I really ought to start this review with the disclaimer that whilst I consider a laptop to be an essential possession, I know very little about the terminology. After a child-related mishap with my previous laptop my husband immediately started scanning websites and contacting my full on techno-nerd brother to find the right laptop at the right price for me. I rarely play games on my laptop and mostly use it to write/surf the internet and socialise so they chose this Samsung laptop for me. Its RRP is around £449 but at the time Sainsburys had it for £330 so my husband was dispatched to buy one. It is back up at its previous higher price at Sainsburys but I see it is available at less than £300 online from retailers like Dabs.com.

*What the manufacturers say**
Giving you more for less, the Samsung RV510 Laptop features an Intel Dual Core Processor running at 2.13GHz, so it does more of what you want, faster. With a memory of 3GB and a hard drive of 320GB it's also got plenty of capacity for multi-tasking and space to store music and video content.

The 15.6" screen has 16:9 aspect ratio, so you see movies in widescreen, while 1366x768 resolution gives plenty of detail. An added bonus is that the screen uses less power than previous Samsung models, so you can watch for longer and preserve battery life.

The laptop comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit as its operating system, while a selection of trial software is pre-loaded on the machine

*Setup*
The computer was very easy to set up, it took just five minutes to go through the motions, including connecting to our wireless internet. It comes with Windows 7 preinstalled and we were able to transfer all my files and bookmarks from my old computer using the Windows Transfer programme within about half an hour.

*Design*
This laptop is lighter than my old one (only two years old) and thinner too, but it still feels robust and sturdy. The webcam is well positioned and works well. The silver and black colour scheme is smart and stylish and a little bit different to other laptops.

However, there are some design flaws in this laptop. The most major one to me is that the mouse pad and keyboard are slightly out of alignment with each other. This means that when I am typing I have to have my right wrist and hand held at a slightly odd angle in order to avoid having parts of my hands touching the mouse pad and moving the mouse around. I have quite small hands and its an issue for me, so I can imagine for someone with larger hands it would be quite a source of irritation and discomfort.

Another flaw is that the power cable sticks straight out the side at right angles to the machine for about five centimetres. On my previous machine it stuck out less than a centimetre and then turned at a right angle to follow the line of the machine. If you plan to use the laptop mainly on a desk then this will not be an issue for you, but I often use it on my lap on the sofa and the sticking out cable is a liability with children and chair arms.

A final flaw is that the mousepad is quite sticky and sensitive which can be frustrating if you want to use it to scroll down or up. In addition even the slightest pressure on one of the mouse buttons can cause it to move slower or freeze, which is annoying if you prefer to use the mouse buttons to actually click on something.

*Battery Life*
Listed as around 4 hours if you have charged it fully. I have found that it is closer to three, even if I am only browsing the web and am not running any other programmes. It takes about 90 minutes to charge fully from empty.

*Software*
Wordpad and Notepad, Paint, Media Player, Internet Explorer, Windows Movie Maker, Windows DVD Maker, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Media Centre, Sticky Notes, Windows Fax and Scan, 60 day Norton Trial, Skype etc. Microsoft Office Starter 2010 with Word Starter 2010 and Excel Starter 2010 (but not Powerpoint or Outlook 2010) which includes advertising. However this is not a limited trial (on my last computer I got 20 uses before I had to buy the programme).

*Sound and Graphics*
Obviously the speakers are laptop speakers and thereby limited, but I have found them to be much less tinny than my husband's Macbook, or my old laptop. Graphics are excellent and we watch a lot of films on my laptop as it is often a better quality than our main TV.

*Overall impression*
I think that if you can get this laptop under £350 then you have got yourself a nice little bargain as this laptop is fast, has good graphics and sound and is very simple and easy to use. However it has some obvious flaws which detract from it overall and make it overpriced at £449 (for this you can buy a Sony Vaio laptop which is apparently greatly superior). I use it daily for several hours and I am very happy with it, although I never have more than two or three programmes running at once. I think this would make a very good laptop for a student, a child or a technophobe as it is simple, easy to work and very intuitive to use.

I particularly like the fact that it runs very quietly and doesnt get as hot as my last laptop, which had a whirring fan which was intensely annoying. However having taken it outside to work today, it became clear that it was reluctant to work at a slightly higher temperature than usual - claiming that the battery had disappeared and then shutting down. The problem was quickly resolved by going inside, but it has a much lower tolerance for warmth than my husband's laptop. I also found that the wireless connection struggled to connect from the garden, whereas my husband was happily connected on his laptop next to me.
It comes with a one year guarantee, manuals and a power charger.

Would I buy it again.....perhaps not, I love it, but its flaws are annoying.