Samsung Series 3 NP300U1A-A01US review (11.6-inch, Intel Core i3)

Unfortunately, battery life is where the Samsung Series 3 falls down for us. The system ran for only 2 hours and 41 minutes in our video playback battery drain test, which is surprisingly short for an ultraportable. Keep in mind, however, that our test is a grueling one for most laptops, and we saw longer battery life from casual use, such as Web surfing and e-mail. HP's excellent Pavilion dm1z still takes the prize in this category, with 5 hours and 19 minutes.

Samsung includes a one-year warranty with the Series 3 (the 13-inch Series 9, in contrast, comes with a three-year warranty). Samsung's site is easy to navigate, and plugging in our exact model number, NP300U1A, produced a custom page of links and downloads (although popping that model number into the general site search box turns up zero results). Support is also available via online chat or at a toll-free number, which is 800-726-7864.

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System configurations:

Samsung Series 3 NP300U1A
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.3GHz Intel Core i3-2357M; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 3000; 320GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Lenovo IdeaPad S205
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.6GHz AMD Fusion E-350 Dual-Core; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 384MB (Dedicated) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6310; 500GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

Sony Vaio VPC-YB1S1E/S
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.6GHz AMD Fusion E-350 Dual-Core; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 667MHz; 644MB (Dedicated) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6310; 500GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

HP Pavilion dm1-3005
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.6GHz AMD Fusion E-350 Dual-Core; 3,072MB DDR3 SDRAM 667MHz; 384MB (Dedicated) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6310; 320GB Hitachi 7,200rpm

Samsung Series 9 NP900X1A
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.33GHz Intel Core i3-380UM; 2GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB(Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 64GB Samsung SSD