Samsung R610: 16" Blu-ray multimedia laptop

Duncan Geere Computers, Laptops / Notebooks
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samsung-r610.jpgGiven that we were talking about the difference between ‘traditional’ 16:10 displays and “full HD” 16:9 displays just last week, it’s rather convenient that Samsung have decided to announce the R610, a 16:9 Blu-ray multimedia laptop with a 16″ screen. Not the Samsung R610 mobile phone. I hate it when companies do that.

A 16:9 display will let you watch movies and games in 1080p without either stretching the image or displaying black bars at the top and bottom of the picture. Most laptops, indeed most monitors, tend to have 16:10 displays. The R610 features a Blu-ray drive, to supply that 1080p data, though at just 16″ screen size, whether you’ll notice much difference between an HD and a standard resolution picture remains to be seen.

So what’s the point? Well, the laptop has HDMI out. You can plug this baby into your big TV, or a friend’s, to watch Blu-ray movies in great quality. Sure, on the train it won’t make a lot of difference, but if you’re building a Blu-ray collection and want to show it off, then it’s a decent investment to take around with you.

The machine itself has adequate spec, pairing an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with upto 4GB of RAM and upto 320GB of hard disk space. It’s got 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, and all the regular laptop stuff like headphone ports, microphones and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Nothing earth-shattering there, but it’ll cope. If you’re into gaming, then be aware that the graphics card – one nVIDIA GeForce Go 9200M GS – is fairly mid-range. It should cope with Half-Life 2 or Far Cry, but you won’t have much luck with Crysis.

If you’re after one, then you’ll have to wait until the end of October, but that’s about the right sort of time to add it to your Christmas list for a rich relative. The lowest-specced model will set you back just £799, which is actually surprisingly low for a widescreen multimedia laptop. Turns out that that excludes VAT. Not such a good deal after all. Of course, if you don’t need the portability, just buy a regular Blu-ray player and sit it next to your TV. Far cheaper.

Samsung (via ShinyShiny)

Related posts: Samsung Omnia i900 – another ‘iPhone killer’ | IFA 2008: Hands on with the Samsung X360

Duncan Geere
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  • i have one of this and it is tremendously satisfacting.

    i think you’re just jealous for not being able to afford one.

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