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

Hey could anyone confirm about the current model (i5 8th gen) if:
- USB-C is video-capable
- NVMe is not soldered, so can be upgraded to 512GB
- this is more tricky... is the AES-NI instruction set enabled? This can be checked in CPU-Z software or VeraCrypt)

Thanks

 

- USB-C is video-capable
How do I find out?
- NVMe is not soldered, so can be upgraded to 512GB
NVMe SSD is socketed. I upgraded mine to 1TB

- this is more tricky... is the AES-NI instruction set enabled? This can be checked in CPU-Z software:

 

Good question... I've no idea. OK let's hope this will work, specs say any USB-C should work.

For the rest - thanks a lot! I was actually thinking about the 13" but I would assume it shares the same hardware.

 

Hello Edmund, sorry to bother you. I already ordered this laptop (about the same specs as yours, hasn't arrived yet), but I am a bit worried about pwm flickering. Could you please follow instructions on this link, http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ine-the-exact-lcd-screen-on-my-laptop.621714/ .On the post by tilleroftheearth (second post), it contains a small app called moninfo to give the exact name of the display. I want to know if it is the same one with pwm. I might have to cancel my order if that is the case as I do not need the headaches and health issues.
Many Thanks

 

My 15 inch monitor:
MONITOR\BOE06E8

 

Hi there, where can I find the lowest price for this model (NP900X5T-X01US 16GB)?

 

I bought mine here: https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Note...e3b0b3c9c78803e8321c3&camp=1789&creative=9325 Amazon has a very easy return policy, in case you do not like it for any reason.

 

Thanks huberth. Mine is actually the 13 inch version. The app to run is moninfo.zip which gives the full name of the display. I usually use a laptop for 2-3 years so any health issues are not welcome. I remember returning a macbook pro in 2008 because the display gave me headaches. Hope I will not have to do the same here.

 

Let us know.
I have no problems with my screen.

 

What do you think about this item and seller? https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Samsun...351748&hash=item441e2fc978:g:1cAAAOSwPbla-jR1

 

Looks good. $135 cheaper than if you bought it from Amazon. Ask for an original invoice, so you have no problems with warranty.

 

Ok, got mine today (13 inches KO1-US) and the display is terrible. Already have a headache after less than an hour of use. The colors are not that great either. My Sony Vaio Pro 13 display from 2014 is much better and even has better colors. Also have not noticed much of a difference in speed.This is a real shame to honest. I think I will just buy a new ssd for my vaio and be done with it.

 

My Review of Samsung notebook 9 2018 model, 13 inch

Build Quality
------------------
This is very good actually. Not what I was expecting as most reviewers claimed it felt like plastic and was very flimsy. Not the case at all. It feels like a strong, solid machine. There is some flex if you pull the screen but not that much. Compared to the 2017 model (judging from the videos I have seen on youtube), this version is better built. It also does not seem likely to scratch easily. But who knows? The laptop also has this weird chemical smell I find unsettling.
Keyboard is very good. Mouse is a bit slippery and not to my liking.
Ports are adequate, 2 usb3, one usb-c, 1 hdmi, 1 microsd. What I like about the ports is that they are not loose at all. They fit in very very tightly and this is good.

Performance
---------------------
Very bad. Perhaps I got a faulty unit but this does not feel like a quadcore machine at all. I have a vaio pro from 2013/14 with a haswell chip and the earliest pcie drive, and it feels much much faster than this machine. The laptop does not get hot and the fan rarely comes on which is good.
Computer freezes a lot. I get stutter watching 1080p videos which is ridiculous for an 8th gen.
Also, many times when starting the laptop, I get a cannot boot , please press F4 error. Which usually goes away after doing a hard shutdown (holding down the powerbutton and starting over). Also sometimes when laptop wakes from sleep, the same error happens. Not sure why.

Audio
-------------
Beyond terrible. You can barely hear anything. They have a low volume and lack any clarity at all, with a muffled sound. Very bad. The speakers are at the bottom of the laptop. In addition, the volume keeps getting reset to 34 out of 100. What is worse is that headphones do not improve the audio either.

Battery Life
----------------
Excellent. You can get 15 hours easily on this machine based on video tests I did anyway.

Display
------------
The original settings are terrible. But once you run samsung update and get the newer version of the samsung settings app, things improve greatly. Unfortunately the display will give you severe headaches and eyestrain if you have sensitive eyes like I do. In contrast, I can stare at my vaio pro 13 or even the nintendo switch I bought alongside this laptop for hours without any issues. The display on this machine is a complete disgrace in my humble opinion.

SUMMARY
------------------
I strongly do not recommend this laptop. You have been warned. It is not worth 1100 dollars in any way. Samsung keeps trying to be Apple which is sad. They moved away from this obsession and found incredible success with their galaxy phones. Now it is time for their laptop division to move on. I really wish Sony, a company with strong original ideas about what a laptop can and should be, still made laptops, but alas, it is no longer meant to be. Will be selling this device at the earliest opportunity.

 

I am really surprised about your Performance report. Can you run some benchmarks?
Free download of PCMark 8 here: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/pcmark-8-download.html

Note: I did not run into any of the issues you mentioned on my 15 inch x01-US model

 

Hello huberth, pcmark8 is 3gb and I currently do not have enough bandwidth as my data plan is about to expire. Might run this sometime next week. In the meantime here is crystal diskmark. All the numbers are great. The ram is 8gb ddr4, the processor is 8th gen e.t.c. But the performance is terrible. Not sure why. The only thing that works as advertised is the battery life.

 

After using fn+Q and setting to performance mode, computer is now quite fast. But why is the balanced performance mode so poor. In balanced mode, it cannot compete with a sony vaio pro from 5 years ago running on battery power and that is very strange.

Now trying to fix the booting errors I keep getting. Hubert, could you let me know what your BIOS booting settings are? Also need to find a way to find latest version of BIOS.

 

"Samsung Update" will give you the latest BIOS for your model.

You may also want to try "Online Support". I found the Samsung technicians in Korea very knowledgeable.

 

I gave up. returned it today by mail. Now looking at the LG gram or maybe even keeping my vaio pro

 

Did you buy it from a reputable retailer (Amazon, etc.) or used (ebay, etc.)?

 

It was from Amazon. Anyway this sort of thing happens from time to time. But I have never had to return a laptop before. Never even returned anything on Amazon before. Really odd.
I have a question about laptop performance. I found it odd that my vaio pro haswell with a first generation pcie ssd was faster than this samsung with a p961 ssd and quadcore processor. My vaio is quite thin but wider so I do not know if that means it is easier to cool or something but you mentioned doing something called undervolting on your machine. Is that what improved performance for you? The samsung only came alive when I switched on maximum performance but this only works on ac power so not practical.

 

Did you get Samsung Online Support to check over your system?
Did you check for malware?
Did you run PCMark 8 (which can detect specific performance issues)?

 

I did none of these things to be fair besides a malware check. The system refused to boot over and over again so not possible for samsung to check. I am beginning to think perhaps the ssd was a bit loose because in the bios, it would sometimes say sata port 1 not installed, which might be why the laptop wasn't booting.Anyway, that is the past now.

 

I got this laptop(Samung notebook 9 15).
How can I improve the sound of the built-in speakers?
And I found the touchpad bug:
The touchpad cursor stops responding for a second when I close any applications. Afterr that it appears in the place where it should be.

 

Hi, in the samsung settings app you can choose some settings for audio presets. That might help. I believe there is also a dolby app for windows 10 that you can install which might improve things. I returned mine and the sound quality of the speakers was one of my reasons for doing so

 

Hi, just going through this thread and noticed your post as I happen to have the samsung notebook 9 and xps 15 9570 right now. Trying to decide which one to keep. Both keyboards aren't great but I'd say I prefer the samsungs. It feels like their is more key travel.

I will say the main, and probably only, reason I'm thinking of returning the xps is it runs warm. With a lite load it doesn't get hot, but it never feels cool / room temperature. The samsung runs much cooler and if you aren't pushing it you won't notice any heat.

 

I know this is an older post but I thought I'd chime in on the hinge. At first I thought it was solid enough but I'm noticing more and more it's very sensitive. E.G. if you're using it on a table and that table is bumped or moves in the slightest you'll get some slight display wobble. I would not recommend to someone planning to use it on a bus or train. It's fine if you're in a fairly stable environment and I wouldn't worry about it actually losing it's position. If you pick it up to move it, it will wobble but again won't lose it's position. I also picked up an xps 15 9570 recently and it's hinge is ROCK SOLID. It's actually to the point of almost being too stiff...almost. Overall, I'd prefer if the samsung's was a bit tighter but it's not a deal breaker for most people.

 

the LAST & BEST laptop from Samsung was ATIV 9 with QHD Screen and WITHOUT PWM and aluminium chassis.
It was back in 2015. That laptop was just amazing. Since that they start putting horrible cheap 1080p only LCD panels (probably from BOE) with PWM method of controlling brightness. Disappointed with new products from Samsung, not recommend

 

Hi chaps,

I bought the Ativ book 9 15" (NP940X5J) back in 2014 (my review: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ounced-jan-6-2014.742013/page-96#post-9773853) and have recently upgraded to the new Notebook 9 15" NP900X5T-X01US.

Here's a review from me on the new laptop compared to the NP940X5J, including information on my experience of installing Linux on the new laptop.

Physically, the upgrade has gone from 2Kg to 1.3Kg which is amazing. This has allowed me to do away with my other 1Kg laptop (12-inch Ativ Book 9) which I used mainly during commuting as the NP940X5J is pretty heavy to carry around.

The screen is very slightly smaller than the NP940X5J. The display is a lot brighter, allowing the laptop to be used outside in sunlight, something the older NP940X5J was less suitable for.

The build quality has suffered a little, presumably due to the weight reduction, but I am happy with it, apart from one aspect..

I found the keyboards on the Ativ Book 9 15" and 12" really to be very high quality, solid feeling and nice to type on. The keyboard on the new NP900X5T is a big disappointment. Each key feels a little floppy/wobbly, and the plastic that Samsung has used feels quite unsatisfying compared to the keyboards on the older machines I have. This temporarily led me to abandon using the new NP900X5T for a couple of months and keep using the older machines.

I'm now finally back using the NP900X5T and am trying to get used to this new keyboard. Perhaps someone who has not owned a previous Ativ 9 model will not have this same experience with this keyboard, but it is clear that the keyboard on this new flagship laptop from Samsung has really taken a turn for the worse. I hope they address this issue in future models.

Performancewise, the NP900X5T is amazingly fast, to the point where I have started using it in place of my desktop for cpu intensive tasks.

Regarding Linux on the NP900X5T, I installed Kubuntu 18.04 after reducing the Windows partition size, and, with the exception of the dual integrated/Nvidia MX150 switchable GPU, everything works perfectly. I believe there is a third party implementation for switchable graphics on Linux, but I haven't bothered with it, as the only reason I need the MX150 is for a Windows based CAD application I occasionally run by booting into Windows.

 

I have a couple of questions regarding this computer I'd hope to see someone shine in on.

After bios fix and turning the computer into its performance mode, it's supposed to not throttle anymore if I'm correct, but how good are the temperatures when playing games? Is it good enough to even overclock? How does it behave if you throttle stop or fix it with the oh so popular XTU and undervolting or try MSI afterburner to change the GPU behaviour?

I really want to buy this expensive but light piece of laptop but I don't have the luxury of trying it out anywhere since I'm based in Europe. My personal main use regarding stressing the GPU would be dota2, LoL and diablo 3 if anyone has experience regarding these specific games then that too would be appreciated.

 

I don't run any games but I posted some game benchmarks earlier in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ok-9-13-3-15-pen.811783/page-10#post-10704064

 

It does have PWM, but it is at a much higher frequency than last year's model. Notebookcheck says the frequency should be high enough that you shouldn't have any issues.

 

Does anyone have the 15" model without the MX150? Interested to know if it has 4-lane thunderbolt 3 since there's no dGPU in that model. The U series CPUs can only do 4-lane tb3 if they don't have a dGPU taking up Lanes.

Edit: It seems the MX150 in this might only be using 2 Lanes, so there's a chance the one with the MX150 does have 4-lane tb3.

 

Can someone please check if their NP900X5T and NP900X3T has PWM Flickering type screen for control brightness? My latest Samsung was NP900X3K and it was amazing screen with beautiful resolution 3200x2400. Is there any new version of laptop (8th gen CPU) with nice IPS screen with same resolution?

 

How would you check?

 

you can check PWM with your dig.camera or smartphone. video >> manual mode >> iso maximum (example 3200) >> shutter speed - fastest possible (example 1/3200). start video recording and change brightness from 100% to 0% and you will see PWM as lots of lines if not its a good sign - no PWM

let us know about PWM on NP900X5T or NP900X3T. thanks

 

I could not change the ISO and shutter speed on my Pixel XL video camera. But I did what you said and there are no lines or any artifacts in the video. I have the NP900X5T

 

The NP900X5T does have PWM. It flickers at 2976 Hz according to Notebookcheck.

 

That's possible. I guess the camera can't see the flicker, because it is too fast.

 

Cameras are not the most reliable method for detecting PWM, especially at high frequencies.