Samsung Q45 (12.1" widescreen)

Yes - it has appeared on the web. So far, I've only found one model here

 

I've just realised that there's no mention of the nVidia graphics. It just has the Intel GMA3000. Still, at least it has 2gb RAM (which either means that there's 1gb on the motherboard, or 2 RAM slots)

 

I saw that and posted it in the Samsung news thread. However, we can now make this the start of the Q45 thread.

Yes, it looks like the Q45 will first appear with the new Intel integrated graphics. It will be interesting to see how this performs.

The pictures in the Chinese Q45 manual clearly show a RAM slot cover big enough for one module. (The other Q45 download pages now show a full set of Vista drivers and software). So the question is whether there is a second slot under the keyboard or have Samsung put 1GB on board?

The big unknown is how the Q45 will deliver on performance and battery life. Will it continue the trend of shrinking battery run time or have Intel / Samsung managed to make some good power saving tweaks?

John

 

Any estimates when we'll be seeing (p)reviews turning up on the web?

 

I doubt if any reviews will appear before the Santa Rosa launch date in mid-May. Maybe Trusted Reviews will get hold of one. They gave quite good coverage for the Q35 and the R20. I will happily do a back-to-back review of the Q45 with my Q35 if someone will lend me a Q45.

I downloaded the Q45's multi-language User Manual. It is a file contain chs (Chinese), cht (?), eng (English), Fra (French), ger (German), kor (Korean), rus (Russian), spn (Spanish), which should give an indication of where this model will be available.

Unfortunately, in my view, Samsung have moved away from a simple PDF file to a fancy book with animated turning pages. I attach the specs page from the English version but it doesn't contain anything which couldn't be interpreted from the Chinese specs page. There is still no hint of either a second RAM slot or an Express card slot.

John

 

Useful info thanks.

Does anybody know how many models have been produced? Is it just the T7100 at the moment

 

If it is any guide, the R20 was launched in the UK with only one version. However, European models may have a different hardware configuration.

The big question is whether the Q45 will co-exist with or replace the Q35. Many of the Q35 purchasers want good battery run time (which has dropped ofoff due to hardware / software changes) and it is currently not known what the Q45 will deliver in this respect. I would certainly expect the version of the Q45 with dedicated GPU to take a hit in the battery run time.

Maybe Samsung should reconfigure the Q35 with one of the low (not ultra-low) power CPUs and put another hour or two onto the battery run time (ie back to the claimed 7 hours) and maybe also offer their new hybrid HDD. (Hint, hint - anyone from Samsung listening?).

John

 

I second this request They could take a significant dent out of Sony's market share for long battery life computers if they'd come up with a decently priced laptop with 7+ hours battery.

 

hello

wasnt this laptop meant to ship with integrated HSDPA ?

francois

 

Yes, HSPDA is clearly shown in Andrew's report from CeBIT. However, it is unlikely that this feature will be included in all versions and, so far, is not mentioned in the details available in UK. Similarly, the NVidia graphics is not included in the first UK model. We have to wait to see what comes next. Will the same people who want a more power GPU also be the people who want the HSPDA?

John

 

This site is currently listing the Samsung Q45 at £849.99.

In case it disappears, the summary specs are:

So this confirms the Intel GMA 3000 in this model.

Unless the Q45 doesn't compete at all with the Q35 battery life then Q35 prices must slide down a bit because it is old technology.

John

 

http://www.notebook.de/samsung-q45-serie-g-620/ has it available now as well at 1499 Euros and slightly different specs. 250 Euros more expensive!

 

Good find. And it is in stock.

I wonder if the "Super silent mode" really works and throttles the power enough to stop the fan coming on. If so, then battery life could also be better than I am expecting.

John

 

Any ideas on when we'll be seeing any (p)reviews?

 

No. Maybe Trusted Reviews will get one - they got a Samsung R20 early on. I would happily do a review if someone sends me the computer for a week.

John

 

I'm moving the Q45 material into a new thread with a new title. I hope it becomes as busy as the R20 thread.

John

 

oh.. there is US currency button on the bottom right. it is 1,620 for Q45.
Can i enable Virtualization? bcoz i am very interested in this notebook

 

Samsung Spain are now listing the Q45. I don't see anything new except a weight of 2.03kg. If correct, this means the headline weight of 1.86kg for the Q45 is misleading and a lot of potential purchasers will be disappointed. We can only be sure when someone gets a Q45 and weighs it.

John

PS: the German Q45 manual has this note against the weight:

I think that means it is without the optional components. But what are the optional components?

 

I saw on Engadget stating the Q45 would have a 8400M and it only cost 1149euros.. what a bargain.. but then again, i guess they are wrong..

 

Anyone know what's going on with the graphics card? Lots of sites claming it's going to have an nVidia 8400m, but all of the e-tailers who have it for pre-order (plus Samsung themselves) list Intel's GMA3000.

Of course, Samsung could be producing Q45 variants, one with the good graphics, and one without, but they didn't do that with the Q35.

 

Maybe not with the Q35, but they have had different variants with other models. Look at, for example, at the X60 specs, which lists:

It is also quite common for different versions to be released in sequence with the first one being whatever Samsung UK having selected as making the most impact. There may also be a constraint on the availability of nVidia parts.

If it is any encouragement, the R20 has proliferated from one model in February to 6 being listed by Insight when I checked today.
John

 

Anyone seen any benchmarks or previews for the Go 8400? I've had a look on the web but can't find any.

I realise there are no publicly available machines with it inside, but I was hoping for some early previews.

 

How is your French? This site has a bit about the Q45 including a couple of pictures. It puts the weight at 1.9kg.

John

 

btw... i asked my friend who know french to translate the site for me... so below is something i get...

The ultraportable Samsung Q45 WEV 7100 integrates a processor Core 2 Duo T7100 (1.8 Ghz),
1 GB DDR2 533 MHz, a hard disk SATA 160 Go with 5400 trs/min,
a graphics board Geforce Go 8400M 128 Mb Turbocache 512 Mb, a screen 12 ″ WXGA SuperBright Gloss of a resolution of 1280×800,
a webcam 1.3 megapixels, a double engraver DVD sleep,
a card reader 5 into 1 and connector industries Wi-Fi a/b/g,
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR,
Firewire,
Ethernet and USB 2.0 (x2).
Delivered with a battery 6 cells,
it weight 1.9 kg and functions under Windows Vista Home Premium.
No the connector industry 3G as announced (can be for another model?) nor of Wi-Fi 802.11n,

 

Dabs is now listing the Q45.

No real details yet:

£813.99, which undercuts their prices on the Q35 by a significant margin.

John

 

Final List of Spec's from Freerangepc.com

 

Some observations from those detailed specs:

1. There appears to be 2 RAM slots in the specs. However, the manual only shows one. Maybe there is another under the keybaord and is not considered user-accessible.

2. The Q35 specs say "up to 7 hours battery life" but mine won't get past 5 hours. Anandtech's review of Santa Rosa suggested that the extra power saving features might give a little more run time.

3. 89 keys? I can count only 84 on my Q35's keyboard (and the keyboard in the Q45 manual looks the same).

4. I'm glad to see that they have kept with the 60W PSU. It remains to be seem whether a Q45 with a dedicated GPU will have this PSU or the bigger 90W version.

What is puzzling is the pricing below the Q35.

John

 

Maybe the extra keys include multimedia buttons?

At notebook.de you can configer the Q45 with up to 4GB so I think it must have 2 slots.

 

Maybe it's due to the cheaper CPU.

 

another pic here:
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=3&id=2112&pg=4

 

The Q45 NP-Q45A002/SUK is now in stock at DigiUK. £775.50, so it is cheaper than the Q35!

John

 

thats really nice price... i'm just a week too fast... lol... thanks for the info tho... btw... on DigiUk... what is the standard manufacturer guarantee? how many year/s ?


edit: i check on amazon.de they also have this model out already... but the price is EUR 1.499,00... so much different from DigiUK.... it is more expensive than q35 here in germany then...

 

But your ruby Q35 looks much better than the black Q45!

I wait to find out how the Q45 does on the battery running time. I see that the German Q45 description says up to 6 hours (but the Q35 is up to 7 hours).

Samsung UK standard warranty is only for 12 months whereas in Germany you get 24 months as standard. This would explain about EUR 100 difference in price, but I cannot see any differences in the hardware.

Strange pricing: If I remember correctly, your Q35 was significantly less than the equivalent in UK.

John

PS: The specs further up this thread mentioned a HDMI port. That port is not mentioned by DigiUK or Amazon.de. I rechecked the User Guide and no HDMI port is shown.

 

but the different is more than just €100... if i do the currency exchange...

the price in digiUk is only €1143,69, n in amazon €1499... i think amazon just raise more profit just because it is new model...

but i got to agree with you... about the ruby... btw... i bought my ruby for €1199 which make the Q45 in DigiUK still cheaper than my model...

This different in pricing really make me wonder... cause i check in Geizhals.at too... the price for austria is from €1599 and EU from €1499... meaning model in UK is really cheap currently...

 

Proper User Manuals for the Q45 in PDF format are now posted on the Samsung download site (Chinese, English, French,German, Russian & Spanish).

John

 

In France the price starts at around 1170 which makes it similar with uk prices. It includes 1GB of RAM.

 

The 2Gb version in Germany is 1499€
That includes 1.8Ghz C2D and 160GB HDD. I rather have 1GB less and Prices like in France! You can buy 2x1GB for less then 80€.

 

I have been interested in this laptop for a while and have been in contact with various UK retailers.
John Lewis have confirmed they will be stocking the Q45 model "any day now" with product code: 82716257. They are selling it for £799, the same price as they sold the Q35 which they removed from sale about 3 weeks ago. This implies that the Q45 is a replacement for the Q35. There are no details on spec yet.
I have also emailed PC World about it and while they did not confirm anything about the Q45 they did say the the Q35 will be discontinued "in the near future".

Hope this helps, im very excited about this model!

PS John Lewis laptops all come with a 2 year warrenty

 

Has anyone seen any reviews of the Q45 yet?

 

Most retailers are offering the Q45 alongside the Q35. It seems that the Q35 is still selling. Dabs currently has the red Q35 is its most popular Samsung notebook while the expensive silver version isn't far down the list. Insight has the Q35 at No. 3 and No. 4. However, I don't know for what period those statistics cover. I do know that the shiny black doesn't appeal to everyone and maybe people are paying extra to not have black.

Interesting point about the John Lewis 2 year warranty which makes them attractive for up to 2 years. If you want 3 years cover then Samsung's 2 year extension is the way to go.

No. I have been hoping that some people who have bought the Q45 would drop buy and give some feedback. I would love to do a back-to-back review with my Q35 if anyone will lend me a Q45.

John

 

btw john... regarding the Q45 review.... you can't ask any shop to lend you the notebook for a review?

 

I did ask a couple. Unless they actually want to use one themselves, they are more concerned about keeping the computers sealed in boxes ready to sell.:cry:

John

 

i see... too bad.... cause if i can get one of those in hand...
i'm not sure how can i make a full review like what you have done...:smile:
thats why i was wondering if you can get from them...

 

John,

Do you think that the Q45 will look similar to the R20, which you reviewed recently. Perhaps I'm reading between the lines, but I didn't think that you were too impressed with R20's stylish-ness (is that a word?).

Samsung has long had a reputation of producing mouth-watering designs. Are the new Aura laptops a slight disappointment?

 

Looks are a secondary issue. I would describe my X60 plus as nothing exciting (but the black keyboard in the X65 will be an improvement). As I have said elsewhere, the red Q35 has a charisma which makes it stand out from the crowd (but without the bright, almost toy-like, colouring of some of the Sony C series).

However, what really matters is how a notebook looks and feels when in use and the Q45 will be very similar to the Q35 in that respect. It remains to be seen whether, when the Q35 is phased out, Samsung start offering some alternative colours on the Q45 (or Q70, when that appears).

So don't let my comments on appearance put you off. Your taste may not be the same as mine. A computer is a bit like a prospective marriage partner: It's nice to have one that you think looks good, but it's what's inside that really matters.

John

 

I have just ordered mine from John Lewis for £799. Their website still doesn't list it but several stores have them in stock including both London stores. Bluewater will be getting some June 12, and the website will have some around June 15.

On asking them to confirm the specs they said it has an nVidia 8400M 128 MB graphics card.

 

So are you planning to pick one up or wait for an internet delivery?

I am intrigued that Lewis's think it has the 8400M GPU when the specs published by DigiUK and FreeRange PC both indicate an Intel X3000 series GPU. The Intel GPU is quite a good performer for integrated graphics. It is several times faster than its predecessor but would still be slower than the 8400M.

John

 

John

I was surprised to hear this too! Will offer final conformation when I take it out of the box. I am having it delivered to me, but unfortunately they wont post it til Monday, so I don't get it til Tuesday. Will report after that.

 

Assume it is actually the Intel GPU and you might get a pleasant surprise rather than be disappointed. You can get a good idea of the performance from these two reviews: T61 and V200.

John

 

I found the battery time a bit disappointing in the T61. A 6-cell(56Wh) can only last 3.7h meaning it consume about 15W and it has the wireless turned off, I expect better number based on those I saw using the older GMA950 chipset. I would rather get the samsung Q35 if portability(and thus usually battery life) is an important aspect.