Is Samsung's First Gaming Laptop Still Worth Buying Today?

Samsung aren't a big player in the gaming laptop market, so when they released the gamer series 7 reviewers were eager to try it out. With a fast 8 threaded core i7, HD 6970M graphics card and an SSD, which itself was relatively uncommon at the time, this beast certainly made a splash. Not surprising really considering it's weight.
Join me as we take a look back at the gimmicks, aesthetics and performance of 2012's biggest portable gaming machine.
Thanks for watching :)

[@frzr9029]

Imagine being advertised as a gaming laptop and couldn't start up Crysis

[@mrhohenzollern3399]

Samsung and dell in a nutshell

[@Custex01]

Ur r a disgrace

[@vale_recca]

@@mrhohenzollern3399 dell ?

[@skyfrost_rouge1216]

Lmao

[@nikolakarovic5964]

Autor is noob ...He instaled unsuported Os on laptop , Gpu is not supported in win10.

[@mammutbrot9230]

Please do more old gaming laptop videos! I love old gaming laptops :).

[@raahimhadi4905]

Ja!

[@MarksterC]

"Speakers are very loud" Oh will he play some game audio or music? **DING DING DING DING**

[@rRefuseToSelfCensor]

Linus: plays crab rave RGIHD: DING DING DING

[@rRefuseToSelfCensor]

@Remington Theodore bot promoting phishing scam dont try this

[@rRefuseToSelfCensor]

@Tanner Elon this is a bot promoting a phishing scam. Dont use this service unless you like your accounts being compromised

[@COHOFSohamSengupta]

1 dislike... Why would anyone even dislike this type of quality content..

[@KJGamer-Official]

No seagull

[@vargasbrothers23]

you are right and thats why there are 19 dislikes

[@DeViLzzz2006]

I didn't dislike it but i can tell you I would rather see what games actually work well on it instead of seeing so much that does not work well. I know he wants to show modern games and fine but like seeing what this could do with older BF games, some COD titles, etc. would actually tell us what we really could expect from this more. I just think there could be a better game mix and if he just wanted to add a part to the video where he just has a chart that lists FPS for loads of other games he tested that would suffice..

[@KJGamer-Official]

@@DeViLzzz2006 A older gaming machine for Titles 2012 and previous to it

[@dabigbadwolf5081]

Maybe because the unsupported OS?

[@LukusMaxamus]

1:57 how've you managed to turn on v sync in real life?

[@LukusMaxamus]

@waffeltek sorry dad I'll spell it correctly don't hit me please

[@zuccx99]

@@LukusMaxamus how've seems weird tbh

[@MrLolzmaster]

it’s video stabilization

[@lad2987]

@@MrLolzmaster the joke mate...

[@yunngmelt1858]

😂😂😂😂

[@The93Momo93]

For something so "old" it holds up surprisingly well and that screen is gorgeous.

[@TheBear9000]

It would be cool to do a revisit and upgrade that GPU. Good video man.

[@TheGauges420]

I absolutely love your videos. Always something random and usually old, and it's just so fascinating. Thanks for always putting out grade-A content!

[@PatGamingApasStyle]

I would like a follow up to this video with upgraded ram and gpu. Let's see the potential of this old guy.

[@RandomGaminginHD]

Yeah I'll be seeing what can be done as there's certainly life in this old beast yet

[@sumolizer5821]

@@RandomGaminginHD OMG He replied

[@Nooneishere777]

Yeah I’m trying to do the same to an old Dell Precision M 4700. Gonna turn that thing into a sleeper

[@hachikiina]

@@sumolizer5821 OMG He replied

[@jarredarendse5916]

Been watching your vids for years and it's always just a pleasure and so interesting to watch thanks for your time and effort boss man

[@171akup]

Disabling the mouse pad is such a good feature. The amount of times you can misclick and ruin what ever progress you had or when playing online and you have to apologize for a misclick and sometimes they don't believe you and kick you from the game.

[@dimarg00]

i rly enjoy these old hardware videos so much that i would watch 20-30min uploads...also looking forward to another review your gaming pc episode

[@dyingbraincells5631]

Why in the world i've never knew that this laptop exist?

[@tray3989]

grammar?

[@danksbrother]

Kamil Stokurwa yes? My name is graham ?

[@danksbrother]

Kamil Stokurwa ohhhh ok lol

[@level8473]

@@tray3989 What is wrong with his grammar?

[@tray3989]

@@level8473 everything?

[@garysatellite6952]

Thanks Your Channel is Great.. Learned a Lot Of You.. Keep The Good Work Going on...From (Luton Town)

[@turbofanlover]

LOVE this channel. Keep it up, good sir. :)

[@beonxvi]

Absolutely love this laptop. I bought mine back in 2012 just before my studies, and wanted to get the most powerful all-in-one laptop money could buy for renders and games. The choice fell on this Samsung Gamer 7 laptop, but with a Nvidia GTX 675M, i7 3610QM and 16GB ram. It came with two 750 GB HHDs, which i replaced with a 1TB SSD and a 2TB HHD in 2014-15, with regular clean-ups of the fans and keyboard. It has all the bells and whistles, plus it also looked quite sleek, compared to those other bulky, flashy gaming laptops. I used it all the way until 2018 before replacing it, mainly because I had gotten back problems carrying this laptop to university and to work every single day. An absolute beast nonetheless, and is still in use till this day, over 7 years later. Absolute champ.

[@447poo]

What I like most about your videos; Your home your garden, and the birds. You have a pleasant voice, and don't use offensive language. Then there is all the reason for the videos. Sharing knowledge. Great job. Keep it up.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

I really like the fact that you have that dial to manually adjust to access different modes. The ability to turn the fans off sounds like a neat feature, as well as the gaming mode that allows turbo boost. I guess this functionality is essentially outdated by smart technology on other laptops even at the time which adjusts all these things automatically according to workload.

[@ajhabdkaiak8173]

Since you dont have a patreon or something of the sort I watched both ads to support you just wanted to say that I really enjoy your content I hope you have a great day if you read this

[@JerKKeR]

Fun fact, my SCHOOL had one of these. I remember doing my geography presentation on that Series 7 and I was so mesmerized by that gaming mode sequence that I let it play to initialize the presentation. That was all the way back in 2014 ...I feel old now

[@Djuntas]

Very cool find.

[@DumbArse]

Omg that little nub is awesome, the effects and lightup are awesome too. I would love to have an upgraded one with a bit more modern insides

[@awesomegameryoutuber7035]

That intro is so cool. It reminded me on those Generator Rex intro on CN or another on Adult Swim

[@jackmcdonald8355]

This laptop was super ahead of it's time. If it had come out today, I feel like people would've loved the game mode light show

[@Driftking-dd6wx]

Damn cool video man

[@NaterBalls]

30k views in 7 hours on your way, love the Channel never miss video, keep up the good work and don't ever change, ps if i see TunnelBear i am gone lol

[@diagon1321]

You should try to run CS:GO to see if it reaches a higher frame rate because of the 120hz display.

[@IWoVex]

Exactly 🙂

[@ianmoone3162]

Typing this on my old Series 7 gamer! Dusting it off to install a new Launchbox build as for the last couple years its been running my arcade cabinet emulators. Great old machine! And as for the "light show" mentioned, the effects could easily be turned on and off.

[@shiftyXdoug]

I have never seen anyone playing DIRT2 with WASD :D nice video man!

[@DeViLzzz2006]

I wish he'd stop showing that game at those settings as it looks like the car is floating. Find another game to show.

[@filifeck9172]

I think it would be fine to measure the performance with the most used resolution from the machine's time. For example testing games on machine from 2007, you should also test the games on 720p, because it was common resolution in that time... ...but still, good video :-)

[@MarksterC]

that desktop at the start was sick!

[@TxM_ToMi]

still better than my current laptop.....

[@woodybuzzofficial]

Lol

[@popespalace823]

I mean no shit it's better then most laptops spec wise

[@woodybuzzofficial]

@@popespalace823 yes

[@popespalace823]

@Alight Motion Presets You're gaming on a potato. I use 4 rx Titan z's in sli, 128gb of ram and an i9-9980XE,

[@joenodden]

@Alight Motion Presets I don't recall anybody asking or giving a damn.

[@AirknightTails]

This laptop looks amazing. Like the Gimmicks with it.

[@KYHize]

I remember having a samsung gaming laptop near 2012 (geforce 7600)because it had some issues with vram that made users go mad

[@zaaajac]

Geeeez I remember seeing this in local pc magazine long time ago and this one was my dream... and now it looks nice still - if only you could replace components...

[@TC-tn9tb]

Nice laptop, shame about the gpu, but not worth the £280 you paid in my opinion.

[@TheRealFobican]

Overclocking the gpu would be worth it.

[@DeViLzzz2006]

It depends on what you want it for. If you are a collector you may want it for a certain reason. Also for the same amount what you suggest? Finally maybe he has the money from revenue on here and has more money than you know now to be able to do this and well I remember him saying that he sells off much of what he buys to recoup or make profit so yeah.

[@TheRealFobican]

@Jay Arre Good to know about.

[@mikehydropneumatic2583]

Few weeks ago my 2011 HP with same cpu and Radeon was running fine when manually helped booting (taking 20 minutes to get going), ignore HD noises, didn't need the BD re-writer (dead) nor needed it portably (battery dead in less than 30 mins). So it was time for a change and bought an Asus S15 with 8565U and MX150 with SSD. Really impressed with the games it can run (med or low detail) but otoh my almost 8 year old HP did youtube, photo editing and the rest. It was only with recent games it couldn't keep up.

[@MrKillswitch88]

If this machine has an mxm slot you can upgrade for almost peanuts depending on the card you choose as the one it has is infamous for kicking the bucket but it has good resale value due to people needing them for macs.

[@LightTheUnicorn]

Remember seeing those for sale back when they were brand new. It's gimmicky, but in a pretty good way, looks very cool! Putting up a good fight there GPU considered.

[@zgoaty9235]

What I think would work really well is taking that panel out of that laptop and attempting to migrate it to a current 1080p/60 laptop that has the specs to push 120 Hz. You would end up getting the best of both worlds assuming all goes well. A great looking display and a higher refresh rate.

[@marcusgrobler6334]

You're my favourite daily uploading youtuber

[@IWoVex]

Daily 🤔

[@Ryaninja]

I had one of these, it was excellent. It had a lot of features that I miss on my far more powerful Asus GL702VS with a 1070. The samsung lasted 6 or 7 years before finally dying. Mine had a 3D screen which used active glasses for 3D movies and games (HL2 is awesome in 3D even now). so it had a really really bright screen - I could use it out in the sunshine no problem even with a glossy screen. It also had a decent full sized keyboard, hardware buttons for the system volume and right up until Nvidia's 10 Series GPUS was still one of the best performers on the market for gaming. I've seen a few comments saying it couldn't start Crysis - mine worked fine, but it seemed better specced than the one in this video. On top of that, it ran cool and wasn't too loud at all. It may have been a beast to carry around, but I was honestly a bit disappointed when 8 years later I bought an Asus to replace it. Sure the performance/graphics were better, but I feel like the Asus didn't compare at all in many ways with the samsung. Other than the actual performance, the samsung beats my new machine in almost every way.

[@blurberrycreative1996]

Dude, 3d screens sound so cool, jealous that Ive never experienced that in any of my laptops haha

[@antoinevs7201]

Do a video when you use an external gpu with it. I would be curious to see the results.

[@xyz360400]

What you said about the display/saturation is exactly why I prefer glossy screens. I understand why a lot of people don't like them due to glare and whatnot, however the way my room is set up, the only source of light is actually above and behind my screen so there is no glare and there are no annoying reflections in the screen so I always opt for the glossy screen (preferably IPS if available as an option) when I can. It's too bad that you really can't find many/any glossy gaming monitors (or monitors at all) any more. It's something the industry has gotten away from as people have shown a clear preference for non-glossy displays. The ironic thing being that all of their smart phones use glossy displays due to the glass touch panel. I really wish someone would pick up the ball and provide a decent 1080p or 1440p IPS display with a glossy screen. It really enriches the colors and makes everything 'pop' in a way that flat TN panel or even decent IPS non-gloss display can't (I have a 1440p 8 bit color IPS gaming monitor, and while it does look very nice, the colors really don't look quite as nice/vivid as they do on my little 15.6" 1080p glossy 6 bit color IPS in my laptop, though the higher range of colors/gradients in the 8 bit display is nice and noticeable).

[@djloco3000]

here from 1000+ subs now 279k good job keep the good work greets from israel

[@TheBackyardChemist]

If you have the thermal headroom, you can OC the GPU in these laptops with MSI Afterburner, using the "Unofficial overclocking" and "Extend range" options. At least for my Samsung laptop with a similar (just even worse) AMD GPU, it works like a charm.

[@JustOneGuy]

Amazing that it has 120hz back in 2012. My g750jz gaming laptop that came 3 years later was still at 60hz. It took asus 2-3 more years till they started using higher refresh rate displays. Too bad samsung stopped releasing laptops in EU all together, they were truly ahead of the time and had great build quality.

[@masterbeat04]

I remember watching linus unbox one of these. Man I wanted one soo bad

[@Jeakerek]

AMD released a beta crimson edition drivers for 6xxx series GPUs while ago. Usually they don't provide best performance, but may improve compatibility

[@solarstrike33]

I bet he tried that.

[@joenodden]

He said he was on the latest drivers.

[@thelitecommando]

I remember seeing one of these and mistaking the performance knob thingy for a volume knob.

[@BritishJax]

@RandomGamingHD would you perhaps be willing to do a 'still worth buying' of the acer v15 592d?

[@adnoctvn]

I had one of these for a while, the battery life was never great, even compared to other gaming laptops of the time. It surprised me too, the screen in particular as you mention really was something to behold back then, and even now. I did a side-grade and bought an m17r4 Alienware c/w 7970m. The 7970m is a 6970m o/clocked by about 15%. I made the mistake of 'upgrading' to a msi with m290 (yet again a 15% oc if the 7970m this time) which was promptly disowned by and and msi as it had an a10 cpu (I know) and there were major graphics compatability issue due to the discrete and integrated being different generations. It was a costly mistake and never bought msi or AMD since.

[@andreamarchetta689]

i still have this cpu in my laptop, it's still a nice cpu but it warms like crazy and it's sooooo heavy. Moreover, the battery drains quite fast (Intel states the cpu has a tdp of 45 watts, while a modern i7 has one of about 15...). Looking forward to change it soon!

[@noplan92]

I bought this laptop used about 2 years ago. The thing I like the most about it is the 120hz Display, which is still pretty good for playing CS:GO and UT2004! Crysis doesnt have a problem to be played on my unit but after all, you are correct. This thing is pretty much at the end of its lifecycle right now. :( Also I gained a huge boost in performance after I cleaned it and replaced the thermal paste for CPU and GPU!

[@ethancaudill4201]

You should do one on the Dell l702x I've heard things about it but I'm curious to see how it plays

[@itsandyfs]

You should consider to put an eGPU (with a riser nor an EXP GDC) to see how good that old i7 can handle in games with a decent graphic card

[@alexisleftist778]

that display has aged incredibly honestly 720p doesn't bother me as long as the size is you know acceptable ye good review mate too bad i think 300 maybe useful but ugh

[@themadnes5413]

i had almost the same Laptop back then (i guess mine was just the 2 gen) , just with an gtx 675m 16gb ram, and 3000 series i7, was heavy and loud and overheated. But the 120hz ips display was great.

[@DaxtonAnderson]

If you can, pick up a used Lenovo T540p. They're $170-$200 on eBay, but make sure you get an i7 model, I have the 4700mq 4c/8t, it runs at 3.4-3.6ghz in game. Also make sure it also has a GT 730m 1GB. The i5 model only has the intel graphics. They come with an SSD standard. Mine came with 12GB of RAM. Really great laptop for the price, everyone comments about how much they miss thinkpads of this style and are blown away at the speed of it! The 4700mq holds up really well today, the GT 730m not so well but it's a perfect contender for an external GPU because it has an expresscard slot!

[@DeViLzzz2006]

Thanks for this info. man.

[@ad24aug]

I bought a sager np9150 laptop which has an i7 3610qm and amd hd7970m. Still can play games like doom gta 5 pubg battlefield at 60 fps at mediocre settings. Pretty cool how some old gaming laptops hold their own even in 2019.

[@sonder8059]

I’m so happy and grateful that I have an opportunity to have a pc

[@NicknackLP]

I don't get why you never test E-Sports games with these low spec machines. Nobody who buys this is going to play Battlefield V and Witcher.

[@Verm0uth07]

I mean if your machine can run Battlefield 5 or Witcher 3 then it can easily run most esports title

[@belokonev-dan]

If it can run witcher, than it can run fortnite and dota with 3 digit framerate

[@NicknackLP]

@@belokonev-dan you are missing the Point, I'd rather have Frame rates for OW, LoL, Dota and Fortnite because that would be the games people play on this thing

[@janicehung7595]

No just test this with minecraft

[@pedrosilvaproductions]

Also, he mentioned about not having internet at 4:30 hence why he is not playing Multiplayer games

[@absolutedesi5899]

The volume sound of windows 7 takes me back to 2011

[@kono1723]

you are best channel in the world

[@NightTakesFlight]

Hello, I have a request. Are you able to fix this Radeon ATI HD 5550 that I got my hands on? The fan spins, but no signal at all.

[@beythastar]

You can change the settings in MSI Afterburner to be able to overclock AMD gpu's, even mobile cards.

[@ayuchanayuko]

5:20 use modded drivers like Leshcat to install the latest drivers on non-GCN mobile Radeon GPUs. Should be okay so long as no hardware controls are tied to the graphic drivers. E.g. Sony Vaio laptops need Sony Radeon drivers for the backlight control to work.

[@codykamminga9667]

That power plug is the same as my too old Samsung TV

[@eternalgamers10]

I'm going through the same thing as you regarding your internet situation, it sucks man lol I can't even load a 720p KZbin video right now😂.

[@TheSpotify95]

Nice little laptop there, I'd buy one like that if I knew it was possible to upgrade the RAM and the GPU, as it seems like the GPU is holding the laptop back. Also did you test the games under windows 7 or 10? I still prefer 7 for the vast majority. And what's the battery life like :).

[@MrMarshmelloBoi]

Samsung gaming laptops with Windows 7 were the beasts.

[@littlegloom]

How'd you get Simpson hit and run to run in wide-screen?

[@misterPAINMAKER]

E-sport titles must be very playable though!

[@vicubieta9182]

can you do a reviewiew of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P i7? it does have a dual nvidia 755m. just recently played dying light all on high and played well

[@robertkubrick3738]

I think you found the special case where an external GPU dock would be worthwhile! The screen more than the CPU, though.

[@robi7062]

Add external gpu to see how old laptop i7 holds with modern gpu.

[@masterpedro1983]

@RandomGaminginHD think you should give this little laptop a check ( HP ProBook 8470p one with the Radeon HD 7570M Graphics good for budget gaming

[@calpal675]

My favourite tech channel

[@IWoVex]

Me too

[@woodybuzzofficial]

Too

[@darknight474]

Me too

[@SZALDOWAR]

HoppsTech is my favorite!

[@IWoVex]

@@SZALDOWAR ok stay there 🙂

[@maxg9165]

Still got myn, battery has been dead for a while but the laptop is still going strong.

[@crazyfreak7800]

Im still rocking an i7 990x and its. Still a great cpu for gaming

[@BeatoxStudios]

I have one of these laptops with the nvidia 675m gpu which can be removed from the motherboard. Does anyone know if you could upgrade the gpu ??

[@CaptainEggcellent]

I’ve asked before, how are you playing Hit & Run?! No way is that emulation...

[@IWoVex]

I downloaded it from gg games or whatever it names

[@snakeface5652]

It's on PC, not just console. Don't need to emulate it.

[@MisterRorschach90]

they sell quite a few ryzen apu laptops in that price range.

[@robertkubrick3738]

With the most shit screen imaginable.

[@xthelord1668]

E-gpu via x1 or express card would be good,change paste,more ram and windows 10 lite would make a diffrence here and try to optimize amd settings,you might be able to pull few fps because amd maxes all out as a default

[@rodrigo4379]

can you clean the fans, change the thermal paste and overclock the gpu?

[@dickwredniak2806]

This is really good laptop but W and D keys doesn't not properly responding (malfunkction) and no any spare keybotd I try to rech on market to exchange.Would someone to advise me how to fix it?Thanks a lot in advance.

[@rokero171]

I almost got this laptop back in 2012-2013, I actually bought the laptop, but my order was cancelled due being out of stock, the surprising thing is that it was kinda cheap for the specs, I ended up buying a lower spec Dell, with an i5 3230m and an HD7730m for the same price.

[@Spaztron64]

Will you cover the Thinkpad T420 (with Nvidia NVS graphics) ?

[@razorgcy]

I ordered the i7 3610QM + GTX 675M model on Amazon.co.uk when I started uni back in September 2012. I LOVED IT at the time. But then I realised such a huge laptop was the cause of scoliosis for a uni student :D I sold it at the price I bought it at (£1380) and bought an Asus N550JV in 2013. Wish I hadn't sold it. It was like a very big, heavy, lazy but loveable puppy to me. I miss it :(

[@sburton015]

I know on my main gaming PC which has an i7-6800k with 16 gb ddr4 ram and a GTX 1080 and an Acer Preditor 24" 1080p gsync monitor at 180 hz refresh rate. Is it good if something like Fallout 4 stays at a constant 90 fps with 1080p ultra high settings?

[@TKIvanov]

Damn, a HRR display on a laptop in 2012, nice!

[@MrRobot-ry7ky]

Sunday I bought a samsung np350v5c with an i7 3630qm for 20$.It works very good,but it starts really weird. If I press the power button the fan spins and the leds light up,but the screen is black.After like 30 minutes it shows the samsung logo (at this point you can enter the bios) and now it starts loading windows,which loads notmally. I'll try flashing a new bios and changing the cmos battery.Hopefully i'll make it work :D

[@cadjosrez7716]

You should re-review some of the first gen ryzen cpus and see if some of them are still worth buying today (should be fine but I mostly want to see how much they still hold up today)

[@FlopFan69]

Caden Rezner ryzen was never worth buying

[@miggee47_2]

@@FlopFan69 best price to performance cpu out

[@FlopFan69]

miggee47 _ u mean worst

[@FlopFan69]

NIXIE-PIXIE 1080p is outdated. Zen sucks

[@FlopFan69]

NIXIE-PIXIE 1660ti lol that sucks

[@DeViLzzz2006]

Guaranteed there is a large list of games this laptop can run well and wish more games were shown or at least tested and you post a text based image stating loads of games that ran fine. As for what you paid for it eh one will always pay more for a laptop that actually works well and has a battery that does not need to be replace but looking down the comment list I saw suggestions and I would be curious what the better buys these days would be when looking at more affordable laptops. Also a return to this laptop would be nice even without upgraded hardware as i want to see more of what it can do and not what it can't do. Finally what I see from the used market for gaming laptops varies from ones that are at $650 and higher with for the $650 you get a GTX 1050 in it of course with a good cpu. I am in Canada.

[@goldenstarmusic1689]

Can the GPU be upgraded via one of those pci express adapters?

[@MrKingkamon]

got a 980m unit with desktop i5 4th gen in for £370 last week. Nice unit for the £

[@TrueMegaManiac]

Is the Graphics Card user serviceable like the of the era Alienwares? MXM form factor newer cards exist and would fix the lack of GPU power.

[@whitebeartigtig]

these originally had 2x 750 GB HDDs in them. See Linus' review from the time

[@04AiZ]

Could you also test some Emulators on machines like these? Thanks.

[@SerjStar]

To be honest the laptop looks badass still