This one came back fast with a few minor differences this time.

much better than screen with only edge to middle glass

So this is just a slightly nicer version of a laptop a lot of wooters received recently. Here's the page where we're all giving our thoughts: http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PageIndex=7&PostID=4487802#post4487802

Here's a nice engadget review: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/07/samsung-qx410-review/
Apparently it's a steal for 800$. I'd have to agree.

It is a dual core, not quad.

Edge-to-edge glass... huh, looks no different than any other laptop to me. What am I missing?

Apple-inspired design begs the hackintosh treatment.

Anyone experienced?

notilas wrote:It is a dual core, not quad.

You sir are correct. http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52952

This one is almost identical to the previous woot but just slightly faster. The i5 480m processor in this one scores 2765 on the passmark benchmarks.

The previous one scores 2618 on the passmark benchmark with its i5 460m.

Very little difference, both very respectable processors.

Otherwise they seem to be identical. Anyone see any other differences?

5 pounds seems like a lot to carry in your teeth

picture can't be right. edge-to-edge does not strongly imply a half-inch border of plastic around the screen.

blair1q wrote:picture can't be right. edge-to-edge does not strongly imply a half-inch border of plastic around the screen.

Edge to Edge glass, with this particular model, means that they put the glass (or plastic) on top of the screen so that if you were to run your finger across the screen it would be flat all the way across, you would not feel the bezel. It doesn't mean there is no bezel, its just underneath the outside glass.

Haven't experienced Samsung's PCs but currently using a Samsung Blu Ray player and Samsung 40" LCD TV. The TV works great - the Blu Ray, not so much. Very unreliable with wireless internet connection when started up, and freezes up on occasion while loading a disc or even just trying to load the menu with no disc. I personally will not be buying another Samsung home theater piece and would extend that to computers.

Summary of what we wooters thought of it:
-Ridiculous steal for the price.
-Display is attractive but not all that nice. Resolution is fairly low, apparent meshing of the LCD
-Trackpad can be a pain, lots of accidental clicking, though people have fixed this without too much problem
-Many people are having problems with the wireless adapter having a mind of its own. Craps out without warning, not fixed with new drivers. I haven't had this problem, in fact I'm typing this on the QX410-J01.
-Keyboard is really nice, if a bit large
-Metal looks great, not the same quality as the MBP, but still nice
-Graphics card is a bit of a joke, but handles mainstream games at medium settings ok. I've been playing Civ 5 on it for the last few days, at native res but can only handle minimum settings. Bit of a bummer.
-Hard drive seems to come pre-partitioned -- there's a bit of a debate whether this is a good thing or not
-Bloatware could be worse
-Mixed reviews on the speakers. They do get sufficiently loud, I'll vouch for, but I don't like the quality.
-Some people having problems with the power adapter. Not the majority it would seem.
-Refurb process itself getting VERY mixed reviews. Mine and a fair number of others came fairly pristine, but a few people had scratches and other unseemly reminders that this computer is preowned. I would wager to guess that this experience is the minority, though.

I ordered the previous model from Woot last week. Is the difference between the two any significant?

Not overly excited about today's woot, but I did just get the moofi.woot over at deals.woot.com. Sandisk Sansa Clip 4GB mp3 player with expandable microSD card slot for $20. Should make a nice little player for the gym...thanks Woot!

A summary of some of the main discussion points from the similar one that showed up a few weeks ago:

People questioned the Edge to Edge which I re-explained a few messages above.

Intel WiDi allows you to send the video signal from the laptop via wireless to your TV. You will need something like this to take advantage of the WiDi.

Benchmarks for the Graphics CPU can be found here. It also has estimated FPS for common games.

There was a huge debate on the trackpad. Many users disliked it, it was by far the most criticized component. It is over-sized and comparable to the ones you find on the Macbook's. People easily rest their hand across it and move the mouse unintentionally. It takes a bit of getting used to.

The battery is not user replaceable, that is unless you are skilled in taking laptops apart.

Is the keyboard backlit?

Thank you for helping me replace my girlfriend's laptop right in her time of need. This is why Woot is awesome


edit: and by 'replace' I mean her laptop is literally falling apart. Physically broken.

weemdog wrote:Not overly excited about today's woot, but I did just get the moofi.woot over at deals.woot.com. Sandisk Sansa Clip 4GB mp3 player with expandable microSD card slot for $20. Should make a nice little player for the gym...thanks Woot!

All I can find at deals.woot.com are Kristies! Whats up with that?

Here is Samsungs's 'First Look' video for the QX410 series.



Here is a video of what it looks like on the inside in case you ever have to replace the battery.

xchicagoan5 wrote:Is the keyboard backlit?

Nope.

I got this exact laptop in November from the big blue retailer and paid about two hundred more for it; same model number, same specs, and everything. That said, I love it, and as long as you get past all the extra crap that Samsung puts on it out of the box (all their "extra speed" and "optomization" software), it's a very good computer. I particularly like the trackpad because it is more like the Apple style where the whole pad clicks as a button when you press down hard enough on it, instead of being limited to tapping on it. The quality is also very good on the physical machine; I can't quite tell if it's brushed aluminum or not, but the outer case certainly feels the part. The edge-to-edge glass is not bad, but I found that it's annoying because more often than not I get fingerprints on it when I try to open or close the laptop. Overall though, especially since this comes with some Samsung warranty, if I didn't have it I would buy it all over again.

And yes, I do frequently get 6 hours of battery life on it (7 is pushing it though).

archey wrote:You sir are correct. http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52952

Oh good, others noticed.

For anyone who is reading comments, take note: this laptop's CPU is NOT a quad-core. It is a dual-core. The first generation Intel i5 cores (denoted by the three-digit model numbers) are only dual-cores.

Sandy Bridge (second gen i5) processors are the quad-cores, and they are denoted by four-digit model numbers beginning with a 2 (2### for desktops, 2###m for laptops).

Okay, done acting like a smarty pants. Now about the laptop, the machine is a very, very nice machine. I bought the same computer but different model that was on sale on Woot's end-of-the-world Rapture sale, the only difference between mine and this one being mine has a slightly slower processor (i5 460m, 2.6 GHz).

The machine is very sexy, very nice and solidly built with pretty dang decent graphics handling for a laptop (and thanks to Optimus I can get literally 7+ hours of usage when not gaming), and a great processor. Despite it being refurbished, it is very much well worth your purchase.

The only quirks I have with my laptop, and it may only be because it is refurb'd, is the touchpad sometimes doesn't register clicks for about half a second after typing. I have even turned off the Palm Guard feature, yet it still does it. Hardly a big deal at all, and the only other gripe I have is the webcam pretty much sucks. However, these are intensely overshadowed by the positives for this laptop. I've had no problems, no random WiFi disconnections, no AC adapter problems, none.

Attention purchasers of this laptop:
As an additional note, I did my research about laptops to purchase before I bought mine a couple weeks back, and I found out that Samsung is soon releasing the next generation of this line of laptops, the Qx412, to America in August (it is already out in Korea, I believe). The update features a Sandy Bridge i5 quad-core and a GT 520 (still entry-level but much improved over the 310m), but the most important part is its 8-cell battery, which they claim can pump out 11+ hours of usage life on a single charge. I think I read it is going to be about $1,200, which is about $200-$300 more than this current model is new.
Many reviewers who have gotten their hands on it are giving it unanimous praise. Check out this article.

Just thought I'd share.

(Sorry about the big-ass post. I don't normally geek out so much, but I think I found the line of laptops that is perfect for me.)

WiMax has to be paid for right?

xchicagoan5 wrote:Is the keyboard backlit?

According to the Engadget review, no

Sandy106 wrote:WiMax has to be paid for right?

Yes; you must purchase time passes or have a subscription, I believe, in areas with WiMax.

holycraap wrote:I ordered the previous model from Woot last week. Is the difference between the two any significant?

This one has an i5 480m @ 2.66 GHz; the previous one has an i5 460m @ 2.6 GHz.

Only 600 MHz difference, literally unnoticeable and probably not worth $20 extra. Otherwise it's exactly the same.

theguruguys wrote:All I can find at deals.woot.com are Kristies! Whats up with that?

Try going here.

theguruguys wrote:Edge to Edge glass, with this particular model, means that they put the glass (or plastic) on top of the screen so that if you were to run your finder across the screen it would be flat all the way across, you would not feel the bezel. It doesn't mean there is no bezel, its just underneath the outside glass.

Such pompery that does nothing but let them add empty features. Ooooh shiny things.

Maybe one day Apple fanbois will quit buying on looks and they can get back to selling on real hardware features like more ports, quality, support, etc..

Having just recently wooted this lappy, (typing on it now, in fact) I can confirm that the build quality is very nice, and the Samsung programs that come pre-loaded are nicer than most manufacturer software I've seen. The WiMax works well... in fact, the laptop gets much better reception than my Clear modem. Battery life also looks pretty great so far. Got 4.5 solid hours of browsing yesterday, and watched a movie in 1080p on full brightness today with about 50% life left after.

I will also confirm that the touchpad is a bit annoying. Cursor movement while typing isn't such a problem, but the fact that the "buttons" at the bottom are live "mousing" surfaces makes clicking and dragging VERY glitchy.

The other issue I'm having is that the WiDi isn't working out of the box. There's a problem loading a dll file, so the program won't actually start up. I'm working on a fix right now.

Overall though, it's a very nice product. Highly recommended.

frugalfreak wrote:Such pompery that does nothing but let them add empty features. Ooooh shiny things.

Maybe one day Apple fanbois will quit buying on looks and they can get back to selling on real hardware features like more ports, quality, support, etc..

Yup. We discussed this exact point in the previous offering discussions. I'm still mad about how hard it is to find non-glossy screen laptops because consumers were tricked into thinking they were better...

I bought the identical one from 2 weeks ago from woot. I replaced an aging desktop in my living room that I bought almost 7 years ago.

I LOVE everything about this laptop, the style, the speed, the battery life except for one thing. I go on hulu almost everyday and the video plays fine until I play it in full screen and for some reason, I get some flickering issues with the logos that's on the bottom of the screen.

If it wasn't for that, this would have been such a perfect machine for me...

Anybody else having the same flickering issues or did I get a defective laptop?

Does anyone know if the WiMax is fixed to either of the two possible WiMax Providers; Sprint or Clearwire. Also does anyone have any experience with either provider. Would a standard Internet connection be better, Cable, Fiber or DSL?

Would love to see an i7 over the i5 in this machine. Kind of dig the MacBook Pro look it is emulating a bit, too, but does it maintain all the simple custom-ability/upgrade-ability, i.e. ram, HD?

Taemobig wrote:I bought the identical one from 2 weeks ago from woot. I replaced an aging desktop in my living room that I bought almost 7 years ago.

I LOVE everything about this laptop, the style, the speed, the battery life except for one thing. I go on hulu almost everyday and the video plays fine until I play it in full screen and for some reason, I get some flickering issues with the logos that's on the bottom of the screen.

If it wasn't for that, this would have been such a perfect machine for me...

Anybody else having the same flickering issues or did I get a defective laptop?

I get the flickering of the controls on youtube videos on my dell xps lappy.

frugalfreak wrote:Such pompery that does nothing but let them add empty features. Ooooh shiny things.

Maybe one day Apple fanbois will quit buying on looks and they can get back to selling on real hardware features like more ports, quality, support, etc..

Its called a monolithic design. It does reduce the chance for dust and debris getting into and behind the screen or in the cracks. While certainly not a must have feature, it is also very visually appealing. It works well on this laptop.

mcarmack wrote:Does anyone know if the WiMax is fixed to either of the two possible WiMax Providers; Sprint or Clearwire. Also does anyone have any experience with either provider. Would a standard Internet connection be better, Cable, Fiber or DSL?

Sprint and Clear are both listed in the providers for the WiMax settings, so that's a yes, as well as many more.
And in any situation, a standard connection (ethernet or WiFi) will be faster, as so in this case. The writeup makes it clear:

28 Mbps downlink, up to 8 Mbps uplink over WiMAX (802.16e) and up to 300 Mbps bandwidth over Wi–Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)

ETA: Visual proof:



opp sry bout the weird sizing

mcarmack wrote:Does anyone know if the WiMax is fixed to either of the two possible WiMax Providers; Sprint or Clearwire. Also does anyone have any experience with either provider. Would a standard Internet connection be better, Cable, Fiber or DSL?

afaik Sprint buys their 4G coverage from Clear or Clearwire, so theyre technically the same providers I think :P

I havent used them before tho and I've heard the speed/latency are pretty bad. If someone knows otherwise though, let me know, thats the dealbreaker for me at the moment.

bongosolo wrote:Haven't experienced Samsung's PCs but currently using a Samsung Blu Ray player and Samsung 40" LCD TV. The TV works great - the Blu Ray, not so much. Very unreliable with wireless internet connection when started up, and freezes up on occasion while loading a disc or even just trying to load the menu with no disc. I personally will not be buying another Samsung home theater piece and would extend that to computers.

My Samsung R580 is the best laptop I've ever owned.