NP900X3G - Successor to the ATIV Book 9 (not Lite or Plus) with Haswell

like John also said, i'm doubtful the rep at the MS Store was talking about the NP900X3G-S01US. that i7/8/256 model is being pre-sold at different sites for $1,699. availability isn't suppose to be until late Feb or mid-March however.

it seems more likely the rep was referring to the NP940X3G-K05US which they're selling now for $1,599:

Buy Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus NP940X3G-K05US Touchscreen Ultrabook - Microsoft Store


if it really is the ATIV 9 when you get there and not the ATIV 9 Plus, then please post some pictures.

 

Yep you were right, either the rep was ill informed or was simply lying to me. I called up tonight and its model #NP940x3G-S03, I haven't seen the S03 before but pretty sure its the the same one as your post above. The only question or hopeful thought was when I asked he said they would be available in "two weeks" maybe he thought I would be dumb enough to not double check.( my phone was dead or I would have done so on the spot). Perhaps they are getting the new ones in two weeks and he was just trying to pull a fast one with the remaining stock. Anyway, thanks for helping. I need to rid myself of this ASUS though as it magically jumps windows all the time and it is driving me insane.

 

Any update on UK availability for this?

 

It may be imminent. Sign up here to get status updates. If it doesn't show up tomorrow they will need to put in a new guesstimated date.

John

 

Thanks. I am surprised Amazon UK has no mention of it yet though.

 

If, as noted above, it is being sold as a "business" machine (to get around Intel's edict that Haswell "ultrabooks" should have a touchscreen) then Amazon might not be near the front of the queue. I see the listing for the UK model shows it has Windows 8.1 Pro. That, and the probable lack of the Ultrabook marketing subsidy, will increase the cost although Samsung have not needed to spend much money on product development.

John

 

Thanks for the punch of information you are giving. Yet, I think we miss one very important information...how long is the battery life of the NP900X3G under a few scenarios. I mean, if haswell architecture failed to increase endurance at least to 7 and 1/2 hrs or , even better, 8hrs, under an office use (that is using any of the office apps with occasional web-browsing and wifi on to check emails), then we cannot refer to NP900X3G as a "real" competitor of the haswell MBA.

I think battery endurance is the most important factor in deciding to buy or not NP900X3G...

So, help us!

Cheers,

Pietro

 

The only person to have bought one so far reported 7W power drain, but they were running Linux. I would hope it would use about 5W (ideally even less) under light usage with a dim backlight. My Sandy Bridge NP900X3B can get below 6W.

Allowing for a few spikes in power usage 7 hours should be feasible ( this web page says 8 hours).

John

 

@yuv
Thanks for sharing your experience. I was wandering if it is now safe to boot from an up to date Ubuntu image in UEFI mode (no risk of bricking it?) or it is wiser to first enable CSM (I would not care about moving Windows partition, planning to use linux as only OS).

 

This is pretty meaningless as we don't know under which load, backlight level or powersaving settings this was tested.

 

I'm should be getting my laptop early next week from Germany. I'll try to give some info about the battery then. Do I need a program to do this or just observation? I'm not so computer savvy as the rest of the forum

 

I am currently running it in UEFI mode with Ubuntu 13.0 as I didn't make a backup of the Windows partition yet. In UEFI the module samsung-laptop is blocked as it can brick your laptop by writing into NVRAM.
If you plan to remove Windows anyways I would recommend CSM as it seems from oled's posts it has better hardware support through ACPI.

 

The 7W I reported were from an unoptimized Linux usage. I am currently playing aroun with the modifications oled provided but I think I need to enable CSM mode to get the benefit from better hardware support with ACPI.

Under Windows 5W is definitely possible. I had the backlight dim at around half and was browsing the web.
Around 5W was the median I would guess. 3.5W when it was really idle and I left it alone for some seconds and with spikes to 7W when opening new sites or switching tabs. While watching Youtube videos it was drawing around 9W.
Unfortunately I did not find a good tool with which I can measure power consumption under Windows. Then ones I tried were too slow or too inacurate. Can you recommend a good one?

 

Here's the HWINFO64 summary page oled wanted to see:

I also uploaded a CrystalDisk benchmark which I ran earlier:

 

it comes with HD 4600 instead of 4400? that's interesting.

 

it's not the same. the S03 is the base i5/4/128 model and it's on sale for $1,199..

Buy Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus NP940X3G-K03US Ultrabook - Microsoft Store

whereas the S05 is $400 more, but it's the i7 model with twice the RAM and SSD space.

anyway, neither of these models are the new NP900X3G (ATIV 9).

 

Is a HD4600 even possible in an i5-4200U?

 

guess so since that's what his picture shows under GPU. though every spec sheet i've seen online (including from Samsung) says it comes with HD 4400

 

Your comments support my guesses.

BatteryBar shows battery status but it seems to only update the information for each 1% drop in battery capacity. HWiNFO's sensors used to show the discharge rate but that info has disappeared from the newest version in my collection.

I would note that the relatively low SSD write performance is a side-effect of the low SSD capacity. 256GB is about twice as fast and 512GB faster still. IIRC the X3G uses the mSATA SSD so higher capacities are easy to find.

It would be useful to run another program such as CPU-z or SiSoftware Sandra to see if that also reports the same GPU.

John

 

This is a new thread for people who are interested in Samsung's 13.3 inch ATIV BOOK 9. Its model names are NP900X3G-US01, NP900X3G-US02

I just purchased one from a physical samsung store in Korea and is en route to the US..

The specs are:
128GB/256GB SSD (mSATA)
8GB RAM
Intel i5/i7
HD4400
WiFi AC/n/b/g/a
13.3 inches
1.13 kg (finally a light haswell ultrabook.)
ANTI-GLARE (NON-REFLECTIVE SCREEN)
Non-touch screen

I will update information and put some reviews as soon as it arrives.
.
The products are currently only available in Korea and Germany.
US and Canada are expected to have them by the end of Feburary.

This laptop was released on January 6th, 2014 in Korea.


I chose this laptop over Lenovo's X1 Carbon Gen 2 and HP's Spectre primarily because this one has non-glare screen.
Current touchscreen Ultrabooks don't have anti-glare coating so any lighting can be reflected on the screen and it just becomes very annoying.
Constantly moving to many places, I needed an Ultrabook that doesn't get affected by light sources.

The price should be about $1400 in the US and $1700 for 256GB.
I purchased it for $1600 in Korea. Samsung overprices its products in Korea for its premium brand image.
But Samsung products in Korea are just the best quality and you also get the best service.
(For those who don't know, Samsung is from Korea. )


Comment any questions and I'll try to answer them.

Just keep checking this page, and soon it should be available in the US:
Series 9 13.3

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...x3g-succesor-series-9-not-ativ-plus-lite.html

Here I made a new thread for discussing this laptop.
I believe this thread is being used for Linux installation and some findings
I'll actually post some reviews and update info frequently.

 

There is far more information in this thread than just speculation.
In my opinion there is no use in or need for a new thread.

 

I agree.

I have merged that new thread into this one.

John

 

Whoever has the np900x3g, could you please tell us the battery life for general day to day office use (40-50% Brightness, Word with wifi on and intermittent internet usage)?

If you guys can squeeze 7+ hours, I'll be a happy man =)

 

yuv - is there any chance you could run these programs that John mentioned? it'd be interesting to see whether it truly comes with HD 4600 or 4400. thanks again for your efforts.

 

Wow, this notebook really continues to suprise me.
Both HWInfo and SISoft Sandra report it to have a HD4600 GT2m.
All the vendor sites in Germany list it with the HD4400.

 

Then the next test will be to see if it runs like the HD4600.

Notebookcheck has some benchmark results for this GPU. See if you can get some results in the same range. or are they more in line with the results for the HD4400? HWiNFO might show the GPU clock speed. If it does, and you select Sensors then you can see if the GPU reaches 1350MHz. If so, then Intel must have done a quiet update because the HD4600 used to feature only in GPUs of 37W and higher.

John

 

No, not according to Intel:
Intel® Core

 

I think using GPU-Z would probably be good. It'll show just about everything related to the igpu.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk 2

 

Hi all, i've just bought this laptop (couple of days ago), 256gb ssd, 8gb RAM. Somewhere on samsung website i've seen something about a function called "smart charging" that should act on battery treshold due to maintain a certain battery level (80%) even keeping the PC plugged in continuously. I've looked everywhere (including the BIOS), but nothing. Do they have removed this useful function?
Have a nice day all

 

There used to be a utility called Battery Life Extender which limited the charge to 80% but Samsung dropped it on most (all?) models in mid 2013 claiming that the latest battery technology didn't need it.

If the facility existed then you will find it in the BIOS and in Settings (Fn + F1).

John

 

I believe Samsung has dropped it with the re-branding of "Series" to "Ativ Book".
NP900X3E-A (Series 9) still has BLE while NP900X3E-K or later (Ativ Book 9) doesn't.

If the battery of recent models is still the same I'm wondering what could prove Samsungs claim.
Was it just too many people on the hotline, complaining about short battery life not knowing they had BLE (accidentally) activated!?

 

Ok, so i don't have it: thank u both for the reply. I don't belive the "latest battery doesn't need it"thing, i think oled is right. Too bad, it was a smart feature....

 

Hi Perrype,

As one of the NP900X3G owners on this forum, at your convenience, make us educated about how long is the battery life under your own real life scenarios. You should have already experienced whether the laptop lasts, using office suite and occasional web browsing with wifi on and screen at 1/2 brightness, the claimed 8hrs...
Thanks a lot on behalf of the forum, I guess!

Pietro

 

To confirm HWInfo64 is right, what does the imprint on the bottom plate say?
Eg on X3E it says "Contains Intel WLAN+BT Model 6235AN HMW", where HM means Half Mini Card.

 

Belive it or not, i used it ust one day, as i've realised it has a broken pixel: in am sendinding it back to vendor tomorrow, i expect the replace this week. The day i used it, with the max core state set un 75% (i always do it on battery if i don't need all the computing power) and with the battery on 75% i had a forecasting of 6 hours of usage left (i was surfing internet using wifi). i still didn't try office, so i can't say anything about battery life in that scenario.

 

i saw that chart too.

apparently, only the i5-4200M (37W) and i5-4200H (47W) come with HD4600, whereas the i5-4200U is only 15W, thus maybe can only handle HD4400.

hopefully the other new owners here will report their GPU specs.

 

The restock date at More Computers has slipped to 07/03/0213.

 

yuv, are you still around?
Would definitely be interesting to learn more about the GPU.

 

The imprint on the bottom plate says "Contains FCC ID: PD7260SD IC: 1000M-7260SD".
What does SD mean?

 

I just used Furmark to stress the GPU and the clock speed went not above 1000Mhz. The framerate was around 7 FPS. I will try some other benchmarks to really confirm what despite HWInfo seems like a HD4400.

Update:
I just tried GfxBench and got 42FPS for both but just saw that the HD4600 seems to be slower in the Offscreen test. I'll try another one.

Update2:
Luxmark v2.o reported the card to be a HD4400 with 20 compute units and I got 102 points in the Room scene. Looks slower than the HD4400 results at notebookcheck.com

 

any chance you could run CPU-Z?

 

I don't understand why people are still talking about what specs this laptop comes with. There is only one spec like I mentioned..
I officially checked with the head office of Samsung in gangnam, Korea.
I just got mine shipped today from samsung and it confirms with that they and the sales rep in the Samsung store told me.

 

It's because Samsung has in the past shown the bad habit of publishing false information regarding specs of their own maschines.

How do you like your 900X3G so far?

 

How about just reading the thread, it might make you understand.

One ring to rule them all..

 

It's getting confusing. So far I was only aware of:
7260HMW - Half Mini
7260NGW - NGFF (M.2)

7260SD - Sol dered?

 

Forgot to mention:
There will be an i7 model followed by the i5 model.

 

I would note that the HD4400 GPU runs at up to 1000MHz on the 4200U but up to 1100MHz on the 4500U so results should fall into two groups.

However, a further variable is the system RAM where more and faster RAM running in full dual channel will give the best results. The X3G's 11-11-11-28 RAM is not the fastest. Further variables are the driver version and whether any thermal or power limits have been imposed in the BIOS.

John

 

How is the keyboard?
I had the 900X3F and the keys felt a bit loose and were quite loud while typing or swiping your fingers gently across the keyboard. The 940X3G (Ativ 9 Plus) which I tried in stores are much tighter and make no noise.

 

Hello everyone,

I apologize for posting always the very same question...but, even though insightful, all the information about tech specs that are being gathered through this thread risk to obscure a very important point...how long the laptop lasts on battery under real life usage...This is a business laptop that it is expected to be purchase to be used on the move and basically for office automation and light web browsing (i.e. I am working outside office, I am using word or powerpoint to do a presentation and I want to check my email)...Since, by now there are at least three or four owners I think that they had the chanche to evaluate how long the battery lasts under such scenario...My question is not trivial, I am an happy owner of a NP900X3C and with 4GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD (which is not so fast...) it pretty well satisfyes me...but it "only" lasts 6.5hrs...So the haswell refresh...that with its 8GB RAM and 256 GB SSD probably is oversized for most of us...did improve battery life to at least 7.5-8hrs?
Thanks a lot guys!