Q310 - Impressions, Review and Pictures!

Introduction
Having scoured the net for thin and light laptops over the past 2 or 3 months I eventually decided to shoot for a Samsung on the advice of John. I was unable to find a review on the net of this specific laptop (Q310) but figured the Q210 reviews would more or less cover the Q310 as feature-wise they are extremely similar. My only previous Samsung product to this laptop was an MP4 Player (The T10) which I found extremely impressive and elegant. I was hoping Samsung's laptops would match my high expectations.

The laptop itself was purchased from Dabs - on a finance 'buy now pay later' deal. Overall I'm fairly satisfied with the service Dabs provide. Unfortunately though their deliveries are dealt with by 'Home Delivery Network', possibly one of the worst delivery companies around. The delivery driver was rude and didn't seem to care much. I believe Dabs would be much better off using a different delivery company. Price-wise Dabs had the cheapest Q310 I could find, charging £40 less than OcUK.

My plans for the laptop itself was primarily for work as I start studying programming in Sixth Form, and light gaming with a few friends (going to their houses and vice versa). In order to make things easier for myself I wanted something light and portable that didn't cut down on feature too much. For me, 13.3" is the ideal screen size and fortunately the Q310 is just that size. Although I can't report on how easy it's been for me to take around (as I haven't been carrying it around with me just yet) I will hopefully update this in a few weeks time with my findings.

Specification

CPU: 2.26GHz Intel P8400 'Centrino 2'
RAM: 4GB DDR2 800MHz
GPU: nVidia 9200m GS 256MB
HDD: 250GB 5400RPM* HDD (w/ 10GB recovery partition)
Screen: 13.3" LCD (Glossy)
Connectivity: Wireless 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
Media: 7-in-1 Card Reader, DVD-/+RW w/ LightScribe

Build and Design

The Q310 really catches the eye in a room. It is very unique in it's design and some aspects of it will be hit or miss with most people. For one, Samsung has introduced it's 'Touch of Red' onto it's laptops. 'Touch of Red' features on Samsung's televisions by shading in the edges of the television in a deep dark red colour. The effect is quite subtle and nice on the televisions. On the laptop it features at the bottom of the palm rest. I personally find it makes the laptop look nice rather than it all being the same colour. The rest of the inside area is covered in glossy black, similar to the back of the screen. The underside and sides of the laptop are constructed of standard plastic. The laptop itself is quite beefy. Looking at it you might think it'd weigh a fair bit as it is quite thick at the rear side, but I was pleasantly surprised when I picked it up to find out it was actually very light. At a shade over 2KG it's lighter than a Macbook, and only a touch heavier than the XPS M1330. The screen does flex a minute amount, and it is possible to cause the screen to ripple by pushing on the back it, however you have to push quite hard in order to cause that.

Display
The screen itself is 13.3" with a resolution of 1280x800. I think that this resolution if fine for a screen of this size. I feel that 1440x900 would've made text too difficult to read. The display itself is vibrant and bright. It reminds me of an old Sony I have with it's X-Black display. The glossy coating on the screen does not get in the way when the screen brightness is turned up. Turning the screen brightness right down in a bright environment might make the screen harder to see. The backlighting seemed very even and I was unable to notice any bleeding.

Sound
The sound on the Q310 was distinctly average. Sound was clear, and loud enough, but lacked bass. For Music playback I'd have to reccomend earphones or external speakers. For movies and general tasks the audio playback is fine. Actually, Music doesn't sound that bad, it's just the lacking of bass leaves alot of the audio track out. I found watching movies and anime a very joyful experience as the treble reproduction was good and voices were clear and crisp.

Benchmarks
I have only had chance to run 3DMark 06 and a few games, more benchmarks will follow!
All benchmarks we're run at native resolution where possible

Stock

3DMark 06 Score - 2067
3DMark 05 Score - 3585
PCMark 05 Score - 5220
- CPU Score - 11986
SiSoftware Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 5.41 GB/s (int) , 5.42 GB/s (float)​

Overclocked (Core: 750MHz, Memory: 750MHz)

3DMark 06 Score - 2574
3DMark 05 Score - 4710
PCMark 05 Score - 5472
- CPU Score - 12022​

Overclocked (Core: 750MHz, Memory: 950MHz)

3DMark 06 Score - 2894​

Gaming Benchmarks (Core: 720MHz, Memory: 850MHz)

I run each benchmark during the game for a period of 60 seconds. Fraps records the average, the minimum, and the maximum FPS.
Far Cry 2

Video ​

GRID

Settings - 1280x800 (All Settings Low)
Frames: 1734 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 28.900 - Min: 23 - Max: 37
Comment - Very playable with settings on low, native resolution. The game still looks extremely impressive and I had couldn't notice any difference (apart from AA) between this and my desktop (all settings max).

Screenshots here

Video (Low settings, 2XMSAA)
​

Company of Heroes : Opposing Fronts

Settings - 1280x800 (All Settings Variable - See high settings video)
Frames: 3441 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 57.350 - Min: 42 - Max: 88
Comment - Managed to crank up the settings in CoH. I've made 2 videos, one low quality, and one with quite a few settings turned right up.

Screenshots here

Video (Low settings)

Video (High-Low Settings)
​

NOTE
Setting the nVidia control panel to performance mode yielded an increase of about 10fps in games, with no noticable loss in quality. The final screenshot in CoH shows 30fps looking across the entire map, whereas in the other cases it was 20! The game also felt alot smoother to play. Unfortunately the videos were made using the default Control Panel settings so they don't show the improved performance. I think it may be possible to crank the settings even higher!

Update Definately a performance boost in G.R.I.D of 3-7FPS with performance mode settings. I also noticed that it disables anti aliasing (which was off for the benchmark anyway)


Heat and Noise
The fan in the laptop is inaudible. I initially thought the fan might have been broken when I turned the laptop on but fortunately I was wrong. The fan itself does come on occasionally but is the quietest laptop fan I have ever heard. Under load the fan is so quiet it's amazing that the temperatures don't sky rocket. The laptop itself is very cool under load. The GPU idles at 51C and after running stressful benchmarks for over half an hour it rose to 60C! And peaked at 65C when overclocked and extra 200MHz on the core! The exhaust of the laptop is on the left hand side and usually it emits a stream of warm air. It's only possible to feel this air when you put your hand right up against the vents. Under load, where the fan spins faster, a stream of warm air can be felt coming out of the exhaust. This was by no means hot or uncomfortable and I actually found it to be rather comforting . The palmrests remain very cool during use, however you may notice that the left side of the laptop is slightly warmer than the right side. However the difference is hard to notice.

Keyboard and Touchpad
I currently type this review out on the laptop and I can say I'm not having a hard time at it. I had to adjust slightly from my desktop keyboard (Microsoft Ergonomic 4000) which is quite different in it's own respect, but I'm now able to type up to full speed on this laptop keyboard. Typing is comfortable, keys press nicely and overall the experience is nice. The touchpad itself is smooth to touch. It features an image displaying that it's possible to scroll up and down pages by running you're finger down the right side of the touchpad. It is also possible to scroll horizontally although this isn't shown on the touchpad. I found that the touchpad buttons we're too far away from the touchpad at first. Probably because on my last laptop they were little more than a millimetre away from the touchpad, yet here, they're a good half a centimentre away. The buttons themselves are extremely nice and easy to press on any part of the button itself.

Inputs and Outputs
The laptop has a large number of ports for a 13.3"er. It features 3 USB 2.0 ports. An ExpressCard/34 slot, Headphone and Microphone jacks, a 7-in1 Card reader. A built in microphone, HDMI output(including audio), VGA output, and Gigabit LAN*. There was also a modem connection, however this was blocked out on my notebook.

Wireless
The laptop features 802.11b/g/n as well as Bluetooth connectivity. I am currently connected to my home network using 802.11g and all is well, signal is strong (full). I am yet to use the bluetooth fully however I did manage to pair up with my phone. A small note - the wireless on the laptop is controlled via software and hotkeys. There is not hardware switch on the laptop therefore if you are going somewhere where the wireless must be turned off then you must turn if off before heading off.

Battery
Battery life is quite exceptional. Using the powersaver setting on Vista with screen brightness at (3/8), WiFi on, with 1 USB wireless mouse dongle Vista reported 6 hours of battery remaining. Currently at 84% it is reporting 5 hours and 6 minutes having already been running for 49 minutes. This is while typing out most of this mini-review, moving back and forth between web browser and WordPad.

Update: Having run today on battery I can report that ontop of the 1 hour 15 minutes I was running last night it managed a further 4 hours and 45 minutes (11:45am - 4:30pm) under light use conditions(Web browsing, IM, Document editing), before the laptop hibernated at critical battery (5%). That brings the total to around 6 hours. With wifi turned off, the screen brightness turned right down, and without my wireless mouse I wouldn't be surprised to see a fair amount more than that.​

Of course, the above result was under idle condition for the most part. Under general light use during school hours I managed to get about 4 and a half hours worth of general stuff (internet browsing, a little music, programming) with wifi on, and screen brightness at 50%.


O/S and Software
Fortunately Samsung have cut away alot of the trialware and bloat. The laptop only came with MacAfee and a 60 day trial of Office 2007. All other software while not being necessary, is used in conjunction with the hardware. Surprisingly the laptop ships with a 32-Bit version of Vista Home Premium. Considering the laptop ships with 4GB of RAM, 1GB is wasted as it cannot be used by Windows. I do plan on installing a 64-Bit copy of Vista to see how much performance can be improved.

Customer Support
Quick, Efficient return. New laptop got sent out a matter of days after. Can't really complain about that level of service.

Conclusion
For the money I cannot draw any faults with this laptop. It looks great, performs great, and costs great. Barring the entire glossy interior and possibly the speaker quality I cannot critisize this laptop in the slightest. Performance of the video card far exceeded my expectations and I look forward to starting college with my new laptop.

Thanks all for reading, feel free to ask any questions, or make picture requests.

Please do point out any typing errors or grammatical mistakes I've made so that I can correct them. Thanks.

Note: I will update this review as I discover new things etc. Please bear with me

 

Hi that is a good write up do edit in the final battery life when you can because i would be interested to see what you ended up with.

Sometimes i have found the estimated battery life to be out by about 30 mins and with other computers that i have used i think that the estimated time was a even a little bit further out.

 

Thank you for taking the time to do this. It will be very helpful to many people. The red stripe is quite prominent. It gives a very distinctive appearance and, I think, will be a deterrent to anyone who might be inclined to walk off with your treasured possession.

Your comments have vindicated my assumption that it would, in the Samsung tradition, be a cool and quiet machine. The bottom view shows a bit of a bulge to house a big fan. Even without overclocking the 3DMark06 result is very good while the overclock pushes it well up the table.

The P series CPU also helps to keep the heat and power consumption under control. That battery life is impressive and I wonder if you have been lucky in getting a CPU with low power leakage.

I hadn't appreciated the 4GB of RAM. It's not a complete waste since it means that it runs in full dual channel and gets the best possible memory bandwidth. It would be helpful if you could run the SiSoftware Sandra memory bandwidth benchmark and add to this thread.

PCMark05 and 3DMark05 results would also be useful, when you have time.

Thanks again,

John

 

great review mate, just wondering how the laptop performs outside screen wise? thanks!

 

Update: Battery and benchmarks are updated! Game benchmarks removed, to be retested!

I would like to try the laptop outside but unfortunately it has been raining for most of today. I will certainly try to take it out some day to check the screen.

Indoors I tried pointing my lamp in front of the screen and didn't notice excessive glare. The lamp is reflected, but the screen brightness (when turned up) is more than enough to make the screen clear.

 

Great review, man, thanks! Looks like the Lenovo U330 and Samsung Q310 might be competing for my money..

Some nice 3dmark results, too. Would the HD 3450 in the U330 be faster than the 9200 GS? I believe it should be, but these results are actually pretty good and are about the same as the HD 3450's on notebookcheck (for what that is worth, anyway)

Is it possible to switch to intergrated graphics to extend batterylife on this Samsung?

 

Well according to notebookcheck the HD3450 scores around 1800 which is slightly less, however I too question the credibility of the results. Having said that the results for the 9200M GS was pretty accurate.

A friend of mine has a Dell Studio 15 with the 3450 arriving on the 15th so unfortunately I can't make any comparisons until then.

In terms of battery life, I don't think it's possible to switch to an integrated chipset to improve battery life. The only things I've noticed is that the GPU and CPU will clock down when not worked heavily when running on battery. And the GPU underclocks when it's not in use, plugged in.

 

Thanks for the extra info.

Another question: What is the size of the PSU and what is the DC power rating (V and A, according to the label on the bottom)?

If you have access to some digital scales then a check on the weight of the Q310 would be useful. Some manufacturers tend to be economical when it comes to reporting the weight.

The Q210 did not have switchable GPUs and I don't think the Q310 has either. However, if it can manage up to 6 hours with a dedicated GPU then there won't be a big difference.

John

 

I don't have any digital scales but some kitchen scales that measure up to 5kg. I tried them with my R600HEK which is quoted as being 1.7KG and the scales measured them to that so I assume they're fairly accurate.

The Q310 weighs in at 2.3KG with the battery, and 2KG without.

The PSU is rated at [email protected] which puts it at 60 Watts.

Image comparison of the PSU and DVD below (taken by the built in webcam). The PSU is 10cm x 4cm x 2.5cm
which is very small compared to recent PSUs I've had.

 

2.3kg sounds a little heavy - it's about the same as my 14.1" Dell E6400 which is built of metal.. We could do with a second opinion on that weight although the 0.3kg for the battery is about right. Have you got anything in the kitchen (eg a 2kg bag of something) which would give a check on the scales.

John

 

I've just checked the scales using a 1.5L bottle of water which weighs 130g heavier than it should. So you're correct in assuming that the laptop itself is actually lighter than the figures I've got above.. I do have an electric scale somewhere, I'm just not quite sure where.

 

pretty sure ill order one of these tomorrow, just trying to figure out which spec, and where to buy from!

 

hello,
I am planing to buy this laptop, but theres still a question. do you reach the 6h in idle mode with the standart (6 cells) or the high power (9 cells) battery?

 

The 6 hours was under light use, with the standard 6-cell battery.

 

woow thats amazing! mh.. with a 9cell battery, you could get up to 9 hours!

 

thanks for the guide, is really usefull when deciding what notebook to buy.

Is a 9 cell battery available for this laptop?

 

It's listed in the Q210 specs so I would expect it to be the same for the Q310. However, being listed and being available are two separate issues. And Samsung's spare battery prices tend to be extortionate (but Dell is jast as bad at the moment).

John

 

would you be able to undervolt this laptop wihtout anyproblems or anything going wrong?
Has anyone tried it yet?

 

These CPUs can be undervolted. However, RMClock doesn't properly support all the features (and there's no sign of any further development in progress at the moment).

John

 

Though 6 hours of battery life is already amazing so it's not that much of an issue here, I'd say.

How are the gaming benchmarks coming along, pillowshot?

 

ordering from dabs tomorrow, along with a nice wireless router and a 750gb external storage, thanks for your help picking everyone!

 

Please, do make suggestions.

 

Are these features important, is there a list on the net of unsupported features?

Has it stopped raining pillowshot yet, outside pics would be great, as soon as i can afford the q310 do you think i need the anti-glare matte screen thing?

 

One significant feature is that RMClock does not support the half multipliers which are used by some of the new CPUs. I've also noticed that IDA is not detected, but that is no serious loss. There may be more - look through the undervolting guide.

John

 

Does this laptop have a Firewire port? I cannot find reference to one.

If not, that's a deal-breaker.

 

Okay, let's see. I'd be interested in benchmarks of these games:

UT 3
Bioshock
FEAR
Racedriver GRID
Doom 3

 

No firewire.. You can get a firewire card for the expresscard slot though.

I'll try and get some game demo's to bench this weekend. Stay tuned.

 

Does anybody know if there are anywhere any other options than these?:
-Q310-AS S0 (250GB, P8400)
-Q310-AS S1 (320GB, P8600)

It might be anywhere in the world... It seems that Q310 is right now the best (except for pricey sony) 13'' laptop available.

 

Germany, which often has higher spec versions, only has this.

It might well be that Samsung are keeping cool and quiet at the top of the design priorities and therefore avoiding using more powerful hardware.

John

 

Call of Duty 4 would be nice
and also farcry and crysis...

i think gametests should be in the native resolution of the display...
lower resolution than native looks crappy on an lcd, doesnt it?

 

Correct. Though in games it should be less noticeable since the images is constantly moving. But I agree, benchmarks in the native res (1280x800 in this case)

 

GRID Demo game benchmark added!

Screenshots;

 

Company of Heroes game benchmark added!

Screenshots;

 

I have just bought one of these on the back of the excellent reviews and comments here and elsewhere, and I'm not disappointed.

It is well designed, the performance is superb, it runs cool and quiet and the battery life is excellent. The keyboard is very good for such a compact laptop. The HDMI port is a big plus, I am playing HD movies on my TV via an AV amp with surround sound through one cable. The nVidia control panel makes this straightforward to set up and you can set the card to output to the screen's native resolution e.g. 1920 x 1080 pixels. Note, if you want the sound via HDMI and not the laptop speakers you have to go to Control Panel/Sound and change the default to HDMI.

The shiny case is a fingerprint collector but that doesn't bother me and I think the red splash is a classy touch...

John Lewis are selling the higher spec model (320GB, P8600) for £799, and you get 2 years warranty instead of the standard 1 elsewhere.

Only downside so far is that it comes with a trial of MS Office 2007, it was a pain to remove as MS don't include an uninstall option...

Does anyone know where I could buy a spare AC adapter for it?

 

just ordered one of these beasts, will get back to you tomorrow when i get it

 

W00t - gaming benchmarks! Thanks :3!

Also nice min-review, alexmca! Topic's got some great posts in it

 

aghhh i can't wait till tomorrow to get this thing!

 

i so want this laptop now, unfortunatly my car cost a bit more than i planned for so have to save until december . i tlooks amazing

 

just got mine, this thing is SWEET!!!

any ideas on removing the ugly stickers though? thanks!

 

D'you mean the small tabs (intel, nvidia and vista)? or the large sticker on the left palm rest?

I just pulled the large one off slowly so it didn't leave any marks.. most of the protectors come off pretty easily too, just be gentle and patient.

 

Anyone brought the Q210 or is it just me?

 

Hi everyone, this is my first posting but I've been reading the forums for some time now.

I'm on the lookout for a new laptop, 14 inch maximum, and the Q310 has caught my eye. The specs are what I am looking for - long battery life, cool and silent, lightweight, HDMI, half decent graphics - but I'm still not too sure about the red stripe on it. Any more pictures and views from people that have got one would be helpful. I'll try to get down to a John Lewis to see one in the flesh. Not sure if they have them instore yet.

Other laptops that I am considering are the Asus F8VR and the Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Si3655 but there's not much info on them. Doubt they will tick all the right boxes.

 

Ordered mine from John Lewis this morning went for the higher spec one can't wait until tomorrow

cheeky buggers slap on delivery though!!!!

 

Has anyone seen any nice laptop cases for the Q310 in the UK please?

 

Hi!
So I assume that Johny Lewis is the best choice for Q310 in UK?

Now, three small questions:
1.Would you suggest using 64-bit O/S with Intel Core 2 Duo T8600? I know that C2D fully operates with 64-bit instructions. What is more, Q310 has 4GB RAM so using 64bit (I think) would rather be highly recommended...
2.Can I ask Johny Lewis to provide Vista in 64-bit version?
3.Is it legal to install 64-bit version even if my laptop came with 32-bit? I know that using the same key is not a problem during the installation.

Thank you for your help!
Best regards,
Theriel

 

yeh, can i/we ask the people who own this have you found any sleeves and backpacks that fit the q310 properly?

thank

 

Hello. Is this Nvidia GPU (9200M) also affected by the latest GPU heat issue?

 

Thing that drew me to John Lewis, apart from being the cheapest(??) was the extra years warranty, they give 2 instead of 1.

Should arrive today, looking forward to loading up the Physx Nvidia driver set....see if there's much of a boost

 

Hi

New user here, but have been enjoying reading the reviews of this system, as I am considering purchasing one!

Could anyone tell me what the manufacturer of the DVD drive in the system is?

I hope its not Matu****a / Panasonic.

Thanks

StuMcBill

Edit

Apologies for the above, I was not swearing, it is the manufacturer of DVD drives!!

 

It's made by Toshiba and Samsung.

With regards to the bag, I am currently looking for one and will report back as soon as I find something.