Did a lot of research and shopping and concluded this machine had the most bang for the buck if you want something that weighs around 4 pounds. I only hesitated a little because I haven't seen Samsung around very much, or even talked about. After I discovered that Samsung actually does a lot of manufacturing for Dell, and only just recently started selling laptops under their own name in th U.S., I felt better of it and went for it.
Glad I did. I can't really find a flaw, but there are a couple things I have to get used to, compared to the Fujitsu Lifebook that this machine is replacing. I'm talking about little things like the fact that this machine doesn't have a latch, it uses extra spring pressure from the hinge to keep it in the closed position. Not a flaw--just unusual to me. I didn't realize it until I tried typing on the Samsung, that my old Fujitsu had a very "springy" keyboard. It was like the entire "bed" of the keyboard flexed. It wasn't a problem, but this Samsung keyboard is rock solid, and I like that.
PROS:
EXCELLENT BATTERY LIFE (in my opinion). I've been monkeying with this machine constantly since yesterday, getting things set up the way I like them. After the first full charge, I let the battery run all the way down to zero while installing software and running the DVD drive a lot. Even under heavy use, the battery lasted 4 hours and 10 minutes.
SD/XD MEMORY CARD SLOT is right on the front, which I was not expecting. Very handy for dealing with camera memory cards.
DRIVE IMAGING BUILT IN. One of the first pieces of software I planned to buy was a drive imaging package so I could take a "snapshot" of the system after I had it configured the way I wanted it. I've been fixing, and re-installing Windows for a lot of friends and relatives lately, and I'm tired of it. Creating a drive image and restoring from it in times of emergency is the only way to go. The Samsung comes with a drive imaging restoration system built-in. You can save an image to a partition on the hard drive or on to multiple DVDs in case of a hard drive crash.
Screen is bright and crisp
Not noisy--my old Fujitsu would constantly run a noisy cooling fan.
Connectivity/jacks are plentiful including an HDMI video jack.
CONS:
I don't think these items are really negatives--just comments.
This thing is really glossy--everywhere. That makes for an eye-catching design, but you're going to need a pop-up box of Office Depot screen wipes to keep the fingerprints down.
I wish it had a 7200RPM hard drive instead of 5400. It would be a lot zippier, but I guess that's how you get the price down and the battery life up.
So it all boils down to this: If I had it to do over again, would I still buy the same computer? Yep.