Sony VGP-BPS13B/S

Besides the optical drive, ( Sony VGP-BPS13B/S battery ) there is a USB 3.0 port and the Kensington lock on the right. The interfaces are located agreeably in the far back on this side. Consequently, cables aren't as bothersome. This is especially convenient because the mouse often is placed on the right side of the laptop. ( battery Sony VGP-BPS13S ) However, the interfaces are also placed very tight on this side and a large USB stick could also obstruct the adjacent ports. In the worst case, the drive may also be prevented from opening.

If you prefer a wireless solution,( Sony VGP-BPS13/S ) you can connect to available WLAN networks with help from a Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter. Bluetooth 3.0 is available for connecting to wireless mice or smartphones.

Due to the more generous spatial relations that a 17 inch notebook has to offer,( Sony VGP-BPS13AS ) it's easy for manufacturers to install a large keyboard including a number pad. Consequently, Samsung has also treated the RF711 to a full size keyboard with 15x15 millimeter keys. It is a single key layout with a key gap of about 4 millimeters.( Sony VGP-BPS13 ) This facilitates typing on the keyboard and increases accuracy tremendously.

The installed touchpad has a diagonal of 105 millimeters and is thus quite big. ( Sony VGP-BPS13A/Q ) The touchpad has a slightly corrugated surface. Both mouse keys are visibly separated from the touchpad by a small bar.( Sony VGP-BPS13A/B ) The mouse keys' drop has turned out very short and the stroke is also stiffer than known from other mouse keys. Although the commands are implemented accurately and reliably, a few users will first have to get used to these keys. ( Sony VGP-BPS13/B ) Moreover, the keys varied in height in our test sample.

Samsung builds in a 17.3 inch sized screen with LED backlight and reflective surface as the display.( Sony VGP-BPS13B/B ) The LED display, named SuperBright by Samsung, is supposed to provide for especially sharp pictures and brilliant colors. The black bars in many movies rendered from DVDs and BluRays on the top and bottom display edges are omitted due to the 16:9 format. This naturally also contributes to multimedia entertainment.( Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q ) The display has an HD+ resolution of 1600x900 pixels and thus is between the HD Ready resolution of 1366x768 pixels and the Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Many multimedia fans will ask themselves why Samsung hasn't installed a Full HD display to start with.( Sony VGP-BPS13A/S ) This would have been the most reasonable solution in connection with the BluRay drive.

The backlight supplies a very bright picture in the Samsung RF711. ( Sony VGP-BPS13/Q ) Samsung hasn't exaggerated with the name "SuperBright". The display's maximum brightness is 285 cd/m2 and the average brightness is still 271 cd/m2. ( Battery Sony VGP-BPS9/B ) Thus, the laptop is very far in the front in the brightness rating. Only very few models accomplish the leap beyond the 300 cd/m2 mark (for example, the Apple MacBook Pro 13 inch 2011).

The display is illuminated quite evenly with 88 percent. However,( Dell Vostro 1520 battery ) the black value suffers under the high brightness and as a result the contrast, as well. A black value of 1.61 cd/m2 is fairly high and lowers the maximum contrast considerably. As expected, this doesn't turn out very high with 177:1. We noticed that the notebook automatically reduces the brightness as soon as it's unplugged from the mains and is in battery mode during the test.( Dell vostro 1510 battery ) The maximum brightness in the display's center therefore sinks from 285 cd/m2 to 236 cd/m2. Consequently, the display looses 18% of its brightness.

The display isn't able to cover the entire ( Battery Dell Inspiron 1525 ) Adobe RGB color spectrum and the color reproduction is rather middling even in comparison with other laptops. The Samsung RF711's screen doesn’t even stand a chance against the latest 17 inch MacBook Pro or the HP Env17-1190eg. When the Samsung R711's display is compared with that of the Samsung R730, you'll see that both displays bid almost equal rates.

OutdoorsThe Samsung R711 doesn't make an especially good impression in outdoor use.( Dell Inspiron 1420 Battery ) The glossy display clearly makes it difficult to recognize anything in direct sunlight. ( Dell Inspiron 1520 battery ) You'll see what's happening behind you better than the content displayed on the screen, in particular when the sun is behind you. If you really want to sit outside with the Samsung R711, you should preferably do so in the shade.

The RF711's display surprises us in terms of viewing angles.( Dell Vostro 1320 battery ) While the picture fades fairly fast on the vertical plane, the display can score on the horizontal plane. The colors start to invert very late. So, even several people can sit around the laptop in a larger radius without the picture deteriorating.

The Core i7-2630QM belongs to the new quad core processors that Intel has launched with the Sandy Bridge architecture.( Battery Dell Vostro 1310 ) The processor has a healthy amount of performance just alone with its standard clock rate of 2.0 GHz and 6 MB L3 cache. The processor can be overclocked in several steps should it get tight. This depends on number of cores that are actually required and how well the processor is cooled.(battery dell 1400 ) When all four cores are really needed, Intel's Turbo Boost ensures that the core clock is increased to 2.6 GHz. The maximum clock rate is 2.8 GHz if only two cores are required and it can be clocked up to 2.9 GHz when only one core is loaded to full.

Compared with the new dual core processors,( Dell latitude D620 Battery ) the new quad core processors have a higher TDP (thermal design power) of 45 watts. Thus, the quad core processors are preferably installed in large laptops because a better cooling is granted. The new processor's performance is even a bit higher than the previous top model, the Core i7-940XM, thanks to the new architecture. More information about this topic can be found in our comprehensive comparison test. In any case, the new Core i7-2630QM is suitable for all imaginable application scenarios.

System information: Samsung RF711-S02DE

The Samsung RF711 laptop has two graphic units.( Battery Acer Aspire 4710 ) The first, the Intel HD Graphics 3000, is incorporated in the processor and represents an energy saving alternative. The second graphics card is an Nvidia GeForce GT 540M. There is a lot more power in the GeForce GT 540M and thus, it is rather more suitable for more demanding tasks. Nvidia Optimus has been integrated into the notebook so that the user doesn't have to switch back and forth between the graphic cards. ( VGP-BPS13A/S Battery ) So, switching between both graphic cards occurs in the background, depending on the graphic requirements. The user is spared a lot of work and it is also beneficial for the battery's life since the appropriate graphics card is always enabled.

The Intel HD Graphics 3000 built into the processor is, as already mentioned, ( Battery Acer Aspire One ) rather more designed for basic graphic applications, such as office tasks or surfing on the Internet. It doesn't have its own memory, but shares the fast L3 cache with the processor. The rest is taken from the main memory. The graphics card doesn't turn into a performance miracle with that, but it is considerably faster than the previous models. The biggest benefit of the Intel HD graphics is, however, its low power consumption.