Samsung Q30 HWC 733

Protection behind the display is about average for notebooks in general, although it would be nice to see a higher standard in such a portable one. If you don't overfill your bag to ensure there's no pressure on the lid, you should be fine. In other respects, the Q30 is reasonably well put together.

So, the Q30 performs impressively and ticks all the right boxes; it's also drop-dead gorgeous. However, despite matching our A List's IBM ThinkPad X40 for quality and usability, it loses out when regarding the PC Card slot and the X40's excellent data-security features. Also note the Q30's lack of a docking option. It does include a CD burner, though, and has the endurance and flexibility of two batteries. Corporate buyers are likely to stay with IBM's X40 for the reasons above, but everyone else should take a good look at the Q30.

Author: Roger Kirckwood