Series 3: 11.6" v. 12.5"

I'm trying to decide between the 11.6" and 12.5" models in the Series 3 line but some of the specs are confusing. I hope people who have either model can help clear them up.

As best I can tell, the only differences between the two are:

1) Screen size (obviously). Both screens are 1366x768, matte finish. Unclear whether there is any quality difference between them.

2) CPU: the 11.6" has an i3-2357M (1.3 GHz, 17W TDP) and the 12.5" has and i5-2410M (2.30 GHz, 35W TDP). Best I can tell the i5-2410M is a much faster processor, even beating the i5-2467M in the MBA 11". Take a look at benchmark comparisons here. But that comes at a cost - the i5-2410M is twice as power-hungry at load. This relates to:

3) Battery: The 11.6" has a 4000 mAh removable battery, while the 12.5" has a 4400 mAh fixed battery. Some (in other threads here) have complained of poor battery life, as low as 2.5 hours, for the 11.6". I can't find any comparisons between the two models (or any real world tests of the 12.5" at all). You'd expect the 12.5" to have better battery life, all things equal, but of course they aren't equal - the CPU is hungrier. Not clear what effect this will have in real world conditions.

4) Hard drive: 320 GB vs. 500 GB. This is irrelevant for me since I plan to install an SSD.

5) Price. Around $550 (not including Staples' student rebate) for the 11.6" vs. $700 for the 12.5".


Am I missing any important differences?

I'm inclined to go with the 12.5" model. The jump in CPU power is great enough that it appears worth $150.I generally prefer a laptop as small as possible (that's why I'm not in the 13.3" market) but the difference here seems too small to worry about.

What gives me pause is the battery. First, I really like the removable battery on the 11.6". This in principle makes it possible to buy a second battery or, if available, a bigger one. I don't mind swapping or using a fat battery those few times when I need the staying power (think long flights) - though I can't find any replacement batteries yet. In any case the 12.5" doesn't give me that option, unless there's some kind of external battery pack like this one for the MBA. Some might think this is clunky but I have no problem throwing a 60 or 100 watt-hour brick in my travel bag for all my devices. Is there a Samsung-specific or compatible generic alternative? Among other things the robust market for well-designed accessories like this tempts me back to the Mac world.

Second, and even setting aside the larger/external battery question, it's unclear how the real world battery life compares between the two models.

So my questions are really: A) what if any differences am I missing and B) what's the story with the 12.5" battery?

 

i was also debating between the two, but the price difference + the student rebate made me swing to the 11" side. also on the series 3 thread people are reporting 4.5 hrs of battery life.

 

I agree it's hard to beat the student rebate. I would, however have to pay sales tax on the 11.6" (before rebate) but not the 12.5". That ends up being about $35. Not a big deal but it cuts into the ridiculousness of the 11.6"s low price with the rebate.

 

Well if you check your link for Amazon.com you will see that the price has gone up to $750 for that series 3 now.

The i5-2410M is a great processor, no doubt. What are you doing with your machine though? I do everything from 3D modeling/rendering and Photoshop work to coding and compiling programs/databases. The CPU in this puppy is not as fast as my desktop's i5-2500K but it definitely gets the job done.

Perhaps if there is a particularly demanding task you are planning to put your laptop through, I can test it out on my 11.6" model and let you know how it goes.

The battery being encased in the laptop would be a deal breaker for me. I can't believe they did that actually. Can you go to a staples in your local area and look at the 11.6" model? The only reason I would personally go with a larger model is if I were to have a hard time seeing the screen. However, I have great vision up close and I really appreciate the extra pixel density (everything seems very clear on the screen).

Personally, I could not decide between this and another computer with an i5-2410. After using it for a couple days I could not imagine paying more money for something that is faster when I am rarely stressing the low voltage model I have now.

Can someone link me to this 11.6" Series 3 thread? I will look for it.

 

yes I know. that pisses me off as well. I could send it to my friends in NH but then i would have to ask them to send it to me and it's too much of a hassle for a $25 saving.

 

You're right - though it is still available direct from Amazon at $700, so long as you are willing to wait some weeks for delivery (look at the other sellers on the right).

The most CPU-intensive things I do are probably 1) opening a LOT of tabs in Chrome - really more RAM-intensive but if they contain flash the CPU can get bogged down. 2) editing multiple large images in GIMP. 3) Playing Football Manager.

I tried an AMD Fusion PC and performance for all three was very poor. It would not even run FM. I'm happy with the performance of all three on my desktop with a C2D E8500. Best I can tell that's between the two Series 3 chips in performance. It's tempting to get a laptop that exceeds my desktop in performance (at least until the next desktop upgrade).

Any insight you have into performance with the i3 is appreciated.

Me either. Makes no sense given the removable battery on the 11.6". Has anyone seen whether replacement or expanded batteries for the 11.6" are available? I'm sure they would be eventually - unless someone with past Samsung models has a different experience?

Planning to do that today.

Try here.

 

LOL. That's my thread.

Here's benchmarks scores for the processors you are considering:

C2D 8500: 2,418
i5 2410M: 3,355
i3-2357M: 1,718
Fusion N350 Dual Core: 1,227

Like you said, the C2D is about halfway between the two. Notably, the fastest of the Fusion series (roughly $500 laptops feature the dual core, the rest are only single core) scores lower than the 2357.

That said, I think I have decided to ditch the Samsung all together in favor of the deal from Office Depot this week. They have an E420 with i5-2410M, 4GB, 500GB, Fingerprint reader, etc for $429 after rebates. Also, they give you your prepaid visa card at the time of purchase, though you cannot apply it towards the purchase... I'm going to use it towards an M4 SSD.

To answer your other question... no, I have not seen a single replacement/upgraded battery for this unit. That's part of the reason I'm willing to sacrifice the portability for the power. What good is portability if only for a short time? Well, maybe to some its great, but at school all day I would prefer an extra couple of hours or battery.

 

That's helpful info. I did try out the 11.6" in the store and quite liked it, but of course my issue is only with the CPU power and battery life, which can't really be tested there.

I think the Fusion E350 is substantially slower than the N350 Athlon II you give the number for. I see only 726 at Passmark.

That means any of the laptops I'm considering would be a substantial boost over the AMD (at least in the CPU department; 3D graphics would be worse, but I only plan on 2D or retro gaming on the PC).

I'm leaning towards the 12.5" now, though I may be able to justify springing for the MBA 11" (something I couldn't do when considering the 11.6" at about half the price). I really would like to know more about the real world battery life of the 12.5" but I can't find any info.

 

About the real world battery life of the 12.5" I can say that it lasts about 4-5h depending on the appl. usage. I replaced the hard-drive with an 120gb Intel 510 series SSD and installed win7 pro. from the supplied DVD I only installed Samsung control center, which enables FN buttons and adds different power plan profiles. I use standard Samsung optimized power plan. As cpu mine has i5-2430M instead i5-2410M, but there should be no power consumption difference between two CPU's.

 

12.5" Series-3 is listed as having only 1 RAM slot. A 11.6" Asus U24E is better value imho. http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...es/624121-asus-u24e-review-owners-lounge.html . Consider:

$750 11.6" Asus U24E-UX21 i7-2620M 2.7 4GB 500GB W7HP

I'd personally still look for coupons for a 12.5" Lenovo X220 instead of either of these due to it's hard-to-beat feature set: matte IPS LCD, expresscard slot, mSATA + 2.5" HDD capability, internal WWAN-capable if not using mSATA.