X-bit labs

Samsung Q30 Plus Notebook: Minimum Weight and Maximum Performance (page 2)

Category: Mobile

by Alexander Britvin

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

Samsung Q30 Plus Y01: Closer Look

The sheer size of the box the Samsung Q30 Plus is parceled in indicates that there’s a very, very small notebook inside.

The Samsung Q30 Plus roughly resembles a wallet with the word “Samsung” in the center of the robust lid, which is made of a magnesium alloy, and the text “DIGITall FREEDOM” on the narrow black insert on the front edge. Well, with the dimensions of 287.7 x 197.5 x 23.8mm and the weight of 1.09kg do promise some freedom, without a doubt! The thing will readily slide into a small briefcase. I’ve seen the Samsung Q30 Plus in two color schemes: silvery as shown in the snapshots and bright-red (presumably for stylish business ladies).

The sub-notebook’s case is getting steadily thicker from the front to the back panel. There’s no lock to the lid which is held only by the stiff hinges (I hope they are going to remain sufficiently stiff for a long enough time). With a small effort you can open the sub-notebook up to see the same color scheme continued inside – even the touchpad is colored silver.

Samsung’s designers didn’t separate the status indicators in two groups as is the common fashion, but put them all together on the sub-notebook’s front, a little to the left of the center. These LEDs are perfectly visible whatever the position of the lid may be and the only trouble is that you can’t help covering them with your left hand at work. The indicators are (from left to right):

• Num Lock
• Caps Lock
• Scroll Lock
• HDD activity
• WLAN activity
• Battery (green when the computer is attached to an AC source and the battery is fully charged; yellow when the computer is attached to an AC source and the battery is being recharged; off when the computer is powered by its battery)
• Power (blue when the computer is on and blinking when the computer is in Standby mode)

Also on the sub-notebook’s front, to the left of the status indicators, there is the card-reader’s slot for Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard formats.