Samsung R580: The Ideal Desktop Replacement Laptop

For a price tag of less than $900, most people would expect a desktop replacement laptop with just above average processor and other components, but the Samsung R580 is one of the few models that bucks the trend. . Looking great in a dark brown and black chassis, the laptop screams corporate class with its smooth rounded curves and scalloped cover. Opening the lid reveals a full keyboard with numeric keypad and large chiclet keys. This makes the keyboard very comfortable to use but a bit cramped because some of the keys have been reduced so that other keys fit perfectly. Samsung has made the touchpad small so it doesn’t interfere with typing, while also adding multi-touch options to make the touchpad a bit more useful.

Weighing in at 5.5 pounds, the Samsung R580 feels fairly light, while its 15.6-inch LED-backlit display is clear and has vibrant colors. It’s also one of the few laptops in its class to feature an Intel Core i5 430M processor that delivers performance on par with most gaming and multimedia laptops. It also packs Nvidia GeForce 310M discrete graphics that let you do everything from stream smooth HD video and play plenty of 3D games to do a bit of video editing and 3D rendering. Combined with its 1366 x 768 pixel resolution and a Blu-ray combo drive, you have a laptop that can handle just about anything you throw at it. The laptop’s 4GB of DDR3 memory and 500GB hard drive help make things even more stable and memorable.

In terms of connections, the Samsung R580 has a number of unique features including high-performance Wireless N Wi-Fi, an HDMI port, an eSATA/USB combo port, and an ExpressCard expansion slot. Other features include a VGA port, built-in stereo speakers, and three more USB ports for an SD card reader. For such a conventional laptop, the Samsung R580 has very good sound, making it ideal for both Blu-ray movies and listening to music. Unfortunately, the six-cell battery only gives you a battery life of two hours and 30 minutes, which is good enough for most mobile situations, but not good enough for most mainstream cell phones that have a battery life of five hours or more.

Overall, the Samsung R580 is very aggressively priced by Samsung as it offers performance that very few laptops in the same class can achieve. While it can do pretty much everything smoothly and comfortably, it’s really not the best mainstream laptop for on the go. Sure, it offers a reasonable amount of battery life in a pinch, but it definitely performs much better as a stationary or fixed-position desktop replacement laptop, outperforming most laptops and desktops in the same class. The incredible price sweetens the deal immensely making it ideal for gamers and multimedia enthusiasts who don’t need the added mobility of a laptop, but rather the excellent performance that only the Samsung R580 can provide.