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Samsung Q320 review

in Laptops

Verdict

Blends portability and finesse with an impressively affordable asking price

Review Date: 2 Oct 2009

Reviewed By: Darien Graham-Smith

Price when reviewed: £561 (£645 inc VAT)

Overall Rating
6 stars out of 6

Features & Design
6 stars out of 6

Value for Money
6 stars out of 6

Performance
5 stars out of 6

PCPRO Recommended

Details
Part Code NP-Q320-AS02UK
Review Date 2 Oct 2009
Price ex VAT £561
Price inc VAT £645
Overall rating 6 stars out of 6
Features & Design 6 stars out of 6
Value for Money 6 stars out of 6
Performance 5 stars out of 6
Warranty
Warranty 1yr collect and return
Physical specifications
Dimensions 327 x 232 x 40mm (WDH)
Weight 2.180kg
Travelling weight 2.8kg
Processor and memory
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo T6400
RAM capacity 3.00GB
Memory type DDR2
SODIMM sockets free 0
SODIMM sockets total 2
Screen and video
Screen size 13.3in
Resolution screen horizontal 1,366
Resolution screen vertical 768
Resolution 1366 x 768
Graphics chipset Nvidia GeForce G105M
Graphics card RAM 256MB
VGA (D-SUB) outputs 1
HDMI outputs 1
S-Video outputs 0
DVI-I outputs 0
DVI-D outputs 0
DisplayPort outputs 0
Drives
Capacity 320GB
Hard disk usable capacity 298GB
Spindle speed 5,400RPM
Internal disk interface SATA/150
Hard disk Samsung HM320JI
Optical disc technology DVD writer
Optical drive TSSTcorp TS-T633A
Battery capacity 4,400mAh
Replacement battery price inc VAT £0
Networking
Wired adapter speed 1,000Mbits/sec
802.11a support no
802.11b support yes
802.11g support yes
802.11 draft-n support yes
Bluetooth support yes
Other Features
Wireless hardware on/off switch no
Wireless key-combination switch yes
Modem no
ExpressCard34 slots 1
ExpressCard54 slots 0
PC Card slots 0
USB ports (downstream) 3
eSATA ports 1
PS/2 mouse port no
9-pin serial ports 0
Parallel ports 0
Optical S/PDIF audio output ports 0
Electrical S/PDIF audio ports 0
3.5mm audio jacks 2
SD card reader yes
Memory Stick reader no
MMC (multimedia card) reader yes
Smart Media reader no
Compact Flash reader no
xD-card reader no
Pointing device type Touchpad
Audio chipset Realtek HD Audio
Speaker location Front edge
Hardware volume control? no
Integrated microphone? yes
Integrated webcam? yes
Camera megapixel rating 1.3mp
TPM no
Fingerprint reader no
Smartcard reader no
Operating system and software
Operating system Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
OS family Windows Vista
Recovery method Recovery Partition
Software supplied CyberLink DVD Suite, CyberLink YouCam
Battery and performance tests
Battery life, light use 4hr 29min
Battery life, heavy use 1hr 27min
Overall application benchmark score 1.02
3D performance (crysis) low settings 28fps
3D performance setting Low
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User comments

You need to be on your guard if you are considering this laptop as it comes in several versions, the review sample had a 2.0 Ghz core 2 duo T6400 processor, HOWEVER it is also available with a 2.0 GHz core duo T4200 which is much cheaper although laptops with the T4200 processor seem to get very similar results in your lab tests.
Does anyone actually understand Intel's processor naming and numbering system, I'm actually interested from a professional point of view and have looked long and hard at this, and I'm not much wiser, the whole system seems to defy any sort of logic.
Anyway I bet a lot of people buy the wrong version of the Q320, thinking that they have found a bargain.

By stokegabriel on 5 Oct 2009

When I posed the question, "Does anyone actually understand Intel's processor naming and numbering system", I was of course referring to Intel mobile processors, not desktop processors.OK

By stokegabriel on 5 Oct 2009

Part codes

If you remember to click the Specs tab and check the precise part code before you buy any of our review machines you should avoid buying the wrong model. The PriceGrabber links below all point to the correct model too.

By DavidBayon on 5 Oct 2009

When I posed the question, "Does anyone actually understand Intel's processor naming and numbering system", I was of course referring to Intel mobile processors, not desktop processors.OK

By stokegabriel on 5 Oct 2009

T4200 vs T6400

The difference between the T4200 and T6400 comes down to L2 cache size. The T4200 has 1MB and the T6400 has 2MB.

Will it make a big difference, or even a noticeable one for most people? No. If the T4200 model is significantly cheaper than the T6400 one, then all other things being equal, I know which I'd choose. :)

By SashaMuller on 8 Oct 2009

Fan noise?

I've read reports that the wrist rest can get quite warm on the left. Is this true?
Also, any views on the noise from the fan - is it significant or not?

By simonhiscocks on 8 Oct 2009

Win 7 version

The W7 versions of this are starting to appear. Laptops Direct have a the slightly less powerful T4200 in black (previously only in white) but with a 500GB hard drive for £599 which looks a good deal to me http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Samsung_Q320-JS02UK
_Laptop_in_Black_NP-Q320-JS02UK/version.asp

By simonhiscocks on 21 Oct 2009

T6500 Processor

I've been looking at the NP-Q320-PS02UK which has 4gb of RAM, a500gb HDD and a 2.1 Ghz T6500 processor. The only thing I can't work out is how much L2 cache it has, all the spec sheets on the web point to 1mb but the Intel site quotes 2mb. I any one able to put my mind at rest and confirm whether it's 1mb or 2mb?

By AndyB on 8 Nov 2009

T6500 Processor

I've been looking at the NP-Q320-PS02UK which has 4gb of RAM, a500gb HDD and a 2.1 Ghz T6500 processor. The only thing I can't work out is how much L2 cache it has, all the spec sheets on the web point to 1mb but the Intel site quotes 2mb. I any one able to put my mind at rest and confirm whether it's 1mb or 2mb?

By AndyB on 8 Nov 2009

Replacement battery

Has anyone managed to get a replacement battery for this laptop. All of the online retailers stock a battery which claims to fit, but doesn't. Help!

By alan123 on 11 Aug 2010

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