Samsung Series 7 Gamer (Core i7 2670M Processor 2.2GHz, 8GB RAM; 17.3-inch display)

Samsung has a wide range of products, from consumer electronics such as HDTVs and mobile phones to IT gadgets like printers and notebooks. So it's quite surprising to learn that the company hasn't actually produced a laptop that's targeted specifically at gamers. Until now, that is.

Among the models in its latest notebook refresh--which sees Samsung using the Series 3 and 7 branding on its laptops for the first time--is Samsung's first 3D gaming notebook, the Series 7 Gamer. This is a 17.3-inch desktop replacement with high-end specs, including AMD's fastest mobile graphics chip. Any PC manufacturer can slap together a gaming laptop just by sourcing the best components. The question is whether Samsung can craft one that's more than the sum of its parts.

As an initial stab at the high-end gaming laptop segment, Samsung's Series 7 has a lot going for it. As we would expect from a laptop of this class, the specs are competitive with rivals Alienware and Asus. The industry has this notion that gamers are only interested in certain types of gaming notebooks--black-clad, LED-heavy laptops that just scream their gaming credentials. Samsung has obviously gone down a similar route, together with dramatic sound effects and even a special wallpaper.

But the Samsung Series 7 Gamer has a quieter side: It has an unassuming exterior with a simple, illuminated logo. And you can turn off practically all the fancy LED lights on the inside just by toggling to a non-gaming mode, which transforms it into a multimedia powerhouse. Our only criticism of the Series 7 Gamer is its predominantly plastic chassis, especially the fingerprint-prone exterior.

As it is, the Samsung Series 7 Gamer is a strong, new challenger to the existing players in this segment. The S$2,899 (US$2,219) price tag is the lowest we have seen for such specs. While it ultimately doesn't deviate too much from the gaming laptop formula, the Series 7 Gamer provides both high-end performance and excellent value.

Design

Like many gaming laptops, the Samsung Series 7 Gamer comes in black. The chassis is mainly plastic, though the palmrest and the area surrounding the keyboard is finished with brushed aluminum. The monotony of the uniform black exterior is broken by the Samsung logo on the lid, which lights up when the laptop is turned on.

This illuminated logo works together with the layer of clear plastic slapped over the lid to give the logo an illusion of depth that would not be out of place in a consumer electronics product. Unfortunately, this glossy plastic lid easily picks up fingerprints, which spoils the effect.

Inside, it's all about the LEDs. First, there's the backlit keyboard, which comes in two colors--blue when it's in Gaming mode and white when it's not. The "WASD" keys, commonly used in first-person shooter games, are differentiated with red LEDs when gaming. The trackpad also gets a blue LED accent. Above the keyboard, you'll find touch-sensitive hotkeys for toggling Wi-Fi, the volume control and keyboard backlighting. There's also a physical power button. Flanking these controls are two speaker grilles.

Specifications	Samsung Series 7 Gamer
Price as reviewed	S$2,899
Processor	2.2GHz Core i7 2670QM processor
Memory	8GB, 1,333MHz DDR3
Hard drive	1.5TB (2 x 750GB in RAID 0), 7,200rpm
Chipset	Intel HM65
Graphics	AMD Radeon HD 6970M
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium
Dimensions (W x D)	409 x 284.8mm
Height	52.6mm
Screen size (diagonal)	17.3 inches (1,920 x 1,080)
System weight (without AC adapter)	4.02kg
Category	Desktop replacement

The keyboard showed a little bit of flex, but the key travel is almost similar to a desktop keyboard. The keys are also full-sized and there's enough space for a number pad. The trackpad supports multitouch commands in Windows 7, such as pinch-to-zoom and two-finger scrolling. It's a comfortable size for multitouch, though we also liked the trackpad buttons, which gave a tactile response that felt just right.

With a maximum height of 52.6mm, the Series 7 Gamer is definitely chunky. However, at around 4kg, this laptop is actually lighter than some of its gaming rivals, though that's not saying much. Throw in a large AC adapter that weighs almost 900g and this laptop is as unwieldy as its competitors.

Features

The Samsung Series 7 Gamer has a gorgeous display. This is a full-HD (1,920 x 1,080-pixel) screen that has one of the better viewing angles we have seen on a laptop. When set to its maximum 400-nit brightness, it can be a bit glaring, but at least you'll get that option.

It's also 3D-capable and runs at 120Hz, similar to what you'll find on some 3D TVs. While Samsung has gone with AMD graphics rather than Nvidia for 3D support, it uses a similar active-shutter glasses technology, with the software provided by TriDef 3D. Samsung has also tapped its 3D expertise from its televisions: The Bluetooth 3D glasses included with the laptop is slimmer and lighter and generally more stylish than the chunky 3D glasses from Nvidia.

The 3D glasses also connects automatically with the laptop--just put it on, turn on the 3D software and you can start watching 3D movies or play 3D games immediately. TriDef claims to support up to 590 games and will convert them to 3D on-the-fly. The same happens for 3D movies and images: It will convert your 2D content into 3D, including DVDs and a number of media formats (which you can find here).

The idea of using a small SSD cache to increase system responsiveness isn't new, but besides Intel's Smart Response Technology found on its Z68 chipsets, there is no other option for notebook vendors. Diskeeper has filled this void with its ExpressCache technology, which was demoed at Computex. The Samsung Series 7 Gamer is the first laptop to use this technology and we have to say, it works. It resumed from sleep almost as quickly as an Ultrabook, taking between 3 to 5 seconds. The Gamer also took around 25 seconds to boot up. This is better than the HDD-based Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook, which took around 31 seconds.

The Samsung Series 7 Gamer comes with four preset modes, though the Gaming mode is probably what its intended audience is likely to use most often. Switching between the modes can be easily done using a dial on the top-right corner of the laptop. When Gaming mode is selected, the colored LED lights turn on, accompanied by a special sound effect. Samsung says that the processor frequency is maximized along with the fan speed in this mode. You can also configure the Windows key and the touchpad to be disabled when gaming. Even the installed Norton Internet Security can be set to minimal activity in this mode.

Other modes include Balanced, Library and Green. Green mode will turn off the backlight on the keyboard and the screen is dimmer; Library mode sees a slower and quieter fan speed along with a brighter display, but no keyboard backlight while the Balanced option will have a white keyboard backlight switched on. It's a quick and easy way to switch between different usage scenarios. One minor quibble here is that we were unable to turn off the thin, blue LED strip at the bottom of the touchpad, which can be a bit distracting when watching movies in the dark.

	Samsung Series 7 Gamer	Average for category (desktop replacement)
Video	VGA-out, DisplayPort, HDMI	VGA plus HDMI or DisplayPort
Audio	Stereo speakers with subwoofer, headphone/microphone jacks	Stereo speakers with subwoofer, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	Two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, SD card reader	Four USB 2.0, eSATA, SD card reader
Networking	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Optical drive	Blu-ray drive	DVD burner, optional Blu-ray player
Other features	Webcam	Webcam

As a desktop replacement, we expect plenty of ports and connectors on this laptop and the Series 7 Gamer fulfills this comfortably. Besides the four USB ports (of which there are two USB 3.0), you'll also find HDMI, DisplayPort and VGA outputs. A Blu-ray combo drive is also included for 3D Blu-ray video playback.

The Gamer comes with speakers and a subwoofer and has Dolby Home Theater installed. This feature allows users to customize the audio output with settings, such as an equalizer and a dialogue enhancer (for movies). We did find that the audio became distorted at the higher volumes, so we wouldn't recommend users to go beyond 75 percent on the volume dial, which is quite loud. 

We also have to mention that Samsung has packed a number of helpful utilities for backing up the contents of your PC and migrating your system settings. There's also a handy software manager that tracks your installed applications, drivers and Windows updates. And unlike PC manufacturers that include a recovery partition that takes up your disk space, Samsung has included two discs containing the Windows OS and the other pre-installed software on this laptop. This is something we don't usually see from laptop vendors nowadays.

	Samsung Series 7 Gamer	Alienware M17x R3	Asus G74SX
Processor	2.2GHz, Core i7 processor	2.5GHz, Core i7 processor	2.2GHz, Core i7 processor
Graphics	AMD Radeon HD 6970M	Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M	Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M
Video	VGA-out, DisplayPort, HDMI	VGA-out,  mini-DisplayPort, HDMI	HDMI
Audio	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	Two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, SD card reader	Two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, eSATA/USB combo, SD card reader	One USB 3.0, three USB 2.0, SD card reader
Networking	Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi	Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi	Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
Optical drive	Blu-ray drive	DVD burner	Blu-ray writer
Price	S$2,899	S$3,499	S$2,998

Comparing the Samsung Series 7 Gamer with other flagship 17.3-inch models from Alienware and Asus, you'll find that the Gamer is very competitive. The Alienware may have the better processor among them, but it also costs significantly more. Samsung has also chosen AMD's fastest mobile chip and even added a Blu-ray drive and despite all this, the Gamer still remains the most affordable.

Performance And Battery Life

Given its impressive specs, we were expecting a high score in our benchmarks. The Samsung Series 7 Gamer didn't disappoint. It scored 3,111 in PCMark 7, which is higher than the last gaming notebook we tested, the MSI GT780, which managed 2,901. The Samsung also did well in 3DMark11 with a score of 3,176 compared with 2,033 for the GT780. Since the GT780 uses the same Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M mobile graphics as the Alienware and the Asus, the Gamer will likely outperform the both of them.

Where the Samsung Series 7 Gamer stumbles is its battery life, which we timed at just 1 hour and 28 minutes. This is definitely a desktop in disguise, so despite its 8-cell battery, it's not going to even last long enough to play an average-length movie. In contrast, the MSI GT780 lasted an hour more than the Samsung in the same test, which was conducted by looping a standard-definition video with the audio muted and the brightness adjusted to 50 percent. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth was also turned off.

Service And Support

A one-year standard warranty is included with the Samsung Series 7 Gamer. Samsung's support Web site offers a clear pull-down menu for bringing up your relevant laptop model, and commonly asked questions and driver/manual downloads are easily accessible. Samsung's 1-800 service number is also prominently displayed, which isn't always the case on support pages.