X-bit labs

Samsung Q30 Plus Notebook: Minimum Weight and Maximum Performance (page 11)

Category: Mobile

by Alexander Britvin

[ 01/11/2006 | 02:27 PM ]

The results of the Samsung Q30 Plus in this test suggest that the newer integrated graphics still doesn’t make it a real gaming station.

GMA 900 is better than Extreme Graphics 2 in Unreal Tournament 2003 – the Samsung Q30 Plus is two times faster than its opponent irrespective of the power source.

Battery Eater Pro 2.60 is the last and most important test since battery life is a critical characteristic for the mobile and portable computer the Samsung Q30 Plus is meant to be. The older, Plus-less version of this sub-notebook used to have an excellent battery life, surpassing many other computers of its class, but the Plus version is based on the Sonoma platform and may be worse in this respect.

The test was performed at the maximum screen brightness in the following modes:

• Classic – the system bears the maximum and evenly distributed load
• Reader’s test (the pages are scrolled through each 15 seconds)
• DVD watching (the DVD movie was launched in Battery Eater’s Idle test mode)

The results of the Samsung Q30 Plus are indeed somewhat worse than those of the Samsung Q30, yet the four hours of autonomous work on the main battery in the Classic mode is impressive! Strangely enough, the manufacturer specifies the same battery life for the new and older version of the sub-notebook, which just cannot possibly be true. It’s the same when you compare the auxiliary batteries and the total of 7 hours in the Reader’s mode is quite long, giving you the promised digital freedom.