15" Series 9 NP900X4D discussion

I really don't understand why NP900X4D-A05US is much cheaper than the others. The limitations I see are 4 GB RAM and US warranty. Does these two create a price difference of about 400 USD? The other doubt I have is about TPM security, does it have it? I know that other NP900X4D have it.

 

I think they are just clearing inventory, or going after more market share. With the newegg price at $899, and the amazon price at $999, it is a pretty fantastic deal. Especially for a machine that can be upgraded easily by an experienced IT professional.

 

It is a nice deal and easy to upgrade but US only warranty is risky. I wold like to know about TPM too.

 

Anybody experiencing problems with the wi-fi? Brand new NP900X4D has just a few bars and slow speed at 8 meters away from the router while the old laptop in the house has full connectivity. When the NP900X4D is taken next to the modem the bars are full again and the speed is corrected. What might be causing this?

EDIT: Ok. I came upon this comment by a NP9004XC owner on amazon.com:

"I got this new Series 9 and immediately noticed the horrifically slow wifi. I searched and found many users having the same problem with this and earlier versions of the Series 9. I almost returned it, and then found that the problem is in the power management settings. The problem is when you are on battery power (not plugged in) the laptop uses the power saving settings. The default "maximum power saving" setting for wifi is WAY underpowered. I found that moving it up one click to "Medium power saving" fixed the wifi and at that setting it is faster than my other PCs. I don't know how much this effects battery life at this point, but it doesn't matter because there is no way to use wifi at the default setting. Good luck! ... Fyi - you must change the power setting via the Control Panel power settings, the Samsung provided Easy Systems Settings does not allow you to change the wifi power setting."

When you first got it did your NP9004XD have "maximum power saving" as default?

 

How do I check?

 

Using windows device manager, there will be a node called Security Devices and it will be listed as a device below that. Assuming of course the machine has a TPM chip and it is enabled in the BIOS. Obviously if you have controls for it in the BIOS, you have it.

 

Did you see John's review at Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C User Review ?

 

In the end the $899 price point at Newegg was too much (or little, should I say) to turn down.

In for one Samsung Series 9 NP00X4D-A05US!

I'm excited, cannot wait for this laptop to arrive.

 

It looks like the A05US may not have TPM...I don't see anything in either device manager or BIOS about it.

Awesome! You'll love it.

Looks like it's back down to $899.99 on Amazon as well.

 

Oh for heaven's sake. I was waiting for it to go to $899 on Amazon so I could use my prime for free 2nd day shipping.

Now my Newegg one is in packaging and unable to cancel haha.

Difference of about $10. I guess I should be loyal to Newegg as they had the price first

 

I read it now, but I'd heard that the wi-fi issues were fixed in the X4D model... And since nobody's complaining here, I thought they really were fixed. So is there anything I can do to fix this?

 

Yesterday I noticed when my laptop is plugged in, the vents start to make constant low-frequency noise. Not the one usually vents do, if they are needed to be on. When I disconnect my laptop, the vents go dead silent as they used to. I tried putting the "Low" mode on from Samsung settings, which limits the speed and also stops the vents - the noise was still there. Tried disconnecting again, laptop is silent.

Where could the problem be? I have almost 3 years guarantee left, but I really can't afford being away from my computer more than a day.

 

I'm waiting for $799..it will get there I think..I manged to get the X3D for $699 on Amazon by being patient. They had it at that price on and off for a couple of weeks and it hasn't been that low since. I am betting the X4D seems $799 in the next week or so.

 

First post here, but I did read the entire thread. I just bought an X4D-A01BE (belgian version, azerty keyboard).

RRP was 1200-ish EUR but the shop gave a discount equaling the normal VAT (21% here), so I ended up getting it for 985 EUR.
Now I just need to fill in the forms for Samsung's 150 EUR cashback promotion, which would bring the grand total down to 835 EUR (close to $1100 US)

Spec-wise, mine has the famous 128GB SanDisk U100 and 1x 4GB DDR3 single channel @ 799MHz, CL11-11-11-28
According to Speccy, this laptop has 4 RAM slots with only 1 being in use. I'll assume that Speccy is wrong and it has 2 slots.

I dislike bloatware, so the first thing I did was grab my external DVD drive and an OEM Win7 disk. Turned the SSD into a single partition and did a clean install.
It took me a while to find out why the function keys didn't work, but at least the search ended up with me finding this forum.

After reading this topic (and several others it links to), I am certainly going to upgrade the SSD. However I'm still having a hard time choosing between the 128GB Crucial M4 (CT128M4SSD3) and the 120GB Intel (SSDMCEAC120B301).
Both have plenty of space, although I do keep the 240 and 256GB versions in mind too, just in case I might ever need the space.
Memory-wise, I haven't decided yet. I'm thinking about upgrading to 8GB (2x 4GB), with preferrably 1.35V, 1600MHz and CL9 or faster. I just haven't figured out yet which models fit all my criteria.
The laptop is intended for a bit of browsing and some spreadsheets at work, and watching movies and playing music (all stored on a NAS) at home. So I really don't think it'd benefit from 16GB of RAM.
Once the upgrades are done, I'll be sure to check out the display calibration stuff.

Thanks for all the info. Once my brain has processed all that and stops hurting, I hope I'll be able to contribute too.

 

Amazon just fixed it. The product page now says it has a 1 year warranty.

 

Well, I did decide on the memory today.
I came across a set of Adata 8GB (2x4GB) SO-DIMM DDR3 1600MHz CL9 that used 1.35V (model AXDS1600GC4G9-2). That was the only set that ticked all my boxes, so I snatched one up.

Now I just need a new SSD. Based on the bit of info I looked at so far, I'm leaning more and more towards the 240GB Intel SSDMCEAC240B301.
The Crucial M4 just doesn't have that kind of speed. Also, the Crucial's availability is an issue according to my local e-shops.

 

The WiFi is much better than in the first generation Series 9 and, while the cover over then antennae (along the back of the chassis between the hinges) is plastic, the metal chassis and bottom of the display must still block the signal to some extent and the WiFi will never be as good as with a 3x3 installation with the antennae at the top of a plastic display. My backup arrangement for the few occasions when the internal WiFi is unusable is this external adapter. The package includes a stand and a cable so there's the option to place the antennae away from the computer where the signal is a bit better. I used it a few days ago in a hotel where the router was some distance away.

The normal power plan when running on battery limits the CPU speed so there's no need for the fan to run. I suspect that when you are on mains power then there's enough cPU activity to cause the fan to run slowly.

Is the noise only noticeable in a quiet room? Someone recently had a problem with fan noise on their Series 9 so it went to the repair center and was returned unchanged. The person then replaced the fan themselves and the noise went away. Our diagnosis was that the repair center was too noisy.

I would be interested to know how the SiSoftware Sandra Memory bandwidth test speed compares with my Crucial 1.35V CL11 RAM.

The Intel SSD has a substantial price premium for a better write speed (which is less critical for everyday usage than the read speed).
Amazon France ships to Belgium and I think some sellers have stock of the m4.

John

 

It is also now listed on the Samsung USA site at Specs - Series 9 Notebooks NP900X4D-A05US | Samsung Laptops

 

So the memory arrived this morning and the test results are in.
Based on the different logo and the different way of showing results, I must have a slightly different (newer?) version of Sandra. That shouldn't affect the results themselves though.

Aggregate Memory Performance : 20.42GB/s
Integer Memory Bandwidth B/F AVX/128 : 20.44GB/s
Float Memory Bandwidth B/F AVX/128 : 20.4GB/s

I also did a test while on battery. the results were all around the 8.50GB/s mark, so it appears that the Samsung throttles down quite a bit to preserve the battery.

Speccy lists the new memory as "8.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @798MHz (9-9-9-24)" and after some digging it would appear that the memory is actually running at 1.280V.
Then again, that same application still shows that the Series 9 has 4 memory banks, so for now I'll raise questions as to the correctness of that voltage.

The memory portion of the WEI has shot from 5.9 to 7.4 and I do feel a serious increase in performance. However I have been noticing the SSD bottleneck ever since I really started using the laptop.
Once that's sorted, I reckon I'll keep this laptop for a while. I love the design, I love the feel, I love the performance. Hell, I even like the screen because the viewing problems at angles give me more privacy when working in public.

 

II have the same issue as "elari" has. No the CPU activity doesn't change but the fan activity stops as soon as the Power connection is off and it runs on battery. I copied the settings of the low power energy profile in Windows 8 from mains to battery so the silent behavior should be the same for mains and battery mode but it is not. It seems somewhere is another trigger which controls the fan and is not listed in the energy profile. Any ideas where the option could be?

 

That's probably in the BIOS or maybe even in the hardware itself. It doesn't seem to matter what OS you're using, the fan responds the same.

 

I've just remembered to rerun the benchmark for my Crucial 1.35V 11-11-11-29 RAM using the 2013 Sandra. Your RAM is about 5% faster.



The default CPU speed when running on battery is locked down at 800MHz and, I think, all the other CPU components (GPU and memory controller) are reduced in proportion.

Yes. The basic fan operation rules are coded into the BIOS and can be changed as part of a BIOS update. They can be over-ridden in software (eg TPFanControl for Thinkpads) but no one has figured this out for Samsung notebooks.

John

 

The noise is only noticeable in a quiet room and yes, it's connected to mains power. If the power is on, sometimes when just holding hands on keyboard, I feel a distant vibration under my fingers. If you put laptop around 35-50 degrees, you'll even hear a louder fan noise. I personally think something may have gone loose. But I think I'll need that guarantee inspection. Not that I couldn't change the vents by myself but I think when having a ultrabook like this I shouldn't be supposed to.

 

I wonder if the base of the computer is touching the fan housing. This would amplify the sound. It is possible that the fan itself is loose.

John

 

So i picked up a Series 9 15". first 2 things i did...
1. upgraded the Ram to 16 gig
2. upgraded the HD to 512 (well 480, 512 raw).

Why? I use a lot of VMware guests, i actually have an entire VMware ESXi 5.0 lab running.
Great notebook and i like the screen resolution. I have used a 15" with the 1080 screen and while the colors looks great it is just to hard for me to look at. the one on my Macbook pro set at 1680x1050 is just about perfect, 1920x1080 was just to high.
1600x900 works great.
now that aside, keyboard, no issues....i have been using a thin and light for some time so i am use to the keyboard.
Trackpad, works great, battery is great.

So am very happy with it and zero complaints, but i have one question.

Due to my job i am required to have a privacy filter on my notebook.
Does anyone know what one will fit the Series 9 15"?

 

Which SSD. The Mushkin? Or did you manage to get hands on either the Samsung or Crucial? Please post more info / comments in the mSATA SSD upgrade thread.

You can check, but I don't think there's one in the Series 9 accessories thread. If you are able to trim the filter along the bottom or let the bottom hang down below the display then the Samsung 15" screen is the same width as a 16:10 15.4" screen.

John

 

I'm considering the 900X4D as my next laptop. The particular model is either A02 or A04 - is there any difference?

Does anyone know which specific SSD comes with these models? Probably the infamous Sandisk, right? Is it really that big of a bottleneck? I have very low storage requirements (in terms of GB), so 128GB is enough for me and I'd rather not spend extra "just" to upgrade the speed of the SSD.

Both of the particular models I'm considering only come with 4GB RAM, and I definitely want to upgrade to 8GB. I figure I'll just grab a single extra 4GB 1.35V 1600MHz stick and add it. Shouldn't make any difference compared to a dual channel kit, right?

My biggest concern with this particular laptop is the screen. So I'm definitely going to check it out in a store before I decide.

 

1. Which country are you in? The -A04US has a 256GB SSD. I think there's only been one report of a 256GB Sandisk U100.
2. The Sandisk U100 runs OK with light usage. The bottleneck is very poor write caching which becomes noticeable if you are opening a program which uses big data files and Windows then needs to dump a load of RAM contents to virtual memory. The likelihood of this arising is much greater with 4GB RAM than with 8GB.
3. Yes, adding a single RAM module will be fine. Whether it will run at 1.35V or 1.5V depends on whether the supplied RAM is also 1.35V. Otherwise it will run at 1.5V.

John

 

1. I'm in Denmark. Both the A04 and the A02 are shown as having a 128GB SSD. On a closer look, I think the model that's going on sale is the A02.

2. I see, so basically heavy paging makes the machine choke. Incase I decide to buy, I will be sure to upgrade to 8GB RAM ASAP and then decide if the SSD also needs an upgrade. Although I don't think it will be a big issue, as my dekstop with 8GB rarely runs out of main memory and I won't be using the laptop for anything that is more memory-intensive than I currently do on the desktop.

3. Yeah, I thought so about the voltage. I'll be sure to check what is already installed first.

 

1. Please give links to the models you are considering if you want further input.

2. Yes. It made my X3B effectively freeze. I didn't have time to discover if the problem occurred on my X4C (8GB) because I needed more SSD capacity.

3. I would get the 1.35V RAM unless it is significantly more expensive.

John

 

1. The sale I spotted in a catalog is on the SANP900X4DA02 but on their website they list the NP900X4D-A04SE. However, I assume the catalog offer is correct and that that exact model is the one that will be on sale. At any rate, the specifications seem to be completely identical.

2. Effectively freeze? That sounds pretty bad, but I plan to get 8GB RAM ASAP, so hopefully that will help.

3. The price difference isn't that great - about 10% at most, so I would probably grab 1.35V DDR3.

All that said, I haven't decided on anything yet. I had a look in the store today, but the model won't be on display before tomorrow.

 

I should have clarified - it was temporarily freezing for a few seconds until the queue and reads and writes gets cleared.

John

 

Well, I went ahead and bought it

The exact model version was indeed NP900X4D-A02.

So far I am quite pleased - the looks and weight are excellent. Boot time from even a full shutdown is ridiculously fast as well.

However, I can definitely see the gripes that some people have with the screen. Colors look quite washed out and contrast is indeed quite low. I hope some calibration can somewhat make up for these shortcomings. Horizontal viewing angles seem decent enough, but vertically I only have to tilt the screen very slightly before greatly distorting the image.

I'm also not sure if it's a general trend with the Samsung Series 9, but the spacebar key on mine is a bit noisy and feels a bit iffy... nothing alarming though, but it takes away sightly from the overall experience when the keyboard is otherwise a joy to use. I noticed that a few keys like the Tab and Caps Lock keys also give a "crunch" if they are depressed in very specific places.

The trackpad feels very good, definitely better than on the Sony VAIO S that I previously bought and quickly returned.

During low/idle, it is basically inaudible too, which is a big plus in my book. With Prime95 running, I can at least hear the fan, but it's nowhere near obnoxious considering the amount of stress that Prime95 puts on the machine. During normal use, I think I will be very pleased with the noise output.

Mine came with the dreaded Sandisk U100 SSD, 128GB version.

Overall I'm decently satisfied, but I haven't yet fully decided if the screen is too big of a con.

Am I safe to use Samsung's "SW Update" tool to update drivers and software or should those preferrably be manually downloaded and installed?

 

1. Try the calibrated display profile from my post here. It should improve colour and contrast (you may need to disable any Samsung display options in Settings).
2. Run a very small screwdriver around the edges of any sticking keys to make sure they aren't catching.
3. SWUpdate is safe to use because it only offers the updates - you choose what to install. See here for BIOS updates. Also, the WiFi driver direct from Intel is newer and better than what SWupdate is offering.

John

 

First of all, thanks for all of your input!

1. I tried your calibrated display profile, but on my 900X4D it gives a fairly strong green tint. I got better results by using Windows' own calibration tool.

2. What do you mean by "catching"? If there's any dirt? I used a toothpick, and while there was some resistance, it didn't get stuck in anything.

3. Yeah, I quickly noticed that you get to select the updates. I only installed critical things such as drivers and left extra bloat like Norton and IntelliMemory uninstalled. I will be sure to grab whatever drivers I can from Intel and install them. I noticed that the WiFi driver is indeed newer.

 

1. It's possible that Samsung have adjusted the built-in colour balance for the Win 8 machines. My calibrated X4C display looks OK compared to most notebooks until I put it next to my X3B.

2. Running the small instrument around the edge of the keys will help remove any excess bits of paint or other manufacturing debris and centre the keys in the holes. My left shift key used to come back up with a delayed "click" but now is OK. The space bar is quite clicky (which annoys some people but I've long got used to it).

John

 

I can only agree with this, the space bar is quite loud compared to the other keys. Then again so is the space bar on my DiNovo Edge, or on most of the other keyboards I've ever used.
Probably has something to do with needing a different spring mechanism due to the width of a space bar.
On the Series 9 it probably attracts more attention because the rest of the keyboard is so quiet.

As for the dreaded Sandisk, I've only ran into the bottleneck a few times so far. Then again I use it a lot less intensively than my previous laptop, which was more aimed towards gaming (HP dv6-3000sb with a Mobility Radeon HD 5650 GFX card).
This one does handle games quite well, but for some reason I just don't like to put it under that kind of stress. I think I'm just not confident about the cooling system's ability to keep the temperatures at a reasonable level.
Maybe it's just too quiet compared to the HP and that triggers some subconscious alarms. After all, People buy noisy vacuum cleaners too because they think those do a better job.

The screen ... well ... I haven't calibrated mine yet and I'm still pretty pleased with it. I was going to calibrate, but then decided to hold out until I bought a new SSD. However that still hasn't happened.

 

So I have decided to return the 900X4D that I bought earlier this week.

It's thin and light, the keyboard is pretty decent (except for a few clicky keys, but that's not a big deal), the trackpad is very good, boot times are blazingly fast and during light work it is completely silent.

The subpar SSD is a bit of a bummer, but in the worst case that can be replaced. I haven't really had any performance issues with it yet, so that doesn't really bother me that much. Still, Samsung should have used one of their own SSD's here...

However, all of those nice things just can't help out its biggest weakness - the screen! Contrast is just too poor - blacks look far too gray and different colors just don't stand out well enough. Even my 5-year-old plasticy Packard Bell that I've had countless issues with seems to have a better display (glossy display, but still...). I have tried to calibrate many times to work around this issue as well as possible, but it hasn't helped that much.
Vertical viewing angles are also very bad - I only have to tilt the screen a few centimeters and the image will change greatly in color. Something I find unacceptable...

I might have gotten a very good deal on this ultrabook (compared to what it normally costs here), but the poor screen is just too big of an issue to me, so it's going back.

 

Thanks for the update. I bought one of these last year which helped get the colour and contrast better (which Samsung should be doing that at the factory). However, it doesn't fix the relatively narrow viewing angles.

We hope that the panel on the next Series 9 will be better. Samsung have indicated FHD (which I don't really need) but haven't mentioned the display technology. However, it's probably waiting for Haswell.

John

 

Unfortunately, I have no interest in FHD in a 15" screen as it simply makes text and icons too small for my taste. Yes, I know about DPI scaling in Windows, but not every application is guaranteed to work well with that.

I might look into a non-Ultrabook next as I don't really need that much portability and HD+ 15" displays seem to be few in the Ultrabook area... (I just couldn't help not buying this 900X4D as it was such a good deal). The HP ProBook 6570b looks like an option as it has much better contrast, but it unfortunately also suffers from very narrow viewing angles...

Or perhaps I'll just keep tapping away on this old Packard Bell until something better comes along

 

I have exactly the same reservation about an FHD panel. Display scaling problems why my Samsung X60plus (15.4" 1680 x 1050) didn't remain in my service for very long (although I think M$ have improved the display scaling functionality since XP). However, that panel was relatively dim which didn't help.

I was looking at the specs of the Dell E6430u. There is an HD+ panel option but I don't know the quality (the panel on my old Lenovo T420s was sub-par). However, my eyes welcome the slightly bigger 15" screen in a package that weighs less.

I'm puzzled by the way manufacturers persist with sub-par displays on most notebooks when also selling us phones and tablets that show how good the displays can be.

John

 

Had a look at a 900X4D today, I like many things about it but as mentioned the display is abysmal, for the money these things cost it's a joke.
A slightly off topic question did the 13.3 C and D models have different panels or suppliers as indeed the 15" because some people seem happy with their laptops and I have personally seen variance in 13.3 panels ?

 

AFAIK, the 13.3" panel uses Samsung's PLS (similar to IPS) technology while the 15" uses a Samsung TN panel. It is possible that there's another source for the 13.3" but no one has reported a different panel code but I doubt if there's another source for the 15" panel since it is an unusual size. I calibrated my X4C's display which considerably improved the colour and contrast - it's a lot better than the display on the T420s that I previous used.

John

 

Sure, but A 13.3" I saw the other week was like a good IPS, the one I used today was 70% as good as the first one regarding colour shift.

I'm sure a calibration would help a little but you don't have much to start with do you ? the panel can't do black.

 

It is possible that the colour differences were caused by different selections from the pre-set colour profiles in (Easy) Settings.

My 15" panel does good enough black for me. One trap that people fall into is to run the display at full brightness when colours tend to wash out. 6/8 brightness is fine for me under indoor conditions. Anything more and the white is too dazzling.

John

 

No, Colour "shift" when viewing from different angles looked different to me.

 

Indeed, I noticed it very strongly as well. Horizontally it wasn't too bad and definitely acceptable, but vertically the angles were very narrow. That and poor contrast were the two main reasons I decided to return the NP900X4D. I think if contrast had been substantially better, I could probably accept narrow vertical viewing angles, but I wasn't willing to accept both.

 

I was actually referring to the 13.3 " variance, I feel you pain with the 15", I don't know why Samsung thinks it can get away charging so much money for it, The screen and the stupid charger design with that "Kettle" Dell type plug need a rethink. If you can live with those problems you still have to buy a good SSD !!

 

Agree they should do something about the screen, hopefully haswell. But it's still the thinnest/lightest 15" on the market.

 

I've bought this Samsung (NP900X4D-01ES) 6 months ago, and I'm having problems with the internet connection. I've been searching for users describing the same problem, and I've found a message in the Samsung US website of a person describing the same problem as me. I copy literally:
"
Why does my internet disconnect when downloading/installing updates?

For about a month now, I've run across what I consider a major problem. While downloading/installing updates my internet connection is dropped. The other day I tried watching a 42 minute show on my netbook only to have it take me over an hour because I had to keep reconnecting to my internet. I do not believe there is a problem with my wireless modem/router. What is causing this problem?"

I have exactly the same problem, when I try to downloead updates the internet connection dropps, it also happens when I try to watch a video. And I also don't think that has nothing to do with problems with my wireles modem, because we use other computers with the same wireless connection and they do not have any problems.
Can somebody help me to solve this problem?
Thank you.