The 2012 Samsung Series 9 13.3" (NP900X3B)

Can anyone reassure me (or not) that the 13.3" can be upgraded to i7 and 256GB SSD while retaining the 13.3" chassis? The information I have read seems ambiguous and could mean that the i7-and-256GB-SSD upgrade means upgrading to the 15". If I can only get the i7 and 256GB SSD by getting the 15", then I am not so interested anymore. Otherwise, DO WANT!

Update: It seems that the NT900X3B-A74 model is what I'm looking for: http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=11077

A few other puzzling things:

1. This is the first review mentioning Ivy Bridge in the S9 2012 models.

2. This is the first review saying that the 13" and 15" will have different resolutions, when all other information points to both having 1600x900.

3. This is the first review stating a May launch date, when all other information points to a February 27th launch date. The second half of the line says "it does not take a genious (sic) to understand it will be Ivy Bridge", making it seem like the first statement was an inference on the author's part, and not a concrete report on facts.

The whole article seems dodgy.

 

This one mentions two chassis colors, Mineral Ash Black and Aluminum Color. No mention of "Titan Silver" though.

Samsung reveals Samsung Series 9 Redesign at CES | Articles

However, Samsung's US News Center only mentioned the Mineral Ash Black option: http://www.samsung.com/us/news/newsRead.do?news_seq=20068 (The phrase "natural matte aluminum" is used to describe the sides of the mineral ash black, and not to indicate a second chassis option.)

 

I hate the pretentious name of 'Titan Silver'. To be brief, the S9 is offered in silver or dark gray. According to most articles, only the dark gray version is going to be offered in North America.

Hope that answers your question.

 

What question? I didn't ask a chassis-related question . Just following example and sharing more articles on the product as I find them. I've read that the US will get the black model, and it's silver for the rest of the world. Which is good enough for me since I want the silver one and I'm in "the rest of the world". I wouldn't mind if my country gets the black one too though.

I just wish there was an official name for the silver chassis and that would be my question. The article quoted above is the only one to give it a name at all and I don't know if it's good enough to follow. The "Titan Silver" pictures on Amazon doesn't resemble anything silver so that might not be the name for the silver chassis either.

 

I wish we all had a choice. I have no idea what is coming to the US. The mineral finish looks good. See the pic at http://www.nordichardware.com/image...ilt/Samsung_Series9/fullimages/series9_15.jpg

If you look closely at the display specs in the right bottom of the pic, you'll see the word "mineral" to describe the matt-finish. Looks cool. Silver hides dust better than black though black has a luxurious appeal.

One thing is for sure, the Korean launch was the reason I cancelled my amazon.com order. I don't care about getting an i7, but something larger than 128GB is really a neccessity.

Holdng out for a 256GB SSD model in whatever finish I can get in the US.

 

It's a personal thing, of course... but I much prefer silver.

Not only do I think it looks better cosmetically, but it hides fingerprints (etc) much better than black or dark gray.

Oh, I also like the contrast of black keys on a silver body.

 

I am also interested in if 8GB will be available for the 13 inch version...

 

I don't live in the UK, but for those who do...

Samsung Series 9 skinny laptop on sale Saturday | CNET UK

 

Awesome... so they are available in the UK in a few days. Waiting for the USA!

 

I saw this today too. I thought they would be available in the US first?

Can't wait.....

 

so the first real reviews will be here soon. cool! can't wait. perhaps it can replace my Z after 4 years.

 

Yeah, i7 and 256gb is a fail without at least 8GB..I want to see a notebook with 16GB, and display port across the board, who needs vga or hdmi when you can use displayport for everything.

 

The i5 1.6ghz and i7 1.7ghz seem pretty compariable (difference of 1MB cache too). The extra SSD space would always be nice, but I am fine with 128GB. My current 128GB SSD is only 60% used. Most of my music is in the cloud.

 

"John Lewis told us that it would be selling the 13-inch Series 9 [i5 / 4gb ram / 128gb ssd] for £1,199, so best start saving now. It'll be selling the 15-inch model at a later date."

£1,199 converted to USD is almost $1900.

I can't wait for the reviews. Which UK tech company do you reckon will review it first?

 

Hey look what I found:

Buy Samsung NP900X3B Laptop, Intel Core i5, 1.6GHz, 4GB RAM, 128GB with 13.3 Inch Display, Black online at JohnLewis.com

Sucks as I wanted the 15 inch.

 

At around 1.40 in the video, he mentions that "the screen is of the IPS variety..." - do we know whether it's true or not?

 

This will be my first Samsung book.... I read before that they come with a 3 year warranty, is this true? Also, is it still voiding the warranty if you upgrade the memory? Lastly, what kind of memory do these take? Thanks!

 

It's popping up like flowers in the spring time. Search for "NP900X3A-B02UK"

Samsung have their own flavour of IPS called PLS. We would certainly hope for an above-average display in what is the top of their notebook range.

John

 

Any idea if the 13.3" and the 15" both use PLS?

 

Your guess is a good as mine. Sensibly Samsung would put their best screen in their top-of-range notebooks, but companies don't always act sensibly. If they are really trying to be an alternative to Apple then they may have noted that display quality is a feature that people are prepared to pay for.

John

 

Actually, that's the old model. The new version is NP900X3B-A01UK, I think. I wonder how long it will take to appear at other retailers?

 

So I just bought it. Totally against my M.O. Should be collecting tomorrow... I just hope they sorted out the damned wifi issues.

 

Samsung Notebook Series 9 - FEATURES | SAMSUNG

it's seem the i7, 256gb version isn't available yet?

 

Yeah, I'm more tempted than I should be given that I own an original model that appears to be basically identical apart from the higher resolution screen and the new chassis. Same processor, chipset, USB 3.0 chipset, wifi card etc etc My biggest concern isn't the 900X3B - I'm pretty sure that it'll be great - but rather the ultrabooks that will be released over the next 6 months. There are probably going to be plenty of Ivy Bridge machines with better hardware and, at the high end at least, similar build quality. I don't think absolute specs are what this category of machine is really about but knowing that there will soon be better hardware in what's becoming a very competitive market makes me hesitate a little.

Then again, I wonder what a 900X3A-B01 goes for on eBay...

 

you can always wait for better specs and stuff. you need to buy when you need to buy.

 

What do you guys think of the keyboard?

Aside from looking similar to a MBA's keyboard, I hope its just as comfy!

 

Most initial reviews say the keyboard is sub-par though. Significantly shallow.

How valid is this statement? If a budget allows for only two upgrades out of i7, 256GB SSD, and 8GB RAM, is it worth it to get any two out of the three, or is the third upgrade so direly necessary that it would be better to save the money and just get one upgrade (or none)?

 

So I'm typing this post on NP900X3B after picking it up today.

My first reaction when I took it out of the box was "holy **** it's THIN". This thing is magnificently small. A beautiful piece of Mac-pinching design all-round I'd say.

After uninstalling Norton and setting up Chrome I'm starting to play. There doesn't appear to be a lot of bloatware, but there's a bit. WIFI appears to be no probs so far, thank goodness.

The keyboard was identified in the initial hands-on reports as the weakness and I'd say that's probably correct - but not due to the shallowness of the keys, which I personally don't mind. The bigger issue is that it's quite noisy to type on. Oh well, can't have everything. The mousepad "click" is also pretty noisy, but it appears to catch most double-taps so that won't be much of an issue...

 

This is a compromise inherent is such a thin machine. Providing an extra couple of mm of key travel will add an extra 2mm to the thickness.

Most people can get by with 4GB RAM unless they are either running virtual machines or other programs which love loads of RAM. I wouldn't expect the average S9 user to be doing this. Similarly, the i7 is a small step up from the i5. The bit of hardware I would want is the big SSD.

John

 

Would you mind posting up some photos?
I'm sure we're all interested to have a good extensive look at the final retail shipping model... as well as packaging if you can manage? AC adapter, included dongles, etc.

Thanks! Enjoy it!

 

Would also be very interested if Linux boots on it (just booting into Ubuntu LiveCD would be terrific!)

 

OK, took some snaps of the machine + power supply and it's packaging. I can easily do more if there's something in particular you would like to know.





Re: Linux - er... installing it on a laptop is not something I've done before. Installing it anywhere it not something I've done before! I wasn't planning on installing it, but can run tests if they're not irreversible. Just show me the way.

 

Do you have an external USB CD / DVD drive? If so, then you should be able to boot from there. The Live Linux installation doesn't touch the SSD. Running Linux from a flash drive is another option.

John

 

Would dearly love to get this now but there is no way I'm paying that much for a SB machine.

I know there is always something better around the corner but IB is only a couple of months away, offers some big benefits, and considerably cheaper machines will have it.

Going to hold out for another month or two.

Anyway, didn't Samsung state $1399 for the lowest spec 13" machine?

 

Awesome looking machine!
What's the screen & speakers like?

Be good to hear you impressions at some stage!

Thanks,

Nic

 

Yes, comments on the screen including color, contrast, and viewing angles would be great. If you could, please take a photo of the screen with the following page up:

RGB Color Wheel [INFOGRAPHIC] ? Infographic List

 

Things are getting exciting.... a las, no where in the US to purchase it from yet except to "pre order". Sad face...

 

Overall impression: it's a beautiful machine. Thin, light, well made. I haven't really stress-tested it too much but after running for several hours it's still silent, as far as I can tell. It's also pretty fast whilst doing routine (i.e. Office, internet surfing) stuff and it boots virtually instantly after going to sleep. Impressive.

RE: the screen - I'm impressed. It's bright, sharp and has excellent contrast. I took some of the requested screenshots though I struggled to remove the moire. As for viewing angles - the screen seems to retain its colour definition at pretty wide angles - also shown in the screenshot. In particular what should I be looking at?





I don't have a USB DVD drive... so booting from Linux would have to be done via a flash drive. The only one I have is kind of full, so it may take me a few days to get around to this.

 

LiLi will setup a USB stick for live booting.

 

The one issue I have noticed is that it has a tendency to forget which WIFI network it was connected to upon awakening from sleep. It's happened twice. The first time it reconnected but didn't work, the second it totally forgot.

 

Horizontal viewing angles look great. How are the vertical ones? Have you used a series 7 chronos? If so, how does the matte screen compare? I was thinking of getting a series 7 a while back, but the horrible screen turned me off. Series 9 would be my first choice as long as the screen is decent.

 

Vertical angles are the same as the horizontal ones - excellent. The screen retains its colour definition at wide angles better than the RGB screen on my Alienware M17x.

I haven't used the Chronos. (This is the first Samsung laptop I've owned and I bought it sight unseen at opening day prices. Must be insane.) However I've not noticed reflections on the screen at all - which I guess is the point.

One thing that's very clear however is the quality of the trackpad, which is excellent. All-in-all, I'm very happy.

 

thanks for the feedback

How are gestures? Are they completely smooth, or somewhat choppy like every other windows trackpad gestures I have seen.

 

is there a wifi problem with this?

and can you close the door when u insert microsd card?

do u think it s better than first one(900x3a) ?

thank u

 

Zooming and scrolling with two fingers are totally smooth. I'm glad you asked since I had now idea that you could scroll that way. Woot.

fulham - no WIFI problems so far... but you're going to be disappointed about the SD card slot. It's still hidden behind a flap, and it the card sticks out preventing the door from closing. I don't know if the 15" version will be any different...

 

other gestures:

source

 

Please stop!!! I cannot bear the wait anymore! Lol.... So anyone guess what will be the 1st store that we can walk in and buy? Best Buy? CompUSA?

 

Cheers for the tip dipdeol. Page up/down works and the multi-finger drag-down brings up a window selection dialogue. Nice.

 

Me neither. I'm literally obsessed with every little bit of information I can find on this laptop. I can't wait until it hits North America.

 

@mcsven, is there a chance you can take a picture of the backlit keyboard in a dark environment when you get a chance?