got this the last time around except it came with 1GB dedicated NVIDIA graphics card... you MUST buy this laptop if you're looking for one. a better deal simply does not exist.

stall wrote:Can anyone comment on the trackpad quality vs Apple trackpads?

This laptop is a replacement to my macbook pro.

In windows with the Elantech software the trackpad is great. if you install windows yourself you better find the elantech software. A tip it is not on samsungs sight under the correct model number, look for a different version of the 7 series.

the pad is pure crap in ubuntu if you care.

Damn, I've been looking for a decently powerful laptop to use for work when I'm hanging out at Enchanted Grounds (coffee shop and game emporium). If this had a halfway decent video card and came with anything other than Windows, I'd be all over it.

As is, I'm still planning on the System76 Gazelle Professional.

enriquei wrote:Very nice processor... the 6GB of ram is a nice touch, but it unfortunately isn't upgradable to 16GB. For it being a ReFurb and the price, I'd expect a blu-ray really...

A smaller 7200 RPM drive would give a decent perf. boost too.

I have heard good things about the Samsung Superbright screens though.

Actually most i7 processors (including this one) Will support 16 gig of ram if you use a slower speed. 1066 vs 1333

Here are the specs on the processor

http://ark.intel.com/products/53470/Intel-Core-i7-2675QM-Processor-(6M-Cache-2_20-GHz)

i've been looking at getting a laptop for several weeks/months now. was set on the Acer Aspire AS5755G-6841 (2.5ghz i5, 4gb 1066 DDR3, 500gb HD, and a GeForce GT 540M 1GB dedicated)

Well this laptop has some better specs, good reviews, except i'm not sure about the video card... all for the same price, but a refurb.

anywho, i just w00ted.

and i do not have to painstakingly check laptop prices anymore -_-

theguruguys wrote:there are 5400rpm drives that actually outperform some 7200 drives.

Yeeeaaaaah. No there's not. Not a single one. No 5400rpm drive will out perform ANY 7200rpm drive - EVER. It's the simple fact of how fast they can move data past the read/write heads.

I connect my current lappy via VGA cable to a monitor (37" tv) for desktop use. This laptop doesn't have a VGA output. Will HDMI cable serve the same purpose?

Where do I find all the details about this laptop? Like if it has light up keys, you don't realize how important that is until you don't have it.

I bot a NEW HP with similar spec +8GB RAM, 15.6 display, beat audio, 750gb drive, 1 GB graphic card, same processor at around thanksgiving for 699. It was also available in Jan 2012. I have not checked lately. but 699 for a refurbished? How can this be a good deal? No deal.

Does anyone know if this unit has the back lit keyboard ?

Bought this just a couple weeks ago at Best Buy for $1000, but it had 8gb of ram & 1tb of storage. I build pc's and this is an incredible unit. The 8gb ssd cache makes startup time always less than 30 seconds. I got it down to 14 seconds uninstalling bloatware. The chasis is beautiful to any eye, given its slim build and aluminum enclosure.

Yes, this has a backlit keyboard. (Last poster asked).

Virtually same hardware as a top of a line macbook pro but 60-70% less the price.

Highly recommended.

yowasup wrote:

Yes, this has a backlit keyboard. (Last poster asked).

not saying youre wrong, but i cant find that feature listed on any website?

CowboyDann wrote:Does this mean I can play video games on it?

aceattorney wrote:Nice that it has HDMI, but resolution is only 1600 x 900.

Easy pass.

I'm using the Samsung QX410-S02 (earlier model with a core-i5 model, nvidia 310M) with HDMI out hooked up regularly onto a 1920x1080 display to play games and do work for school. As long as I'm playing at a reasonable graphics setting compared to my desktop, than everything plays just smoothly. I imagine that this would do just fine for video playback and gaming as long as you bumped the RAM up to max.

phlypp wrote:Newegg has the same refurbished model for $770 (originally $1300) so this is a better deal than I originally thought. Several comments about the 5400 RPM drive vice a 7200 RPM drive. Be aware that the faster drive generates more heat and heat is the #1 enemy of laptops. I'd opt for the slightly slower but longer lasting 5400 drive myself.

7200RPM drives don't really use any more power than 5400RPM drives and are a good notch faster. Look up the datasheets if you don't believe. Less than 1 watt more power. Won't really impact battery life or any noticeable heat.

toms203040 wrote:Yeeeaaaaah. No there's not. Not a single one. No 5400rpm drive will out perform ANY 7200rpm drive - EVER. It's the simple fact of how fast they can move data past the read/write heads.

Actually they can. For instance, take a Hitachi 7k100 7200RPM 100GB laptop drive and compare it to a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 5400RPM 1TB hard drive. The 1TB drive will pwn it in every way, except for random access benchmarks, but in the real world, it'll pwn the 7K100 in every way due to the sheer increase in platter density, 10 times more density since both drives are 2 platters.

Now if you comparing a 5400RPM and 7200RPM drive that are of similar capacity, the 7200RPM drive is very likely to be faster in the real world, but wait a few generations for the latest 5400RPM drive and that may be as fast as the older 7200RPM models.

SSDs FTW

Just bought this exact model at Best Buy with minor changes, 8GB DDR3 1TB HDD, for $999 new, an OK price for what you get, VERY FAST CPU i7 2.2GHZ 8 cores, Great computer, Decent Graphics, if you want something to play games on high settings, you have to spend a little more on a better laptop,
Pros: AWESOME DESIGN
Cons: Max Resolution 1600x900

toms203040 wrote:Yeeeaaaaah. No there's not. Not a single one. No 5400rpm drive will out perform ANY 7200rpm drive - EVER. It's the simple fact of how fast they can move data past the read/write heads.

Don't think you're right about this one. There are several factors influencing disk performance speed, including *density* which could allow more data to pass by the heads of a slower drive in unit time than a less dense but faster drive. There's also caching, seek times, etc. (even fragmentation).

In the following (from 2008) you can see a comparison between some 5400 and 7200 rpm drives. The overall winner is easily the Hitachi Travelstar at 7200 rpm, but the WD unit at 5400 easily outpaces the Seagate Momentus running at 7200 rpm:

http://www.storagereview.com/Hitachi250WD320.sr

Define "practically the same unit" please. Was it same speed I7, same ram and ram speed, same hard drive space, and same videocard?

Nopeee-dope-dope, no backlit keymash on this model.

The Samsung Series 7 is a very nice laptop as long as you are willing to make some sacrifices at this price level. The model you are looking at here (NP700Z5B-W01UB) is/was a Best Buy exclusive model that has lower specs than the NP700Z5A models you will find elsewhere. This model does not contain the backlit keyboard, has a lesser video card (6490 vs 6750), and does not contain the 8GB SSD that is used for caching.

With that said, I have the NP700Z5A and it is a great laptop. The model listed here retails for $1000 at Best Buy, with the one I have being another $150 on top of that, so if you are willing to accept the couple of sacrifices I have listed above this is a great laptop... especially for the price.

Link to Best Buy page showing retail price.

Link to Anandtech showing model comparison.

fachagooch wrote:I would look at maxing the RAM though

Unless you're running memory-intensive programs like Adobe video and photo editing software, 6GB of RAM is already overkill for most people.

wikidone wrote:The Samsung Series 7 is a very nice laptop as long as you are willing to make some sacrifices at this price level. The model you are looking at here (NP700Z5B-W01UB) is/was a Best Buy exclusive model that has lower specs than the NP700Z5A models you will find elsewhere. This model does not contain the backlit keyboard, has a lesser video card (6490 vs 6750), and does not contain the 8GB SSD that is used for caching.

With that said, I have the NP700Z5A and it is a great laptop. The model listed here retails for $1000 at Best Buy, with the one I have being another $150 on top of that, so if you are willing to accept the couple of sacrifices I have listed above this is a great laptop... especially for the price.

Link to Best Buy page showing retail price.

Link to Anandtech showing model comparison.

Very good post!

My experience buying refurbished from Samsung through woot!: Got the laptop in a couple weeks... fine, some things ship faster than others. Had the laptop up and working for a few weeks until the monitor started flickering, fine, it happens, so I send it in to Samsung's repair center. It takes them over 2 months to get the laptop back to me. When we finally get the laptop back it has the same problem as it had before. I called the place- and now since it was out of the 90 day warranty, they were unwilling to help me out. Worst customer service from top to bottom. It's a shame since I WAS a loyal samsung customer. Woot! is awesome and fully refunded us.. Please heed my advice, companies that do this do not deserve your business. Just look up "samsung repair center plano tx"- some pretty amazing posts. Woot! should stop selling these samsung refurbished laptops.. they are well aware that there is an issue with their service.

Not impressed. You can look at Sunday ads and pick this deal out weekly, and have a new one to boot.

Personally, I'd rather keep the Samsung RC512-S01 I got on the last Samsung lappy Woot deal:

Forum link

Blog link

It has a beefier graphics card and bluray, and the processor is just as capable (2630QM). The screen may not be as flashy, but mine is hooked up to a monitor anyway.

danwat1234 wrote:Actually they can. For instance, take a Hitachi 7k100 7200RPM 100GB laptop drive and compare it to a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 5400RPM 1TB hard drive. The 1TB drive will pwn it in every way, except for random access benchmarks, but in the real world, it'll pwn the 7K100 in every way due to the sheer increase in platter density, 10 times more density since both drives are 2 platters.

Now if you comparing a 5400RPM and 7200RPM drive that are of similar capacity, the 7200RPM drive is very likely to be faster in the real world, but wait a few generations for the latest 5400RPM drive and that may be as fast as the older 7200RPM models.

SSDs FTW

Totally agree on this to a certain point. If you are within the same generation of drives though, the 7200rpm will beat a 5400rpm. Cache size, technology (firmware,hardware) differences all play a part beside areal density. If I have a 7200rpm drive that is 320gb of the latest generation vs 1tb 5400rpm drive of the latest generation- the 7200 rpm drive would win

I picked up a Samsung refurb in Nov.

It was $100 less but has blueray, LED LCD, Videocard with dedicated 1GB of memory, screen .3" smaller.

This one's clock rate is 2.2GHz over the 2.0 of the one I bought.

I am much happier with the one I got... for less.

yowasup wrote:Bought this just a couple weeks ago at Best Buy for $1000, but it had 8gb of ram & 1tb of storage. I build pc's and this is an incredible unit. The 8gb ssd cache makes startup time always less than 30 seconds. I got it down to 14 seconds uninstalling bloatware. The chasis is beautiful to any eye, given its slim build and aluminum enclosure.

Yes, this has a backlit keyboard. (Last poster asked).

Virtually same hardware as a top of a line macbook pro but 60-70% less the price.

Highly recommended.

I've been looking to get the one at Best Buy, too. I def want the backlit keyboard and does anyone know if Bluetooth is included (I have the awesome Motorola S10 headphones)? Also, this novice wants to know if you can remove the Bloatware manually (using Windows control panel) or is there a better way (in addition to the aforementioned "pcdecrapifier")? Thanks!

I bought the RC512 a few months ago from woot for 650. It is very similar. i7 quad core, but it had blu-ray, 1gb dedicated video memory. I love the form factor of this version better though its sexier, but the RC512 is a beast. I would say this one is probably pretty powerful machine but I would try to get it a bit cheaper.

It is super easy, but you can only upgrade to 8 gb max by adding 1 4Gb Stick. Its a small screw on the bottom of the case.

I have the next generation (8 core) version of this laptop, and it's the best I've ever owned. I highly recommend this laptop if you're in the market.

I've had this computer for a few months now, and I like it quite a bit.

The switching graphics cards thing is kind of weird though...doesn't aways switch from the intel to the other like it's supposed to.

The track pad is the best I've used, other than a macbook pro. Didn't like it at first as it was aways clicking and highlighting stuff, but then I found the answer. If you go in the settings, you can turn of the touch to click, and just leave the click (down on the pad) to click. Makes it much better...almost exactly like the macbook pro.

wikidone wrote:The Samsung Series 7 is a very nice laptop as long as you are willing to make some sacrifices at this price level. The model you are looking at here (NP700Z5B-W01UB) is/was a Best Buy exclusive model that has lower specs than the NP700Z5A models you will find elsewhere. This model does not contain the backlit keyboard, has a lesser video card (6490 vs 6750), and does not contain the 8GB SSD that is used for caching.

With that said, I have the NP700Z5A and it is a great laptop. The model listed here retails for $1000 at Best Buy, with the one I have being another $150 on top of that, so if you are willing to accept the couple of sacrifices I have listed above this is a great laptop... especially for the price.

Link to Best Buy page showing retail price.

Link to Anandtech showing model comparison.

Sorry, but I think you have this information incorrect. The model at Best Buy (NP700Z5B-S01UB) is actually a small step up from the model listed on today's Woot (NP700Z5B-W01UB). Key spec differences include (and have been mentioned by others in this thread already):

RAM: Woot - 6GB, Best Buy - 8GB
Hard Drive: Woot - 750GB, Best Buy - 1TB
Backlit keyboard: Woot - no, Best Buy - yes

One thing not specifically mentioned in the specs that was a determining factor for my wife's purchase of the BB model last month:

Matte screen: Woot - ?, Best Buy - yes

Both are listed as NP700Z5BH on Samsung's site, but when you look at the specs, the full model number is listed. The links for the two laptops on Samsung's site are:

Woot (-W01UB): http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP700Z5B-W01UB-specs
Best Buy (-S01UB): http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP700Z5B-S01UB-specs

That said, the BB model is stellar! For $300 less, the RAM and HDD differences are insignificant, so long as the refurb process is good.

EDIT: After looking over the specs list more closely, this model does NOT have a backlit keyboard listed.

nanaejt wrote:Very good post!

Not really. The BB laptop that they are referencing is not the same as this one being offered on Woot today. I posted about this in the previous post, but here's the links to Sammy's spec lists for both of these two laptops to compare:

Woot's offering: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP700Z5B-W01UB-specs
Best Buy's offering: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP700Z5B-S01UB-specs

Bought a refurbed Samsung laptop here in November. The hard drive died 93 days after ordering, 88 days after receiving. Samsung wouldn't even talk to me about it because they warranty on purchase date. I will never buy a Samsung product again. Buyer beware! Service is terrible!

postnick wrote:...

You do not get VGA adapter and its hard to find. The touchpad is difficult sometimes and great other times.

...

Does the trackpad have physical left/right click buttons? I could not see any in the picture, and that would be a dealbreaker for me.

Why not just buy a new iPad for $499?

Two things I would really like to know before buying:

1. What speed is this RAM (and what speed will this mobo accept)?

2. Is the trackpad multi-touch?
I am not a fan of Apple simply because of the price and the attitude, but I must admit I'm addicted to being able to do almost everything on the trackpad with one hand.

Yes, I know that's actually three questions.
Layoff already.

gak0090 wrote:Not impressed. You can look at Sunday ads and pick this deal out weekly, and have a new one to boot.

What are Sunday ads ?

I have a refurbed Samsung QX410, purchased from Woot about 9 months ago. Laptop is great in all ways, but one....track pad. I don't know if this model has the same trackpad, but mine is infuriating. It is wide, so the thumb-side of my palm brushes against it while typing. This moves the cursor all over the screen and just plain messes everything up.