Review Samsung Series 5 530U3C-A01DE Ultrabook

[Redaktion]

Ultrabook update. After reviewing Samsung's Series 5 ultrabook mid-March 2012, we now have the new model featuring Intel's Ivy Bridge dual core processor at hand. Samsung has not modified anything. Even the starting price of EUR 799 (RRP) is maintained. We examine to what extent the new component is noticed and who would benefit from switching.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-Series-5-530U3C-A01DE-Ultrabook.77219.0.html

[Jan A]

Having red the first reviews of this years generation of notebooks ( Ultrabooks), a pattern begins to form - the Ivy Bridge processor was supposed to finally again ( Acer C114 tablet ) give us fan-less notebooks, running cool. But in contrary we get even hotter and more noisy devices compared with 2011 Sandy Bridge models - gaining only a 15% increase in performance.

As such, I think it can be concluded by now, that the Ivy Bridge processor is a flop, and with it the notebooks. This Samsung did one thing right, matte screen, but missing LED in the keypad.

I see no reason for upgrading from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge, or to go for Ivy Bridge instead of Sandy Bridge, unless you need the extra 40% performance delivered by the HD 4000 GPU in the Ivy Bridge.

As such, in my opinion, this Samsung is yet another flop in the row of this years flops of Ultrabooks and Notebooks.

[Quantz]

Excellent and informative review! Much better than reviews done by other websites. I'm hoping that you'll review the Samsung Series 5 530u4c s03 soon - i7, 14", 1TB hybrid HDD, GeForce 620M, 6GB RAM since it's the one I've got my eyes and heart on.

[Borade]

I've recently decided to switch on this new ultrabook Samsung series
http://laptopforcollege.org/ultrabook-samsung-series-9/
Its amazing..

[darioosz]

For problems with Turbo Boost in this i5 cpu (i5-3317U) just go to BIOS and disable option called "Turbo Control" in "Advanced" tab.

with this option disabled, fan rpm could go higher but you will get constant 2,4ghz turbo in for example cinebench r11.5, or max turbo (2,6ghz) in one core applications.

cheers  :)

[meandmealone]

 >:( I own one and here is my input
Lovely PC spoiled by useless wireless. The intel centrino drops connection erratically and CANNOT be fixed as I write. Take a look at the intel forums.
http://communities.intel.com/thread/31090?start=15&tstart=0#
The whole point of this machine is its portability which is destroyed by the lack of connectivity.
Seriously flawed

[Leo. D]

had a few problems with the wireless... after disabling the 2 virtual lan adapters the random disconnects where gone. (never saw this installed by default, also a lot of crap installed, just format it)

also the heat issue is considerable ...50c idle .

but is cheap as dirt has lan, only wish that it can endure a few years .

[Gp Gurung]

I bought it last week and there are many things I found while using it. If we compare the size, weight and design of this model then it a great value for the money. But I don't know particularly life the ventilator being on the bottom. If I'm using it keeping in my lap or quilt, the battery compartment gets hot exceptionally well. So, I would recommend to buy a cooler for it while buying this laptop.

[sy]

Samsung Series 5 is the worst notebook i ever encounter, constantly give me all sort of problem, first start with wifi, then fixed, then blue screen when start up, then fixed again, now sandisc failure.

>:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

[daniela]

I would like to share my experience with the ultrabook series 5 by SAMSUNG
I bought a Samsung ultrabook series 5, with an i7 processor, 20 months ago and I paid aprox.  1200 U$ for it
I am a researcher in genetics and use the computer quite intensively, participate in conferences, run some bioinformatics programs so this computer sounded a quite good option, with high performance and low weight. The design also looked very nice and the anti-reflex screen was just all I needed.

At the beginning I was very happy, so I even suggested my husband to buy one of these models, which he did. He is already within the first year of use, and the camera would not work any longer.. =( But the problems I got with mine where much worse than a not working camera.
Little by little I got several serious problems with this computer, by now I had already change the energy cable, the HD and had to change the whole screen if I would like to continue using it.
So, my own experience makes me recommend anyone planning to buy a Samsung Ultrabook NOT to do it.
What had happened?
First, the energy cable should be replaced after 14 months of use, since it wouldn´t work any longer. Actually, the new one I got, had a clearly better design, and that problem was solved easily. I thought this was a minor thing and didn´t even care much about it. Just bought a new cable and then things where again working fine.
However, after 15 months of use, the HD started giving me problems until it just broke down and I had to replace it. No way to fix the physical problem that the disk was presenting.
OK. I really though: Bad luck and continue using the computer.
I am a professional that uses the computer on daily basis, but I am also very careful with computers!
Well, I bought the new HD, replace it, and continue using the computer trying to think that I had just experienced a bad coincidence.
Now, after 20 months of use, a new physical problem appeared, this one, definitely making the computer useless as a laptop. One of the hinges at the back of the computer that make the screen to close and open just started to break. At the beginning I could not really understand what was going on, since it seems that something from the inner part of the computer was breaking down. Every time I opened the lid I noticed a sort of "click" in one of the hinges. Now the whole screen seems to be out of axe, although it continue working properly (the screen!).. I went to the Samsung service in Rio de Janeiro, where I live now. I was informed that I had to change the whole LED and that it would cost me aprox. 350U$, that even if the problem was in the hinge, the whole case and led screen should be changed and that of course, they would not be responsible for any data loss, So I had to backup everything I had (AGAIN!!! remember I lost my disk). At this point, I had no way to believe that even if I fix this problem, any other one would not appear in a couple of months. By now, I just have to keep the screen up, cannot close the laptop any longer, which makes the computer useless as a laptop.
I am checking other laptops (No SAMSUNG, of course) to buy, since this is part of my everyday work and I urgently need one.
As I said, my husband has no camera in his SAMSUNG ultrabook by now. At least that was a problem I did not experienced.
also I had problems wih the wi fi which is constantly desconecting from the wifi
So, all these problems just make me think that the physical materials that SAMSUNG is using in the production of these computers are of VERY BAD QUALITY. I do not know how many times I opened and closed the computer, but could imagine that not more than 2000 times in a year and a half. Is it enough to break the hinges? I read that DELL, for instance, tried its laptops more than 20.000 times in order to put in the market good quality products. This seems not to be the case with SAMSUNG.
I would never imagine something like this could have happened to a laptop in 20 months of use.
By now, I am planning to buy anything but a SAMSUNG and I am really thinking of making all the bad recommendations I can against SAMSUNG computers in the media.

[LeoDMONEY]

bought two of these... one of then went to the assistance after 10 months of use, it would hang on sleep mode...the assistance replied that was a problem with the mother board, so they gave another laptop... a year after same problem starts occur int the replaced laptop.

The other laptop lasted a little longer, 1 year a two months ,cache ssd went to dust, made some adjustments and keep using it, but now this piece of crap wont even shutdown it hangs also (i made sure of configuring to shutdown instead standby, disable cache ssd, re install windows ...you name it)

So never buy samsung laptops , they are junk built with the worst quality products, even the i5 processors on the laptops are s*** slow as hell

[Ginger]

Hi, I have that one for over two years now and I had a problem with the hd and Samsung replaced it. One more issue with the screen (it did not show anything in the bottom third) but otherwise I use it on a daily basis, carry it around on many business trips and never shut it down completely (always use the sleep mode) and I am highly satisfied with it. The extreme low weight makes it perfect for carrying it around and the keybord is very nice. I still love it and would buy it again and so far it served me well! I am considering to buy an SSD now - did not want one at the beginning since I was not yet convinced of the durability but that has changed.
As a conclusion I can only say that it was a perfect choice. The hd was broken, yes, but Samsung fixed it within a week and since then it runds and that on a daily basis, sometimes even 24 hours a day.

[Luciano]

I've bought this notebook in Argentina so the model is Samsung Series 5 530U3C-A01AR

I bought it in 2012/10/23 and never had an issue (today is 2015/11/27), I bought a replacement because I need more memory (I am a developer and already reached the 8gb limit in my laptop).
I am giving this beauty to my wife that is not an intense user so an i5 with 8gb of ram will be good.

I am looking to replace the hdd with an sdd so searching for compatibilites I found this site with a lot of people complaining, so I decided to give you my experience.

Extremely good. 3 years of continuously use for coding/developing never an issue.

[OLCAY CELIK]

I bought Samsung Series 5 530U3C-A0BTR around 2012/13.I has 128gb ssd instead of HDD.
It works perfects since then, I just upgraded ssd to 250gb and looking forwad to use it for many more years.
Absolutely love it....