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The Samsung R40 Windows Vista laptop that I have has an Intel Core2 DUO 1.86GHZ processor and 2 Gigabytes of memory (as opposed to the stated 512mb) with a 120gig hard disk and ultra speed dvd writer. The laptop has 2 usb ports (side) and 2 usb ports (rear), 1 network port, audio out and ... Read review
Advantages: Nice and fast, wifi built in, beautiful screen Disadvantages: Forced to allocate memory for backing up
...video.
The Samsung R40 Windows Vista laptop that I have has an Intel Core2 DUO 1.86GHZ processor and 2 Gigabytes of memory (as opposed to the stated 512mb) with a 120gig hard disk and ultra speed dvd writer. The laptop has 2 usb ports (side) and 2 usb ports (rear), 1 network port, audio out and microphone ports, as well as svideo and vga out connections and even a memory stick slot! It's a nice silver colour and not too heavy. On the ... ...I was presented with some Samsung software to setup the device, i.e specify what percentage I wanted to leave for backing up, partitioning etc... I had to leave at least 10gig for backing up, which sucks, because I didn't want to leave any space! After a shor period Windows Vista comes to life. I'm not really very fond of Vista, I prefer XP but of course this isn't a review of Windows Vista! Vista runs happily on the laptop and is the Home Premium ... more
I purchased this laptop just over a year ago from Tesco Direct for about £600 and have been happily using it since. My main reason for the purchase was that we have a young child and it makes it difficult for my wife to use the computer (due to its location) during the day. We use the computer mainly for web access, sending e-mail, for computer programming and creating DVDs from digital video.
The Samsung R40 Windows Vista laptop that I have has an Intel Core2 DUO 1.86GHZ processor and 2 Gigabytes of memory (as opposed to the stated 512mb) with a 120gig hard disk and ultra speed dvd writer. The laptop has 2 usb ports (side) and 2 usb ports (rear), 1 network port, audio out and microphone ports, as well as svideo and vga out connections and even a memory stick slot! It's a nice silver colour and not too heavy. On the battery is a small button that, when pressed, indicates via LED lights the percentage of battery power left in 20 percent increments. Battery power works for 4 hours under normal usage (which for me is using wifi internet access). The graphics card is an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M.
For internet access and normal usage, i.e. creating a word document, the laptop is fast and fit for purpose. I'm currently writing this on the latop whilst watching a DIVx video. The latop is fine with this and no lag is occuring. The 15.4" screen is the glassy variety which means that the display is sharp and pretty, however, can also be quite reflective when a dark image is on screen. In general, this hasn't caused me any problems. The keyboard is nicely designed and the standard sort that you may expect, clicking nicely when used. The sensepad (positioned below the spacebar) is easy to use and doesn't get accidentally hit whilst typing. The right-hand side of the sensepad has a scroll area so, drag your finger up or down on the right hand side and the window you're using should scroll up or down. Below the sensepad are two buttons to be used as the left and right mouse buttons.
When I switched on the laptop for the first time, I was presented with some Samsung software to setup the device, i.e specify what percentage I wanted to leave for backing up, partitioning etc... I had to leave at least 10gig for backing up, which sucks, because I didn't want to leave any space! After a shor period Windows Vista comes to life. I'm not really very fond of Vista, I prefer XP but of course this isn't a review of Windows Vista! Vista runs happily on the laptop and is the Home Premium edition.
The builtin wifi access didn't take long to set up and I can access the net using my sky broadband router, with no trouble at all. Setting up a network with my XP-based home PC has also not been a problem. Unfortunately the latop did not come with a Bluetooth adaptor built in, which is a shame, still, one can be easily added via the USB 2.0 ports.
I've used the Vista movie maker to put together some video that I shot of my son. Sadly, since the laptop does not have a firewire interface, I needed to use my home PC to do the capture, then transferred via the network I set up to the latop, and then edited on the laptop. Burning my movie to a DVD was easy using the Vista movie maker that is included. The DVD burns nice and quickly with the ultra speed DVD writer.
Samsung provide backup software, recovery software and an AV player. I've not tried it, but, the machine can be used to play music/video without having to boot up the laptop fully. Pressing the dedicated AV button will put the laptop into this mode. Movies and videos look exceptionally clear on the screen.
Overall, I am very happy with the laptop. It does the job for which I purchased it, the screen is amazing, wifi access works nicely and it even has a slot for my memory stick. Vista may take a little getting used to but the improved movie maker and the dvd creator are great. I can highly recommend this laptop!
Advantages: Stylish and fast Disadvantages: onboard graphics
I have had this laptop for about a year now and i am quite happy with it. When i purchased this laptop it came with vista home premium, a pentium dual core and one gb of ram. As this has a core 2 duo this will improve its performance quite a lot. However the one gb of ram is simply not enough for a vista machine, not the laptops fault just vista high requirements. Which is why i upgraded quite fast, the max ram for this laptop being 2gb, dd2 5300 ... ...vista takes up about 15gb, frankly this isn't really enough and this was quite easy to fill. So i decided to buy an external hard drive.
This is quite a stylish laptop, with the shell mainly silver, black keyboard and black rim around the screen. Build quality is quite good on the base, where it feel quite strong, however on the screen there is quite a large amount of flex towards the bottom, but so far mine has incured no damage. This is quite ...
pearbo 16.08.2008 (17.08.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Samsung R40 LWD 5500
Speed
Look & Feel
Comfort & Portability
Robustness & Durability
Value For Money
Quick review of Samsung R40 LWD 5500
This Laptop is basically a good machine, it does everything competently which is all I ask of it. Looks good, has a reasonable battery life. It has built in speakers and wireless. I am writing this review with it. It has never let me down or crashed or frozen unlike the more expensive higher spec. but diferent make laptop I had before it which did all three.
I cannot say it is good as it is dragged / slowed down by windows vista which in my opinion is an overly complicated resource hogging operating system. I think this machine would benefit from a downgrade to XP if that is possible.
Summing up: The operating system spoils an otherwise good machine. ...
cdwarrilow 17.08.2008
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Samsung R40 LWD 5500
Advantages: Lovely bright screen if you like the glass-effect Disadvantages: None yet but only had two days
Silly me, went shopping at Tesco in Borehamwood and happened by the laptops. On looking at the competition, I bought one of these and it was £499.95 and it has 120 gb hard drive and 2gb ram. Also has Vista Home Premium already installed (unlike the quoted Win XP). Even on the Tesco website it costs £650, so I think that's quite a good deal.
I have another laptop a Toshiba Qosmio G20-110, 17 inch screen and when trying to set up the network, inadvertently ... ...the Samsung, so now, unlike the Qosmio, it is on a wireless network but I'm having problems with getting the internet settings copied back to the Tosh, plus the DELETE button is in a different place which is something I'll have to get used to. It would have been nice to have an instruction booklet (ie on paper) as opposed to having it in pdf form but that's only a minor quibble. ...
Katie2468 20.03.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Samsung R40 LWD 5500
ATI Radeon Xpress 200M Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0, ATI Radeon Xpress 200M, Intel GMA 950 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0, ATI Radeon Xpress 1250M, ATI Radeon Xpress 200M Shared Video Memory (UMA), ATI Radeon X1250
Video Memory
128 MB
Max Allocated RAM Size
128 MB
Audio
Audio Output
Sound card
Features
High Definition Audio
Audio Input
Microphone
Compliant Standards
High Definition Audio, AC '97
Input device(s)
Type
Keyboard, touchpad
Operating system / software
OS Provided
Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic
Software
Drivers & Utilities, Norton AntiVirus, Cyberlink PowerDVD , Cyberlink DVD Solution, AV Station Premium
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
11/11/2006
Manufacturer's product description
The R40 is a notebook PC that perfectly balances mobile performance with cost.
Sleek Slim & Stylish Design, Full of great features. 
