Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus - NP940X3G

I agree.

It isn't that people are expecting this laptop to be a mobile workstation but what is the use of innovating to 8 GB single sticks and bringing the price down so much if they're still going to manufacture expensive laptops that that only come with 4 GB ? It's a simple swap out - especially if they're going to solder the thing in there, might as well be the best. We're talking $20 - $30 difference - ridiculous for what would amount to a whole lot more usability.

Also, not sure what type of tests the reviewers could have done that sufficed with 4 GB, but I think most users would agree that it's not enough for their usage.

If users don't demand more, and worse are willing to pay more for less, then it will only hinder innovation.

 

If you are a student MS store has some nice deals on the haswell models. I also like the Acer S7 but went with the Sony because it is a slightly better all around laptop in my opinion, plus it is cheaper.

 

I don't really understand people who are happy with 4GB of RAM and 128GB SSD in 2013. It's quite obvious that the more, the better. And the main point here is that the cost to Samsung is laughably low. To put 4GB extra RAM and 128GB extra SSD into one of these I'm sure would cost Samsung less than $50. So what the hell are they doing? Are they idiots? It can only be some kind of weird market plan gone wrong in my opinion. Why have an option like that in the first place, and then to release this option first makes even less sense.

I'm also worried about the screen, after reading Sweclockers review, saying it's useless for normal Windows programs, unless you have Win 8.1. And even Win 8.1 doesn't look good apparently.

 

I guess this is why the are taking so damn long in releasing this laptop.

 

Samsung, had the perfect opportunity to leverage the success of their Galaxy lines and put a stranglehold on the Ultrabook market but they are too damn stupid. Had they released a base model with QHD, i5, 8gb of ram, and 128GB for under $1300 they would have slaughtered Sony, ASUS, Acer, and the like. They might have also put up the first legit challenge to the Macbook Air and Pro lines. Or maybe they realized that the resolution s would buy their unit regardless of its other specs. I'm sure if they wanted to they would have found a way to sale the Ativ Book 9 Plus with 2GB of RAM and 64GB HDD for $1200.

 

yeah, they've really mangled their Haswell releases, but i'm guessing that's due to their higher than desired inventory of Ivy Bridge. it could also be due to them wanting to be closer to the Win 8.1 release.

it wouldn't make any sense if they don't eventually update the AB7 with Haswell, unless they're ok discontinuing that machine after only 1 generation?

since the AB7 is user upgradeable, that's why i mentioned it'd be the only likely model that could theoretically meet the specs you listed. i wouldn't expect an AB7 refresh until the holidays at best though.. maybe even late Q1 2014.

 

Good point. A shift in the tone of this forum from optimism and excitement to irritation and disappointment has clearly occurred following the official announcement and continued delays of the AB9+. Question now is, does Samsung have people monitoring these forums and what are they going to do about it.

 

If your ok with the i5 the ab7 ultra can be user upgraded to 8 gb ram and 256 ssd for around 250 dollars. It probably has the best battery life for a ivy system. Its either that or wait. /:

 

The followin post may contain errors, or be totally correct. Apologies if ithere are errors. You may want to skip reading this post alltogether, because it's a little bit confused.
.....
I am also increasingly worried about the screen. Looking at ppi, I think on a 13,3" model 1080p will go well without scaling, with any desktop program. Larger resolutions however will require either 125 or 150 scaling. The only exception is 200% scaling, which however only makes sense on a screen with 1800p -- and then, surprise, still yielding you only 900p which is *worse* than the 1080p you would get with 1080p at problem-free 100%. I used to be all for ultra high res but 1080p seems to make more and more sense to me on 13,3".
However: All of what I have written above might be BS, I am neither an expert, nor do I have experience with high res screens and scaling in every-day scenarios (i almost wrote screenarios).
I think it would be hughely interesting to see what people with a 1440p screen on 13.3" and Win 8.1 preview, latest updates, have to say - i.e., Acer S7 and Kirabook users. I think I will post a question to their boards with regard to this.
Be noted that AFAICS, 200% scaling means that just 25% of previous contents is displayed.

The data would be
125% scaling -> 156% -> 1/1,56 -> 64% of previous contents, reduction by 36%. Equals 1800p*(1/1,25)=1440 p.
150% scaling -> 225% -> 1/2,25 -> 44% of previous contents, reduction by 56%. Equals 1200p.
200% scaling -> 400% -> 1/4 -> 25% of previous contents, reduction by 75%. Equals 900p.

It's obvious how therse steps are both massive and not sufficiently fine-grained. Do I get it right that win 8.1 only allows these steps?
Or does that slider allow practically any scaling (which will still not solve the problem of blurriness/artifacts, though).

As you can see, if you believe 1080p to be the sweet spot on a 100% scaled 13.3 incher (165ppi), then you are out of luck because only 900p (too big, 138ppi) or 1200p (too small) are possible, and an equal to 1200p, in addition to this, will also be blurry with 3rd party applications, as can be seen here: Windows 8.1 and high-PPI displays: Better, but still lacking | Ars Technica

However, the majority of users will probably find 900p (200%) ideal, and a notebook with native 1080p at 100% somewhat too small. So, in fact, 1800p at 200% might be really ideal after all...! Hmm.

Moreover, I don't get the whole 1080p thing with the Ativ book 9 plus. What are they trying to say? Are they selling 1080p displays with the plus? What are they trying to say with 1800p available with win 8.1?

Sorry, I'm confused...

 

When frustrations are vented here, they are often expressed as if Samsung were expected to be listening. Particularly when a disappointed owner describes anger about product or with Samsung service, there is often an "are you listening, Samsung" tone about it. Yet, at least in my time here, I have not seen or heard any indication that Samsung monitors this forum or pays particular attention to what is being posted here.

I do not mean to argue in this debate, as I do not have a strong or well informed opinion. I am merely trying to answer the question about whether we have a Samsung audience -- which I don't I believe we do. Of course I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time

 

The other problem is the cost of high resolution. Battery life which was supposed to be the main benefit of Haswell. Already it's been revised down to 7 hours. Only the macbook air and Sony duo are getting great battery life. The AB9+, Sony pro and S7 haven't been impressive in that department. Hopefully future models will be better.

 

Laptop, bærbar pc, Notebook, ultralett, sidesync, ssd, ativ, touch, pekeskjerm - OVERSIKT

It now says here, on the Norwegian Samsung page, that for Win 8 there will be 1920x1080 resolution, and only on Win 8.1 there will be 3200x1800. So it seems we have to wait until November for the 3200x1800 for this particular model (NP940X3GI).

I guess the 9-series also had a lot of different models, and it's not getting any easier. I might end up preferring this screen actually. Interestingly it here says 11 hours battery life. Still only i5/4/128GB though :-(

 

^ I think you're misunderstanding it. They will launch the laptop limited to 1080p resolution, and when Win 8.1 is released, it will enable you to use the full 3200x1800 res (scaled)

 

In Singapore, Sony only offers 4GB for both the Vaio Pro 11 and both versions Vaio Pro 13, 128GB SSD and 256GB SSD. If I want 8GB of RAM, I would be forced to get the DUO 13 which costs SGD$3000+. Sony Singapore really sucks when compared to the US.

That's why I am considering the AB9+. But it seems I'm about to be let down by Samsung as well. No news about release dates and specs. In Singapore, we are told that this laptop will be released in Q4. I am guessing that's in Oct with Windows 8.1

 

That's a good point. And I agree, 256GB would be nice. But my main point is still valid - 4 gb of RAM is more than enough.

I have 15 tabs open right now, steam, spotify, everything - and I'm using 2.8 gb of RAM on my desktop with 8gb of RAM total. I think you (and I) may be exhibiting a bit of the False Consensus Effect - whereby a person tends to overestimate how many people agree with him or her. I'd say the average user NEVER breaks 4gb of RAM usage. In fact, let me start up netflix and a few youtube tabs, simultaneously... 3.2 gb RAM. Let's start word, excel, and powerpoint - 3.4 gb. So I have... ~20 tabs open, netflix, youtube, steam, spotify, 3 microsoft office things - and I'm still at 3.4 gb. There's no way the average user will use more than me!

4GB is more than acceptable. The only beef with the RAM you should have, unless you are a power user that uses multiple operating systems or photoshop or runs multiple games at the same time, is that it is single-channel memory instead of dual-channel.

Try it yourself! How much RAM are you using right now?

More data to back me up:
How much RAM do I need? (Early 2013 edition) | ZDNet
Do You Really Need More Than 4GB of RAM?
The 8GB/64-bit advantage - More RAM doesn't always mean better performance | ZDNet
Do You Really Need More Than 6 GB Of RAM? - Is
Do I really need 8GB of RAM? | ZDNet

 

Thanks for this which highlights that once a very high resolution is rescaled to give text that is legible then one might be worse off. I was looking at the Series 7 Ultra in a store yesterday and thought "what a nice display, but I would have to increase the display scaling in order to be able to use it".

Windows 8 offers custom scaling which can be user-defined in 1% steps and I would expect 8.1 to do the same. However, the scaling might work better if using one of the standard increments and is most likely to break when using older programs.

There have been times in the past when Samsung support staff have unofficially lurked here but I've seen nothing to indicate this is happening at the present. It's a shame since they might learn something (although many of our current issues are caused by their marketing people who choose the wrong specs from the list offered by the factory).

Currently 3.6GB in use of which Firefox, with 56 tabs open, is taking the biggest share at 1220MB. Next in line is Google Earth with 427MB. So I'm a person who likes more than 4GB ready for when I open up my GIS software.

Manufacturers don't expect power users to use ultrabooks which, I think, they see as the progression from netbooks (whose territory got swallowed by tablets). And netbooks were shipped with 1GB RAM (upgradable to no more than 2GB due to the chipset used). In that context 4GB is generous.

John

 

Sony Pro is great regarding battery life. In the same weight as MacBook Air 13 (3lbs) they get >14h of battery where Air gets >11h. You may dislike the form (tiny laptop + sheet battery), but they've definitely done the best job optimizing for battery life per pound (and they've got a full HD IPS touch screen, which Air lacks). If Sony was higher resolution, I'd be staying with them.

No news at all about Samsung's release of AB9+ in Serbia though, and September is nearing.

 

Too many issues with excessive fan noise on the sony. And if you run anything with silverlight the cpu/fan go instantly to insanity mode.

 

Good point, unfortunately the sheet battery adds a huge wedge shape and makes the overall package much bigger.

 

Of course Samsung listens to this forum. That's why they refreshed the 15" S9 with a PLS 1080p screen like we asked for 100x last year. i

At least it looks like they stopped using the sandisk SSD in their premium models.

 

It's only the Sandisk U100 that was bad. The rest of them are great.

 

Did I miss something? Which version of the 15" S9 has a PLS display?

Or maybe they just ran out of stock: My Book 9 Lite came with a Samsung mSATA SSD.

John

 

Unfortunately none of them has pls, if only they were listening to these threads, they would know how badly we want one. Frankly, that machine would be far superior to the AB9+ as it would weigh only slightly more with a larger screen and accommodate 8GB (maybe 16?).

Yeah, I assume they just ran out of the sandisks u100s (and went with single channel RAM instead). Seems like they will cut any corner on their premium models to save a quarter and frustrate us.

 

Sorry to ask such a basic question, but is it definitively known that the 9+ can't be user modified to 256 & 8?

Also, would the battery life be longer if the resolution were kept lower?

Thank you

 

More disappointing news (based on the sample). I just saw a quick preview from a russian site NOMOBILE.RU -. The guy claims the sample lasted just over 5 hours with a semi-dimmed screen, this was run in QHD mode, this is rather sad considering the wait. I might just get the 7 Ultra and be done with it or wait until proper reviews...

 

Anandtech did take a screenshot of the device manager showing that an M.2 Samsung SSD was used, which is a standardized PCIe SSD interface (unlike the MacBook Air, which uses a proprietary PCIe interface). It is reasonable to think this will be user replaceable, but until we get some pictures of the inside no one knows for sure.

We have not seen anything definitive about the RAM, but as pointed out earlier in the thread the Samsung spec page describes it similarly to the RAM used on the E/F series 9 (4GB x 1). These sticks have historically been installed as BGA ICs that are soldered to the motherboard. Snapshots of the underneath of the B9P show that one of the fans from the B/C/D/E/F series 9 has been removed, perhaps providing space for a second stick of RAM; but if its in fact soldered to the motherboard it won't be user upgradable.

 

lol just look at the taskbar, it's so tiny I guess this really high res was a bad idea, even the battery sucks.

 

I'm sure the AB9P that ships will have better battery life and decent scaling. If not, this will be very embarrassing for Samsung. I remember when they unveiled it they claimed 12 hours.. huh.. just like the air 13 that had just been released. Samsung so much wants to compete with the air's battery life but no doubt will be slaughtered by the air in terms of power management. I get 6 hours on the AB9 FHD with i7 and ivy. So it better do better then that or its a flop. One thing I notice is some of my apps don't scale well on my AB9 FHD. Like the winamp player has some very small text in the player. I have the windows scaled at 125 %. The good thing is at 1080P, everything is still readable. Samsung may be trying too hard to beat Apple's retina resolution. All they need to do is increase the battery size a bit, which they did, and slap the FHD matte on it with the haswell CPU. That might actually get 9-10 hours. I guess they would also have to offer the touch FHD but personally think the matte looks 10X nicer. Hopefully they don't screw up the AB9P. They already screwed up the lite in the US with that hideous TN panel they are using.

 

Sorry for OT but I read some news about the Ativ Q

Samsung Ativ Q kan stoppas till följd av patenttvist - Bärbara datorer - SweClockers.com

Delayed/stoped because of the android/Windows dual-boot thing. I was going to get these 2 (AB9+ AQ) and then pick the one that I liked the most. Realy hoping the AQ shows up before the 30-days refund-time ends on the AB9+ I got on pre-order.

 

In case Samsung listens to engadget:

How would you change Samsung's 13-inch Series 9?

 

I'd keep the existing 2.6 lb form factor of the FHD AB9 Matte and stick a haswell in it. That's all they need to do. So simple but yet, they may never do it.

 

We've had a good selection of Series 9s during the past year so why would they think that the future demand can be satisfied by the 9 Plus and the 9 Lite? I would expect to see a Haswell X3F and possibly X3E. The one other change that is needed is the mini DisplayPort socket instead of Samsung's mini VGA.

The big question is when? Intel still want to get their money back on Ivy Bridge and maybe there's a stand-off between Samsung and Intel about Intel's touchscreen requirement for Ultrabooks which means that Samsung is still producing non-touch Ivy Bridge machines. That the 9 Lite is offered in both touch and non-touch versions suggests that Samsung recognises that not everyone wants touchscreen.

John

 

Yes, but show me one link where the lite with matte screen can be bought in North America. I don't think it exists.

 

What's the point of a super high res panel if you scale it down? It just creates overhead. I'm coming from the same 11.1" HD resolution then you are and can tell you I'm perfectly happy running 1080p NATIVE resolution on the NP900X3E.

 

It is strange that so few haswell computers have come out (across the board, not just samsung). I'm thinking two reasons: because there is so much ivy lying around and also the significant update that is W8.1 that has yet to RTM. I can only hope Samsung is as intelligent as Dell and Lenovo, who ignored the touchscreen requirement and made it an option. The AB9+ may become the prime example of what happens when you put a needlessly high-resolution touch display on an ultralight, you have to beef up the battery just to get the same runtime you had before.

 

IMHO, it suggests that not everyone can afford touch. Don't fool yourself, Samsung gives hell to what you want, the point here is what they can shove down your throat at a price you can still afford. The Book 9 Lite has a non-touch option because it's economically interesting to Samsung so they can target more consumers price speaking.

 

SW Update lists both an NP905S3G-K01US and an NP905S3G-K02US. The latter is listed here which say in stock on 30th August. It seems that the K02US is black so the K01US is most likely the white version.

The same site gives an ETA for the NP940X3G-K01US as 28th August and an NP940X3G-K02US as 17th October and the latter is listed by SW Update (that's a substantial price hike for Windows Pro).

John

 

That's good news John. Hopefully they do release the lite with matte. But the prices on that site are insane. That can't be right being you could buy the FHD model or the newer AB9P for less.

 

ugh..never mind, I just saw the only difference is W8 Pro.

 

According to engadget (as of right now): Microsoft releases Windows 8.1 to manufacturers ahead of October 18 launch...

Let's see if this shakes things up.

Not as if Samsung has been clear on the dates anyway, but I'll assume this means that waiting for Windows 8.1 won't be a reason to push back the date any further.

 

regarding scaling, I thought scaling to e.g. 200% (1800p->900p) still yields (much) sharper fonts/info displayed. I.e. the interface (icons, menues, tabs, bars) are larger, but you can still zoom out much more in excel, or a browser, or whereever. Ideally.
The question is, if you scale 1800p to an equivalent of 1080p, will the overall problems (artifacts, blur, other problems etc.pp) be worse or than or superior to the disadvantages of 1080p with a good clear type config, in most situations.
(I am coming from a vaio x, btw (768@11,1", ~141ppi).)
Since I'm waiting for the 8.1 release before buying anything, I can also wait for actual "real life" reports on 8.1 Final with 13,3" @1800p (and S7/Kirabook), however I would be suprised to see >1080p matte screens before the end of the year, so the question is moot for us mattee folks, anyway. -- I'm increasingly thinking I'm in the wrong thread with regard to the glossy thing, but I think this thread is developing more into a general thread on what is happening on the high end/flat/light front.
In general, I am really curious with regard to the actual de facto behavioral patterns of people with conventionally designed laptops WITH touch. with a normal browsing/office/email setup, how conventient is lifting your whole arm to point to something (and then miss it because your finger is too thick to be exact with slim lines/icons on 1080p+ resolution), as opposed to a touchpad and keyboard cursors/keyboard commands. I will not sacrifice screen estate even to a minimal degree to get touchable tiles/icons/interfaces.
Taking this into account, the cumulated amount of time saved in those instances where touching is quicker than the touchpad needs to be opposed to the time/annoyances spend to accomodate for the disadvantages of glossy... I read about one of the new thinkpads, with a touchscreen that is supposed to be a bit "matte", but in fact the reviewer said the matte is by no means comparable to real matte. So there seems to be nothing on the horizon here...

 

I noticed that B&H no longer sell the NP900X3E-K01US. The site says it's been discontinued which is a shame since they were selling it for $100 less than Amazon the last couple of weeks. I chatted with a sales rep who told me that the manufacturer is no longer supplying them - presumably due to the Haswell replacement. I find this hard to believe since no spec has been announced which could be considered a replacement to the X3E-K01US model. In any case Amazon are still selling but I don't want to be caught out since I've decided this is the model for me - buy now or wait for it to be discounted???

 

The NP900X3E "K" has just been released last month, so I would be surprised if they already start to disappear.
If you want to save some bucks, go for the NP900X3F.

 

Couldn't wait anymore & ended up ordering the NP900X3E "A" from Microsoft Store. They have it on sale right now for $999, so I figure I can afford to upgrade the SSD if I can't deal with 128GB.

 

Wow. That's a great buy. It really seems like these may get phased out. I'm thinking MS is selling these at cost. If I had not already bought my 256SSD model I would have been all over that. Anyone even toying with the idea of getting the last gen better pull the trigger on that. I don't think it will last long.

Samsung Series 9 NP900X3E-A02 Ultrabook - Microsoft Store

 

I agree, these are the types of sales you see on Samsungs when new models come out (and this i7 model is only a few months old), but they don't last long.

Something to take note of before anyone rushes out to get the AB9+ though. Unless you absolutely need touch, this is a far better deal.

 

Review from expertreviews.co.uk: Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus review | Expert Reviews

Don't like the "SideSync" text in lower right corner of the laptop. Ew.

 

.
I am trying to find reviews on this machine. Can I upgrade from the 4GB to 8GB of RAM on this model? I do want touch screen which it looks like this model has.

 

Samsung Series 9 NP900X3E-A02 Ultrabook - Microsoft Store

MS store is touting this model as a touchscreen in the description. Is it not?

 

Thanks for the link. The microscopic menu text in Photoshop Elements shows the hazard of relying on display scaling.

The RAM on the 13.3" Series 9s (except for the original X3A) is soldered so what you get is what you have to live with. Samsung have implied that there will be an 8GB version of the Book 9 Plus but we don't know when that option might arrive.

You can touch it and put fingerprints all over it. Just don't expect Windows to respond.

John

PS: I've always reckoned that this notebook is aimed at people with deep pockets. I just saw this on Amazon UK.