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Hands on: Samsung R430 'touch of red'

Remember the Samsung 'touch of red' laptops launched a while back -- the ones that looked like they were painted with nail varnish? They've returned, but this time they're actually pretty good

Rory Reid
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Approximately 18 months ago, Samsung unveiled its 'touch of red' range of laptops to a rather bemused collection of journalists in South Korea. The idea was sound, but the poor execution left the laptops looking as if Samsung had painted them with cheap red nail varnish. Fast forward to 2010 and the company is having another go with the rouge-tinted R-series.

The range is pretty substantial and consists of the high-end R780, R580 and R480 (17-, 15- and 14-inch models respectively), plus the more affordable R530 and R430 laptops, which pack 15- and 14-inch displays. We managed to get some face time with the latter at CES and will concede Samsung has got it right this time.

Not only is the colouring deep and rich this time, it's also infused with a beautiful wave effect Samsung refers to as "submerged texture design". This appears on the lid, the keyboard section, and even on the 'invisible' touchpad, helping ensure the entire laptop is lovely to look at. Honestly, it's the sort of thing even the snootiest MacBook owner would give a second look. 

The R480 may be the baby of the group, but its hardware is fairly grown-up. The model we fondled packed an Intel Core i3 CPU, 2GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GT 330M graphics chip and a 500GB hard drive. As a result, it'll ably turn its hand to to anything from video editing to gaming.

Pricing and availability are unconfirmed, but we'll hound Samsung reps to within an inch of their lives until they divulge the information. In the meantime, have a gander at the pictures in our gallery by hitting the 'Continue' link below.

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The textured red pattern stretches everywhere, even across the 'invisible' trackpad. The only reason it's visible here is because we forgot to take the plastic off. Doh!
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The chrome power button is a smart touch and goes nicely with the deep red colouring.
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If you own one of these laptops, you'll want to rip these stickers off as soon as possible. Sure, they tell you how powerful the system is, but they ruin the look.
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The left side gets an array of ports, including HDMI video output.
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The right gets an optical drive and Ethernet port.

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