Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook Review

Like other Samsung laptops (the Series 9, original Series 5, etc.) the edges widen toward the hinge to accommodate all those ports, and then taper down as you move up toward the trackpad. It gives the machine some visual flare, for one thing, making it more interesting to look at than your typical box. samsung galaxy tab 2 charger But it serves a practical purpose too: when you hold the notebook in two hands, those curved edges create a natural resting place for your fingers.Speaking of, the build quality here is about what you'd expect on a mid-range laptop, which is to say it's sturdy, but stops short of feeling premium. The hinge is tightly wound, so that while it's easy to adjust the screen angles, the display also isn't likely to wobble when you set the machine down. At the same time, it's fairly easy to flex and twist the chassis, especially around the palm rest. samsung np530u3c battery You won't notice unless you pick it up by the edges, so it shouldn't be a dealbreaker by any means. It's just a reminder this isn't a flagship machine, but you already knew that.We mentioned earlier that the Series 5 Ultra is well-stocked with ports. Well, here they are. On board, we have three USB ports (one of them 3.0), an Ethernet jack, HDMI, mini VGA (dongle sold separately), a 3-in-1 memory card slot and a headphone / mic socket. Sure, it would've been nice if all of those USB ports were 3.0 but nonetheless, this is a better selection than what you'll get on most ultraportables.

Case
The first impression is vital and the new Series 5 makes a good one. The casing is now much subtler. The general styling looks more straightforward. In contrast to the prior 530U4C, the display lid is deep black. The cover made of brushed aluminum also conveys a pleasantly cool feel. The rest of the chassis is comprised of plastic, which is not a disadvantage by itself. The ultrabook's base, for example, has a matte finish that also feels compelling.
The plain impression is continued inside. However, an all-over gray color alongside a high-gloss keyboard background dominates here. This looks stylish, but is a small drawback in our opinion. x220t battery 3 cell The piano paint finish underneath the keys is considerably more sensitive than the other, matte components. The workmanship makes a good impression. All gaps are equally spaced. Even the transitions between the single parts do not give reason for complaint. Naturally, stiffness is a crucial factor. The casing's lower part seems rigid. It only yields when high force is applied using both hands. The display lid is stiff. lenovo miix 10 power adapter No visible waves are produced on the screen when pressure is applied.
With a size of 38.8 x 23.4 x 1.95 centimeters (w x d x h), the 530U4E weighs approximately 1.8 kilograms. It is not a lightweight but not heavy either. Devices like Apple's MacBook Air 13 or Asus' Zenbook Prime UX31A have an average weight ranging from 1.3 to 1.5 kilograms. Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch is roughly 300 grams lighter with the same screen size (1.5 kilograms). Toshiba's Portégé Z930-105 is very light with 1100 grams.

KEYBOARD AND TRACKPAD
We rarely say this about Ultrabooks, but in the case of the Series 5 UltraTouch, we have no complaints about the keyboard. Oftentimes, in an effort to produce the skinniest machine possible, OEMs end up compromising on the typing experience, settling for flat, lifeless buttons. But this is the Series 5 we're talking about: it measures a good half-inch thick. It's obvious Samsung wasn't trying to break any records here, so we're glad it decided to go ahead and allow for some slightly cushier keys. Now, we wouldn't say these buttons are tactile like an old-school ThinkPad's, but they certainly offer more travel than what you'll find on most competing systems. They're well-spaced too: none of the major keys are shrunken, Microsoft Surface Pro 3 charger and we had no problem finding everything by feel. If you're into highlighting text, as we are, even the arrow keys are easy to strike without having to look down. All told, most of this review was written on the Series 5, which should say something about how comfortable it is to use. If we could change one thing, we'd add backlighting. (Seriously, shouldn't that feature be standard on most laptops by now?)
Were you waiting for a "but"? Because we've got it right here. The Elan touchpad sadly isn't great. It works well for two-finger scrolling, as well as swiping in from the right to expose the Charms Bar. But sometimes, when we wanted to swipe down from the top to bring up menu options, or switch tabs in IE10, we had to try several times before our gesture registered.
Worst of all, though, might be single-finger navigation, which seems to be the Achilles' heel on a lot of Windows trackpads. Put simply, the cursor just doesn't always go where we want it to: sometimes it goes rogue and ends up in a random spot. Sometimes it stops short before it gets to whatever it is we meant to click. Either way, it's annoying. Also, acer aspire switch 10 charger the palm rejection on this particular touchpad could use some fine-tuning: more than once, the cursor jumped to random parts of our Word document as we were drafting this review. The one saving grace might be the two dedicated left- and right-touch buttons, which are easy to press, and which ensure you'll never have to deal with a left click that gets registered as a right one.

Performance
Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch NP540U3C-A01UB Like competing ultrabooks, the Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch is equipped with a 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U processor and 4 GB of RAM—the same combination seen in the Asus VivoBook S400CA and Lenovo Yoga 13. But identical CPUs doesn't mean identical performance, which can be influenced by everything from the type of hard drive to internal heat distribution to the amount and type of software preinstalled on the machine. As a result, in PCMark 7, the series 5 UltraTouch scored 2,866 points, putting it at the bottom of the pile—the Asus VivoBook S400CA scored 3,013 points while the Lenovo Yoga 13 scored 4,417, thanks largely to its faster solid-state drive. Yet, when testing pure processor 130W Dell XPS 15 chargerspeed with Cinebench R11.5, the Series 5 UltraTouch scored 2.41 points, nearly identical to the Asus VivoBook S400CA (2.40) and ahead of both the Lenovo Yoga 13 (2.33) and the HP 4t-1100.The Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch NP540U3C-A01UB has plenty to offer with its mid-range price, high-performance processor, sizable hard drive, and Windows 8 with touch, and the combination of solid performance and robust feature set should tempt many. The Editors' Choice Asus VivoBook offers similar performance and nearly identical specs for $150 less, making it the top pick in the category. Despite this, the Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch compares well to other competitors, though the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga also offers a convertible design that doubles as a tablet while the Samsung puts touch in a standard ultrabook.

Display and Audio
The Series 5's screen is 14 inches with a standard resolution of 1366 x 768. We measured the brightness of the (advertised) 300-nit display at 222 lux, which puts it above the category average (214 lux) and Lenovo U400 (165 lux). However, other Ultrabooks outshined this panel, such as the Portege Z835 (260 lux) and the ASUS UX31, which had a blazing 391-lux display.This notebook's display has a matte finish, which helps reduce glare, but we found the viewing angles to be limited to pretty much directly in front of the notebook -- move even a little in any direction, and the image began to wash out. When watching the trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises," colors were fairly bright, but we noticed pixelation in darker areas, Toshiba Chromebook CB35-A3120 adapter and contrast wasn't as high as we'd like. It costs considerably more, but the 1600 x 900 screen on the new Series 9 is miles better.The stereo speakers above the keyboard kicked out a good amount of sound. Rock tracks such as AC/DC's "Have a Drink on Me" and Jay-Z's "U Don't Know" came through clear, with vocals, mids and highs crisp. Bass was lacking, as it typical for systems this thin, but the audio has plenty of punch.

Battery Life
Aside from a thin profile, one of the other defining characteristics of Ultrabooks is that they have long battery life. Unfortunately, the Series 5 14-inch comes up a bit short. On the LAPTOP Battery Test (Web surfing via Wi-Fi),akku fur medion akoya e7218 the Series 5 lasted 5 hours and 29 minutes. That runtime is enough to get you through a good part of the day, but well short of Ultrabooks such as the HP Folio 13 (7:50), the Z835 (6:48) and the UX31 (5:58). The Series 5 also lasts shorter than the thin-and-light notebook average (6:12).