Samsung Q30 HWC 733 review

Surely, there can't be anyone who dislikes the Samsung Q30's styling? Whether you're on a plane, at a hotspot or in a meeting, you'll get used to envious stares if you're tapping away on one. And who could grumble about the svelte 286 x 198 x 31mm (WDH) size and 1.1kg weight either?

When it comes to ultraportable notebooks, smaller always seems better. However, there's a point at which they become so small they're difficult to touch-type on, making you feel like Gulliver in a high-tech Lilliput. Widescreen displays such as this one - a 12.1in panel - provide a solution. It's a win-win situation all round, since you get more screen real-estate and space for a roomier keyboard, yet the chassis isn't any bigger front to back.

That blesses the Q30 with a very usable keyboard. Underlying support is rock-solid, which gives a feeling of quality, and it's great for those who like a firm key action. Being slightly smaller than standard size, it's still a compromise, and people with large hands might encounter more typing errors than normal without extra care. Most of the layout is nicely implemented, though, including an easy-to-find Delete key in the top-right corner and a good-sized left Shift key. The only gripe is that the Function key is where Control should be on the bottom left, presumably because the Page Up/Down controls require the Function key.

Chassis layout is just as important. You won't have to fumble round the back to plug in a projector, because the D-SUB is on the left side. The power button is on the outside edge of the case near the screen hinge, and its blue glow is a neat touch. It's disabled when the screen is closed to avoid accidental startup. There are only two USB ports, though, and a six-pin FireWire port powers the external CD rewriter combo. There's the obligatory Ethernet (10/100), modem (56K) and 802.11b/g wireless, and two card-reader slots together handle CompactFlash, SD/MMC and Memory Stick formats. However, you need to be aware of two missing items: Bluetooth isn't available as yet, and there's no PC Card slot for expansion, which means you can't use a 3G data card.

For the Q30, battery life is more important than outright performance. The choice of processor backs this up: it's a pre-Sonoma 1.1GHz Pentium M 733 ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) CPU with a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of just 5W. Samsung also gives you two batteries: a standard three-cell and an extended six-cell pack. The latter adds 148g and sticks out 19mm. Results are reasonable with the small battery - one hour, 23 minutes on a heavy workload and two hours, 24 minutes with light use - rising to a highly impressive three hours, 13 minutes and five hours, 43 minutes respectively with the bigger battery. An overall 2D performance of 1.10 makes it a snappy enough performer with office tasks, although the integrated graphics won't be comfortable in 3D applications. The motherboard has 256MB of hard-wired PC2700 memory, and a further 256MB sits in the SODIMM socket. It's no simple matter to upgrade, though. The SODIMM socket is hidden away underneath the keyboard, so a series of screws must be removed from the bottom of the chassis and the keyboard lifted out. Samsung says upgrading isn't intended to be done by users, and laptops should therefore be returned to the company for work to be carried out.

The first thing you notice about the widescreen display is that it's glossy with high brightness and high reflectivity, similar to Sony's X-black panels. Reflectivity is a risk in such a small notebook, where you may have little control over lighting in the places you'll be working. However, it isn't as reflective as many larger examples, striking an acceptable balance between bright and glossy. Vertical viewing angles are poor and you have to view straight on to get even contrast, but with such a small screen it's hardly a problem. The resolution of 1,280 x 768 yields 25 per cent more pixels horizontally than a standard XGA display and, although the screen image is compact, it's great for personal movie watching. Sound output is miserable, though, so you might want to use headphones.