Q310 - Impressions, Review and Pictures!

Well I went ahead and took the plunge today, fairly liking it so far.

Just out of curiosity, what is the Physx Nvidia driver set?

Stu

 

I think this is the laptop that I will buy and hopefully pretty soon. Stu, what do you like and not like about the laptop? I've not found any other reviews of the Q310.

 

thanks,

i can't wait until i get my overdraft from the bank and then i can get my first laptop.

 

Could you run 3DMark06 and post the score? And also a report on batterylife would be cool

 

Yeah I will run it, and give a battery estimation when I can, however so far it seems pretty good!!

Has anyone tried undervolting it yet?

 

Great! Looking forward to your results

Also, forum user Manic_Penguins has undervolted his Q210 (similar hardwarewise) which you can read here

 

can i ask what cd's you get with the q310, is it possiple to do a clean install without the office and samsung software?

Also if you delete the recovery partition can you get it back?

thanks

 

I assume I can undervolt this processor using the guide below with no problems?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824&page=1

I have the A-S-S1-UK version (It won't let me type the model number normally), with the 2.4GHz processor and 320Gb Hard Drive.

Also, is there anyway I can check what speed Intel Speedstep is running my processor, in real time?

Thanks

 

Use the monitoring page of RMClock to see what the CPU is doing.

John

 

Well, I couldn't wait any longer for any more reviews of this laptop so I ordered it today from ebuyer.com. Should have it tomorrow (as long as I am in to sign for it)!

I went for the AЅЅ0UK model - P8400 and 250GB hard drive.

 

Congratulations on your purchase!

Let us know how you feel about it! (And run 3DMark06 and test your battery life if you please )

 

according to ebuyer's website the hard drive is a 250 GB SATA 4200rpm is this correct?

 

@Joplin:

I'll run a couple of benchmarks to see if performance is similar to what pillowshot got.

@fredted40x:

AFAIK the 250GB hard drive is 5400rpm. The Samsung website and everywhere else states that it is 5400rpm. Ebuyer have got it wrong.

 

cool thats what i thought, just hope that's true.

Can you get the 2 year extra extended warrenty as ebuyer only offers 1 year standard?
thanks

 

Well I ran my Q310-A$S1-UK (With 2.4Ghz processor and 320Gb HD) on the battery last night on Windows Vista "High Performance" battery profile, and I got approx 2 1/2 - 2 3/4 hours of battery life from the system before it was telling me that I was running out. Not too shabby IMO as my old Vaio ran out at about this time even on the lowest use setting.

This was just general surfing on Wi-Fi and listening to music!

I will test Samsung Optimized and Low Power later in the week.

One nice touch that I like is the external power meter on the battery so you can check how much power you have in your battery to decide if you need to get your power cable out!

 

I missed my delivery today so will have to collect it tomorrow

Ebuyer do the extra 2 years extended warranty but its about £125. Saveonsamsung.com do it for £97. I'll look into getting this when the standard 1 year warranty is about to expire. I guess you can buy the 2 year extension any time during the laptops first year.

 

If you are in the UK, John Lewis give you 2 year warranty on all laptops as standard!

 

That's the good thing about John Lewis. They usually have longer warranties on their electrical goods plus they will price match.

I wished my budget was big enough to get the John Lewis one. I overstretched to get the one I did.

 

I tried to run 3DMark06 on my system, but it wanted to install DirectX 9.0 drivers on my system, and I already have DX10, so didn't go ahead with the install.

Sorry if you guys needed a benchmark.

Is there anything else I can run?

 

Hmm that's pretty weird. There wasnt an option like "No, but continue anyway"?

If you've got some time to spare, I'd like to know how Unreal Tournament 3 runs

 

Stu, the Direct X 9 installer only updates the Direct X 9 files needed to run 3dmark 06. Direct X 10 is left untouched as it isn't used by 3dmark 06.

 

I picked up the Q310 today and initial feelings are that it is ok. Not had much time to do anything on it. I reinstalled Vista to get rid of all the extra Samsung rubbish (I made the hard drive one partition while I was at it) and installed a load of other software.

Here are my brief thoughts from my brief time with the Q310 anyway:

Design
------
Looks much better in the flesh than in pictures. It is very shiny but that adds a bit of class to it. It's not too bulky. It looked far thicker in some photos. The red stripe that I was worried about looks pretty good. It is not a solid stripe but fades to blend with the black.

Screen
-------
Screen is very bright but vertical viewing angles are pretty poor. There's only a few degrees from good to bad. The picture looks a bit grainy when viewing from a 'bad' angle. My Sony VAIO S2XP has a much better screen.

Heat and Noise
--------------
The Q310 generates only a bit of heat. I had it on all night installing software and it was only luke warm. There was a bit of heat coming from the bottom near the fan and I could feel a little bit of warmth from the touchpad.

I think the fan is on all the time but it is very quiet. Actually, it is the moving air that can be heard. I couldn't hear any whirring/grinding sounds from the fan (not like my VAIO which is very annoying).

The hard drive can be heard though. I could hear it clicking from time to time.

Keyboard
---------
Feels pretty decent and solid. Not typed much on it but it feels comfortable.

Touchpad
----------
Synaptics touchpad is responsive but I couldn't get a good vertical scrolling action. I need to play with the settings a bit more.



I can't comment on anything else as I haven't really had the chance to do anything with it. I'll try to get some benchmarks when I have some free time.

 

any luck with the case hunt.

thanks

 

I'm going to look around soon, Check out the 13.3" MIBAG.

 

Here's a cheap and unglamorous sleeve (no bad thing to make the nice Q310 less conspicuous when packed away. It's too small for my 14.1" E6400 but should be fine for the Q310 (the 14.1" is for the older 4:3 aspect ratio notebooks). This type of sleeve provides enough protection to then put the notebook into an ordinary bag as long as you avoid having some very hard lump pressing against the display back. I use the smaller version of this same sleeve for my 12.1" notebook.

John

 

the AMPS Laptop Anti-Shock Cushion Case looks ok, but at £2.89 it seems a bit cheap to protect. It s a pain in the **** to find one on the net that matchest the specs of the samsung, they are all too small or too big, i would like the ZeroShock III but looking at the dimensions it just won't fit.

could someone with this laptop post the measurements as i have got from the samsung website (wxdxh) 322 x 241 x 28.6~38.6mm
thanks

ps. does anyone know why laptopsdirect have discontinued this laptop?

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asp/searchSite.asp?mode=2&keywords=q310&discontinued=1

 

That cheap Alps sleeve provides as much protection as any of the other similar sleeves that cost several times more. The Crumpler sleeves claim to be thicker, which will mean that they will probably be heavier and add to the overall bulk. I consider sleeves to be more for protection against scrapes and dirt than as passing against rough treatment.

I don't know what Laptops Direct are up to. Perhaps they have hidden the Q310 while they try and clear the similarly-priced Q70. Insight lists two models of the Q310, but only the cheaper (P8400 version) is in stock.

John

 

Sorry I havent been too hot on the benchmarks, but I have been called away for work and havent had the time.

I don't have Unreal Tournament, but when I can I will re-download 3DMark06 and install the DX9 drivers.

I have since undervolted the processor and seem to be getting good results from it. However, I have noticed that my processor seems to run hotter when under Battery power, is this normal?

Will I encounter any problems with my display (primarily HDMI port), if I install the new Nvidia drivers using a modded .inf from LaptopVideo2Go. I did this on my old Sony Vaio no problems, but I didn't have an HDMI port on it!

Thanks

Stu

 

Just ran 3DMark06 and got a score of 2085.

I have noticed that the laptop gets pretty hot on the under side when running on battery. Or it could be when the fan is running at its slowest. The heat comes from the Mini PCI area. Don't know what components are located there. Is it the hard drive? I haven't got any monitoring software installed yet so don't know what temperature the cpu and hard disk are running at.

 

Well I just did a quick run on battery only after my undervolting, and I got just over 3 hours on Samsung Optimized.

WiFi was turned off, however I had a constant Bluetooth connection to my mobile phone.

Not too bad IMHO, if I needed more battery life I could tweak it more when I needed it!

I also had a USB Wireless Mouse attached to the computer!

 

It is possible that the fan runs less when on battery in order to conserve power but this means the temperatures are higher. Try the options given by Fn+F8 (Easy Speedup Manager).

I previously found with the Q35 that having Bluetooth on caused a substantial increase in power consumption. Not the direct power used by the Bluetooth device but indirectly because of increased CPU activity so it spent less time sleeping. I think that is discussed in my Q35 review. Maybe that problem is fixed, but I wouldn't be surprised if that feature carries over into the new Samsung models.

John

 

Hi.

will the Q210 with the P8400 be able to get 6 hours in low power mode?

thanks

John.

 

6 hours may be a challenge. Trusted Reviews reached 5 hours.

The P210 with the Intel graphics should get to 6 hours.

John

 

Hi.

did not the OP of this thread say he got 6 hours + on his Q310 with an 9200m GS, The Q210 is virtual identical to the Q310, but has a smaller screen, should you not get a longer battery life than the Q310 as i think they have the same 6 cell battery????

 

yep he said 6 hours,not surehow he did it.

 

Two points:

1. I have often seen the Windows power management promising a long run time which doesn't quite happen in reality.

2. A couple of Watts difference in the power consumption of nominally identical CPUs could cause an hour's difference in the run time.

Hence, 5 hours should be feasible and 6 if you are lucky. 5 hours is good considering there is a dedicated GPU on board.

John

 

the 6 hours was an estimate on my part as it was part one day, part the next.. i didn't record precise times but only estimates..

realistically speaking you can expect about 4-6 hours working lightly with the screen brightness turned down.

on another note, my Q310 has died :\ refuses to turn on at all. I guess it's time to see how good samsung customer service is.

 

So what happened, how did it die!!

Did you try dis-connecting from the mains and remove the battery and hold the power button down for 5 seconds and then re-assemble.

 

that doesn't seem to do anything.

 

How did it Die?

 

i'm not sure.. i just tried turning on friday morning and it refused.

 

I have an Q210 getting delivered next week, you are not filling me with confidence!!!

 

Probably just me getting unlucky with something.. I'll keep you guys filled in.

 

Not good news.

The next resuscitation effort is to leave it overnight with no power or battery. However, even if that wakes the computer up, the big question is why?

John

 

nor me i was going to order on monday(finally) but this is the second that i knowof thats gone wrong.

 

Still no problems with mine here! (Touch Wood).

pillowshot, thats not good news, which model do you have ***-0 or ***-1?

I will do a battery test with the bluetooth turned off also! See how it goes!

Stewart

 

I had the 0 model. (P8400/250gb HDD)

 

pillow; on Company of Heroes opposing Fronts, which settings yeilded the fps you state in your review?

 

Check the youtube video, performance was in-game (not the benchmark)

 

Im only getting an average of 25fps when I use the same settings in the high-low youtube video.
At what settings were you averaging 57 fps? I get that when everythings set to low or off.
I just want to know if my GPU is running properly.