Samsung Series 5 550P5C-S03 review

The 550P5C-S03 has a good set of I/O ports, including four USB ports (two of which are the newer, faster USB3 type), VGA and HDMI ports for connecting it to an external monitor, and a 4-in-1 card reader. It also has an Ethernet port, Bluetooth, separate headphone and microphone jacks and a DVD rewriter.

There’s a decent range of ports and a built-in optical drive

We were impressed with its battery, too. It lasted an impressive eight hours and seven minutes, which means you should have no problem using it on the move.

The only downside to the 550P5C-S03 is the matt finish on its 15.6in screen. This means it’s not quite as bright as other laptops with glossy displays. As a result, colours looked slightly washed out in our high-contrast image tests. It effectively diffused reflections, but all our solid colours revealed a noticeable set of shadows toward the top and bottom of the screen, making our white images, in particular, look grey around the edge.

The Samsung Series 5 550P5C-S03 is an excellent all-round laptop with the performance levels, battery life and gaming power to suit most people, making it an ideal choice for families who like to work and play away from home. The excellent Best Buy-winning Toshiba Satellite L855-148
costs a little more, but it has a more powerful Core i7-3630QM processor and 8GB of RAM, which makes it a potentially better buy. If, however, you prefer Windows 7 and Samsung’s stylish design, you’ll love the Series 5 550P5C-S03.