The Samsung Q430 may be a commuter’s delight, with compact dimensions and a light weight, but with a powerful specification it also has the potential to replace your desktop PC. Read on to see if it’s a king of all trades, as well as a jack, in this section of our Samsung Q430 review.
Read the rest of our Samsung Q430 review
Samsung Q430 review
Samsung Q430 review: Battery and build
Samsung Q430 review: Speed and media skills
The previous generation Samsung Q-series range offered some outstanding laptops, with compact designs that made them perfect for frequent travellers. The Samsung Q430 improves on them, and although the screen on this model is nearly an inch larger than the 13.3-inch Samsung Q320, the Samsung Q430 is nearly as portable.
The thing we like about this laptop is the fact it’s so thin. It’s easy to cram it into your bag alongside other things, and at around 2kg you’ll be able to carry it on a daily basis. The design of the Samsung Q430 gets slightly thicker towards the rear, incorporating the 6-cell battery.
The use of a 6-cell battery helps when it comes to runtime, and although it can’t match the claimed 7-hour run time of the smaller Samsung Q330, we did manage to get over five hours from a single charge. The Samsung Q430 is a more than capable choice for the daily commute then, and it’s also a good solution once you get to the office.
Processing power on the Samsung Q430 comes from an Intel Core i3 M350 chip. Running at 2.26GHz, this processor offers enough power for regular users – it’s not quite as fast as the Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 chips found in more expensive laptops, but it’s still a lot faster than older Intel Core 2 Duo processors.
The 3GB of memory looks a bit limited in the face of rivals, with most laptops these days shipping with 4GB. However, it’s still fine for the most common multitasking – and even when carrying out intensive tasks, such as burning DVDs and using Office applications, the Samsung Q430 responded quickly to our requests.
It’s fully capable of replacing your desktop PC then, but there is one issue likely to put some users off. While the internal specification is fully suited to multitasking, the Samsung Q430’s screen is a bit more limited.
We’d be perfectly happy using the 14-inch panel on the Samsung Q430 on a daily basis, but it falls behind some rivals – such as the Sony VAIO E Series – when it comes to the resolution. Sure, at 1366 x 768 pixels, it’s sharp enough to make the most out of movies or photographs, but there’s not enough real estate onscreen.
You’ll only be able to fit two documents side by side – so if you regularly multitask with lots of open windows, you may need to opt for a laptop with a higher resolution. That said, the Windows 7 operating system does help you get the most out of it – with the snap function neatly aligning your windows if you do work with a couple of documents.
If you are looking to carry out major multitasking, the inclusion of both HDMI and VGA ports comes in particularly useful, letting you use a monitor, projector or HDTV as a second display or, when used with an external mouse and keyboard, to replace the one on the Q430 altogether. We’d be perfectly happy plugging it into a big screen as and when it’s required – and it’s certainly a much neater solution than having a desktop PC as well.
Overall then, the Samsung Q430 has a lot to offer. As happy on the commute as it is in the home or office, it really does make a good job of being your one and only PC. Just remember the screen resolution is a limiting factor if you need lots of space onscreen, and that an external display may be needed if your requirements are slightly more demanding.
Read the rest of our Samsung Q430 review
Samsung Q430 review
Samsung Q430 review: Battery and build
Samsung Q430 review: Speed and media skills
