Samsung 305U1A-A02 review

The touchpad was less problematic thanks to its 16:9 footprint, which matches the screen. It still felt a little on the small side, but it was responsive on the Windows desktop. The smooth plastic surface creates very little friction and it supports multi-touch gestures, but it starts to feel a little cramped when you have two or more fingers on the touchpad. The very small buttons beneath it don’t have a lot of tactile feedback, and the dead zone in its centre gives away some noticeable flex in the keyboard tray.

It has a reasonable set of connections, having three USB ports, a full-size Ethernet port, a multiformat card reader and a combined headphone and microphone jack. Unfortunately, none of the USB ports support the faster USB3 standard, so you won’t be able to enjoy the faster file transfer speeds that it provides.

Considering it costs £10 more than the Asus X53Z, a 15in laptop with significantly greater performance and battery life, it’s very difficult to recommend the 305U1A. Even if you need something portable, its poor lifespan away from the mains means you won’t be able to go far without a charger, and its performance is below average at best. The fantastic HP Pavilion DV6 is also less than £70 more, so if your budget will stretch further you can find a much better value machine elsewhere.