Good specs on this Samsung NP350V5C-A01US?

[toypaseo]

My current laptop is being donated to a lady I have known for around 17 years. Super nice lady. I used to work with her in a local grocery store. I see her pry twice a week or more, shopping for the company she works for now, or shopping for herself. Her house burnt down a few days Christmas. She and her husband lost everything. I was going to donate cash, but she posted on Facebook that she did not have a computer, so her postings might not be as frequent. She usually posted something, big or small, daily. I was going to give her a desktop that I have, but she did not know when she would get Internet service. I told her to take my laptop, since she could possibly get free WI-FI from one of her neighbors :shifty_ey , or get it from numerous businesses that offer it for free.

Samsung NP350V5C-A01US

http://www.staples.com/Samsung-Series-3-NP350V5C-A01US-156-Laptop/product_985038

I am heavily undereducated when it comes to reading computer specs. I don't even know if Samsung is a decent laptop brand. I have really only dealt with HP and Toshiba, and been satisfied with both. The laptop will be mostly used for surfing online, with occasional very minor dabbling in Graphic Design.

Specifications
Laptop Battery Type - 6 cell lithium ion

Laptop Dimensions (L x W x H) - 14.6" x 9.5" x 1.29"

Laptop Screen Size - 15.6"

Laptop Hard Drive Speed - 5400RPM

Laptop Hard Drive Capacity - 750GB

Bluetooth Compatibility - v4.0

Laptop Memory Expandable - 8GB

Laptop Display Type - HD LED Display (1366 x 768)

CPU Cache - 3MB L3

Laptop Processor Speed - 2.5 GHz

Laptop Processor Type - Intel Core i5-3210M

Laptop Color - Black

Laptop Other ports - 1 HDMI, 1 VGA, 1 RJ-45, 1 Security Lock, 1 Headphone, 1 Microphone

Laptop Extra Features - Intel HM76 Chipset

Laptop Operating System - Windows 8

Laptop Network Card - 802.11 b/g/n

Laptop Optical Drive - DVD +/-RW Super Multi Dual Layer (S-ATA)

Laptop Memory Type - DDR3 1600MHz

Laptop Memory RAM - 6GB

Laptop Use - Professional

Laptop Battery Life - N/A

Laptop Webcam - 1.3MP HD

Laptop Audio - HD SoundAlive 3W Stereo Speakers (1.5W x 2)

Media Card Reader - 3- in-1 (SD/SDHC/SDXC)

Video Graphics Memory - shared

Laptop Video Graphics - Intel HD Graphics 4000

Laptop Hard Drive Type - SATA II

Laptop Style - Laptop/Notebook

Windows Select PC - No

Laptop Refurbished - No

Laptop USB Slots - 2 x USB 2.0 + 2 x USB 3.0

Laptop Warranty - 1 year

Laptop Weight - 5.51 lbs

 

[Rick]

Looks good to me. Very similar specs to a laptop I just bought.

A 7200RPM HD would be nicer, or better yet a SSD, but that quickly adds up to an expensive machine.

Not sure about the Samsung, never owned one. My wife has stuck with Toshiba for her last couple laptops. I had owned a couple HPs before purchasing an Asus this month.

 

[MrQ]

Samsung is a good laptop, but I would probably go for something that has at least a 1GB of dedicated graphics memory for graphic design.

The way integrated graphics work is that the processor is the graphics processor and your system memory is your graphics memory. So when you have a graphically intense program running (which inherently also requires a sizable amount of processing power) you now have your system memory being tapped to not only run the program, but the graphics as well, which can slow your system down to pre-Windows 3.1 speeds. Not to mention your processor is also doing double duty handling the graphics processing and normal system processing as well.

In simple terms. Intel Graphics Baaad, Nvida (or ATi/AMD) Graphics Goood! If you feel that you can work with the integrated graphics, do yourself a favor and get the better memory and processor option or else you will be kicking yourself later.

Laptop processors are pretty much in five levels ranging from "Pitiful" to "Holy **** This Is Fast!"

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)

5. E-x.. Single Core
4. A6 Dual Core
3. A8 Dual Core
2. A8 Quad Core
1. A10 Quad Core

Intel

5. Celeron Single Core
4. Pentium Dual Core
3. i3 Dual Core
2. i5 Dual Core
1. i7 Quad Core

Whichever you pick, make sure it will last. Rule of thumb is: Buy more computer than you will need. Average End Of Life of laptops is only 1-2 years, so be prepared to upgrade sooner rather than later if you buy fair to middlin'.

SSD's are only found in ultra books. They are very fast and very efficient, but they are hideously expensive, and at the moment not something I would recommend to the household user. Most standard Hard Drives will be 5400 rpm (AKA speed at which the hard drive is read, bigger number faster speed); premium laptops like HP's Envy, Samsung's Series 5, Toshiba's P8xx, Lenovo's P500, Dell's XPS and Asus' Q Series may have the option for the 7200 rpm drive. All depends on what you want to spend.

In any case I could go on forever. This is what I do for a living so I am pretty well versed in all the techno-gobbldey-gook. So if you need any more info let me know.

PS: I have built all my computers with Asus motherboards, and I have two of their laptops. Definitely biased, but I say you can't go wrong with an Asus.