Here’s another choice when it comes to the standard full-size 15.6-inch laptops with inexpensive prices. It’s the Samsung NP305E5A-A08US, providing performance of the AMD Quad-Core A6-3420M “Llano” processor with Radeon 6520G integrated graphics, as well as 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard disk. Its price on the market is about $400.
A design feature that makes the NP305E5A-A08US a little bit different than its competition is a thin bezel surrounding the screen, providing a more modern look and smaller overall dimensions of the laptop. The notebook combines gray and black plastics on both base area and lid, as you can see on the images.
Performance-wise, the A6-3420M is similar to the Intel Pentium B970 in terms of raw computing speed, so you can expect to finish your routine computing tasks with ease.
PassMark CPU Scores:
AMD A6-3420M APU – 2,279
Intel Pentium B970 – 2,291
The Intel HD integrated graphics on the B-series Pentiums can achieve about 240 points in the graphics benchmark and it this field the 6520G graphics with 427 points outperforms the Pentiums by a large margin.
Laptop makers in many cases don’t provide info on battery life, but this time Samsung claims the battery life is up to 5.1 hours.
Samsung NP305E5A-A08US Specifications
- Display: 15.6″ 1366 x 768 anti-glare, LED backlight
- Processor: AMD A6-3420M “Llano” quad-core at 1.5GHz default, up to 2.4GHz in Turbo mode, 4MB cache
- Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6520G integrated
- Memory: 4GB DDR3 at 1,333MHz, expandable to 8GB
- Storage: 500GB 5,400rpm hard drive
- Optical Drive: DVD burner
- Webcam: 0.3MP with microphone
- Audio: Stereo speakers (1.5W x 2)
- Network: 802.11n Wi-Fi, Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth 3.0
- Input: Chiclet-style keyboard without numeric pad, multi-touch trackpad with physical click buttons
- Ports and Slots: 3 x USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, 4-in-1 (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC) card reader
- Battery: 6-cell lithium-ion 48Wh 4400mAh, rated at up to 5.1 hours
- Dimensions: 1.14-1.37 x 14.4 x 9.5 inches
- Weight: 5.07 pounds
- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
- Warranty: 1-year