Samsung SF310 review

The SF310 is the second Samsung laptop we’ve seen that has the company’s ‘wave-style’ design. The first was the ultra-stylish NF210 netbook and this 13.3in ultraportable continues the excellent design scheme.

The Intel Core i5-460M processor runs at 2.53GHz and supports Turbo Boost to automatically increase clock speed for demanding tasks. In our multimedia benchmarks the SF310 scored 92 overall, so the SF310 will be able to run most applications. Multi-threaded programs will benefit from Hyper-threading support, effectively doubling the processor’s two physical cores. It might be powerful, but the mobile Core i5 chips can also be very energy efficient. The SF310 lasted an impressive seven hours in our light use battery test. It has the benefit of Nvidia’s Optimus graphics switching technology, which helps extend battery life by reverting to the built-in graphics chip when away from the mains.

The decision to install a GeForce 310M graphics card is odd as it doesn’t improve much upon the processor’s integrated chip. Both can handle HD video smoothly at the laptop’s native resolution, and can also play back 1080p content on an external display over HDMI. When it comes to games, the 310M’s 15fps score in Call of Duty is only 2fps higher than the integrated chip’s.

Screen quality was average: brightness wasn’t particularly high and colours had a slight blue tint to them. Contrast was reasonable, but vertical viewing angles were very limited. There’s not a huge amount of tilt, so finding the perfect angle could become an issue as you also try to avoid reflections in due to the glossy finish. Despite having no obvious speaker grilles, the SF310 was very loud. Although the mid-range was clear, treble was slightly harsh and there was hardly any bass at all.

The keyboard has large, isolated keys that have great tactile feedback. Even key spacing made typing easy, and very few function or punctuation keys have been slimmed down to fit. Dedicated shortcut keys for volume and WiFi are conveniently placed at the top of the keyboard tray, but otherwise the entire layout is very minimal. The touchpad and buttons are combined into a single unit, which looks great but isn’t particularly easy to use. Because the entire touchpad acts as a giant button, accidental clicks were very common. There isn’t a raised edge to make it obvious where the buttons are, so it’s also very easy to scroll without meaning to.

The brushed metal-effect wrist rest and contrasting white body look great, particularly against the black keyboard tray. A flip-down cover hides two USB ports, one of which can charge your devices after the laptop is turned off, as well as an HDMI port. The audio, VGA and network ports are all uncovered. It would also make more sense if the single uncovered USB port on the other side was the sleep and charge socket, as you wouldn’t need to open the cover quite so much.

The SF310 might be slightly larger than other 13.3in laptops to accommodate the unique styling, but it’s still a portable machine with a great deal of performance. At a little over 2kg it’s light enough to take on the move, and has enough battery life to last almost all day. Aside from an average display, it’s a decent machine with looks that are sure to turn heads.