Samsung 15" Series 9 NP900X4B thread

Buy the 15" from someone that isn't going to hose you if you decide to return it. If they have something like a 30 day or better return period with no restocking fee, then the only money you are likely to lose is a return shipping fee.

At least then you can decide if the screen is good enough for you. It might very well be. We all have different eyes and tolerances.

 

I have found that going into the "Easy Settings" and playing with the display settings make this a very usable screen. I am using this as my main machine this week and I am very happy with the screen - the only thing I do not like about this laptop is the shallow keys - otherwise it performs great.

It took 10 minutes to upgrade to 16GB Ram and the Samsung is very responsive - I think it is hard to find anything that offers this size, upgradability and battery life out there at the moment.

 

The only hitch in that plan is my current and enduring Canadian-ness, and unwillingness to pay extortion level shipping prices. I am hoping someone will carry it shortly.

 

Thanks, I'll be putting an order in as soon as it arrives in the UK. I don't care about viewing angles as long as it's not totally washed out (as I found a Sony Vaio SA to be )

 

Corteen, what do you mean Samsung is responsive? Are you talking about this support helpdesk? What issue did they solve for you?

Glad you are happy with your screen.

 

By responsive I meant that the laptop is very responsive - I find that in day-to-day normal use it is very fast and a pleasure to work on.

As far as the screen goes, when I first received it I thought the screen was a bit disappointing but once I tried the various settings I found one that worked well.

To be honest I find it to be very acceptable for my use, and better than the ones on the XPS 13 and XPS 14z that I have.

 

Well that's good to hear. I found the screen on the XPS 13 to be only so-so.

 

I have read some reviews for both the 13 and 15 inch model now and I am a bit confused.

The 13-inch model has a high-end PLS (IPS) panel with great viewing angles and is the "best display ever seen in a notebook". In contrast the display in the 15-inch model does not have great viewing angles and isn't a PLS panel (TN Panel) for a higher price.

Can anybody confirm that?

 

You have it absolutely correct. The 15" looks like a different machine when comparing screens, and the 15" is far inferior. I've also heard the audio is superior on the 13" but not as frequently. Perhaps someone can comment on that. Overall, unless you crave the thinness, the 15" is vastly overpriced while the 13.3", while expensive, delivers super-premium features to justify the price.

 

I concur.

 

although you can get a proper amount of RAM into the 15" ;-)

 

I actually pre-ordered it......the shipping did cost quite a bit...but...i dono....getting my hands on this laptop is quite amazing....the only complaint is the screen *should* be better for this price.

J

 

Isn't it really MOSTLY the screen quality, though? In fact, if the screens were of equal quality I think the 15" would probably win. Larger screen in a relatively small body, longer battery life, more RAM, a keyboard that includes Home and End keys, etc.

 

I agree, the 15" is an all round better prospect, the only thing letting it down imo is the sub par screen.

 

Never owned a samsung laptop. Any chance they might re-source
another panel if sales aren't what was expected? Have they ever done
that before?

 

It all depends upon your view and personal preference.

I have owned many laptops (currently down to just 6 ?) and I am finding the 15" Samsung to be a great machine, the screen for me is perfect for what I need for, it reproduces color fine and is plenty bright - unlike the poor washed-out screen I had on the early Series 7 Samsing that I tried.

It is all about personal preference . . . if you like the laptop and are happy with it then great ......we are not all the same and all like/look for different things in a laptop.

 

hence the 'imo' on the post!

 

Can I ask where you per ordered from, how much the shipping was, and the return policy? Thanks

 

The underlying issues is that the 13" S9 has an excellent Samsung PLS panel and we think that the 15" should have the same even it it has an above-average TN panel. I don't know if anyone else makes a better panel of the right size should Samsung want to put one in. They probably need to tell their own factory to do it.

John

 

I just saw amazon now lists the x4b as out of stock, rather than available for pre order. Did anyone's orders ship?

 

I was under the impression that you can't upgrade the ram on the x4b. Has this changed?

 

The NP900X4B has two DDR3 204 pin SoDIMM slots. At this point in time that means you can upgrade to 2x8GB for a total of 16GB. I think I was one of the first to do it. Supposedly this summer Crucial will be selling 256GB mSATA drives.

That would be a pretty robust 15" Ultrabook. We'll see who else can top that.

Which brings me to the point of why I returned mine. I had $1600 sitting there next to the 13.3" little brother. With the unknowns of Ivy Bridge models, Apple MacBook Pros and Airs, and the rest of the market, I couldn't see keeping the Sandy Bridge based 15" if I keep the 13.3". I may come back to it when the Ivy Bridge machines come out, but I want to see what unfolds this summer.

 

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum and am in the process of getting this awesome Samsung 15" ultra thin laptop. Can anyone tell me how it would performs with Crysis or Crysis 2 using an external portable DVD-Rom drive? I am currently using a Sony VGN-TX670P 11.1" screen (1366x768 pixels) and my eyes are getting a little sore after 5 hours of use each day. The boot up time from hibernation is around 2-3 minutes of wait until the hard drive stop spinning. That's the reason why I have been dreaming of this laptop (after seeing the CES reports) that I can put into immediate use as soon as I unfold the screen.

I currently also own a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet but I cannot really use it for real businesses efficiently (no easy way for copy & paste & not multi-windows capable). My primarily use for the NP900X4B would be to execute web orders, customer technical support, and create/update websites for business. But I would also love to play a few games during break hours.

The other questions I have is what is the part number(s) for the two 8GB ram module and the part number for the 256GB flash storage/drive upgrade? I have seem Ebay is selling the NP900X4B equipped with I7 and 256GB SSD for around $3500 (OMG).

I appreciate your help.

Regards,
Lyen

 

Regarding the memory, take your pick. I used the Corsair sticks.

The Crucial 256GB mSATA isn't in the channel, yet.

 

Please help!

Ordered from costco, arriving today.

I need to upgrade from windows home to windows professional 7. I have a subscription to Microsoft action pack.

How do I install windows prof 7? Is there a way to keep samsung software running? If not is that a problem others have experienced?

Really appreciate it.

The reoccurring concerns are screen and keyboard. I'll be sure to post my opinion and how i do with win 7 prof.

 

i got it from J&R and they use UPS as shipping, the total came to $1774.71 and the import and duty was $189.58 *already included in the total*
They have a 30 days return policy.

Please let me know if you need more info

 

You just use Windows "anytime upgrade", doesn't require any reinstallation or anything, it just unlocks the other features

 

Anyone know if this system will use the 1600 memory at 1600 or will it slow it to 1333? If so, is there any advantage to getting the 1600 memory?

 

That's the smart way to do your upgrade.

If you decide to clean install, be sure and use Samsung Recovery Solution 5 to create the factory disk set first.

 

What device are you creating that set with? Software cd writer? External cd writer? What model? Works fine?

 

External DVD burner. I use a Sony DRX-840U. Works great.

 

i have had my series 9 15" for a few days now, i am very happy with my purchase. I got mine from amazon. I think the screen is good, I know the 13" screen is better but with my poor vision 1600x900 on a 13" display eveything is to small for me. So the 15" is perfect for me. I also just ordered the 16gb crucial memory upgrade for 105.00 so I am pretty happy.
My only gripe is the backlit kb, it does not get bright enough, but it's better than nothing I guess.
Cant wait for the larger 256GB SSD to come out.

Steven

 

alright, quick review.

ordered from costco, extended warranty and return policy for same price were deciding factors.

pros
fast
fast boot
elegant
able to upgrade to win pro (service pack, upgrade anytime, thx for advice)
light
not too much bloatware
quiet
not too hot

cons

touchpad is about to take me over the edge. my hands keep hitting and moving cursor. i want to explode it's so frustrating. hoping there's a way to disable the outside edges. also click is not as easy as thinkpad. may be a deal killer for me. i have installed the latest driver.

screen is fine, not great, but more than sufficient for work, ok with video.

sound is mediocre. don't understand why they place on bottom, muffles sound.

keyboard is workable, but trackpad issue so bad that i'm starting to hate the keyboard as well. also may be a little smaller than my t500, so hands starting to cramp.

power strip, body is well designed, but plug enormous, why?

so we'll see, jury is still out. I've counted, i've hit the trackpad 16 times... 17 writing this review... becoming untenable.

 

Make sure that you have the latest touchpad driver. There's also a separate Elan software which enables you to adjust the sensitivity.

I would much prefer the manufacturers to give is a 2 pin Fig-8 connector on the PSU. One benefit is that the mains cable is thinner and lighter.

John

 

Well said. While I agree the 4C w/ IB, 16GB RAM and a 256GB mSata would be a formidable 15" "ultrabook," at a likely total cost of nearly $2,000, I think of, just for example, the Sony SE which, with its IB upgrade and (pray) replacement of the infamous IPS display with one that can discern apples from oranges (couldn't resist ), you'll have a $999 computer which, with a SATAIII SSD and 16GB of RAM will run closer to $1,500 and have discrete graphics, (fixed) IPS display and SSD speeds of 500GB/s or more.

Will the loss of a 0.5kg, 10mm and the virtue of a much stronger chassis be worth $500 more? Yes, but only to a more rarefied market segment. Add competition from "above" from likely Macbook successors and I'd say Samsung had better get (back) to work on the screen, audio and likely price to be positioned any better than the 900X3A was in its time. Simply my opinion; I could be wrong - and hope I am. I really think someone has to put a stop to Apple's dominance of every category of consumer electronics it chooses to enter or soon there will be fewer choices and higher prices for all.

 

Okay I just got the laptop yesterday after ordering from Costco so here are some of my first impressions. I am coming from nearly 4 years of a Dell Latitude D630 and 2 months of the HP Folio 13.

First things first, this laptop is beautiful. I know it looks cool in the pictures and all, but I mean it is gorgeous. After 2 months of a poor glossy screen on the Folio this huge matte screen is a sight for sore eyes. I know a lot of people are talking about how poor the screen is but it looks pretty nice to me. I am no screen snob or anything, but so far I am a big fan. I like that it adjusts automatically based on ambient light.

The keyboard is a little shallow but it is important to note that I am not a touch typer so some things will affect me differently. I think I will get used to the keyboard just fine. I really like the trackpad with one exception. The click is really loud. I mean really loud. I usually tap to click so this isn't that big of an issue to me. It is just surprising. Coming from the terrible, terrible trackpad of the Folio this one is pretty great in comparison. I don't have the newest drivers either, so I have to figure out where to find those. Pinch to zoom is very responsive and I love using three finger swipe in the browser.

I haven't done any real tests with battery life but it seems pretty good so far, especially for a computer with such a large screen. When using on a table the computer doesn't get too hot, but when it comes to using it on your lap or in bed it definitely gets a little warmer.

I haven't heard that the speakers are "tinny" as I have seen in many reviews, but they definitely do not get as loud as I would like. I don't really understand why they are on the bottom of the computer but they seem fine so far.

The webcam seems good as well. The most disappointing thing about this computer is the size of the hard drive. After uninstalling some bloatware and installing very few new programs I have 55.2 GB remaining. That will probably be fine for me, but it will prevent me from keeping my music on this machine. Thanks to the many available online streaming services. : )

The laptop is super thin and light and I think it just might be true love!

-Emily

 

Be sure and mess around with the audio settings. Launch Samsung Easy Settings and click the SoundAlive section in the left navigation. There are some pretty big differences in the presets. There are an additional 25 presets under the Advanced Sound Setting area though practically speaking only about 9 of them will be useful.

Be sure and listen to the audio presets with some good headphones or ear buds. They make a big difference on the line out jack, too.

Glad you like your screen. I am a screen snob.

 

Ok, so I finally had a chance to mess around with both the 13 and 15 inch versions at the Samsung showcase building here in Seoul, Korea. First impressions, the difference in screen quality are like night and day between the two. I was really tempted to buy the 13 inch after seeing the difference in quality, unfortunately I need a minimum of 15 inches. Don't get me wrong, the matte screen on the 15 is still very good, much better then most the garbage out there. It's just, when you see the obvious difference between the two, you're left wanting to wait till Samsung puts the same screen in the 15 inch...

 

I rest my case.

Matt, what color are those machines you messed with? Did they have the silver model?

 

Hi Thor,

They seemed to be the same models I've seen everywhere else, dark blue finish...

 

Drat. Ok thanks.

 

will the Samsung 900X4C have Ivy bridge?

 

Yes, and it has its own thread.

John

 

Thanks John! ^^,

 

Has anyone found a good case for this laptop? I'm looking at ones for the 15" Macbook Pro because that is obviously the most popular similarly-sized model out there, but I am concerned it won't fit snugly.

 

I suggest you look more at 14" cases. This thing is more like a 15" (it is a true 15", not 15.6") in a 14" chassis. A MBP15 case will be way too big and wrong dimensions.

 

Amazon lists 3 as "In Stock. Sold by TigerDirect, Inc."

Amazon.com: Samsung Series 9 NP900X4B-A02US 15-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver): Computers & Accessories

 

ouch , after testing my newly arrived 15" series 9...i notice there is a dead pixel in the lower center of the screen.....
i am currently in canada...and ordered it from the US....and i gotta fly with a week and a half...does anyone got a good suggestion? i know there are samsung repair centre in hong kong....yea..business travel over there...does anyone know if this is internationally covered warranty? and i worry that they do not take the repair...since this isn't released in hong kong yet.

Thank a bunch,

J

 

You need to check with your supplier and/or Samsung whether 1 bad pixel is covered by the warranty.

John

 

Thank you John...~ but i thought within the return/exchange period...i can get an exchanger perhaps?

J