Samsung RF510 Review

Now that 15-inch notebooks are the new family PCs, you'll want a hub that can do it all: web surfing, word processing, streaming movies, photo and video editing, and, yes, even gaming. The Samsung RF510 ($729 on Amazon) answers the call for versatility by combining a Core i5 processor with discrete Nvidia graphics, stylish looks, and a responsive keyboard. But is this 5.6-pound system really good enough to play demanding games or full HD videos?

Design

At 14.9 x 10.1 X 1.5 inches and 5.6 pounds, the RF510 is too bulky to carry around all day but light enough to move from the living room to the bedroom and then the kids' room in a flash. It's also noticeably lighter than the Dell XPS 15 (6.1 pounds, 15 x 10.4 x 1.5 inches).
Though sized like a family PC, the Samsung RF510 has a sleek, black aesthetic that looks equally at home in the living room and the conference room. The glossy black lid, which resists most fingerprints, is emblazoned with a chrome Samsung logo and accented by chrome hinges and chrome lines on the left and right sides. Though we like the ivory design and curved shape of the less expensive Samsung SF510, the RF510's sleek aethetic looks more professional.
Once opened, the notebook looks even classier. A comfortable matte black palmrest sits below an island-style keyboard with tastefully rounded keys and a chrome-colored background. Above the keyboard is a chrome button area with volume controls, Wi-Fi on/off, and power buttons with sci-fi blue lighting behind them. The subtle speaker holes that run across the entire width of the upper deck add to the high-tech aesthetic. Even the screen bezel has a subtle dotted pattern that matches the speaker holes.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The RF510's island-style keyboard sports a numeric keypad and offers solid tactile feedback and a smooth key surface, though it lacks a backlight. We scored our typical rate of 80 words per minute on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, with a modest 2 percent error rate.

The 3.5 x 2.3-inch touchpad has a pleasant matte surface that allowed us to navigate around the desktop with great accuracy and execute pinch-to-zoom gestures smoothly. The notebook's discrete touchpad buttons offered just the right amount of feedback; that's a welcome improvement over the SF510's jerky clickpad.

Heat

The Samsung RF510 stayed pleasantly cool throughout our testing. Even after streaming video at full screen for 15 minutes, the keyboard measured a temperate 92 degrees. The touchpad clocked in at a chilly 89 degrees, as did the middle bottom area. Those numbers are excellent, because we consider anything below 95 degrees comfortable and anything below 90 degrees imperceptible. By comparison, the bottom of the Dell XPS 15 reached a warm 102 degrees.