Digital Home Thoughts: The Samsung Q30 Ultra-Portable Notebook Reviewed

"Last year I reviewed the Sony VAIO X505 notebook and was stunned at just how wafer thin and light it was. Although I've looked at a number of ultra-portable notebooks since then, I've yet to see anything as slim, light or sexy as the Sony - until now. There are few technology products that I'd describe as being beautiful, but the Samsung Q30 definitely falls into that category. OK, so the Q30 isn't quite as light as the Sony X505, weighing 1.1kg as opposed to 822g, but the Samsung can hardly be described as heavy. And with dimensions of only 287 x 197 x 24mm (WxDxH) it's small enough to be slipped into almost any bag unobtrusively. But despite the tiny dimensions of the Q30, it is a well featured little machine. In fact, even though the Sony X505 is slightly lighter, you would have to carry some extra bits and pieces with you to match the functionality of this little Samsung. The Sony needed a dongle for both D-SUB and Ethernet ports, while there was also no integrated WiFi adapter, and although a PC Card WiFi adapter came with the X505 as standard, it was another thing that you needed to carry with you. The memory card reader was also a PC Card, so this would need to be carried separately as well - with the Samsung Q30, all this functionality is built-into the chassis."



If it has the name Samsung on it, I dig it. And if it's a little computer (small laptop, SFF computer), I dig it even more. This is both - a small Samsung laptop. Awesome! This is also the first notebook I've seen to come with a 1.8" drive - or has this become the standard for notebooks? My wee Fujitsu P5010D uses a 2.5" drive, so it's interesting to see the move toward smaller drives in an effort to reduce the total footprint of the laptop. The only thing I'm disappointed with is the battery life - with the standard battery it only lasts 2 hours and 49 minutes, and because there's no internal CD spindle to replace with a second battery, your only option is an extended main battery, which creates a hump on the back of the laptop. That's the reason why I chose the P5010D over the Sony TR laptop - I didn't like the look of the hump battery. Oh well - I have two laptops now that work just fine. And maybe by the time I'm ready for a new ultra-portable laptop Samsung will finally be selling their laptops in North America. ;-)