Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus - NP940X3G

That's not a bad price all in considering. Who are BHP?

 

John - Do you know how easy the ATIV books are to open up (i.e. to replace the US keyboard)? I've had quite a bit of experience opening up less slim-line laptops but never attempted a thinner form-factor operation. Thanks.

 

Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus NP940X3G-K04US 13.3"

good thing is they tell you exactly how much you pay

I ordered one for me and the missus so combined postage makes it slightly cheaper, and it also depends on your credit card rates ect

According to my bank statement, the conversion rate was $1.657 to the £1

 

It's quite easy to get the base off the older Series 9s which are fixed by screws plus a few plastic clips along the back edge. I don't know if the new model is more challenging but a few people have been inside.

However, a keyboard swap is not straightforward because the keyboard is integrated into the upper housing unit on which, upside down, is what the mainboard, etc, are then built into. So a keyboard swap involves fully disassembly and reassembly.

John

 

Can anybody.. please give me a link... to a guide...
How I make a clean win 8 install without disc. I have got a 3 weeks old NP940X3G-K01SE with preinstalled win 8... I also got a recovery disk... bot I don't want all this Samsung Bloatware..
I want a clean install ..

How to?? thanks

 

does that mean Jan 3 or March 1? i know it's a UK site, but in the States we'd read that date as March 1.

 

Must be Jan 3 if you're referring to something quoted on a UK site.

 

It 'was' 3rd Jan but now out of stock already, funny eh...

0 in stock - out of stock
Sorry, No restock date available

 

Ok.. I found out .. how to make a clean install... only one Question left

Is it safe to use UEFI boot to reinstall... on my NP940X3G-K01SE ... or should I try with normal USB boot,,,, I can read in here... that some people bricked there PC using UEFI :-(

 

I wouldn't worry about that. Your model was designed for UEFI, whereas those warnings were for models that were not originally made for it. Generally, models that are delivered with UEFI (Win8 models) you can keep it enabled, whereas Win7 models you keep it disabled.

What's important (and many overlook) is that you don't change UEFI mode AFTER you installed Windows. If you want to switch from UEFI mode to legacy BIOS mode (or vice versa) you need to wipe and convert the disk and re-install Windows.

When you create a Win8 installation USB, make sure you format it as FAT32, since UEFI cannot boot from NTFS. That means DON'T use the good old Win7 USB creation tool.

Following are some good Microsoft articles on this subject:

Microsoft SecureBoot
Secure Boot Overview

Microsoft UEFI/GPT articles
Understanding Disk Partitions
Windows and GPT FAQ

Microsoft Win8 MBR or GPT style
Windows Setup: Installing using the MBR or GPT partition style
Boot a PC in UEFI Mode or Legacy BIOS-compatibility mode

Microsoft creating Win8 UEFI install USB (FAT32 not NTFS)
How to create Windows 8 installation bootable USB for UEFI (Samsung Slate)

 

Thanx...

hmmmm, I have a ty OEM licence... like a lot of other people ... I can't get a working win 8 install iso with my OEM key :-(... aim still searching for a solution ...
so if anybody in here... know the trick... let me know

 

Yes, access to Win8 install media can be a real problem. I wish Microsoft would make that easier for us. You can check this post for some options.

But please avoid asking for or discussing illegal downloads on the forum. This post explains why.

 

Is there any information about when the 8gb/256gb configuration be available in the UK?! This has appeared on Amazon UK, but it has a European keyboard.

It's maddening that it seems to be available in both the US and mainland Europe, but not the UK. The 4gb/128gb configuration just doesn't cut the mustard, and I can't really see much in the way of viable alternatives to the Samsung. The new XPS 13 has become an option though.

 

I didn't bother waiting and just ordered from here:

Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus NP940X3G-K04US NP940X3G-K04US B&H Photo

It's about £1360 all in depending on the exchange rate, I ordered on a Wednesday and got it delivered on the Monday by UPS, all tax paid for so no delays.
Had to wait an extra day as they needed to do a security check on me, phoned me up and asked where I worked lol (not that they even knew where I worked).

The laptop is lovely! Ordered one for me and the wife, the company is legit, you can google them and even googlemap street view them.

 

Awesome, thanks. Are there any issues with the US keyboard at all? Major differences / annoyances?

 

The only key symbol missing is £ but if you download shortkeys lite for free and replace with it double tap $$, it can change to £ automatically.
The resolution 3200 x 1800 is overkill and you will have some problems with programs which isn't scaled to it, and there are quite a few programs!
Chrome and firefox doesn't work too well with it, by that I mean youtube flashplayer, only browser which plays nice is IE11

It comes with windows 8.1 as default so scaling it back to 1920 x 1080p isn't an option since it makes everything blurry.

If you can live with the scaling issue, then this laptop is a stunner.

I am used to the US style keyboard layout, however some people may not prefer it.

You'll also need to order one of these, although I have seen it cheaper by a £1 else where on ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121185455839?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Remember to install the yellow fix patch from here aswell
Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus Review - Ultrabook and Laptop Reviews by MobileTechReview

 

Not only is the £ key missing, but a lot of the non-letter keys have moved around. For example, @ is shift+2 and " is next to the enter key (and there are more like this). If your fingers are very familiar with the UK layout then these changes are somewhat inconvenient. I've been using an NP900X4C with US keyboard for the past 6 months but I'm about to revert to a slower UK X4C now I can upgrade its SSD to 480GB.

I should also note that if you don't need a shiny display with innumerable pixels then the NP900X3G-K01UK is likely to show up within a month and should have 8GB + 256GB. You can follow its progress here.

John

 

Hmm, well my gut feeling is that I could live with the US layout differences, but not the EU layout!

I'm intrigued by the ATIV Book 9, but will it have the same build quality etc, as the AB9+? The AB9+ very much seems to be Samsung going all out premium, which is what I want, but is also what makes the lack of 8gb/256gb configurations (at least in the UK), baffling! Other ultrabooks have those specs, and I could give or take the high-res screen (given the apparent issues with Windows 8/8/1), but it's the build quality that sets Samsung apart with the AB9+ as far as I can tell.

 

The SW Update database is only listing the NP940X3G-K01UK and NP940X3G-K02UK so nothing else is imminent. I suspect that Samsung UK think they are up against some price-conscious customers so Samsung prefers to cut the specs, not the price (not that 4GB RAM should cost much).

The standard Book 9 (NP900X3B /C / D / E) is a 2 year old chassis that has survived the test of time. Reports of things breaking are very rare. It's thinner and lighter than the 9+ (but has a lower capacity 44Whr battery). I still have my X3B. It doesn't get a lot of work to do but it's far too nice to dispose of and at 21 months still looks and feels like new (except I upgraded the SSD).

John

 

Does this database provide comprehensive specs? How can I access it?
When I google these models, I just get links to retailer pages. I'd like to know if these models have TPM built-in, but retailer pages rarely provide this information.

 

SW Update is Samsung's software / driver updater. When versions are cleared for production they get a listing (plus the software and drivers). However, there are no specs there.

Samsung notebook versions sold with the Pro version of Windows may have TPM. I emphasise "may" because I'm using such a notebook and can't see a TPM in Device Manager (but something might need turning on in the BIOS.

You could contact Samsung UK to see if they have definite details rather than the sparse specs given out to retailers.

John

 

Thanks for the info on SW update.

So do Samsung not provide a publicly accessible web-page that provides comprehensive specs of all variants of their laptops?
Something like this Lenovo page: Parts

Yes, you probably have to enable in BIOS (see page 75): http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201311/20131114164642803/Win8.1_Manual_ENG.pdf
In any case, I understand your emphasis on "may". I wouldn't assume that every computer sold with W8 Pro has TPM capability.

 

Samsung don't provide publicly-accessible detailed documentation. We sometimes wonder whether their own support people also don't have access to it!

Here's what's on the Security page of my NP900X4C BIOS. There's no obvious TPM switch but maybe setting a User or HDD password may activate it.



John

 

Thanks for looking

 

I find most of the spec pages show whether a TPM is included or not.

For example, comparing the Ativ Book 9 Plus K04US vs K05US

Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus NP940X3GI-K05US Specifications
Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus NP940X3GI-K04US Specifications

The K05US page shows TPM support, the K04US page does not.

I haven't received my K05US (its on route) to verify whether these pages are accurate though.

 

Do you know any EU retailer that sells the US version, or with a US keyboard layout?

 

Can't believe the price of this keeps dropping!

Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus NP940X3G-K04US NP940X3G-K04US B&H Photo

 

There are US sellers listing this model on ebay.uk.

But at $1733 there's plenty of potential to drop further.

John

 

Is the only difference between the K04/05US the TPM chip?

 

like John said, it's still pretty overpriced for what it is. sure, it has a nice display, but most people can't even utilize it or have to lower its resolution to 1080p to make it more usable. and its specs are very basic for that price.. entry level i7 ULV, HD 4400, N card. battery life is only average as well.

 

I have seen quite a few people mention their dislike of the Side Sync and Home Sync logos that are etched into the palm rest of the Ativ Book 9 Plus. It was the one thing I was not keen on regarding this laptop. I discovered a new model that I have not seen previously mentioned on this forum that comes with Windows 8.1. Pro. Model Number: NP940X3G-S01US ( http://www.samsung.com/us/business/computing/laptops/NP940X3G-S01US)

I ordered one earlier this week, it arrived today and much to my delight the dreaded Side Sync and Home Sync logos are nowhere to be found. There are a few stickers, but those are simple enough to remove.

Here is a picture of the palm rest: http://imgur.com/gVALfLd

 

Hey guys, I received a defective ativ book 9 plus and have to return it. However, I already logged in with my username and have purchased things on it with my credit card. I also upgraded to 8.1 How can I restore this to factory settings before sending it back? Thanks!

 

How to refresh, reset, or restore your PC - Microsoft Windows Help

 

Press F4 a few times immediately after (re)starting the computer to enter Samsung Recovery Solution which will give you the option to restore the factory image. You may also be able to enter SRS through its desktop program and there might be a way through the Charms bar.

John

 

Hi guys

I bought an Ativ book 9 plus i7 version recently from Microsoft Store and everything is great on this machine except the fan. Sometimes it really gets crazy specially when it's charging. For example, last night I was just video chatting on Skype and the fan was constantly working for about 30mins and the part of laptop about the keyboard was unbelievably hot. When I removed the charger it got better but still I could hear the fan noise, it would come on every 30-40 seconds. I'm wondering if any of you have experience any problem similar to mine.

 

If I get unexpected fan activity I first check the CPU usage in Task Manager (which often reveals there is an on-going virus scan). If Task Manager doesn't provide the explanation then I run HWiNFO and check the CPU speed and temperature. If the temperature is below 60C then the fan should be either off or running quietly.

John

 

Thanks John,
I checked task manager and cpu usage is generally below 25%. The interesting is that whenever I remove the charger it gets much better. When I connect the charger it starts working like a vacuum cleaner .

 

Under light load I would expect the CPU usage to be less than 10% and should be less than 5%.

When you disconnect the charger the maximum speed of the CPU is reduced (HWiNFO will show this very clearly) and there is a reduction in the power used by the CPU which means less heat and therefore reduced fan activity.

I suggest you investigate further to find out the cause of the relatively high CPU usage. Resource Manager (on the Performance tab in Task Manager) will give more details than the processes tab. It is possible that housekeeping can take some time on a new computer but should only happen once.

John

 

Hi, I have the i5 128gb model on Windows 8.1 and it was working flawlessly for months but recently it has this problem.
I think it started happening after this weird update. I say weird because I don't think it was Samsung update so I guess it was Windows update but I never downloaded it. It just asked for reboot and it installed 7 updates. But I don't know if this update is the cause.
Anyways the problem is when I reboot all of my startup programs are not starting up. Also it starts super slow and freezes upon starting up for few seconds then screen blinks black and I can start using but without any of my startup programs. If I restart it usually fixed it and I don't have these problems and starts normal (fast) with all my programs loaded.
Another problem I encountered recently (I believe it was about the same time) is brightness button does not work. When I press the FN+Brightness, the hud comes up normally and seems to work but the actual brightness of the screen stays very dim. Plugging in laptop = same thing.
Please can someone help?

 

That does sound like Windows Update. You can run that program to check the update history.

Some of the problems you mention might be the result of an update trashing the configuration done by Samsung's Settings program. I would make a restore point and reinstall Settings. You can get it using SW Update. Use the export facility to download it and then run it.

If that doesn't fix the problems then go back to the restore point, run Windows Update and progressively uninstall the recent updates.

John

 

Thanks John, I checked Windows Update history and you're right it was Windows Update. I haven't used my laptop in a while and I guess when I turned it on it just downloaded and installed bunch of them.
I have not tried your solution of reinstalling Settings from SW Update yet because it seems brightness is all of a sudden working again. It happened while I was using the laptop, I knew because it was constantly dim and all of a sudden got bright and FN+brightness works again. I don't know about programs not starting up because that was not the case all the time before so if it happens again I will try your method and report back.
How do I +rep you?
Anyways thanks.

 

Thanks for the update.

You can read about rep here.

There is now also a "Like" facility, which is public.

John

 

Hey John, I found out why programs were not starting up. It wasn't Windows Update. After going back many days through restore points, I found out it was because of SW Update. Specifically Settings version 2.2.0.11. When I try to download and install Settings, it downloads to 100%, then installs to about 50% and asks for reboot. When rebooted, the problem occurs where startup programs do not start up. If I start up SW Update, it finishes the install, asks for reboot again. And after two reboots, Settings is installed. However, now the programs do not start up. I restored back few times to try again but same thing.

I decided not to install Settings for now and everything is working fine. Could you suggest a fix that I can try?
Thanks~~

 

You can use the Find Model function in SW Update to locate a different version of Settings.

For example: United Kingdom > Series 9 > NP940X3G-K02UK has V2.1.2.20 under Windows 8 and V2.2.0.5 under Windows 8.1. Deselect all the other packages, export and then run the installer.

John

 

I really hope Samsung didn't decide to port the terrible (in my opinion) Fast Boot feature from Easy Settings to the latest version of Settings. (I am specifically referring to the Boot Optimization / Fast Boot software feature from Easy Settings, not Fast Boot in BIOS nor any of the other numerous fast this and rapid that features that all sound alike.)

That Fast Boot feature from Easy Settings will modify RUN keys in the registry to delay loading of various non-Samsung startup programs until after user login, in order to make it appear as if the machine boots faster. It was written for Win7 and caused several problems and incompatibilities. To make matters worse, it was quite tricky to fully disable and defeat it.

Thankfully Fast Boot didn't carry over to Settings in Win8 -- and I hope it remains that way. But your report (and Samsung's historical infatuation with software hacks) makes me nervous they may have done it after all. I'll have to check out Settings 2.2.0.11...

Have you seen if the startup programs that don't run still appear in their various RUN keys in registry?

 

I just got my 2nd K05 version from Microsoft and just as the 1st one this has the fan issue too. The fan's noise is completely audible and my laptop gets very hot. Sometimes even when there is only one IE tab open I can hear the fan working with high speed. I have found some other complaints similar to mine and they have all been recent reviews. There might be some issue with recent batch of ativ book 9 plus laptops. Everything is great on this machine; fast, gorgeous, great screen, lightweight ..... but I cannot tolerate the fan noise. it's really annoying.

 

Did you check the CPU utilisation in Task Manager - it should be less than 5% with only one IE tab open?

Also look at the CPU temperature using HWiNFO.

We should figure out whether there is a hardware problem or there is some broken process in the latest iteration of the software build.

John

 

Currently I have been on Skype for about 50minutes and 3-4 tabs have been open in IE. CPU usage ranges from 30-35% and about 20% is usually used by Skype. The CPU temperature is now around 72, it started from 60. The maximum has been 77. The fan is working constantly on high speed. I can easily hear its sound from 10feet. Is this normal?

 

I wonder if there is a badly fitted heat sink which is resulting in the heat not getting transferred away from the CPU. The result of this is that the CPU gets hot at moderate CPU usage and the fan runs very fast (but will only be blowing warm, not hot air).

The next test I would run is to monitor the CPU temperature when running wPrime to fully load the CPU. If the cooling system isn't fitted properly then the temperature is likely to exceed 90C.

John

 

I tried to run WPrime but it gave me an error. I downloaded it from its own website.

What's the normal CPU temperature for the situation I described above? What do you expect for when I have 4-5 IE tabs open and watching a video on youtube?