Ultra Mobile Laptop from SAMSUNG (Samsung Q35 Pro T7200 Benson)

Member Name: Deru

Product:	Samsung Q35 Pro T7200 Benson
Date:	30/01/08 (858 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, Light, Good battery life and overall performance, High Spec

Disadvantages: Lags occasionally, Superceded by newer model

After being given a laptop a few years back, I found that I didn't bother to use it because it was heavy and I didn't want to carry the thing around, so I decided to sell it and look for a lighter laptop. Looking at the range of Ultra Mobile laptops, the Samsung Q35 caught my eye. The Samsung brand, stylish design and specifications in particular, made me decide on this one in May 2007. It has a 12.1", which allows it to be classed as an Ultra Mobile laptop. This was important to me as smaller laptops are generally lighter and have better battery life.

SPECIFICATION

One of the reasons that I chose the Q35 is because it has a 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, which is one of the fastest processors out at the time. The 2.2GHz being the highest, but that was insanely expensive and it was not available for the Q35, only larger laptops. I wanted a fast CPU to be able to run programs quickly and so tasks that require more CPU power are completed quickly. Having lots of RAM memory is also important because Windows XP uses quite a lot of memory. The Q35 has 1.5GB of RAM, which was the maximum the Q35 can support but I think it's a reasonable amount. I would have preferred 2GB but the standard is 1GB these days so at least it's above average.
It's running Windows XP Pro, being a business laptop, and I avoided Vista for software compatibility.

It has 160GB of hard drive capacity, which I think is adequate as most people would not be able to use it all up. It's also a SATA hard drive with a 5,200rpm speed, which means copying and moving files to and from the Q35 can be done relatively quickly. Some of the larger 200GB hard drives found in some laptops have a slower spin speed.

It has built-in wireless, PCMCIA slot, card reader, mini Firewire, VGA, 56K modem, RJ45 network port, two USB 2.0 ports and a DVDRW (8x) drive. My one complaint with these is that two USB ports simply isn't enough for me but I can use a hub if. This is probably due to the size but I think they could have scrapped the 56K modem for an extra USB port.

There are slightly different flavours of the Q35 such as slower processor, less memory and even one with a red lid but my one has the highest specification. It's running Windows XP but I believe some of them have Windows Vista. Shops such as PC World, MicroAnvika, etc only stocked the lower models and I had to buy mine online at the time.

PERFORMANCE

With the high specifications (2GHz CPU, 1.5GB RAM, 160GB HDD), one would expect the performance to be high and it doesn't disappoint. It performs better with the power plugged in as with all laptops but occasionally, I find that it freezes for 5-10 seconds and I'm unable to move the mouse pointer. This is a known issue but sadly, I've not managed to find a solution. It's very occasional and the general performance is very good. I have a lot of programs installed and around 67 processes running at a time, which is usually enough to slow down the performance of less powerful systems, but my Q35 still runs smoothly.

A long battery life is an important factor with ultra mobile laptops as the whole idea is that you're on the move a lot and may want to use it outside, on the train or other places that may not have a mains power socket. The Q35 is quoted to have around 6 hours battery, which is brilliant, but these are rarely accurate and when they tested it, it would be while the laptop was idle with a low backlight setting, etc. I find that my Q35 lasts 3-4 hours with general use such as surfing the Internet and working with documents. Doing stuff like watching DVDs or playing games and CPU intensive programs will drain the battery more quickly but overall, I find the Q35 battery life very acceptable. A nice feature on the battery is a battery tester, which can be used to see how much charge it has even while the laptop is off. Overall, the performance is very good.

DESIGN AND BUILD

It has a silver lid, silver body, black keyboard and black bottom, which I think goes quite well together. It is very stylish but Samsung have now come out with the Q45, which is an all black and curvier version of the Q3, which I do prefer the look of. Unfortunately, the touch pad is also silver and does get dirty.
The build quality is very good and the plastic doesn't look or feel cheap, which is sometimes the case with silver laptops. The body also feels very sturdy with no cracking noises when pressed down. There is light bleed from the bottom of the screen but it's hardly noticeable most of the time unless watching a DVD full screen with a dark scene. It's a widescreen laptop, which makes it pretty good for watching movies. Better than a portable DVD player but one thing that hinders that multimedia experience are the speakers. They really aren't very loud with just the two 2W speakers and you can only really hear things in quiet places.
The keyboard is easy to type with and is very responsive but it has the 'Fn' key at the bottom left instead of the 'Ctrl' key, which takes a bit of getting used to. The 'Ctrl' key is the next one along. The keyboard has the usual numeric keypad and functions activated by holding down the 'Fn' key. These are in green and easily read/seen. Ones that stand out for me are the battery indicator, which tells you the percentage, and Etiquette mode, which I think is to do with keeping the fan noise down. I never use this but thought it was an interesting feature. The touchpad can also be turned off, which is always handy for those who find they accidentally brush against it when typing. Some laptops don't let you turn it off. It has a scroll thing on the touchpad too letting me scroll left/right, up/down but only the up/down scrolling is marked.

When any of these functions are activated / deactivated, a graphic pops and whether it's on/off pops up on the screen. Although, this is quite common, the graphics Samsung have used are quite funky looking! The battery does stick out a bit at the back and adds quite a bit to the weight but that's a minor thing. The left and right click buttons look metallic but my left button seems to have worn down a bit and isn't as shiny in the area where I click most, which isn't great but it's a minor niggle as the button still works.

SUMMARY

GOOD
- Good Battery Life
- High specification
- Ultra mobile so fairly light
- Card Reader
- DVD ReWriter
- Stylish design
- Good build quality
- Can turn off touch pad

BAD
- Freezes for 5-10 seconds occasionally
- Only has 2 USB ports
- Touch pad gets dirty easily
- Card Reader can only read so many types of memory cards
- Speakers not very powerful
- Superseded by the Q45


VERDICT

I think the Q35 is a great ultra mobile laptop. It set me back just over £1,000.36 including delivery but there are cheaper versions. I would have gone for the Q45 had it been out at the time but I can definitely recommend Samsung's range of ultra mobile laptops based on my experience with the Q35. Performance is generally very good, build quality is excellent and battery life is very good. There are some things that I would have liked such as more USB ports but no laptop is perfect. I definitely recommend the Q35 and any of new Samsung ultra mobile models.

Thanks for reading.

Summary: Samsung Ultra Mobile Business Laptop

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