Tempted by the Samsung Series 9

My last 3 notebooks have all been high-end Sonys:

S170
SZ680
Z11 (current, premium carbon, full HD, quad SSD)

But now I'm tempted by the Samsung Series 9 (13 or 15-inch), or maybe the MacBook Air (which I will only run Windows 7 with).

I want something really thin and light, with good battery life (6+ hours). It's sad that Sony does not have a nice ultrabook for me.

Anyone else feeling the same?

 

Your not going to get 6hrs of battery with the Air. Boot camp offers zero power management. Even after dialing down the power settings in W7, the 13" Air will get you 4 hours.

I have had it uLV processors. Been there, done it, tried it again only to find myself upgrading more often than needed just to get the extra juice.

The SVZ Quad will still kick the crap out of uLVs for a few years to come. Do you find the newest Z bulky?

 

The Air is out then.

Really? According to PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs, the Samsung has a significantly faster CPU:

Intel Core i7-3517U @ 1.90GHz 4019

than my Z:

Intel Core i7 620M @ 2.67GHz 2815

And I assume the newer SSD is probably faster than the one in my Z.

Can you tell me why you think the Samsung will be much slower? I was expecting better overall performance with the Samsung. If it's slower I probably won't bother.

I travel a lot and would just rather have something really thin and light.

Also suffering from upgrade-itis I suppose!

 

I think you should compare with the new SVZ, not your 2yo Z11. The new SVZ has this CPU:

Intel Core i7-3612QM @ 2.10GHz 7708

The Samsung 3517U seems to be a low voltage CPU, hence the diff 4019-7708.

 

Another thing (is maybe not an issue for you), but the Samsung can only have 4GB memory (soldered). There can be no more memory added. One note to be added: there seems to be a refresh oncoming soon, which do have 8GB memory.

 

Allow me to second that motion. As well as the one made by someone wondering if you don't find the SVZ - or even a Z2 - thin, light and powerful enough.

I am presently demoing the Samsung NP900X3B and I find the screen to be a huge letdown after my Z13, even one with the 900p screen. The colors are so much better on the Z and I don't find the viewing angle difference to swing it to the Samsung. Also, the trackpad with stock drivers is beyond miserable. Same for first driver update. I'm told there was another driver update in July and I may try that or I may just box it up and send it back to Microsoft! (Your welcome to it for my cost, $999 with a new X-box if that promotion has ended at the MS store.)

You can get a Z2 with 2nd gen. Core i7, 8GB and 256GB SATA III SSD for around $1,400. I'd grab that over the Samsung if cost is an issue for you. Otherwise, do the SVZ13.

 

The Z is in no way thin but current ultrabook standards...

Guess I'll wait for a refresh of the Samsung and see how that performs. I do want 8GB of RAM.

 

Are you high? Or just unaware that your 2 year old Z11 isn't the same Z they sell now? The Z2 and SVZ weigh the same and is the same thickness as the series 9 while at the same time completely destroying it in CPU/ssd performance.....

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

You should take a look here
VAIO Z Series Laptops | Sony Store USA

 

sony's z series is its ultimate notebook. You should not compare it to ultrabooks, they are not in the same level... z is much better than that

 

You guys are right, the new Z is indeed pretty sweet. Might go with that instead.

 

Just ordered my new Z with the i7-3612 CPU

 

What color did you choose?

 

Regular black, i7-3612QM, 256GB, Windows Pro.

Wanted to get the premium carbon but it wasn't available as a ready-to-ship unit unless I get the 512GB SSD. Just saw the premium carbon in person today and am glad I didn't get it. Way too glossy and plasticky looking IMHO.

 

Wrong. Actually the MBA 13" that I have forsale gets 8-10 hours of usage.

 

Funny, I'm feeling the exact opposite. I just bought Samsung's flagship Series 9 NP900X4D-A02US and am returning it. I'm reading the Sony threads since I'm not considering the Sony Z. As you said, it's sad that Samsung does not have a nice ultrabook for me. The screen on 15" series 9 is pretty bad, and they putting Sandisk SSD drives in their machines.

 

Wow!

You have one magical MBA! It only gets 7 hours under OSX!!!

I have owned several Airs in the past and stand by my claims.

The Verge, Ars and other sites all tell a different tale than your claims.

Another...

AnandTech - The 2012 MacBook Air (11 & 13-inch) Review

 

Many others on the Mac site agree with me. Don't believe everything you read bud. I use it in seminars taking notes and the laptop constantly used with low light, keyboard light off, wifi off most of the time till breaks will make it 8-10 hours. That is a fact.


Sent from my New iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I want to respond to this and amend a post I made earlier, knocking the Samsung 900X3. First, the model you refer to is the 15" Samsung Series 9 and though it looks similar to the 13" 900X3 it has a far inferior TN screen compared to the X3's PLS (Samsung's "branded" IPS) and even much worse audio, which is way above average on the X3. As for SSDs in the Samsungs, like others (Apple MBA, Asus UX31A) you have to be able to return the unit you buy because you won't know which SSD they put in it until you open it up. I don't know what other drives Samsung is using but notebookcheck.net got over 400 seq. read/write on their copy.

As for my earlier comments knocking the 900X3 I got a the Microsoft store for $999 + free Xbox (sell for at least $125, making net cost $875, the screen is actually quite excellent. Embarrassed to say I was not increasing screen brightness when I thought I was and I was only seeing it on about 50%. It is a super bright 400 nit screen with excellent contrast. The color gamut is its weakest suit - about 75% of sRGB - but that is more than sufficient and indistinguishable from wider gamut screens (Sony Z, Asus UX31A) unless you are doing graphic design or high end editing. Video looks superb and text is crisp and very readable at 900p. My other complaint was the trackpad, but I mentioned that I had tried two driver versions but not the July version. Seems like third try was the charm here! I would confidently call it the best Windows trackpad I have used.

Another advantage of the Samsung 9 over other UBs is that it uses a standard mSATA SSD which means it can be upgraded as to speed and size. There is an entire thread in the Samsung forum that tracks the newest and best priced mSATA drives.

As for power and ULVs, I've been using Sony Zs for 2 years - presently the SB dual core i7 - and I honestly don't notice any meaningful differences except perhaps in the installation of large pieces of software, and that may be my 900 Mb/s SATA III RAID0 SSds in the Z as much as the cpu. The biggest loss maybe in the Intel graphics, as its speeds with ULV cpus is considerably slower than with SV, much less quad core cpus. Caveat: I am not a "power user," and for those who do heavy Photoshop, modeling, etc work the cpu difference may be greater.

The biggest downside I find with the 900X3 is battery life. About 5 hours is the best you will do. That's not far off the average for UBs but coming from a Z2 with a slice battery that gets 10-14 hours, it puts the Samsung in a different league as far as portability goes. The Samsung does charge up very quickly, however, and that can bridge some of the gap as long as you have access to AC power to recharge.

On the very-plus side, the 900X3 is the most beautifully designed, perfectly balanced and rock-solid build I have ever seen in a notebook, including the MBA. It's sleeker, lighter and has a better screen and better audio. I would say the Asus UX31A is an even better bet but they are apparently suffering from QC problems (of which I don't consider "backlight bleed" to be one - it's almost never noticeable, especially when not set on blinding brightness above 300 nit. It's not as solidly built as the Samsung, however, and it does not have user-replaceable SSDs. The 900X3 is just a joy to work on, to transport and, quite honestly, to pull out of your bag and feast your eyes upon its gorgeous lines, perfect balance and fly-away weight (well, your eyes don't appreciate the latter!)

Sorry for such a long post, but I have been intensely comparing models and have a couple of conclusions:

1) You can buy some really nice ultraportable/ultrabook models for around $1,000 if you can make do with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD. You can buy some sensational ones for $1,500-$1,700. Sony is taking 30% off already heavily discounted closeouts in their Outlet and that means buying well equipped Z2s for $1,300 to $1,600 and decently equipped ones for as low as $1,100. These are new and have full warranties.

2) This market segment is growing and improving before our very eyes. If you can wait a couple of months, not only will better models with higher specs be plentiful, but today's $1,500 machines will likely sell for less than $1,000 between now and Christmas. !There is no need to spend over $1,200 for low end models with significant flaws (cough! Acer cough! Lenovo cough! Dell, etc.)

3) As a reformed ultrabook snob, I have to say that if you haven't worked on one I strongly recommend you get one from a vendor that offers full refunds for 14-30 day "trials." The longer you live with it, a) the more you will really understand its pros and cons and, b), IMO, the more you will grow to really appreciate the form factor and, unless you have been a Sony Z or MBA user, its lightning fast speeds where you notice them most: boot up, resume from sleep, loading programs. It's funny, but the pundits in the tech publishing community keep saying that notebook sales are suffering because of tablets. To me, an excellent ultrabook/ultraportable notebook is a reason NOT to get or become dependent upon a tablet when you need to travel light. You not only get a full keyboard, more than sufficient ports - compared to a tablet - but you can run any software. All of this, and the total weight is as little as 1 lb more than an iPad. Of course, there's the matter of price, but an iPad with no storage expansion and no ports and only 64GB storage and a 9.6" glossy screen costs over $700 while my Samsung 900X3B for $875 has 128GB of storage (expandable), a lovely 13" matte screen (25% brighter than the iPad's), a very comfortable full, backlit keyboard (add $100+ to the iPad to get a kludgey one), excellent audio and all the ports (some requiring dongles - big deal) you could want/need compared to, ah, NONE on the iPad.

I guess UBs are for people who do real work - or even just write emails! - while tablets are for people who soley read - but not write - email, surf the web and watch movies (again, less enjoyably than they could on a nice 13" UB).

 

But what's the battery life under normal conditions? Screen at 50 % brightness, wifi enabled, light surfing and video watching. I have a IPad for taking notes just like you have.

 

Just received my Z and finished setting it up and used it for a day.

Initial impressions:

I'm barely getting 3.5 hours on battery with brightness at 85%. How come the reviewers get 6+ hours??

The screen bezel is huge. They could have fit a 14.5" screen easy.

Keyboard is not that comfortable to type on with the Enter/Shift/Arrow keys cluster placed a little awkward.

 

Can someone tell me how to get 6+ hours of battery life out of this thing?

 

Which Z are you using?
I'm on a Z2 that I just got yesterday (Z3 price was too much, so I opted for last year's model which is still good).
On mine, the screen is so bright I set brightness to maybe 15%. Change battery settings to power saver. I get around 6:30 hours battery life with light web browsing + office.
Other people might have used the battery sheet. You can go up to 8/10h battery with it.

 

For the keyboard issues, I'm used to an old Dell 620. So I have no problem with the tiny keys. You should see the keyboard of a netbook, its even smaller.
What you could do is rearange some keys as I've seen other people do it on these forums. For example, someone changed Fn key with the up arrow key.
Also, note that the more you use your keyboard the more your hands will be accustomed to travel distance, keystokes, etc/

 

I have an update to my update to my update on the S9. In further use I have found two things to be immutable, one of which is fatal - for me:

1) The spacebar makes the most god-awful plasticy cheap and noisy sound and, after you type anything longer than a few paragraphs you either have to be very hearing impaired or completely unconcerned for the really cheap sound and tactile feel of the spacebar. I didn't notice this until using the S9 to do some article writing. BTW, the regular keys, while not as silent as either of my Sonys, are not nearly as bad in sound or feel than that spacebar.

2) With the i5 ULV in the SB model 900X3B, one does notice the difference in power as compared to a Z2, even as compared to a Z1.

The Sammy is going back to MS or available to the highest bidder. (I paid $999 including a free X-box, which I would sell with or without.