Going to buy NP535U3C - last minute advice

hybie

Hey,

I'm going to buy Samsung Series 5 NP535U3C-A03, but just checking some last minute advice.

It's 629 euros...slightly concerned about the battery, it's 4-cell battery (6100mAh), and wondering how long it will last for per charge based on its spec?

http://www.mediamarkt.nl/mcs/product/SAMSUNG-Series-5-NP535U3C-A03NL,10259,350525,491003.html

Also, is it worth the extra 90 quid to upgrade to a 128GB Samsung SDD?

Thanks!

Torqay

The AMD A6 APU is a deal breaker. Performance similar to a Celeron processor, the on-chip HD 7500G is worse than Intel's HD 4000.

Battery life should be acceptable, since it's a 17W max TDP CPU.

The new ASUS K56CA is far better, Ivy Bridge Core i5 ULV processor (17W max TDP), pretty slim (2.1 cm) and a lot cheaper, €540 at Argos.

hybie

I had a look at others but kinda settled on Samsung rather than Asus.

It will just be for internet browsing, downloading etc, not for gaming. Will the AMD A6 APU make a big difference?

And for battery...would I still get 3-4 hours on high performance use, or am I looking more at 2 hours?

freestyla

Ultrabook styling caught your eye? but again, that CPU is pretty awful. You will have no problems internet browsing ATM, but it's likely to become a problem maybe in a year or two when web content, video and audio running requirements will probably grow as per usual trend.

It could help a good notch up IF that 500Gb is maybe big cache drive? find out HDD part number and google it could be a Hybrid HDD where you get 16Gb of SSD cache which boosts things up in the most used applications.

This nice looking laptop is ruined with that CPU. I was almost going for it myself last month but good I didn't. Dunno what they were thinking when designing it -say everybody would pay €50-100 more to get Core i3 or even i5.

Torqay

hybie wrote: »

Will the AMD A6 APU make a big difference?

Very much so:





From a review at PC Mag:

The Series 5 NP535U3C is built around an AMD processor, a change that affects not only price but also overall performance in ways most consumers are not likely to benefit from or appreciate.

While they were not impressed with the battery life either, they got more than 2 hours out of it.

Torqay

freestyla wrote: »

It could help a good notch up IF that 500Gb is maybe big cache drive? find out HDD part number and google it could be a Hybrid HDD where you get 16Gb of SSD cache which boosts things up in the most used applications.

No hybrid cache drive.

The Series 5 NP535U3C is also equipped with a 5,400rpm 500GB hard drive. This matches the drive sizes seen in the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 and Dell Inspiron 14z (Summer 2012) , but it doesn't include the 32GB cache of flash memory that makes ultrabooks so nimble.

freestyla

Torqay wrote: »

....Lenovo IdeaPad U310...

He should be able to find Lenovo with i3 for some €600.. ? pretty same style as the Samsung ^
the ones with Pentium or Celeron processors are cheap at €500 but a bit too slow.

hybie

There's also this one for another 60 quid (Windows 7, not 8)

http://www.mycom.nl/Product/Notebook-en-Netbook-Ultrabook/Samsung-Series-5-Ultra2nd-i32367M/1352903
Click on Specificaties

It's an Intel i3

Worth it, or not much better?

freestyla

hybie wrote: »

There's also this one for another 60 quid (Windows 7, not 8)

http://www.mycom.nl/Product/Notebook-en-Netbook-Ultrabook/Samsung-Series-5-Ultra2nd-i32367M/1352903
Click on Specificaties

It's an Intel i3

Worth it, or not much better?

Much better yeah.
CPU is actually proper 2 core + has 4 threads to help out in heavy apps.
Hybrid disk, no need to change it
1x 4Gb so you can add another 4Gb if becomes sluggish by time.
sleek and light!

hybie

Okay, so might be on to a winner at last.

So the only thing is the battery...anything to improve it from 2 hours or so? I can imagine in a year or so that will wear down to less than 1?

Torqay

Any particular reason for buying in Holland? Like the Dutch keyboard layout?

hybie

I live in Holland

freestyla

hybie wrote: »

Okay, so might be on to a winner at last.

So the only thing is the battery...anything to improve it from 2 hours or so? I can imagine in a year or so that will wear down to less than 1?

Can't be that short, where you see that?

CPU and chipset are a generation older than this years new Ultra Low Voltage components but I think 4 hrs should be easily achievable.