2018 Samsung Notebook 9 (13.3" / 15" / Pen)

https://news.samsung.com/global/upg...ew-samsung-notebook-9-pen-and-notebook-9-2018

The beefy battery is welcome. Please, Samsung, give us something other than silver!

 

No black it looks like.

Still, I may have to bite, as long as the chassis isn't too flexible. It looks like a mobile powerhouse.

 

The 2018 variants of the Samsung Notebook 9 sport a 13.3-inch (900X3T & 900X3U) and 15-inch ( 900X5T, 900X5U, and Discreet Graphics 900X5T) Full HD RealViewTouch display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The notebooks are powered by an 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16GB DDR4 RAM, up to 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD, and Intel HD graphics. The 15-inch variant offers an option of upgrading to a 2GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics card. All the models will come in Titan Silver and Crush White colour variants. The Notebook 9 (2018) also has a fingerprint sensor, backlit keyboard, and precision touchpad. The Windows Hello camera - for video calls - has a 720p HD resolution. Connectivity options include two USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI port, microSD storage, and a single USB Type-C port. There is also a bundled 65W DC-in adapter. Samsung claims that the 75Wh hexacell battery on the Notebook 9 (2018) is its "largest and most powerful battery placed inside a notebook." Add to that, it also supports fast charging for the company's claimed "always on" capabilities.

The Samsung Notebook 9 Pen and Notebook 9 (2018) will be available in select countries, starting in December 2017 with South Korea, reaching the US in the first quarter of 2018. Both the Notebook 9 Pen and Notebook 9 (2018) will be displayed at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pricing will be announced closer to release.

https://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/ne...-launched-specifications-release-date-1787764

https://news.samsung.com/global/upg...ew-samsung-notebook-9-pen-and-notebook-9-2018

 

??? my NP880Z5E had 91Wh battery heh

 

again no matte display option and no black finish.
FCK.

 

Anyone know when these are releasing and at what prices?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Sometime in the first quarter, but no info on pricing. I hope they don't use a PWM display, the flicker was really bad on the 2017 model.

 

The NP900X5T-X01US showed up on Amazon today:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-NP90...56d383652a51330ace6ac&camp=1789&creative=9325"
Only 5 left in stock (more on the way).

 

Interesting. Price is pretty steep.

 

The K01US is also listed for $1,299. But the only difference between them, according to specs, is the K01US has 8/256 GB and the X01US has 16/256 GB and an MX150 graphics card.

For $1499 it really should have 512 gigs of storage.

 

It's hard to justify any laptop purchase until the metldown/spectre issue has been addressed and performance impact is known. I may wait until coffee lake and hopefully black returns.

 

That's what I was thinking. I've been in the market (sort of) for awhile, looking for a new 17-18" regular voltage laptop, preferably one that isn't solely targeting (and priced for) gamers. But once Meltdown and Spectre hit, I just stopped looking until hardware is out doesn't have a major performance penalty.

 

I agree.

I just got the NP900X5T and upgraded it with a 1TB Samsung 960 Pro.

Benchmarks:
PCMark 7: 6608 (40% faster than my i7-4500U Ativ 9 NP900X4C)
PCMark 8 Work Accelerated: 5164 (with 256GB SSD) --> 5260 (with 1 TB SSD) (40% faster than ATIV 9)
PCMark 8 Home accelerated 3.0: 3991 (initial test) 3722 (after upgrading to 1 TB SSD) (no idea why 9% lower)
Geekbench 3 (32-bit tryout mode!!!! ): 3983 / 13469
Geekbench 4: 23098 OpenCL Score UHD Graphics
Geekbench 4: 46502 OpenCL Score GeForceMX150

Note: Since there are no PCIE NVME SSD caddies available, I had to do a complete fresh Windows 10 install by downloading the Windows 10 ISO file from Microsoft and the Samsung Driver installation utility from Samsung.
Unfortunately I lost the Samsung Recovery Partition in the process. (I guess I will just have to use Windows Recovery?)
Asides from that, the upgrade was smooth.

Comments: The best computer I ever owned!!!

(Re Meltdown/Spectre : Per Fortune magazine, Intel "will need to redesign future chips and eventually replace current chips that are vulnerable." .... )

 

After Samsung 960 PRO driver installation and firmware upgrade:

 

Every current (Sky Lake, Kaby Lake, *Coffee Lake) laptop has a BGA CPU, which means soldered. A select few have LGA Desktop class: Clevo (4 models), MSi (1 model from them), and the Ryzen Asus.

*Coffee Lake yet to be released; 8th gen U CPUs are on Kaby Lake architecture... further confusing Intel's naming nonsense

 

A not so glowing review from theverge.com :
https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/15/17013638/samsung-notebook-9-pen-laptop-convertible-2in1-review

and a somewhat more complimentary review from cnet:
https://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-notebook-9-pen/review/

I am still happy with my ATIV Book 9 NP930X2K-K01US but some day I wouldn't mind giving up my iPad if I could get similar functionality and just carry around one device for both laptop and tablet use.

 

I find the Verge review very glib. He didn't even bother to run any benchmarks.

 

My Samsung Notebook 9 NP900X5T runs great. Perhaps this is why this forum is so quiet?
Samsung Notebooks are very reliable and bug free.

Does anyone have experience "undervolting" a Samsung Notebook using the Intel XTU (Extreme Tuning Utility)?
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...treme-Tuning-Utility-Intel-XTU-?product=66427

Ref:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/reduce-temps-undervolting-the-cpu.781948/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-undervolting-guide.235824/
https://www.notebookcheck.net/How-t...ife-The-ThrottleStop-Guide-2017.213140.0.html
https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-undervolt-a-cpu/
https://www.reddit.com/r/laptops/co...cpu_more_performance/?st=jdungmoa&sh=c2334fcc



I just went ahead and followed the instructions. Undervolting by -0.120V seems to be the sweet spot for my i7-8550U CPU. A 5 hour stress test confirmed it is stable. I tried to undervolt the GPU also, but it would crash even at -0.010V when I switched from A/C to battery, so I left it alone.

 

I'm looking at the NP900X3T K02US (13.3", no pen) 8550U model with the 256 M.2 SATA SSD and 8GB of RAM. The native SSD is NVMe, but I would prefer to upgrade it to an SATA 2TB 860 EVO. Will it support that? Are there any issues with also upgrading the RAM? Thanks.

 

According to: https://www.samsung.com/us/computin...ook-series-9/notebook-9-13-3--np900x3t-k02us/ the storage interface is PCIe. (NVMe). I don't think a SATA SSD would work.
Samsung's specs say "Maximum RAM: 16GB." You may want to confirm with Samsung Support that an upgrade is possible.

 

RAM is always soldered these days. Some m.2 slots support both nvme and sata, maybe @huberth can check and see if their is a setting in the bios.

 

BIOS only says NVMEe Port 1.

 

Since there are no NVMe caddies available, what is the best way to upgrade to a larger NVMe SSD?

I tried Macrium Direct and created an Image on an external USB drive. Then I booted up with the Macrium Direct Portable Edition of Windows on a USB stick, but could not figure out how to restore the image from the external USB drive to the new (blank) SSD.

I ended up doing a fresh windows install, (and then installed all the Samsung Updates,) but I lost the Samsung Recovery Partition in the process.

 

Thanks for the info. I could probably live with the RAM, but not if it doesn't accept SATA M.2 SSDs. Currently there is only one 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD, which is around $1250 and might use too much power or generate too much heat for the small laptop. A 2TB M.2 SATA is about half the cost and should be reasonable with power. Unfortunately the instruction manual is absolute rubbish with no technical info on the RAM or storage hardware. I am used to desktop motherboards M.2 slots which mostly accept SATA SSDs if they also accept PCIe NVMe SSDs.

 

It is possible that it supports SATA. One would have to try it. The fact that my BIOS says NVMEe Port 1 could just be an indication of what it finds.

Samsung designed the system for the increased power and heat of NVMe SSDs and the difference between 256GB and 2 TB is only +10%:
Samsung EVO 960 :
AVERAGE POWER CONSUMPTION (SYSTEM LEVEL)3)
Typ. 5.3 Watts (250 GB)
Typ. 5.4 Watts (500 GB)
Typ. 5.7 Watts (1000 GB)
POWER CONSUMPTION (IDLE)3) 40mW
------------------------------------------------------
Samsung 960 PRO:
AVERAGE POWER CONSUMPTION (SYSTEM LEVEL)3)
Typ. 5.1 Watts (512 GB)
Typ. 5.3 Watts (1024 GB)
Typ. 5.8 Watts (2048 GB)
POWER CONSUMPTION (IDLE)3)40mW
-----------------------------------------------------------
Samsung 860 EVO (SATA):
AVERAGE POWER CONSUMPTION (SYSTEM LEVEL)3)
250 GB: Average 2.2 W Maximum 4.0 W
500 GB: Average 2.5 W Maximum 4.0 W
1 TB: Average 3.0 W Maximum 4.5 W
2 TB: Average 3.0 W Maximum 4.5 W (Burst mode)
POWER CONSUMPTION (IDLE)3) Max. 50mW

 

Today's a great day for a deal on some crazy fast SSD storage. Amazon, B&H Photo, and Newegg are all selling the 500GB Samsung 960 Evo NVMe M.2 module for $200. https://www.pcworld.com/article/325...ung-960-evo-is-at-its-cheapest-price-yet.html

 

Editing post until I actually receive the product. Being paranoid.

 

My NP900X5T-X01US does not have the option to set up Windows 10 Face Sign-In.
After checking drivers etc, Samsung Online Support concluded that the camera of the NP900X5T does not have an IR (infra-red) camera, which is needed for Face Log-In. The 13.3 inch Pen model does have an IR camera.
I am astonished that Samsung would omit such an important feature on a $1500 laptop.
Perhaps I lost the required driver after I upgraded the SSD and re-installed Windows from scratch?
Can someone please check if their NP900X5T with original drivers allows Face Sign-In.

 

Thanks. Are there any expected issues in access? It looks like the back of the NP900X3T-K02US probably has 10 Phillips screws, but is that all or are there some funky security screws that require special tools?

 

Just the Phillips screws. No special tools or tricks needed.

 

You are correct - it does not have an IR camera for Windows Hello facial recognition. I believe the logic here is that facial recognition was needed for the Pen model because you would need it in tablet mode. With the Notebook 9 laptop, you will always be in laptop mode so it isn't necessary. Unfortunate, but it's not a deal breaker for me.

 

Have you noticed the touchpad have any issues with small jumps? For instance, when you lift your finger to single tap a weblink, the cursor moves a quarter-inch or so and you miss the link? This was an issue I experienced with the previous version of the 15" (EXT model) and I'm curious if the problem carried over to this gen.

 

No, I haven't noticed it. I'll keep a look out for it though...

PS: Have you decided on a plan on how you are going to migrate your SSD to a larger one?

 

Same. Underwhelming design/color + Spectre nonsense means I'll likely just wait.

 

Yes, of course, if you do not need a new computer right now, it is best to wait for the Intel "Ice Lake" Chips available in 2019, which will be immune to Spectre/Meltdown.
But I needed a faster computer right now and am extremely happy with the nippy performance of the NP900X5T.
Any performance degradation due to the Spectre?meltdown BIOS "fix" I will compensate by "undervolting" the CPU (see Intel XTU video earlier on this thread)

 

2019 is not an option for some of us. My newest laptop is from 2012.

 

Thanks. Now where are the Windows drivers? I go to the support link on the product page and there is nothing but the manual and warranty info.
https://www.samsung.com/us/computin...es-9/notebook-9-13-3--np900x3t-k02us/#support
Are the drivers on the Korean site under a different model number?

 

The Samsung Notebook 9 drivers are available here:
http://orcaservice.samsungmobile.com/SWUpdate.aspx

Have you decided to do a completely fresh install?

PS: There is a newer version of SWUpdate available through Samsung Online Support. Whith the version I donwloaded, I could not get "Samsung Settings" installed (Windows 10 Store kept saying it was not compatible with my system). Samsung online support first thought it was because I no longer had the "Samsung Recovery" partition on my SSD, but then they installed the latest version of Samsung Updates. Now "Samsung Settings" are installed OK. I still don't have "Samsung Recovery" partition. I guess I will have to live without it....

 

Does anyone know how to get rid of the annoying "High Volume Can Cause Hearing Loss" message?
This prompt comes up on screen every time I increase the volume level past 39 when an external loudspeaker (or headphone) is plugged in.
Installing generic Realtec audio drivers
https://appuals.com/how-to-disable-high-volume-can-cause-hearing-loss-warning/
got rid of the message, but resulted in very low audio volume. ;-)

 

A couple of questions about the 15inch model.

1) how is the hinge? On last year's model, it was pretty loose and could lose its position if you picked it up and moved the laptop.

2) someone on Amazon said the mx150 thermal throttles extremely quickly. Is this the case?

3) are there any major negatives?

 

1) The hinge feels very stable.

2) I have not noticed GPU throttling. But am not a "gamer." If you want to improve the performance of the Nvidia GPU, you can do it by "undervolting" it using "MSI Afterburner." Instructions here:


Since each chip is different, undervolting optimizes its performance. There is also a program called "Throttlestop."

3) Major negatives (but none of these are major deal breakers for me):
- Comes only with a 256GB SSD from Samsung (upgrade is possible but requires re-installing Windows from scratch).
- WebCam does not support Windows 10 Hello Face Log-In, which requires IR camera.
- Annoying "High Volume Can Cause Hearing Loss" message each time when setting Volume above 37 with loudspeakers/headphones.

 

I just ran Cinebench R15 on my NP900X5T-X01US
The OpenGL score is 78 fps (without any tuning or undervolting).
Compare to:
Samsung Notebook 9 Pro (7th gen) NP900X5N-X01US with 73 fps.
Dell XPS 13 (i7-8550U, Intel UHD Graphics 620) with 49 fps
Dell XPS 15 9560 (i7-7700 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050) with 95 fps

 

Do you have any games you can run to see how it performs at all?

 

I don't have any games. Can you recommend any non-violent game that has a free demo download?
(I tried MineCraft. It only used 20% of the GPU. I am now downloading Dirt 3 Demo...)

 

The only non violent ones I can think of that are free are "Trove" and Hearthstone".

Other than that, could you maybe just download the Heaven benchmark by Unigine and see how performs? Just make sure it's set to use the GPU in the Nvidia control panel.

 

I surely hope not to have to buy the disk and do a clean installation, but I want to have that option or update any particular driver.
I don't want to connect the notebook to the internet and would download anything on a different system. It seems to work on a desktop system.
I would also clone the old SSD to the new one in a desktop system.

 

The " Heaven" benchmark score in BASIC Settings was 10 -115 fps, with an average of 62.7 FPS and a score of 1581.
The temperature never rose above 64 C, so it looks like that there is room for optimization.

 

You wouldn't have to buy a Windows 10 disk. You can download the file free from microsoft.com The system is already licensed (in the BIOS I think) by Samsung.
Desktop cloning should work, if you have a dsktop with 2 PCIe slots.

 

By NVMe caddie, are you referring to something like this?
https://express.google.com/u/0/product/7293105595499707228_16652112452832875261_8175035

coupled with
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com...pID=41RlR-Q1siL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch ?