2016/17 ATIV Book 9 with Kaby Lake COMING SOON: 13.3" and 15.0" versions

Or if it starts exploding

 

You may want to consider the new X1 Carbon (Kaby Lake version) which has a 14" screen in a 13" form factor.

Battery life claims to be 15.5 hours and weighs less than 2.5 lbs.

 

The low-weight, small-battery version of the 15" has been removed from Samsung's website. See my post #136.

 

Do you mean the NP900X5N-L01US which Samsung's website says will ship in the week of 12th March? Or is that a web page which should have been taken offline?

John

 

"Also note that there are significant layout differences between the UK and US keyboards (different shape / size enter and shift keys to start with and some other keys have moved around)."

This is what worries me in regards to purchasing the Odyssey. I'm also from the UK and at one point I thought of replacing the keyboard on my 770z5e with a US black version as I couldn't find that colour in the UK. In the end I thought it was better to stick with the keyboard layout I know best.

 

Does it has air outlet for fan? If does, it seems the outlet is located at the rotor.... so hot air will blow directly to the screen.....
heat will affect the led screen performance right?

 

Several notebook designs (the Dell XPS15 9550 comes to mind) have the fan outlet pointing at the bottom of the screen without any ill-effects.

John

 

The K01US with the smaller battery has been removed from Samsung's website and listed as discontinuted at other merchants. Only the L01US and X01US are on Samsung's website and available for preorder.

 

LG just released their newest Gram laptops. They seem very comparable to the Notebook 9 and I'm thinking of getting the 15.6" i5 - slightly slower processor but a bigger screen and $50 cheaper...

 

When is the Kaby Lake LG shipping?

 

The LG Gram is shipping now in 13.3, 14.0, and 15.6 models.

 

i7 Version (16GB RAM, 512 GB SSD)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7RYBXF/ref=s9_dcacsd_bhz_bw_c_x_4_w
says "Usually ships within 1 to 2 months."

Edit: you are correct. The i5/8GB/256GB version is shipping now:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N22876J?ref=emc_b_5_t

 

That flex in the keyboard would be a deal breaker for me. It's obviously one of the biggest drawbacks to being super light. The other obvious one being poor battery life. Those are two big strikes against this model.

 

Yea, I'm gonna have to try it out in the store to see if I like the feel of the keyboard. The 2016 keyboard felt shallow and hard.

 

I have been keeping up with the LG Gram 2017 videos that have been coming out of Korean youtube as of late, but I also came across some interesting videos comparing the LG "All-Day" Gram 15 with the "Samsung Always 15" with the 66whr battery. I don't speak Korean but you can use chrome to translate the comments to get the gist of what the OP thinks.


I also posted a comment on this video (where he compares battery life of the Gram 13, 15 and Samsung 15 EX {940MX version}), asking his opinion on the comparison, and he responded in english with a helpful summary.

His response -
"Screen : LG > Samsung ,
performance : Samsung > LG ,
Touch Pad : Samsung > LG ,
Fan Low Noise : Samsung > LG ,
Battery : Samsung EX(66Wh) = LG (60Wh)
USB Charge : Samsung > LG
Camera Positon : Samsung > LG
Sound : Samsung > LG"



In the next video, a channel called notegear tears apart the Gram 15 and Samsung 15 EX-L which is the integrated version of the Samsung 15 EX

 

Here's another video of notegear testing the durability of the top cover of the new Samsung 13 vs the LG Gram 13. The Samsung doesn't fare very well in this test. I don't know how relevant this test is to real world conditions, but it's worth posting. Also, maybe the 15" version is more durable.


Here he is testing the "cushioning" of the laptops, which is especially significant on the Samsung.

 

Wow... Samsung has the better trackpad. LG has terrible reflections and Samsung flickers?

 

People mentioned the flickering in the comments and it looks like he's saying that it's just a how his camera captures the Samsung screen's refresh rate. It's not visible to the naked eye.

As for the LG screen glare - I noticed that, too. Makes me wonder why he said the LG screen is better than the Samsung. The reflectivity certainly isn't better in the LG.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

 

Any anti-glare coating diffuses the image on the screen which makes it less clear so, under the optimum lighting conditions, the uncoated screen looks better. However, get a few lights in the wrong place and it becomes difficult to use. There is, however, less need for a heavy anti-glare coating on recent displays with excellent viewing angles as it easy to adjust the display angle to minimise reflections without making the image quality worse (a big problem with panels with poor viewing angles).

John

 

Good point. I wasnt a very big fan my Spin 9's screen and I think a lot of that had to do with the aggressive (and effective) anti glare coating making the screen look washed out.

 

B&H lists the expected availability of the 15" Ext as 3/10/17 and the 15" L01US as 4/7/17.

Additionally, BuyDig has all the new LG Gram models in stock.

 

I ordered the new 2017 LG Gram 15.6". Here are my impressions after a few hours of usage.

Pros: The screen is stunning. Extremely thin bezels, bright & colorful display. It is of course incredibly light and thin with a good assortment of ports. And the ports are nicely spaced out, not crammed too close together like some other ultrabooks. Battery life seems very solid; out of the box it was at 50% charge and I got about 4.5 hours of light browsing with the screen continuously on. So I would guess 8-10 hours with battery break in. The trackpad is also very responsive, and feels nice to the touch. I didn't have any problems with two-finger gestures or tap to click. Build quality overall seems great.

Cons: Keyboard is very disappointing. The keys are spongy and I had a lot of missed keystrokes, especially with the spacebar. On a $1200 laptop I would hope for a much better keyboard, but the keys are plastic and seem flimsy. Backlighting works just fine though. Another con is that although it's made of magnesium, it doesn't really feel metal. It honestly feels more like plastic. Lastly, the speakers are just atrocious. I have never heard such bad speakers on a laptop. They're even worse than a cheap prepaid smartphone. The speakers are on the bottom edge of the laptop on the sides. At 100% volume I had trouble hearing them. They are stereo but that emphasizes their low quality, because the sound bounces between the 1 watt speakers on either side. I don't expect much in terms of sound quality from any laptop, but these were just terrible. However, LG says they have an on-board DTS headphone processing that will enhance quality through the headphone jack. I have not tried it yet.

For me, the keyboard is a dealbreaker and I'll probably return it. But for those who don't care as much about spongy keyboards, and only use headphones, you'll find a lot to like about this laptop.

 

Thanks for sharing your first impressions! I can't wait to hear about people's impressions of the Samsung 9.

 

Data Vision, third party seller on Amazon, has 3 Ext models in stock with no tax for most.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01N5HXZAB/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new

 

I don't think any manufacturer has properly figured out how to fit a good keyboard into a thin notebook. One of the reviews of the new Samsung on Amazon is very critical of the keyboard but it needs someone to make a side-by-side comparison between the Samsung and the LG.

Probably the best solution is to stop chasing headline-breaking thinness so there is room for a keyboard with a bit more travel.

John

 

I agree, I'd gladly sacrifice a few tenths of an inch for a great keyboard. And some more ports...

The Acer Aspire R15 has a fantastic keyboard in a thin body. I wish other manufacturers would emulate that.

Edit - the Amazon reviews you linked to are for the 13" model. Hopefully the 15" will be better...

 

Some comparison 13" LG to Samsung

 

It seems like those reviews are for the 13.3". Anyway, I'll check them out alongside x1 carbon. I guess lenovo makes the best keyboards. I'm gonna check out the LG 14" over at Fry's today.

 

Please do. The 14" is the model I'm most interested in. I just pulled the trigger on the new 13" Spectre x360 in Ash Silver yesterday because they have a great 25% off deal going right now. If I can't deal with the battery drain people have been complaining about, I will probably return it and then I'll be looking at either the LG or Samsung again.

Does anyone know if Samsung is going to release a 13" model with a 66Wh battery sometime in the near future?

 

I doubt it. The notebook would need to get thicker which would represent a strategy U-turn although the extra thickness can then be used to provide more keyboard travel so it's a win-win situation for users.

I recently bought a Dell Latitude 7370 which has good keyboard travel because there's no fan to cool the Core M CPU (fast enough for the envisaged usage). However, the bigger battery option is only 43Whr (so 7 to 8 hours likely run time under light usage) but there's the potential to use an external battery via USB-C. Is that an option with these new Samsungs?

John

 

Yes, it is an option (at least for the smaller battery Samsung 9's. Not sure if the 66wh model can do it). Samsung is marketing this feature pretty heavily. IMO, partly because it's a nice feature, but also partly because (again, IMO) it helps them downplay the shamefully small battery in their lighter laptops.

Here is a video of the feature being demonstrated.

 

Guys. I found a video of a comparison in battery life between the LG and the Samsung for their 13.3 models.

 

Man, the Samsung has atrocious battery life. What is Samsung thinking? The external battery feature didn't even work there.

There is another video where they compared the LG and Samsung 13"ers and it was the same result. The LG lasted over twice as long while playing FHD video. I honestly can't think of any reason to get the 13" Samsung 9 over any of its competitors (HP, LG). It just doesn't offer enough upside to overcome the battery deficiency. The only case you could make to get the Samsung is if you are an extreme Samsung loyalist. In which case you'd be doing yourself a disservice.

 

The keyboards on the Series 9 (during the Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, and Haswell model years) were all excellent. The reason was due to their heavier chassis (2.5 lb) which allowed the individual keys to slide underneath the chassis. The old chassis had holes cut out for each individual key which allowed for plenty of key travel without any chassis flex when you typed. In addition, these model years also featured Samsung's awesome 1080p true matte display.

That's no longer the case with this new chassis, which instead has only one huge rectangular hole where the entire keyboard drops into from the top. That's why there's poor key travel and flex now. Of course, the 'industry leading' thinness and weight has also limited the battery size capacity.

The last few models of the Notebook 9 (Broadwell, Skylake, and now Kaby Lake versions) have had glossy reflective displays, poor keyboards, horrible battery life, and the unattractive silver color chassis. Design/asthetics and functionality wise, they don't even compare to the older models... but hey, at least they weigh about 0.7 lb less.

 

The keyboard on my Notebook 9 Spin was excellent. It would have been the perfect laptop if it had a bigger bettery (and less importantly a 1080p screen with better contrast).

 

Yes, the Spin was an isolated model (different than the base "Series/Notebook 9" models from over the years) but it only lasted for 1 design cycle. It too had the old chassis where the keyboard's keys slid up from underneath the individal holes in the chassis. That design method (which Apple has also always used) is critical because the keyboard is supported by the chassis throughout the entire surface area of the keyboard.

 

It sounded like I was disagreeing with you but I was actually agreeing.

 

Hah, I knew you were agreeing. I just wanted to point out how the older chassis style was the more premium method of build. I'm guessing that Samsung killed the Spin after 1 cycle was because it was slightly thicker than the regular Series 9, weighed close to 3 lbs (due to the addition of the Spin's unique hinge), and due to the more expensive QHD panel it used.

Check out the "Keyboard Life Test" video about halfway down on the Spin's product page, pretty cool:

http://www.samsung.com/us/computing...k-9-spin-13-3-led-qhd-core-i7-np940x3l-k01us/

 

I tried out the LG Gram 14" at Frys and I particularly liked the keyboard. I do understand how it may feel a bit flimsy or plasticky, but it did allow me to type fast and the keys felt snappy. I was going on and off between LG Gram 14" and the Macbook Pro 15, trying out both their keyboards. They're both snappy, and felt more comfort with the LG. I didn't try the speakers though, but I suspect they're tinny. Decisions, decisions.... I asked an employee when they will be getting the new Samsung laptops, and he replied that he didn't know.

 

https://www.amazon.com/LG-gram-15Z970-15-6-Laptop/dp/B01N22876j

did you get the touchscreen or non touch version?
im wondering if the non touchscreen display is as glossy as the touchscreen one?
if this would be matte, that would be my nr 1 choice, also because of the 15,6" vs 15" of the samsung..

and the dark finish looks way better than the ugly samsung silver + keys (seriously, silver keys!?).


also i am a little confused, is there a version with the 2016 design with black keys & nvidia gfx for the 15" version?

 

I think they're the same in terms of gloss finish. The dark silver design is pretty sleek too. However, my parents are like, "just get an apple." xD

 

Mine was the non-touch. I'll have to check the display.

 

Adorama is shipping the Ext version now, with no tax unless you're in NY or NJ:

https://www.adorama.com/ssgnp9x5nx01.html?gclid=CJTB5Kfex9ICFVKBswod_ZEKCQ

 

That's the 13.3" version.

 

Under "More Product Options" it says 13.3", but the model number at the top of the page is 15" (NP900X5N-X01US) and so is the picture and title. The MSRP of $1399.99 also matches the Ext's MSRP. So this is definitely the 15".

 

ABT has it now too:
http://www.abt.com/product/107149/S...rt&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=instockalert

 

B&H just released the L01US - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...900x5n_l01us_i7_7500u_8gb_256ssd_windows.html

Please somebody buy one and review it for us!

 

I know this isn't the LG forum but since it's a direct competitor for the new Samsung 15",I thought I should post:

Dave2D just posted a short review of the new 15" LG Gram