I got the 13.3 inch model and it is hands down the best bang for your buck in the laptop world if you are not looking for a discrete GPU, and if you are looking for a discrete GPU then bump up to the 15" model and there you go. I have been researching the crap out of laptops. I had an Acer Switch Alpha 12 which was similar to Microsoft's Surface 2 in 1 line. It's a 2 in 1 that was cool cause you could use it as a tablet or laptop but, it had one flaw that drove me nuts. If you were laying in bed with it you'd have to keep it balanced.... if you raise the screen up too much towards you it'd fall forward and it was soooo annoying. So i just wanted a traditional laptop and I love portability. I got my wife an 11.6 inch Macbook Air and I loved that thing. But of course Apple has been on a roll lately with bad decision making and they killed off the 11.6 inch and I actually had a 13.3 inch Macbook Air for myself and sold it not but two months later because I couldn't stand how the big the bezel made the surface area of the laptop a lot bigger than it needed to be. So I was looking at This laptop, the 2016 Macbook Pro... the entry model, which for the specs and price makes it a stupid buy for the price Apple is charging for it, and the 12 inch Macbook. I decided against the 12 inch Macbook because it is completely under powered with a 1.1 or 1.2Ghz processor, one USB Type-C port, and the list goes on. If you are going to spend $1300 on a laptop just spend the extra and get the Macbook Pro. So now we are getting into the $1500 range for the entry level Macbook Pro plus add another $100 for all the adapters and dongles. Then I researched this Samsung laptop and all looked good, bought it for $1K and by not getting the Macbook Pro I saved myself $500! I like Mac OS but Windows 10 has come a long way and there are a bunch of other alternatives to FaceTime and iMessage which is what kept me in the Mac Ecosystem a couple years ago. Mac OS is nice... but not $500 nice. I will write the pros and cons below.
Pros
- Lightest laptop I've ever picked up!!!!
- The trackpad has been the closest to the Mac trackpad that I have found and I love it! Solid gestures, fluid motions, works great!
- Price to performance at $1K you are getting a very fast and snappy laptop.
- Ports!!!!! Two USB 3.0s, One USB Type-C, HDMI, Micro SD, and headphone jack, simply awesome! No dongles!
- Good placement of the power button, you can even set it up to boot up when you open lid.
- Fingerprint sensor makes signing in to Windows snappy as all get up.
- Fast charging!!!! With only minutes of charging you can get hours of usage! Love this feature.
- Screen real estate, for how light and portable this thing is, it's amazing that you're getting a 13.3 inch and not a 12 or 11 inch screen.
- Hinge lets lid extend 180 degrees.
- Sturdy build, for how light it is, it makes you think that it's plastic but not, it's aluminum.
- Samsung has some cool software on it especially if you have Samsung devices to pair with it.
Cons
- This isn't really a con because I am fine with it but it's a 1080p screen so if you are in to QHD or 4K look elsewhere, I think 1080 is fine. Looks good colors are great, saves battery life.
- Speaking of battery life, like I said I was used to the 11 and 13 inch Macbook Airs which were great on battery, this I am averaging 7 hoursish, but you have to dim the display a little and keep it off outdoor mode.
- 256GB isn't much storage but you can pick up 128GB Micro SD or mini USB 3.0 flash drive for like $35 that will sit flush with the side of the laptop to add more storage. I have all my files up in Dropbox, I use selective sync to put what I want on my laptop and if I need any archived files I just go to the web app to grab them, so there are ways around storage utilization to make that 256GB go a long way.
- No discrete GPU, but then again if you compare it to the other laptops in it's 13.3 inch class, most of them don't have discrete GPU either.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head... great buy, you won't be disappointed if you get it.
| Standing screen display size | 13.3 Inches |
|---|---|
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Processor | 2.5 GHz core_i7 |
| RAM | 8 GB DDR4 |
| Hard Drive | 256 GB Flash Memory Solid State |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Intel HD Graphics 620 |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Wireless Type | 802.11ac |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
