Samsung 9 Series laptop (ZX310 / 900X3A) unveiled

thanks for the tip! went there yesterday, too bad both models were bolted down, and it's impossible to judge anything noise-related since the music is blasting all over the place. but they did have them and i got a close enough look.

datavision only had 13", locked down with a metal frame.

i liked the dropdown ports on the 13" lot better, but i'm not entirely sure whether i liked them several hundred $ worth better.

 

If you look at the Samsung's screen from the bottom up, tilting the screen, or just holding it with your hands in the air, you'll see a complete inverse negative of the image.

That doesn't happen on the MacBook Pro or Air.

Not that you would ever need to look at the screen at that angle, but, it is what it is.

And...why are so many people experiencing wifi problems? I wouldn't even dream of posting my issue if it weren't a fact.

However, I have zero faith in a fix from Samsung. I'll either live with it, or get a refund and try a Sandy Bridge MacBook Air.

 

The most obvious differences are that the MBA has a glossy screen while the Series 9 is matte, and the Series 9 is much brighter. So, I have no difficulty using the Samsung outside or in situations where is is backlighting, while in these situations the Mac is washed out or has glare.

However, under many conditions, with ideal lighting, I find the MBA to be more saturated and with better contrast. Also, the MBA has slightly higher resolution that will be important to some.

So, my conclusion is that overall both have excellent screens, there are just a few trade-offs. In perfect lighting, I generally prefer the MBA, but I can use the Samsung anywhere without any issues -- it will practically burn your retinas at maximum brightness

FWIW, some say that the x220 IPS is better than either, but I have never seen it so I can't comment.

 

I have used my Series 9 at home and at work so far with no issues.

At home I have set the router (DLINK DIR-615) to N only mode (2.4gHz) and 30ft away and still had a good signal, and good speeds. B and G mode no issues, and mixed B, G, N mode no issues. Fastest speeds have actually been in mixed b,g,n mode (~30ft away 117Mbs)

Here is something I found on amazon, but in my experience I have not found any throttling in mixed mode.

Amazon.com: UberRob "Gadget Fetishist"'s review of Samsung Series 9 NP900X3A-A03US 13.3-Inch ...

 

Thanks javy for this Amazon.com: UberRob "Gadget Fetishist"'s review of Samsung Series 9 NP900X3A-A03US 13.3-Inch ..
As stated I have no wireless problems but after reading that site I set my duel band Linksys E3000 to n only(I generally use mixed) on 5ghz & disable the 2.4ghz. My sammy would not recognize my router so then I disabled the sammy's broadcom & plugged in my Elfa usb adapter and it also would not recognize the router either. Then I used my ipad2 and it connected fine. So to me it seems the above review is right on. jimjoh

 

No Prob Jim. I will post some other thoughts on the wifi thread you started as this one is out of control, lol.

 

It is great that you are happy with your Sammy, but that it has a problem with Wifi is not a subjective statement but an objective one: quite a few people have run excellent tests and reported about them on this forum. I myself could COMPARE the Sammy with 2 Lenovos and the Sammy sucked. A poll does not make any sense ...

I still have not found another Windows laptop with such a great screen and portability. I'm now looking into getting the next generation MBA and running Windows on it - I don't know if that would be a realistic replacement for a true Windows machine.

I wonder if it would be possible to attach a film antenna to the base plate (like the ones on car windows) and connect it through the vents to the Wifi card?

P.S.: After spending a couple of hours talking to Samsung support people about this I do not expect Samsung to address the weak Wifi in this model generation - do not buy and expect a fix down the road ...

Don't buy from sources that won't let you return it (COSTCO's return policy is the most generous I could find).

 

Well said:

It certainly appears to be a fact, not an opinion. Certainly hard to argue with "signal much stronger when the metal bottom of an all metal chassis is taken off"! Appears that Samsung didn't do much if any wireless real-world testing.

A poll here would probably generate 7 without a problem, 15 with a problem due to (1) low number of users even aware of this forum, and (2) people with problems are the ones that typically participate in a poll.

I may go ahead and buy one from Costco - since most of my use of this computer would be in airports, hotels and client sites, a problem with "N" wouldn't be an issue for me and hi-speed isn't terribly important for me - BUT, connectivity certainly IS!.

And I would truly feel silly with a wifi dongle sticking out of a $1600 laptop!

 

Does anybody know the settings to achieve this:
You no longer have to shut down your Samsung computer, just close its lid and it goes into a special powerless sleep mode. When you open the lid your computer comes back to life in 3 seconds and you are exactly at the same place as when you shut the lid. Fast Start saves your data and system configurations to your hard drive and PC memory. So, when you power it back on it is just like you left it.
I spent 45 mins with their tech & no answer for the settings to have "special powerless sleep mode" I was told I have to go to level 2.
Reason I am asking is when I close the lid it has kept using power. jimjoh

 

Are these wireless issues really that common? I was settled on buying the Samsung Series 9 after comparing it to some pretty impressive laptops such as the Lenovo T420s, X1, and Macbook Pro.


But after reading about these wireless issues I do not think I will be purchasing the Samsung Series 9 13 inch anymore. I am going to be studying in London for 3 months and need a laptop that can connect to basically every wireless network without any problems.

 

Thankyou, we will be doing this. The issue disappeared the next day, so we waited. yesterday - it is back again and dreadful if doing powerpoint etc.

Also, with regards to pricing, in Australia only 1 retail chain is allowed to sell these laptops. Their recommended retail price is $2499AUD which in USD is around $2600! You can bargain the price down a little but nothing like what this sells for in the USA.

 

You can always pretend that it is a 3G laptop USB modem ....

 

It's probably because it was earlier discussed thoroughly in this thread . I see a huge improvement of connectivity with Centrino 6300 over Broadcom.

 

From your results we can see that your router supports 300Mbps rate. If you haven't been able to establish 2.4Ghz connection at higher than 130Mbps on 6230 within 3 meters from the router it means there is something wrong with your setup/card/router.

How did you do the measurements?

 

As stated earlier, Windows over BootCamp will give you 30-50% battery life duration compared to MacOS. Don't know about you, but I'm certainly not gonna pay Mac premium for 2-2,30 hours of laptop life.

 

Have you tried to look at the screen from the back side? Why? It's the same idea...

Those are different screen technologies.

Yes, you're answering your own question. If you look at MBP or Air Screen under direct sunlight you most likely wouldn't see anything. It is what it is, isn't it?

 

The review is garbage: author mixes bandwidths (2.4Ghz, 5.2Ghz) with standards (A, B, G, N). Broadcom does not support not only "n" in 5.2Ghz, but "a" as well, because it's a single band card. Moreover, he hasn't been able to establish a Gigabit connection over wired LAN and stated that laptop doesn't have Gigabit... BS!

Of course your Sammy did not recognize your router after you disabled 2.4Ghz - that's the only bandwidth Broadcom is capable of working with. Looks like your Elfa doesn't support it either. IPad 2 is dual band device - that's why it connected fine.

I would suggest you to play with Mixed mode vs "n" only mode on your router. If you don't have any "g" devices in your household, I believe it should be better to set your router in "n" only mode and enable 40Mhz or Auto 20/40Mhz Channel width. All related to 2.4Ghz network only.

 

Have you checked Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\System Settings? There is an option called "When I close the lid"...

Another place to check: Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings. Go to Advanced settings and check "Sleep" and "Power buttons and lid" sections. Do you have "hybrid sleep" turned on?

Of course, I assume you've installed all Samsung software and enabled Fast Start in Samsung Control Center or in BIOS.

 

thanks phil1980. Yes I myself and also yesterday with Samsung chat looked at those controls but when you enable fast start it greys out all the options for closing the lid. I was getting a power drain when using fast start but now it seems ok. It is really amazing how little the chat tech knows but to off set that they are very nice and patient. jimjoh

 

Did you speak with Tier 2 support? They seem reasonably well informed. Tier 1 is very nice, but clueless for the most part since they are only reading from a script.

 

Has anyone here seen both the 13" model AND the 11" model?

Curious to hear some comparison thoughts, especially since I haven't seen either one in person. And the 11" version doesn't seem together a lot of press compared to the 13.

 

Phil,
I just installed mine this morning, but so far am only using the stock 2 antennae. Where did you run the extra antenna, and what did you ground it to?

Also, do you notice much difference on b/g routers, or is it mostly on N?

 

Here are the WEI scores before and after adding another 4GB. More or less confirms what others have found, though it's odd that my processor score dropped. When I first added the RAM it was only 5.3, but when I ran the test it jumped up.

 

I just noticed that was having this power drain issue too. I dug into the power options for the lid closing and did not see "hybrid sleep" option (I have a sleep and a hibernate). What am I missing?

 

I think I figured it out. You have to go under "Sleep" sub heading and activiate "allow hybrid sleep."

 

You know this is really something. As I said I spent 45 min yesterday with the tech chat and they did not one time mention "hybrid sleep" After goggling it I am sure it is the answer. Thank goodness for this forum jimjoh

 

I believe if you're sticking with the Samsung default power management, hitting Fn+F1 to bring up the Samsung control thinger will give you a "Fast Start" option that mentions something about hybrid sleep. I'm not entirely sure which option does what though ... I turned it off and on and tested what happens when I close the lid. Oddly when it's On it seems that it shuts the whole computer down (hibernates I believe) although I really wish Samsung had better documentation on the power modes...

 

Hybrid sleep is a combination of sleep and hibernate—it puts any open documents and programs in memory and on your hard disk, and then puts your computer into a low-power state so that you can quickly resume your work. That way, if a power failure occurs, Windows can restore your work from your hard disk.

 

In Samsung advertising of the series9 they state it having "special powerless sleep mode[" so why in heavens name don't they somewhere in plain english descibe the step by step procedure to have this. I think fast start does this but in my case I kept seeing the power meter going lower with the lid closed so that was the reason I contacted their tech chat group who had no idea what settings did what. I believe this is what we want because they promised it had that feature.I also think their word powerless means no power is used not reduced power. Just my thoughts. Their tech groups even level 2 also told me so that my unit has wimax but it does not. That happened the week after I bought mine. That is the main reason this forum is so valuable to me. jimjoh

 

I haven't seen anyone post better scores than mine. Not bragging, just saying that I think mine are optimized. I might find something that improves it.

If you haven't done the 05HL BIOS upgrade, I would recommend it.

 

Has anyone seen and / or tested the new series 9 13 inch models with the i7 SM processors and 8GB ram arrangements? Just wondering, since they are out, if they are worth a few extra bucks to get the memory and faster processor...

Any insight would be most helpful. Thanks

 

I've also heard a friend got huge improvement of connectivity with Intel 6300 and an additional antenna. I've tried 6230 myself and the improvement was minimal. I didn't try it on my current 900X3A, as I'm satisfied with its speed (still slower than HP but comparable to iMac).

 

Yes, I remember your speeds.

I did the BIOS upgrade a few days earlier, and didn't see any difference in performance. All my drivers are Samsung except the wifi, which is Intel.

It doesn't seem that settings account for people's different processor speeds, or for mine becoming lower.

It also doesn't seem that your HyperX improves the memory speed, unless it only shows up in the graphics score....

 

I realized I had run the assessment in "Samsung Optimized' mode; rerunning it in 'High Performance' bumped my score up.

 

Folks,

I got my sammy yesterday from Microsoft Store. It is absolutely beatiful. I did a system backup using samsung recovery to have a backup of microsoft optimized state. Any other suggestions ?

Altough I don't think it will affect my daily internet usage dramatically, like many of you mentioned, my wifi is fairly stable but signal strength drops as I move away to a different room from the router. Do we have a working solution on this ?

 

Does anyone have experience with an external DVD drive that works well with the series 9?

Thanks and I am sorry if this question came up already, the thread search tool is next to useless.

 

I already had an Asus external slim drive (model SDRW-08D1S-U) (I used it with a netbook), which works fine with the Samsung. The Asus drive wants two USB ports (comes with cable that way), but seems to work fine on just one.

 

Those that put in the intel 6300...where did you mount the 3rd antenna?

 

Does anyone know what network chip is in the 900X3A-A02 (US Version)?

The specs state that that model also has WIMAX, but I remember reading somewhere that this is not true - could a A02 owner please chime in?

Thanks ...

 

Found the following reviews re 6300 on newegg. Not specific to the Sammy, but this might be the solution:

Great Reception

By Shakypete - Apr 5, 2011 - Newegg.com
Pros: I bought this to improve my reception when on the road over my 802.11G card that came with my laptop. The reception quality is fantastic now. It was previously a joke. I now get 4-5 bars where I was typically getting 1-2. Still doesn't speed up hotel networks, (not something I can control), but it doesn't drop the connection.I also get a consistent 4-5 bars in the farthest corner of my house, from my "802.11G" router. I used to get only 3 bars there. Works with windows 7 64-bit using the "Driver Only" download from Intel. I knew the PROSet Wireless application works, but I don't need the additional bloat on my install. I also don't have a Wireless Display compatible processor, so I know I didn't need anything more than the basic driver. Read their site carefully when you go to download. They explain which downloads are for who, but you need to read.Install - White wire #1, Black wire #2, Grey wire #3. I didn't find that anywhere, and I guessed. It seems to be woCons: Intel stopped making full-size mini PCIe wireless cards. It is an annoyance, but it can be overcome, see "Other Thoughts" below.I saw in the 6200 review by another user that they had to set the Wireless N setting from '20Mhz' to 'Auto' to get best throughput. I installed the Intel "Driver Only" package and I had to do the same thing. Here's how to do it:

Open "Device Manager"
Expand Network Devices
Right click on "Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300AGN" and select "Properties"
Select the "Advanced" tab
802.11N Channel Width for band 2.4 indicates a default value of "20MHz only" Change it to Auto. All set.I bought this to improve my reception when on the road over my 802.11G card that came with my laptop. The reception quality is fantastic now. It was previously a joke. I now get 4-5 bars where I was typically getting 1-2. Still doesn't speed up hotel networks, (not something I can control), but it doesn't drop the connection.I also get a consistent 4-5 bars in the « less… more »
Full review provided by:

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.Was this review helpful? Yes - NoGreat Card

By Lord Cochise - Dec 13, 2010 - Newegg.com
Pros: Great range and throughput potential, easy installation, good bang for the buck until the next generation of mini PCI cards come out. Nearly identical to the 5300.Cons: Should not have to tweak the card's driver advanced settings to get optimal throughput.Great range and throughput potential, easy installation, good bang for the buck until the next generation of mini PCI cards come out. Nearly identical to the 5300. Should not have to tweak the card's driver advanced settings to get optimal throughput. Have not had an opportunity yet to try it with a router capable of 450 MB/s, but works well with several 802.11g/n routers and AP's. IF you're running windows, be SURE to update your driver properties, as the defaults will not get you to 300 MB/s. Go to the hardware, properties and advanced tab and make sure your channel width for 2.4 and 5.2 is on auto and your throughput enhancement is on and transmit power is up. Also, it helps if you are using a windows performance power scheme.Without the tweaks you may be floating around 70-150 MB/s on a Wireless-N AP.ALSO, make sure you have three antennae for use in your laptop (as with most full Wireless-N cards) - you can use this with one or two, but you will want to take the time to install through 3 antennae to take full advantage of the card, which can be a real PITA if you don't take laptops apart too often.
Full review provided by:

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.Was this review helpful? Yes - NoReally nice peice of hardware!

By kdogg - Apr 14, 2011 - Newegg.com
Pros: Just outright works like it should.Cons: Can't really think of any at this point.I recently picked up a Lenovo X120e Ultra-portable/Netbook and I found the included Broadcom wireless wasn't working too well. It worked OK, but was slow at my house. I'm A+ and in school for CIS and I found I could only get like 2 bars INSIDE of the computer lab at the collage.Tried reinstalling/updating drivers, reinstalling W7, nothing helped. I ordered this Intel 6300 card and it completely fixed my issues. I get good speed and a full signal now!One thing to note is that the Lenovo X120e does not support this card by default, I had to edit the bios in a bios editor, add in the hardware vendor flag before it would even boot. This issue was on Lenovo's end, NOT Intel's. This card is great!
Full review provided by:

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.Was this review helpful? Yes - No

 

Realtek PCIe 8167
Broadcom BCM943225HMB
No Wi-Max.

 

I've ran 2 antennas in the beginning until the 3rd one arrived by mail. I would say there is a noticeable difference in both speed and stability.

As I mentioned before, my 3rd antenna has a short wire with a rubber coating covering the last 1/3 of it's length. No grounding spots, no square orange transparent tape. I think it might (?) get even better connectivity if I will use an antenna with the grounding at the end since nearly all laptop manufacturers are using this type of antennas. On the other hand, I don't see a good spot to ground the 3rd antenna in my Sammy so I preferred the groundless design.

At first, I've run at along the white antenna #1 wire and it ended somewhere next to the top left screw hole (if you are looking at the laptop similar to this picture Cracking Open the Samsung Series 9 (13.3-inch) ultraportable notebook | 22 of 112 ). Later I changed the location running it below the RAM slots on the right to diversify the antennas locations as well as to avoid it's sliding to the left screw hole mentioned above.

Truly speaking, I tested it mostly in my household trying to achieve the best throughput, therefore I was focused on "n" standard mainly in 5Ghz. I had a couple of field experiences and they were also pretty good.

Offtopic: Antennae is the plural form of "antenna," or one of the paired, flexible, segmented sensory appendages on the head of an insect.

Antennas is the plural form of "antenna," or a metallic apparatus for sending or receiving electromagnetic waves.

Antennas are made of metal; antennae are made of evolution.

 

I would say it's the least discrepancy from Samsung...

 

The attached clipped email from me to Provantage and back indicates a delivery date for the 256mb units late this month. IF they get here, my 128mb unit is on its way back to Costco.
BTW, Mr. Moderator, isn't it close to time to break this up into different threads?

SERIES9 I7-2617M 1.5G 6GB 256GB 13.3 inch WL W7HP 64-Bit with 3-Year Warranty
Any update on when you’ll have delivery available for this?
Bill

Hello.

The estimated delivery date for this item is 06/29/11.

Thank you!

Kathy Zwick
Corporate Account Executive
[email protected]
PROVANTAGE Corporation
7249 Whipple Ave NW
North Canton, OH 44720

 

2 connections required when there is not enough power coming from one USB port. Usually, laptop ports are underpowered compared to dektop, but in case of Sammy's USB 3.0 port we might have a powerful one.

 

Thanks man! I was about to waste money on something I don't need - Win7 Pro - hoping to get something I do not fully understand - Wimax ....

 

Use Google:
site: http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/ yourword

 

If someone puts together a fool proof tutorial about how to install the 6300 and the 3rd antenna (and I don't care if it is antennas or antennae, 'though I studied Latin for 6 years ), I will repurchase this machine! (have not found anything else I like better and running the MBA - which seem to be superior IMHO - with boot-camp is not really appealing to me)

 

I gotta say, that MBA sure is tempting!

Ahh... maybe someday.

 

Phil1980,

I don't know if you have time for this, but would you be able to create a tutorial with pictures for the rest of us with sucky wifi ?