Best Buy And Samsung Announce Pricing and Availability for Q430, R580 and N150 Models

Samsung notebooks appear to be doing extremely well at Best Buy. As many of you noticed, the Samsung R780 is currently sold out and the other R Series notebooks are flying off the virtual shelves. The good news for R780 fans is that the notebook will be back in stock soon. The bad news is that it’ll be a bit more expensive: $899 instead of $799.

Other than that bit of mixed news, Best Buy and Samsung also announced pricing and availability of the N150-11 (N150 Plus, reviewed here), Q430-11, and an updated R580 (R580-11).

The new Samsung R580-11 is a another good news, bad news deal. Good news is that the model now includes Intel’s Wireless Display technology (demoed here) for streaming content from the laptop to an HDTV. The bad news is that the insides got a bit of a downgrade. Gone is the Core i5 CPU and Nvidia graphics. Instead you’ll find a Core i3 processor with an integrated Intel HD GPU.

Considering that we weren’t all that impressed with how the last model handled graphics while playing Blu-ray, we’re not sure this new model will give media mavens the experience they desire. This new model costs $849 — $30 more than the price as reviewed. If you’re going back and forth about buying the R580, now is the time to do it. It’s even on sale for $779 in anticipation of the new model coming in on June 20th. Snag it now.

However, if you’re looking for graphics oomph, you should take a look at the new addition to Samsung’s Best Buy lineup.

The 14-inch Samsung Q430-11 is the mobile lifer’s dream. A gorgeous brushed aluminum chassis, HD LED-backlit display (16:9, of course), a Core i5 processor, and an Nvidia GeForce 310M graphics card with 512MB of dedicated memory. Coming in at just a smidge over an inch thick and 5.25 pounds, you’ll be able to slip this in a messenger bag and forget it’s there. This model also includes a chargeable USB port and Samsung’s AllShare technology for accessing and swapping media amongst a variety of compatible Samsung devices.

The retail price of $799 is pretty sweet, but we’ll wait until we’ve run it through our benchmark tests before giving it the thumbs up. In the meantime, check the specs:

CPU: Intel® Core i5-450M Processor
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64bit)
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1066MHz (expandable)
Screen: 14.0” HD Glossy LED-backlit (16:9) edge-to-edge glass
Resolution: 1366×768
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 310M
Optical Drive: DVD +/-RW Dual Layer
Speakers: 3W Stereo Speaker (1.5W x 2EA)
Audio Technology: HD Audio
Web camera: 0.3 MP
HDMI port
3 USB 2.0 (1 chargeable USB)
Hard Drive: 500GB
Wireless LAN: 802.11b/g/n
Dimensions: 13.5 x 9.37 x 1.04 inches

The Samsung N150 Plus (N150-11) is, as we’ve already noted, pretty impressive and attractive. The price is nice as well. Best Buy will sell the netbook for $349, not $372 as we first thought. A sweet netbook for even less money? Sign me up.

The N150 Plus will be available, along with the new R580 and the Q430, on June 20th at Best Buy.