The Case of the s6311 Dearth

And I thought it was hard finding information on the samsung q35...

There are next to no reviews on the little s6311, making it very hard to decide if it's The One. From reading s6311 posts in this forum, I gather there is at least a couple of you who own it, so perhaps you guys who help me out?

1. I would like a 13.3" screen which narrows me down to the Sony sz and Fujitsu s6311. Though the sz is undoubtedly gorgeous, I've heard lots of bad things about its 'mushy' keyboard. I'll be using the laptop mainly for essay writing and the like, and need a good keyboard. Can anyone tell me what the s6311 keyboard is like? Is it full size? Noisy? Comfortable?

2. All the spec sheets floating around note that the s6311 is 1.7kg with the 'weight saver' option. What I would like to know is how heavy the laptop is with the DVD writer/reader inside. Anyone?

3. The heat and noise of the laptop - does the fan come on often? Is it loud? Is there noticeable heat on the palm rests?

4. Battery life on spec sheets tends to be so woefully of the mark. Can anyone give me a rough idea of how long the battery lasts in real-life situations? I'd mostly be running it with a few MS Word and internet windows up.

5. Is the cover a fingerprint magnet?

Thankyou!

 

4.5lbs with DVD drive, about 4.1 with space saver I think. If keybaord is anything like S6231 then yes its a tad "soft" and short throw if you are coming from IBM. Most others will not notice or care. And very little noise from keybaord.

Fan noise - and subsequent deterioration later in life - is a historic issue with the S6xxx series. I doubt this one is any different - its running a faster hotter chip. Your palm rests wont be in any danger but if you are sitting with the laptop in your lap, you would certainly be toasting your descendants.

Look for 3 hours max life realsitically speaking.

 

I just compared my Q35 with a Fujitsu S6120. The Q35 is slightly wider and the footprint is almost the same if you include the 6 cell battery sticking out of the Q35. The Q35 is a bit thicker at the back and slightly thinner at the front.

The big difference between these two models is that the Q35 (and the Sony S series) has a widescreen 1280 x 800 display and the Fujitsu S series has a regular 1024 x 768 display.

Regarding the keyboard, the Q35 has dedicated Page Up and Page Down keys (albeit reduced size). You can compare the keyboards on the attached photo. Note that the right shift key on the Q35 will be larger on a US keyboard version.

On battery life, the Q35 can just about manage 3 hours DVD playback and up to 5 hours of light use with a dim backlight (but the display is reasonably bright even with the backlight turned down). On paper, a Fujitsu S with similar internal hardware should manage a similar battery life.

I reiterate the previous comment about the fans in the Fujitsu S series. It's quite a small fan having to spin fast so it makes more noise and wears out sooner. The Q35 is better in this respect.

Hope this helps,

John

 

I don't have the s6231 but I know the fujitsu keyboards are similar to most of their series, as I own N3410 and T4010. Keyboard is good quality and soft, easy for fast typing. I prefer fujitsu keyboards over sony only because of the key shaped. In the sony's, the keys are shaped somewhat flat and somewhat easy to mistype a letter.

IBM/lenovo is somewhat best keyboard I have seen.

You might also want to check for asus w7j another good quality 13.3" laptop. however I never tried its keyboard yet.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3385&review=Asus+W7J%2D3P076P+Notebook+PC

edit: fujitsu s6231 keyboard uses full size, same size as the E8020 (15" laptop)

 

Thanks everyone for being so helpful! Thanks for the weight and keyboard info especially, and John for the pictures. Unfortunately, as much as I would like to get the q35, every Australian reseller I have rung up or emailed has told me roughly the same thing: they don’t sell Samsung laptops and/or they are no longer available in Australia. I'm not sure why, since they sound like a great little product. So I've hit a dead end with it.

It's second preferences now, and I really like the boxy black look of the Fujitsu which has everything the sz's have besides the graphics (which I won't be needing anyway). From what you guys have said, the keyboard sounds good. I've generally heard good things about Fujitsu's build and quality, except what I'm hearing now about the fan. How quickly does it deteriorate? Is the noise distracting/unbearable? Is there anything that can be done about it?

I'm not sure how much better the sz fans are, if at all.

 

It is not every single Fujitsu that the fan goes nuts, but if you follow forums, its something that clealry was happening in S series with computers that had some time on them.

Mine (fan on S6231) started getting louder and rattling after 13-14 months and was unbearable by 18 months.

Dont hold your breath on getting an acknowledgement on this from Fujitsu, let alone a chart with mean time to fan kaput. Just make sure you have a 3 yr warranty and you are covered for this. As long as you have paid your warranty, hey its their problem and cost, not yours. If people keep sending them back to be fixed, it will give Fujitsu some incentive to address the issue.

That said I picked the Fujitsu because at the time, 3 yrs ago, it was the most quiet of laptops that I checked out. These days with that sawed-off desktop chip with a fancy name aka "Core2Duo" in all laptops, I dont think you will find any that will be silent, to be honest.

If you are at all sensitive it is a really good idea to go to a store or stores and play with these things. Maybe put an AVI or MPEG4 movie, plus some fiiles, on a memory stick, plug it in to the laptops and see how loud the fan is when you play the video and simutaneously do a file transfer.

The fan was the first problem I had - in other words I got to 14 months without a single issue. The the fan thing arose and by 18 months my DVD drive conked out. Overall I would say it did well on build quality. I used it heavily.

But just get your 3 yr warranty - as you should really if possible with any laptop - and sit easy.