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

Nice find! I'm going to Fry's again this weekend to check out the Samsung Notebook 9 13.3 and try the keyboard. Gonna test the speakers too on both LG and Samsung.

 

Let us know how it goes. I wish I had a Fry's where I live. Do you know if the Microsoft store will carry either the LG or Samsung?

 

If you can, please take a video, so we can see the differences in screen and audio.

 

I doubt it. I don't think they did for last year's model.

 

Here is a video of the lg I tried out at Frys. They still don't have the new Samsungs.

 

Thanks for the video. What are your initial impressions? Was that the 14"?

Edit - Just saw at end it was the 14"

The 14" really has piqued my interest. It's nearly the same footprint of the 13" model.

I already ordered a spectrw x360 in ash silver but now I'm kind of wondering if that was a good decision. $960 after tax (i5, 8gb ram, 512gb nvme ssd) is cheaper than the LG but there is something about the LG that I really like.

 

Yea, it's the 14 inch. I liked it. It seems like a pretty sleek notebook. I just wish there were more options available (i.e 16gb of ram in the 14 inch).

 

Isn't the ram upgradeable?

 

I don't know...

 

But LG touchscreen doesn't have pen support?

 

B&H has dropped the price of the Notebook 9 Ext to $1299.

 

Samsung USA also dropped it to $1299:
http://www.samsung.com/us/computing/windows-laptops/15-18/np900x5n-x01us-np900x5n-x01us/
and you "get a FREE 128GB MEMORY CARD Now for a limited time ONLY!!"

 

PCWorld LG Gram 15 review:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3050...ghtweight-laptop-is-beyond-ultraportable.html
Can't wait for the Samsung 15 Ext reviews....

 

Interesting that they would drop it so soon after release. I'd go with B&H because there's no tax outside NY/NJ and free expedited shipping.

 

Unfortunately that review is for last year's model.

 

LG Gram 15" review from some cheeky lad that apparently has a pretty big following on youtube.

 

Hahaha

 

Well, what are your thoughts on the spectre x360? Did you get the 13 inch or the 15 inch?

I will say that I'm digging the LG design. It's somehow more aesthetically pleasing than the new Samsung Notebook 9. The Notebook 9 looks kinda of bland. I may just purchase the LG.

 

I got the 13". It isn't being delivered until the 20th because I customized it on HP's website and HP builds it after you buy it. I will let you know what my impressions are after I receive it.

I have played with the HP 13" at Best Buy and my initial impressions are that it is super premium from a looks/materials/form factor standpoint. Equal in this regard to my Samsung 9 Spin, which leads me to wonder why Samsung didn't include a bigger battery with the Spin. The HP is just as thin and weighs about the same, but has a significantly bigger battery. Samsung needs to get it together in this regard. If the Spin had better battery life I never would have sold it.

Anyways, the trackpad and touchscreen on the x360 are very responsive, and the FHD screen looks nice. I wish it had a dedicated video (hdmi) port, but I will just have to get a thunderbolt adapter or hub if I decide to keep the x360. I also like the fact that the HP (and 2017 Samsungs?)come shipped with nvme SSDs, whereas the LG has a significantly slower sata SSD. The real-world speed difference probably isn't noticeable at all, so I guess it's not a huge deal, but it is worth mentioning.

Edit* And yes, the latest x360 does have pen support and includes a pen in the box. I don't expect to use it very much (if at all) but it's nice to have I guess.

Also, I know what you mean about the looks of the Samsungs. I wasn't a fan of the looks from the moment I saw pictures. I think it's the bloated bottom (compared to the tapered bottom of the previous gen) and the single-tone silver color. It just looks boring and plain. And for sure Samsung if you are going to make your laptop look thicker than the previous gen, at least include a bigger battery in them (excluding the ex-l).

 

Nice take. I need to try them out at Best Buy. My only worry about the HPs is that they can get really loud in regard to the fans?

 

I've read people say that it gets loud during heavy load. I'll test that out and let you know. I suspect that most of the thinner i5 or i7 ultrabooks will have fan noise issues during intensive tasks. My main concern is throttling. I personally would rather have a laptop that has a noisy fan temporarily than one that throttles the CPU. If memory serves I've read that some people have reported throttling on the i7 version of the x360. I hope my i5 model doesn't do it.

 

Anyone had a fan noise issues with the LG Gram?

 

REVIEW IS OUT FOR the SAMSUNG NOTEBOOK 9 13.3"

 

Thanks for this! Good to finally have a reasonable review, albeit from someone who seems to be a Samsung fan. She acknowledges the flex and potential susceptibility to dents. Her reported battery life time doesn't seem too bad at all.

All in all, I think I'm swinging towards this model rather than the LG Gram. It is lighter, and the 13 inch is more powerful for less money. I am considering the 14 inch LG but it is a bit larger, and I'm not really into touch screens anyway....

What did you make of the review sdzzz?

 

Thanks for the video, sdzzz. You were quick with that one. It was only a couple minutes after Lisa posted it to youtube lol.

My take on the review - I'm a long time subscriber to mobiletechreview and I do think she kind of takes it easy on Samsung devices (and I'm a Samsung fan) in a lot of her reviews. I know that she didn't really stress how poor the Spin 9 battery life is in her review of that device and I can tell you first hand that battery life was an issue.

Really that is the only issue I have with this review. I'm dumbfounded by how long she's claiming the battery lasts in the 2017 Notebook 9. All of the Korean reviews and videos that I have seen don't seem to jive with her results.

Aside from that, I'm starting to warm up to the looks of this generation of the Samsung Notebook 9. I think there are benefits to the toned down look of the laptop. The Ash Silver Spectre x360 that I bought admittedly looks kind of gaudy in comparison, and I'll be more worried about scratching the dark gray/copper finish on it than I would the Notebook 9.

I do still think the Samsung would have benefited from a black keyboard though.

 

I know she reported for the 2016 model that battery life depended greatly on which browser was being used. Chrome eats battery apparently, but surprisingly, Microsoft Edge uses much less power. Let's hope some more reviews come out...

 

Well, I'm leaning more towards the Samsung 15" Ext to be honest. It's really between the 15 inch samsung and the LG Gram 15" that retails for $1699. Does anyone know if the LG Gram 15" has pen support? Not that a touch screen is an absolute must, but if it does support a wacom pen I may lean toward the LG Gram.

 

I really don't like the fact that Samsung has moved away from using their own panel and trackpad like the previous Series/ATIV 9 models. That's a couple more negatives next to the pretty unattractive (and somewhat flimsy) design, poor keyboard and battery life. Just not feeling this machine at all.

 

One person on Amazon says:

"I returned mine because screen on that laptop has serious PWM flickering." (except on full brightness)
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Note...=UTF8&qid=1489700377&sr=8-1&keywords=NP900X5N

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

(It must be the 13" model, since Amazon does not yet ship the 15".)

PWM: The method of introducing "breaks" to reduce the brightness level is called PWM (pulse width modulation). It is a cheap and effective way of controlling the light output of a LCD monitor with LEDs as it gives a huge span of brightness levels. But, as you can see, it also has drawbacks.

List of flicker free laptops:
http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-pwm-ranking-rated-by-negative-impact-on-eyesight/

 

That sucks. Seems like the only laptop with good rating that I may be interested in is the XPS 15.

 

Is there a reason you haven't considered the latest Spectre x360 15"? It has specs very similar to the Samsung EX-L, except it has a 79whr battery and unfortunately, the only screen option is 4K. On the bright side, it's supposed to be an excellent panel.

If the HP brand gives you pause, I'm in the same boat. I have never owned an HP laptop as my personal machine, and just from a brand recognition and reputation standpoint, I'm somewhat skeptical. I do know that based off of reviews and the general consensus as of late, HP has really stepped up their game with the Spectre x360 line of products. That is why I'm giving the 13" a try.

 

I'm okay with HP. My main desktops in the past were HP Pavilions, Compaqs, and the monitors I use are HP (though I prefer my old LCD monitor... for some reason LED monitors give me eyestrain).

I need to check out the hp spectre in the store. I'm considering the 15 inch, but fear that it may be too heavy to carry around. I'll take a look at both the 13 and 15 inch. It's possible I may be connecting my new laptop to an external monitor most of the time since I may lend my laptop I have now (Samsung RC510) to my aunt.

 

Those who are interested, Lisa just published her review of the x1 carbon 5th generation. Her main complaint is the fan noise:

 

Another video on LG Gram :

 

Hey guys,

I received my Samsung Notebook 9 EXT yesterday, and it is ... AWESOME! I was torn between picking up the new LG Gram 15.6" or this laptop, but after spending 30 minutes with LG Gram 14" in a local Fry's store and a few hours with the Samsung, I am glad I went with the Samsung. Here is why:

Display brightness (Samsung)
The Samsung panel is considerably brighter than the LG one. I would not call LG dim - at full brightness it is perfectly sufficient for Office work (~300 nits). The Samsung one though has 1-2 notches of extra brightness (~350nits), which is nice. It also has an outdoor mode, which makes the screen ridiculous bright (~500nits). This should hypothetically make the laptop usable outdoors, which would be a first for me. Good job Samsung!

Display glossiness (Samsung)
The panel on the LG is idiotically glossy. I mean, it is basically unusable until you put an anti-reflective screen protector on it, which will make the screen a bit fuzzy and reduce the brightness. I am not sure what the thinking here was on the LG's part. The Samsung's panel is also glossy, but only slightly so - you can comfortable work in an office / coffee environment shop without the need for anti-reflective screen protector.

Display "wow" factor (LG)
The Samsung has a very nice panel, but it does not have the same "wow" effect that the LG does - the colors tend to "pop" on the LG panel.

Display size (LG)
LG comes with 15.6" panel, while the Samsung comes with a 15" one. I would have preferred the 15.6" one - the 0.6" do make a noticable difference.

Visual Looks (LG)
The "Light Titan" colored Samsung actually looks a lot nicer in person than it does in pictures (unlike Apple products). Given the choice, I would go for the "Crush White" or "Coral Blue' one though as those are simply gorgeous, but they are not available in the US yet. Compared to the "Light Titan" Samsung, the LG does look considerably nicer. In terms of feel, LG's surface feels awesome! Samsung has a brushed metal feeling to it, which is quite nice but does not have the same wow affect that the LG has.

Keyboard (Samsung)
The keyboard on the Samsung is awesome - almost as good as the one on the Surface Book and not far off from the Lenovo ones. Typing on it is a real joy. LG's keyboard is ok at best. My first impression of LG's keyboard was very negative - the keys are very spongy and don't provide uniform feedback, with spacebar being the worst offender. That said, after typing on it for 5-10 minutes, I actually got used to it and didn't mind the slightly spongy feeling...except for the space bar - different areas of the space bar key have different sponginess to them so you have to find the sweet spot. All on all, I would not write off LG due to the keyboard - it is passable.

Touchpad (Samsung)
The touchpad on the Samsung is awesome - almost as good as the one on the Surface book, and very close to Lenovo X1 carbon one. The touchpad on the LG is absolute **** - I haven't interacted with such a terrible touchpad in a long time. The physical surface of the touchpad is fine, but it is laggy and imprecise. It is using Elan drivers and I can now see why people don't like it much. Unless you are planning on using a mouse with your laptop, I would recommend that you spend some time with the LG's touchpad to ensure that you can live with it before buying the laptop.

Battery size (Samsung)
The Samsung is rocking the 66Wh battery, while the LG has a 60Wh one. This doesn't sound like much, but it is 10% more...

Weight (LG)
LG weighs a remarkable 2.4lb, the non-EXT version of Samsung 2.6lb, and the EXT one 2.73lb. This doesn't sound like much, but 0.33lb does make a difference. The 2.1lb LG Gram 14" model that I played around with @ Fry's blew my mind.

Other things I liked about the Samsung
Noise - the Samsung laptop is surprisingly quite. When browsing the web or writing document, the fans stay off for the most part. At full load, the fans do come on but the noise they produce is very "whooshy" and not “whiny”. Compared to X1 Carbon, which always has its damn fan on for one reason or another and which is very audible, and the Surface Book which sounds like pissed off hamster running inside a running wheel, the fans on the Samsung are very quiet.
Fingerprint reader - the fingerprint reader works incredibly well. I was expecting a half-ass solution similar to what Lenovo had for years, but this one is on par with the new Macbooks if not better. Good job!
Fast SSD - uses very fast Samsung SSD. Also very easy to upgrade it, which is a big plus for me since I need about a terabyte of storage for my needs. LG Gram uses SATA III interface so it is not quite as fast as the NVMe one, but honestly both are more than sufficient for the majority of the people.

Things I didn't like about the Samsung
Keyboard backlighting - it is mediocre at best. I am used to keyboard backlighting on the Lenovo and Macbook laptops - nice, bright white backlight, covering the entire key that can be left on during the day time. The backlighting on the Samsung (as well as on the Surface Book) is exactly the opposite of that - it is dim even at the brightest setting, it is lime green instead of white, it does not cover the entire key so part of the key ends up being dark, and if you turn it on during the daytime it actually makes it more difficult to see the keys. The keyboard lighting on the Surface Book behaves exactly the same. Why? Why was it so difficult to copy what Lenovo or Apple did? One last gripe about the backlighting - there is only one key (instead of traditional two) on the keyboard which is used to toggle between Off->Low->Med->High settings...but there is a dedicated button for turning off the touchpad…sigh. I didn't check the backlighting on the LG Gram laptop.
Speakers - the quality of the sound coming from the speakers is quite good, but there are two problems with the speakers - they are pointing down, which creates a feeling that the sound is coming from somewhere below/behind the laptop, and the volume level is on the low side. If you are in a quiet room and put the laptop on the table (to make the sound bounce off the surface), the volume and the quality of the sounds are acceptable. In other scenarios, I would recommend bringing a pair of headphones. Based on what I read, the speakers on the LG are nothing to write home about either. Fun fact - by far the best laptop speakers I have come across were on the tiny 12" Macbook. Not only they sounded amazing, but also were remarkably loud.

Overall
If LG put a better anti-glare coating on its display, used a less spongy keyboard (preferably w/o the numpad) and replaced the horrible touchpad, I would have bought it in a heart bit since it has a bigger 15.6" panel and weighs 0.33lb less. As is, the Samsung is simply a much better all-around laptop that gets always everything right.

 

Thank you for the detailed review!
1. Could you run the PCMark 8 benchmark on it? https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/pcmark-8-download.html
2. Did you notice any "PWM flickering" when the brightness is not turned on full?

 

I did not notice any flickering. Here are benchmark results:

PCMark (Home - Accelerated) [ http://www.3dmark.com/pcm8/18693792]


3D Mark (Time Spy) [ http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/18694176]


Crystal Disk Mark


GPU Overclock settings

 

There is a review of the 13" version on Amazon which makes the construction appear incredibly cheap. I'm trying to link it below, but the title is "It's thin and light because it's made of cheap plastic". Can you confirm that the 15" EXT does not show this level of flex? I really want the EXT to be my next laptop but since Amazon persists in combining different sized models onto one page, I saw this 13" review and makes me wary.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Note...Type=all_reviews&sortBy=recent#R2HSCEZ7U72O7V

 

Short:
Wow, that video makes the 13.3" version look iffy. And no the Samsung 15" EXT does not have that amount of flex in the keyboard area. It has a little bit of flex directly in the middle of the keyboard, but it is not noticeable when you are typing on the keyboard, only when you are pushing down on the buttons with a lot of force and looking at the keyboard from the table level. But then even the metal version of Samsung 9 and Microsoft Surface Book, both of which are almost bullet proof, have some level of flex in the keyboard area.

Long:
All of the light laptops have some sort of the flex, so if you are looking for the same rigid construction that you find in heavier laptops such as Macbook Pro, Dell XPS 15, Lenovo W series, Microsoft Surface Book, or the metal version of Samsung 9, you will not find it here. The laptop does feel a bit delicate, but it does not feel cheap or flimsy like some of the Chromebooks. I would not recommend throwing it into the backpack with a lot of heavy books or leaving it in the trunk of the car with a bunch of stuff on top of it - this is more of a put it in a backpack along with your lunch and jacket type of a laptop. The same goes for LG Gram notebooks - they are not heavy duty. If you want a more rigid construction, I would recommend looking the metal version of this laptop - linky. It is not available in US yet, but I am assuming it would be sometime soon. Alternatively, you can pick up the last year's version of the Notebook 9 - linky - it is slightly heavier at 2.9lb, has a smaller 39Wh battery, but it is more tanky. My wife has a 13.3" Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus ( linky), and that thing is a beast compared to this laptop with no flex of any kind, but it weighs 3.06lb and only has a 40Wh battery. But it did survive two years of abuse by wife, which involved constantly putting 10-20lb of books on top of it, and then another 120lb in the form of the girl seating on top of it and drinking a bubble tea. I would not recommend doing that with this laptop. So unfortunately, it's still all about compromises.

Body
The main body of the laptop feels solid with virtually no flex at all:

• Back: tiny bit of flex in the middle of the back cover.
• Left/right side of touchpad: no flex at all
• Keyboard: there is a little bit of flex in the area around the spacebar and top portion of the touchpad. Interestingly enough, I only noticed it when I was making the video about the flex - it does not feel flimsy or flexy as you are typing in it at all.
• Side-to-side rigidity: no flex at all

Display
This is obviously the weak spot since the display is incredibly thin, so there is definitely some flex here.

• Side-to-side rigidity: moderate - if you put the hands on each side of the display and pull in opposite directions, it will flex quite a bit.
• Top: moderate amount of flex in the middle of the top cover.

Here are two videos that illustrate the flex in the laptop:

Keyboard area:


Top/Bottom areas:


Compared to Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus:


Compared to Microsoft Surface Book:

 

Awesome posts, Foodie.

 

Wow, that is a fantastic analysis, thank you. I have an almost 5 year old NP900X4C that does need to be replaced. In 5 years it has very rarely left the safe confines of my living room. But it does have to battle a 13 lb cat who will use it as a personal tush warmer if I walk away from it open for too long. The amount of flex appears to be far less in the EXT than the 13 inch, which is good. I personally do not need a tank but don't want a cheap plastic toy either. This has been very helpful, thank again!

 

Awesome post!


I tried out the hp spectre x360, and for some reason my palm seems to slide over to the trackpad and make a click. It is still a good looking laptop and feels light even for the 15 inch. I was more impressed by the keyboard feedback of the dell xps 13 2 in 1 and wanted to check if it felt the same for xps 13 and 15, but they were sold out.

I'm still considering the Samsung 15 ext, but need to see it in person.

 

thanks for the videos!

wow, the 15 ext comes across absolutely cheap-ish.
when doing this on the 2016 15" there is no flex at all..

 

The 13.3" and 15.0" chassis use the same material and are equally "cheap-ish".

Let's hope that Samsung doesn't continue with this chassis version in 2018 and beyond with the 9 Series. That might be wishful thinking however, since this new chassis represents Samsung's first design change in about 7 years with the 9 Series.

I'm certain that most of us current Samsung Series/ATIV 9 owners will be looking at the X1 Carbon, Dell XPS 13/15, ASUS, and LG Grams for out next laptop upgrades if Samsung continues down this path.

 

LOL

Well, so far I'm impressed with LG Gram and Dell XPS.

 

I thought the new Samsung 9s were metal. Apparently they aren't?

 

cannot confirm that for the 2016 version. the 13" i tried had like a paperthin ground cover, even when you took it in your hand without force it already wobbled and bent and felt like the cheapest plastic. not so the 15".

 

You can get the "full metal" 16GB - 512GB SSD NT900X5M from Korea for $2299 here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAMSUNG-Not...-512GB-SSD-7th-Gen-i7-Kaby-Lake-/262623399496
(or wait until it arrives in the US.)

 

so thats the same model as the 2016 only kaby lake.
not really tempting. but this with the nvidia would be interesting.