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

It's a shame they didn't just opt for msata then. Probably the cards are too big, but so many more aftermarket options are available than yet another unadopted SSD format. But maybe that was the idea all along...

 

I will have to take off the bottom panel when I am done travelling and take a pic (looks fairly easy to disassemble). As for the display, it does have some glare, but is very good, also reminds me of an Air display.

 

Thanks! Confirmation of that second slot would be perfect!

 

thanks for sharing nonlinear, can't wait to have one of this wonderfull lappy :thumbsup:
What is your model number? is the screen touch screen?

 

I have the NT930X5J-K72. Not a touch screen. Battery life has been strong, so far, and really like the backlit keyboard too.

The screen is definitely not anti-glare -- I swear it looks like glass. I have a Lenovo T420s with a matte screen next to the ATIV and they are radically different displays. The Samsung is crystal clear and sharp, with deep, rich colors, at least compared to the Lenovo. This Samsung is the closest thing to the Air that I have seen yet.

 

I've also got a T420s which sets a low baseline for display quality.

However, I was expecting Samsung to put a non-glare panel on the NP930X5J and put a shiny touch panel on the NP940X5J (which was originally announced but doesn't seems to have gone into production) or put the glossy display on the NP910S5J "style" model. However, a glossy screen with good brightness excellent viewing angles is not as impossible to live with as a panel that has limited brightness and poor viewing angles.

John

 

It could be different in different countries, in Denmark both the style and the larger model are clearly marketed as non-glare matte screens, I will have to see it myself, it will be available in May.

 

Let's hope so.

In the absence of other alternatives I'm considering this as the successor to my X4C, but only when I can get at least the 1TB storage that I now have.

John

 

Flash flash


Just chatted with a Samsung service tech, who advised me that the laptop does have two SATA ports for removable SDDs. I want to visually confirm, but he said he checked the factory spec and that is what it states.

 

Nonlinear, I think if I took a picture of my matte HP Elitebook screen with a flash, it will also show up in the screen

Best way is to turn the screen off and look at it, if you can see yourself clearly like a mirror, then it's glossy, if you are very blurry, then it's matte. Some screens are less glossy than others, f.eks MacBook Air is a glossy screen, but it's not as reflective as many others.

Try it

 

There are various levels of anti-glare coating and the more effective the coating at dissipating reflections then the more degradation there is of the image transmitted from the screen. Anyway, until a few more people get their hands on this this notebook it won't be clear if the NT version used a glossy screen or Samsung opted for a minimal non-glare coating. The good viewing angles mean the screen can be tilted to minimise reflection of lights without degrading the display quality.

On a related subject, I've just bought one of these bags (last one in my local shop at lower price than that link) in case I ever get this notebook. I've been using the 14.1" version of the bag with my X4C (it's a tight squeeze). It's a nice thin and light bag that airlines don't grumble about having in addition to normal hand baggage.

John

 

I have ordered the WIndows 7 non-touch version from PCConnection (limited quantities available)
Buy Samsung ATIV Book 9 : 1.8GHz Core i7 15.6in display Notebooks NP930X5J-S01US today at PC Connection
It is on its way via UPS.

But I need more storage than the 256GB SSD. Which 2nd SSD should I get?

 

Judging by the photo of the slot in the Korean review (a few pages up this thread) then the long M.2 SSD such as this should fit. However, given the high idle power consumption of my M500 mSATA I can't recommend it although I haven't yet tested the new Crucial MU05 firmware to see if it drops the power consumption.

The specs in the back of the NP930X5J User Manual indicate a single sided SSD. The Crucial is probably double sided but I suspect it doesn't matter - I'm sure there is enough space inside the notebook. Toshiba also make what looks to be a suitable M.2 SSD (it was shipped in some NP940X3Gs).

John

PS: I have now tested the M500's power consumption with the MU05 firmware and it is no better than I found previously.

 

Yes, the user manual product specs say: M.2 SATA SSD (W x D: 22 x 80mm, single-sided)

If I compare the photo of the Crucial 500 here:
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-M500-480GB-6Gbps-Internal/dp/B00HBKM6UO
with the photo from the Korean review (scroll down to the the 2nd photo):
http://www.noteforum.co.kr/temp_review/ativ2014/output/ui907.jpg
the connectors look different.

Looking at the photos, this one (Samsung XP941) looks like it would fit physically and it says "M2":
Amazon.com: Samsung XP941 512GB PCIe x4 M.2 NGFF SSD MZHPU512HCGL: Computers & Accessories
but the question is will it work since it is PCIe and not SATA?

PS: I just found this info about the different M2 pinouts:
http://www.ramcity.com.au/blog/m.2-ngff-ssd-compatibility-list/53
but I am still not certain about it.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2 "M.2 SATA devices have two notches (keys B and M), while M.2 PCI Express storage devices have only one notch. In the Korean review photo I only see one notch."

 

That's a valid point about how the socket looks in the photo although whether that is a reliable indicator of the actual contacts remains to be seen. So I wouldn't order anything until the socket has been closely checked.

Nonlinear had previously reported his SSD as being the Samsung MZNTE256HMHP-000 and that appears to be SATA with some speed results here.

The Ramcity info gives a possible clue by pointing out that a card with two notches will fit in a socket with one notch (usually a block of plastic as on the RAM slots) but not the other way round. From what I can figure out, the basic M.2 socket has enough pins to support several different interfaces but what actually works will depend on the underlying hardware. I suspect there's a good chance that the SATA interface in that socket will work and it's possible that Samsung's designers have left the door open for using a PCIe SSD.

It will also be informative to see what socket is used for the 1st SSD and the next step would be to move that SSD to socket 2 and see if it works there.

John

 

I'm pretty sure 100% its a glossy screen exacly like the new macbook pro retina.
Its glossy but very light reflective so its very nice and its exaclty what i want the i7 glossy but without the touch because its useless.

 

Hey guys. For anyone that's interested, MacMall has 4 in stock for $1,944.99, which seems a bit high to me, but....
I think it's non-touch as Windows 7 is pre-loaded with Windows 8 download. MacMall | Samsung ATIV Book 9 Intel Core i7-4500U 1.80GHz Notebook - 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 15.6" LED FHD Anti-Glare, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac/a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, Webcam, 3- in-1 Multi Card Reader, 4-cell 62Whr Li-Polymer, Black NP930X5J-S01US

 

Unfortunately your machine will only take SATA based M.2 drives, even though the PCIe based XP941 may physically fit. It all comes down to how the M.2 socket is wired. Most are wired to the SATA bus. Right now the only laptop in the world which will take the XP941 is some models of the Sony Vaio Pro 13. Fairly soon I think you will see a Samsung branded laptop with the same capability.

So for now, the Crucial M500/M550 SATA M.2 (2280) units are your only option, or the Intel M.2 if it's available in your market.

 

Not certain what I am looking at but it says 2ND SDD:

 

looks like it works with this type connector. I think this is a PCIE x4 based M.2 (NGFF) SSD module.

 

Not trying to complain, and I certainly understand what John has indicated with regards to most users not being able to notice the difference in the SSD type, but after reading this more and more, I am still surprised at the SSD option Samsung is going with on this one. I keep talking myself out of going with the lower model (of the 2) Macbook Pro Retina, but it can't be denied that on paper, the Macbook trumps the Samsung in most areas performance wise, for a price of $1,884.99 through Amazon. Just think when Samsung is commanding a premium, they should go all premium. Isn't Samsung the one supplying a lot of these faster SSD's? Any thoughts guys? Thanks

 

I've had this thought myself often. Speaking from experience of dealing with Samsung semi-conductor division though, they have a game plan which they never reveal until the last minute, much like Apple does.

 

It looks to me like the SSD is M.2 MiniPCIe (i.e., not SATA). Am I incorrect?

 

I hear that. Don't suppose you would have any idea if this one would be outfitted at some point with the better one? Just don't want to buy at launch and 3 months down the road, the better SSD becomes standard. Thanks for the input.

 

My prediction (and purely a personal one as an industry observer) is that there will be new laptop models capable of using M.2 PCIe SSD's in the last quarter of this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see Samsung introduce a 1TB version of the XP941 which might bring 1500MB/s transfer speeds to notebooks. At the same time major motherboard manufacturers will have new models with M.2 sockets capable of accepting 4-lane PCIe M.2 SSD's and that's when we'll really see this kind of tech take off.

Right now, if you want to be able to take advantage of PCIe SSD's - you have to go with the new MacBook, or a Sony Vaio Pro. It's either that or be happy with what you have and wait and see.

 

Remember that Samsung get a lot of business from Apple and I'm sure this is a reason why they don't produce an Apple-beating notebook even if capable of doing so (at least for the hardware - software is another matter).

John

 

If you don't know whether you need >1GB/s SSD speeds, you don't. You would have to be doing some very heavy I/O on a consistent basis to realize any benefit. Now if you do a lot of heavy database work, or digital video, maybe. But I have to ask why you would want to do this on a notebook with a ULV processor. You would be much better served with an XPS15 or MBP although each has its own limitations.

Personally, I would rather they have stuck with msata as there appears to be plenty of room. Can you imagine, 2x1TB EVOs? Not that I could afford it, but DAMN.

 

After looking at this for a while, I am finally starting to understand what others are writing here. I likely do not need PCIe speeds, but I would like more memory. Looks like I have limited options right now on SATA M.2 SSDs. Will that change, or should I buy a 480 M.2 before they are gone and out of stock? Looks like some are already discontinued.

 

The M.2 supply will improve with time. Toshiba is another possible source. The current M.2 supply situation is like what the mSATA situation was 18 months ago (see this thread). Samsung might surprise us with an EVO M.2. I still haven't figured out why they launched the EVO mSATA and not M.2 and it came as a pleasant surprise (so I've now got 1TB in my NP900X4C). Perhaps they reckoned there's a more profitable market in selling mSATA SSDs to consumers for upgrades than selling M.2 drives in bulk to manufacturers.

At the moment the only M.2 in the ~500GB size range is the Crucial M500 and I can't see it on the Crucial website. However, that may be due to the transition to the M550 which Micron (Crucial's parent) says will be available in the M.2 format. They say the 512GB MTFDDAV512MAY is in production. Whatever you buy and whenever you buy it there will, most likely, be something better and cheaper about to appear. The advantage of the M.2 M500 is that the pricing is reasonable and hence easier to justify as a short term investment. If this price is an indicator, the M550 M.2 will start with a price premium (but this UK price is more reasonable).

John

 

Right now Crucial are producing the M.2 in limited quantities so they are only making it available to their VAR's and distributors. FWIW, we've had stock of all sizes of the M500 M.2 available for a couple of months on the RamCity website, and they are usually around on Amazon too. We've got the M550 M.2's on order, but Crucial don't have any ready as yet.

 

It seems that some M.2 M550s have reached Newegg as well as Amazon UK.

John

 

Excellent! That means we can't be far from getting stock in Australia as well.

Rod

 

-

 

SW Update's database lists NP930X5J-K01UK and NP930X5J-K02UK as well as NP910S5J-K01UK (Book 9 Style).

However, there's nothing currently on the retailer websites so Samsung UK haven't told them they are coming. They might suddenly get listed as being in stock when a shipment arrives.

John

 

I just ran the PCMark7 benchmarks on my NP930X5J: 4,572
Comparison scores:
MacBook Pro: 5,564
Samsung NP900X4C 4,674
Thinkpad W520 4,568

I was hoping that the non-touch screen would be matte like the NP900X4C, but it isn't.

 

Can you confirm which CPUs you have in both the X5J and X4C?

Some side-by-side photos X5J/X4C taken from different angles would be very useful so we can see how the two displays compare. Is the X5J panel completely glossy or just a hint of anti-glare coating?

It would also be interesting to know how the battery life compares under the same operating conditions.

John

 

ATIV-Book9-2014-15-inch i7-4500U CPU 1.8GHz
NP900X4C i7-3517U CPU 1.9GHz

 

There's very little difference in CPU performance according to Notebookcheck

Does the X5J run more quietly when under load?

You may find the X5J benchmark scores improve once Windows has finished doing its housekeeping. Or maybe the higher resolution display needs more work.

John

 

Here's a couple of photos of X5J & X4C I'm posting on behalf of huberth:



John

 

way to reflective screen. Strange that still some pages list the NP930X5J as "non-glare"

 

Any news on the US model, it's been a while still and I can't really find any new information on it. What do you think?

 

Please keep reading the whole thread (it's not very long). The notebook on the left in the above photo is a US version (NP930X5J-S01US).

John

 

I've kept up with the thread, I'm just curious on speculation of a release date in the US since it still hasn't been officially released or sole by Samsung

 

Like i see it on John pictures it look much more reflective screen then macbook pro retina or air but i can deal with that

 

You are not reading carefully enough. Member huberth has a US version on his desk which he bought from here. Some stock reached some US retailers during the past few days. Samsung may not have got round to updating their website but that wouldn't be the first time.

They are actually huberth's photos but he had a problem posting them so he emailed them to me to post.

I hope he take some more photos of the screen from different angles so we can see how much the good viewing angles of the X5J compensate for the shiny screen. One weakness of a simple TN panel is that tilting it to reduce reflections reduces the image quality. The panel on the X5J shouldn't suffer from that problem (but I would also prefer something less shiny - offices can have multiple light sources).

John

 

hubert how is the fan noise ? is it audiable ? a friend of mine has the 900x3 13 inch with ivy bridge according to him he cant hear the fan on regulair use he can bearly bearly hear it on fully load how is this one ?

 

Hi, any idea about Australian model? Is SW update database showing any clues about Australian availability? Thanks

 

its ips screen? if not i will not buy it

 

There's nothing in the database and I wouldn't be very optimistic about an Australian-specific model given that Samsung appears to be pulling out of some of the smaller markets plus there's the rumour of intention to pull out of the notebook business by 2015.

John

 

I could not hear any fan noise - and I am very picky in that regard.