Samsung Q310 Review

The budget 13 inch notebook segment has been seeing a lot of activity these days. The latest entrant is the Samsung Q310, a nice new stylish notebook which offers great performance and superb endurance. It is very compact and stands out when compared to most 13 inch notebooks. It’s portability and performance combine to give you a very superb deal, but it is also a little overpriced. Let us check out the Samsung Q310 notebook and see if the performance it offers can warrant for the slight extra price.

Samsung Q310 34P Specs

• Dimensions : 12.7 x 9.5 x 1.1 inches
• Weight : 4.8 pounds
• Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 at 2.26 GHz
• RAM : 3 GB DDR2 RAM
• Hard Drive : 320 GB SATA 5400 RPM
• Optical Drive : 8x DVD RW
• Display Size : 13.3 inch LCD Display at 1280 x 800 pixels
• Integrated Graphics : Intel GMA X4500 128 MB
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• Operating System: MS Windows Vista
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Headphone, Microphone, Modem, VGA out, 7 in 1 memory card reader, ExpressCard slot

Design and Build Quality:

The Samsung Q310 sports a stylish design and has a glossy black lid which accentuates its look. It has a gradient black – red design near the keyboard and touchpad. The Samsung Q310 is a nice notebook with great build quality and looks very durable. At dimensions of 12.7 x 9.5 x 1.1 inches, it is very portable and weighs just 4.8 pounds. It can be pitted against the HP DV3510 NR and the Lenovo IdeaPad U330 as well as the recently reviewed Lenovo ThinkPad SL300. It has an ample collection of ports – On the left, you will find the VGA and HDMI ports while the right is adorned with the graceful presence of a USB port, an 8X DVD RW optical drive, an ExpressCard slot and the headphone and microphone jacks. The front side sports just the 7 in 1 memory card reader while the rear features the Ethernet jack and 2 USB 2.0 ports. One other nice feature is the battery indicator button using which you can easily check the battery left without even powering on the notebook. All in all, the build quality is very nice and the notebook should easily last you a couple of years or even more with adequate care.

Display and Speakers:

The Samsung Q310 sports a 13.3 inch LCD display with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. It has nice brightness levels and offers excellent contrast. Despite it being a glossy display, the sunlight legibility is quite nice which makes it suited for outdoor usage. The viewing angles, both horizontal and vertical are very wide so you can easily share your display with others. You will also find a 1.3 MP webcam which has nice video capture quality. It performs nicely during video conferencing.

The speakers on the Samsung Q310 are quite good, they have adequate volume levels and can easily be heard across a small room. The sound quality is pretty nice and is good enough for casual users. The sound quality is great considering that it is not a multimedia notebook. Though if you are someone who takes his / her music seriously, you should probably get better headphones. The audio aspect of the Samsung Q310 is better than most others in the same price range and category.

Keyboard and TouchPad:

The Samsung Q310 sports a nice and spacious keyboard, the normal keyboard is a relief compared to the tiny cramped netbook keyboards we have been seeing a lot of. It has adequate key spacing and travel and doesn’t feel cramped at all. The keys have a nice feel and offer a great response. The keys follow the standard layout The keyboard is a blessing for touch typists and is definitely one of the best laptop keyboards. The keys are coated with a antibacterial coating to keep germs away.

The Touchpad is quite nice and responsive and has decent sensitivity. It is a bit short vertically which slightly hinders navigation. The touchpad surface is smooth but offers a nice grip, enough to help navigating comfortably. There are two touchpad buttons just below the touchpad which don’t offer decent feedback. A nice keyboard coupled with an average touchpad.

Performance Aspects:

The Samsung Q310 sports a nice hardware configuration – the Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 at 2.26 GHz, 3 GB DDR 2 RAM, and the Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics. This combination of hardware can easily run Windows Vista which it comes bundled without any serious bottlenecks. The system boots from a cold start in about 50 seconds. You can easily multitask lots of applications making use of the 3 GB RAM. It can also handle low end gaming easily, atleast definitely at low settings. The Samsung Q310 also has a very spacious 320 GB SATA HDD at 5400 RPM which has nice data transfer speeds and runs cool. On the whole, the notebook has low operating temperatures. On the performance front, the Samsung Q310 is better than most 13 inch notebooks. The choice of the Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics could be aimed at improving the battery life of the notebook greatly while compromising on the gaming front.

Battery Life and Other features:

The Samsung Q310 is powered by a six cell battery which lasts for about 5 hours with moderate usage and a little skimping. You can squeeze a little more juice out of the battery by following standard tips like switching off Wi-Fi when not in use and lowering the speaker volume and display brightness by a few levels. You can also get the optional 9 cell battery at a premium. It also has nice Wi-Fi reception and offers good data speeds.

Pros:

• Stylish Design and good Build Quality
• Nice Speakers
• Great Performance
• Nice Endurance

Cons:

• Average Touchpad

Final Words:

The Samsung Q310 is a superb notebook with a nice configuration and manages to pack in a stylish design, great performance and a long battery life. It holds its own against heavyweights like Lenovo IdeaPad U330, HP DV3510 NR and the Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 and offers a nice alternative to them. If you don’t need discrete graphics, just a stylish design with goof performance and a nice battery life, the Samsung Q310 is your best option.

Our Rating: 4 / 5.