Dear Samsung,
We need to talk. Over the years, I have had the pleasure of reviewing their smartphones, laptops and various peripherals. And for the most part, it's been fun. But lately, you've been loosening up in front of the laptop. And I hate to be the one to say this, but it's time for me to finish, son.
It has become painfully obvious that laptops are no longer your first priority. And who can blame you? Your smart phones explode, dawg! Oh, bad choice of words. But you know what I mean. I've owned almost every Galaxy phone since 4 and had a great time (sorry, I'm sorry), especially when it joined Oculus VR and gave me an affordable way to explore the virtual ether through the Gear VR [19659005] And man, you are one of the leading television brands in the country. Kudos.
But, seriously, guys, they've become obsolete on the front of the laptop, and it started happening around 2015. Sixths were placed in the Best and Worst Brands report of that year and you described yourself like this:
"Firmly in the middle of the package, Samsung does not impress us, but it is not a brand to be ignored either, the company did quite well in our technical support showdown ., but it was not highlighted in any other category ".
This was the year in which he began to reduce the variety of laptops he launched. Laptops like Chronos 7 have long since followed the path of the dodo, and you had established yourself in a steady pace by launching Ativ Books and Chromebooks. It was the second year that we ate blindfolded that ash-black aluminum chassis, despite being completely impressed by the 2.1 pound Ultrabook ATIV Book 9 . We were also really digging the faux leather design of Chromebook 2 . But outside of losing weight and switching to Intel Celeron processors there really was not much innovation to talk about.
And the decline continued.
Next year, you stood in the ninth place and became a "relatively minor player in the laptop market [that] did nothing to raise your profile." Once again, you were selected in the report for your increasingly small selection of laptops, whose design, which once attracted long and greedy looks, now provoked frustrated feelings of boredom. Of course, systems once again had become thinner and lighter, but we had seen that trick before. And as in 2015, there was little or no innovation.
Samsung, why do not you want to win? Not only do I ask for it as a technology journalist but as a concerned friend.
2017 rolled and found it conveniently located in the ninth place for The best and the worst . Thank God for Microsoft, or you would have been in the last place. And do not worry; He did not bite him because of his small selection or boring design this time; in fact, we cited the Chromebook Pro / Plus and Galaxy Book as signs of "significant improvement".
He also completed the alignment with the convertible Notebook Spin series and found time to add a laptop for games, Notebook Odyssey . He even did quite well on the innovation front, thanks to the Chromebook Pro / Plus, which we described favorably as " [a] 2-in-1 touch screen converter offering pen input, [that] has helped to reinvent the Chromebook, " And who can forget the TabPro S one of the first convertibles with an OLED screen?
No, your downfall came from the hand of support of poor quality, which kept sending us to phone support Galaxy when we said clearly that we were calling about Notebook 7 Spin . But what was most atrocious was that none of their laptops managed to win an Editor's Choice that year despite the overall improvements. A 3-star rating, or, as we like to call it, a gentleman's C, is not enough when we face Lenovo, Dell and HP.
What brings us to this year, in which you have achieved the most impressive feat ever seen. You got to the last place with MSI hitting the bottom without a roar but a groan thanks to an uninspired design, surprise, surprise. Apparently, their "laptops range from the boring ( Notebook 9 Pen ) to the downright ugly (Notebook Odyssey), leaving consumers with little to be excited about."
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Samsung (insert face-palm), I thought you had overcome this barrier. But clearly, with butter faces like the Odyssey, you have not. Seriously, bruh, that thing is ugly Phantom-of-the-Opera level. I mean, what about the touchpad, my friend?
But that was not the only thing that killed you. Are you charging $ 1,200 to people for that odious Odyssey, and it only comes with a Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU? Man, you have some big brass, really. And how much for that boring Notebook 9 ? $ 1,399.99? You are stumbling!
At the end of the day, Samsung, I think I understand it. You're trying to beat Apple on phones. But you are becoming the new Toshiba in laptops, and a). Toshiba no longer sells consumer laptops in the US UU., Yb) We no longer include that company in our Best and Worst Brands report. It just is not a way of being.
If you are not going to take your laptops seriously, how do you expect us or your customers to do it? If you're not going to intensify it, maybe it's time to go completely to Teddy Pendergrass and let it go.
TL; DR: Samsung, why do not you want to win? Not only do I ask for him as a technological journalist but as a concerned friend.
Sincerely,
Sherri L. Smith
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