Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR3)


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bhvm

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Hello everyone!
I wanted a simple laptop for office work and Internet so I checked a few on Flipkart and saw this baby-

Samsung NP355E5X-A02IN(APU Dual Core/ 2GB/ 500GB/ DOS) Laptop - Samsung: Flipkart.com

Soon I popped to Lamington Road to get a feel of what the thing was. Luckily a Seller (Sidewalk Systems) had a Open piece so I could Check it thoroughly before spending cash.
I played it around for 15 minutes and Placed order for a final price of 19,500. Carry bag but NO Accessories. Windows 7 was installed with the required drivers. Antivirus Avast Free is installed.

I have been using it heavily for past week and here is my summary-

Looks-
Very sweet, brushed aluminium But plastic feel, Sturdy build.

Convinience-
Island keyboard (Spaced out) is Good to type. Numeric Keypad uploaded.Ports Located Conveniently. Heat vent to side.
Illuminated Power Button. Very large Touch pad
No scroll on Touch pad.
Some Keyboard flex when typing.
No separate keys for volume, WIFI, BT. used is supposed to use Fn+Combo.
Arrow keys are small and Girly

Screen-
The Given screen is the usual 15.6 inch (1366x768) widescreen with good brightness and Viewing angles.
Dual Monitors are supported
The Screen is ANTI GLARE. Its a rare design these days and its very helpful to reduce strain on eye due to reflection. A++ RATING!

Ports-
2x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0 are a blessing in that budget!! There's HDMI and VGA out.
USB 3.0 speed verified using my 1TB SONY USB 3 HDD.
However you can't do triple Monitor with VGA+HDMI+ laptop.
These days most laptops are lacking Firewire, Expresscard and E-sata. This laptop is no exception.

Connectivity-
Inbuilt WIFI and BT are very good and work as expected. GIGABIT LAN is welcome addition for such a budget machine.

Sound-
Sound is best in Headphones.
Given speakers are average(No bass), Volume control does not work during full screen gaming.

Heat-
This lappy is very cool even under Heavy Load and Gaming. It idles max around 50.C with Cooling pad.
Left palmrest gets slightly warm due to HDD.
I am using zebronics 200mm fan cooling pad.

Performance-
For General Tasks the Lappy is very fast and responsive, esp when browsing through folders and opening Pictures,Videos etc.
There is No Turbo Core support so you're stuck with 1.4ghz top speed, But there's a solution. (read on)
RAM controlled is single channel so using 2 sticks won't boost anything.

The Integrated 7310 has 80 Shaders (Compareble to Nvidia 8600GT Performance) and supports DX11. Which means all games will run but you will have to tone down settings.

Gaming-
COD4, Serious Sam 2, Battlefield Bad company 2, NFS Most wanted, Left 4 Dead, Unreal - WORKING SMOOTHLY (720P).
COD MW2, COD MW3, Battlefield 3, Split Second- WORKING WITH STUTTER.

Overcloking-
This Lappy is a surprizingly great Overclocker!!
Using K10 STAT i was able to Boost the Tiny Childish Processor all the way upto 2 GHZ! Thats with stock voltage.
It may go more but I need to spend some more time. You could also underclock and Undervolt the CPU all the way down to 528mhz for better battery and Idling.

Battery-
I have not fully tested battery life but its expected around 5 hours or more. Some folks have even mentioned 8 hours of idling.
There's an option to limit battery charge to 80% which reduces Lithium wear(recommended)

My Overall Rating-
8.5 of 10!

Spec-
General
Brand Samsung
Model Name NP355E5X-A02IN
Series 355E Series
Color Silver
Part Number NP355E5X-A02IN
Model ID NP355E5X-A02IN
Processor
Processor APU Dual Core
Variant E1-1200
Chipset AMD A68M
Brand AMD
Clock Speed 1.4 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache
Memory
Expandable Memory Upto 8 GB
System Memory 2 GB DDR3
Storage
HDD Capacity 500 GB
Optical Disk Drive
Read/Write Speed 16X
Optical Drive SuperMulti DVD RW Multi Drive
Platform
Operating System Free DOS
Display
Screen Size 15.6 inch
Resolution 1366 x 768 pixel
Screen Type Anti-Reflective
Graphics
Dedicated Graphics Memory Capacity 384 MB
Graphic Processor AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
Input
Web Camera 1.3 Megapixel
Audio
Speakers Stereo Speakers ( 1.5 W x 2 )
Communication
Ethernet Gigabit Lan
Wireless LAN 802.11 bg/n 1X1, Gigabit Ethernet [10/100/1000]
Bluetooth v4.0
Power
Battery Backup 6+Hrs Battery Back-Up
Power Supply 65 W AC Adapter
Ports/Slots
USB Port 2 x USB2.0, 2x USB 3.0
Multi Card Slot Yes
Machine Dimensions
Weight 2.3 Kg
Dimension 372.5 x 243.0 x 34.1mm (14.67 x 9.57 x 1.34)
Color Silver

Thanks and please post your comments

__________________________________
OVERCLOCKING attempts-

1)Max temps with full Load (4 hours of COD4) are 62.c With Laptop cooler.

This mode makes the Tiny AMD E1-1200 (Stock 1.4 Ghz )Better than its stock elder brother (E2-1800 at 1.7 ghz).
I think its already in the line of entry level i3. What say?

These AMD APUs are a gem for overclocking.

2)Hello everyone,
I'm Joyed to say that i was able to Overclock the inbuilt Radeon 7310 Puppy to 605 mhz from the default 500MHZ.

This has made it possible to run Demanding stuff like Crysis 2 with mid settings and low resolution (800x480)
Check the screenshots for details.

Its a feat indeed for such a budget and Tiny APU

3)Just a Small Update. Last sunday, i was keying Articles on this laptop. I can CONFIRM that the Laptop has 6 hours of battery life Running light tasks like Text Editor and Brightness on medium. Even with Multimedia the battery would be 4~5 hours. This is VERY impressive to say the least. What the AMD E-Series lacks in Performance is made up in Endurance!

I have upgraded the Laptop with SSHD, Which could be a reason of Better battery life. I guess It would spin down and the SSD part would take simple light tasks

4)using the new version of MSI afterburner,
I was able to overclock the Inbuilt HD 7310 all the way upto 805 Mhz and then 930 mhz!!!
Thats a 90% overclock people! As a result the framerate jumped from 17 FPS to a much better 28 FPS. Transformers fall of cybertron is finally playable at 800x600. I bet this is a feat no other GPU can OC upto!!

Hurrayyyyyyyy!!!
 
Thread Starter #2

bhvm

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Re: Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR

Even More long term update-
The laptop has been moved to Net surfing and other Light duties.

1> The weird lines on screen have disappeared automatically. The Matte display is a joy to use as always. Laptop is quite stable now.
2> I've added one more 2GB ram stick, and machine is surprisingly peppy now for daily tasks. I guess its as good as any other Intel budget laptop now. The total RAM size now is 4GB, out of which, 256 MB is set to graphics. Rest everything is for system.
3> Threw away the DVD drive.
4> Gave a good TLC to laptop by dusting out the fans and cleaning circuits etc using a soft brush. I really appreciate the large access panel. These things are becoming a rarity on modern laptops.
 

kkn13

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Re: Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR

Even More long term update-
The laptop has been moved to Net surfing and other Light duties.

1> The weird lines on screen have disappeared automatically. The Matte display is a joy to use as always. Laptop is quite stable now.
2> I've added one more 2GB ram stick, and machine is surprisingly peppy now for daily tasks. I guess its as good as any other Intel budget laptop now. The total RAM size now is 4GB, out of which, 256 MB is set to graphics. Rest everything is for system.
3> Threw away the DVD drive.
4> Gave a good TLC to laptop by dusting out the fans and cleaning circuits etc using a soft brush. I really appreciate the large access panel. These things are becoming a rarity on modern laptops.
Add an SSD in the main Hard disk slot and buy a converter to use your old hard disk -
Laprite SATA Optical Bay 2nd Hard Drive Caddy for 9.5: Amazon.in: Electronics

Itll absolutely fly after that
SSDs greatly boost performance
 
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Re: Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR

noob alert..!!
How you overclock/underclock your laptop and what does it mean? WHat is cooling pad?
 
Thread Starter #5

bhvm

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Re: Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR

Add an SSD in the main Hard disk slot and buy a converter to use your old hard disk -
Laprite SATA Optical Bay 2nd Hard Drive Caddy for 9.5: Amazon.in: Electronics

Itll absolutely fly after that
SSDs greatly boost performance
I've done that to many laptops. Infact, My Primary laptop Runs a 2TB RAID set (In RAID0) for some stupid performance.
However, this laptop being only for primary tasks did not feel like investing in SSD due to budget.

noob alert..!!
How you overclock/underclock your laptop and what does it mean? WHat is cooling pad?
Overclocking is an advanced tactic that allows experts to unlock the performance of you computer over and above what manufacturer specs say. The methods to do so are different for each machines and require really deep understanding of how things work.
Unerclocking is totally opposite of above. It marginally reduces performance but can give great battery life.

Just think of it as Performance ECU Remap Vs Efficiency remap for car engines!

Cooling pad i a small underbody pad with small USB powered fans desgined to keep the laptop cool. Greatly helps cool overclocked CPUs.

P.s- The primary thread for this laptop for more details is over here-
http://forum.digit.in/reviews/17870...vision-e1-1-4ghz-amd-7310-2gb-ddr3-500gb.html
 
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Re: Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR

Guys,
Can we attach the stock CD drive cover to these generic caddy's? I have an Asus N56VZ with SSD in place of stock HDD. I would like to use the old HDD in it's BD drive but would like to know if this means I have to sacrifice looks. [confused]

BTW, never expected a laptop review on TAI. Good job bhvm [clap].
 
Thread Starter #7

bhvm

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Re: Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR

Yes you can, its a bit of jugaad and not perfect finish, But there are tabs on the caddy that will allow you to remove out its front bezel and attach yours. Now what remains to be seen is if your stock BD drive as removable Tabs!

Thanks for appreciating the review, I tend to keep reviewing each and everything I buy. Keeps the practice up.
Here's an older one-
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...ing-gaming-amd-apu-a6-amd-6520g-4gb-ddr3.html
 

kkn13

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Re: Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR

Guys,
Can we attach the stock CD drive cover to these generic caddy's? I have an Asus N56VZ with SSD in place of stock HDD. I would like to use the old HDD in it's BD drive but would like to know if this means I have to sacrifice looks. [confused]

BTW, never expected a laptop review on TAI. Good job bhvm [clap].
Depends on caddy model
Ask in the amazon questions section before buying
 
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Re: Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR

I have successfully installed the caddy this week. Thanks everyone for your inputs. Without proper homework, I removed all screws from the laptop but still couldn't remove the bottom panel. Resorted to youtube for help and learned that all I had to do was just remove one screw and pull out the BD reader. [frustration].
Quality of the caddy is very good, and it came with 4 screws and a screw driver to secure the old HDD in place. I attached the locking plate from stock BD reader to this caddy to secure the caddy in place.
IMG_20170426_071003.jpg

Icing on the cake is my stock bezel fits perfectly with the caddy. I have now reclaimed 750GB of precious space without trading off the looks [:)]
BeFunky Collage.jpg
 
Thread Starter #11

bhvm

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Re: Samsung NP355E5x [Honest Review, OC] (AMD APU Vision E1 1.4Ghz, AMD 7310, 2GB DDR

Great going!
Yes there just a screw to remove ODD and the ODD can just be slid out.
Guess you have the same Caddy as I do at home lappy.
 

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