I was searching for the ideal desktop replacement and this was it. Acer Aspire V3-771G comes close but is more expensive and only available with Windows 8 now! Didn't want to be forced to Win 8 yet. Not when the mastermind behind it leaves Microsoft after weeks of it's launch!!
Coming back to this product - uncomparable specs for the price. Elegant and sexy in appearance if you like BIG. Screen is quite crisp, though might not cut it for those who have tasted better. Keyboard layout is very comfortable after getting used to it. Only FAULT is no CAPS lock indicator. Num lock has a visual indicator. However if you turn on toggle keys in control panel the sound cues will overcome this problem.
The MOST IMPORTANT thing for me is the dual hard drive bays. The 1TB ?5400 rpm hard disk does not provide justice to a machine of these specs. Samsung has been very tactful here allowing and I think encouraging users to add on a second hard disk - obviously an SSD. Thus by keeping the price 'low' Samsung has allowed consumers to pick a SSD of their budget/choice and allowing for the dynamic technology in SSDs to be incorporated into this product.
'Samsung SSD 830 2.5inch SATA III 6GBps 256GB Notebook Accessory Kit with Free Norton Ghost 15' was what I added. Both products sold by Amazon and thus prompt delivery!. Halved my boot up time to about 30 seconds. Now this SSD comes with Norton Ghost which is supposed to help transfer your os to the new SSD without a problem. I have been using the old version of Ghost and thought of disregarding others comments and try to transfer my os to the ssd using Ghost. DON'T!! I am very grateful for other reviewers of this product and should have followed ALL of their advise. Ghost did not work and the SSD did not boot after data migration even after BIOS changes.
Use the laptop a few times to allow Windows 7 to donwload and install all current updates before you migrate your os to the new SSD. You can also use the provided Samsung Recover Solution to image your original drive (not essential).
Download and USE MACRIUM REFLECT free version and clone your disk containing the os to the new SSD. The capacity of the SSD should be larger than the data in the boot drive (transfer any personal data you have to a different partition if the capacity exceeds that of your SSD). The partition size does not matter. I transferred my OS from a 300GB partition with no problem. In this laptop there are 2 other partitions - system, and a recovery partition. Norton specifically states that the Recovery partition cannot be copied. I copied all three partitions to my 256GB SSD with a few adjustments of partition sizes to fit the SSD. Macrium Reflect free was able to copy all these partitions quite fast while the computer was running Win 7 and the SSD connected via the provided USB - SATA cable. SSD can be easily fixed to the spare bay (casing nuts provided with SSD) - all you need is a appropriate screw driver.
BIOS settings need to be changed before you boot up from the SSD. For the not so techie - press F2 on startup to enter BIOS settings. Under the advanced tab check if 'SATA GEN3 mode' is enabled and 'AHCI mode control' is set to Auto. Now move to the Boot tab. Enter the 'Boot device priority'. Use F5/F6 keys to move the SSD to the second position (leave the DVD drive as your first boot option). F10 to save and exit and VOILA you should boot to your new Windows 7 SSD in about 30 seconds.
Just an additional note. If you are not too desperate for disk space, leave the orginal boot partition. I used computer management to reduce the partition size to about 300GB and changed the drive letter. This is just a backup option. If you ever want a fresh installation all you need to do is go to BIOS and change the boot priority to your original primary disk and you will boot back to the original disk. You can also play around with this to admire how much faster your system boots with the new SSD. However, the best option would be to make a recovery media from Macrium reflect and make a boot image disk seperately. Treat yourself to this laptop this christmas - HO HO HO!!
| Brand | Samsung |
|---|---|
| Package Dimensions | 48.2 x 40.6 x 9.8 cm; 2.8 Kilograms |
| Item model number | NP-RF711-S08UK |
| Manufacturer | Samsung |
| Colour | Black |
| Form Factor | Desktop Replacement |
| Standing screen display size | 17.3 Inches |
| Resolution | 1366x768 |
| Processor Brand | Intel |
| Processor Type | Core i7 |
| Processor Speed | 2.2 GHz |
| Processor Count | 4 |
| RAM Size | 8 GB |
| Computer Memory Type | DDR3 SDRAM |
| Hard Drive Size | 1000 GB |
| Hard Disk Description | HDD |
| Audio Details | Headphones |
| Graphics Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Graphics Card Description | NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M |
| Graphics RAM Type | DDR3 SDRAM |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 1 GB |
| Connectivity Type | Bluetooth |
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth |
| Optical Drive Type | Blu-Ray |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium |
| Are Batteries Included | Yes |
| Lithium Battery Weight | 300 Grams |
| Item Weight | 2.8 kg |
| Guaranteed software updates until | unknown |
