How is the quality of Samsung laptops?

[bgc99]

After seeing the recent story about Samsung settling a class action lawsuit resulting from their use of cheap capacitors that were failing in their televisions, I'm wondering what people think of the quality of Samsung laptops?

Several years ago I had a mobo that suffered from the bad cap problem and I sure don't want to be caught up in that again.

Thanks,
BGC

 

[Zap]

I can't speak for the long term durability since I've only owned my Samsung Series 3 for a half year and barely use it, but initial quality seems reasonably nice for a $700 notebook.

 

[wirednuts]

sad, because samsung for a couple decades was considered high quality stuff... but this last year or so they seem to be headed the same direction as sony post 80's

 

[General Kenobi]

As per LaptopMag:

Don't buy Samsung.

 

[wirednuts]

^^ based on a small number of reviews and also, i would probably buy any one of those brands as long as the price was right

 

[General Kenobi]

Yeah, it's a bit controversial, but that's what they think. IIRC, Acer and HP have the highest percentage of RMAs per units sold.

Plus it's pretty unfair to compare Apple's overpriced MacBooks to some middle-of-the-line Toshiba (not that Toshibas aren't good).

 

[Chiropteran]

As per LaptopMag:

Don't buy Samsung.

That chart is WTF bogus. Some categories are obviously on a 1-5 scale, others 1-10 scale, and some like "reviews" are apparently completely arbitrary. How does that even work?

Also, HP is 3rd highest? Don't make me laugh- although I do agree with it's #1 and #2 positions, I don't agree that apple should be so far ahead. IMO "value" for apple is around a 1 or a 2, and I can't even pretend to understand how having more reviews is seen as a plus.




Anyway, I have a very very very cheap samsung laptop. I can't even say the model, it's just some unmemorable series of numbers. It has an A6 quad core APU of some kind. It performs very well. Samsung's drivers install easily without adding bloat, something that is important to me. Hardware is perfectly stable.

Battery life good, performance good, but there is an oddity. I have the battery set to charge to only 80% to improve lifespan of the battery, which gives about 2 hours of light use. But the scale seems to be really broken in the 10-45% range, as it will take a fairly long time to drop from 80% to 45% before nearly instantly dropping down to 10%. I haven't cared enough to troubleshoot this, or see what happens if I let it fully discharge, but it's a minor annoyance.

Other than those things, the laptop "feels" cheap. It was a $380 laptop, so I don't expect much, but the plastic case feels like the cheap brittle sort of plastic that breaks very easily. Hasn't happened yet, but I worry. The DVD optical drive doesn't sit completely flush with the case while closed either, probably intended but it doesn't look very good. Screen is a basic cheap LCD.

All in all it's a perfectly usable and very functional device, but not very pretty or luxurious. For the price I paid I won't complain, but I couldn't give it a glowing review as a perfect laptop, as it's not.

 

[bgc99]

If I get a laptop I'd like a matte screen and Samsung is one of the few that seems to use them.

 

[God Mode]

Go to bestbuy or any B&M and compare the budget models in the same price range. They're all plasticky toys with the same build quality sans plastic styling.

For budget, I actually prefer HP and Dell due to the plethora of used parts available for them.

 

[Chiropteran]

If I get a laptop I'd like a matte screen and Samsung is one of the few that seems to use them.

Lenovo has matte screen options as well.

 

[kbp]

just bought a asus G53 and it has a matte screen along with a second HD compartment. Guess whats going in there???

 

[God Mode]

just bought a asus G53 and it has a matte screen along with a second HD compartment. Guess whats going in there???

Your secret stash? :whiste:

 

[zCypher]

I have a friend that has a little Samsung netbook, it's pretty nice and sturdy too. I don't think the above chart is all that true, except for Lenovo being in the top few.

 

[Zap]

If I get a laptop I'd like a matte screen and Samsung is one of the few that seems to use them.

That seems true. My Samsung Series 3 has a matte screen. I do prefer them over glossy.

 

[wirednuts]

i dropped my asus 1005hab netbook once and it broke the glossy screen. i put a matte in it as a replacement. i do like i a lot better.

otherwise, asus isnt high on that list either and i agree this netbook feels like a cheap plastic toy, but i have dropped this thing at least 100 times. i beat the living shit out of it, and it still works perfect after 3 years. my other 3 laptops could only take so many drops (ibm thinkpads, dell inspirons, and hp tablet pc's). and the only reason the screen broke on this one was because it fell off the bed and the screen got caught in the frame of the bed and twisted. instant starburst on the glass.

 

[bgc99]

I haven't laid hands on any of them yet so I can't comment on how sturdy they feel. When I build my next desktop system I will most likely use an Asus mobo. As far as laptops go though, I'm concerned that it seems like every Newegg email has refurbed Asus laptops for sale.

If I get a laptop, it will be in the $500 or less range. I'll have to check if Lenovo offers matte screens in that price range.

 

[wirednuts]

i think asus runs into various small problems because theyre always trying out new features. the one i bought from worstbuy for a friend was like that... it was a really nice laptop but it had a weird bios issue with the onboard graphics always getting screwed up. it was part of some asus power management thing, and i guess they finally fixed it in a bios update but i dont think my friend ever updated it... they just got rid of it. things like that happen a lot, where there really isnt anything wrong hardware wise

 

[Meaker10]

Apple more innovative than MSI on notebook front?

That's a outright lie right there.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

chart=bias
xD

 

[Phynaz]

Battery life good, performance good...which gives about 2 hours of light use.

If you consider 2 hours of light use as good battery life then you have very low standards.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Apple more innovative than MSI on notebook front?

That's a outright lie right there.

What has MSI ever made that rivals the influence of the MacBook Air? Has MSI ever developed anything as revolutionary as Apple's flat lithium polymer battery technology, or made an innovation like the use of on-mainboard flash RAM in place of a hard drive, or unibody construction?

I know there are any number of people who go out of their way to deny Apple's strengths, but if you're being honest you have to give credit where credit's due. I don't see that they have a real rival in terms of the design and build quality of their laptops. The whole "overpriced" rap also seems stupid to me in that nobody else seems to be able to make a price-competitive ultrabook or tablet that is anywhere near as nice as its Apple equivalent. Apple products' resale value is so superior to any other company's that you will more than make back the difference in initial price when it's time to move to a new machine, plus no other vendor can offer service that is anywhere near as good, since Apple is the only company with an international network of retail stores, each of which offers service in-house.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Love the matte screen in my Lenovo. Love that its 1600 instead of 1440 pixels. Hate that its still only 900 pixels tall (uncalled for, give me 1600x1200 any day).

As to the quality sheet, crap can certainly happen at any time. I got a MBP for my fiancee to replace her 7 year old Compaq that stopped working and it had a logic board failure 3 days into owning it.

 

[Meaker10]

You can pretty much replace the display in any notebook, I put an uber high quality matte screen in mine.

 

[bgc99]

Where do you get a replacement laptop display? Are the connectors generic?

 

[Meaker10]

I got mine off laptopscreen.com, most companies (apart from Dell and apple) use a generic connector.

The only thing you have to watch out for is the ranking of connectors:

30 pin = 768p 60hz
40 pin = 1080p 60hz, 768p 120hz
50 pin = 1080p 120hz, 1080p 60hz IPS (higher colour bits)

You cant move between these boundaries but can change panels freely within them. There are a few models out there where you can by upgrading your display cable (if there is a model of the same casing but high res screen then you can).

I moved from a 15.6" LG to the 15.6" auo b156hw01 v4 which is the best panel currently made. There is also the 17.3" auo b156hw01 v4.