Samsung R522 review

Samsung’s R-series offers good quality and features at a price that doesn’t break the bank. The R522 is a mid-range system that features impressive quality, good usability and a widescreen display that makes it ideal for watching movies on. At under £600, it's also a bit of a bargain. 

The screen measures 15.6 inches, and features a 16:9 aspect ratio. Although it's a bright screen, colours could be more vibrant, and the resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels also looks a little low. The widescreen aspect ratio does enable films to play back without intrusive black bars at the top and bottom, however, and there’s more than enough space for fitting a couple of windows side by side when multi-tasking.  

Unfortunately, this is as far as multimedia use goes, as the Samsung features an integrated Intel graphics card. Those wanting a gaming machine should look elsewhere, although it’s fine for basic office use or browsing the internet. This does benefit the machine when it comes to battery life, however, lasting for an impressive 309 minutes between charges.

Design-wise, the R522 bears a strong resemblance to previous Samsung laptops, while evolving enough to look fresh and stylish. You’ll still find the fingerprint-prone glossy black plastic on the outside, but on the inside the brushed aluminium effect is attractive and hides grime well. According to Samsung, it’s also spill resistant. 

The touchpad is surrounded by a bright blue backlighting, which thankfully turns off after a few seconds of inactivity – useful considering how intrusive it could be when watching films. The keyboard offers a near identical typing experience to older Sony VAIO laptops, with large flat keys that feature a raised centre to ensure typing mistakes are kept to a minimum. We found it a very comfortable board to use, but the keys rattle noisily.

We found this a smooth machine to use in daily situations, but it proved slower than some of the other machines currently in the What Laptop offices. This is mainly due to the use of a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor which, although still capable, is a mainstream solution. Multi-tasking is aided by a generous 4096MB of memory, however, which helps to prevent major lag when running intensive applications. The 320GB hard drive offers plenty of storage space.

Costs have been cut when it comes to features, with an older 802.11g Wi-Fi adapter fitted in place of 802.11n, and Bluetooth also omitted. Peripherals can be added via the three USB ports, however, and there’s also a high-speed eSATA port for backing up files to external drives. A memory card reader lets you easily transfer files between digital devices.

The Samsung R522 is a good laptop that’s capable in most areas. It’s not a great one, however, with costs cut when it comes to features, and multimedia power is also lacking. That said, if you’re after a semi-portable choice for the commute, the decent battery life still makes it worth a look.

For more information, visit Laptops Direct.