The bad: At $699, it's priced out from the league of other 11-inch ultraportables.
The bottom collection: Samsung's sharp designs translate well to this less expensive new line, although the Series 3 is still in the high end of the ultraportable price range.
Evaluation:
Few laptops garnered as much virtual ink at CES 2011 since the Samsung Series 9, a slim, slick 13-inch laptop positioned like a Windows alternative to the MacBook Air. Later arrived an 11-inch version, but both were priced more than $1, 000, putting them out of reach for many laptop shoppers. Samsung subsequently developed a more popular line, called the Series 3, and the first Series 3 product hitting store shelves is the 11. 6-inch model, now available in the U. S. exclusively at Staples.
Like a less-expensive version of the snazzy Series 9 (or Samsung's just-announced Sequence... Expand full review
Few laptops garnered as much virtual ink at CES 2011 since the Samsung Series 9, a slim, slick 13-inch laptop positioned like a Windows alternative to the MacBook Air. Later arrived an 11-inch version, but both were priced more than $1, 000, putting them out of reach for many laptop shoppers. Samsung subsequently developed a more popular line, called the Series 3, and the first Series 3 product hitting store shelves is the 11. 6-inch model, now available in the U. S. exclusively at Staples.
The 11-inch Series 3 happens to be $699 (we've seen some $100 discounts come as well as go already), which is dangerously close to full-featured laptop computer pricing territory, and more expensive than AMD-powered ultraportables. Nevertheless, the performance of the Series 3 beats individuals other systems (but the battery life does not). With regard to $100 less, we'd be sold; for now, it boils down to a careful calculation of your price/performance/battery requirements.
Inside, things are a bit more pedestrian, with light gray plastic about the keyboard tray and wrist rest, and no extra buttons or controls beyond the keyboard, touch mat, and power button. The keyboard is an island-style 1, with flat-topped, widely spaced keys that, in this particular case, are significantly higher than we're used to seeing on ultraportables (some which have keys that are annoyingly shallow). The Change, Tab, and Enter keys are all full-size, so you will find no real impediments to fast touch typing.
The touch pad is really a decent size, in the elongated (one might say letterboxlike) design we've seen on several ultraportables and Netbooks previously couple of years. The longer length makes two-finger scrolling simpler, as you can actually fit two fingers on at the same time, but the left and right mouse buttons are represented with a single rocker-style bar, which is not our preferred input method.
The choice of ports and connections available on the Samsug Sequence 3 is standard fare. It does, however, incorporate one clever workaround we've seen on a number of very slim laptops before. The Ethernet port includes a small flap that folds open so the Cat 5 cable could be properly inserted, allowing the port to take upward less space.
This Series 3 is a solitary fixed-configuration model, but Samsung has other versions, such as ones with 12. 5-inch, 13-inch, 14-inch, and 15-inch displays, although none of those is actually in shops yet, as far as we can tell.
The primary point of differentiation between the Samsung Series 3 along with other 11. 6-inch ultraportables such as the HP dm1z or Lenovo IdeaPad S205 may be the choice of CPU. Samsung uses a low-voltage edition of Intel's Core i3 processor, whereas most additional current ultraportables use AMD's E-350 CPU. The overall performance difference is notable, with the Samsung beating those other systems in most benchmark test. In real-world terms, for Web browsing and watching online video, either CPU will end up being fine, but the Series 3 will be an overall zippier system if you keep lots of windows open at once and engage in reasonable multitasking.
