Samsung isn't stingy in terms of connectivity and bids almost the whole range of current ports. HP HSTNN-LB2I charger Aside from Ethernet for a wired network and VGA, we find an HDMI-out on the left. The user can, for example, connect a TV for outputting image and audio over it. This appears to be sensible for some games, but even more for movies from the hard disk. An often believed to be lost ExpressCard34 slot is also onboard. Extensions, such as sound cards, memory cards, TV cards or controllers can be inserted here. HP HSTNN-E04C charger

Also worth mentioning is that FireWire and a display port aren't onboard. Otherwise the entire left side is occupied by plugs. The manufacturer combines the eSATA port with a USB connection in order to save a bit of place. So if you use an external eSATA HDD, you can also only use three USB ports. HP QK643AA charger

Almost all connections are gathered on the left side. This is very handy for righties, as the mouse can be placed on the right and cables don't disturb. Lefties are, once again, at a disadvantage because especially cumbersome eSATA and HDMI cables are annoying in the external mouse's activity area HP HSTNN-LB2H charger

The cardreader is a bit isolated on the R580's front. Inserting a SD card into the stationary notebook is difficult as the slot is on about the table's level. Users will have to always lift the notebook a bit to insert a memory card. HP HSTNN-DB2H charger

As in the R522 predecessor, Samsung applies a chiclet keyboard. HP QK642AA charger The keys are connected by crosspieces. The key gaps have been increased, as Samsung has selected an alternative without a key base. The keys bid the typist a pleasant, distinct pressure point, a long stroke length, and a firm stroke. The keyboard is embedded firmly on almost the entire surface; merely the numerical block yields slightly. The large gaps and the well-executed layout simplify the frequent typist's work. The numerical block makes it easy to input columns of figures. HP HSTNN-LB2G charger

We don't like the squeezed in, too small arrow keys, though. In computer games, as well as Excel, it often results in fingers hitting the "one" or the shift key. If you're controlling a car race game, you'll quickly get annoyed. HP HSTNN-CB2F charger

The mouse substitute is worked into the wrist-rest. HP CC06XL charger A nonslip, transparent coating marks the sensitive surface. Four small blue LEDs light up as soon as we touch the pad so that it can't be missed in dim surroundings. If you like, you can imagine these to be the lights of a runway. The surface has a vertical and horizontal scroll bar, even if it's not been made optically visible. It is a multi-touch pad that recognizes two finger gestures. For example, the user can zoom by spreading two fingers on it. The keys click quietly but somewhat clattery and therefore make a low-end impression. HP CC09 charger

The Samsung R580 Aura's HD Ready display has a notebook typical resolution of 1366x768 pixels. HP CC06 charger The screen (type Samsung LTN154X3-L01) hasn't been given an anti-glare coating, which results in the user struggling with reflections in unfavorable background light. The glare-type deceives the user's eyes and we see viable, brilliant colors despite a poor contrast of 213:1. The display has been set up too weak for the requirements of a middle class multimedia notebook. Partly better contrasts would have been desirable for the color perception of movies, pictures and games. The small color space proves that the R580 has missed this goal. HP QK640AA charger

The glare TFT isn't suitable for outdoor use. As soon as sunlight falls directly onto the screen, HP HSTNN-LB2F charger the visible reflections obstruct the visibility. The brightness is by far not strong enough to impose itself against the much brighter sun. Corresponding to the difficult to clean high-gloss surfaces and the weight of 2540 grams plus adapter, the use as a true mobile companion is made difficult. We would see its place of employment in the home office or teen's room. HP QK639AA charger

A notebook TFT has to have good viewing angles so that the spectator can recognize colors and writing at a consistent brightness from the sides or above. HP HSTNN-I91C charger This requirement is mandatory for a multimedia notebook because many pairs of eyes gather in front of the display during gaming or watching a movie. That, what the manufacturer has invested in the i5 Core processor, is saved on the display. The vertical and horizontal viewing angles are equally poor. HP HSTNN-W81C charger Our view could deviate up to 35 degrees on the horizontal plane before the display dimmed and the colors were falsified. This effect already starts at a 10 degree deviation from the ideal front position on the vertical plane. HP HSTNN-I90C charger

Samsung equips its R580 Hawk with a Core i5-520M. The Arrandale 32nm CPU has two physical cores with 2.40 GHz each. HP HSTNN-F11C charger That's the standard clock rate. The real rate is between 2.4 and 2.93 GHz. Dynamic overclocking is made possible by Intel's Turbo Boost. The single processor cores are overclocked fully automated. The single application determines how many cores should increase their clock rate. The cores are based on the Nehalem (Westmere) micro architecture. HP HSTNN-OB2H charger

Both physical cores are supplemented by two virtual cores in the hyper-threading function. Applications can thus call upon up to four cores. Only if a single core takes over the entire computing effort, will its clock rate be increased to the mentioned 2.93 GHz. HP HSTNN-OB2G charger
The Core i5-520M's characteristics are very similar to the CPU relatives, Core i7 720QM, 820QM and 920XM. See our comparison test of Intel's Core i7 processors "Clarksfield". HP HSTNN-F08C charger

The Core i5-520M is supported by a 4096 MB DDR3 RAM. Its capacity is on two Samsung RAM modules and has established itself as standard for Windows 7 systems in this price class. HP 630919-421 charger

We looked at the latencies with DPC Latency Checker. HP 628369-421 charger If these are too high, it can come to problems when external devices are connected (e.g. sound crackling of external sound cards or short interruptions in real-time audio). The R580's rates were partly over 2000µs. The reason for this are erroneous drivers of internal drivers, such as the WLAN adapter, sound card, USB Host Controller or others. Disabling the devices, using the exclusion principle, can reveal the faulty driver. HP ProBook 6560b charger


4Windows 7 Experience IndexProcessorCalculations per second5.2Memory (RAM)Memory operations per second7.1GraphicsDesktop performance for Windows Aero5.9Gaming graphics3D business and gaming graphics4Primary hard diskDisk data transfer rate5.9 HP ProBook 6460b charger
The interaction of CPU, graphics, RAM and hard disk can be considered more important in a performance orientated all-rounder such as the R580 than pure CPU-performance. We've checked this with PCMark Vantage. Its overall result of 6026 points clearly indicates a strong system. HP ProBook 6360b charger According to our benchmark table, merely laptops with Core i7 720QM, 820QM, or 920XM are more efficient. The mySN QXG7 with Nvidia's GTX 280M achieves 7559 points in the same system benchmark. A participant of this good rate is not least the 500 GB hard disk from the same manufacturer. The strong Geforce GT 330M, with 6421 3DMarks, doesn't have much impact on the PCMark. HP ProBook 6440b charger

The i5-520M CPU in the Samsung R580 Hawk bids an excellent performance. The Turbo Boost function provides high performance, no matter if with or without a multi-core use. The Core i5-520M is faster than a Core 2 Duo T9800 with 2.93 GHz in most processor benchmarks. This processor has rarely been sold in consumer notebooks because Intel demands high prices. HP EliteBook 8560p charger

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HP 2000-412NR Battery

In case of the Samsung R580, the processor is assisted by a fast 5400 rpm hard disk produced in-house. The 500 GByte HDD (HM500JI) reads data with a rate of 66.6 MBytes/s from the disks in Sequential Read. This helps the R580 achieve a very good system performance. The HDD isn't audible in use. HP HSTNN-F10C charger

An Nvidia GeForce GT 330M with a 1024 MB DDR3 memory is used as the GPU. The GPU has a clock rate of 575 MHz, the memory 790 MHz. HP HSTNN-I93C charger

The GT 330M is the first Nvidia GPU of the 3XX range that we've had in a review. HP HSTNN-IB2Q charger The name indicates a middle class graphic, which is confirmed by gaming tests and benchmarks. The graphic card benchmark 3DMark2006 finishes with 6421 points. Thus, the GT 330M is on almost the same level as a Mobility Radeon HD 4650 with a strong dual-core processor. A GeForce GT 240M, which we've only had in combination with weak Core 2 Duo processors in review (T6600, P7350), beats the GT 330M narrowly. HP HSTNN-LB2P charger

The integrated Intel GMA HD graphic and the memory controller in the i5 CPU package are a novelty of the processor architecture. The GMA HD isn't active in the R580, though. Analysis tools couldn't recognize the GPU integrated in the i5 core. Accordingly, the GeForce GT 330M remained active in battery mode. HP QK641AA charger

The already somewhat older 3DMark2006 is still popular but will it show us the true gaming power of the i5-520M + GT 330M combination at hand? Gaming fans will have their doubts, which is why we've executed a few gaming tests. HP VH08XL charger

Crysis CPU/GPU Benchmarks
Crysis can't be played smoothly any longer in high details and medium resolution (1024x768) with 22 fps. HP VH08 charger The shooter doesn't benefit from the Core i5's hyper threading; even a T6400 (2.2 GHz), like in Samsung's R522 (Mobility Radeon HD 4650), achieves a better frame rate of 28 fps. Samsung's R580 Hawk is on about the low level of a GeForce GT 240M (1024x768, high details) in Crysis' GPU benchmark. Crysis is first playable in the same resolution in medium details: 39 fps. HP HSTNN-IB2P charger

Risen
The fantasy adventure, Risen, is more of a success story. The R580 beats the similarly configured Dell Studio 1558 (i5-520M + Mobility Radeon HD 4570) by lengths. Dell's notebook achieved 20 fps in Risen's medium settings (1024x768, medium, 2sAF); Samsung's R580 reaches 27 fps. Risen isn't playable on the R580 in the native HD Ready resolution and in high details (4xAF): 21 fps. HP EliteBook 8760w charger

World in Conflict
A game that is said to have a multi-core affinity. It works. The i5-520M test system advances in fps regions, for which a strong GPU, àla GeForce 8800M GTS or GeForce 9700M GTS would have been required until now. WiC is playable in 1024x768 pixels in a high detail level with 29 fps. If you're satisfied with medium details, you can even play in the native resolution of 1366x768 pixels. 57 fps in 1024x768 have a bit of room for increasing the resolution. HP EliteBook 8760w charger

Left4Dead
This shooter can't benefit from four cores but from Turbo Boost. The game runs with 65 fps in 1024x768 and a high detail level. This leaves a lot of room upwards and 1366x768 pixels are therefore just as playable in high details. Thus, Samsung's 15.6 incher pulls close to the level of an Acer Aspire 5739G (P7350, GeForce GT 240M). HP EliteBook 8560w charger

FarCry2
The action game runs smoothly at 1024 x 768 pixels in high details with 35 fps. So there's no room here to switch to the native HD Ready resolution. FarCry doesn't care much for a strong multi-core processor. Even a MSI GT627 with a Core 2 Duo P8600 and GeForce 9800M GS has considerably more to offer with 49 fps. The faster quad-core i7 720QM also achieves 35 fps with a GeForce GT 330M. HP 2000-453CA charger

Race Driver Grid
The race game just still runs smoothly with 28 fps in 1280x1024 pixels (high, 2xXMSAA). However, the strong i5 processor barely plays a role in this because even a T6400 + Mobility Radeon HD 4650 combination, as in the predecessor model, Samsung R522, reaches 38 fps. If you really want to be sure, you should play Grid in medium details (50 fps) and you even have room to change to the HD Ready resolution. HP 2000-450CA charger

Anno 1404
The building game needs a strong graphic card for a high resolution (1280x1024) and high details (very high). HP 2000-428DX charger This doesn't seem to be the case in the GeForce GT 330M. We actually measure a no longer playable 26 fps. The picture jolts every now and again when scrolling or zooming, but which is still acceptable. We see that the i5-5520M supports the weak GPU in the benchmark list and boosts the frame rates over the level of a Mobiliy Radeon HD 4650 (in combination with P7350, T6400). Briefly: Anno 1404 wouldn't be smoothly playable with a weak Core 2 Duo CPU in combination with the GeForce GT300M. HP 2000-430CA charger

F.E.A.R. 2
The GT 330M isn't impressed from F.E.A.R. 2. The horror shooter can be played smoothly in a high resolution (1280x1024) and high details (high, 4xAA). This allows the user to switch to 1366x768 without a performance loss. HP 2000-427CL charger

The low noise development belongs to one of the Samsung R580 Hawk's positive traits. The fan isn't activa zted for a long time while surfing, writing emails or typing in Word. If it turns on in low or short-term load, it's deactivated immediately after the load is stopped. HP 2000-425NR charger

Samsung's Silent Mode, via FN key, doesn't even have to be enabled for the fan to react this way. If the user presses the key, the energy profile changes to "energy savings mode". But not only that, the fan turns down noticeably (under load) or even is completely disabled (low load/idle). HP 2000-420CA charger

We of course wanted to know what happens with the Intel Core i5-520M CPU's performance in Silent Mode. Silent Mode limits the processor rate to 1.2 GHz. This is the same clock rate as the 520M has in energy savings mode. Clock rates of 2.4 to 2.8 GHz are possible in normal use with Turbo Boost. Users who want their Samsung R580 to work as quiet as possible can enable Silent Mode and even save energy in doing so. HP 2000-418US charger

The graphic card's performance isn't discontinued in Silent Mode. A test with 3DMark2006, HP 2000-417NR charger which also includes CPU tests, proves this. 3DMark06's CPU test finishes with 2704 points in normal or speed mode. If we enable Silent, then merely 1287 points are left. 3DMark06 decreases from 6412 to 5456 points. The also available Speed Mode didn't prove to have any positive effects on the CPU or GPU performance in our tests. The fan's revolution or the processor clock rate didn't increase in Speed Mode, either. HP 2000-416DX charger

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HP 2000-412NR Battery