back to article Review: Samsung Series 9 super slim notebook

Samsung has taken an expensive legal hit from Apple over copying design elements in the iPhone. Yet with the Series 9, Samsung has created something a bit special. The entire Ultrabook concept took its inspiration from the Apple MacBook Air, of course. But Samsung's Series 9 has developed a confident design language of its own …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    WTF?

    "And I did like the illuminated indicator light inside the keys for CapsLock and Wi-Fi. Why has it taken laptop manufacturers 30 years to include this on laptops"

    Like my 2 year old HP?

    1. Silverburn

      Re: WTF?

      And Apple? (well, the caps lock at least)

      Also no mention of another Apple-esque USP - backlit keyboard?

      On the upside - screws, inside and out. None of this "Glue-shit-together-to-make-it-a-bastard-to-service-or-upgrade" technique favoured by the fruity one.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: WTF?

        erm the MBA has screws...but don't let the facts get in the way of your rant

        1. Silverburn
          FAIL

          Re: WTF?

          Oh really? Glued batteries, anyone?

          http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Display+Mid+2012+Teardown/9462/1

          And this on the Pro model too. Expect this new "assembly feature" in your Air soon.

          PS: I own an Air...

      2. MrXavia
        WTF?

        Re: WTF?

        USP Backlit Keyboard?

        I have a 10 year old backlit keyboard under my desk, brought long before apple added it...

        Or is this another 'in a mobile device' patent they might want to go for?

        I own an apple laptop, simple down to best at the time of purchase, I am waiting for a decent non-apple netbook made out of something other than plastic that I can run linux on...

        1. Silverburn
          Facepalm

          Re: WTF?

          ok, possibly some rewording required here...by "Apple-esque USP" I actually meant this was a USP that was championed by Apple and features prominantly in their blurb. Not that it was unique to Apple.

          Re: patents - don't tempt them...

      3. Chris_Maresca

        Re: WTF?

        i just bought a Toshiba Z830 - it has a backlit keyboard. It also weighs 1/2 lb less than an Air, has 3 hours more battery life and a full set of ports. Oh, and it costs $500, not $1000+.

        That said, the resell value in 2 years will be exactly zero - while the Air will probably still be worth 70% of the purchase price...

      4. Trixr
        Thumb Down

        Re: WTF?

        5-year-old Dell Studio XPS here - backlit keyboard and all.

    2. Havin_it
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: WTF?

      I'll see your 2yo HP and raise you a 9yo Toshiba. No wifi, mind (not that ubiquitous in 2003).

      Author doesn't get out much ;)

  2. Richard Wharram

    1600x900

    Heading in the right direction but why not 1920x1200? That would be worth a grand of my money.

    1. Anonymous IV

      Re: 1600x900

      Why not 1920x1200? Probably because the laptop screen would be enormous at current pixel densities - this is the resolution of the excellent 24" Dell U2412M monitor.

      1. K

        Re: 1600x900

        If my ultra-thin tablet can have a higher DPI.. there is no reason excuse not to place them in laptops!

        Also.. WTF is mini-Ethernet?

        Personally opinion is - moving in the right direction, but screen resolution is still to low and the cost too expensive.

        1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
          FAIL

          Re: 1600x900

          Mini Ethernet is a chance to sell an adapter for a standard ethernet cable, but they included it O_O.

          Come on Samsung this is how Apple make money.

        2. Dave 126

          Re: 1600x900

          @K

          It would be nice to be able to use a high-res tablet as just a dumb monitor, to add a screen to one's laptop. It doesn't strike me as being too difficult/costly a thing to achieve technically (or am I wrong?) and would give said tablet a unique selling point.

          One could imagine buying x86 laptops without screens, and plugging them into a ARM tablets in dumb-monitor mode... this could lead to improvements in ergonomics over traditional laptops, since the screen and keyboard could then be placed further apart from each other.

          If it is backed up by appropriate circuitry, can a microHDMI port act as an input? (i.e, is it purely a scaled-down HDMI socket?)

          1. JaimieV
            Go

            Re: 1600x900

            @Dave 126 - I do this with my iPad, using a tool called Air Display. App on the pad, bit of software on the workstation, makes the iPad available as an extra screen for Mac or Windows desktops over wifi. Works at pixel-doubled or retina density, your choice.

            http://avatron.com/apps/air-display

            1. Dave 126

              Re: 1600x900

              Cheers JamieV,

              I've heard of a few competing software solutions, for all iOSXAndroidWindows combos- there were plenty of blogs that announced it works, but none that I could find that actually said how well it works. Thanks for your recomendation, I don't know why I was of so little faith...

        3. Nigel 11

          Re: Mini-Ethernet

          Mini-Ethernet? Hadn't heard of it before, but looking at the pictures it's clear that it would have been very hard to fit in a standard RJ45 connector.

          Anyone know if it's a standard (like mini-USB)? If so the cables will become widely available at low-ish prices and interchangeable between manufacturers. Maybe we'll even start seeing mini-Ethernet connectors on tablets, where a full RJ45 would be quite impossible.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 1600x900

        Eh? Apple can pack 2560x1600 in a 13 inch display and this has a 15 inch display...

        1. dajames
          Meh

          Re: 1600x900

          Eh? Samsung can pack 2560x1600 in a 10 inch display (in the Nexus 10) and this has a 15 inch display...

        2. jonathanb Silver badge

          Re: 1600x900

          You might have problems with Windows with a resolution that high. Windows itself will be fine, but not some of the programs written for it.

      3. Richard Wharram

        Re: 1600x900

        It's the same as my 24" monitor too but you can have higher dpi than that. See fruity retina displays for example.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: 1600x900

          Fruity Retina displays have a 326 PPI screen. The human eye can distinguish 170 PPI. So anything over that, a human being cannot see. The highest estimate of the number of colors a human being can detect is 20 million so anything over 24 bit colour is irrelevant. HDMI generates over a billion colours.

          Technology has surpassed what we can discern and denser PPI screens with more colors may be technologically more advanced and generate bragging rights, but are in effect moot.

          1. Synonymous Howard

            Re: 1600x900

            I'd still like an 8K 50+ inch TV rather than this 3D rubbish though.

          2. Dave 126

            Re: 1600x900

            @AC

            > The human eye can distinguish 170 PPI.

            Alas, if only things were that simple, but things involving biology rarely are. The human eye can distinguish more detail in different situations, and uses some tricks in 'post-processing' to achieve even more, especially when illumination or movement is involved. It is the centre of our vision (rare animals we are, with two front-facing eyes- most trade front-on depth perception for greater situational awareness) that is very sharp, and it is estimated that to fool our eye into thinking a picture is real would require 500 megapixels filling the full vision of one eye (not including trying to simulate the dynamic range that our eyes can perceive).

            Whilst we might only be able to distinguish 20 million colours, this number is not evenly distributed amongst the hues (we can distinguish more shades of green, for example) so it is better that the hardware can handle more, so that it can display at least the number of greens that we can see.

            Yeah, in essence I agree with you- more pixels can only benefit the user so far.

            1. Nigel 11

              Re: 1600x900

              A sheet of paper printed at 300dpi is about 2400 pixels across and 3300 deep. If you degrade your printing to 150dpi (1200 x 1650) you most assuredly notice the jaggies on slanting linse and glyphs!

              300dpi is old hat. Many of today's laser printers are 1200dpi, although I'm not convinced I can tell the difference between a 1200dpi laser and a 600dpi laser. 600dpi looks crisper than 300dpi although that diffrence is more subjective than objective.

              Anyway, this shows there is a limit to the number of pixels that could benefit a laptop user, but we haven't yet got close to it with screens and monitors.

          3. Anonymous Coward
            FAIL

            Re: 1600x900

            @The anonymous coward making up nonsense about PPI.

            What nonsense.

            The eye's ability to 'distinguish PPI', to use your slightly non-sensical phrase depends on viewing distance and is not an absolute.

            Have a look at the PPI comparison images part way down this page http://kcbx.net/~mhd/2photo/digital/pixel.htm

            I can clearly see a difference between the 250 and 300 ppi images at my normal viewing dstance (about 12") and I do not have particularly great eyesight.

            Not checking your facts and just pulling figures out of your arse is inexcusable in a Word with Google. That you think the rest of us are as stupid as you is just insulting.

            'FAIL' icon for obvious reasons.

      4. AceRimmer

        @Anonymous IV

        My 5 year old Dell M65 has a 15" screen at 1920x1200

        unfortunately laptops sporting that sort of definition are a rare beast

        1. Dazed and Confused
          Mushroom

          Re: 1920x1200

          My 10 year old Dull Inspiron 8500 had 1920x1200 on an 15" laptop. OK it was a brick to lug around but the screen was great.

          Anything less than 1920x1200 should be classified as LoRes.

          1280x1024 became the standard screen res in about 1987/88 didn't it. Please can we have some progress somewhere.

          Perhaps manufactures should be forced to quote a MegaPixel rating so that Joe public understands just how shit most modern screens are.

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 1600x900

        > Why not 1920x1200?

        That's 16:10 rather than the present fad of 16:9, other than that ThinkPads and equivalent high-end offerings from Dell have had 1920x1200 in a 15.4" display for yonks - it's a delight to use.

        1. Dave K
          Unhappy

          Re: 1600x900

          Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 1920x1200 is now almost extinct on new laptops. Seriously, there is only ONE laptop manufacturer in the world that still makes 16:10 laptops, and depressingly, that's Apple. Every single Samsung, Dell, HP, Lenovo etc. laptop made today has a 16:9 screen. Yes, that's depressing. Still, the screen on the Samsung Series 9 is a good screen. Yes it'd be better if it were 16:10, but it's still at the top end of a bad bunch.

          If you're after a 16:10 screen today though, your only 3 options are an old laptop, an Apple laptop, or to wait until manufacturers come to their senses and stop this ridiculous obsession with multimedia-oriented 16:9 screens.

          1. Dazed and Confused

            Re: 1600x900

            To be honest I don't give a s*&t about aspect ratio, I care about having a reasonable number of lines of dots on the screen.

            1080 might be fine for people who only want to watch movies, but I want to get some work done on this screen.

      6. Dave 126

        Re: 1600x900

        @Anonymous IV

        I'm typing this on a Dell laptop with a 17" 1920 x 1200 screen... I am at a normal distance from the screen and can just about make out the pixels - well, I can just about make out a very slight jaggedness around text. I'm not desperate for a greater pixel density (as it would be on a 15" display) - and I do appreciate that many people I know have difficulty in reading small text on monitors- but I'm glad for the extra pixels, especially in the single-pixel-thick lines and wire-frames in CAD.

        It might be this issue of reading text that has caused most modern laptops to have a poor resolution screen; I'm not sure how Windows 8 handles it, but setting up Windows 7 for someone with less than 20/20 vision on a high res monitor feels like a work in progress- upping the text size to 125% or 150% can can render text in some legacy programs unreadable, as it spills out of its allotted space. Some users resort to running their computers at below the monitors native resolution, just to make text and icons larger.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Re: 1600x900

      The display's been upgraded from shit to unacceptable.

    3. b00n

      Re: 1600x900

      I'm running 1920x1200 on a 4-ish year old 15" Dell Latitude E6500 laptop - this capability was the major selling point when I bought the laptop (and it was under a grand). It'd be nice if more manufacturers offered high-res laptops in their range without the painful prices associated with the "premium" brands, be they fruity or otherwise.

      Samsung looks nice though.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Stop

        Re: 1600x900

        Aargh. 16x9 is terrible. I want a computer, not a movie screen.

  3. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Linux

    "These are no sharper than an Apple machine."

    I disagree. This looks damned sharp to me and has Win 7 to boot. :) Colour me interested.

  4. Simon B
    Coat

    I'm too weak to resist! nobody has said is so sod it I'm going to!!

    Only Apple is allowed to make rectangle laptops, it's Apples copyrighted Shape, Samsung should have maade a star shaped one. Let the sueing commence!!! Coat, peg, i'm going ..

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what are the specs, please

    i.e. RAM, hdd or ssd, some benchmarks.

    p.s. I don't need to know it's got 2 x USB 3 ports ;)

  6. Tom Chiverton 1
    Linux

    Does it boot a recent Penguin flavour ?

    1. Dave 126

      SecureBoot is a Windows 8 feature/annoyance... so that would be "Yes". I'm assuming it has Intel HD 4000 graphics, and there have been reports of issues on Win and OSX machines, so you'd best check with your fellow penguins if you want it to do more than boot into VGA mode.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Dave 126

        Secure boot is not "a Windows 8 thing" - My Lenovo W530 has secure boot, it's turned off in order that I can boot Windows 7. Where you get a difference with Windows 8 is that it has a signed bootloader, so you can switch secure boot on. Windows 8 is by no means the only OS with a signed bootloader.

        Secure boot is uEFI, I don't know about this particular laptop, but it's highly unlikely that new hardware will be being released without uEFI.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @AC 14:10GMT - Re: @Dave 126

          Windows 8 is by no means the only OS with a signed boot loader but UEFI secure boot checks the boot loader signature with Microsoft public key only. So it's only Microsoft secure boot or no secure boot at all for you.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @AC 14:10GMT - @Dave 126

            Your supplied PC may only have an MS key on it upon delivery, but you can load other keys onto it. In any case, even if you couldn't, MS are supplying keys to any (legitimate) company that wants them, specifically because they don't want to be seen as the bogeyman and probably because they want to make it perfectly clear that they're not killing competition. It remains to be seen what Apple will do with their hardware when they move to uEFI from EFI, but no-one has mentioned this yet.

            uEFI is an industry initiative to move away from legacy BIOS, which is out of date and doesn't support the needs of a modern PC, it's not just a Microsoft thing.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              @AC 17:55GMT - Re: @AC 14:10GMT - @Dave 126

              Exactly, Microsoft does not want to be seen period. Microsoft is not supplying any keys to anyone, they just sign with their key whatever you want to boot, if they can be bothered to. You may supply as many keys as you want, UEFI firmware will use just one (bet you can't tell which!) to validate the boot environment. Apart from Microsoft, who else was invited to that industry initiative, any other OS or software vendor ? And I will not ask you who has all the PC manufacturers grabbed tightly by their balls. Industry initiative, pfft!

              1. Dave 126

                Re: @AC 17:55GMT - @AC 14:10GMT - @Dave 126

                Thanks for the clarification guys... I didn't phrase things well. The point I was grasping at was that Win 7 machines will happily run Linux, since Win 7 doesn't have signed boot loader as Win 8 does, so a Win 7 machine will surely have a UEFI that allows the SecureBoot to be turned off. As I understood it, the concern about other OSs was that it wasn't guaranteed that all future machines would allow this, or, if one wished to keep the SecureBoot enabled, if one would be able to get a signed bootloader for the desired OS.

  7. adnim

    I have been

    looking for a new laptop for several months. This has to be the closest fit to my needs and desires so far.

    I think I will wait till January and see if it comes up on sale somewhere. Perhaps then I can purchase it from a UK company that pays their taxes for the same or lower price than that of the item which is linked to in the article.

    1. adnim

      Re: I have been

      Update

      I found this laptop cheaper here with a FREE 7" Galaxy Tab thrown in:

      http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Samsung_900X4C_1192065.html

      Only one caveat, one has to claim the Tab from Samsung, it doesn't come with the laptop.

      Hopefully this sub £900 example will undergo a sales price drop in a few weeks.

    2. Chris_Maresca

      Re: I have been

      Might check out the Toshiba z830. Similar spec, lighter weight and seems to be on sale everywhere. It's a late 2011 model, so it's much cheaper (e.g. 1/2 the price). I just got one for cheap, seems pretty good so far. Battery life is supposedly upwards of 7+ hours.

      1. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: I have been

        The problem is, it's a Tosh. $orkplace has had a number of issues with Toshiba not honouring warranties.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Toshiba z830

        isn't that a 1366 x 768 screen ? (i.e substantially smaller than the res here)

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