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

Many people have had warranty repair turnround in less than week although Samsung will probably indicate longer to give themselves some wriggle room. It should be more straightforward to confirm that the card slot is dead and then replace the mainboard than to diagnose and fix some other problems. However, the important aspect is to ensure that they have a replacement board in stock before sending the computer in. Otherwise there's a delay while they find a replacement board.

John

 

Hello,

After buying a NP940X5J, I thought it could be useful to share my experience so far with this brilliant laptop.

Firstly, getting one was tricky. I am based in the UK and it seems Samsung have inexplicably decided to abandon the UK market. It seems that a lot of people in the UK want to buy a NP940X5J, but cannot. I even went into the Samsung shop on Oxford Street in London to ask about the NP940X5J. The sales rep mentioned that many people had been in to ask about this laptop. Even whilst I was discussing with the sales rep, a second person came up and asked about the NP940X5J.

In the end I got one from the USA, via a friend who sent it over to me. Getting it delivered was fine (we used UPS, you need to declare that the package has a lithium ion battery inside), but it was expensive with the insurance.

Regarding the machine itself, it is superbly built, feels strong and sturdy, the screen is excellent (although I would have preferred a non touchscreen, matt screen). The keyboard and touchpad (the hardware, more about the touchpad driver below) are also superb. The only criticism I have about the hardware is that it has an ethernet adaptor in place of an RJ45 socket. I'm wondering if this will break at some point in the future.

So the NP940X5J comes with Windows 8.1 installed. After attempting to use it for a few days, I conclude that this is one of the worst operating systems I have ever used. It's like a poorly performing Windows 7 with a growth (metro) attached to
it and various useful Windows 7 functionalities removed. But by far the worst aspect of Windows 8.1 on this laptop is that the power regulation (cpu speed, fan noise) is awful and the touchpad hardly works.

Regarding power management, I managed to get either the OS to be reactive along with a lot of fan noise (active cooling in the power options), or to be quiet (passive cooling in the power options), where upon the machine would become virtually unusable.

The second major issue, already discussed at length in this forum is that there is no dedicated touchpad driver available. The driver installed is listed as coming from Microsoft, with a date of 2006. My experience with the NP940X5J touchpad in Windows 8.1 included a lack of reactivity, and a hesitation to start multitouch gestures such as two finger panning. It made the laptop very difficult to use.

However, all was not lost. I investigated the idea of putting Linux on the laptop, in order to see if the touchpad and power regulation would be better managed. After some investigation, I discovered that the Linux devs had recently developed a driver for the touchpad, but it is only available in kernel 3.15 onwards. I thus downloaded the latest beta copy of Ubuntu (I used KDE for the UI instead of the Unity UI), and booted up a live DVD to see if things work.

I was happy to discover that the touchpad works brilliantly in the latest version of Ubuntu (superb reactivity, perfect handling of multitouch gestures), with a few caveats:

• the devs have not yet implemented multitouch handling of the physical buttons, thereby rendering the use of the buttons difficult;


• right clicking (via two finger click) to open a context menu and selecting an entry in the menu is currently tricky due to the menu disappearing if you remove both fingers (I am not sure if this is due to KDE or the window system / Linux kernel);


• the touchpad drivers need to be reloaded when waking from sleeping (I added a script to do this).

I guess these issues should be resolved over the coming months by the devs. However, despite the above, the touchpad performs brilliantly and I am finally able to use the laptop as my main machine.

I didn't need to touch the power regulation options. The laptop is silent in normal use, and the OS is very reactive. The only time the fan spins up is if the cpu starts working at 100% for a while.

In order to install Ubuntu, I shrank the Windows partition (I had to disable virtual memory in order to remove the immovable file preventing me from shrinking the partition to ~30GB), connected a USD DVD drive, and booted up the installation disk. I did not turn off secure boot in the bios. I did need to fiddle in the bios in order to place the USB DVD drive as the first boot choice.

Nicholas

 

It does appear that Samsung is pulling out of notebook sales - we have discussed this in a couple of other threads. I would have bought the NP930X5J had it arrived in UK. I know from experience that my fingers get confused by a US keyboard so that route wasn't an option (so I'm now using a Dell E7440 which cost about half as much). I wonder whether the people in the Samsung store are either ignorant of what is happening or are having to keep quiet.

This isn't a problem that has been commented on in this thread. Did you run SW Update to check for the latest drivers?

Thank you for this information about the Linux compatibility. This was a source of bricking problems when Windows 8 was first released but it appears that both Samsung and the Linux developers have fixed whatever were the issues.

John

 

Congrats on your new machine. Yes, it is perplexing why samsung isn't trying to sell this laptop at all except in a few markets. It must command a high margin and they have already spent money developing it. Shipping it out would seem to be trivial. It may have to do with how much support is required in a market. This seems to be the last Samsung laptop and it has been given a particularly short shrift. I can only surmise the call came down that the PC business was over just as they went into production. Frankly, they should've saved the R&D and just thrown the haswell board and a 1080p screen in the old model. Oh well.

I don't think those power issues are related to windows specifically. I agree it should be a driver/setting issue if things are working in linux. Reinstalling the settings program maybe? Depending on the build you often have a lot of windows updates to install on a new laptop which can get the fan spinning for awhile. Norton, powerdvd and other bloatware should be removed (anything burning cpu). Also, classic shell provides a nice start menu interface for W8.1. For most users this can provide a W7-like experience with as much (or as little) of the W8 benefits as you choose.

ASAP, I recommend using F4 to boot the laptop into its recovery mode to make a 16-32GB thumbdrive backup of the factory state. If you can't get your hands on a W8.1 iso, this would be the only way to restore windows should it be lost.

 

Upgrading the gum-stick drive on the 940.

I continue to enjoy both my 930 and 940, as I do this thread. On the 930, I added a second gum stick, (following Hubert's lead) and that has made a big difference in usability for me. I would like to do the same with the 940 (256 is not going to cut it for me), but it does not have a second slot, as you all know, so replacing the existing drive is going to be the way to go. My question:

I know it can be done, at least in principle, but has anyone in this thread actually done this in reality on the 940? If so, can someone outline the steps and recommend the best 512 for the job? I have the Crucial 550 on the 930, and it seems fine except for the power draw. Also, any recommendation on an imaging solution? I have seen posts here supportive of Clonezilla, I use Acronis currently.

Many thanks!

 

I will let others provide guidance on choice and installation of SSD.

When the time comes to get your Windows installation on to it, you have several options, depending on (a) if you have an external adapter, (b) whether preserving Recovery is important, and (c) whether preserving your current Windows installation and programs is important. This post (that was a link) outlines those options with links to more detailed guides.

In short, Acronis will probably work, but almost certainly lose Recovery on the new SSD. Clonezilla should preserve it IF (and only if) you clone the entire drive and not the individual partitions (it can be a bit intimidating, though, and requires you to create a Linux LiveUSB). Samsung Recovery's (F4) built-in cloning will preserve Recovery, and also has a feature to backup your factory installation, including Recovery itself.

I assume your 940 came with Win8.1, and hence Samsung Recovery Solution 6 (SRS6). Win7 models have the earlier SRS5 which lack these features.

 

A few people have upgraded with the Transcend TS512GMTS800 and didn't report power drain problems while if you go back up this thread a little then you will see that a 512GB Samsung M.2 2280 is also available. Someone also mentioned the Plextor PX-G512M6E. The key works are "M.2, 2280 and SATA" plus the size you want. There's a lot more choice now than a couple of months ago but no rumours about the imminent arrival of a 1TB M.2 2280.

John

 

Could it be that the larger model has a matte screen and the small doesn't?

Samsung ATIV Book 9 Style 910S5J Samsung ATIV Book 9 Style 910S5J K01 Notebook i5-4200U SSD Full HD Windows 8.1
Samsung ATIV Book 9 2014 Edition 930X5J Samsung ATIV Book 9 2014 Edition 930X5J K02 Notebook SSD Full HD Windows 8.1

According Cyberport.de the 930X5J has a matte screen, can anyone confirm?

 

The 930X5J has about the same level of non-glare as a Macbook Pro and is more glossy than we expected from the description. There are some comparative photos much nearer the start of this thread.

The 910S5J has cut down specs and a touchscreen so it's more like the NP940X5J. It's called the Book 9 Style but I'm not sure if what is on sale is exactly the same as what is described here.

John

 

Ok, thanks John, that's a dealbreaker for me, I don't want a glossy screen no matter how good it is.

The search continues

 

I was at Microsoft store this past Sunday in one of the wealthy Chicago west suburbs (Oak Brook, IL). When I was there maybe a month ago they had two models of the Samsung Series 9 and few of the lower end models. To my great surprise and disappointment this time around they did not have ANY samsung computers at all on display. When I asked one of the sales people what happened and was it due to the rumor of Samsung going out of notebook sales, they had no idea.

 

I would not listen to rumours. There were rumours and even announcements that HP was going out of the PC Business in 2011 ( Why is HP leaving the PC business? | ITworld )
and they are still in the business today.

Also check this out:

Exclusive Interview: Best Buy CEO Says Tablet Sales Are “Crashing,” Hope for PCs
Link:
Best Buy CEO Says Tablet Sales “Crashing” | Re/code

 

Interesting article. Personally I think that there is a very high probability Samsung will be out of notebook sales in the next couple years and focus on Mobile and TVs. The one thing is the fact that Sony is now out of Notebooks business therefore there is all their user base that will be looking for replacement brand. Sony users are largely higher end customers that did spend or should I say overspend on their purchases and right now there really is no other company then Samsung that offers comparable build quality and style in a Windows OS. A smart company (ASUS?) will try to target these customers to win them over. If Samsung started a large TV / Internet advertising campaign in US and EU showing off the Series 9 models including comparing them to Apple products, it would do wonders for their sales. Unfortunately I do not have high hopes for this.

Farther I see one or more of the Chinese companies stepping up to the plate and releasing comparable class machines. At least from the design / style perspective. There are already couple companies offering very nice looking as well hardware competitive phones and tablets and shooting to compete world wide with Samsung and Apple.

I would also not be very surprised if someone like ASUS purchases Samsung notebook division and assimilated it. We may see Series 9 with ASUS logo in the near future. As long as they keep the build quality level and good driver support, honestly I do not care what logo is there.

 

Don't overlook the culture difference: HP got a new boss.

If someone at the top of Samsung decided that they should drop notebooks then those below will be faithfully implementing, not questioning, the policy even if they thought it was wrong. IMO the Book 9 Style was created to demonstrate that the market had disappeared. Samsung is such a diversified company that the lost profits on notebooks won't affect the bottom line.

John

 

Nope. They're too busy spending advertising bucks on trash-talking the big-screen iphone.

 

This site sells both matte and glossy screesn for the NP930X5J: ($89.99)
Screen for Samsung NP930X5J-K02DE. Replacement Laptop LCD Screens

 

Hi everyone,

I live in France and I am desperately trying to buy a NP940X5J-K02BE (the one with an azerty keyboard).
It is sold out in every belgium online stores I could find. Is this model still being produced?
Thanks for your help.

 

I don't think Samsung have imported any notebooks into Europe for several months. Supplies are also running out in Germany, which used to have an extensive range of Samsung notebooks.

As we have discussed in some other threads, most recently here and also further up this thread, it appears that Samsung have made the decision to stop manufacturing notebooks. This was rumoured around the start of this year although I didn't expect they would stop selling products that had already been developed and for which there is an obvious demand. I was planning to buy the UK version of the NP930X5J but it never arrived. Instead I'm having to make do with a Dell E7440.

John

 

Looking to get the 940X5J, any idea if these will make it to Black Friday? Any history of Sammy ultrabooks going on sale on Black Friday? Debating when to pull the trigger with all things considered. Thanks in advance.

 

Thanks for this explanation.
I feel very frustrated since I have been waiting for this noteebook to be released in France...
I should have purschased it in belgium when it was still available.
Anyway, does someone know a good US retailer which ships internationnaly?

Again thank you for your help.

 

I would follow it on MS Store for the next couple months. They have the best sales, not sure if they do black friday though.

Buy Samsung ATIV Book 9 Touchscreen Laptop - 256GB (2014 Edition) - Microsoft Store

 

A few US companies have the notebook listed on ebay UK. However, I can't vouch for any of them.

Watch the availability carefully. We don't know if Samsung are still shipping new stocks of notebook into the US (they appear to have stopped restocking notebooks in Europe). If stocks start to run low then you will have to make your move.

John

 

PC Connection will ship to France:
Buy Samsung ATIV Book 9 : 1.8GHz Core i7 15.6in display Notebooks NP930X5J-S01US today at PC Connection

http://www.pcconnection.com/product...in-display/np940x5j-k02us/17320166?cac=Result

NewEgg will ship to the UK, Ireland, India, etc. but not France:
http://www.pcconnection.com/product...ore-i7-15.6in-display/np930x5j-s01us/16820370

 

Yeah I have been watching it daily on MS Store, the price just recently dropped due to their back to school sale, but I am trying to figure out when to jump on it haha. Would it go any lower in the next 2 months up to Black Friday and also will it still be in stock is the question. Thanks for the info guys, I appreciate it.

 

Thanks for your help.

I am also considering ordering it on b&h B&H Shopping Cart | B&H Photo Video
They offer 2 ways of paying duties&taxes.
The regular one, "pay on delivery: The Pay on delivery option lets you handle all customs fees and gives you a larger selection"
and the 2nd option they do recommend, "pay now: The Pay Now option is a speedier method and includes all customs fees with no additional charges upon delivery." (in which all fees are paid in advance).
Which solution do you think is the best? My main concern with the "pay now" option is that if I decide to refuse the parcel because it has been damaged, the vat will be paid already and I will need to ask the customs for a refund.

Thanks again
Steph

 

if it is like my experience some years ago then if you opt for the pay on delivery the courier company will have to pay the taxes and duties before the package is released from customs. But they won't pay until you have paid them. So when the package reaches customs they will phone you up asking you to pay them and they may add a handling fee.

Your concern about damage to the package is valid but it's no more likely to happen on an international shipment than on an internal one. And even if the box gets damaged then the risk to the contents is small.

I should also forewarn you that the US keyboard layout has some differences compared to the European layout, most noticeably the size and shape of the shift and enter keys. The dfferences are sufficient to confuse my fingers and increase the number of mistypes, which is why I've refrained from considering importing this notebook from the USA.

John

 

Thanks for these precisions.
I have used a US qwerty in the past but for sure an azerty is more convenient for me.
I gonna give this purschase a second thought. Maybe I'll wait for the Asus NX500
althought I think a 4K screen is far too much for a 15.6" display. It is too bad both Sony and
Samsung had to retired from the laptop segment...

 

There is an existing alternative to the NX500: The Dell XPS 15-9530 / Precision M3800. At list prices they are expensive but are more affordable if you can get Dell Outlet stock. I agree that the 4k display is a cause for concern because older programs (and some new ones) don't scale properly and Dell offer an FHD option. However, there is the option to set a lower resolution rather than rely on display scaling. Also, with both the Asus and the Dell, a quad core CPU and dGPU means that it has a lot more power (and potential to drain the battery) than the 15.6" Samsung. I wouldn't get the NX500 unless it comes in a darker colour. The review here illustrates the problem of a backlit silver keyboard.

I'm now using a Dell E7440. it's a size smaller but has reasonable weight and a good screen and keyboard. And left me with a lot of cash compared to buying the Samsung.

John

 

"Samsung to stop selling notebooks in Europe. Samsung will continue to offer notebooks in other markets and there’s a chance that the company could reverse the decision and bring its laptops back to Europe at a later date."
Samsung to stop selling notebooks in Europe - Liliputing

 

Isn't the Samsung also 15mm thin? Where as the two you mentioned reach up to 18mm... I know it's not a huge difference but I would rather wait for the 18mm Asus gx500, since it should be a real powerhouse. I am looking for a thin and light 14 - 15.6 inch subnotebook with great battery life to lug around school and work and it seems like the Samsung is definitely the best choice.

Never mind didn't realize you where talking about an alternative to the nx500.

Any alternatives to the Samsung 930x5j

 

Thanks but I would rather avoiding Dell as I had an awful experience with their after sale service in the past.
I am also considering the thinkad X1 carbon, a 14 inch ultrabook light as a vaio Z is somewhat appealing
however some users comments about the keyborard make me doubt.

 

I have had Toshiba, Dell and Sony laptops, but the Samsung NP930X5J is the most enjoyable and trouble free computer I have ever owned.

 

Well I have been desperately waiting for this one to be released in France (which never happened)since it was announced in January 2014
and now it is sold out everywhere in Europe... I could buy it in US but it seems a little bit risky to me. I don't know exactly how the international
warranty works for samsung notebooks.

 

Even though the SD card reader has died?

Samsung Global Warranty.

It is valid for one year but service can be slow if any required part is not available in the country where the service is being provided.

John

 

There also was a coil whine issue on the XPS series, I don't know if they ever did a firmware fix for that. The X1C looks nice, but is the 900p matte display the same washed-out one they used in the past? There is also the 1440p touch which bumps the weight from 2.9-3.3. If you're a business user, the light-dock is an appealing feature absent from all Samsung laptops, also has mDP I think.

 

Dell recently fixed the coil whine issue with a new motherboard. I just got mine a week ago and can confirm it is in fact coil-whine-free.

 

Interesting. That would make the XPS15 very enticing. Hopefully they do a broadwell refresh with USB3.1 and HDMI2.0. That would be a true 4K desktop replacement.

 

FYI, in Chicago the MS Store I visited has pulled ALL Samsung notebooks off the floor. Sales people had no idea why

 

I was really hoping to buy this ATIV Book 9 but its slow adoption in Canada (ie, not available in the big box stores Future Shop, Best Buy, Staples) had me looking at other options.
I ended up buying a Dell XPS15 9530 (512GB SSD top tier model) and am happy with it so far except that the Intel Dual Band Wireless AC7260 WiFi card can be a bit flaky on the 2.4Ghz band, and QHD is a bit of overkill (1080p is more than enough for 15.6" screen real estate).
Samsung is really blowing it by not getting their products to market more quickly - they lost my money, that's for sure.

 

Does anyone else notice that the screws at the bottom of the 940x keep unscrewing themselves over time?

 

I carry my notebook around almost daily, but the screws on the bottom of the NP930X5J. stay in place.

 

I have not resolved my touchpad issue...is has now occurred at least 4 times (once just now). The touchpad is on (I turned on and off to check) and the pointer disappears from the screen. I have to restart and then it works after the restart. I haven't done anything else to try to fix it. Anyone have any solutions? I haven't tried contacting Samsung yet.

 

Same here on my old NP900X3C, not yet on my NP940X3G. I actually lost one of the screws on the old notebook before I realized it was happening. I rescrewed all of them adding thread lock paste on each screw. That reminds me I should do the same on my NP940X3G.

 

I sold my old NP900X3C and finally purchased NP930X5J-S01US. It should be here this week. I'm currently using 13" NP940X3G-K05US and will be comparing and trying to decide between these two.

The only reason I'm doing this is the larger screen which hopefully will make it easier to work on. Running the 13" NP940X3G right now at 2048x1152 mostly due to the scaling issues I experienced with Windows 8.1. I love the desktop real estate but on a 13" screen its a bit painful and very straining on my eyes. Would be awesome if the 15.6" came with a higher resolution screen as I think 15.6" @ 2048x1152 would be a perfect fit, at least for me. I'm not holding my breath we will ever see this from Samsung Just hoping they will continue to stay in the PC market.

Here is how these two stack up

Screen Model weight width depth height
13" 3200 x 1800 NP940X3G-K05US 3.06 lb 12.58 8.78 0.54
15.6" 1920 x 1080 NP930X5J-S01US 3.92 lb 14.74 9.84 0.59

 

I actually saw the same issue on W10 on an X3D using older drivers. When I resume from sleep sometimes the pointer is gone and I have to restart to get it back. I don't have a solution I'm afraid.

 

I'm having a frustrating time finding this laptop in Canada. Before I bite the bullet and get it from a US source (import taxes and our relatively weaker dollar make this option less attractive), I wanted to check in with the folks here...
- Are there any Canadians (perhaps Torontonians if I'm lucky) here who have purchased this in Canada?
- A couple of the online stores that used to carry it no longer have it in stock, and have no plans on replenishing. One fellow suggested that Samsung is discontinuing this model and is maybe planning on releasing an update...does anyone have any insight?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated! I did some crawling around on the threads here as well as Googling but the answers are still unclear

Cheers

 

Hi everyone,

I got an Ativ Book 9 2014 Edition yesterday and am having some issues with the track pad...

Tapping the touchpad instead of pressing: When tapping to go to a different tab on chrome, instead of navigating to the tab I want to go to, the laptop either drags the tab away to form a new window, or moves the tab's position in the window... I don't have this problem when I press the touchpad, only when tapping.

track pad delay: there's always a delay when I move my finger across the touch pad. It doesn't recognise small movements either. It waits until you've been moving your finger across the touchpad for a while before it starts moving... it's not a huge delay but it's annoying enough...

I can't for my life, find where the touchpad settings are. I've found some but they are infuriatingly basic.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

Thanks,

Mat

 

Buy Samsung ATIV Book 9 Touchscreen Laptop - 128GB (2014 Edition) - Microsoft Store Online

Not sure how i missed this before! when you click i7, the SSD is 256GB Perfect. I heard that it might be economical to purchase a 128GB version and replace with a 512GB SSD ... so I may do that instead

 

The 10 Best Ultrabooks (PCMag)

The ATIV Book 9 (2014) is the only one there with a screen larger than 14 inches:
The 10 Best Ultrabooks | PCMag.com

 

This just happened to me. I have the NP940X5J-K02US. Booted up today and the touchpad pointer is simply gone. I'm glad I have a touchscreen or I'd be in big trouble.

I usually use the laptop connected to a docking station with a full keyboard, mouse and extra monitors. Not sure how long the pointer's been missing, but it's less than a week.

I've tried everything I can think of and I can't get the pointer back.

Merged

Oh, ridiculous. 10 seconds after posting that, I think I found a fix.

In the Samsung Settings app (Fn-F1) there's an Input tab with an On/Off switch for Touchpad.
There's also a Function row toggle on the keyboard: Fn-F5.

I'd tried toggling both of these individually to get the pointer back. But what actually worked?

In the Settings app, I turned the Touchpad setting to OFF (yep, OFF). Then I hit Fn-F5. The touchpad pointer came back.

Switchiing the Settings app's touchpad control back to ON didn't do anything.

Very strange.