[Laptop] Samsung NP305V4Z-T01TH vs. HP ProBook 4530s

[RadioActive]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a new laptop very soon and so far I narrowed my choice to these two laptops:

1) Samsung NP305V4Z-T01TH

2) HP ProBook 4530s

Their price is pretty close (Samsung is slightly cheaper).

I still can't decide between them so I'm looking for educated (or at least intelligent) advise.

I made a small comparison that sums up their most notable specs:

What I like the most about those two is that they are both NOT glossy which I learned the hard way is it sucks, big time (unless you like working in darkness or something).

In any case, I'll be using the laptop for Gaming, Encoding and Programming (through Virtual Machines) but in no particular order.

Anyways, I would appreciate the advice in this matter.

PS: From what I've read is that the AMD A8 would offer much better performance (compared to the i5 2450) in gaming due to CF, can anyone confirm or deny that?

Thanks.

[DrKash]

HP ProBook 4530s is better than Samsung 305V5A-T01.

Graphics are similare.

[RadioActive]

HP ProBook 4530s is better than Samsung 305V5A-T01.

I'm afraid that's not helpful since you didn't present any facts or justification for your opinion.

Graphics are similare.

How so? AFAIK the graphics are not similiar, not by a longshot.

In any case, thanks for your input.

[johndoe]

the samsung has more powerful graphics but the intel processor on the probook is a more powerful one, even though it is only a dual core compared to the quad core amd. the intel cpu has a 35W TDP which should allow it to run a bit cooler in comparison to the 45W AMD. http://compare-proce...X=on&cp=Compare

the hard drive on the HP is bigger and faster (7200 rpm) in comparison to the samsung. also, the probook has 8 gigs of memory versus 6 gigs for the samsung!

[RadioActive]

the samsung has more powerful graphics but the intel processor on the probook is a more powerful one, even though it is only a dual core compared to the quad core amd. the intel cpu has a 35W TDP which should allow it to run a bit cooler in comparison to the 45W AMD. http://compare-proce...X=on&cp=Compare

What about the CF? Correct me if I' wrong, but from what I've read the AMD A8 offers much better performance when it comes to gaming and other applications that can make use of the graphics adapter due its support for CrossFire.

Also, I believe tasks such as encoding would make much better use of 4 Cores as opposed to 2 Cores, or at least that's what I think anyways.

As for the heat, I wouldn't know about that but it's worth considering.

the hard drive on the HP is bigger and faster (7200 rpm) in comparison to the samsung. also, the probook has 8 gigs of memory versus 6 gigs for the samsung!

In those areas the HP is definitly better, but the question is if it's worth it or not.

Anyways, thanks for the input :)

[rudrax]

@Lohengrin

CrossFireX requires two graphics card on a system. Both of the Samsung and HP variants seems to have only one card in the specs that you provided. But The AMD CPU that you specified has a on-die Radeon HD 6620G GPU. So if that can make CFX with the one in motherboard, I don't know about that.

Well, HP one has 8 GB RAM, more than the Samsung one which has 6 GB but 6 GB is more than enough for a notebook user.

The Hard drive that HP one got is relatively faster than Samsung one. Yet, both have mechanical HDD not the matter of a SSD.

Graphics card that Samsung one has, seems more powerful than the HP one as it has another one in its CPU too.

And about the CPU, AMD has 4 physical cores while Intel one has 2 physical and 2 virtual cores (Hyper-threaded). So for multitasking and HD gaming AMD should be the choice and if gaming is not the prime thing to consider for you then you should go for the HP one 'cause it won't disappoint you either.

[RadioActive]

@Lohengrin

CrossFireX requires two graphics card on a system. Both of the Samsung and HP variants seems to have only one card in the specs that you provided. But The AMD CPU that you specified has a on-die Radeon HD 6620G GPU. So if that can make CFX with the one in motherboard, I don't know about that.

For what I understand the A8 supports Hybrid CrossFireX which AMD calls it "Dual Graphics" for some reason. Basically, it combines the APU's 6620G and the discrete card for better performance.

Get the power of two when you purchase an AMD A-Series Accelerated Processor (APU) based PC with an AMD Radeon™ DirectX® 11 capable discrete graphics card. Only AMD Radeon™ Dual Graphics combines two powerful Radeon™ DirectX 11-enabled graphics processors to provide the ultimate gaming performance boost when you need it. Experience gaming at higher resolutions with greater image quality and boost visual performance when you combine a Quad-Core AMD APU for desktops with the AMD Radeon™ HD graphics card.

I found a list of combinations in this link: http://bit.ly/ygPHR6

Well, HP one has 8 GB RAM, more than the Samsung one which has 6 GB but 6 GB is more than enough for a notebook user.

Well, Virual Machines do require lots of RAM but I did fine with 4GB before and also I was thinking that it's relaively easy to upgrade the RAM from 6 to 8, so yeah.

The Hard drive that HP one got is relatively faster than Samsung one. Yet, both have mechanical HDD not the matter of a SSD.

I was thinking the same thing. I used both 5400 and 7200 drives before and never noticed any significant difference. Although more space is always better.

Graphics card that Samsung one has, seems more powerful than the HP one as it has another one in its CPU too.

Indeed. According to NBC, the HD 6630M is classified as "Mid-range Graphics Card" while the HD 6490M is classified as "Low-Midrange Graphics Card".

Here's a comparison I cut out between the two.

And about the CPU, AMD has 4 physical cores while Intel one has 2 physical and 2 virtual cores (Hyper-threaded). So for multitasking and HD gaming AMD should be the choice and if gaming is not the prime thing to consider for you then you should go for the HP one 'cause it won't disappoint you either.

Mainly I use it for gaming and encoding, so I was also thinking how more cores would be more benificial.

Anyways, although I have a soft spot for the ProBook, I'm more inclined towards the Samsung.

Thanks for the input :)

[majithia23]

one advice i always give to anyone buying a laptop is - "Stay away from HP." !

i havent had good experiences with an HP product . twice .

they are known for heating issues . have badly designed interior circuitry and heat dissipating thermals . heat up too much and unnecessarily , which ultimately lead to some sort of hardware failure much sooner than any other product .

in fact HP has one of the highest hard ware failure rates in the market .

go for an Asus, Toshiba, Lenovo . or even a VAIO .

[RadioActive]

one advice i always give to anyone buying a laptop is - "Stay away from HP." !

i havent had good experiences with an HP product . twice .

they are known for heating issues . have badly designed interior circuitry and heat dissipating thermals . heat up too much and unnecessarily , which ultimately lead to some sort of hardware failure much sooner than any other product .

in fact HP has one of the highest hard ware failure rates in the market .

Although I never trouble with HP before I usually don't like their home products but I've always liked their business products (ProBook, EliteBook..etc).

In any case, I will keep that in mind.

go for an Asus, Toshiba, Lenovo . or even a VAIO .

I'm comparing between 2 specific models the first is from HP and the 2nd is from Samsung, so I have no interest in looking for alternatives, at least not at the moment.

Thanks anyways.

[majithia23]

@Lohengrin

neither have i used any other product made by HP . so no comments about them .....

but ,

my comment here is in reference to only Laptops made by HP .. ;)

[RadioActive]

@Lohengrin

neither have i used any other product made by HP . so no comments about them .....

but ,

my comment here is in reference to only Laptops made by HP .. ;)

I never owned an HP laptop before, but I never liked their Pavilion series. That being said, I delt with several clients who owned ProBook or EliteBook and I never witnessed any problems with those models, that's why I always had a soft spot for them.

I guess either you're rather unlucky or I'm the one who was just lucky :D

[pr1xsel]

That i5 2450M is roughly 30% faster than the A8 based on many different benchmarks. Only bad thing about the HP pro book is that i5 has terrible integrated GPU that can't be disabled and sometimes doesn't wish to allow your laptop to switch to dedicated GPU on some applications like maybe videoplayback - couple weeks ago found some reviews on Google when I looked some laptop reviews.

HP - better CPU (more speed, less power consumption), faster HDD, more RAM, maybe better speakers?

Samsung - more GPU power but weaker CPU and slightly slower HDD and I doubt there's space for extra ram though unless you remove 2gb one and add one more 4gb if it fits there but that ain't cheap but since it's this laptop is cheaper and has Windows included + you probably don't want to find any better ones. Then sure, go for it and mark topic as solved.

[RadioActive]

That i5 2450M is roughly 30% faster than the A8 based on many different benchmarks. Only bad thing about the HP pro book is that i5 has terrible integrated GPU that can't be disabled and sometimes doesn't wish to allow your laptop to switch to dedicated GPU on some applications like maybe videoplayback - couple weeks ago found some reviews on Google when I looked some laptop reviews.

HP - better CPU (more speed, less power consumption), faster HDD, more RAM, maybe better speakers?

Samsung - more GPU power but weaker CPU and slightly slower HDD and I doubt there's space for extra ram though unless you remove 2gb one and add one more 4gb if it fits there but that ain't cheap but since it's this laptop is cheaper and has Windows included + you probably don't want to find any better ones. Then sure, go for it and mark topic as solved.

I think 30% is an exaggeration. Regardless, when comparing those two we need to consider the effects of cores (4 vs. 2) and the Hybrid CrossFireX. Merely comparing the two CPUs won't reflect their real-world potential.

I realize that upgrading the RAM won't be easy, but it remains an option nonetheless. As for the operating system, it's not really an issue for me but it's definitly a plus (less hassle).

It's not that I don't want to find better ones, there simply are NONE. At least none that I could find where I live. So far, those two laptops are the only models I found that fit my requirements. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to find a laptop with anti-glare/reflective screen because the vast majority of new laptops use glossy screens thus limiting my options significantly.

[rudrax]

And one more important thing here. Toshiba, Sony and one other manufacturer has OEM restrictions for their driver update. For example, take your graphics card driver. You can't just download and install driver for your gfx card when a new update is available on AMD page, you'll need to wait till your laptop manufacturer includes the update in their official support page. I am vaio user and facing it (but I have succeeded to bypass OEM restrictions by the help of some friends out here in nsane).

So take information if Samsung does this.

[grouchysmurf]

Well, all the facts in the world are great, but a set of facts that is almost always overlooked is,,serviceability.

From what I can see, the Samsung product line has a much greater servicing line than HP.

Samsung is not as proprietary as HP tends to be, so parts and service tend to be more widely available.

While HP offers strong product lines, their service centers are not as wide spread and some parts tend to be

more expensive as some are only made to HP specs.

I prefer a system that I can grow with, should I chose to, and Samsung is a better choice in my opinion.

And the very simple fact that you can gleen from this is that Samsung is more widespread than HP, and they are not as

proprietary as HP. Better service, cheaper parts. But hey, I just use to build the damn things, what do I know :)

As far as graphics and cores and drives...blah blah blah. What ever flavor you get today, there will be a better flavor offered tomorrow, that is the nature of electronics. Bear that in mind when you make your choice. Good Luck.

[x3r0]

I agree, HP has poor quality EXCEPT the EliteBook - yes, only EliteBook. ProBook doesn't count.

Asus has some better options - try look for U56 or A55, they're much better compare to those 2. As for U56E, if I'm not mistaken, offers matte display. Both of them also come with discrete GPU option. Asus clearly has better quality than HP, source http://www.squaretrade.com/laptop-reliability-1109

As for the processor, I'd go for Intel. I know lots of people thinks with 4-core is much better than 2-core, but it's pretty useless unless the softwares you're using are optimized to use all core at once, and that's my friend, is very hard to create such a program like that. Notebookcheck.net has pretty good comparison to both of them.

But if you're into very reliable notebook products, I recommend you to take either HP EliteBook or ThinkPad T series. Especially the last 2: they're very, very good and tough notebooks. Both of them also offering discrete GPU and mostly come with 3 years warranty. Try looking for 2nd hand products for both, in my country I can find 2nd but still in good pieces with price almost 60% lower than original store price.

[RadioActive]

And one more important thing here. Toshiba, Sony and one other manufacturer has OEM restrictions for their driver update. For example, take your graphics card driver. You can't just download and install driver for your gfx card when a new update is available on AMD page, you'll need to wait till your laptop manufacturer includes the update in their official support page. I am vaio user and facing it (but I have succeeded to bypass OEM restrictions by the help of some friends out here in nsane).

So take information if Samsung does this.

Interesting point, I didn't know about such restrictions. I will keep it in mind, thanks.

Well, all the facts in the world are great, but a set of facts that is almost always overlooked is,,serviceability.

From what I can see, the Samsung product line has a much greater servicing line than HP.

Samsung is not as proprietary as HP tends to be, so parts and service tend to be more widely available.

While HP offers strong product lines, their service centers are not as wide spread and some parts tend to be

more expensive as some are only made to HP specs.

I prefer a system that I can grow with, should I chose to, and Samsung is a better choice in my opinion.

And the very simple fact that you can gleen from this is that Samsung is more widespread than HP, and they are not as

proprietary as HP. Better service, cheaper parts. But hey, I just use to build the damn things, what do I know :)

As far as graphics and cores and drives...blah blah blah. What ever flavor you get today, there will be a better flavor offered tomorrow, that is the nature of electronics. Bear that in mind when you make your choice. Good Luck.

Well, I never owned either HP or Samsung before so I wouldn't know. But I heard several friends complaining about HP service. In any case, I will definitly keep that in mind, thanks.

I agree, HP has poor quality EXCEPT the EliteBook - yes, only EliteBook. ProBook doesn't count.

Asus has some better options - try look for U56 or A55, they're much better compare to those 2. As for U56E, if I'm not mistaken, offers matte display. Both of them also come with discrete GPU option. Asus clearly has better quality than HP, source http://www.squaretra...eliability-1109

As for the processor, I'd go for Intel. I know lots of people thinks with 4-core is much better than 2-core, but it's pretty useless unless the softwares you're using are optimized to use all core at once, and that's my friend, is very hard to create such a program like that. Notebookcheck.net has pretty good comparison to both of them.

But if you're into very reliable notebook products, I recommend you to take either HP EliteBook or ThinkPad T series. Especially the last 2: they're very, very good and tough notebooks. Both of them also offering discrete GPU and mostly come with 3 years warranty. Try looking for 2nd hand products for both, in my country I can find 2nd but still in good pieces with price almost 60% lower than original store price.

Sadly the EliteBook would way above my budget (if I could find it that is).

As for Asus, I couldn't find those models here and the ones I could find are also way above my budget..

I did find a couple of ThinkPads but all the ones I found were expensive and most importantly had only Intel graphics which is worthless in my case.

Although, I might consider getting something used as you suggested, I'll take a look around and see what I can find. Thanks.

[henz]

since you are a programmer(.NET)

did you calculate in the cost(time) you were spending for.

like running visual studio, slow startup, slow compiling time, since those all are cpu releted issue.

that 1.8Ghz suite your need ?

The performance of the processor part depends on the used cores. Due to Turbo Core, a single core can be clocked up to 2.5 GHz leading to a performance of a AMD Turion II P560 (2.5 GHz 2MB L2 Cache). Using all four cores, the performance is in the range of the Phenom II X4 P960 (1.8 GHz 2MB L2 Cache).

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A-Series-A8-3510MX-Notebook-Processor.55759.0.html