Samsung R70

I gave this laptop only 3 stars because it packed in after 18 months use due to a burnt out graphics card, otherwise I would have rated it higher. I chose this over a Sony Vaio due to number of features and price. The laptop looks smart in piano gloss back which is prone to scratches and fingerprints but is quite slim also. The screen is adequate although a bit dull in comparison to other laptops. It is not that fast either and is missing components such as wireless N. This laptop was supposed to have the then latest Santa Rosa chipset which meant it was supposed to be better on battery life, have WiFi N and was supposed to be fast none of which was delivered. Other than that it was a decent laptop although I got better (faster, brighter) for less money.

I bought the laptop in December, 2007, and I paid about £650. The laptop itself is a good allrounder, as it handles games and resouce consuming applications well. The computer runs well, and the battery could last for about 2 movies, but now only lasts for the boot-up. Sound quality is good and adds to the experience.It was a good range on the wi-fi, but the thing is that the laptop's video card failed after 2years and about 2weeks. Firstly, the video card started to display weird colors and distortions on the screen, then on the reboot it failed. Now I have to purchase a new video card, which will cost around about £2oo (card and labour). For spending such a large amount of money on a laptop, I would've expected the laptop to last longer than that. After reading many reviews on the internet, it seems that this laptop has a faulty video card from Nvidia, and neither Samsung or Nvidia are willing to acknowledge fault. Therefore, the burden of the cost is to be paid by the customer. In hindsight, I would purchase another make of laptop after this problem; i've also sent the laptop away to have the keyboard replaced after 1 year, as a few buttons became faulty and didnt work.

i have had this samsung r70 for over a year and it was when the santa rosa chipset was released, i have had no prblems with this latop, it came fitted with 1gig of ram, which i upgraded to 2gig as vista needs 2gig to perform properly. the screen is nice and clear and the keyboard feels solid as does the rest of the laptop mine is fitted with the t7100 (1.8) core 2 duo 800 fsb but with the 2mb cache which does not struggle with anything i use it for, and 160gig 5400rpm hard drive and the usual dual layer dvd writer/cd etc. also fitted with the memory card reader and the nvidia 8400gs 128mb graphics + has the hdmi connection. vista home premium + its good to have the vista installation dvd in case of the need to reinstall. i have also fitted a 1gig turbo memory module to increase performance, but didn't notice a big leap in performance & there is mixed reviews on this technology.

that all said i am very pleased with the r70, with its nice build quality.