Samsung is gearing up for an exclusive launch at Best Buy stores nationwide this weekend. Expect to see the new Q430-11 laptop, along with the upgraded R580-11 laptop and N150-11 netbook.
The standout machine of the Samsung trio is the new Q430 laptop. On paper, this notebook isn’t all that different from the R580 (pictured above), as both have Windows 7 Home Premium OS, a 500GB hard drive, 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory, a very basic 0.3-megapixel webcam, HDMI support and a 3W stereo speaker. The R580 even has a few things better than the Q430, like the slightly larger display and the Blu-ray optical drive.
But with a marginally lower weight count, the Q430 packs more power into within that brushed aluminum casing, including a Core i5 CPU and advanced NVIDIA 3D graphics processing.
Given that there are many more specs to go over, here’s a breakdown of each one starting with the netbook and going up from there:
N150-11
- 10.1-inch LED-backlit, WSVGA non-glare display (1,024 x 600 resolution)
- Intel Atom N450 Processor
- Windows 7 Starter OS
- Intel GMA 3150 graphics
- 1GB of DDR2 667MHz memory
- 250GB hard drive
- 3W stereo speaker
- 0.3-megapixel webcam
- 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
- Connectivity: Three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet
- Island keyboard
- 9-hour battery life
- Dimensions: 10.5- x 7.4- x 0.97-inches
- Weight: 2.73 lbs.
R580-11
- 15.6-inch LED-backlit glossy HD display (1,366 x 768 resolution; 16:9 aspect ratio)
- Intel Core i3-350M Processor
- Windows 7 Home Premium OS
- Intel HD Graphics
- 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory
- 500GB hard drive
- Blu-ray optical drive
- 3W Stereo Speaker
- 0.3-megapixel webcam
- 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
- Connectivity: Three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI
- Island keyboard
- Dimensions: 13.5- x 9.4- x 1.20-inches
- Weight: 5.45 lbs.
Q430-11
- 14.0-inch glossy LED-backlit glass HD display (1,366 x 768 resolution; 16:9 aspect ratio)
- Intel Core i5-450M processor
- Windows 7 Home Premium OS
- 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory
- 500GB hard drive
- NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics with 512MB of DDR3 memory
- DVD dual-layer optical drive
- 3W Stereo Speaker
- 0.3-megapixel webcam
- 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
- Connectivity: Three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI
- Dimensions: 13.5- x 9.37- x 1.04-inches
- Weight: 5.25 lbs.
Pricing starts at $349 for the N150 netbook, then bumps up to $849 and $899 for the R580 and Q430 laptops, respectively. All three of the Samsung computers mentioned here will be available tomorrow at Best Buy. So if you’re looking for a very last-minute gift for dad, there’s a few more options now.
