Great Value Laptop
Nvidia’s GeForce GT 330M provides plenty of 3D oomph and allowed the R780 to run both Call of Duty 4 and Crysis at its native 1600 x 900 resolution. In Crysis, however, I had to turn detail settings to medium, in order to get a playable 24.9fps. In high detail mode, it trudged along at just 10.8fps.
Just about portable at 2.8kg, but battery life is woeful
In the gruelling PCMark Vantage loop test, the R780 and its 48Wh battery really struggled and could only limp just past the one hour before throwing the towel in. When using it sparingly, I managed just over two hours from a single charge, but I was hoping for better. Weighing in at 2.8kg it’s not inconceivable that people will look to use the R780 when travelling, but the poor battery life makes it unsuitable for long journeys.
Verdict
With decent processing power, the ability to let you indulge in a bit of gaming and a solid design, the R780 is great value at £799. However, Samsung’s curious decision to go with a 32-bit operating system and the laptop’s woefully short battery life can’t be ignored. Some folk won’t be too concerned about either, though, and this is otherwise a very impressive laptop at an equally impressive price. ®
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 Acer
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Samsung R780 17.3in laptop
COMMENTS
Only 1600 x900 on 17."
Is this for people that need reading glasses but won't wear them? It's only about 104 dpi
My 8 y.o. laptop is 1600 x 1200 and 15.4" yet is lower resolution than my PMP and many mobile phones. It's about 133dpi
What happened to the dream of a 200 dpi or better paper like WYSIWG display?
Why is it nearly impossible to find a laptop with a display that can show an entire A4 document at readable quality? (You do need at least 1200 lines, 1080, the HDTV resolution is just too small).
Good review though :-)
Even cheaper
The model from Argos you quoted is an i3 processor, not i5. It also has a GT310 video card instead of a 330. Check processor type, speed and just about everything else before comparing!
You can avoid Argos and pay about £100 less from a number of suppliers (ebuyer.com for one). (£605 is the cheapest I've found so far for the same model as the Argos version)
Actually im not after 1600x1200 display...
... but in a 17" machine i still do not understand why you wouldnt have at least a 1080p resolution. Especially with a machine with a Bluray player. It really does not make since to me!
HP have done this with there new DV7 line as well. The only 1080p compliant model at 17" will be the Envy 17 (in the UK at least).
If your going to include a Bluray player it should be a minium requirement to have a screen which can show the film at full resolution. Sorry Samsung until you bring out a 1080p screen - your off my selection list!
Can be bought cheaper
Just look at your local hardware store, they probably have way cheaper mirrors there.
Other than that, what's the use of a reflecting screen? You will constantly be irritated by reflections from bright objects in your background. What will be next, transparent screens?
