Somewhat over-optimistically, we tried out Call of Duty 4, but at its native resolution the Q310 could only muster up just over 10f/s. This doubled when we knocked the resolution right down, although it wasn’t an enjoyable experience. Older games will fare better, but it’s best to label this laptop as ‘not for gamers’.
Battery Life Results
Battery life in minutes
Longer bars are better
Battery life is decent, though. With the Q310 set to Samsung’s default power settings and PCMark05 running in a loop, we recorded three hours and six minutes. Keep in mind that this is a pretty heavy going test - should you do little more than word processing, the Q310 will be good for much longer and we managed just over five hours with very light usage.
A nice touch is the power meter on the battery, which lets you see the remaining charge without having to fire the blighter up first.
Red lipped
Given the relative low price of this laptop, it’s no surprise to find the hard drive is a standard 5400rpm model. That said, the Hitachi 5K250 can pack in up to 250GB of unformatted storage capacity, which should be enough for most folk.
Samsung promotes the Q310 as an ultraportable laptop, but at 2.1kg it’s not the kind of thing you’re going to want to lug around on long walks. What’s more, add the power brick into the equation and you’re looking at more like 2.6kg, which is really pushing the definition of 'ultraportable'.
Verdict
If you’ve an eye on gaming, the Q310's 9200M GS graphics will no doubt disappoint, but the P8400 processor managed to push through some decent benchmark scores and at £699 you’re getting a fair amount of tech for your money. Build quality and aesthetics aren’t as spectacular as Samsung would have you believe, but despite our grumbles it’s hard to level any serious complaints at the Q310. Ultimately, it’s great value for money and would suit those who baulk at the thought of a netbook but are watching their pennies.
More Notebook Reviews...
Sony Vaio Z11 |
HP HDX16-1000 |
Sony Vaio TT |
Dell E6400 |
Samsung Q310 13.3in laptop
COMMENTS
re: Dell XPS M1330
'Tis indeed a cracking machine, keenly priced, and comes thoroughly reccomended. I have come across zero flaws in the past 18 months or so of using mine.
Using other folks' laptops always shows up the compromises that have been made on only marginally cheaper machines.
RE: Incorrect?
Quills and parchment ? How easy you had it ! We had to skin our calves ourselves, with bare hands, before we would have had parchment.
Mine's the handmade one.
Batter Life
Not sure if this graph always has this title in your reviews, but my initial thought on seeing it was that it was going to display the results of a ruggedness test. How dissappointed I was.
Flames because you also ommitted to test its flammability and potential as a blunt instrument.
RE: Incorrect?
You have a laptop at university? Back in my day we had bread and water and quills and parchment! Grrr.. get orf my lawn...
PS. Your dad should've waited! The shiny new Z and SR series came out to replace that model a week or two afterwards! They'd compare more favourably to your machine being from the same era, but they do cost an arm and a leg... Sony must use the same tax calculator as Apple!
Incorrect?
I've had this notebook for 2 months now. It excels beyond my dad's Vaio sz (bought one month previous) on boot time, game fps and program speed enormously.
Some corrections:
The plastic is certainly not 'cheap'. Perhaps with the influx of shiny plastics in recent months in new laptops, it could be considered on the lower end of the scale, but even then it is of considerable quality at this price point.
The port layout i've found is quite efficient. Considering the size of flash drives nowadays, the card reader on the front and the length of optical mouse cables, it makes sense to have just one usb on the side with additional ports on the back. Who uses a tv tuner with a 13.3" screen anyway?
This article reads like Jeremy Clarkson when he's scrutinizing a car. 'Nothing is right about this laptop, everything is lacking. But despite our "grumbles" its "great value" '. These grumbles seem to include a lack of built in "HSDPA 3G" (which is laughable at this price range), and the distinct lack of the only real criticism you can level at this laptop, one that you would find almost immediately if you'd actually got an example of the notebook for review (which I sincerely doubt at this point), fingerprints. The super shiny polish on the plastic makes them more visible after a day's work than the super super shiny Samsung logo on the front.
While I agree with the slight lack of viewing angles (which for anyone who wants to work privately will agree isn't necessarily a bad thing), the subsequent statement is a complete stereotype, which certainly isn't based on this laptop, having used it on the deck of a boat in the bright sunshine of the Solent when I first bought it: "as with all glossy displays, it’s a magnet for reflections". Bollocks.
"Unlike the three-antenna Wi-Fi Link 5300, this card only has two antennae". Oh dear. I've had no issues with the wifi whatosever, running off of my girlfriend's ancient 802.11b router from 30 metre's distance, running off my 802.11n router from my garden (the router is located some 40 metres away, inside a study which is separated from the garden by 2 brick walls and another room), or at uni, where the 802.11g wireless no better on my friend's £1100 Vaio, with the Intel 5300, than on my merely 2 antennae equipped 5100, at all distances).
The gaming laptop. At 700 pounds, what do you expect? I certainly didn't buy this laptop on the grounds that I could run high-end games. It will happily run Counter-Strike Source on native res at 50fps. COD4 will also run in native res at 25fps, naturally without any added texture settings and with AA off, but again, what could you expect at this price point with the new cpu?
Given the price point I would say this is a brilliant laptop, one that is quite portable (I walk to and from university with it (2 miles each way), 4 days a week, and carry it in addition to a suitcase with me on the train every month or so home). Graphics are to an extent limited, but I didn't buy it with a view to play tf2 let alone COD4. Next el reg will be criticising the Eee 701 because it won't play Crysis.
This article does make me wonder if el reg had the laptop at all, not for the lack of finger print grumbles, but for the distinct inaccuracies and the contradicting verdict.
