Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook Review

General Construction

The first thing you notice when you pull the Series 5 out is the weight which, at only 3.25 lbs., is much lighter than even most standard slim notebooks. It has a metal top with everything else being plastic, and despite the mostly plastic construction it still feels very solid and well built.

Even with its incredibly thin profile, Samsung was able to squeeze in a fair amount of ports. We get 2xUSB2.0, 1xUSB3.0, an Ethernet port, a full-size HDMI port, a mini HDMI port, a 4-in-1 card reader, and a headphone/microphone jack.

I should note that in order to use the Ethernet port, you must flip down a small tab to make it full-size. Although it saves space, and is nice to not have to use a dongle, I could definitely see that little plastic tab breaking off if you aren’t careful.
Also of note, the power plug is absolutely tiny, like ridiculously small. Just plugging in the charger causes the plug to bend and I can see this very easily breaking if someone were to say, step on the cable while it is plugged in.

The hinge action feels sturdy despite its plastic construction, though because of its thin profile there is some screen wobble if, for example, your table is bumped.

One thing that stood out after about a week of use was that the plastic bezel around the edge of the screen started to pop out of the metal shell a little bit. In its current state it isn’t a big deal, but after a year of use, who knows what it might look like.

Keyboard/Trackpad

The keyboard is nearly full-size and the keys have pretty good action for a laptop, not too mushy or clacky. Samsung didn’t mess around with the layout too much either which is a relief.
The trackpad works great. It has a very low friction surface and is capable of two-finger scrolling and pinch-and-zoom. The buttons are tactile and feel solid, though they make a loud click unless you press them right in the middle.

Screen Performance

The particular 5 series we are testing comes with a 13.3″ non-glossy screen (a 14″ is also available). After using the laptop in your typical situations for about a week, the screen felt like one of the weakest links to me. The vertical viewing angle is quite narrow, making you fiddle with the screen angle every time the laptop is moved.
You can get an idea of what I am talking about with the above pictures. In the right one the screen is tilted just a few degrees away from perpendicular with the camera and the picture gets washed-out.

Aside from the viewing angle issue though it was pretty good. Like the vast majority of notebooks in this size, the screen is only 1366×768. It would have been nice to see 1600×900 (such as on the Series 9), though that would have driven up cost.

Webcam/Microphone

Like most laptops today, the Series 5 includes a built-in microphone and 1.3MP webcam. The webcam performance is about normal for a laptop and will be fine for the average user who just wants to video chat with friends and family. The built-in microphone, however, is not very good.
At normal speaking volume with the laptop sitting on a table in front of you, your voice sounds distant and quiet. Turning the mic boost all the way up brings up the volume but will also bring in every background noise in the room. Also, every tap, click, movement, etc. of the laptop will be picked up much louder than your voice, making for an annoying conversation for the other person. If you plan on doing any video chatting or voice recording, an external microphone will be a must.

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