Shiny on the outside, reliable on the inside. That’s the Samsung R470 laptop for you.

By ONG CHIN HAN

IT IS very rare that we encounter a Samsung notebook, so this was a good opportunity to see what the South Korean company has been cooking up for its notebook line all this while.

The Samsung R470 is a well-built machine. It weighs a comfortable 2.3kg— not as heavy as some other high-end notebooks but not feather-light as a netbook. Overall, everything felt strong and tough.

The top of the notebook sports a very shiny surface, and the screen and the area surrounding the keyboard are also glossy and shiny. All of this conveys a sense of sleek sophistication.

The R470 comes with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 3GB of RAM, and an nVidia G105M graphics processor to power the 14in screen with LED backlight.

This notebook was designed to deliver excellent visuals and video as it has a 1,366 x 768-pixel resolution.

Also, the 500GB hard disk gives you ample space to store media content.

The only minor complaint I have is that the R470 doesn’t close completely. Little stubs on the screen frame prevent the screen from touching the keyboard. This has the effect of creating a little “flapping” motion when picking up or putting down the laptop in its closed position.

Performance

There were no lags experienced when using the R470 to batch process RAW images while watching a DVD movie and having a few other applications open.

The G105M graphics processor by nVidia is not a new GPU. It is in fact a higher clocked GeForce 9300M GS.

In a nutshell, it won’t perform as well as a 9600 M or 9800 M but it will definitely be powerful enough to play mid-range graphics intensive games as well as playback 1080p HD movies smoothly.

The screen performed well when I was watching videos and doing photo colour adjustments.

The viewing angle is quite acceptable as the contrast only changes if you make a big adjustment to your seating position.

The sound from the laptop is good but not fantastic when played using the laptop speakers given the fact that the speakers are generally too small to generate good sound.

I found that the sound was much improved listening using a pair of earphones.

Battery life

On a single charge the battery holds enough power to last you through an entire two-hour movie though watching something much longer like Lord of the Rings could be really stretching it.

While watching a movie on a DVD and running some other processor intensive background tasks, the R470 managed to squeeze a little bit more than 2.5 hours of usage.

If you were just surfing and doing some document processing, it could last you about three hours.

Connectivity

As with any notebook in the market now, the R470 has all the bases covered in terms of connectivity.

WiFi and Bluetooth provide wireless connectivity. A USB/eSATA port works as a USB port as well as an eSATA port that supports newer SATA devices with faster transfer rates such as external hard drives.

Also, the ExpressCard slot lets you use extra devices that you may have.

There is an interesting thing about the USB port on the top of the notebook. You can use it to charge any USB powered device that you have even when it’s off.

Yes, you read that right. Samsung calls this feature the Chargeable USB.

So if you’re really in a fix and your handphone is running low on battery, you could use the R470 to recharge it.

Extra features

There is a built-in microphone as well as a microphone jack to plug in a headset, for instance.

Coupled with the webcam, this would be great for making VoIP calls.

The R470’s body also has a water-tight seal around it so it’s “spill resistant.” Samsung claims that you could spill coffee or water on it and it would work perfectly fine.

We didn’t have the opportunity to test it but it’s good to know that the notebook is safe from little mishaps.

And the keyboard has an antibacterial coating on it which will keep you healthier since research shows that computers are one of the most bacteria prone places.

Conclusion

So how was the Samsung R470? It’s a well-built notebook with everything that is expected of one nowadays.

In terms of performance, it delivered flawlessly and is feature-packed. Even though it’s a little pricey you get what you pay for.

In a market where everything is nearly the same, it’s the little extra touches that sets apart the R470 from other notebooks.

Pros: Stylish; lots of little useful features.

Cons: A tad pricey.