Samsung NP930X5J / NP940X5J ATIV Book 9 (2014) 15.6" Haswell announced Jan 6, 2014

Notebookcheck also reported a little creaking when they tried to twist the case but they couldn't actually twist it and found the build quality impeccable.

I've had no problems with my NP900X4C notebooks in terms of build quality and the oldest will soon be celebrating its second birthday. For me, my main worry about trying to hold the NP930X5J by one corner would be the damage to my wrist.

John

 

Ok guys, then there is no flex . But the real problem for me is no retina like display and no display port or hdmi 2.0. I like text to be sharp and this is the main reason i still use Windows xp. Text in Windows 7 is terrible thanks to Microsoft clear type. And it is not easy to disable it. I guess the same is with Windows 8. Uhd displays solve this problem. If matte coating is not too strong or glossy too glossy. As i sad, the display technology is still in banana and my 11 years old Philips display is better then many new ones.

 

I agree it does not make sense that Samsung does not include DP or HDMI 2.0 (though I haven't seen any laptop with the latter). However, I have to question using XP at this point. It's a security nightmare and no longer supported. Time to move on.

 

I've never noticed this problem. One of the first things I do with any Windows 7 or 8 machine is to turn off all the Visual Effects in the Advanced System Settings except Smooth Edges of screen fonts. That gives me something that looks very similar to XP without all the more recent eye candy.

I'd be worried about using an UHD display with Windows because of the potential display scaling problems.

John

 

I checked out the Advanced System Settings per:

Disable visual effects in Windows | www.winhelp.us

Aside from "Smooth Edges of screen fonts" It looks top me more of a performance tweak.

 

But it does also change appearance. Nice square boxes for Windows, etc.

Give it a try. You'll see the difference once Windows has changed the visual settings (probably half a minute).

John

 

Does anyone know how to enable horizontal scrolling with the touchpad? Can't seem to find it.

 

Thank you! TouchPad Blocker is great so far. No bloatware, and seems to work like a charm. I second the horizontal scrolling request.

Also for those of you looking for a classic start menu option, I installed Classic Shell and like it so far. I'm looking into a bypass for the password screen as well.

 

You can call Samsung support or go to their website and under support section there should be a chat option (I used US site). You can request a free recovery DVD. Just make sure they send you the correct version. I got correct DVD for my 13" Series 9 but when they send me one for my 15" Series 7 they sent wrong windows version. Series 7 notebook came with Win 8 and they sent me Win 7. I did state its Win 8 Home and they do ask for serial number but I guess the system does not select the correct disk and its a manual entry in the order form.

 

Same with my NP900X3C, very solid build machine. One thing to watch out for is the screws coming loose. After maybe a year of normal use I started to experience some flax and popping noises when handling it. After closer inspection I found most of the screws in the back loose and one missing. I reseated all of them using thread lock paste and so far the issue did not reappear.

 

Another vote for Classic Shell, I have been using it for couple years now or as long as Windows 7 was out. The file copy screen changes (fixes) alone are worth the look. Makes win 7 / 8 usable again I was also 'stuck' on XP for a while and found it more capable performance wise for my use specially on lower end computers (2GB RAM).

 

Run: control userpasswords2, uncheck the box

 

Thank you, I got to that option following a different set of instructions previously. For some reason I'm still asked for a password at startup. I also thought that Classic Shell bypassed the password screen. Not quite sure what's going on.

Has anyone successfully bypassed the password start screen, or enabled horizontal scrolling yet?

 

Has anyone contacted Samsung about this?

 

CooTek's Touchpal keyboard is decent at times if you want a Swype keyboard. nothing close to androids keyboard though. Probably a 7/10,but better Than nothing I guess.

 

Just to clarify: I assume you are referring to the Win8 version of Touchpal for use with the X5J, right? (Not to be confused with their Android keyboard.)

Edit: This is the first user recommendation I've seen of a Swype style keyboard for touchscreen laptops. I've used Swype since I got my first Android phone 3.5 years ago, but I never found it practical on larger screens (tablets) where the swiping gestures become too large for efficient typing compared to traditional tap-typing. But that's just me.

But please enlighten me: Why would you ever type on the touchscreen of a laptop when you have a real keyboard right in front of you?

 

Yes, Windows 8 with TouchPal. On my Android phone (Samsung Note II) I use the stock swype-enabled keyboard and love it.

I really just wanted to test out a swype-styled keyboard with the touchscreen on the laptop. The NP940X5J is my first Windows 8/Touchscreen experience and I really love swype on my Note II. When I first saw the stock onscreen keyboard on the NP940X5J I thought to myself, "Wow this'll be great when using the touchscreen" (In the dark, typing only a few words, etc.) Then I realized it was not a swype-styled keyboard and my reaction was a little mixture of /why not? Touch-typing on the touchscreen is a pain (for me). So I went to hunt for a swype-styled software.

TouchPal on the NP940X5J is absolute trash in comparison to on my phone. But good enough if you're streaming media in the dark or something and only need to type a few sentences. I figured there are some people out there who'd like a swype experience on Windows 8 so I shared what I found.

TouchPal gives you the option of changing on-screen keyboard size, so it's a little easier and more practical to swype on the ~8" wide keyboard than the ~12" wide layout. The problems I encountered are:
-First and foremost it "skips" when you're swyping. A somewhat long word like, "Windows" might come out "wind you" etc. A real pain.
-Secondly, it is absolutely lacking in word prediction. Which is probably the greatest and most useful feature, in my opinion, with my phone keyboard. TouchPal on Windows 8 doesn't seem to "understand" what you're typing like the stock Android keyboard does.


Right now I'm typing on my NP900X4C. Which for some reason, after ~a week of using the NP940X5J feels more comfortable. Not sure if that's just my familiarity with it, or if I dislike the NP940X5J.
-The NP900X4C is "mushy" in comparison, and has much shorter keystrokes. The membrane style keyboard is much more obvious/present.
-The NP940X5J is more tactile, which is great, but the layout seems to be a little more spread out and uncomfortable for my hands. I wouldn't want to write an essay on either one, but at this point I'd lean toward the NP900X4C. Both models suffer from keyboard backlight bleed around the keys which isn't a huge deal. I think the dished/concave keys of the NP940X5J are also throwing me off.

I think I'll spend the next week with my NP900X4C and see what else I notice.



Also, I emailed Samsung about horizontal scroll with the NP940X5J. I'm not holding my breath.

*edit: if anyone has both the older Series 9 15" (NP900X4C X4D, etc.) and the newer Ativ Book 9 15.6" I'd appreciate your comparisons between the two.

 

Got it. Thank you for sharing that.

 

Here's a little compendium of the last few pages of helpful links &info for new NP930X5J/NP940X5J owners and Series 9 owners in general:


-RAM is 8GB and soldered
-The 128GB model NP940X5J ships with "70.9GB free of 104 GB"
-A quick way to add storage without swapping SSDs is using "Nifty MiniDrive MicroSD/SDHC TF To SD Adapter for MacBook Air" found on eBay; plus a MicroSD card (can be found in sizes up to 128gb for ~$120, 64GB regularly drop to ~$35 on sale)
-930 allows for 2 SSDs. 940 allows for only 1

Here are some options to revert back to a Windows 7 style user interface for NP940 owners, a couple people have tried and liked Classic Shell in this thread (myself included): The 5 Best Free Start Menu Replacements for Windows 8

To turn off the touchpad while you type:

To bypass the lock screen on start:

Battery Bar- A program that monitors and predicts battery life
http://batterybarpro.com/

Helen Chevy- owns both the 930 & 940 models.

Use "Easy Settings" to turn on chargeable USB port while the laptop is in sleep mode

 

<blockquote class='postcontent restore '>
More photos from huberth with the X5J (left) alongside the X4C (right). These were taken outside with both displays at full brightness.



The X5J's display has better contrast. One advantage of the excellent viewing angles is that it may be possible to angle the display to minimise reflection issues without significantly degrading the image quality.







I wonder how an anti-glare overlay such as this would affect both reflections and image quality.





<blockquote class='postcontent restore '>
Some more photos from huberth showing the NP930X5J alongside a MacBook Pro Retina 15" at his local Best Buy. The screen viewing angles are excellent but so is the ability to reflect the lights.

 

Thanks huberth, what are your overall impressions of your laptops? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

I have my NP940X5J sitting next to my NP900X4C as I type this.

Screens:
The NP940 appears more yellowish than the blue-tinge of the NP900. I think I have to turn up the brightness a bit more on the NP940 to be comfortable during the day/in a lit room (maybe 75%+). The glossy screen is easier to read for me though.

Keyboards:
I'm leaning toward the NP900 for some reason. I'm having a lot of problems with the NP940 being buggy and the touchpad deleting what I type (even with TouchPad blocker). But the NP940 feels more crisp. Can't decide which style Enter button I like more. The backlighting of the NP940 is considerably brighter, and shines through the keys much better.

Touchpads:
The NP940 is much smoother and clicks register much better. But I'm having problems with it while typing; and we're still trying to figure out horizontal scroll. The NP900 is adequate, just not as nice a design as the NP940.

Battery:
Haven't used the NP940 heavily enough to determine life yet.

Other thoughts/features:
I don't think either model is the perfect laptop, if you could combine their better attributes it would be much closer to the perfect 15" ultrabook. I like the styling of the NP900X4C better than the NP940X5J. I think a lot of my bias is due to Windows 7 vs 8.1 as well. 8.1 has been very buggy and odd for me overall. I'm leaning toward the NP900X4C. Build quality seems a bit better on the NP940, but it is brand new.

 

I thought that was the reason for manufacturers to put touch screens on laptops, it gives you choices of which keyboard you want to use. Its a big selling point.

 

A question for those with both the ATIV Book 9 (2014) 15.6" and the previous NP900X4C / X4D: Are the key caps exactly the same?

It's crossed my mind that if the UK version of the NP930X5J never reaches the shelves then I could take the key caps off this keyboard and put on a European version of the notebook where necessary to create the UK version.

The Italian version has very attractive pricing if only I knew that a good 1TB 2280 M.2 SSD was about to arrive (so the single SSD slot would not be a significant constraint).

John

 

I'm not sure, do you have a guide for key cap removal? The physical keys themselves are slightly different to the touch, and probably made of different plastic composites.

Also, I got a response from Samsung in just one day about horizontal scrolling. It hasn't helped me yet though (I don't have an "elan tab":


Thank you for contacting Samsung. I understand that you want to enable Horizontal scrolling on the laptop (NP940X5J-K01US). I have checked our drop down list for the model number and was able to find it. Please follow the path, Office>> Laptops>> Notebooks>>NP940X5J-K01US“ to select your model code. I will provide you the steps to enable horizontal scrolling on the laptop, please perform them on the device:

1. Please go to Control panel>> hardware & sound>> Mouse>> Elan tab>> Options/ properties>> Select Scrolling option>> Under Scrolling option enable Horizontal scrolling.

2. If you are not able to find the option please update the touchpad drivers using SW update tool.

3. Also, please perform Windows update on the laptop. Windows update is different from SW update tool.

If you are looking for more details on the functionality of a product or would like to find answers to some of the questions, visit us at Samsung Smart Simulator for an interactive review of some of our Samsung products.

If you have any further questions please get back to us, we will be glad to help you.

For Immediate assistance with a live agent,
you can chat with us
here

Samsung’s Social Media Team is available to assist with providing up-to-date information or answering
questions 9AM to 10PM EST (Mon – Fri).
Visit us on Facebook
Visit us on Twitter
For support by phone, you can reach us at 1-800-SAMSUNG

Thank you for being aSamsung Customer!
Samsung Online Support

 

I don't have an "Elan" tab either on my NP930X5J (Windows 7) - even after SW update and Windows Update.

I believe that the touchpad on the NP930X5J / NP940X5J is no longer made by Elan, but by Samsung.

Can you provide Samsung with that information and ask them to elevate the issue?

You can give them a link to the forum to increase the importance and urgency of this issue.

The NP930X5J / NP940X5J missed out on getting an excellent review just because of the touchpad driver issue:

NotebookCheck's review conclusion:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-ATIV-Book-9-2014-NP930X5J-K02DE-Ultrabook-Review.117595.0.html
Thin, elegant, noble – and expensive. The latest Ultrabook from Samsung's popular ATIV 9-series has high ambitions and cannot only convince with its design.
Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks as well that prevent a very good rating, although the most annoying issue could be solved with a simple update.

SAMSUNG, are you listening? You've got a great product that could be positioned as a " Thinner than the MacBook AIr - but with a 15 inch screen and WIndows (7 or 8)"
How hard can it be to update the driver?

cc: Kwon Oh-hyun CEO Samsung cc: Lee Jae-yong cc: Yoon Boo-keun Cc: J.K. Shin

 

I had the NP940 in my Amazon shopping cart yesterday. Sold by Amazon. I got busy at work and did not finish the checkout. By the afternoon Amazon notified me that the price jumped from ~1,350 to 1,431.50 in just a few hours, I checked today and again tells me that the price has increased from $1,431.50 to $1,499.99

 

Thank you.

They somehow clip together and can be disassembled but I don't want you to go that far. If I got a spare keyboard then I'd be able to practice with keys that I didn't need to re-use.

Are the key caps the same physical size on top? Are they the same color?

John

 

If you pm me your email etc I'll send you some pictures when I get home from work

 

After using the NP900X4C for a couple of days I went back to the NP940X5J; here are some more impressions:

The NP940X5J is a lot buggier. Space bar often doesn't input (as I'm typing this, maybe once-twice a paragraph). Ialso get the occasional double-entered key. "Keyy for example". Touchpad often causes typing issues, even with touchpad blocker. Still trying to work out horizontal scroll. Touchscreen is alright, but swype is pretty terrible on it (not sure if that's a hardware or aftermarket software issue). I'm not really a fan of 8.1 either.

Also, is anyone else having issues with Chrome? When Ihave two windows open side-by-side, with one overlapping the other, i often have issues scrolling vertically. If one window overlaps the other by a couple of inches, Ioften scroll on the wrong window, when the mouse pointer is hovering over the partially-covered window.

^Now in this paragraph, Istopped fixing my spacebar issues. Guess what?Looks like Ican't put a space after Ican I?

Seriously though, Ican't space after Itype I very well.

Also can't type a space while holding down "shift".

This led me to think there was a delay problem with shift. Asentence that starts with a single letter like this makes the problem obvious. Sometimes the space works if the "shift"key has been used recently. But you see that last absence after "makes the delay obvious again.


Can anyone else confirm/deny similar bugs?

 

I can put a space anywhere I want to! Perhaps there is a defect in your keyboard? RMA?

 

No, haven't run into anything like that on either the 930 or 940, sorry.

 

is the Crucial 550 still pretty much the only game in town? I really want to replace the drive on my 940, and I'm holding out for a 1 TB, but I don't see anything on the horizon.

 

If buying today then the M550 seems to be the only option and then jump through the hoops to reduce the idle power consumption (but there's also the hop the Crucial will address this through a further firmware update).

Sandisk, Transcend and Adata are mentioning 512GB but I don't know how long before stocks get on the shelves.

1TB M.2 2280 will come, but I'm not sure when. It's mentioned in that Sandisk brochure. Sensibly, Samsung rework the EVO mSATA to the M.2 format but there's no indication that they are doing this. However, they didn't give much time between announcing the EVO mSATA and it becoming available so they might do the same.

Edit: I forgot to mention Toshiba who list a 512GB M.2 but, so far, I don't think it has been seen in the retail chain.

John

 

I spent 2 or 3 hours with Samsung chat support trying to resolve the horizontal scroll issue, with no luck. They eventually wanted me to do a restore, which I didn't want to do. I asked them to notify Samsung that there was an issue with multiple laptops, so fingers crossed.

I'm wondering if is possible to install a 3rd party driver, or if the same touchpad is used in another Samsung laptop and if it's possible to install a driver from that model.

Does the np930 have horizontal scroll?

 

No, horizontal scroll does not work with the NP930 (generic touch pad Windows driver).

Samsung, to do somesing!

 

Sorry - may I ask: What is horizontal scrolling?

I use the German version of the NP930X5J. When I use e.g. large Excel spreadsheet, I can scroll horizontal (from A to Z) with a swipe of two fingers from right to left on the touch pad. I can also scroll in the program list from Windows 8.1 from left to right with the two fingers gesture.
I use the generic touch pad drivers from Windows, no special drivers from Samsung (sadly here in Germany there are also no drivers from Samsung available).

Regards,
AEOne

 

I just ordered the Samsung PM851 512GB STORAGE SERIES, M.2, SATA 3.0, 0.7WPD through Avnet:

https://avnetexpress.avnet.com/stor...art&catalogId=500201&langId=-1&storeId=500201

It is on back order but Avnet accept my order and even placed a "hold" for the amount on my credit card.
https://avnetexpress.avnet.com/stor...art&catalogId=500201&langId=-1&storeId=500201
It is not cheap ($436.12 including tax), but the additional battery life (and perhaps performance) makes it worthwhile for me.

Data Sheet:

http://www.samsung.com/us/business/oem-solutions/pdfs/PM851-SSD-ProdOverview.pdf?v=1

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/file/product/Datasheet_PM851_M2_v12.pdf

PS: If anyone wants to buy my Crucial M550 512GB, send me a PM. Otherwise I'll sell it on eBay

 

Yes, "Horizontal scrolling is scrolling sideways within a web browser’s window (or a program). When a site has content that is wider than the window, users must scroll horizontally to see it."

Interesting that it works with the NP930X5J and windows 8.1

It does not work for me with NP930X5J and Windows 7.

PS: deadpook, can you put your system details in your signature line? I forgot which model / windows version you have

 

I'll add it to my signature when I get home, np940x5j with 8.1.

AEone can you tell us what driver you're using please?

 

I just tested it in web browser (Chrome).
I zoomed a site in (in, in in ), in order to scroll from right to left to see the whole width of the site.
Sadly I have to say:
The horizontal scrolling doesn't work! (The gesture of horizontal scrolling causes a vertical scrolling.)

I tested the same scenario in Firefox and I can say:
The horizontal scrolling works!
In the Internet Explorer the horizontal scrolling works too.

Regards,
AEOne

 

As I said before, I use no special driver - the standard one which is in Windows 8.1.
I also haven't no special settings to control the touch pad.

Regards,
AEOne

PS: I checked the Samsung SW Update and it says the "Touch pad driver Ver 10.43.56.83" is installed.
It seems it is the standard driver from Microsoft.
The 'mxtBootBridge.inf' says:

Code:

[Strings]
SPSVCINST_ASSOCSERVICE= 0x00000002
ATMEL                   = "Atmel Corp"
StdMfg                 = "(Standard system devices)"
DiskId1                = "mxtBootBridge Peripheral Installation Disk #1"
mxtBootBridge.DeviceDesc = "maxTouch I2C Boot Bridge Peripheral Driver"
mxtBootBridge.SVCDESC    = "maxTouch I2C Boot Bridge Peripheral Service"
HardwarePatchDriver_ClassName="Hardware Patch Driver Class"

The SWDesc.txt says:

Code:

[0409] ; ENG / UK, HKG
ItemName=Touchpad Driver
ItemDesc=Installs Atmel touchpad driver.

 

"Atmel" and "maxTouch" seem to be two key words.

They lead me to the drivers here, which include Windows 7.

It may be worth trying after creation of a restore point.

John

 

Could it be the Atmel QMatrix Touchpad?

http://www.atmel.com/zh/cn/Images/A...hpad-2D-Position-Tracking_AP-Note_AT03030.pdf

 

It might be, although there's no specific driver for that in the list here.

I wonder if Samsung changed from the Elan pad so they could have Atmel for both the touchscreen and the pad.

John

 

Horizontal scrolling problems may just be a software issue with Chrome. Holding shift while scrolling horizontally works for me.

 

Jshum, which Model / OS are you using?

(It is best just add the Model / OS info to your signature - you can do that by going the very top right hand corner of this page under Settings > and then (on the left hand side): Edit Signature. I'd like to encourage everyone on the forum to do this. It makes things a lot easier.)

 

Amen to that!

 

Apparently my account is too new to have a sig but I have the NP940X5J-K02US

 

Thanks for the hint. It works for me too.

 

Please let us know when you get it and your observations. I am likely next in line unless something else comes out soon.