Samsung Q70 Review

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by John Ratsey

The 13.3” Samsung Q70 is a new model to fill a gap in the Samsung product range. It is too large to be called an ultra-portable and, while it is reasonably light, it is not very thin. It is slightly larger than the popular Q35 and its successor, the Q45. The Q70 was not shown by Samsung at CeBIT. Was it still under development or were they deliberately keeping it secret to give the market a surprise? As well as increasing the display size, the notebook has acquired extra weight and thickness and at, 2.03kg (4.45lb) and a maximum 45mm (1.75”, it cannot be classed as either thin-and-light or ultraportable.

The Q70 comes with a shiny black cover, which is the current Samsung family styling. However, perhaps to set it apart from the slightly smaller Q45, it has been given a dark grey brushed aluminium palm rest and keyboard surround.

Top view of the 13.3” Q70 next to my 12.1” Q35.(view large image)

Reasons for Buying

I have been extremely happy with my Samsung Q35, particularly its ability to run for about 5 hours away from a power socket. This was bought for the occasions when I don’t want to carry my 2.5kg 15.4” Samsung X60plus. However, the 12.1” display is a little small for my old eyes at the default 96dpi setting. While there is the option in Windows to change the dpi setting, formatting starts to fall apart because boxes and columns are still sized assuming the 96dpi, but the text gets bigger and no longer fits. This is a known problem and one that Vista was announced as going to fix. But it didn’t, which left me little choice but look for a slightly bigger display, ie a 13.3” widescreen.

In the UK the 13.3” size has been dominated by Sony, but the SZ is too expensive and the Sony C series is too heavy. So when information started to leak about the 13.3” Samsung Q70, I was excited. Could they take all that was good about the Q35 (particularly its above-average battery life) and match it to a bigger display? Two other recent arrivals in this size range are the Rizeon (built on Asus) S37 and the Dell M1330. However, given that I was well satisfied with my Q35 I chose to buy the Samsung Q70.

On this occasion I purchased my new notebook from Free Range PC. This is a small company who offer very good personal service and were one of the first companies to get the Q70 into stock in the UK. I found the service and support from Free Range PC to be very good and I received the computer within 24 hours of placing the order.

What’s in the Box?

The box contents comprised:

• The computer, in a plastic bag and held between two plastic foam spacers
• The PSU, mains cable and battery
• A system recovery DVD for Windows Vista Home Premium
• A System software media DVD (Including Cyberlink DVD Solution)
• A modem cable with RJ11 plug at one end and  UK phone socket plug at the other end
• An Installation Guide leaflet
• A Safety Instructions booklet
• A Samsung Q70 is a well built notebook but it is a little bulky. It is responsive with good processing power and a large, but quiet fan. A benefit of the thick chassis is that the external surfaces stay acceptably cool. If lightly loaded, it can only run for about 3 hours off its 6 cell battery.[/p]

  So where does the Q70 fit in the market? If the Dell M1330 had not appeared, then the Q70 would have got a good position relative to the Sony C series on account of similar price, significantly better specification and lighter weight. But with the arrival of the Dell M1330 which can also be configured to a similar specification, Samsung may need to reconsider their pricing.

  I am certain that Samsung can interchange the motherboard with the Q45 so they could quickly introduce a model with the X3100 GPU and much better battery life. If mine had come in that configuration then I would probably keep it because my own priority is battery life and not graphics power. This Q70 has to go back on account of the missing wireless card and I am looking at other options in the 13.3” size range which have a less power-hungry GPU.

  Pros

  • An excellent display with bright, uniform illumination and contrast
  • Effective and quiet cooling system
  • Good audio volume and quality for this size of notebook
  • Powerful CPU and generous RAM and hard disk capacity
  • The brushed aluminium palm rest adds a little style

  Cons

  • Relatively fat for this size of notebook
  • Very small right shift key (on the UK version) with some other keys in non-standard places.
  • A limited selection of ports compared to other notebooks in this size range.
  • The provision of a PC card slot rather than Express Card may be a Pro or a Con depending on whether you want forwards or backwards compatibility.

 

Cool review John. Great pictures and I love the dark brush aluminum of this model. Gives it a way industrial look.

 

Nice review John.

 

Nice specs though they could be a little better, but excellent review. It is kind of funny that you called it 'dead on arrival' though because the WiFi card is missing...I'd point them to this published review and see how quickly they fix it . That is a major parts problem there...

I don't think I'll ever understand why a company would put ports in a recessed & covered area...

 

The 'dead on arrival' is a technical term. The Q70 has now gone back. I was hoping to get a clear answer from Samsung support about whether the missing wireless card should be abn and no Bluetooth (as it said on the box) or abg with Bluetooth as described by the places selling the Q70. I was also getting conflicting information about whether the whole batch (hundreds, not thousands) had the same problem. Perhaps anyone else who bought the Q70 can contribute to this aspect.

As for the recessed ports, the Q70 is really the 12.1" Q45 board in a bigger chassis which must cut down the design, production and support costs but reduces the usability.

John

 

looks like a nice machine, wish they sold em here in the states. had it come a year ago, it would have been a nice dell m1210 competitor in power and size

 

I am liking the style of Samsung notebooks

John, do you have a discount or something or do you just get hold of many review models?

 

Wow, what a review! Well done, John!

 

This seems like a really nice notebook.

How does Trackmania do on this? (I saw it in one of your screen shots)

 

Funny that Trackmania should be one of the screenshots...I was playing that just before I read this.

Nice review and nice performance. Too bad the wireless card didn't ship as ordered. Seems like it would've been simpler for you and them if they had shipped it to you and paid for a local shop to put it in than to send it all the way back.

 

I managed to borrow the R20. The rest I have had to buy at the normal price.

I tried the Trackmania demo but it went a bit further then crashed and stopped. It looked fairly good (hence the photo). Of the various demos suggested in the gaming forum, the only one which ran reliably was Lost Planet. See the attached.

I agree that it would have been easier for me to have put the wireless card in myself, but they wanted it back and once I had seen the battery life I didn't want to keep the computer. I wasn't happy with my Q35 which would only reach 5 hours (it was advertised as 6.5 to 7 hours) and the Q70 only managed 3 hours so it didn't make the grade for time away from a power socket.

John

 

Why did it crash?

And thats a really low FPS on the Lost Planet, but I don't know how graphically intensive that game is.

 

Perhaps I should say the car crashed then the program stopped.

And an update on the missing communications in the Q70. I have been advised by someone in Samsung technical support that that versions of the Q70 should have included both agn wireless and Bluetooth.

More information and discussion about the Q70 is in the Q70 thread.

John

 

I think they need to fire their product branding managers.

 

Sorry to bring back an old thread, just wanted to say I'm real dissapointed by the performance of the GeForce 8400M. I mean, I know it's DX10 capable and all, but even my Mobility Radeon HD2300 beats it by a significant margin with 2536 marks in 3DMark 2005.

 

Hello there,

I'm a new person on the block - have just bought the Samsung Q70, and I'm delighted with it. Mind you, my old laptop was a Dell Inspiron 4000 850 mHz, 128 MB, 10 GB hard drive.

I think the Q70 is pretty good, and the nVidia GeForce Go 8400M video card works well. I am not a great gamer, but did want to access Second Life with my new notebook, and the Samsung Q70 is fine for this - better than my Dell 4550 desktop - even though the Q70 runs Windows Vista, which isn't even supported by Second Life yet (I wonder how long the guys and gals at Linden Labs are going to keep us waiting for a Vista version of SL?)

I considered whether the 13.3" inch screen on the Q70 would be too small for me, but it's crystal sharp and scenery and avatars in Second Life are easy to see.

I did consider the Dell XPS 1330 as well, but there was a 5-6 week waiting time on this (which has since been reduced, I understand), and I wasn't too keen on the appearance of the Dell 1330 - strange big hinge from the side view. LaptopsDirect.co.uk got my Q70 to me in a couple of days. (I think they are the cheapest at the moment for the Q70, but I might be wrong). Laptop Direct's after-sales customer support could do better, however (see http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=168268&page=2).

I really like the Samsung's brushed aluminium palm rest and the black shiny cover also looks cool; my sweaty little paws tend to leave finger marks on the black shiny cover, but you can easily brush them off with the cleaning cloth supplied with the Q70.

As regards the nVidia GeForce Go 8400M card and whether it should be a G or a GS - mine is a G, although the specs on LaptopsDirect.co.uk listed the GS. I emailed them about this but they never replied. (Laptops Direct had still not updated their website with the correct specs for the GPU on the Q70 a month after supplying my Q70).

The Samsung website now correctly shows the nVidia GeForce Go 8400M G on the Q70:

http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/mobilecomputing/qseries/np_q70av02suk.asp?page=Specifications

Samsung told me I was instrumental in helping them 'troubleshoot' the graphics card issue, although John's review initially drew attention to this back in July 07.

Updating to the latest driver (Version 7.15.11.0134) for the nVidia GeForce Go 8400M card and also to the latest Bios (08ST Windows Based BIOS update) doesn't seem to have altered the way the nVidia card reports as a G and not a GS. You can get the latest driver and Bios here:

http://www.samsungpc.com/products/q45/q45.htm

So the graphics card is truly a G and not a GS, but how much does it matter? On some of the benchmark tests reported by John, the Q70 performed better than the Dell XPS 1330 which is fitted with the GS version of the 8400M.

The GS appears to be 47th in the ratings on NotebookCheck.com, whereas the G is 48th:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

So what's the difference? The GS has 16 of the so-called stream processors that do the graphics work, whereas the G has 8. It might be a matter for dedicated gamers who want to play the latest 3D games, but then why would you buy a 13.3" notebook for that anyway? Surely you would get a 17" or at least a 15.4" with an nVidia 8600 GT 256 MB card or the 7950 with 512 MB if you were really keen about gaming performance?

As has been noted, the nVidia GeForce Go 8400M G in the Q70 is Direct-X 10 compliant and is fine for Second Life and most games; it will even cope with most recent games provided the settings are not set to maximum.

To sum up: the Q70 is small and light enough for me, a good all-round notebook PC, and performs very well on Second Life even with the nVidia GeForce Go 8400M G card. It seems to last about 3 hours on battery, which again isn't an issue with me, as I usually have it plugged in to the mains anyway. I am just in the process of re-calibrating the battery, so we'll have to see if that makes it last a bit longer.

That concludes my first posting here - sorry it's so long!

 

Thank you for your comments on the Q70.

The question of what version of the GPU is in the Q70 is discussed in this thread. The original version of the Q70 came with the 8400M G(described as the 8400SE). There is the small possibility that Samsung have upgraded the GPU without a change in the stock number but this change has not worked through the supply chain.

John

 

Hmm, I find it such a pity that this notebook isn't available in the US. With its specs, size, and low price, it could find itself quite a following here.

 

Thank you for all the great information. One of the essential technical particulars for anyone doing pro audio/video is the Firewire controller manufacturer, since so many laptops come with inferior brands. preferred is Texas Instruments, but most come with Via or Ricoh.

Could you tell me this for the Q70 and the Q35? Thank you!

 

The detailed technical specs at SamsungPC show that the Q45 / Q70 have the Ricoh R5C843 chip.

Ricoh's specs show this chip services various features including the Firewire.

Samsung notebooks with the ExpressCard slot may use a different chip.

John

 

Thank for that info, which unfortunately rules out this line of laptops for pro audio use. Texas Instruments is the preferred controller, but few manufacturers use it (I think it costs a few pennies more). Via is ok but Ricoh is ruled out completely.

It's a shame that small but important details like this are missed out. Macs look more and more tempting, especially with the Vista fiasco.

 

Maybe the TI chip is better for some Firewire applications, but the Ricoh chip supports a good range of media cards including SDHC (under Vista). The TI PCIxx12 controller in my Zepto 6024W supports only SD, MMC and MS.

John

 

Further to cy007's comments about the the performance of the GeForce 8400M compared with the Mobility Radeon HD2300, in fact for overall benchmark performance, the Radeon is rated 57th, whereas the GeForce 8400M G is 48th and the GeForce 8400M GS is 47th:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

Re: Vivek's comments on the Q70 -'I find it such a pity that this notebook isn't available in the US. With its specs, size, and low price, it could find itself quite a following here.' - I agree with Vivek's enthusiasm for the Q70.

I am keeping my Q70, partly because I can't stand the thought of sending it back to Laptops Direct, whose understanding of after-sales customer service is somewhat rudimentary (see thread on the Q70's Geforce 8400M GPU: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=168268&page=2), but mainly because I think the Q70 is a fine machine, and I am enjoying using it.

I have had several long sessions in Second Life on the Q70, and all of my recent postings to Notebookreview.com have been made on it (on my lap, while watching TV), using the internal wireless card (802.11a.g/n) to link to a router which is upstairs and a fair distance away - it does this much better than the Netgear WG511 v2 external PC card which I used with my old Dell Inspiron 4000.

Using the wireless card to access the Internet does use up the battery power, but as I mainly have the Q70 plugged into the mains, this isn't an issue for me. This nicely brings us full circle back to John's original and excellent review, which noted the 2-3 hours battery life and the fact that John's Q70 had the wireless card missing!

Aint life strange?!

 

Having now had the Samsung Q70 for about a month, I would like to make some further observations.

As has been noted, the Q70 has a very shiny black cover. I was looking at a selection of laptop and notebook PC's in a well-known computer retail shop the other day, and was surprised to note that a lot of them similarly had this ultra-shiny finish on the covers, so it would appear to be the latest thing stylistically. One or two sported a silver strip around the edge, one had a pinkish interior (yuk!), others looked a bit plasticky; none had the simple shiny black and brushed metallic grey livery of the Q70; none appeared to match up to the Q70's generous specifications for a similar price.

But - is the ultra-shiny finish on these latest laptops practical? Or has practicality been sacrificed to style? Well - I recently took my Q70 travelling, and for the journey I put it in a Targus backpack which I previously used to carry my Dell Inspiron.

When I got home, I discovered that the two nylon webbing straps inside the bag which are secured together with velcro to hold the laptop in place and stop it moving had actually left a faint impression or ‘print’ of the webbing mesh in the black paint on the Q70's top! I have tried LCD screen cleaner and a soft cloth, and also a dilute soap solution, but have so far not been able to shift it. I know it will probably wear off in time, and I guess it will get far worse marks and scratches in the future, but isn’t it a little daft of the manufacturers to use this sort of finish on the covers of the latest generation of laptops?

I think the solution is to make a sleeve for it out of soft plush or velvet fabric, and slip it in this before putting it in a bag. I notice one of the new range of Targa bags for notebook PC's has this sort of soft inner protection.

Having thus aired my slight quibble about fashion appearing to come before practicality, I have to confess that I still like the minimalist design of the Q70, with its brushed grey/black aluminium palm rest and very shiny black cover sporting the Samsung logo in discreet silver embossed lettering.

There is something of the Darkside about it - the shiny black paint is a bit S&M - reminiscent of Darth Vader's helmet or black vinyl jackboots worn by an alien in a cyber-punk novel. Basically, like Marmite, you either like the black minimalist style, or you don’t. Personally, I love it. I just wish it didn’t mark so easily.

Apart from the shiny paint on its lid, the Q70 is in all other respects an eminently practical laptop. Its 7300 CPU and Santa Rosa chipset make it a fast machine. The NVidia GeForce Go 8400M graphics card enables it to run Vista and most applications and games with ease. The 2 GB of RAM and 160 GB hard drive mean it has plenty of memory and storage.

I like the way the screen brightness and sound volume can be turned up or down with the buttons at the bottom right of the keyboard, in combination with the Fn button, so that you don’t need to go into the Control Panel to adjust these functions. I also like the F buttons along the top of the keyboard that control various other functions, again in combination with the Fn button. I guess this is why Samsung put the Fn button at bottom left, rather than the Ctrl button. And all this is a package that weighs in at around 2 Kg. The Q70 works, simple as that.

 

A becase sleeve will provide the protection you need without adding significant weight or bulk. I reviewed a couple - see link below.

John

 

Thanks for that John. The becase sleeves look good. A cheaper alternative is to make a sleeve out of soft suedette; we'd already got the material from our local market for about a fiver - so I'm trying this before I go for a becase sleeve.

Further to your original review, just in case anyone is thinking of buying a Q70 and needs up to date specs, mine did come with Bluetooth and Wireless 802.11abg. I have already mentioned elsewhere that the wireless adapter works well. I don't have much experience with Bluetooth, but the Q70 works fine with my Samsung E250 mobile phone, when communicating either way with Bluetooth using the Samsung PC Studio 3 software which I downloaded free from Samsung's mobile phone site.

The power supply with mine appears to be 90 watt, although I am not sure how to confirm this. You suggest in your review that a 60 Watt power supply is more appropriate for a notebook of this size - can you say a bit more about this?

I have 83 keys on the keyboard, not 89 as Samsung still show on their website (see link below). What would the the other 6 keys be for, if I had them?

My F7 and F 8 keys are black rather than blue, so they match the other F keys. Yours sounds as if it was some sort of early prototype, particularly as it came without Bluetooth (the absence of the wireless card was obviously just a mistake).

The 9 cell battery now appears to be an option:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/mobilecomputing/qseries/np_q70av02suk.asp?page=Specifications

It doesn't look as if Samsung will be offering the Q70 with an integrated X3100 GPU in the near future (I would have chosen the version with the dedicated 8400M GPU anyway), but maybe Samsung are listening to you as they now offer an optional 9 cell battery (7,800mAh) - I am not sure where you would get one of these? With both 6 and 9 cell batteries, you would have pretty good mobile usage away from the mains even with the more powerful GPU, so would this make it comparable to the X22 in the 4 cell + 8 cell option?

I have read the reviews on the X22 and the X65, and these also sound like pretty good machines, depending on what your budget and main usage is - I would guess the X22 would be better for frequent travelling, with its rubberised lid. Does the X65 share the shiny black cover of the Q70? The X65 would be a good gaming machine, but I agree, it seems a little expensive compared to the Q70 and the X22. I haven't seen an X22 'in the flesh', so can't say how its display compares with the Q70's. The display on the Q70 is certainly very bright and clear, with excellent contrast.

Are there any other Q70 owners out there? Am I the only Q70 owner on Notebookreviews.com? Speak to me, if there is anyone else out there!

Regards,

Virago

 

Thanks for the update.

Regarding the PSUs, a 60W PSU would be a bit smaller and lighter and give less travel weight (see my Q35 review for a comparison). If yours says 19V 4.74A on the label on the bottom then it is 90W. Excessively large PSUs is one of my regular gripes since they add to the travel weight. Zepto annoyed me by providing a 90W PSU with a notebook with integrated graphics. They reason was simplicity of inventory. I was delighted by Sony's provision of a really small PSU with the G11 (see the G11 review for a photo of it alongside the Samsung 90W PSU).

The extra keys on an 89-key keyboard would be dedicated Pg Up, Pg Dn, Home, End and a couple of others.

I believe that the X65 is a refresh of the X60 / X60plus so the display back is magnesium alloy. Definitely not the shiny black. Samsung see it as a business machine although it actually has good gaming potential.

John

 

Regarding the PSUs, mine says 19V 3.16A - what does that mean? 60W or 90W?

I have PgUp and PgDn keys bottom right on keyboard, also keys to brighten/darken screen and increase/decrease loudness in combination with the Fn key.

I think I'm glad I stuck with the 13.3" screen - fine for most things, but a little small for reading the print in Adobe CS3 help files. But I have just ordered a 46" Samsung LCD TV with the highest HD, and it has a PC connection on the back, so I should be able to connect my Q70 to this via the 15 pin VGA port and enjoy many happy hours trying to figure out how to use Adobe InDesign CS3, Photoshop CS3, Flash CS3, etc, on a glorious 46" screen!

Regards,

Virago

 

19 x 3.16 ~ 60. Perhaps Samsung heeded my comment.

I like PgUp / PgDn etc without using the Fn key.

John

 

Can be a good dell a Q70 A001 (T7250, 2 gb of ram) for 700 euro or is a better choice to pay some less money (600 euro) for an R70 (T7250, 2 gb of ram) ?!?
Also the X22 could be an interesting option...

The portability for me is an important factor but not a need.

 

Those prices are very low.

You need to make a table setting out your requirements and see how your options score. For example, how much weighting do you give to size and weight, number and type of ports, GPU, battery run time.

The X22 is in a different class to the others because it is a business class machine with a lot more metal in the construction. There are 4 or 8 cell options which make a difference to the weight and battery life.

John

 

Thanks for your detailed review! I am from Hong Kong!! Now I get a good feel about this laptop. I am just slightly worried about the warranty. If I purchase it in Hong Kong (where I am right now) I am only going to get one year international warranty and 2 year local warranty...do you know whether it is possible to increase the period of international warranty?
By the way, I just realised in the UK there are two more colours for this model!! This is my first time to get a laptop and Q70 was the first one that caught my eyes yesterday - white.

Please advice.

 

You will have to ask Samsung about the warranty. It may be possible to buy an extension to the cover. It is possible to do this for the standard warranty in UK.

I should forewarn you that the Q70 is about to be replaced by the Q310. This may mean the Q70 pricing will be more competitivewhile stocks last.

John