Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US – Excellent cost to specification ratio

Thumbs Up:

Excellent specification as per the price tag; Blu-ray drive; Core i5 processor.

Thumbs Down:

Average battery life; hard to locate touchpad buttons.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US is powered with 2.26GHz Intel Core i5 I5-430M processor, Intel HM55 chipset, and 4GB DDR3 SD RAM. It has 500GB SATA hard drive and Blu-ray drive [DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM / BD-ROM]. The operating system is Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

The laptop has High Definition Sound card and 1.3-megapixel integrated Web cam. Graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce 310M with 512MB GDDR3 SDRAM video memory.

15.6 inches LED-backlit display has 1366×768 pixels WVGA resolution. 3-in-1 card reader supports SDHC/SD Memory card, and MultiMediaCard. The network adapter supports wired networking standards of Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet. Wireless adapter supports standards of IEEE 802.11b/g/n.

The interfaces are 1 x Headphones – Output – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x Microphone – Input – Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1 x Network – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T – RJ-45, 1 x Audio / video – HDMI – 19 pin HDMI Type A, 4 x Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A, and 1 x Display / video – VGA – 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15).

Preinstalled software are 60 days trial of Microsoft Office Professional 2007, Samsung Recovery Solution, and Adobe Acrobat Reader. Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US has 4400mAH six-cell lithium ion battery. It is ENERGY STAR qualified and compliance the RoHS standards.

Razzle Dazzle:

Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US laptop is 1.6 inches tall, 16.2 inches wide, and 10.7 inches deep and weighs 5.7 lbs. It feels lightweight and thin while taking in hand. There is a 3D style deep red-to-black color pattern on the front. This gives a look of Samsung HDTV line. However, the front pattern mask fingerprints and smudges.

Inside Dope:

Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US laptop has a great combination of price tag and configuration. In $829, it offers 2.26GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard drive, Nvidia Geforce graphic card, 15.6 inches screen, and Blu-ray drive. It has flick finish on outside and looks reminiscent of a high-end Toshiba laptop. However, its battery life is short as compared to others in its class. If you need an affordable laptop with excellent specification, good performance and nice style then we will recommend the Samsung R580 laptop.

The dual hinge set opens the Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US laptop smoothly and align the front screen securely. Bother lower and upper halves flush relatively with each other, while lower lip juts out slightly. Samsung R580 laptop has chic-let type full keyboard with separate numeric keyboard like that of Asus one. The keyboard has sturdy keys, but you may have to press them with little pressure to register your command.

There are dedicated multimedia keys on the interior; still there is a power button as usual. The multi-touchpad sits beneath the keyboard of Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US and is flushed inside the palm rest. We like that it is easily distinguished by four blue LEDs on the corners and its matte surface. The narrow click buttons are flush within the surface and made up of single plastic piece. We do not like that these buttons are hard to locate and we will prefer to have the rocker-styled buttons.

Samsung NP-R580-RJB1US has 15.6 inches wide-screen glossy LED-backlit display of 1366×768 pixels resolution. The brightness is relatively good and colors appear sharp. Again to dislike for us, the screen appeared a bit washed out in bright lights. You may have to adjust the screen to get the best spot for nice off-angle view.

The stereo speakers are located just above the keyboard. They provided deeper sound and felt crisper sound while testing. You will also get inbuilt Web-cam located on the top of screen. Samsung NP-R580-RJB1US comes with pre-installed CyberLink YouCam software for capturing still pictures. We played some Blu-ray movies and got nice display with good surround sound. However, the captured photos looked a bit grainy in low light.

What’s more – You can not only burn the Blu-ray discs, but also write CDs and DVDs. The connectivity options of Samsung NP-R580-RJB1US are VGA output, HDMI port, audio jacks for microphone/speakers, three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet jack, inbuilt Wi-Fi adapter, SD card reader, and one USB 2.0-cum-eSATA port. For upgrade options, there is a vacant slot of ExpressCard/24. We are disappointed that there is no Bluetooth connectivity in the Samsung R580 laptop.

There is Nvidia GeForce 310M graphics card with 512MB video memory. We know that Samsung NP-R580-RJB1US does not match the graphics performance of others laptop with 1GB video memory card. However, Samsung R580 performed good to handle the multimedia and gaming tasks while testing.

We played some high-end games on Samsung NP-R580-RJB1US, Core i5 powered Asus UL50VT-RBBBK05 and Core i3 powered Toshiba Satellite A505-S6025. The Samsung laptop performed much better than above Toshiba and Asus models. In addition, the Samsung R580 performed better for handling multitasking and graphics application.

The annual power consumption of Samsung NP-R580-RJB1US is $6.45, which is more than $4.81 of Asus UL50VT-RBBBK05, $5.85 of Dell Inspiron i1564-6980CRD, and $6.06 of Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904.

Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US has six-cell lithium ion battery that has a life of 2 hours 31 minutes for continuous video playback. In contrast, Toshiba Satellite E205 has better battery performance up to 3 hours.

Samsung is providing one year industry standard warranty with its NP-R580-JSB1US laptop. Toll-free number support is available from 9AM to 9PM, while chat support is 24/7 available. Samsung has also published drivers, user manual and knowledge base on its support Web site.

Nitty Gritty:

If you need a mainstream affordable laptop with 3D style front pattern and do not mind hard to locate touchpad buttons, then buy – Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US laptop.

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