13.3" Samsung NP900X3C with Ivy Bridge CPU

That's probably close to my results. I get about a day out of the machine, but I use it off and on throughout the day, mostly web browsing, email, with some video playing (iTunes) and photos. I would guess I get about 6 hours of "normal" usage (that is, normal for me).

I've also turned on the function that charges to only 80% to conserve the lifespan of the battery. That will, obviously, also impact your results. I have the luxury of being plugged in most of the time, but I'll turn that feature off when I want that extra boost (travel, etc.).

 

Thanks. I have an external USB DVD drive and the Samsung recovery disk that came with the machine. So, I think I'm good to go.

 

Great. But I would suggest not to install from recovery CD`s, they are usually pre installed with loads of crap.

 

How are you folks coping with only 128GB (~ 89GB after OS, etc)?

I don't have a ton of files and applications, but I can't help but feel I'll have to manage and remanage a lot of my files to avoid filling the SSD after a while.

 

The Samsung Windows disc is a standard Windows installer and doesn't contain any bloatware.

Note that before attempting re-installation use Samsung Recovery Solution to make a backup of the drivers and bundled software so these are available to set up the machine once you have installed the basic Windows. The backup drivers disc gives the user control over what they install using Easy Software Manager.

John

 

hey MG

you definitely do NOT need to reinstall windows. it's much simpler than that. here are the steps (there are many but they are all very easy

1. download clonezilla and xboot
2. Follow the instructions to put clonezilla on a flash drive
3. restart your computer and tap f2 (just press it continuously until you see the BIOS screen) as soon as you see an LED come on after it shuts off
4. disable fast boot (under advanced tab, use arrow keys to navigate and enter to change value) and disable booting from ssd in 'Boot options' (select the 120GB drive and press 'shift + 1' (the shift key and the number 1))
5. save changes and restart
6. it will boot to clonezilla, press enter a few times then follow the instructions (select beginner mode, local directory, then plug in an external drive to store your image there, use 'device->image')
7. when it's done saving image follow the aforementioned instructions to swap the ssd
8. turn on and now select 'restore drive from image' this time with clonezilla
9. when that's done restart and undo the changes to the bios and you're all set

if you want me to clarify any of these things LMK! i did this with the np900x4c and np900x3c. even though it may seem complicated at first glance, it's actually quite easy and much faster than reinstalling everything

 

If you flatten the SSD and wipe everything, you start with 119GB before installing the OS, apps, and personal data. That is very manageable for most people.

If you don't intend to use hibernate like me, then hibernation can be turned off in Windows. There's 4GB right there.

I also turn off system protection and delete any restore points.

So I run a lean and mean ship.

 

You can also use windows backup to create a system image on an external hd and migrate that to the new SSD. The hardest part would be getting the recovery cd onto a usb stick, unless you have a bootable usb cd drive as well. A clean install feels better though. Then you would only need to put the windows iso and samsung drivers on a thumb drive.

 

Yeah, I'd do that. I'd be running Ubuntu as my main OS anyway, but it's ncie to have Win7 as an alternate. Bugger that it can take up so much room.

Do you remember how much space you had after cleaning up the bloat with just Windows? No worries if not.

 

111GB but that can be trimmed down even further.

How much space does Ubuntu take?

 

Not sure off the top of my head (I'm not home), but I think it mentions you need at least 4.5GB for Precise, before tweaks.
http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-install-ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin/#install

 

anyone have any sort of semi educated guess as to when the next wave of this laptop will be released (hopefully with more RAM)?

if the chances of the next wave being released well after university starts up again, I think it'd be worth it to just go ahead and get one now

 

Hey guys,

I have been tracking this thread for 2 months now, just registered on the forums 2 minutes ago. I pretty much share everyone's view of loving the S9 however also want more powerful internals. After reading earlier of a 256gb i7 version in Korea I had a friend who lived there look into availability and pricing.

He reported back to me today stating that the 256gb i7 ivy bridge 13" version of the S9 ( NT900X3C-A74 - 스펙 | SAMSUNG) was retailing in Korea for around $2500. As a consequence, I wondered if you thought that's how much it would cost if they released it in the west. As if this is the case, I may as well go for the current S9 is this would be too pricey. However, if you think it may be cheaper, could be worth the wait.

Thoughts?

 

Good to know it exists! The fact that they released it already in Korea almost makes me thing they're just plain not going to in North America or Europe. Inconclusive, of course, but it feels almost less hopeful to know they actually are selling it, just not where I am.

 

I'm shocked Samsung didn't offer 8GB of memory as they stated they would at their trade shows when they demo'd this "ultrabook." Btw, does anyone know why the brightness is so poorly distributed across the screen on this PLS display?

 

fyi, the xboot utility i linked will work with nearly any iso for the most part. there are also ones specifically for dos/windows and MS has one too

just make sure to follow the bios steps i mentioned to boot from it though. also only works with one of the USB ports (non 3.0 i think?)

 

It's very unlikely they'll release a 13" S9 ivybridge with a i7 and 256gb SSD. Currently, all the 13" X3C has the same specs except for the OS. But if you do want to speculate on pricing if and when they do release a i7 with 256 SSD model, it probably won't be more than $1800 in the US. But this price is just speculation based on 15" S9 model, the NP900X4C-A03US. Based on the specs, you can see that it has a i7 and 256gb SSD for $1800, and the 15" looks like it's $100 more than the 13" variant for the same hardware. So if they do release a 13" with the same hardware as the NP900X4C-A03US, it should be around $1700. The price tag of $2500 is waaay to high if it's going to be sold in the US.

I've been following this thread and the Asus zenbook prime thread for quite a while too. Can't decide which one to get.

 

The RAM is certainly more of a limitation than i5 vs i7 IMO.

If you want 256 just install a new SSD! no need to wait for another model

mydigitaldiscount has a 256 sata iii msata drive for ~200$

Personally I wish they still made RS-MMC's (or Samsung hadn't made the decision to make the SD card slot half length).

I found some folks in the Dell Mini forums who hacked an SD card to be half length so they could leave it permanently in the laptop (increasing storage).

It's funny, I tried to do the exact same thing when I got my x3b lol

But seriously, it's too bad, you can get a 64/128GB SD card for a lot cheaper than upgrading to 256GB msata

 

Thanks everyone for the input on installing an SSD and getting up and running again. I'll report back once I do this. I may not do it until Windows 8 is released. That way, I can do a clean install of a new OS right after installing the new SSD.

I've been living with the machine for about a week and a half now and couldn't be happier. Once I get the new SSD up and running, it will eliminate my only real complaint thus far (lack of space).

 

I've been watching both, too. However, I just got back from Future Shop and I'm smitten. The quality and feel and look of the SS9 is just so much better than I thought possible. Admittedly, they only had the previous generation of the Zenbook, but even with improvements, I don't think it can compare. I'm willing to settle for lower specs for the quality feel.

That being said, I'm likely going to wait a month to see if Samsung does come out with a higher specced version. I also will have to sort out getting the US version as the Canadian has multilingual markings that I prefer not to have.


I think you're probably right that if we end up with the i7, it will be $1700-1800. I'd pay that. It'd be interesting to see how much their 128GB version is in Korea and compute it proportionally.

 

I think I will wait until they get 8gb of ram and a samsung SSD. otherwise it's perfect.

 

And a decent keyboard. Then it really will be.


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It would most likely be the same price as its bigger brother, if they ever get off their a$$. The $100 difference is due to the RAM.

 

I'm curious as how people here can make claims that the SS9 has the best build quality when they have not even gotten a chance to use other new ones like the Asus Prime...

 

One guy compared it to the UX31E, I guess build quality is pretty much the same on UX31E and UX31A.

What I'm wondering is if the PLS indeed is competitive with IPS. Very hard to find tests, but I have some indication that black/contrast suffer on the PLS when you tilt the screen back/forward. Colors seems fine from all viewpoints, but not black/contrast of dark colors. Can anyone comment ?

 

How does one define best?

 

As good as or better than Macbook Air/Pro

 

I compared the S9 to the UX31 in store. The look & feel of the S9 impressed me, the UX31 looked like a Toshiba with a shiny (IMO chintzy-looking) lid & a thick bezel like you get on the HP ProBooks.

Everything about the S9 (with the exception of the slightly plasticky keyboard & overly clunky mouse click mechanism) screams quality.

Brand image is another thing though. Samsung were always very average but have really upped their game in recent years, taking the fight to Sony for TVs and Apple for phones & laptops. I feel they will only get better.

ASUS to me have a more low rent image, on a par with Toshiba. Until the UX31, nothing they made looked stylish or was made of premium materials. And that logo is a real shocker!

Frosted glass look of the Apple beats the tacky ASUS every day. Only a small point but so very crucial in these modern, superficial days of marketing & image.

The other factor in build quality aside from chassis construction is the robustness of the internal components. Given these are largely all Intel/Samsung anyway there's not much to chose between the brands.


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Alright, so I asked my friend to double check the NT900X3C-A74 (S9 13" Ivy Bridge i7 with 256GB) and he said he found some websites which list it at $2000 so I am going to go for it. I only use laptop for light browing and things of that sort so don't need more than 4GB of RAM however, I would appreciate the speed upgrade and the additional space.

Just hope they don't have some Korean version of windows otherwise will just wipe and reinstall a western version. Wish me luck, will report back.

 

I wish you luck and damn you all at the same time. I'd be running Ubuntu anyway, so if only I had a friend in Korea...

 

ok, so I picked up one of these today, first impressions (30 minutes use):

- keyboard takes a little getting used to, don't know if the keys are smaller or if it the travel that is less than I'm used to on my prev laptop. (Acer 3810)

- It looks really good. Better in real life than any picture/video.

- Screen is absolute beautiful, wow what an upgrade.

- I like the trackpad, for those who complain about click noise, it was worse on my old laptop, and I usually just tap annyways. The noise in the space key is more noticable imo. I have some more comment on trackpad use in google chrome:

- 2 finger scrolling is really nice and smooth, but it fail sometimes, sometimes it doesn't register and I have to push harder. Also sometimes it does a zoom step rather than scroll.

- Although 2 finger scrolling is super smooth, zoom/resize is not, basically it's really bad, why can smartphones do this and such a "high-end" computer fail so bad ?

- It gets a little bit hotter than I was hoping for. During normal web browsing etc it gets hot on bottom, not burn hot, but you notice it's hotter in some parts, but barely noticable on top. During 1080p youtube vid it gets noticable hot on top also. I would rather have tha fan speed up a little in these situations rather than heating the laptop.

- The speakers are really loud, can't really say they are good, but compared to my old computer they are really nice with more bass.

- It has the "sucky ??" Sandisk U100 SSD, but as you all know it boots superfast, way faster than competition with "good" ssd, don't know why.


Thats it, some first impressions, if you have question feel free to ask.

 

Flash sites and video hit the performance hard of every machine I have and drive up the heat.

As a test, I started turning off GPU (hardware) acceleration in the browser. On average, this dropped the heat by 10C.

Still testing but it's something to keep in mind.

 

wow 10c thats a lot, but did you turn off for just flash or for browser ?

 

I turned off hardware acceleration in the browser. Thus, back to the old school software based rendering. Old school being what all of the browsers used last year. You do lose some performance.

 

Okay, this may sound strange, but if you have an account at Glitch their flash game is really tough on some computers. Might be a good test or at least a point of comparison.

 

I've been using the FlashBlock add-on for Firefox for some years to avoid unnecessary Flash stuff wasting power.

John

 

I've had no issues with the keyboard. It's very good. It took a little getting used to. I'm not sure how to describe it, but the keys feel "tight" to me. Not so much a travel issue. But, after a couple days of use, I don't notice at all. In fact, I'd say the keyboard and trackpad are very good performers.

 

Having spent a lot of time with the MBA, yes, the build quality of the SS9 most certainly rivals the MBA. And the SS9 exceeds the MBA in form factor and aesthetics. I can't speak for the Pro, since I haven't played with any of the more recent models.

 

Wondering if you've considered purchasing and then upgrading the SSD yourself (around $300). That's what I'm planning to do. It would be a cheaper option. I guess it just depends on how important the speed bump is to you. I've often heard that the i5 to i7 jump isn't terribly significant, but I don't know that for sure.

 

Hi there, have my NP900X3C for a couple of days now and I really love it. However, I do have one Problem. I am not able to install Windows in UEFI mode. When I try to do so, Windows starts loading form USB drive or external DVD but the machines freezes once the Windows logo appears. When installing in BIOS legacy mode everything works fine. Anyone out there managed to install Windows in UEFI mode?

Thanks - Chris

 

Is there a way to upgrade RAM on this notebook? 4GB will be enough in most cases but RAM is cheap so it would be nice to plug in a 8GB module.

 

Half of this thread are rants about the 4GB RAM soldered on system board, i.e. non-upgradable. Still, there is this australian seller that offers free RAM upgrade, but I am not sure how much this info can be trusted.
SAMSUNG NP900X3C Core i5 3317UM IVY BRIDGE 13.3" 128GB SSD 8GB RAM 13" ULTRABOOK | eBay

 

Go for it. Let us know how it works out for you.

 

Some are rants, others are grumbles. However, there's not much else for people to complain about with this impressive little package.

Given that the ebay advert includes a picture of the X3A, which has 2 SODIMM slots, I'm not convinced that the seller knows all the differences between the models.

John

 

Anyone else here have an opinion on this? I am THIS CLOSE to picking up a MacBook Air (my first Mac).

 

Sure, do you want Windows or OSX?

 

I'm not sure this discussion belongs in the Samsung thread. But if you want to take it offline, I will be happy to discuss the pros and cons with you in private mail.

I have had nearly all the machines you have been considering including the MacBook Air. I have a Retina MacBook Pro sitting right here and have been using it for a week.

I can certainly advise you on a migration or co-existence strategy with apps and data. You really have four significant options. OS X, OS X with virtualization, Dual boot with Windows (bootcamp), or Windows only. I guess there might be a fifth option of Linux only, but I haven't tried that on any of my Macs so I can't attest to it. I run linix in a VM.

 

I welcome that with open arms. Thank you! My Sony finally died so its time to get serious about a purchase.

 

Silly aesthetic question: do the stickers (Windows, Intel, etc) come off cleanly and easily?

 

There are no stickers. It's etched on the bottom of the laptop


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