,100% screen Samung Optimized power plan).

The computer is cool to touch while surfing.

Keyboard is REALLY REALLY great, great space and no flex at all. Trackpad is .. a trackpad, OK size but not really smooth enough. What i think is really cool is that this 13,3 has the same overall size as my old Acer 2920z 12,1" - so not bigger, just bigger screen. Same weight also.

Now down at 2:25 with 75% remaining. Will run benchmarks later.

 

Great, glad you like it. The keyboard was a major reason I chose a Series 3 vs. the competition. Toshiba Satellites had some features I wanted (e.g. eSATA) but the keyboards felt awful. I also dislike shiny plastic finishes. They quickly pick up so many scratches, smudges, etc. that they look awful. I much prefer the understated, matte & brushed-look surfaces (except for the touchpad buttons) on the Series 3.

I'm pretty sure all the Samsung Series 3's have USB 3.0. (edit: No, they don't. Early info was wrong.)

As of today, Samsung finally added the Series 3 machines to their support webpage. Link to stuff for the 15.6" models: Samsung

Like you, I have been very impressed with the quality of the screen. I took it outside and was surprised to see that the display was usable even in direct sunlight. That has not always been the case with notebooks

 

My 13,3 have a Silent-mode! Fn+F11. Seems like there is some more settings too in software;

Quiet mode ON/OFF
-> Auto - Turns fan on and off (at lowest rotation)
-> Low - Fan turns at lowest rotation

This is really handy!

 

badmann, could you please take left/right photos of 300v3a? From your previous photos it's impossible to estimate the thickness of notebook and the maximum opening angle of its cover.

 

@eri2k: Sure!

 

Thanks. I assume, ODD is 12.5mm, so standard SSD caddy will (probably) fit. I saw 2 DDR3 SODIMM sockets, so 8GB won't be a problem also.

 

Does anyone know where i could get more info on the 14 inch version of the series 3 laptops

 

Some benchmarks,

PCMark Vantage 5125

3dMark Vantage - Integrated GPU 1196

3dMark Vantage - Dedicated GPU 1896

The PCMark Vantage seems OK for this config, but the 3dMark dedicated score for the 520m seems a bit low?

 

I suspect your GT520M device uses system RAM as video RAM. That would explain the low benchmark score.

There probably is not room in there for a true, discrete miniPCI Express video card with its own video RAM (GDDR 5 for example).

I found an article claiming that while the GT520M can use GDDR5 video RAM, notebook manufacturers aren't implementing that for cost reasons:
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

That seems to be borne out by the Nvidia product page for the GT520M:
GeForce GT 520M - Specifications - GeForce

which lists the memory interface as DDR3.

I'm sure it still beats the pants off an Intel HD3000 device, even without "real" video RAM. Guess it might be interesting if I ran the same benchmarks on my 15.6" Series 3, maybe I'll get around to that.

 

GPU-Z states 1024mb DDR3 at 800mhz - guess that is not system memory since the 4gb stick runs at at 666mhz.

The fan silent mode is not working at all. When disabling the dedicated graphics all together and running the cpu at 800mhz the fan stays quiet only a couple minutes. CPU temps are at 46C idle, and case/mb 49c - all idle, no special activities.

So - not 100% quiet as i had hoped.

 

I see now what's going on. Looks like Samsung used a separate module of DDR3 RAM for the video device, instead of either GDDR5 or sharing main system RAM. I guess that's why Nvidia's product page shows a DDR3 interface for the GT520M.

 

thank you corteen. much appreciated thoughts. i was hoping longer battery life to persuade me away from the MBA, but it looks like they are the same. so the build quality is not that great? how are you liking the display color quality and viewing angles?

 

Would be interesting to know price comparison. Macbook Airs start at US $999. Not sure what Samsung is selling the 13.3" Series 3 for in the US, or equivalent price to coreteen's machine.

 

The build quality is pretty bad and feels very flimsy. The screen hinge and back of the laptop edge flexes badly when you open and close the screen. I think that over time it would get much worse.

Battery life is worse than the MBA, the screen color is good, viewing angles are as good as the MBA but overall the quality and battery life means that I am taking this one back.

 

I'm super-confused. Either Samsung is doing a really bad job getting specs out accurately, or I wasn't paying attention for the last 2 weeks.

I could swear the store display for the NP300-V5A-A02US I bought specified USB 3.0 ports (wishful thinking, it turns out). A few of the other laptops at Costco also sported USB 3.0. Only a Toshiba Satellite model had USB 2.0 ports.

I bought a USB 3.0 external HDD to use with my Samsung. I'm pretty sure I've written/read disk images using Clonezilla at sustained speeds of about 4 GB/min. That works out to 68 MB/s, which is faster than USB 2.0 can go on its best day. Surely I have USB 3.0 ports on my machine?

But now the Costco product page says "USB 2.0" ports. Likewise Samsung's Series 3 product page.

update:
Returned it and got something else. More on that if anyone's interested.

Reviews either don't specify, or claim both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, as here: Samsung Series 3 Laptop Price and Specification with a second generation Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processor | PressByte

This is making my head hurt. Can someone please explain what's going on? If I did accidentally buy a machine with lousy, slow, ancient USB 2.0, it's going back and I'm going to get something else.

 

I suspect you read "3 x USB 2.0" too quickly. Anyone can do that. If I saw USB 3.0 in a bottom of the line laptop, given that 3.0 is still a premium product, I'd sure as heck do a double or triple check. And did you really buy this laptop only or primarily because of the 3.0? I think the first step toward understanding "what's going on" is to slow down.

 

Thanks for your reviews, corteen. I recently got the 11.6" Acer Aspire One that Target had on sale for $200 $250 w/ a $50 gift card). It does pretty well for my purposes, but sometimes the AMD A50M Fusion chipset gets pretty slow, even with added RAM and an SSD. Since I've got 90 days on it, the Samsung at Staples for $599 with MS Office caught my attention.

You mention complete disassembly to get to the HDD. Do you mean just taking out a case screw or two or three, which is standard, or are you saying it's buried? The fact that there's a separate memory compartment is, I suppose, Samsung's way of keeping people from taking off the cover for such a common upgrade, but in itself shouldn't discourage one from thinking about replacing the HDD.

 

Hindsight is very convenient, isn't it?

When I initially purchased my Samsung Series 3, information was scarce. They weren't listed on Samsung's website until last week. I wasn't the only one who tripped on the expectation that a new design would naturally have USB 3.0. The article I linked above says the Series 3's will have both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports. Other "first look" articles didn't specify.

USB 3.0 is not limited to "premium" product lines. The Toshiba Satellite A665-S5199X that I owned briefly (long story) had one USB 3.0 port, but at the same price point as the Samsung. No one would call the Dell Inspiron series "premium" anything, but the Inspiron 15R has two USB 3.0 ports.

 

I'm not sure what link you're referring to, but the one I see early on in this thread that shows one 3.0 port is a *different* laptop, the 12.1" that PC World says actually measures 12.6". That linked article also says the 12.1 has 2GB RAM, which is not what J&R shows, and they are the ones now taking pre-orders. Many of the Series 3 articles were put up in June and July based on what the writers saw at shows, i.e., preliminary information based on pre-production models and pre-production samples out for initial review (creating "buzz"). The past couple of days I've been looking at those articles, mainly at the smaller versions, and they are often quite contradictory in the details. Nothing unusual there. The problem is that you were anxious to grab one, and when you saw the Costco deal you didn't take a bit more time to check it out carefully. I imagine that includes not reading the box: didn't it say what the USB ports were? Maybe you have good reasons, but I'm not clear yet why the lack of 3.0 is a deal breaker for you, except you are upset that what you bought is not what you thought you were buying. Compare your later posts with the early one about the purchase: run at it, run away from it (there's a law of physics about that). You wanted an explanation for "what happened:" to me, it's called impatient impulse buying. It's the kind of thing that leads to some of the negative reviews on Amazon and NewEgg.

 

tl; dr; dc

I have a question for the fellow who opened up his Series 3 (badmann?): Did you perhaps find an unused mini-PCI Express connector? I wasn't brave enough to crack mine open.

 

CoreEye5: No - sorry, did not see any unused mini-PCI connector.