The big test … Inter Core Power (Part 4) - Samsung RF511

Samsung RF511

Price: $900

Ratings: 3 stars

Samsung RF511 - a distinctive look, but offering not nearly enough to justify that price

The Samsung RF511 is a mid-range laptop which offers solid yet unspectacular performance, at a less than inspiring price. With so many great laptop bargains on the market this year boasting new Intel chips, Samsung has missed the mark with this middle-of-the-road outing.

With its muted grey metal trim around the keyboard and austere black-on-silver keys, the kind of room which would suit Samsung’s RF511 will have black leather couches and smoked glass tablets. It’s a world away from the designer minimalism of the Asus Zenbook.

But once you look at the glossy baked plastic lid, you begin to wonder who exactly the RF511 is aimed at. Is it a workhorse machine for open plan offices? Or something that could be a desktop replacement for the family home? We’re just not sure – and the problem is that Samsung doesn’t seem to have the answer, either.

If you’re shopping around, there are two versions of the RF511 available: one has a discrete graphics processor supplied by Nvidia for extra gaming power; the other relies on Intel’s HD Graphics 3000 GPU that’s built into a Sandy Bridge chip. This is the latter incarnation, meaning that the latest games are going to be beyond your aspirations. Like the Packard Bell TS13HR, you’ll be able to get older games running at a playable frame rate, but forget pretending to be a soldier in Battlefield 3 if you choose to arm yourself with the RF511. Far Cry 2 runs fairly weoll on it, though.

So, if it’s not extra games performance that Samsung is offering punters, how does it distinguish itself from the almost $150 cheaper Packard Bell TS13HR?

For the extra outlay here you get a Core i5 processor (rather than the Core i3 in the Packard Bell) and an extra 250GB of hard drive space. It’s not much lighter, though, and the battery life isn’t and better if you’re running video. We can report, however, that the RF511’s screen is an improvement over the TS13HR. The contrast levels are even better for richer colours all round, but it’s not that much better. Certainly not $150 so.

Limited benefit

So what about those differences between the Core i5 and Core i3? With the former, you get Hyer-Threading and Intel’s Turbo Boost technology. That’s reflected in the benchmarks, but they don’t have as much real world benefit as you might imagine – not unless you’re encoding a lot of video or doing the kinds of high intensity workloads that this laptop isn’t otherwise designed for.

As far as using the RF511 for photo editing, watching videos, surfing the web and office suites, there’s not a huge performance advantage to be gained by spending the extra cash.

What you do get for the extra $150 is a lot of bundled software. Unfortunately, most of this borders on the intrusive rather than the genuinely useful. It you’re after a no-frills 15-incher, there’s little reason to buy the RF511 over the cheaper TS13.

Laptop specifications

All the technical information you need

           

Name
Manufacturer	Acer	Asus	Dell
Model	Aspire ethos 8951G	Zenbook UX31E	XPS 14z
Details
Price	$2,600	$1,500	$1,275
E-code	LX.RJ202.074	UX31E	P24G
Specifications
Processor	Intel Core i7 2630QM (2GHz)	Intel Core i7 2677M (1.8GHz)	Intel Core i5 2430M (2.4GHz)
Memory	8GB	4GB	6GB
Storage	1.5TB	128GB SSD	500GB
Price of extra battery	N/A	N/A	N/A
Screen size & type	18.4-inch Super-TFT	13.3-inch Super-TFT	14-inch Super-TFT
Native resolution (pixels)	1,920 x 1,080	1,600 x 900	1,366 x 768
Graphics adaptor	Nvidia GT555M	Intel HD Graphics 3000	Nvidia GeForece GT 520M
Optical drive	Blu-ray	None	DVD-RW
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium	Windows 7 Home Premium	Windows 7 Home Premium
Basic warranty	1 year C&R	1 year C&R	1 year C&R
Dimensions (W x H x D)	440 x 295 x 39.4 mm	325 x 224 x 17 mm	353 x 247 x 35 mm
Weight (kg)	3,8 kg	1.3 kg	1.92 kg
Ports
Media cards	5-in-1	2-in-1	5-in-1
Bluetooth	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB	4	2	2
Display	HDMI, VGA	Micor-HDMI,mini VGA	DisplayPort, HDMI
Integrated camera	Yes	Yes	Yes
Additional extras	Detachbale touchpad	Micro VGA adaptor, USB to Ethernet adaptor	N/A
Test results
Value for money	4 stars	5 stars	4 stars
Features & build	5 stars	5 stars	4 stars
Performance	4 stars	4 stars	3 stars
Overall	4 stars	5 stars	4 stars
Comments
	A monstrously sized media machine, with a great removable remote	Genuinely beautiful design and with a better screen it would be perfect	Top class build quality, but doesn’t quite deliver the promised perfection

 

Name
Manufacturer	HP	Parkard Bell	Samsung
Model	DV7-6103ea	TS13-HR-050UK	RF511
Details
Price	$1,170	$750	$900
E-code	LS692EA	LX.BU202.002	NP-RF511-A01DX
Specifications
Processor	AMD Quad-Core (1.6GHz)	Intel Core i3 2310M (2.1GHz)	Intel Core i5 2430M (2.4GHz)
Memory	6GB	4GB	8GB
Storage	1.5TB	500GB	750GB
Price of extra battery	N/A	N/A	N/A
Screen size & type	17.3-inch Super-TFT	15.6-inch Super-TFT	15.6-inch Super-TFT
Native resolution (pixels)	1,600 x 900	1,366 x 768	1,366 x 768
Graphics adaptor	AMD Radeon HD	Intel HD Graphics 3000	Intel HD Graphics 3000
Optical drive	Blu-ray	DVW-RW	DVD-RW
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium	Windows 7 Professional	Windows 7 Home Premium
Basic warranty	1 year C&R	1 year C&R	1 year C&R
Dimensions (W x H x D)	416 x 275 x 36 mm	381.6 x 263 x 25.2 mm	380 x 256 x 37 mm
Weight (kg)	3 kg	2.6 kg	2.56 kg
Ports
Media cards	2-in-1	5-in-1	4-in-1
Bluetooth	No	No	Yes
USB	4	3
Display	HDMI, VGA	HDMI, VGA	HDMI, VGA
Integrated camera	Yes	Yes	Yes
Additional extras	N/A	N/A	N/A
Test results
Value for money	4 stars	5 stars	3 stars
Features & build	4 stars	4 stars	4 stars
Performance	3 stars	3 stars	2 stars
Overall	3 stars	4 stars	3 stars
Comments
	Smart portable offering Beats Audio and Envy savvy on a mid-range machine	An exceptional machine for the price, with a decent screen and performance	A decent all-rounder, but not as competitive as other budget machines