Gaming laptops are usually pricey. And where most laptop try to go for thinner and lighter, gaming laptops are bulky powerhouses of gaming awesomeness. So I was curious what Samsung would bring to the table with their Samsung Series 7 Gamer. I own a Samsung TV, 3D Blu-ray player and refrigerator — yes, they make refrigerators — so how would their sleek design transfer to the world of gaming laptops? I'm happy to say that the Samsung Series 7 Gamer is a sight and sound to behold, and one of the premier gaming laptops on the market.
Now, with a pricetag of $1,899.99, the Series 7 Gamer isn't cheap. But for what you're getting, it's worth every dollar. First off, the laptop just looks sexy. Its sleek design will have other gamers jealous. With its 17.3-inch, 1080p hi-def display is gorgeous. It's ideal for any light setting, whether you're playing games or watching a Blu-ray. It's a bit bulky, but has some really nice angles with brushed metal and glossy plastic to it that really make it stand out. If you can deal with some fingerprints — and you should be able to considering all of the amazing features — then the Series 7 Gamer is gorgeous laptop. If you're OCD with fingerprints, though, you might get a little annoyed and click the light switch on and off eight times (something I imagine someone with OCD doing).
There's no cutting any corners when it comes to specs, either. With a 2.3 GHz i7 processor with 6MB L3 cache and 16GB of DDR3 RAM, this baby screams. Try to slow it down… just try to. I couldn't. Maybe you could prove more successful. All of this combined with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M, and you run all of the latest games at really good frame rates. Batman: Arkham City in its native resolution ran at 30fps, World of Warcraft at 133fps, and League of Legends — the world's most popular game — at a resolution so high that Phreak had to buy it a Trinity Force. Needless to say, the Series 7 Gamer can run any game that you try to throw at it with pretty good to excellent results. If a game does struggle a bit at full specs, then simply dropping the resolution down a notch to 1680 x 1050 helps tremendously.
Like most gaming laptops, the battery will drain quickly. Samsung says it will last up to 3.7 hours, but if you're playing games, it'll last closer to one hour and forty minutes. To get more out of your battery life, as well as adjust the system on the go, the Series 7 Gamer has a nifty dial on the right side for quick adjustments. Simply turn the knob to cycle between Gaming Mode, Balanced Mode, Library Mode and Eco Mode, each changing the laptop's setting and offering something different. For example, Gaming Mode adjusts the audio and video and optimizes them for gaming, as well as turbocharging the processor. But in Library Mode, everything is muted and the fans are turned off, so the librarian won't get her panties in a bunch. Also, the animation that comes with turning to Gaming Mode is pretty sweet. One other great thing is that, regardless of what mode you're in, the Series 7 Gamer runs cool. I've owned a few gaming laptops — from Asus to Dell — and none of them are cool to the touch, even after hours of gaming.
Then there's the audio. This bad boy comes equipped with Dolby Home Theater v4. In short, that means that the audio delivers crisp highs to punchy lows. With the Dolby Profile Editor, you can create a profile where you can save presets for movies, music and games. Even more, with its onboard 2.1 system that sports a deceptively strong subwoofer, music and movies get presented how they should be. Listening to Rush's Tom Sawyer with these speakers made my day. With headphones, you have have 5.1 or 7.1 channel sound, as well. They're also really loud. In an office full of people talking and sound coming from everywhere, I never had to struggle to hear what was coming out of the speakers.
The keyboard and touch display add to the whole package. There's LED back lighting and touch-sensitive controls, and the WASD keys are lit with a dark red when in Gaming Mode. The keys and trackpad have a nice response to them, and it all feels sturdy — unlike other laptops that can have a cheap plastic feel to them. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the 1.5 TB of harddrive space. There's also a small SSD (solid slate drive) for caching purposes, using the ExpressCache technology.
In comparison with other gaming laptops of comparable models, the Samsung Series 7 Gamer offers more for less than its competitors. It's not a cheap laptop pric-wise, but you get what you pay for, and in this case, you're getting a high-quality gaming laptop with a brilliant design, quality parts, and great speed. It's a little bulky and attracts fingerprints, but there's far too many pros for those two cons to matter. If I was going to buy a laptop (and didn't have a new baby on the way), the Samsung Series 7 Gamer would be my top choice. It's just a wonderful piece of gaming hardware that satisfies the senses.
You can follow Movies and Culture Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at [email protected]
