RF710-S02 and RF710-S03

I'm looking at the RF710 and I'm very interested but I can't exactly tell the difference between SO2 and SO3 other than the GPU. GT330M on the SO2 and GT420M on the SO3. I don't think that GPU change alone warrants the price difference. The SO2 sits near $1000 while the SO3 is around $1700...

If anyone can enlighten me that would be great. I've had Dell, IBM, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba and Apple notebooks before but never had a Samsung. I'm impressed with design and some of the features on this notebook. If possible, anyone that owns this notebook please do leave on a comment on whether there are particular faults such as overheating if present. Thanks.

 

Which country are you in? I can find a Samsung RF710-S03UK which has a quad core CPU but I can't find a RF710_S03US.

John

 

I'm in the US. I know there isn't a SO3US but my cousins live in Australia and I know there is a RF710-SO3AU I can get them to order for me if I want one. I'm just wondering what the differences are.

 

RF710-S02US
1.60GHz Intel Core i7-720QM processor, a 17.3-inch HD+ LED-Backlit display with resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels, NVIDIA GeForce 330M graphics with 1GB of memory, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 640GB of storage space. Also packs a Blu-Ray Disc optical drive, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, a 0.3MP web camera, a 4-in-1 media card reader, Gigabit LAN port, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR, a 6-cell lithium-ion battery, and pre-installed with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit OS.

NP-RF710-S03AU
Core i7 720QM QC 1.6Ghz, 6GB RAM, 640GB HDD, 17LED * HD+ LCD, Blu-ray/DVD combo, nVIDIA 2GB graphics, * (5200mAh) Win 7 Home Premium.

There is not a lot of difference between these two except the AU model has 6 GB RAM (but you can upgrade the US model if you want) and more graphics memory (I don't know in what circumstances this will actually be useful).

There is also a NP-RF710-S04AU with a dual core CPU and, I assume, no Blu-ray. The Samsung Australia website does not list the NP-RF710-S03AU model but sometimes the retailers update their sites first.

Usually, US pricing is more competitive (ie more for your money) than any other market.

John

 

I noticed the 6 GB ram, that makes no difference at all when I can easily upgrade to 8GB for under $150.

The GT 420M as far as I know has Dx11 support whereas the GT 330M doesn't But overall performance is approximately the same with 420 slightly better. So I guess that is relatively irrelevant for the price gap as well...

My last question I can't find result for is the material used to build the RF710. I want to know if it has a metal, plastic, glossy plastic lid or another type of material.

 

I would expect the R series to be plastic. The X series used to be metal construction.

John

 

I'm guessing your saw Tiger Direct has the SO2

Samsung NP-RF710-S02US Notebook PC - Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6GHz, 4GB DDR3, 640GB HDD, Blu-ray, NVIDIA GeForce 330M 1GB VRAM, 17.3 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Black at TigerDirect.com