The 2012 Samsung Series 9 13.3" (NP900X3B)

Seems as if there are at least 2 different battery packs being used. The one I have that's wearing quickly is a 11.1V pack while a friend of mine has a 7.4V pack. note that when fully charged they would be ~ 12.4V and ~8.2V respectably when viewed in HWINFO.

Dunno if this all means anything reliability wise but it was just something I noticed.

 

My B model shows 8.36v fully charged in HWINFO.
0.0% wear after 3 weeks.

 

Designed Capacity: 40071 mWh
Full Charged Capacity: 34410 mWh
Wear Level: 14.1 %

Current Voltage: 12.297 V

I have the higher voltage battery too. Does this mean something significant?

 

For what it's worth, hwinfo is giving my x3b-A01 this:

Designed Capacity: 40071 mWh
Full Charged Capacity: 38850 mWh
Wear Level: 3.0 %
Current Voltage: 12.496 V

I'll note that this is even after I was playing Dragon Age: Origins at full resolution several times on the train, which just absolutely obliterated the battery, draining it like 1% per minute. I was actually kinda scared based on the complaints on this forum, but it looks like I got a good unit. I also bought this the week it came out.

 

It's unusual to see two different nominal voltages for what is nominally the same battery. My X3B has the 11.1V battery part No. AA-PBXN6AR (from the photo I took of the inside) and has been at 3.1% wear (IIRC) from new.

John

 

I'll try to get the par number from my friends battery when I get a chance

another difference I notice is that his machine cpu runs hotter on average by about 6 degrees celcius. While my fan only comes on under cpu load his fan has to run most of the time even at idle. I ran stress test and I maxed out at about 75 degrees while his went up to 82 degrees.

oh and his fan doesn't make a grinding noise like mine do..

The battery in my friends s9 says DC 7.4V 5440mAh AA-PBXN4AR

 

Thanks for your suggestions. I already did the Bluetooth off, set to Auto, and set to Max Performance when I did the tests.

I'm probably just going to live with it though. My wifi speed varies alot anyways

 

Ive only used battery like 5 times so far and set max charge to 80%. These are my results for x3b-A02 (edit: on AC):

Designed Capacity: 40256 mWh
Full Charged Capacity: 41440 mWh
Wear Level: 0.0 %
Current Voltage: 7.989 V

 

Two thoughts: (i) There are power variations between what are nominally the same CPU part. Both must have met the 17W requirement during testing but yours uses less power; and (ii) there are two types of fan and yours is slightly thicker so it pushes more air but seems to have a clearance problem.

Thanks. So battery PBXN6AR has 6 smaller cells and PBXN4AR has 4 bigger ones. I can't explain why Samsung have produced two types of battery with the same capacity.

John

 

Update: now showing 2.6% wear again!


THis is Strange! I used HWinfo and found my battery wear was 2.6% (I tested few time and observed the same 2.6% wear in past couple of days!)

Now, I conected to power and ran HWinfo again and it shows only 0.7% wear!; I disconectted the power cord and the wear 0.7% remains the same while tested running on battery again!!

My current values
Designed Capacity 40256
Full Charge Capacity 39960
Wear Level 0.7%


Current voltage 7.862V

 

My 3 month old NP900X3B has a wear level of 28%.

Here's the full details -

Hardware monitor Battery
Voltage 0 12.19 Volts [0x2F9B] (Current Voltage)
Capacity 0 40071 mWh [0x9C87] (Designed Capacity)
Capacity 1 28860 mWh [0x70BC] (Full Charge Capacity)
Capacity 2 28860 mWh [0x70BC] (Current Capacity)
Level 0 28 pc [0x48] (Wear Level)
Level 1 100 pc [0x64] (Charge Level)

I'm going to take it back to the retailer and try and get a refund/exchange.

- Would you advise getting a NP900X3C instead of the NP900X3B?
- Is it worth paying a little extra to get it?
- Or is there a better Ultrabook around at the moment at the £1000 price range?
- What happens to the VAT that I've already received back?

 

Can you calibrate your battery and check the wear level again?

 

Not surprisingly, if I run a CPU stress program, the fans kick in.
If I then tilt the notebook at all (not the screen but the base),
the fans make a raspy, vibrating noise.
Is this normal?
Why would tilting it change the noise of the fans?

Has anyone else been able to produce the same fan effect as this?

 

Help! My usb mouse wasnt working properly with the usb3.0 device so I uninstalled the driver and then reinstalled using the latest 3.0.20.0 driver.

No the usb3.0 wont work at all. It says This device cannot start. (Code 10) in the properties manager. Any ideas to fix this? Thanks

 

1. Remove the device in device manager and restart the computer to let it be redetected.

2. Check if there is a BIOS update by running the Samsung BIOS updater program.

3. If no joy there then try resetting the BIOS by (a) turn off the computer (b) disconnect the power cable (c) disconnect the battery by poking an unbent paperclip through the small hole on the bottom and (d) holding down the power button for a minute. Then reconnect the mains power and start the computer.

John

 

Fixed the problem. Had to go directly to the driver's location file in the windows folder and delete them. Then went to Samsung site to download the latest drivers. Restarted and USB3.0 works again.

 

Help! How to turn off light sensor/ display auto brightness? I couldn't find the settings in "Easy settings"!

By the way, I am frequently getting a wiered color gradint screen in the chrome browser (I can't remember if I also have this in IE) and a screen capture image is enclosed!

It is very annoying at best. Any suggstions to get rid of that would be really apprecieated? IS any one else had this in their computer as well?

 

Go to Easy Settings > Display > Screen Brightness and uncheck the plugged in and on battery boxes that are below the "Use auto brightness control depending on ambient illumination". (Edit: removed the quoted image).

 

Got mine from the Microsoft store 2 weeks ago also and experiencing some issues.

1) I have that same pattern on chrome quite often as well with no obvious symptoms, happens when zoomed or not, happens when scrolling or not, very random.
2) BatteryBar has my battery at 14.4% wear as well right out of the box (exactly 3440 mWh as I saw in an earlier post. Not sure if it's a Bios issue, or if the 12V battery seems to be less efficient, or just have a bad batch of batteries) -- YES i have tried calibration, with zero effect.
3) Cannot seem to update my Easy Settings - using the software tool. There also seems to be 2 Easy Settings applications I can update to. It downloads, then it fails. Anyone experiencing the same issue(s)?

 

I could tolerate 4% wear out of the box but not 14%. That the better part of an hour of run time. Hassle Samsung support for a replacement. They shouldn't be putting those batteries into notebooks.

John

 

so speaking of fast wear on this machine

both my girlfriend's np900x3b and my np900x4c have become so worn on the micro HDMI port that it takes 30+ seconds of careful adjustment to get the TV to hold the signal. We use our laptops to watch Netflix in the living room, so it is certainly a slightly harsher wear situation than a normal at-desk-with-laptop-staying-in-one-spot setup, but i did want to give people a warning!

i started designing a port dock to make plugging multiple things into the machine faster/easier, but i think it's actually best used to save your ports!

I started putting together some tech products I designed and print at home on this site. If anyone wants a np900x3b port dock, you can see it here:
techneesh.com

 

I had same probem while installing the "easy settings" and I lost all function key commands!

Then, I downloaded "easy settings" from samsung support site and manually installed!

 

I get the impression that while Samsung is aspiring to have software that works across the whole range, the reality may be different. Hence the risk that Easy Software Manager may find an update that it thinks should work, but it doesn't.

John

 

Is the SSD easily replaceable on the 3B as in the 3C?

 

Exactly the same procedure.

John

 

This is an issue of chrome. I've seen this on other forums too.

 

What did you do in the end ??

GAry

 

My 4 months old NP900X3B has 22.6% battery wear but its been constant use every day, I wonder if the wear level is justifiable.
I'm using the battery saver thing where it limits battery charge to 80% and usually I don't let it drain to less than 20% but the occasional 100% charge and drain does make some damage...
What do you guys recommend? Charge to 80% and only let it drain 40% or could I just let it plugged in at 80%?

 

According to BatteryCare, my 5 months old NP900X3B has a wear level of 3.05%. I use it daily as my main daytime work computer (4-8 hours per day), it is kept at max 80% through battery life extender, 80% time it is plugged into an outlet at 80%, I rarely let it drop below 20% before I recharge.

 

Hi Gary,

I didn't get any replies, so I hadn't decided on anything as of yet

 

Mine was showing 2.6% wear brand new. I calibrated the battery and kept it at 100% charge for a couple of days and now it shows 0.7% wear. Using the 80% cap for battery saver now.

 

Bought my Series 9 first week of March this year...currently has 31% battery wear. Before I calibrated, I had 28% wear. Never turned on the 80% cap and have it plugged in daily. I win??

 

I've been using my laptop everyday for 8-10 hours so that could explain the wear.
So leaving it plugged in at 80% seems to have worked for you, I think that's good as its more comfortable, no need to worry about plugging in/out and charging/draining.

 

Yes, that's the best way to use the modern batteries: Avoid the extremes of charge and discharge except when necessary (ie when you have to use the battery). Deliberately fully charging and discharging batteries is a habit / recommendation left over from the Ni-Cd era when the batteries needed this treatment to avoid the charge memory problem.

John

 

Does anyone know what a new battery would cost for the S9, are there any 3rd party manufacturers? Trying to decide how "gentile" I want to be.

 

Google doesn't find anything for me. At about six months old any battery problems should go back to Samsung for replacement. Once the computer gets to be a year old and out of warranty then people may start selling replacement batteries. However, you may find that third parties won't make them unless there's a lot of demand because they are too specialised as a thin Li-poly unit.

John

 

Just a general question:

I come from the old school of removing your HDD when sending in a computer or notebook for service.

If someone had to send an S9 back to Samsung, what would be acceptable:

1.) Totally remove the SSD from the S9?
2.) Backup and then totally wipe the entire SSD before sending it in as unbootable?
3.) Other method?

Also, I am totally removing their installed OS and recovery partition and using Windows 7 Ultimate or other OS, so those would or could not come into play either.

Just wondering, since sending it in with my data and configuration on it would not be acceptable.



Another topic:

What percentage of battery charge should a 13" XB lose per hour, or in a 12 or 24 hour period with the lid closed in sleep or hibernation?

 

You will want to check with samsung if you do have to RMA. They may see it as warranty voiding if you have removed the SSD. If you use bitlocker, your data is somewhat safe. It is a little difficult to completely wipe a SSD, need to do multiple overwrites. Another option is to buy your own SSD (a good excuse to upgrade) and save the oem while your warranty is in effect.

I lose maybe 1% in hibernate sleep in a day, I have it set to 3 minutes.

 

Thanks.

I was fortunate enough to get a fast Samsung 830 mSATA 128GB with my XB, so the only real upgrade would be a larger drive. I do not, and won't use bitlocker, but I would have no trouble wiping the drive decently enough that I wouldn't worry about it. Even removing the partition would likely be adequate. My main concern would be if Samsung would be unhappy with receiving it unbootable?

Thanks for the hibernate information.

 

I've been looking at the Samsung Series 9 as my first ultrabook (and laptop) and I've decided to go with it. As I've never had a laptop before, I'm wondering if I have to charge it for a long time as the first charge out of the box (perhaps 24 hours?). I have read the thread and it seems like fully charging/discharging isn't necessary now, but I'd still like to make sure.

 

After wiping the disc you can put back a basic Windows installation. If you have not zapped the recovery partition then you can use Fn+F4 (IIRC) to boot into Samsung Recovery Solution and restore the factory image.

No power drain in hibernation and about 1% per hour if sleeping.

They always recommending charging the battery before use but it comes about half charged so I just plug it in and start using it. Note that there is a battery life extender switch in Easy Settings. You should enable this unless you need maximum battery time - the life extender limits the charge to 80% which is better for battery longevity.

John

 

Thanks, I didn't know about that feature. But I was more specifically asking if there was anything I needed to do with the new laptop battery, like fully charging it before using the laptop.

 

Is there any update at this point whether or not an 8GB model will be available? 4GB max soldered RAM is a deal breaker for me. Even the new Macbook Air has 8GB available as an option.

 

Yeah, I don't get it either. Windows 7 takes up a quarter of the memory on these things. It would be nice to have some RAM for actual applications. There is no reason not to have more memory options except sheer laziness.

Even 16GB wouldn't be out of the question. It's late 2012 for crying out loud.

 

The 13" uses a DDP memory module that is only available in 4GB ATM. The 8GB package is due Q2-Q3 2013. I wouldn't expect an update till then, perhaps with haswell. Not sure if the X1C has or XPS13 refresh will have the option. The toshiba and sony can go to 8+ but are otherwise vastly inferior. I give apple credit for pushing the spec (other manufacturers will follow), the air is a slightly larger machine though.

 

The X1C has an 8gb model. Another option is the 15" Series 9, which also has 8gb.

 

I am trying to clone my hard drive. I am using Acronis True Image HD. I tried booting from an external cd drive hooked on the usb3.0 port, changed the bios boot priority, but it still always boot to windows.

Then I made a bootable usb flash drive with Grub4Dos and put Acronis iso on there. I verifie it works on an old dell laptop. This still will not boot. I have tried 2 different flash drives.

Also, when going from ssd to ssd, does the destination ssd need to be pre-aligned?

Lastly any links on dissassembling the series 9 to get the ssd out?

 

Just a reminder that if Samsung suspects you've cracked open this model, it voids warranty. They are not advertising the SSD as user-replaceable. That is, restore the original SSD with the recovery partition before sending it in - they likely won't service the laptop if it has a different or no SSD installed.

 

Windows 8 promises to be less intensive on system resources and improve battery life on notebooks. I'm tempted to upgrade just for those reasons hoping I can stretch out the 4GB max.

However, my month old model now has 19.7% wear. Wow. If I RMA does Samsung replace the battery or do they just send me a refurb model, or replace with the same exact model, or can I luck out and receive the new generation model?

 

I understand, and did read that link you posted awhile back in the X3C thread. It is more than curious that Samsung put no statement or sticker on the bottom of the case stating "warranty void if"...(the cover, sticker, etc. removed). Why didn't they? SSD manufacturers do it all the time.