Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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Samsung Quad-Core i7 Notebook
$699.99 + $5 Shipping
Condition: Refurbished

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

Lots of money for this notebook

Very fast processor rated over 6000 at passmark.

Dang, this must be a time travel machine, for sure!

Awww.... Come on, give us some cool junk we can afford to buy.

theguruguys wrote:Very fast processor rated over 6000 at passmark.

Does this mean I can play video games on it?

"Very good" (four out of 5) editors rating review at PC Mag.

Seems like a solid deal. We have had an awesome experience with our I7 and will never use anything else

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.

this laptop looks great! unfortunately my current (and moderately modern) Samsung is doing too well (please don't let me jinx that...) for my wallet to justify a newer one!

However, I do enjoy Samsung as a brand, and this one seems awesome!

WiMax? WiDi? who the f uses them anyways?

more info about WiDi

I bought two of these from Woot and use them as professional graphics machines on video shows. HDMI out into the HD switcher, zero problems. These machines are fast, reliable, and have held up well thus far. Runs PowerPoint and Photoshop effortlessly.

5400 RPM drive is a slow dog... Plenty of ram though so I guess overall it's ok.

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

Depends on the game. Games like World of Warcraft and the like no problem. Moderm FPS without turning everything to 'low quality' settings will be an issue. Here are the passmark ratings for the video processor in it:

HD6490M at Passmark scored 645.

For reference, a popular older desktop graphics card, the Geforce 9800GTS ranks around 900. So in a nutshell, if you are not real picky about having to have everything on high settings, you should be able to play most games without too frustration.

Scroll down the the bottom of this page and you can see rough estimates of game performance with this particular grapchis card.

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

With the Graphics card AMD Radeon 6490M (512MB dedicated), I would venture to say yes, but I wouldnt bank on high settings. Medium if you are lucky.

Bought this in November I think. Best buy I ever made.I'd wish I had bought two. I waited a long time for this laptop to appear again. Great powerful computer . Don't think --buy, buy, buy!!!! Won't regret it.

royvij wrote:5400 RPM drive is a slow dog... Plenty of ram though so I guess overall it's ok.

This is not really true with a drive that large (750Gigs). There are a lot of factors that determine drive read/write performance other than the RPM (platter size, cache, etc). An older 120GB notebook drive at 5400 RPM will be very slow, but most of the newer larger 5400 drives are much faster.

Without knowing the exact model in this laptop we can't really look up benchmarks, but there are 5400rpm drives that actually outperform some 7200 drives.

It's safe to say that the drive in this one (likely a Samsung brand) is faster than what most people think of when they see 5400 RPM and compare it from experience of a drive that speed from the past.

Product Page/Reviews
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP700Z5B-W01UB-reviews

Looks a lot more stylish and slimmer. Actually kind of appealing to the eye too.

Damn, I wish I had the money, as I want to replace my seven year old HP laptop. And, I really don't want a Intel-based chipset.

Anyone know the performance with Starcraft II and World of Warcraft? How about Skyrim?

I was about to get it for my son, but the graphics card is weak. If I upgrade I might as well just get a computer that is more powerful to begin with. If you don't play games, this laptop is a nice deal.

theguruguys wrote:Depends on the game. Games like World of Warcraft and the like no problem. Moderm FPS without turning everything to 'low quality' settings will be an issue. Here are the passmark ratings for the video processor in it:

HD6490M at Passmark scored 645.

For reference, a popular older desktop graphics card, the Geforce 9800GTS ranks around 900.

And everyone else who answered. Thanks!

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.

One of the complaints I have with many new computers (and one of the Cons on the Pc Mag review) is the abundance of bloatware, unnecessary software pre-installed that just slows down and often complicates thing.

I highly recommend those who may not have the experience on knowing what to uninstall use the free software pcdecrapifier which will safely and automatically uninstall a lot of the bloatware.

I do have to ask: is this infested with Vashta Nerada?

Makes me almost wish I needed a new laptop ... hmmm ... if I spill my drink just so ... would my household insurance cover it? Hmmm ...

empty libraries are creepier if there are too many shadows.

also, someone beat me to the vashta nerada ref. :/

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

Easy pass.

Can anyone comment on the trackpad quality vs Apple trackpads?

jseureau wrote:Seems like a solid deal. We have had an awesome experience with our I7 and will never use anything else

I have to agree with Jseurea, I bought a (blech)AMD(blech) laptop a few months before i got my Intel i7 and wish i would have spent the few extra bucks and got the i7 laptop. This is a solid Deal, I would look at maxing the RAM though

I used to have a macbook pro, and now have this samsung. I do love this computer, but the trackpad on the apple was better. That being said, this computer is a workhorse.

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

Easy pass.

Just in case anyone is confused, the display may be 1600x900, but if you output to a higher resolution display (via HDMI or WiDi) it should match that display's resolution.

fachagooch wrote:I have to agree with Jseurea, I bought a (blech)AMD(blech) laptop a few months before i got my Intel i7 and wish i would have spent the few extra bucks and got the i7 laptop. This is a solid Deal, I would look at maxing the RAM though

I like AMD better than Intel but it's a personal choice. I've had much better luck with AMD too.

sdbcmr wrote:Makes me almost wish I needed a new laptop ... hmmm ... if I spill my drink just so ... would my household insurance cover it? Hmmm ...

Only if you have the rider for electronics --- he he he ---

MichXelle wrote:I like AMD better than Intel but it's a personal choice. I've had much better luck with AMD too.

My AMD is a DOG (wolf wolf) it does not Stream video, constantly freezes up. I hate it. the only thing that i use it for now a days is to RDP to my i7 desktop at home.

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

Easy pass.

Interesting info about resolution in different time frames.

http://www.kleppinger.com/2010/09/where-are-the-high-resolution-laptop-displays

BTW I would be quite content with that resolution.

only use an i7? blah I got the i9 and won't go back

Nice unit. I bought basically the same model new, a month ago at Costco for $699 with a 2 year warranty.

I've had this laptop since October. First thing I did was take out the 5400 RPM drive and put in a hybrid drive. then I added only one stick of ram to get it up to 8 gb. I feel I got jiped at 900 for this new compared to the nice one. I bought at Best Buy.

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

Hard drive was hard to replace, ram was easy.

The laptop is very fast however so I can not complain about much.

Does any one know if it is easy to upgrade the hard drive and RAM?