Customer reviews from Samsung US
Samsung - ATIV Book 8 15.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive - Bare Metal
Average customer rating
4.4
(39 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 39 reviews
5 Stars
22
4 Stars
11
3 Stars
5
2 Stars
1
1 Star
0
89%of customers recommend this product.
(
32 out of
36)
Customer Reviews for Samsung - ATIV Book 8 15.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive - Bare Metal
Customer Rating
5
Great for gaming and business
on January 7, 2014
Posted by: Miggless
from Iowa
Expertise:Expert
I wasn't impressed with my first experience with Windows 8. So I was hesitant at first but I thought that it would be different story if I had a touchscreen. After about a few hours with this laptop my mind has been changed. I'm not a fan of touchpads but with the touchscreen its really not bad at all. I can actually use a laptop without a mouse and without complaint.
At first I was just using it for MS Office and little bit of programming and scripting but I'm gamer at heart. I was able to play all of the Half-Life series and Counter-Strike Source with high detail and playing on native resolution.
I tried Skyrim and CS:GO but that's where I seen poor performance. I seen that it was using the Intel HD 4000 graphic card. Google searches really didn't come up with an answer. I played around with the Samsung and ATI settings but nothing seemed to work. I finally just came across the fix by accident. I had to go into power options in the control panel and in the advanced settings the very bottom option is ATI Graphics Power Settings I had to set it to Max performance. I was surprised it was on max battery life even on the High Preformance Power Plan. It made a extreme difference. Now both Skyrim and CS:GO games are smooth as butter at native resolution with high detail settings. It still shows up as Intel HD 4000 on Steam and defaulted with low graphic settings but I can crank it to Ultra settings and it still getting around 40 fps.
I have only two complaints. The first was the annoyance with getting the most graphics card (wish they used NVidia but that's my personal preference). The other is that every once in awhile the touchscreen stops working after I play a game but restarting usually works. Sometimes I have to reinstall the driver but no big deal. Oh might have been nice if it came with Win 8 Pro but I cant say its a complaint because I believe that Win 8 (standard) is good enough for the masses but as a network admin I would have taken advantage of professional edition. Aside from that I absolutely love this laptop. Kind of expensive but ya get what ya pay for.
Pros: Built-in speakers, Bright display, Durable, Realistic color, Lightweight, gaming
Cons: graphic card settings, touchscreen sometimes stops working after gaming
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
5
Design
5
Value
4
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
Amazing High-End Performance Laptop for Fantastic Price!
on September 30, 2013
Posted by: LovingmyLaptop
from Scranton, Pa
Expertise:Expert
I did countless hours researching to find the perfect laptop for my needs as a college student studying architecture. My main features I absolutely wanted were a powerful processor, full HD screen, long battery life, dedicated graphics, and excellent build quality. This is the only laptop that met all my expectations and more, at hundreds less than comparable models from other companies.
This laptop is absolutely incredible. Even with its slow HDD, it boots in under 20 seconds. Programs run beautifully with its i7 core. The screen is extremely clear and details are amazing. The touchscreen works flawlessly and as something I never really wanted on a laptop I must say I have come to use it very often and find it extremely useful. The AMD 8770 handles CSGO and rFactor at max settings and full HD without a problem. The keyboard was listed on many reviews I read as a con for this laptop, but I find it to be very nice personally. The JBL speakers were a great upgrade as I am a big fan of JBL speakers and for a laptop the sound quality is very impressive! Battery life for such a thin and light laptop is incredible, I can easily get 4 hours on full high performance settings doing CAD/Photoshop work while listening to music. Or almost 8 hours just web browsing and playing light games.
The only thing I wish this laptop had was the AMD 8870 graphics that its counterpart in other countries received but not here in the U.S. I also wish it would have come in the ash black offered in other countries as I prefer its looks in black.
Overall, you cannot go wrong with this impressive machine. The flawless build quality with its sleek and strong aluminum construction. The amazingly fast performance it delivers. The beautiful colors and details of its Full HD Touchscreen. And topping it all of with incredible battery life. There is no laptop that you can find for under 1500 that can match the specs this laptop delivers. This is simply a fabulous laptop and a great buy, and I would highly recommend it to anyone!
Pros: Built-in speakers, Bright display, Durable, Realistic color, Lightweight
Cons: no black finish option
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
4
Design
4
Value
5
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
Performes great
on November 2, 2013
Posted by: ElectronicsEngineer
from Colorado
Expertise:Expert
The full HD display, touchscreen and touchpad are great, the laptop is well made. I put in a Samsung 256G SSD and another 8G of RAM, WOW very responsive. I also use it with a USB 3.0 docking station and two 23" monitors for CAD work. Love it!
Pros: Bright display, Durable, great touchpad
Cons: slow hd
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
5
Design
5
Value
4
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
4
Great Laptop -- If you don't need HD External Monitor
on October 23, 2013
Posted by: Greg98
from Oakland, CA
Expertise:Expert
All the good things others have said about the Book 8 are true: it's a stylish, good-performer with an effective touch screen. I'd never seen Windows 8, but after an hour with this baby, it became clear that its Windows 7 with an upfront touch screen that's easy to bypass.
I even loved the keyboard, which some had described as "mushy" in their reviews. I found the keyboard smooth, responsive, and aesthetically pleasing to the touch.
But here's the thing that made me return it -- despite all the hype about its HD screen, which is nice, it's only good if you never need to connect it to an external monitor for high-end graphics. This baby doesn't have a Displayport connection, and that means you're limited to 1920x1080 resolution. Even at 1080 (via the HDMI connection) I found the picture looked "upscaled" on the Samsung 27" Series 9 monitor, despite installing the appropriate driver. Yet when I drove the same monitor through my 6 year old destop, it looked wonderful even at 1080. The Book 8 just doesn't seem equipped to drive a large external monitor at quality resolution. I'll be buying a laptop with Displayport and a clear graphics ability to output to large monitors when you're not viewing on its tiny screen.
In summary: a great laptop if you never need to go beyond its build-it screen.
Pros: Bright display, Realistic color, Lightweight
Cons: Did not meet expectations, no displayport
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
4
Design
5
Value
4
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
3
Almost perfect
on December 9, 2013
Posted by: Collegekid1995
Expertise:Expert
this laptop is so close to being prefect. the design, battery life (for the most part), and value, are spot on. That being said, the standard hard drive is a major let down, especially since everything else is top notch. to be frank this hard drive is about as fast a turtle at times. This hard drive peaks at about 10MB/s, which is a huge let down. Having a bunch of tabs open in Google Chrome is enough to eat up the entire speed of the hard drive. I would strongly recommend putting in a Samsung SSD, to allow for this laptop to truly shine.
Pros: Bright display, Realistic color, Lightweight
Cons: slow hdd
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
3
Design
5
Value
4
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
Great computer!
on September 21, 2013
Posted by: Upgraded
Has clear graphics and great storage! Power is fast and strong and has all one could need!
Pros: Bright display, Durable
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
5
Design
5
Value
4
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
3
Not a versitile gaming laptop
on December 14, 2013
Posted by: Krontab
Expertise:Expert
First off the overall look and feel of this laptop is great. I was very excited get it. As a casual gamer the gpu should have been sufficient. Unfortunately several of my games did not recognise the high performance gpu even when the exe was forced to use it. It would always display the power saving one in the games. So in short if you are a gamer do not buy this laptop until they get the drivers sorted out. Also, it sports a 3rd gen i7 instead of a 4th gen.
Pros: Built-in speakers, Bright display, long battery life
Cons: Did not meet expectations, no option for spare battery, screen smudges easily, poor range on wifi
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Features
2
Performance
2
Design
5
Value
2
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
2
Annoying Wifi & Not exactly fast
on November 2, 2013
Posted by: Jasper175
Expertise:Expert
My guess is this review will be removed.
The Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6235 is a major complaint on the hush side of web searching, but it is not stable and the wifi drops to "Limited" connection usually within 20 minutes +.
The Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6235 is a major complaint on the hush side of web searching, but it is not stable and the wifi drops to "Limited" connection usually within 20 minutes +.
The 5400 RPM HD is also a punk on speed. Should at least been a 7200, or give options to upgrade to SSD
Cons: Poor quality, Did not meet expectations, bad wifi chipset
Features
3
Performance
2
Design
5
Value
3
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US