Samsung Series 9 NP900X1A-A01US 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm coming to this laptop from an 11" Macbook Air. I'm a PC person at heart but I couldn't resist the MBA's form-factor when it was the only thing on the market. Now that Samsung has produced a legitimate competitor, I jumped at the opportunity to return to a Windows environment. I have spent very little time with the laptop so far so I reserve the right to add to or modify this review as I learn more. There are initially more negatives than positives in my review, but the positives I mention are, for me, very important. The negatives I list are mostly nit-picks.
Here are my initial thoughts:
Positive:
[*]Size, weight, build quality feels equal to the MBA. The material is certainly different but it feels just as solid and just as sleek. I find the color of the metal more appealing than the bright aluminum.
[*]Matte screen. I don't know why so few companies still offer matte screens. Everyone I hear talk about them prefers them to the glossy ones. This screen is fantastic. Sharp text, good colors, and excellent (best I've ever seen) brightness.
[*]The keyboard and trackpad are comfortable to use. The position of your wrists is always going to be a challenge on a notebook this small. I had gotten used to it on the MBA and feel no difference here. The keyboard backlight is a plus.
[*]Speed. It's not as fast as my desktop, nor should it be. It's fast enough for everything I want to do on it. The SSD helps a great deal and boot time and wake from sleep time is excellent.
[*] USB 3.0 port
Negative:
[*] No real home, end, page up, and page down keys. I use them a lot and they're functions of the arrows on this keyboard layout.
[*] No two-finger tap to click for right click. You have to physically press the touchpad down with two fingers to get a right click. You only need to tap the touchpad with one finger for a left click.
[*] Very large (3-prong) end cord on the power adapter. It doesn't fit easily in many tight places. Fortunately, it is removable, so I bought a mickey-mouse style cable that's more reasonably sized.
[*] Heat. My MBA never got warm on my legs - ever. When this thing is really working it gets quite warm on the bottom. On the MBA you hardly ever (never?) heard a fan running. On this you hear it regularly.
[*] Only two USB ports and they're on opposite sides. Some devices (which want to draw power via USB) need 2 ports on the same side.
[*] No external light indicating charging or battery status. On the MBA you could look right on the end of the A/C adapter to verify that the computer was charging/fully charged. The Samsung has to be opened to make sure the plug is working. How hard would it be to put an LED on the adapter?
Still unknown:
[*] Battery life. It's just too early to tell.
[*] Speed over time. How will it run after having 6 months of "stuff" installed on it?------UPDATE 5/25----------
I have now taken the bottom cover off just to look around. It seems that you can access the SSD and replace it if you wish. You cannot do anything about the RAM. The SSD, wireless card, and battery seem to be the only parts that can easily be replaced by a user.
------UPDATE 5/25----------
------Update5/27-----------
Some battery recharging statistics. The computer was in use (bright screen, wifi) while charging.
Started at 10% battery remaining.
36 minutes later was at 40% remaining.
30 minutes later was at 90% remaining.
------Update5/27-----------
------Update 5/30----------
I haven't done any really specific battery-life testing - I don't have the time. But it seems to last as long as my Macbook Air's battery did. I keep the screen brightness very high, always have wireless on, and even reconfigured the power settings to give me more processing power when on battery than the default allows. In other words: I do everything wrong when it comes to maximizing battery life. Even so I get between 2.5-3 hours. I'm sure that if I used the custom battery settings they suggest I'd be getting double that. As I said, this equals my experience with the MBA.
One thing that this computer does not do as well as the MBA is conserving battery while sleeping. Sometimes I go 2-3 days without using a laptop. When I'd pull the MBA out of my bag after 2-3 days of no use, the battery would be within 10 (often 5) % of where I left it. Both times I've left the 9 in my bag for a couple of days I've found the battery at 10% when I finally turn it on again.
------Update 5/30----------
----------- Update 6/10 ------------
I've made a few changes to my initial review:
[*]Removed the port doors from the negative list. I actually like the way these work after using them for a while. They won't break unless you're careless with them.
[*]Removed speed from the negative list. The laptop hasn't felt the slightest bit slower than I'd expect. I'm not going to count the 2GB of RAM against it if it doesn't hinder me from doing what I want to do on the computer.
I'm really, really pleased with the computer at this point.
----------- Update 6/10 ------------

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Designed with mobility in mind, Samsung's durable, ultra premium, lightweight Series 9 laptop (model NP900X1A-A01US) offers mobile professionals and power users a sophisticated laptop equally suited for work and entertainment. Featuring a minimalist look that is both simple and sophisticated, it's highlighted by a dramatic enclosure made of super-strong duralumin. This Series 9 laptop also includes a brilliant 11.6-inch LED display with HD resolution, 64 GB Solid State Drive (SSD), 2 GB of system memory, and built-in 4G WIMAX capabilities (for optional on-the-go wireless connectivity).
Made from durable, lightweight duralumin (see larger image).

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