Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus - NP940X3G

I guess you might be interested in my post on the Fujitsu U904:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...a-just-announced-computex-25.html#post9403492

EDIT: OMG it has matte!!!!!!!!
cf http://forum.notebookreview.com/fujitsu/734214-fujitsu-lifebooks-u904-s904-look-pretty-awesome.html

 

i really hope they come out with a matte non-touch version. those reflections look pretty bad and i don't need touch. this would probably help battery life as well.

 

While the screen is glossy, I can personally tell you that its not bad at all to use even with direct light. The touch screen is actually cool, and I find it very useful for zooming in on apps like AutoCAD that would normally require me to plug in a usb mouse to use.

 

No news on this i7, 8GB, 256GB version yet?

 

A number of us have pre-orders placed on amazon.com during the last week of September with estimated delivery dates of late October through to mid-November, so check back in a couple of weeks to see if anyone gets a shipment.

 

You'd think Samsung would be more forthcoming and organized with releasing this. I don't understand how these companies manage to screw things like this up.

 

I presently have a MacBook Air running Win8 and Trackpad++, which is my favorite feature. I can use a two finger tap to act as a right click, I can swipe with four fingers to minimize windows, etc. What is the trackpad like on the Samsung? Can I create gestures to, for instance, allow a two finger tap to right click?

 

All Windows laptops have a "one finger" tap on the right side of the mousepad for right-clicking. It is indeed one of my favourite features. Has been for over 10 years. Also, with Windows 8 there are a multitude of swiping gestures to enact various features. Some of these gestures are customisable.

 

The default touchpad control panel appears to offer the option you want as a default setting:



And if that isn't enough then there is another control panel called ETDAniConf.exe in the installation package which has some more options.



John

 

How do access the other control panel (ETDAniConf)?

Edit: Nevermind I figured it out

 

Do note that ETDAniConf hides most of its available configuration options, unless they are explicitly "unhidden" in the registry before loading ETDAniConf. See this post for details.

 

I've been reading this site for a while, but just joined to throw in my own comments on this. I pre-ordered on Sept 29th and got a more worrisome delivery window:

 

Getting very tired of waiting for this 8gb/256 model, seems to be a priority on amazon.com than amazon.co.uk

At this rate it won't be released until next year in the UK

Will consider looking into the Asus Zenbook Infinity, whenever that is coming out, good job Samsung!

 

I know the feeling. Almost pulled the trigger on Yoga 2 Pro last night. i7/8/256 at $1200, I wonder if I should've.
All this time waiting has made me drift over to Dell XPS 15. Guess I can thank Samsung for that.

Having said that, my AB9+ i7/8/256 is still on pre-order. We'll see how I like the Dell.

Sent from a different Galaxy using Tapatalk 2.

 

Have you actually used either of those in person?
I don't know how the Yoga2 is but the Yoga1 was significantly thicker and heavier then the ativ9 when I compared them in the stores.

 

Any of you guys see the BestBuy.com preorder price for the Yoga 2 pro i7 256 SSD 8gb RAM? They currently have the silver one listed at 1199.00! That is some serious price undercutting. Not sure what I'm missing here, build quality or what. I must say I am very happy with the AB9+ but kind of wish I would have been more patient...

 

Hey guys - does anyone know if the SSD on the 128GB AB9+ model is upgradable? If so, can anyone recommend a specific make/model or share a link

Apologies if this has already been answered before. I looked through the last 10 pages or so and couldn't find an answer to the question.

 

The answer is either in this thread or http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/733030-2013-ativ-book-9-plus-owners-lounge-np940x3g.html.

It's an M.2 format SSD which is replaceable as and when you can find the right part. So far I don't think anyone has found a good source of the M.2 SSDs.

John

 

It could be a temporary lower price, like the AB9+ Amazon prices. It sounds too good to be true. It's confusing that some Best Buy locations already have it available for pickup even though Lenovo don't have release dates and prices available on their own website. Looking at the Yoga 2 Pro Release Thread it looks like some stores said that they have them but can't sell them yet, but some people have been able to get them and are posting their thoughts. If it was available at my local Best Buy I would be tempted to get it and cancel my AB9+ preorder because of the price difference.

Looking at the two without thinking about price I prefer the AB9+. Based on pictures it looks higher quality (and slightly smaller, but the same weight). The hinge on the Yoga is probably more useful than the 180 degree hinge on the AB9+.

I think when Windows 8.1 gets released at the end of the week we may know more about various products as I think the companies are waiting for that.

I wish companies could be more like Apple and have the ability to announce a product then have it available for purchase or preorder shortly after. It's nearly 4 months after the AB9+ was announced but it still has limited availability, and the Ativ Q that was announced at the same time has disappeared.

EDIT: One thing I have noticed while searching for the AB9+ K04US model, is even though there is a discrepancy in the SSD size (128 vs 256 GB) one thing that a lot of them have in common in their listings is a 3 year warranty whereas the Yoga 2 Pro has a 1 year warranty. Something else to consider when comparing prices if the info is correct.

 

That is a nice price for the upgraded Yoga Pro 2 and they make excellent machines. We will review that model, but in the meantime some things to keep in mind: it is thicker. Yoga products typically have sharp and bright displays but color gamut is average rather than wide like the S9, AB9+ and Zenbook. For years they've gone with single band WiFi 2.4GHz, and we ding them every time. Maybe that will finally change- can't say until we get our review unit. Beyond that, Lenovo is about fierce price competition while Samsung is more focused on boutique higher end products where you pay for style, thinness and great attention to detail.

 

Hey guys!

amazon.de has just listed the AB9+ K05 here: http://www.amazon.de/Samsung-NP940X3G-K05DE-Notebook-Intel-schwarz/dp/B00FU39LYS

 

That looks interesting...another 8GB/256GB machine... but the K05. Although it says i5, 4500U is an i7 I believe.

On that note, the K05 is popping up all over the place too... with i7 in CA.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=90813&vpn=NP940X3G-K05CA&manufacture=Others

I think I have it figured out.

K01 is i5/4GB/128GB and Windows 8
K03 is " with Windows 8 Pro

K04 is i7/8GB/256GB and Windows 8
K05 is " with Windows 8 Pro

 

According to Intel the 4500U is definitely an i7.

 

I purchased the AB9+ (i5/128) 3 weeks ago and love it but I've been dreaming of the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro because I wanted the tablet option. Soooo today I went to Best Buy and purchased the Yoga 2 Pro i7. I've been comparing the 2 screens and have to say that the AB9+ screen is much better. The colors are more rich and in my beach scene screensaver it looks like the sun is really shining behind the clouds as in real life but not so much on the Y2P. Windows 8.1 has helped with the scaling tremendously for me. So while I do like the screen on the AB9+ better, the tablet format is what I really wanted so I guess I'll be listing the AB9+ on Craigslist this weekend.

 

why don't you just return your AB9+ from wherever you purchased it since it's only been 3 weeks?

 

I got it from TigerDirect who only has a 14 day return policy and only if defective. Believe me I'm kicking myself but I'm paying for my impatience!

 

Y2P owners have been complaining about a lack of true yellow. Though some mentioned that it has the same screen as AB9+...

Sent from a different Galaxy using Tapatalk 2.

 

Nevermind, same screen both owners of both say the Samsung screen colors are better.

 

I have both the AB9+ and the Y2P sitting side by side on my desk and can tell you that the Y2P is slightly heavier than the AB9+. The AB9+ looks slimmer because of its tapered design but in reality they are so close to the same thickness as it is impossible to tell that one is thicker than the other. The AB9+ is a nicer looking machine with this mineral ash color and it just feels nicer/higher quality. They are the same width but the Y2P is about 1/2" longer. The actual screen on the Y2P is bigger (has to do with hinge design that allows for slightly bigger screen while keeping width the same) but the display area is the same as the Y2P has a bigger bezel area on the bottom of the screen. Touchscreen on both are very responsive. I find it slightly easier to open the lid on the Y2P but neither are difficult. The Y2P screen has a slight bit more wobble which pushing back on the lid however just touching the screen to select apps there is very little to no wobble in either one.

I ran CrystalDiskMark on both machines and here are the results:

AB9+:
Read Write
Seq 513.9 483.1
512K 425.9 455.0
4K 21.67 90.13
4K QD32 364.5 189.2

Y2P:
Read Write
Seq 501.2 247.1
512K 421.9 244.9
4K 24.37 64.78
4K QD32 282.3 241.4

I can pick up both machines by the corner and neither flex at all. Keyboard is nice on both and I don't find any mushy areas on either. I watched a youtube video on both simultaneously and the AB9+ is a bit sharper but if they weren't side by side nobody would complain about the Y2P. However, you look at the AB9+ and can't help but say "Wow" out loud.

There is a slight bit more travel on the Y2P keyboard and it is more comfortable to me however the AB9+ keyboard is nicer looking. I like that Lenovo has separate Home/End/Page Up/Page Down keys and larger arrow keys. If I've had one gripe about the AB9+ keyboard it would be this factor. The AB9+ has larger right Shift and Enter keys which I really like. Overall the keyboard on the AB9+ just doesn't feel as cramped as it does on the Y2P.

I work from home in my office usually with no music or tv on and I have yet to hear the fan on the AB9+ once in 3 weeks. I have pretty good hearing and I hear it all the time on my HP. I've not heard it yet on the Y2P either but I've not even had it a full day.

WiFi keeps dropping on the Y2P but I saw somewhere that there is a driver update available that should help. No problems on the AB9+.

On my HP Pavilion (with hybrid drive) I am always using 4-6mb memory however on the AB9+ I currently have open 6 Chrome tabs, 2 Firefox tabs, 5 Word docs, 2 Excel docs, Outlook, some PDFs, and it has not bogged down at all. The highest memory usage I've seen was 2.7 mb. On the Y2P I currently just have Outlook and 1 IE tab open and it is using 3.6 mb.

The SD slot on the AB9+ is slightly under the body and the SD card barely sticks out. On the Y2P it hangs out quite a bit. I definitely won't forget it in the Y2P.

If I could figure out how to justify having two 13" ultraportables I would do so in a heart beat. Both machines have their pros and cons and I'd have to say the AB9+ wins in so many ways and is the nicer, higher-quality machine but I really want the tablet functionality so for me it will be the Y2P. However if you are not looking for that tablet feature then it would be hard to beat the AB9+.

I'm happy to answer any questions if I can. I won't be opening the cases on either unit so I can't tell you what is inside but anything else I'm happy to try and answer.

Tammy

 

(only of relevance to German-speaking forum members: )

thank you, but that's weird, i5 + 8GB. i wonder if it's a typo. It's NOT a typo on amazon's part though, other dealers have the same data. I wouldn't be surprised if Samsung Germany made a mistake though, either by ordering the wrong combo, or giving wrong details to sellers (it's not even on the samsung site). Or they did it intentionally to make more money (selling the 8GBi5 like an 8GBi7), or Samsung ran out of i7 motherboards, or Samsung Germany thought i7 is not much of a benefit anyway (which is true in a sense). Pick one.

 

Hi Tammy

Thanks for the great compairson I'm totally new here
I'm looking for a new ultrabook and I think I'm going with the AB9+. I was a bit worried about the 4 gb of ram but I can see from your compairson that it's not that big of a worry.

But which one has the best battery life?

Sorry for my english, I'm not from the States.

 

Yesterday I wrote amazon.de, told them, that I think that this is indeed a typo. Especially if you look at the cpu model (4500U) which is - according to intel - definitely an i7. amazon said that they will check this and correct it if necessary. That was yesterday.

Today I'm really surprised. They corrected it! But instead of changing the i5 to i7 they changed the cpu model from 4500U to 4200U, which is of course an i5. Unfortunately I pre-ordered the AB9+ with an 4500U yesterday (see attachement). I wonder what they will send me

 

Thanks for the great comparison.

I pre-ordered the AB9+ just the other day from amazon and now I see the the Y2P with what look to be identical specs for $480 less.

I prefer the look of the AB9+ and everything I've read raves about it's build quality but I don't think I can justify almost $500 for the looks alone.

The Y2P has the tablet function - I doubt I'll use it much, but it's probably (along with the easel mode) more useful than the flat folding screen on the AB9+. Other than that, the only advantage is price and that I can get it today from a nearby best buy.

Are there any functional aspects of the AB9+ that make it worth the $480? At this point, I'm thinking not, but part of me wants to be convinced otherwise just based on the better looks alone....

 

be careful jumping into the Yoga 2 Pro too soon, many new owners are reporting significant color rendering issues.

read here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ide...yoga-2-pro-release-thread-38.html#post9410660

 

I've not had a chance to check battery life on the Y2P yet. I get about 6 hours on the AB9+. I'll pull the plug on the Y2P and see what that nets me tonight.

 

Everything is subjective of course. Personally I think the AB9+ is the better machine. The screen is out of the this world sharp. The Y2P has some serious color issues which hopefully won't affect me too much but if you look on the Y2P release thread there are a lot of posts about it. I took pictures of the Y2P, AB9+ and my HP next to each other and you can really see the color difference. Bright yellow on the HP is eye hurting, on the AB9+ it is more of a yellow green and on the Y2P it is green to greenish brown. For my needs I think I can live with it. Overall, if i did not really really want the tablet functionality, I would chose the AB9+ over the Y2P. Higher quality and works beautifully. Is it worth $480 maybe not, but if you can get some discounts or wait a few more weeks for prices to come down, I think you would really enjoy the AB9+.

 

I wanted to add that while watching videos the coloring on the Y2P does not seem to be a problem. I played the same videos from youtube at the same time and noticed no difference in coloring whatsoever. The AB9+ is a better picture, overall sharper.

 

Thanks for the input. Sounds like the AB9+ is the better machine, I guess the question is just is it $400+ plus better (or even $300 plus if the price comes down...)

 

It seems odd that the YP2 has different image qualities when compared to the AB9+ when it is my understanding that they both use the same PLS screen.

Unfortunately, I am cancelling my preorder of the AB9+ as well. I think I will be going with the YP2 due to price, the tablet functionality, and the color (orange!!!). The AB9+ is 1650, vs the YP2 at 1270 (after tax) --- crazy difference!

Edit -- Just thought I'd add it in. In terms of performance, the AB9+ wins out if it uses dual channel RAM. I am pretty sure the YP2 is single channel, and dual vs single will have a significant impact on the onboard HD 4400.

 

i would read that Yoga Release thread closely before jumping into it so quickly. there's some real issues with it that need to be answered first.

 

Y2P died at 10:21 pm giving it 6 hours 40 minutes running at 50% brightness playing youtube videos, websurfing, outlook, 6 google chrome tabs with dynamic content, 3 firefox tabs, 2 excel documents, 4 word docs all open and switching between them.

The AB9+ got the same treatment as the Y2P and it died at 10:49 pm giving it 7 hours 8 minutes.

While watching the videos, I did not notice any color rendering issues at all on the Y2P or the AB9+. Both looked great and sound was amazing from both.

 

Specs are official for i7/8GB/256GB NP940X3G-K04US

Also comes loaded with Windows 8.1 (again, I am blaming for the real delays).

Specs - Laptops NP940X3GI | Samsung PCs

 

I see one seller on Amazon selling the i7/8GB/256GB model for $2108.

 

So, are owners of this having the same problem with yellows that Y2P owners are having? BTW, the Y2P does use two channel ram..not sure where that came from that it doesn't. It also has a Samsung SSD that gets close to the same performance results that the Plextor does. So for 1199 it's quite the deal except yellows look like puke.

 

Or $600 better if you want the i7/256/8G version.

 

how much will the i7 version impact the battery life? Both are stated to have 7.5 hours, but that doesn't make much sense to me. The i7 will require more power right?

 

There shouldn't be any adverse effect on battery run time. The faster CPUs are meant to be selected during testing of the chips as the ones that run faster within the design power envelope.

Even if the i7 uses a little more power when it is busy doing something, it should complete the work in less time. The situation where my Ivy Bridge i7 uses significantly more power is in turbo mode, but the hardware is set up so that turbo mode won't work when running on battery.

John

 

But at least it is listed again....it had disappeared off their site after only a few days in late September.

 

Can anyone confirm if I would be able to drive a 2560 x 1440 external monitor with this (I presume via the micro HDMI)

 

Check kitepumping's 4K test here.

He did 3840x2160@30hz on a 4K TV, signalling that Samsung may have broken the old 1920x1080 resolution limit of Micro-HDMI. I'll be interested to hear if you can do 2560x1440@60Hz. I would think there is a good chance you can -- but it also depends on whether the monitor accepts that res through HDMI or only through DisplayPort or Dual-DVI.

See this post for more discussion of possible limitations.