15" Series 9 NP900X4D discussion

Crucial will ship the memory to Ethiopia. However, if you are wanting to buy the X4D and have it shipped to Ethiopia then you may want to look across the Atlantic. I would suggest this company from whom I bought a couple of notebooks some years ago, one of which was shipped to the Middle East. For a quick introduction you can email Scott@ .. and mention my name. Be forewarned that Ethiopian customs may want some money before you can clear the shipment.

John

 

Thank you very much as usual. How are they reliable? Can the offer payment at delivery? I will be traveling tomorrow and will replay in 3 or 4 days.

 

Yesterday ESM had an update for the Graphics Driver to version 8.15.10.2712
I was not having any trouble but installed it anyhow. I have an external monitor using extend the desktop mode. Now when the computer sleeps and wakes up, it starts up as a single screen on the laptop and when it recognizes the external monitor, the windows that were previously open on that monitor have to be moved back by me. Previously, it did not do this. Kind of mildly annoying but not enough to roll back to whatever I had as the the previous version yet.

 

Today in the mail I received a very large postcard from Samsung offering a free Targus docking station with purchase of a Samsung Series 9. They provided a url
SAMSUNG's Digital World

The terms say valid from 8/15/12 to 12/31/12 but only for purchase of a SKU for a kit which includes the docking station. This does me no good at all as I purchased the X4D in August, at which time I was unaware of the offer and nobody had the 'kit" in stock anyhow. But if anyone else is buying one you may be able to use this.

I am in the US

 

I might finally get this series 9 X4D. A friend of mine is in the UK and could bring me the laptop. Which shop (not online - as he is travelling soon) in London has cheap price for series 9 - NP900X4D - A01UK or A02DE? What are the prices? Are you there John?

That is cool offer. How do you get the dock? From the shop where the laptop is purchased? Does it work in the UK?

 

NP900X4D-A01UK is eligible for an 5 year extended warranty promotion. I think that is the only current Samsung UK notebook promotion (search here). However, the price premium in the UK of the X4D relatively to the X4C with the same hardware is substantial (both have the i5-3317M CPU and 128GB SSD (most likely Sandisk U100) but the X4D-A01UK has the Pro version of Windows.

There is a shortage of shops selling the 15" Series 9. Micro Anvika used to be an option but hasn't survived the competition with the lower overheads of the online merchants. John Lewis only sell the 13" Series 9. One possibility is the Samsung store (assuming they didn't close it once the Olympics was over).

John

 

Thank you very much for the advice. The offer is wonderful, if I could buy it.
Shall I ask me friend to make the receipt in his name or my name to get the 5 year warranty? I need to make the receipt name in his to get a VAT refund. Is the 5 year warranty international?

I chose X4D because I don't see a significant price difference in Europe with X4C. In addition, X4C is sightly lighter in weight, and I hope the poor screen of X4C is fixed by X4D.

As you said, the Samsung store is the only left. They don't have their own website so, I have to ask my friend go and check it.

 

The extended warranty only covers service in UK / Ireland (the details are here). So it's not worthwhile getting the X4D for that benefit. The X4C is currently much better value if you can arrange to get it purchased. It might be possible to arrange to get the X4D from Insight's branch in Uxbridge and do the paperwork for the VAT. However, they don't sell the X4C. Misco have a London sales office and sell both products but their prices are higher.

John

 

Oh ok, that is a bit disappointing. X4C is not available in both Misco and Uxbridge. I found this good price for X4D though. I don't know if they have local store but their name Laptopsdirect seems common. Are they just online?

Never mind, I found very bad reviews about Laptops Direct.

 

I've bought a couple of computers from Laptops Direct without problems. However, as a general rule, the lower the prices then the less help is given if there is a problem.

However, they are online only. I ordered my X4C from them but it was actually shipped from a third party distribution depot.

John

 

I found on their website that they have a showroom in Huddersfield but I am afraid of that they might sell a used or refurbished laptop. That could be the only reason why their products are about 100 pound cheaper.

Even though the price is too much for me with VAT, if I get the refund, this one at insight is fine. But I would like to see how much it costs at Samsung Store.

I asked Samsung through email if the warranty works internationally.

 

Hey guys, I'm interested in getting the x4d-a02us for christmas, after going through this thread and a bunch of other forums, I have a few questions:

1. The U100 Sandisk SSD is no good, and it has been reported to be in both 128GB and 256GB versions, I've also seen ppl saying that some versions of the ultrabook has Samsung SSD's, so does anyone know the chance of x4c, whichever model it is, comes with a 256GB Samsung SSD? It would be awesome if the samsung SSD's belong to a specific model, but it seems that this is not the case, so it seems like a gamble right now on getting a good SSD.

2. I actually prefer the silver color of the x4d over the black color of the x3d, someone before said that the magnesium alloy doesn't feel as nice as the aluminum alloy, can anyone explain how much of a difference is there between the 2 materials?

3. The x4d-a02us, which is on sale for $1999 in US Amazon here : Amazon.com: Samsung Series 9 900X4D - 15" - Core i7 3517U: Computers & Accessories
and the x4c-a07us, which is on sale for $1599 ($1699 original sale price) in US Amazon here:
Amazon.com: Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C-A07US 15-Inch Premium Ultrabook (Ash Black): Computers & Accessories

from what i can see, they have the exact same specs, including 1yr warranty, and the only difference is one is black/aluminum alloy, and the other is silver/magnesium alloy. Is this the only reason for the $300 difference in price?

Thanks for the help!

 

I recall one report of someone getting a 256GB U100. Most of the 256GB Series 9s seem to be shipping with a Liteon SSD which is on a par with the Samsung. However, don't discount getting a 128GB version if the price difference is enough to cover the cost of a 256GB Crucial m4 mSATA.

Having seen an X4D on display last week, I'm happy I've got the C. I prefer the dark surround to the screen and the keys - it helps them to stand out. However, others prefer the unpainted metal which has the advantage that scratches won't show.

John

 

Thanks so much for your quick reply, John. Any idea why the price difference though

 

The X4C has Windows 8 while that model of the X4D has Windows 7 Pro although this can't explain the difference. Sometimes the models with Win 7 Pro are looked on as business machines where purchasers expect longer warranties but this doesn't appear to be the case if the info on the Samsung website is correct. It's possible that the new Windows 8 models have been launched at a more reasonable price point but, in this case, the Windows 7 version hasn't been discounted.

John

 

Hello john,

I am not so sure the 3D and 4D machines that come with the magnesium chassis are unpainted. The finish on my 3D looks great but it does look as if it was painted. Time will tell how well it wears.

I really like the silver finish. It hides fingerprints and tell tale dust better than the darker color.

 

I'll look again next week at the X4D on display in Dubai airport, if it's still there. I had always assumed that the magnesium would be unpainted - that's the way it is on my Toshiba R500. It saves a little on both cost and weight.

John

 

I just picked up my NP900X4D last night and brought it home, it is an excellent and sleek machine, but my "FN" key is half slanted into the keyboard. I have used a small tool to pry it back out and it is not as slanted as before but still a little slanted is the key removable and I can replace it on or should I just get a replacement unit all together? Thanks

 

MY personal policy is zero defects. If I discover something in the return period window, it is returned or exchanged for another new machine.

A key defect like you describe could manifest in the key cap coming off. Of course this will only occur after the return period and when it is most inconvenient.

Therefore, if getting a replacement isn't a hassle for you, I would do it.

 

yeah, I have the same policy as you. I am going to go and return the defective one today and then pickup the new on the next day. Good thing for no hassle returns.

 

I've adquired a 15" Series 9 NP900X4D-01ES (Spain) some days ago. Here it's the 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD version.
I've just had a few days to work with it but I'm quite happy. I've always had 10" to 12" ultrabook (Sony VAIO) so it's been for me a big change to have a 15 " screen in a 3.48 lbs (1,6 kg) computer.
Battery life is supposed to be 10 hours long, but even setting less screen brightness I don't think it would last more than 7 hours. Anyway, 7 hours it's really a good battery life. My best Sony Vaio had a 5 hours battery life and I could take it out to work without carrying the charger.
In Spain the 15 " Serie 9 costs 1200 €.

 

John the NP900X4D-01ES I've bought here in Spain comes with Windows 8.

 

The difference between 10 and 7 hours is likely to be two factors:

(i) The power used by wireless devices (WiFi and Bluetooth). Even if you are not using the connection, the devices may be searching for connections.
(ii) Software that is using the CPU. Having a web browser open is likely to be a significant power drain because there may be animations running in the background or pages that are automatically checking for updates. Open the Processes tab in Task Manager to see what is using the CPU.

I've had my X4C report more than 10 hours remaining when I've been off-line and browsing a Word or PDF file. Whether I could ever get to 10 hours is another matter because short bursts of activity can briefly double or treble the power consumption but, so far, I've never needed to find out.

Different countries and different models with different release dates can result in different versions of Windows. I don't know whether Samsung are still actively shipping Windows 7 versions. Sensibly they should be, to appeal to business purchasers.

John

 

I've just opened the Task Manager and there are 52 background processes running!!! How can it be if I only have opened the Internet Explorer and the Task Manager?????

 

I've weighed it at home, it weighs 1.60kg. It's probably too it weighs 1.58 kg, because my weight scale is 1.50 then 1.60...

 

Hello all,

I am contemplating buying the X4D and I'd like to thank every one on this thread and forum, you helped a lot with useful information, first impressions, advice... You guys rock!

There are still things that refrain me to buying this laptop though, and i thought i'd come and ask about it here. My budget for the next laptop is not that big that i would normally even consider an ultrabook such as this - I considered 1000€ to be the max i was willing to spend. Then I came accross this model that can be found for prices within my budget these days and was thrilled because it ticks all my boxes plus a couple of "optional boxes" *and* looks sleek and cool.
Now I am really puzzled as to why the prices differ so much from country to country. In the US, amazon sells it for the equivalent of ca. 850€ (although i suspect this is before sales taxes, so let's say 950€ in California) ; in Germany, where i live, i found it priced from 950 to 1050€, and then in France, whose keyboard layout i would prefer, it sells at the cheapest 1150, with mainstream stores pricing it at 1200+. The latter sub-model does come with 8GB of ram instead of 4, but that hardly accounts for taking it out of my budget imho.
So first, is it known why prices can differ so much? Is it samsung policy, local stock-dictated? Just taking amazon as a reference, there's a 35% price jump from Canada/US to France, with the only differences i could detect being the keyboard layout and 4GB more RAM.

Second, I am contemplating buying locally and replace the keyboard. Now, provided i can find the keyboard i want somewhere, and it happens to be the exact fitting model, how much of a hassle would it be the swap keyboards? I did dismantle laptops in the past (just twice, but without breaking anything) up to the point where you can take the keyboard off and put it back, but this being an ultrabook, i suspect the task could be significantly more challenging and riskier. What's your opinion on that?

And last, because i wouldn't terribly mind a US keyboard layout, is it possible in your opinion to get this laptop delivered to Europe from a US online store (i do prefer dealing with well established stores with good consumers' feedback), knowing that amazon for example won't, on the probable ground that one is expected to go to their country's version of the website to make the purchase? Would that cause a terrible hit on the warranty, or is it always possible to simply turn to Samsung people in whatever country you live in?

Sorry about the long post and many questions, it got a bit out of control...

 

I agree that the Samsung Series 9 pricing is very variable between both models and countries. I presume that the German version you are looking at is this one where the main drawback is the 4GB RAM. Possibly another reason for the attractive pricing is Windows 7 which some may consider to be obsolete (but you may prefer it). However this is easily fixable with a screwdriver (see here for an inside view of the physically identical X4C. Perhaps Samsung assuming that the they can get people interested in the model by having a bottom of range version with some compromises (in some countries they are offering a version with the Sandy Bridge platform inside) but many people then opt for a more expensive version on the grounds of no officially user-changeable parts. You may also find that the 128GB SSD is the Sandisk U100 but this can be (unofficially) upgraded. Don't exclude the NP900X4C from your consideration. The difference is that is is painted aluminium rather than magnesium.

Regarding import from the USA, don't forget that you will have to pay VAT on imported computers, plus the courier is likely to cost around €100.

John

 

Thanks John! I already saw your report on changing the SSD drive, as you cite it earlier, and it is actually what made me more confident about buying this and upgrade it - it looks fairly easy to acces that side of the insides, and i expected much worse, perhaps naively, for this kind of very slim design.

I am considering the X4C as well, also the 13.3inch models, only i couldn't find such good prices. All things equal i'd go for the X4D though, but when are all things really equal...

There are two sub-versions widely available on the german market at the moment - A02 which you linked to, and A03 ( here on amazon). Oddly, the latter features win8 and prices 30 to 50 euros less on average i believe. I might have missed other differences... With the W8 upgrade for 15 euro though, i don't really count this as a major factor anyhow. Last remark for people in Germany: samsung has a "free plane ticket" to some european cities offer on the purchase of certain of their products, including a bunch of the 900 series laptops. The only X4D included in the offer is the A02DE, ie the slightly more expensive, win7 one.


You opened the case on the X4C. Would you think that changing the keyboard is doable? It must add a couple steps in the dismantling, which i could be fine with provided it is not too extreme. My former laptop required to take the screen off the base plate before being able to the keyboard out, for example - i'm not sure i'd trust myself to go this far on a brand new laptop.


//Edit on the german models after checking more carefully

 

That's normal.

 

I can't see anything of concern regarding the A03DE apart from the 4GB RAM. Here states that it is 1x4GB, so less cost in upgrading to 8GB than 2 x 2GB.

I don't think you would have to remove the display to change the keyboard, but you will have to remove all the electronics. It's not a task that I would embark on unless absolutely necessary and would prefer to have a manual with the right sequence of steps. Samsungparts.com in USA sell service manuals but I don't know whether there is any equivalent European source of documentation.

John

 

Kind of what I was afraid of... They do sell the service manual for the spec-comparable american models on the website you linked to and they'll ship it to Europe, albeit with a very steep 40$ shipping fee. Nice ressource to know about though, i couldn't find any european equivalent but i didn't try very hard.
I'll let go of that idea; on an older laptop, for the challenge in it, i might dare to try that, but not on a 1000€ brand new one. Thanks again John.

As for the difference in price, I'm now inclined to think it has more to do with marketing than specs. Maybe for the sake of leaving only one of two very similar models on the catalogue; German samsung do present only the A02 one on their website.
I am surprised about the 2*2GB you're refering to, didn't see that anywhere for any 900X4C/D. I wouldn't even be bothered really, it'd give 4GB ram in dual channel, i could live with that for a while.

I think i'll have to let the hollidays go by now anyhow, since i'll be travelling - who knows what prices will be out in January

 

It's unlikely that prices will go up. Ultrabook pricing is gradually working it's way downwards although I don't know of a direct competitor to the 15" Series 9. My old eyes welcome the extra size compared to 14".

John

 

Well that's encouraging
I came to like the model, its weight and looks, even though i usually tend to force myself into thinking "cheapest that does what you need, and to hell with looks". I'd really like it if i could afford it.

Earlier in this thread, someone mentioned that samsung must be up to something, with these laptops showing up at such a lower price than just months back (or in some countries, for that matter). So i guess I am still a bit worried that a new model will need these fresh X4C and X4D to be cleared out of the market, and be set at a higher, more traditional price tag. Maybe without the flaws of a sub-par SSD, a better screen, more RAM, tiny tweak to the design, and back to $2,000, or something along these lines. On the other hand, it does not seem likely that they'd do such a move in the begining of January... I'll cross fingers either way

 

Mine's also 4 GB, I´d lke to upgrade it to 8 GB, ¿ do you know how much it costs?
Thanks

 

What you need to do the upgrade depends on whether you already have 1 x 4GB (ie buy 1 x 4GB) or 2 x 2GB (ie buy 2 x 4GB). CPU-z will tell you what you have already. A single 4GB module costs around $20. I would recommend the 1.35V modules which give a small reduction on power consumption compared to the normal 1.5V modules.

John

 

Hello, first of all I wish you all a Merry Christmas,

I had just installed a fresh copy of windows 8 pro (as I upgraded the ssd) on my N900X4D A2US and I cannot find the required drivers and software for the :F: key shortcuts, mainly to adjust keyboard backlight, is there any way to get this working under Windows 8? I installed Easy Display manager and that enabled all the F keys expect F1, and the most important ones - F9 & F10. I just spoken to Samsung and they suggest BiosUpdate, will this solve my issues or cause other problems?

Thanks.

 

It seems mine is x1
Soporte para NP900X4D

 

Then you only need one more module plus a good Philips size 0 screwdriver.

John

 

Merry Christmas. Install Easy Software Update. Here is a pic of the software installed on my NP900X3D

 

The Settings program includes the Fn key drivers. A BIOS update may also fix some issues but read this thread first.

John

 

thanks for the info, I got the backlight working on the keyboard, but now I have another problem, I cannot turn of the automatic screen adjustment! its driving me crazy, the toggle was available in Samsung settings under display but not I only have the 'display color' settings and nothing else.

Is there an easy fix to resolve this?

 

See if any of the suggestions in this thread will work for you.

John

 

here is the solution to my problem,

How To Disable Auto Brightness in Windows 8 - TheUnlockrTheUnlockr

 

I have one final question that I need help with; (this should really be the last one)

1) What cable do I require to connect the the NP900X4D to a TV via a HDMI cable?

I order a micro HDMI cable on ebay and that was was way too big to fit in the tiny hdmi port, do I have to search for a super micro hdmi adapter or what? I remember looking at page 56 of the Win 8 Samsung manual and there they are using a Micro hdmi cable, but the one I have on my notebook is even smaller than the Ethernet adapter port, so I am not really sure what cable I need to connect to a tv via hdmi?

 

I bought and use For only $3.43 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 6inch 34AWG High Speed HDMI® Cable With Ethernet - HDMI® Micro Connector male to HDMI® Connector female - Black | HDMI Port Saver

 

It's possible that the seller was getting confused by the different HDMI descriptions - the range includes mini and midi sized connectors. Details of the micro connectors are here.

John

 

Anyone noticed AES-NI not available in X4D? or it is just mine? Not available in Truecrypt, Intel Processor Identification Utility or CPU-Z.
Running W8 Enterprise with all drivers from Samsung SW Update.

In this review of the X4C in shows in CPU-Z the AES flag http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=14684

Also, the screenshots of the Setting utility dont show the same settings. Munch more options in the linked review.

Samsung lazy updating drivers/software?

 

The review you cite above isn't a 15" X4C model.

 

I got my NP900X4D 4 days ago and I have to say that so far I´m quite disappointed with the performance, running it right out of the box.
It seems slow (running light applications the CPU rarely goes above 800 GHz) and the graphics seems lagging.
I have updated it running SW Update, and uninstalled Norton, IntelliMemory and the PROSet/Wireless software, but it didn't change much.
How do I get it to run smoother?

 

Run HWiNFO to check that the CPU speed is responding to workload - if there is no work to be done then it should be running at 800 MHz. It may be that Windows is doing housekeeping and optimization so you will see performance improve over a few days of usage.

However, I suspect that the cause of your problems is the U100 which chokes on multiple queued input / output. You can see my review of the Crucial m4 mSATA SSD to get an indication of how the U100 adversely affects performance.

John