Samsung 9 Series laptop (ZX310 / 900X3A) unveiled

I wonder who will be the first to upgrade to 8 GB. I would like to do this but i'm going to wait.

 

2 secs from sleep... from complete power down.. about 20 secs or so..

 

The videos are interesting, but they are also still comparing OSX vs Win7.

 

Does anyone here owning one of these possibly have time to write a nice review?

 

I just played with one of these at the Best Buy in West Los Angeles @ Pico & Sawtelle. I was really impressed by the quality of the keyboard and speakers. Sleep wake when opening the lid was slower than the Macbook Air but that thing is pretty much magic. It was still only about 2-3sec.

 

Looks like SSD is not upgradable? Also Ram isn't upgradable?
This thing is interesting. Looks like i'm going to lookout for this thread and look up some real life reviews.

 

It's available on display @ the Bestbuy in West LA? AFAIK it says there's no availability on the BB website. Do you know if they have it in stock or if it's just a display model?

 

I bought online when it was available to order but ended up getting a backordered e-mail. I search all the stores around my area and I found one @ best buy in fresno, california. I had a family member bring it with them to las vegas which save me a 14 hour trip.

 

I'm tempted to snag one of these bad boys. Can anyone let us know how badly the keyboard flexes while typing?

 

What's the preinstalled software like? With the 'premium' notebook Samsung is going for, I sure hope they haven't loaded it with all the sh*t that Sony is stuffing into their notebooks these days.

Are you listening, Samsung? I won't buy this if you've loaded it with bloatware. A customer throwing down 1,600 dollars for a computer shouldn't be exploited.

Thanks in advance for the replies!

 

just a few things to mention,

I don't have this laptop but I have been following it closely. The way fast start works is when you put it in "hibernate" mode it goes into a hybrid shut down/hibernate phase where it burns the current image of the desktop onto the hard drive. When you start up, instead of completely booting up, it reads that image (Hence, the 3 second fast start). It's entirely different than the "sleep" mode pictured in the macbook air comparison which basically only turns the screen off.

The link with the macbook air vs samsung series 9 isn't very reliable - essentially all it is doing is comparing OSX vs windows. To be fair, to compare hard drive speeds like that, you would definitely need to have the same operating system with the same start up programs.

5 Reasons Why OS X Still Beats Windows - AppleMatters

Read #3.

Also, someone earlier in this thread thought it was pointless to have CD's with a laptop without a CD drive. You are assuming its impossible to find a CD drive. Dell has been putting CD's in its m11x's since they came out, and im sure other companies do the same.

 

ListenLoud, read the comments on that link you shared.

 

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no bloatware. just the crappy norton antivirus which I removed right away.

 

Did you use Norton's removal tool?

Download and run the Norton Removal Tool to uninstall your Norton product | Norton Support

 

I'm doing a strip down version of win7 to get more space. Removing all the junks that arent needed.

 

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Here is what's installed on the samsung 9. A little bloatware but nothing bad compared to other computers like dell and hp.

I also notice 19 GB hidden partition for the system image recovery. I made a backup and will be deleting it as 19 GB is a lot of space to just have it wasted. I'll most likely get any open source partition software to join them together.

 

Just saw a flash video on my laptop and i'm really excited that it looks like I can swap out the SSD if they come out with a 256 GB option. Not sure about the Memory yet.

 

One thing I do not like about the Series 9 is the trackpad. I really just can't get used to the gesture techniques. I disabled the gestures and now use the standard buttons which are embedded inside the track pad. Not ideal for me.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on track pad. Have you used it yet for editing documents, copy, paste etc.. What are your thoughts?

 

So what if you can find a CD drive somewhere else. The point is, there isn't a cd drive in the computer you just bought from them. Just because Dell is doing the same stupid thing doesn't make it any better.

 

Dude. I'm not a member of any Fanboy armies on the Internet. Almost everyone buying the Air will run OSX on it. If I buy any computer from Apple that's what I will do. If I'm not OK with that then I won't buy Apple.

And so far I never have, though I've thought about it a great deal.

The point to consider is what Laptop Magazine tested. They did not make a mistake there.

I did.

It's Apple Fanboy psycho nut-job nonsense.

Windows 7 is a GUI upgrade of Vista, which was a GUI upgrade of XP, which was a GUI upgrade of Windows 2000, which was a switchover from business to the consumer market of Windows NT.

Windows 3.0, 95, 98 98SE, ME these were all built on top of the MS-DOS shell and were an unarguable pile of crap. A fraud when labeled an operating system.

It's not a coincidence that BSOD and freeze-ups (like Macs and Linux suffer) disappeared after the release of Windows 2000. No more reinstalling the operating system every month (Win 95), or two months (WIN98) or four months (WIN ME).

Check the underlying specs. The operating system is not "Windows 7", it's Windows NT.

A lot of Apple Fanboys simply do not know this, but that never stopped them from pontificating at length in forums and on blogs.

That would be me.

I assumed nothing, but for $1,600 I expect that Samsung would either include an external DVD drive -which they manufacture- or do as Apple did with the Air and put the recovery disc software on a USB stick properly set-up to work.

 

nice unboxing of series 9 : Samsung Series 9 is here: Unboxing, hands-on | Crave - CNET

Win7/Vista is not just a GUI update of XP. That's just dumb.

 

Would members kindly read and follow the forum rules particularly:

before making new posts. Some recent posts have degraded the quality of this thread.

John

 

Amazon has finally posted pre-order links, and for both models.

13 inch

11.6 inch

 

What were the revolutionary changes between XP and Vista/7 that did not involve the GUI?

 

I don't know if you are refering to me - I didn't mean to flame anyone.

I think you took my post with some bitter. I'm not an apple fanboy; what I am saying is that those videos are stating that the macbook air boots up faster than the samsung series 9 and I was stating that it was a poor comparison is all. I would much rather have windows 7.

 

Thanks DVD9. I just re-pre-ordered at Amazon instead because I have prime.

 

Consider for a moment that the OS being on a CD is a limitation that Microsoft insists upon yet Samsung may still be obliged to include a copy for the consumer.

 

For those keeping an eye out for prices, you may want to consider Google Product Search:
900x3a - Google Search

It aggregates results from a number of vendors. The lowset price as of this post was $1518, but the vendor didn't have a rating.

 

1. from the looks of the video previously... the samsung laptop is on clean boot. if we install firewall and anti-virus, the bootup will take much longer than 24secs.
2. also is 24sec bootup in the overclocked turbo mode?
   Would like to know the bootup in regular mode, and turbo mode. what's the time difference?
3. Looks like SSD is not upgradable? Also Ram isn't upgradable?

 

twe90kid, you already posted these... why are you posting it again?

1. Yes, if you ever install programs and services on any operating system that requires automatic startups, the cold bootup will be slower. The article mentioned that the MBA is slower becaue they installed a lot of programs on it and it is not a clean boot. In Windows 7, I usually set many of these to manual startups or delay startups, so then would not affect my cold startup times. With that said, you shouldn't need to do cold startups anyway. With hibernate and stand-by/sleep, startups are really 2-3s.
2. The turbo boost is a nice new feature in the i5 processor not found on the older generation Core 2 on the MBA. It automatically switchs on when needed.
3. The SSD is a msata, probably mini PCIe form factor, and is probably upgradable if you are careful to open it. Other vendors do sell things, but I haven't been able to find any for sell by Samsung yet. The largest by Samsung appears to be 128GB as far as I know, http://www.samsung.com/us/business/oem-solutions/pdfs/PSG2011_web.pdf. Again, RAM may be upgradable too if you are careful to open it. We don't know until it is disassembled right?

 

I am considering this laptop as well but I am getting slightly confused about the different specs that are being shown. the site below indicates its an I7 with up to 8gb ram and 256mb ssd

"Beneath the impressive chassis are some equally impressive specs. These include: an Intel i7 processor, to 8GB memory, a 256GB solid state drive and a 13.1-inch screen."

Hands on: Samsung ZX310 9 Series review | News | TechRadar UK

with 8gb and a 256mb sdd i would probably go for it. but 128mb is not enough for me and at that price i EXPECT 256 and 8gb.

also there are 2 usb ports (someone here earlier mentioned there is only 1, the cnet unboxing clearly says 2 with one being some sort of sleep charge thing, i dont know what that is).

anyway Im in UK so i have no clue when we might see it over here, but im not interested if it doesnt have the right specs for the price (I may just go out and buy a more powerful 15" laptop with ssd + optical drive if i can find one with 6-7hrs battery life).

 

USA version is i5 with 4gb of ram.

 

Due to the extra bright screen I'm curious to know how this laptop does in sunlight. If anyone happens to try one of these outdoors, please post your thoughts.

Thanks!

 

For anyone complaning about finger print here is a nice solution. It works great. I got a sample from CES and tried it today.

DigiClean Micro Fiber Screen Cleaners

DigiClean Micro Fiber Screen Cleaner - Digi Clean Promotional Products for Mobile Phones from egrips Non-Slip Strips | Promo Catalog
PITTA PAD is stick-on type, high-technology microfiber digital-screen cleaner

 

How good is battery life with your usage patterns?

 

I need to do a battery test with the different options and turn off the battery life extender so that it wont stop @ 80%.

 

That article is from January 9th. I believe that there were initial plans to offer higher specs, but they were either scrapped or delayed for a second-generation model.

This is, of course, total speculation. But I haven't found any current information that suggests a series 9 with higher specs will be released anytime soon.

 

OH, I love battery life extender programs. On my Vaio, G2, I keep it at 80% because I read somewhere it is better for the battery (11-13 hr rated battery, so not much of a hit), and have been measuring the design/full capacity every few months with RightMark. I have it on excel somewhere, but don't remember the numbers exactly, but it was over a year before I started seeing degradation in the battery, and not by much. I used to do this on my other/older laptops too and I see a much bigger degradation, your typical 20% when kept at full charge.

 

Windows comes with a firewall and anti-virus.

Third party firewalls and anti-virus programs are a virus and grind your system to a halt.

I've been running Windows 7 Home Premium for 17 months 24/7 and I've never had a problem. Four browsers running, two file sharing programs, word processor, photo graphics program. I have six gigs of RAM and I use it.

Stop listening to Mr. Fear. When you stop listening to Mr. Fear everything gets better. The more you listen to Mr. Fear the worse everything gets. Whole nations have turned into brutal prison states because the people listened to Mr. Fear.

Mr. Fear is a useless, dangerous parasite who has never had an idea, and he hates and loathes anyone who has ideas.

The Russians are not going to nuke us and "Al Qaeda" does not exist and never did exist.

Google it.

 

anyone? bueller?

 

Not sure if anyone experience this but my screen look pixelated in a few spots. turned out to be the graphic drivers. I ran the windows updates before this so something probably screwed around with the video drivers.

I feel better now.

 

Is the samsung warranty worldwide like asus or something less?

 

latinracer, can you tell us about the keyboard? Does it really flex as badly as badtzwang said earlier?

 

it flexes a little bit but nothing of big concern. It depends how hard you press. I believe that the m11x also did this.

 

Anybody know if this thing has a TPM chip?

 

Thanks for the input. I almost drove up to Fresno from San Diego to pick one up. But after calculating the cost of gas and tax, I decided to hold off.

 

Didn't know this computer was hot enough for someone to drive from Fresno to SanDiego. that's a bit crazy!

 

Why is fresno always in stock and every best buy are out? That is strange. I'm still testing my laptop to make sure everything is good. I'm a little nervous and it makes it difficult that all best buy in town doesnt have one in stock.

So who is going to be brave and open one up. I need to upgrade ram. I was half way and got scared. I'll wait for a tutorial from someone else.