Samsung 9 Series laptop (ZX310 / 900X3A) unveiled

@ralph

Samsung can fix the weak WiFi problem and supposedly have engineers working on it. There is nothing wrong with the internal hardware or components. It's just that they need to develop a work-around for the issue that they've created by making the whole case out of Duralumin. My concern is whether they will fix current models or only have it fixed in new models as of a future build date. That's my I've ordered my latest from Costco that allows returns for 90 days.

I have done a lot of research on the new Sony Vaio Z, not yet shipping but available for order, and came pretty close to ordering one. Decided that I still want the Series 9 though...

 

i understand what you're saying about the duraluminum case, possibly shielding the signal from the antenna

that was a similiar concern in the galaxy S phones, but the odd part, the AT&T version of the galaxy has an aluminum back cover, where the vibrant had a plastic back cover. Surprisingly, the AT&T version, the Captivate, seemed to not suffer the volume of complaints re GPS issues that the Vibrant did.

But sammy back then, when they finally acknowledged the problem, also stated they had engineers working on the issue -

the similiarities are eery - and similiarly, i'd have thought they would have discovered or known about the issues in preproduction units. In fact, just remembered, it was a Broadcom chip, actually a 3 way chip, wifi/blue tooth/GPS chip or board. one of the Vibrant forum members was actually a broadcom engineer (worked in another area) and he had to be guarded with what he revealed or stated, but he did state oftentimes mfgrs make a reliance on the supplier's performance specs, and do not confirm the performance in the component environment that it is going to be installed/used in.

 

The Sony Z is ridiculously priced. Anyone who buys one should have their head examined. I mean really, it's out of reach for normal people.

 

@Thors

LOL. Actually, once one has already seriously considered, or purchased, the higher end Series 9, the new Sony Z does not actually look that bad It would only cost about $700 more to have a lightweight laptop with great specs.

 

out of curiosity, has anyone tried using the laptop without the back case cover to see if wifi reception improves? -

if that did help a lot, it'd be easy enough to secure a replacment rear cover, cutting out the flat section (leaving the edges) and bond in a fiberglass flat to cover the opening. just an idea - i won't be getting mine till tomorrow so don't know if the laptop will turn on without the rear cover

 

@ralph

Yes, that was one the MANY tests that I tried. And I tried many variations of that particular one with the back off WiFi range improves significantly...

Replacing the rear cover is one of the options that I hope Samsung is considering.

 

sorry, i would have known that if i'd read the entire thread, but reading 225 pages of thread is more time consuming that i've got to offer

i doubt sammy would do it - to do that would mean acknowledging a defect - the market politics of it dictate it'd be wiser to let it play out on the boards. Best example, i didn't bother researching the forums and really smacking myself on the back of the head for not - my laptop was acting up and started comparing laptops on mfgrs sites. And the part that really bites, while the present 6 yr old laptop was acting like a video board or motherboard was going (sudden unpredictable freezing) with an extremely hot bottom surface, whether streaming video or just on with no windows open, the issue cleared up when i did a complete "wipe" of the hard drive and simply re-installed the OS --

 

@ralph

The Series 9 is a great, lightweight laptop. That's why I've spent weeks trying to get the WiFi up to "normal standard". I don't think that most users will even notice the weak WiFi -- if one is near a strong router signal most of the time, one is likely to be very happy with this laptop.

If you do find the WiFi is an issue, I suggest opening a ticket with Samsung Support. I would not think that Samsung would do a recall as such but they might eventually service those with a fix for the customers that have complained about weak WiFi...

 

well, like i stated earlier, wifi is not that big a deal to me - when i'm on the road, which is rare these days, i tether to my phone. I"ll probably grab one of the monopiece mini-usb adapters you linked earlier, just to have on hand.

but curious, is there any photos in this thread of the case removed, showing the antennae? - wondering if it wouldn't be easier to drill some small openings, pull the antennae thru, and cover them with some non shielding durable tape or fiberglass. if you remember the page range, let me know

i'm a fabricator, and have worked with fiberglass & carbon fiber quite a bit. depending on the intricacy of the case cover, it might be easier to make a female mold of the case, and make some fiberglass replacement covers. Might be a marketing item for some of the aftermarket suppliers

 

@ralph

The best set of pictures are from a ZDNet teardown I keep this link handy

You can see the antenna ends (yellow) in the top left and top right on image 22. If you do want to try anything, you probably want to buy another set of antenna (they only cost a few $) and connect those to the WiFi adapter.

I had actually thought of making holes in the case and covering with non-shielding tape... You could take the antenna ends out of the bottom of the case (near the hinge) and attach them there. Just getting the antenna ends outside the case does solve the weak WiFi.

 

i checked the photos - there are some better shots of the leads at #42 then at 49,50,51 &

bringing them out the bottom, and cover w some UHMW tape .050" tape would work - it's real durable stuff (used on table saw fences, real slick stuff so boards will slide easier, and the adhesive used on it is incredibly strong bonding - once applied, really hard to peel back off

but for aesthetics i like the idea of simply cutting a 2-3" by whatever length hole, and replacing with fiberglass would be much nicer looking or aesthetically pleasing (it could be made so you wouldn't even know it'd been done) but that's going to take fabrication skills the average user isn't going to have

i noticed the leads are pop off connectors, but i'm weak on radio electronics - I know enough to know the wire lengths are tuned for the frequency they're meant to capture, but don't know if you could add length to those leads, enough to bring them out the back where the hinges are, and shield what's left inside, and adding enough length to replicate the unshielded length sammy had inside the case

but when all's said and done, for me anyway, your suggestion about buying one of those monopiece mini-usb adaptors is the most practical way to go

 

@ralph

You would just disconnect the current antenna from the WiFi adapter and connect another pair. Such as these $3 ones on eBay. One is 24" and other is 36" long so there is no length issue.

For now, I wouldn't spend time messing with your new S9 though. Hopefully, Samsung will come out with a solution...

 

I've solved this for me by installing a 'dedicated' WiFi N router a few feet away from the place where it's used the most. It's certainly not the best solution, I rellay think Samsung should try to fix this issue. However, it solves our connection problem for the moment without opening the system.

 

This seems like a good place to rant, so here it goes!

I really had high hopes for the Series 9 (the i7 one) which I bought from Costco (knowing that they have a wonderful return policy). Yet, so far I have the following complaints:

• The screen flickers randomly for reasons I can't quite seem to nail down... I'll be browsing on the web, and all the sudden the screen will just start going black and then coming on again... then it repeats. It's only off for a fraction of a second, and it never cycles more quickly than once per second. No background processes that could be causing it, etc. It's quite frustrating.
• The case get's surprisingly hot for a ULV processor... the other day I was doing some online training which was Flash based, and I had a few open at once - the temperature rapidly became uncomfortable.
• The front edge is surprisingly sharp and not very good for extended typing.
• All the keys feel rather unresponsive... hard to describe really, but they lack "springiness" I guess.
• I still hate clickpads, especially this one... it's difficult to click quickly due to the lack for rebound. The rest of the pad feels nice, but it can be very unreliable with gestures and the like. It also has very poor palm rejection even after tweaking - I'll be typing in some code and all of a sudden the cursor will bump to the middle of a previous line while I'm typing.
• The USB3 port seems to actually be slower than the other port when used with USB2 devices. I don't have any data to back this up, but I do know that when I was making a backup from the F4 menu, I was getting USB1 speeds out of the USB3 port onto my flashdrive which can easily handle much faster.
• Having microSD seems pointless to me... another USB port would have been far more useful, considering that things like Cellphones which might use microSD are more conveniently accessed via USB anyways.
• Mini HDMI is terribly incovenient if all you want to do is drive an external monitor.
• Wifi is pretty flaky... I don't see the huge speed losses the rest of you do, but watching the bars in the status area is always interesting ;-) I was surprised at only having half power downstairs in my house... also, the first day I had it WiFi was dropped 3 times, though since it hasn't happened since it may have just been coincidental
• I still would rather have a Super-Multi drive in exchange for a little thicker (preferably a tray-less one).
• Samsung's website STILL doesn't list the A05 model on their support page... I have never seen a company so far behind on getting drivers up. They promise me each time I live-chat or email them that "we're currently redoing our website and it's coming soon"... we'll see...

The pros (things I will miss after returning it):

• The screen is wonderful... though the Matte finish is a little aggressive for my tastes. I really appreciate having a laptop where I don't feel the need to keep the screen at full brightness all the time.
• The case does feel very durable, which is something that can't be said about very many laptops.
• Nice battery life
• Good warranty

That's my 2cents... it helped me to get all that organized, and perhaps it will help someone else out deciding whether to get this or something else... I personally found it too expensive to justify all the problems. Also, a ULV processor is just not what I need

 

question for those that have removed the caseback - do any of the screws have a seal or is there a seal of any type that would alert samsung that the laptop has been opened?

 

I found the A05 on the support page several days ago: Get Downloads, Firmware, Manuals and Software for Samsung NP900X3A-A05US I think it has been there for some time but for some reason wasn't shown unless you use the search function to find it. Owners can register it on the page accessed by this link.

 

Excellent find on that link... though I'm fairly certain it hasn't been there very long, because I contacted support a few weeks ago and they assured me that the support page wasn't up. Also, I used the search function and couldn't find it, though perhaps I was in the wrong area? Of course, this doesn't solve the fact that when you request support, the entire NP900X3A series is missing from the products list, so they'll usually immediately put the ticket on hold until you give them the full model # (even if you put it into the ticket description)... gah!

+1

 

Hi there,

I am investigating the best way to do a clean install of Windows 7 on this laptop.

An interesting discovery was that the drivers stored on the recovery partition (you can retrieve those using F4 then "backup installation software" or something like that) are sometimes different (bit to bit comparator of similar version number) or more recent that the ones that we can download on Samsung website. Note that I have the NP900X3-A01FR version manufactured June 2011.

My feeling at the moment is that many Samsung laptops share the same system software like "Easy Display Manager" + other "Easy..." stuff, and the versions that we can find on Samsung website are global versions for all laptops.
If you look at the software provided on the recovery partition, you will notice that many have a special reference to "Amor-13" in their version name (which is the codename of our laptop).

I am still investigating to see which versions are the most stable but my first feeling would go to the dedicated ones.

I have also a question about the last "Easy Battery Manager 1.0.0.0" update provided via "Samsung Update Plus" recently, every time I try to install it I got an error message and the installation does not perform completely (I tried to re-download it multiple times + I did a full system recovery with no success). Do you face the same problem ?

I investigated the error and it comes from the "Pow_Patch.exe" file which cannot find a debug DLL from "MS Visual C++ 2008". It looks like this debug dll is normally reserved to the complete "Visual Studio 2008" developer version and is not included in the "Redistributable Package" for our client end. If you all meet the same problem, then I guess that this is a mistake from Samsung developers and it should be reported.

Cheers

 

Now I know that it seems changing wireless cards only helped a tiny bit if at all, but has anyone tried the Bigfoot killer networks 1102/1103 (one has 2 antenna ports, the later has 3) wireless card? I put on in one of my laptops and the amount of wireless spots I can pick up in my room in incredible. Of course my laptop, not being a series 9, never had problems with wireless before, but just thought I would let you know. Here is an ebay link to the 1102, Bigfoot networks Killer Wireless-N 1102 | eBay .
You should be able to find the 1103 by searching on ebay, I bought that version.

 

gah! is right.

You'd think a company would want to bend over backwards to please customers willing to buy one of the most expensive items in a product category.

 

This link does not take me to the A05 model.

 

I don't know why. I just clicked the link in your message and it took me there.

 

Try: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/NP900X3A-A05US?

 

I've done this on A03 and A05. There is no indication of a seal of any type that would alert Samsung that the laptop has been opened. Just try not to scuff up the screws too much

 

Yes, I'd considered that Bigfoot Killer adapter. Did research and reviews actually recommended the Intel 6230 or 6300.

The problem is not the adapter. IMO, the Intel Centrino 6230 is the best adapter right now in half size for WiFi and Bluetooth. The problem is the Duralumin case and the way the antenna ends are inside the case.

 

This is what I see when I go there, and it refers to the A03 model.

 

@S9 User

It worked for me when I put the "?" at end (as was suggested earlier).

 

The page I was directed to has the question mark at the end (see url footer at bottom of page on attached PDF file)

 

Fwiw, I just clicked on both links, and then clicked 'downloads'. Both took me to this page (see printscreen below):

 

This is what I see when I go there, and it refers to the A03 model.

 

I'm not sure what specifically you are referring to but when, for example, you download the manual from that page and look at the specifications it includes a reference to the i7 so is the user guide for that model as well.

 

So I bit the bullet and ended up buying the Series 9...and just wanted to give my take on it/ask for opinions..

Overall its a sweet laptop but there are things that are quite annoying...aside from the sharp edges..

I am having a lot of hassle with the touchpad...for one I think the design of the touchpad isn't very practical..

My biggest 2 caveats with it are:

Randomly single clicks end up double clicks sometimes..(I disabled all the extra features and set timer between the 2 clicks to max...still get random double clicks..I expect this should be fixable somehow? any advice would be appreciated on this)

Next problem is a physics thing, when having a finger in the middle of the pad and pressing a corner of the pad..sometimes what happens is the finger in the middle would shift a little..this causes the pointer to move and the fact that its a smooth keypad does not help (I can probably adjust the sensitivity and that might help but that is kinda counter productive..ps I am using default sensitivity)..maybe if its somehow possible to dynamically lower sensitivity while clicking idk :/

Also it may be just me but I notice that using smooth touchpads seem to be more tiring then using ones with some sort of resistance..

Edit: Also randomly bottom right click don't work and have to click in center for it to work :/

Aside from the sharp edges and the touchpad issue this laptop seems to be pretty awesome...I was worried about the wifi issue but so far my wifi has been doing pretty good..I can get a full signal from 10ft-20ft away which is pretty good considering my internet is provided by a wifi hotspot via my cellphone...Ironically Samsung cellphone (The secret how samsung tests their wifi is out lol)

I am still on the ropes whether to keep it or return it..I want to keep it but I spend 8h-20h a day using that touchpad and it make a difference....

 

on the sensitivity issue - agreed, it's kind of sensitive for me as well. I'm thinking to try a spare screen protector i had for my smartphone applied to the touchpad - it seemed to kill the sensitivity of my smartphone's screen some, hopefully tonite i'll know.

FWIW

 

I realize i'm responding to a very old post, but have been reviewing this thread and keep seeing the same doubt surfacing about the duraluminum being the culprit on the wifi reception issue.

I'm not a radio signal engineer or tech but have built a couple of experimental aircraft. On both aircraft the comm antennas were buried in the plane's vertical stabilizer for aerodynamics - have spent hours researching info on antenna installation / location on aircraft. Every manufacturer i know of warns against shielding the antenna with anything conductive, ie metal (whether duraluminum or tin foil) and even against using black paint over the antenna area as black is basically a carbon based pigment, and carbon shields (blocks) radio signals. And that was on fiberglass planes where black is recommended for a base coat to block UV rays from reaching and degrading the epoxy resins in the fiberglass (UV light will destroy a lot of items).

FWIW, from what i've seen in kalahari's and S9 Guy's posts, i have to agree the duraluminum contributes strongly to the signal degradation. As to seeing different download speeds in the same spot, that can be a factor of the electrical interference environment (ie TV on or off, fans, central air running with usually has a pretty heavy electrical motor moving the air thru the duct work, etc). In my case, i've got two major electrical power lines running across the back of my house, the closest one about 150' to the rear.

my S9 yesterday (B01, June 2011 build, w/Intel 6320 and the 2467 chip.

I can't compare this S9 to my earlier sony Z as it was a 6 yr old laptop that didn't have 802.11n capability, just b/g and it was horrible - i used it in my house tethered to a cellphone when in the family room, less than 25 feet from the router. I've always suspected the electrical power lines running thru my back yard create a lot of interference or radio signal "snow".

the combination of electrical equipment operating in this unit can also contribute interference - unfortunately i'm just not techinically versed enough to test and compare to the electrical fields in my sony, and the right combination of components, properly placed could easily create the "perfect storm" environment. I mention this, as earlier i indicated what a broadcom engineer had stated in a samsung vibrant smartphone forum over the GPS (or lack of) issue in the Vibrants - that a lot of mfgrs will rely on the supplier's specs and not test the device (the broadcom GPS card) in the actual application environment (ie component environment) that it will be used in. I know that sounds crazy, but in support of it, samsung shipped over 10 million Galaxy S phones, none having reliable GPS functionality - 10 million phones sold over 1.5 years and they never bothered to correct a core functionality issue - How sammy could have not known the issue was there, prior to shipping the first unit, is beyond my comprehension, unless they did no pre-production evaluations. And similiar to the S9 the Galaxy S line was their top tier phone and with Sammy openly acknowledging it was targeted at the "iPhone" market.
If you need any confirmation on the samsung Vibrant GPS issue, here's where i posted a few weeks ago asking if they'd ever straightened the issue out - the "fistfights" that started were dejavu all over again http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1186144. And that number of 10 million is from sammy's press releases when they hit that mark.

Switched my router over to the n signal last night, and did some speed tests last nite on speedtest.net.

again, FWIW, six times, sitting approx 25 ft from the router, in view of it, i saw 13.5-14.5 Mbps download speeds with one at 19.8Mbps

walked 30' down the hall and saw the download speed drop to 3.6-4.2 Mbps

when i've got the time, i'll pull the back cover off and see what happens to those numbers with it off, and with the antenna leads dangling as well.

I suspect sammy will handle this issue in a similiar fashion as the Galaxy S phones' GPS issue and ignore it. To acknowledge it will only serve to confirm a defect and cause them considerable expense to correct, PLUS GIVE THEM NEGATIVE market "goodwill". Ignoring it, it's only an issue on forums and that's maybe 20% (on the high side) of the buying public. The galaxy S phone sold well primarily because in the stores the screen display is drop dead gorgeous and the processor was fast so videos played extremely smooth. It shipped w a copy of that movie about the 8' blue smurfs, think it was call "AVATAR". Excellent pc of marketing as the store reps made sure to show you that movie on the phone in store. The only movie i ever watched on my smartphone was that one - point, the practicality of it was not great but it still helped sell me.

guess what - the S9 is drop dead gorgeous and has some pretty impressive specs, except for the wifi issue.

this is the business model that's been in practice since bill gates shipped Windows while it was still in Beta - go back and think about it - has Windows ever shipped a new version that was anywhere near finalized (or reliable?). I still have the odd shudder when i remember windows 95.

 

@ralph

Good post. Please let us know if you come with any suggested solutions or tests to try. I'm receiving my (third) Series 9 tomorrow. Don't expect weak WiFi to be resolved but am going to continue pushing Samsung (if necessary).

 

Actually the true culprit with the Galaxy S GPS issue was that Samsung signed a deal with skyhook for their GPS instead of using Google..so the phone was made around using skyhook..Then at last minute Google came in and told Samsung they can't use skyhook or else loose access to all Google services like Market. Samsung caved in and loaded up Google which caused the GPS issues. People who loaded up skyhook manually replacing Google had 0 issues with GPS.

Now as for the issue in the case of the laptop..I tried walking around my house and most of the time I had max bars..only time I lost bars when going into the basement level..I put my phone to wifi tether from the attic..so that makes 3 stories that it went down to 2 bars..otherwise on 1st and 2nd level I had 4-5 bars on wifi...

Considering I am using a samsung cellphone to do this, my guess is Samsung is using their own devices in their testing..similar to how on the Galaxy you had to use a samsung wire to connect to the car for audio to route properly...or do modification to the software...

 

the wifi isn't a big deal to me - don't spend any time on the road anymore, so this is basically a family room couch browser + some graphic work

your suggestion of running the antenna under the keyboard is probably the best one to date, and to be frank i'll probably wait till someone demos how to remove the keyboard - i'd like to get it off for another reason - to spray it with some satin black ceracote (ceramic coating) material i've got and kill the frigging glare - both it and the LCD bezel surround

meantime i've ordered one of those monopiece mini-usb adaptors you recommended, just in case i am called out of town. Unlike the Vibrant, i'm keeping this laptop - except for the WiFi, it is killer

 

I got my B02 series 9 two weeks ago from buy.com and returned it yesterday after experiencing problems with wifi in coffee shops and airports (where I intended to use). It is super fast and looks great but without good wifi, it is useless when everyone else with cheap net books are enjoying the browsing around you. If you intend to use it at home near a strong wifi signal, you are fine.

Just wanted any potential buyers to know about my experience. If you still want to try it, best place is buy.com (45 days returns; no restocking fee).
I will give z series a shot this week at sonystyle.

Peter

 

Best place to buy is costco..90 days no questions asked..no restock fee...

 

I do recall some discussion on the skyhook element, but it doesn't change the landscape - in a decent business model, you don't release a product without a full pre-production final evaluation. and GPS is a core function to a lot of the other applications / services on the smartphone.

rather than using the bars as an indicator (i suspect same as on the smartphones, they're pretty subjective fm mfgr to mfgr) in terms of true signal strength, you might try running a speedtest.net download/upload test and compare the results. Rmember, even Apple admitted they had "set the bars optimistically", signal strength reporting wise. Or at least that was the first defense they offered in that debacle with the new antenna design where your finger could bridge the antenna ends, while holding it.

 

unfortunately its not always as simple as that..if you have a contract with carriers to go live on a certain date..you can't just back out unless its really really bad...for most people's use, wireless networks is enough..sure it gives numbers 100m~ off but for average user that usually is enough...heck even the iphone seems to always use wireless networks...

 

i know what you're saying, but push back from that position for a second - i doubt those carriers would not have preferred sammy had held the phone back one - two months, rather than the servicing & return headaches they suffered. Tmobile took my phone back, then sold me another one with an extended satisfaction period (return period) - the costs in terms of techs / csr phone time, plus shipping costs and return to sammy costs had to kill whatever margin they had on those . Plus the costs in terms of customer goodwill/satisfaction as it reflected on them (the carriers) as well.

 

I understand, but from using phones for a long time..all phones have some sort of issues..its nothing new...the Galaxy S one way or another is the top selling Android phone, while there were definitely returns it was not above standard...as I said before, most cs just told people to turn on "Wireless Networks" and most consumers don't really know the difference..heck most consumers are not used to phones having GPS included...and most of the time it is included in same form as "wireless networks"..the biggest reason people even noticed was Google mandated that "wireless networks" be off by default.

As I said, I can tell the difference between real GPS and wireless networks, and I am sure you can too...but 99% of the people can't... As I said earlier, the iphone is also a top selling phone and its GPS is no better...

Galaxy S was sold in 120 countries in 160 carriers..to delay things is not that simple...

 

Yeah, don't know how to pop off that keyboard. I would have liked to test placing the antenna ends under the keyboard (as the keyboard probably does not have duralumin base).

And yes, I still think that this the best laptop. The Sony Z is overkill and more money than most need to spend for a laptop. Ultrabooks from ASUS and HP look like only competition so far (but they're not out yet).

 

Thats actually my plan..I got 90 days to decide and those others will come out in September/October which is within my 90 days..I will then decide whether to keep it or not once the competing ones come out...

I really hope one of them have a matt 400nit screen like the series 9..the screen on the series 9 is awesome :/

 

I bought a Toshiba R835-P56x and upgraded to a Intel 6230 network card' replaced the hard drive with Samsung 128gb ssd and increased the ram to 8gb. I have 90gb empty space on the ssd which is plenty for me. Boy do I have a fast light machine now with bluetooth and good wifi range. Awakes from sleep in 5 secs. Full start up in 15 secs. Here is the performance chart now View attachment 68949 It weighs 3.2 lbs. with dvd drive I am a happy camper jimjoh

 

I stilll have to disagree - i'm in mfgring (completely different area) and nothing we introduce goes anywhere near introduction till we've done some serious testing, including destruction testing.

The part i find the most troubling about your position, clinically, is that you somehow feel it's justified, acceptable or defensible. Using the numbers you just proffered, ie 120 countries, 160 carriers (and 10 million customers) - the bigger the number the more the product should have been properly vetted before release - it cost everybody.

If Ford or Nissan had a model that at the last minute, they substituted or changed the original manual gearbox for the car they promised (whether by contract or tradition) their dealers for September, and didn't even check the gear ratios were suitable, so that on delivery, their dealers and customers find 3rd & 4th gears were unuseable, would that have been justifiable because of delivery deadlines? 3rd & 4th gears are slightly more core functional than GPS, but not all that much. If the gearing analogy doesn't work for you, use air conditioning, ie an A/C that is prone to failure - you'd still be able to drive most of the year, depending on where you lived. In Las Vegas, well, you could still drive at night. Would that defective component or system have been justifiable because of delivery deadlines / commitments?

With the galaxy s scenario, everyone, and i'll repeat, everyone involved, customers, carriers and samsung would have been better off delaying delivery. Sammy sold 10 mil, but would probably have sold 12-14 million if there hadn't been the reports of the GPS issue out there. and of the 10 mil sold, i wonder how many were double or triple sales to the same customer, (ie "over counted sales", not true sales). Some of the posters over on an UK board indicated they'd gone thru 3-5 exchanges. And I'm sure Sammy also factored in the obsolencence factor, - ie that by the time they'd fixed it the design wouldd no longer be leading edge, with the next "latest & greatest" about to be released.

I'll agree that possibily 50% of the customers won't notice the wifi issue or assume the fault lies elsewhere. With the internet (information distribution) and especially in these tight economic times, this will hopefully change, with customers making far more researched decisions & rewarding mfgrs that deliver a solid product and mfgrs will hopefully recognize this. But patterns are hard to change - most mfgrs will simply rely on what worked for them the past 10 years. Call me old fashioned (i am 61) but i kinda expect when a mfgr offers a high end pc of equipment like this with x,y,z features, i expect those features to work, and if not, to at least hear in timely fashion that the mfgr has a fix due out so & so date. This laptop has been out how long now - since Jan / Feb and product mfgr'd June are still showing the issue?

I've made an active decision to keep mine, even knowing the wifi issue, as wifi isn't that core a function to me, and the other specs are killer, to me anyway.

But sammy won't have the same respect / trust from me on future products after seeing a pattern of using customers for "beta" testers, unsuspectingly.

 

hello all,

Has somebody successfully reinstalled windows from the recovery DVD? (not the hidden recovery partition). Does it allow you to pass the bloatware?

Also, since I don't have access to an USB DVD reader, any guide on how to "clone" the DVD to an USB stick/hdd?

big thanks!

 

Can only answer the first part of your questions. Yes, it does bypass the bloatware BUT there is very little bloatware on the Series 9. It's easy to remove any that you want. I only removed the MS Office trial (as I had the full version to install anyway) and input my license # into Norton Internet Security. There were some other shortcuts to delete. I left YouCam on there until I've had a chance try it out.

 

I understand where your coming from and its not like I think its "ok"..but unfortunately reality is far from fair...If Samsung delayed their shipment they would have lost marketshare to the iphone and other Android phones..one way or another Samsung with the Galaxy S samsung secured most marketshare for Android phones. Unlike Apple, Samsung's profit margin is A LOT lower and keeps dropping due to increase competition.

Motorola delayed their Bionic due to issues with Tegra and LTE and in the end it ended up hurting their Earnings call...

We are in a society where companies are more focused on presenting things to investors rather then consumers...that is a harsh reality...and if you don't present it properly to investors you may not be able to afford to dish out another phone...

I'll give you another example..Samsung went in early with the Tablets while the other guys waited for an official Tablet optimized Android..in the end Samsung is the only one who is actually selling decent amount of tablets...while the other guys are barely staying afloat with many cutting back orders or even leaving the market...

And as I said before, most average consumers can't tell the difference...on dumbphones GPS is a paid feature most didn't pay for and on the android smartphones prior..the default was to use "Wireless networks"..so once wireless networks was on..no one knew the difference...the people you see returning are people who are hobbyist and make up 1% of the 10million..thats the reality of it..

Perception in the world is king at the moment..this is why Apple right now dominates many markets they enter..they create a "perception" that their things "just work"..in reality its far from it..but this perception with a little marketing go a long way...whether we support it or like this kind of mentality is irrelevant as that is just harsh reality for you...

I thought before like you that consumers will become smarter and make more educated decisions..unfortunately that is also a fallacy..in reality the consumer is becoming more and more uneducated due to this so called "Ecosystems" that are driven into people's minds...this makes me fret for the future of things :/..I personally expected that each generation would surpass the last (As it should) but in reality it feels people are "choosing" to be dumber rather then learn, make smart decisions and Adapt...