Samsung Series 7 Laptops - 15.0" and 15.6" Models (NP700Z4 & NP700Z5)

[methodii]

I noticed that Tiger Direct has this note in specs:
Display Type: SuperBright HD LED backlit Display

Best Buy on the other hand simply says:
Display Type High-definition widescreen LED

Not sure if they simply have different terminology, but... I still have a week to return the Best Buy model.

[jizzles]

OK. So I just got it in the mail.

Here's my first impressions:

Build quality. Everything seems very sturdy. There is no keyboard flex. Yes, the bottom might be plastic, but it flexes no more than my wife's Macbook Pro. There does seem to be some flex on the palm rest, but that doesn't really matter, does it?

It really is a beautiful machine. Well designed, clean lines. Etc.

The keyboard is actually very nice. Though it takes getting used to it being shifted to the side.

One thing dominates any laptop: The screen. And let me tell you, this screen hurts my eyes. It is painful. Washed out. Just really bad. I thought my previous laptop's screen was bad. But at least it was useable. This thing hurts. Seriously. Guess this means I'm returning it. Everything else is great. Why did they have to screw this up so completely horribly???

Bah.

Wow, washed out? That's terrible! How can Samsung even put out a screen that bad?

Edit: Oh it's the best buy model...hopefully this only applies to best buy

[derpderp]

I think this all makes sense,the BB model is definitely apart from the others.
That kind of explains why the other retailers and other models are only coming late october, that's because the batch of real series 7 chrons with hopefully the display shown at IFA are being produced stocked & shipped.
If you look closely on official reps info, they all mention late october for any other retailer than bestbuy over the world and in europe.
Bestbuy is so fishy they couldn't even hold on to put on sale their special batch scheduled for 2st october...

[John Ratsey]

One thing dominates any laptop: The screen. And let me tell you, this screen hurts my eyes. It is painful. Washed out. Just really bad. I thought my previous laptop's screen was bad. But at least it was useable. This thing hurts. Seriously. Guess this means I'm returning it. Everything else is great. Why did they have to screw this up so completely horribly???

Drop the display brightness a few steps and you may well find that it becomes very good. You only need the full brightness when sitting in the sunshine.

I saw the same problem on one of my Dell Latitudes until I figured out that I only needed about 75% brightness when indoors. (And that sort of brightness doesn't mean dim - its about the same as full brightness on most notebooks).

John

[antisthenes]

Assuming this is all true and we're not just fooling ourselves, what a boneheaded move on Samsung's part. Why would you have your customers' first impression of a major new product be the crappy budget model with inferior parts? That combined with the horrible confusion about the 15"/14" model tells me Samsung needs to fire its marketing people. I mean, they should know how quickly news spreads on the Internet. The kind of people who would evangelize about your product are also the people who are camping out in threads like this and concluding that your product sucks.

[BigNerd]

On what planet?

The Vaio F with a quad-core i7, a 540M, and an amazing-quality 16.4" 1080p matte display, rings in at just over $1000, less than half the base price of a MacBook Pro 17. You can throw in 3D and blu-ray and you're still not remotely close to the base price of the MBP 17.

This planet.

Isn't the F like a thick slab of plastic? How is the battery life compared to the MBP 17"? Remember... I was talking about design too... not just specs.

The 15.5" Vaio SE which is about to hit the market is comparable in many ways to the base-model Macbook Pro 15 yet starts at $999, just over half of the price.

Again... they are just now catching up. Although I'm not sure how thin the SE is and what type of battery life it has (without the slice).

The Vaio SA offers a lot more performance than a MBP 13 at a similar price.

What about battery performance?

The ONLY time I can think of where a Sony is more expensive than a similar-sized Mac is when you compare the MacBook Air to the Vaio Z2...and the Z2 is a lot more computer than the MBA 13 (1080p screen, docking station with optical drive and dedicated GPU, etc).

And that was what I was referring too... a very thin notebook but costs quite a bit more.

Thanks for the review! The Series 7 offers such great components-for-the-dollar I figured there was a catch. Crappy screen and flex-happy case seem to be the price you pay.

And that's what I mean... Mac screens and the solid build are what people draw comparisons too... so even if the competitors are cheaper, people are always bringing up the things that are part of the higher price points.

[antisthenes]

Can we keep the Mac-vs-PC discussion somewhere else? It's been done to death already EVERYWHERE ELSE ON THE INTERNET and I want to focus on this laptop.

[BigNerd]

Can we keep the Mac-vs-PC discussion somewhere else? It's been done to death already EVERYWHERE ELSE ON THE INTERNET and I want to focus on this laptop.

I apologize... but there are quite a few people comparing the Series 7 to MBPs.

On this forum, where does one start a thread comparing Mac notebook design to PC notebook design?

[Mitlov]

On this forum, where does one start a thread comparing Mac notebook design to PC notebook design?

If you're going to use the continually-moving-target method of debate, I think the answer is pleasegodnowhere.

This is a classic example of continually-moving-target debating:

"Anything Sony is just as if not more expensive [than Apple]." (actual quote, emphasis added)
"No they're not, with only one exception." (paraphrase)
"But OMG battery life! ...or thickness!" (paraphrase)

[methodii]

johnl at macmall: [12:39:28 PM] Hello. My name is John and my extension is 37308. I’ll be happy to help you. Please give me a second to check on your question.
methodii: [12:39:28 PM] Do you know when NP700Z5A-S02US is expected to ship?
johnl at macmall: [12:40:11 PM] As of the moment, the item is in backorder
methodii: [12:40:42 PM] Do you have any indicative date when it will become available?
johnl at macmall: [12:40:51 PM] And we are expecting to have them available by the second or third week of October.
methodii: [12:41:37 PM] Thanks!