Posted on 16 November 2013
One of the best Ultrabooks of the 2012/2013 phase was the Samsung ATIV Book 9. It got even better with Haswell and a QHD screen in the following version. It’s a stunning bit of kit that I’ll be testing fully over the next week or two.
In the meantime, enjoy this overview video and feel free to ask questions. Price is currently about $1399 for the 128GB/4GB/QHD/Core i5 version. It’s not cheap and one could argue that for that price you shouldn’t have to carry adaptor cables but despite that, the quality, efficiency and style should fit with a lot of customers.
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Posted on 29 August 2012
Samsung just presented their new range of Windows 8 devices. You’ve already seen the new Series 7 Slate and the Series 5 Touch but Samsung also announced that the Series 9 will get WIndows 8. No surprises there. The disappointing news is that it won’t have a touchscreen.
Samsung also say that the system has been re-optimised, something that you’d expect anyway when a new OS is available.
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Posted on 23 June 2012
The 15” Samsung Series 9 2012 with Ivy Bridge has been a pleasure to test. It’s a stylish Ultrabook with potentially very long battery life and a great 3D performance boost over 1st-generation Ultrabooks. The screen is good and bright and the keyboard a pleasure to use. But all is not perfect. A surprising lack of CPU Turbo under battery load, a strange touchpad action and too many ‘micro’ ports takes some of the shine from the Series 9 but despite that, it sits in a unique position in the market. There are cheaper Ultrabooks in the 15” bracket but you won’t find a 1600×900 screen for this price or weight.
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Posted on 13 June 2012
We’ve just got back from the Samsung HQ in Germany with a 15” Series 9 Ultrabook under our arms. It’s a stunning bit of kit and after just an hour of testing on the train back the feeling is already very positive. The screen, keyboard, styling and battery life and speed are all looking good. Of course, more testing needs to be done and we’ll be working on that over the next week so stay with us. To kick things off we’ve got an overview video for you.
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Posted on 03 May 2012
We’re confused. Trying to get a hold on the models numbers, specifications and availability of the new Samsung Series 9 in just the USA, UK and Germany is driving us crazy and adding to the confusion today is news via Engadget that Samsung UK have listed an Ivy Bridge version of the gorgeous Series 9 2012. There’s also an Ivy Bridge version of the 13.3” version appearing in Austria. The 900X3C with 4GB of RAM and the Ivy Bridge i5-3317UM is showing for €1253 with an expected availability of 21 May. We don’t believe any Ivy-Bridge Ultrabook will ship before June but remember that the Series 5 is already launched and, importantly, not an Ultrabook!
Here’s an overview of the Samsung Series 9 models as far as we can work it out. The two new models are highlighted.
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Posted on 06 March 2012
Thin and beautiful but big and usable. The Series 9 15” is an exciting laptop to see, an exciting laptop to hold and and exciting laptop to use. The finishing on the Series 9 2012 is slightly less ‘out there’ compared to the 2011 Series 9, still a fantastic ultralight but loses nothing in terms of style. 1.4KG, 1600×900 screen, full SD card slot, Centrino 6230 Wi-Fi module and it looks like some great power consumption figures. We don’t have official figures but we think the battery capacity is a very usable 68Wh. [6200mah is given on specs and a (3×3) 6-Cell battery makes 68Wh] It would match Samsung’s claims of 10hr battery life. We measured some respectable minimum drain figures too…
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Posted on 01 December 2011
Giving battery life figures for any modern notebook will always be a difficult task due to the huge dynamic range of the mobile platforms used in notebooks today. Take the Samsung 900X1B I’m testing at the moment. It’s not an Ultrabook but it’s built on the same platform to the same dimensions and it will run at anything between 2.8W drain and over 10X that figure. In this article I’ll give you some results from some fairly detailed testing I completed today. In summary, the Samsung 900X1B has excellent battery life for the size, weight and battery capacity. It’s efficient.
The Samsung 900X1B runs on a Intel Core i3 2357M platform. It has a nominal 1.3Ghz clock speed but can speed-step down to 800Mhz. There’s an Intel HD3000 graphics unit, a video encode/decode unit and, of course, lots of busses, components and connectivity. There’s also a 11.6″ 1366×768 screen with a relatively powerful back-light. The battery capacity is 42Wh [I recently corrected our database which showed in incorrect 40Wh.]
The tests I did today were aimed at finding how low the platform can idle and what sort of drain you can expect some of the components to add, all the way up to maximum power usage.
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Posted on 24 October 2011
Did you take a look at the Samsung 900X1B and think hmm, 1.3Ghz with no Turbo = Not good enough? Take another look because there’s a 1.6Ghz Core i5 (2467M) version on its way. You’ll get turbo goodness to 2.3Ghz with the Samsung NP-900X1B-A03
The Series 9, available in 11″ and 13″ matt screen sizes, is not strictly an Ultrabook due to lack of Intel Anti Theft core but apart from that, it’s a close match to the Asus UX21
We reviewed the 13″ Series 9 here.
On the minus side you have only 2GB of RAM and 64GB in the base version (we’re seeing a 4GB, 128GB version too) and if the SSD is the same as I tested in the 13″ version, it’s not as fast as the ASUS UX21 but it’s not a slow-coach either. On the plus-side you get a MicroSD slot (it’s a real shame this isn’t a full-size slot but it could be useful for storage expansion if it supports SDXC), an illuminated keyboard, the same weight as the UX21 and a matt screen. USB3.0 and USB2.0 slots are included along with a mini HDMI port. An adaptor is included for 10/100/1000 ethernet. The Bluetooth variant is 3.0+HS.
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