Samsung has updated their R series laptop range. Well, I say updated but spec-wise the R620 isn’t all that different from the R610. Sure, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD4650 graphics card may be an improvement on the R610’s nVIDIA GeForce Go 9200M GS, but the HD4650 is only included in the premium models. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 in the standard version isn’t all that different.

On board memory has gone up a gig to 4GB DDR2 and the maximum hard-drive is 500GB, although the standard size is only 160GB. It keeps the 16-inch, 16:9 HD ratio for movie watching via its built-in Blu-ray player. The premium version is full HD 1080p whilst the standard version has a resolution of 1366x 768. There’s also HDMI-out if you want to hook it up to your TV.

One new feature is the anti-bacterial keyboard. It’s coated with a special finish that makes it almost impossible for bacteria to live and breed. Presumably if you spill your Yakult on it, it will simply evaporate into thin-air.*

If you’re looking for a mid-range laptop and you’re also considering buying a Blu-ray player then this laptop could help you kill two birds with stone. As a laptop alone it is decent – not exactly a world-beater – but the added Blu-ray, plus fast transfer via the combo USB/eSATA, make it a pretty good media-centre laptop.

It’s out in July and the standard version will cost you £699 from Samsung.

* This will not actually happen. The Yakult will kill your laptop – don’t try it.

Related post: Samsung R610: 16″ Blu-ray multimedia laptop