Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus - NP940X3G

UK buyers, seems the AB9+ is in stock. very.co.uk have it for £1299 with delivery within the next few days.

 

Tom's Hardware has a good article about the upcoming Sandisk A110 M.2 PCIe SSD which provides good information about M.2 SSDs in general. Basically there are two categories of M.2, either a SATA implementation or a PCIe implemenation. The former requires a SATA controller on the SSD as well as on the Motherboard.

Provided that we saw a picture of a B9+ with a Samsung MZNTD128HAGM installed, if you review its Product Catalogue Webpage, it says its interface is SATA6.0Gbos. While not confirmed, I think the M.2 implementation in the B9+ is SATA, not PCIe.

 

So I actually asked Samsung:

Thank you for contacting Samsung.

I understand that you are seeking information on the ability to upgrade the NP940X3G-K01US computer. I would be happy to assist you with this information.

I was able to verify that the RAM in this model is not upgradable. Additionally, the hard drive in this unit is SATA3. Regarding the question of whether or not the hard drive can be upgraded, it does appear that this issue will require further research. I would like to escalate this to our Tier II technicians with your permission so that they can investigate this and provide you with the best possible solution for your device. If you would like to speak with a Tier II technician, please contact me with the best phone number that you can be reached at so that I can arrange for one of our technicians to contact you.

 

... or both in form of SATA Express over PCIe

 

Thanks John for a detailed and intelligent reply, as always! In this case it seems I might have rushed into choosing the i7 version over the i5 (the request is already being processed by my uni administration and I should have it in early October), as I'm going to change the SSD to a larger one anyway. I guess I'll just have to run Gentoo/Sabyaon on it to make use of some added processing power on everyday basis Seems the only way to go after the latest Guardian's revelations and the news on possible backdoor in Windows 8 anyway.

(of course I meant '*everyday* tasks' in my previous post but you obviously got that)

 

Thanks for asking an official source. This info gives me the sads, though. I'm hoping the rep is wrong as they often are.

If not, I hope I can return the one I pre-ordered on amazon if the 8 ram version comes out in a couple of weeks and is 1450ish or less on pre-sale. I couldn't figure out whether I could return the laptop if if wasn't "dead" but I hope so if the need arises.

I do like the form factor of this laptop. I'm afraid I'd get dog hair and all sorts of other crap in the yoga2 if I was using in the tablet position.

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but would it be possible to upgrade the laptop to an i7 myself?

 

If you want the i7, just wait and grab the i7 version with more ram, NP940X3G-K04US.

Has anyone found the new m.2 sata drives available retail? 256gb or more?

Ie Samsung below, Crucial M500, or others?

MZHPU256HCGL-00000

MZHPU512HCGL-00000

 

I posted a 480GB crucial one earlier, it was the only retail one I could find on google, and it was outrageously expensive. It looked like it was coming from an OEM supplier.

However, I would strongly recommend you wait until someone cracks open a production unit and we have some pictures of the SSD. For starters we don't know the length of the M.2 stick, or if its PCIe or SATA, or if production units even come with an M.2.

 

PC Pro's review is only average at best. Quite a difference compared to other 2 reviews which gave almost perfect scores. Still waiting for more reviews.

 

Doubtful. Almost certain the RAM will be soldered as it was in the S9 and in most laptops this thin.

Nope, soldered as well. You could potentially replace the motherboard at a latter date, but it wouldn't be cheap.

It seems clear, Samsung will allow you to have both the i7 and 8GB not either/or. The reason for this is undoubtedly margins.

 

Yikes, I have a hard time believing that Delta E score.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/384049/samsung-ativ-book-9-plus

 

Boy...did this review cool my excitement a bit. The initial experience should be a a little easier out of the box and sounds like a bit too much tweaking is necessary for a neophyte like me.

 

What's a Delta E score and what's the issue? I'm assuming it's a bad thing.

 

Perhaps the reviews in the future will be better once Windows 8.1 comes out and solves the scaling issues. I must also agree that I was disappointed after reading the review. It sounds really negative...

 

Put in simple terms, it's color accuracy. Whites should look white and not have bluish tint, and reds should look red, not orangey. Ideally, a display would have a Delta E near 1.0.

It's not really that essential for most people, but it's disappointing that Samsung didn't bother to properly calibrate the display. But then, they never seem calibrate their smartphones either... Grrr, time to dust off my colorimeter.

 

This still looks like a "fake" review, still all press photos, what's up with that?

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 2

 

The negative aspects of the review all (besides the delta D thingy) come from the failing software support for this high-DPI screen and this will 100% change considering a lot of those laptops are about to be released.

 

So I've gotten fed up with "hoping" for matte, I wrote a "letter" to both Samsung and Asus they may please build a 1080p matte (and high spec) version of the AB9+, and the Infinity, respectively. You may want to consider writing to your country's Asus/Samsung rep asking for the same, if you care. If you write to support, not a rep, then tell support you'd like them to forward the wish to the appropriate department.
:thumbsup:
(The new UX31LA (not Infinity) IS offered in matte, by the way, but only in 900p 4GB, see sweclockers)

 

BTW, the base model NP940X3G-K01AT is in stock in Austria since today, i guess the rest of Europe will soon follow:
Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus - 940X3G, Core i5-4200U, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Windows 8 (NP940X3G-K01AT) Preisvergleich | Geizhals EU

 

BTW...ABT has them in stock now. Just joined to let you know as I've been following this thread closely. Since I'm using Paypal (Grrrrr Amazon), I ordered it. Should be in tomorrow.

NP940X3G-K01US - Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus Mineral Ash Black Ultrabook Computer at Abt

 

My interpretation of that review is that that it is programs, as well as Windows, that need to support the high resolution. See, for example, the reference to the 3mm high URL bar in Chrome. The whole graphical interface, such as box for text, has to be scalable, as well as the text itself. If you use only current versions of programs where there is good supprt then you can hope that the developers will address these issues before too long. Or maybe they will fix the scaling as a feature for the next version.

Display color calibration is more easily fixed within the limitations of the panel hardware characteristics.

Overall, that review seems to me to be one of the more realistic ones with enthusiasm for the high resolution being balanced by pointing out the problems.

John

 

This is a bogus site, they had this 3 day BS for a couple of weeks. I would not hold my breath.

 

heheh, I wouldn't buy it from very myself even if they did have it in stock.

 

Considering high ppi in Chrome, it might be worth looking at their Beta branch which gets updates faster (or Chromium, which is open-source, in sort of dev-state most of them time I believe).

 

It doesn't solve it, it allows you to specify 200% and not just 150%.

 

I had been waiting for the AB9+ since early summer but I got so tired of waiting and really needed a computer by this month for school.

I pulled the trigger on the Ativ Book 8 instead. Obviously not as slim as other ultrabooks but this computer is a beast. Upgraded the hdd to a SSD and ram to 16gb. I love it so far, battery is pretty awesome too, I probably get 8-9 hours on light-use.

I mainly needed it for CAD software and I felt like the i5 4gb was not enough, and with no info on the higher models I decided to stop waiting.

 

I preordered mine there a while ago, they might price match amazon if you talk to the right sales person, although I am local to abt so have to pay tax. If they do indeed have them I should have mine tomorrow from in store pickup.

Anyone know if we can pop an 802.11ac card in one of these?

 

How did you manage to get 16 GB ram, I thought 8 GB was the max and there was only 1 slot ? Which model do you have ?

Also how many HD slots are there ?

 

Looking forward to hear if you get one

Btw - I don't like the way this guy treats the ativ 9 plus Hands-On Video Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus [Samsung @ IFA 2013] - YouTube

 

Well, today is "the day." Anyone receive shipping notifications from Amazon? They no longer list it as a "pre-order" but are now saying it's backordered. Samsung.com seems to have them in stock, and says it "ships in 1 to 3 days."

 

Looking forward to your first impressions and pictures of the AB9+. I hope that the awful wordings at the bottom right will not be there in retail versions.

 

That guy was ridiculous. He seems like a cartoon character. Good to know I can punch my AB9+ without causing irreparable damage. I was really concerned about that.
Funny how he quoted 11hr battery life despite it being debunked by Samsung themselves. In other news, still waiting for shipment notification by Amazon. Anyone else receive notification yet?

 

Well, the Book 9 Plus comes with a clown to distract you from its shortcomings, whilst the Zenbook Infinity comes with its own cyborg bodyguard: ASUS' Zenbook UX301 hands-on | Engadget at IFA 2013 - YouTube (must-see!)

 

Couldn't tell who's the prettiest. The dude, Dana, or the laptop.

 

haha seriously!

 

Here we go again. I called Amazon to confirm that the laptop would be shipped. They said that they were given the ship date by Samsung (September 10), but they still don't have the laptops in stock. The rep I spoke with said he didn't know when they would have the laptop ready to ship, but he was just a call center employee, so take that with a grain of salt.

So it seems the waiting continues. This is quickly becoming a treatise on how not to launch a product.

 

Yeah, I cancelled my order. I was hesitant in the first place, but I've had it with the constant delays. All of the small issues really started to bug me: the miserly amount of Ram, the stupid Sync label, the ridiculously poor display calibration, and all the delays... Sigh.

 

I should have mine in 4 to 5 hours when I get home and pick it up. I'll post some pictures when I get it.

 

Congrats kitejumping. Please let us know what model the SSD is. Thanks.

 

Looking forward to that!

 

FWIW:

Amazon now proudly states " usually ships within 3 to 5 weeks"

 

Unreal. I called Samsung earlier and they apparently have them in stock selling from their website today, so not sure why there is any delay from Amazon. If it weren't for the fact that I got in at $1,199 I would cancel today just on principle. Hesitant to lose out on a pretty good deal though.

 

Unreal? How about this then: Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus 940S3G K03 33,8 cm Notebook: Amazon.de: Computer & Zubehör

German Amazon: Usually ships within 1-4 _months_. NOT joking.

 

Because Samsung didn't supply them with the laptops, that's why! I usually have faith in amazon. Last time I tried to buy something that said '3-5 weeks' it was changed to 'shipping now' within a week. That said, if on the off chance it really does take 3 weeks+, I might consider the ideapad yoga 2.

 

I'm sorry for the disappointment you have due to delay in this order. This usually does not happen and also we do not want our customer to face this kind of inconvenience. I'll surely provide you all the information regarding this matter.

I found that this item is currently back ordered on our website and we are waiting to receive more inventory, however, we are not sure of the exact arrival date of the item. I also found that the supplier of this order was not able to ship this item due to some unknown reason and we are trying our level best to arrange this item as soon as possible.

I've also forwarded a special request to our concerned department to make this item available so that we can ship it as soon as possible. I want to let you know that we've not processed the payment of this order till now because we only charge for an item once it will get ship. So in this case I request you to please wait a little longer as rely available on our website very soon.

 

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It shows up in the device manager as a TOSHIBA THNSNH128G8NT. Coming from an old Lenovo y410 this is a HUGE improvement. The build quality is impressive, it does have the slide sync logo for those wondering.

 

Thanks kite!

Got a nice digital camera? Pictures please ...

Also, can you run CPU-Z or something similar and post screenshots of the CPU and Memory tabs?

 

Also if you're able to find out if the Wi-Fi card (Intel 7260) is the M.2 / NGFF (7260.NGWD) or mini half card (7260.HMWG), that would be great. I would like to upgrade it to the 802.11ac version.

 

I am not sure where to find that out, the memory is listed as dual channel ddr3 in cpuz, i'll post pics in a bit.