( Read customer review and Compare Price for our Porducts) |
Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US Ultrabook 13.3-Inch Laptop (Ash Black) Review
Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US Ultrabook 13.3-Inch Laptop (Ash Black) Feature
- x : Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US Ultrabook 13.3-Inch Laptop (Ash Black) Check Product Rating
Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US Ultrabook 13.3-Inch Laptop (Ash Black) "x"
""
Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US Ultrabook 13.3-Inch Laptop (Ash Black) Reviews
i am very impressed with this computer.i bought mine directly from amazon.after getting this computer, i just unistalled some of the bloatware and installed my favorite programs.it runs fast and the screen is crystal sharp.the size and portability is outstanding.it feels sturdy and well built.it runs virtually silently and hardly heats up when doing light duty computing.the keyboard feels good and i appreciate the backlit option.the sound from the speakers are surprisingly good.despite the cheaper sandisk ssd drive, my computer felt very snappy.i was able to boot up, shut down, install programs fairly fast.my WEI score indicates the HD is 7.4so some of my worries over the ssd has been mollified.i did have to work with the touchpad setting to make it work right for me.basically i turned off all the features on the touchpad except for:tapping,scrolling, drag/drop and scrolling-twofingeri am hoping the elan touchpad driver gets an update soon.some other minor quibble are:i wish they had a full size ethernet jackand they would have inserted a display port over the vga port.battery life is very good.i have definitely gotten at least 8 hours doing light computing.mostly surfing and working with an outline program called keynote.now, i can leave my ac adapter at home when i go to the coffee shops.however samsung or elan please get your act together and improveyour touchpad driver soon.i have been waiting for a computer like this for years,combining extreme portability, great screen, snappy performance, anda long battery life.
I needed a new laptop to replace my old-as-dirt clunkler of a Macbook. My main criteria were: high-res screen, under 4lbs (but preferably closer to 3), contained new Ivy Bridge chip, and able to play most of my favorite games. At the moment, there are not a ton of options that fit that criteria, but I wasn't willing to wait around until X-Mas to see the full spate of new machines that came out with Ivy Bridge/Windows 8. I also considered the new Asus Ultrabook with Ivy Bridge but ultimately ruled it out because of some of the negative reviews regarding the screen and the fact that it had a proprietary SSD that would be impossible to upgrade. I also considered the new Sony with switchable graphics and ultimately decided it was highly functional but lackluster. I chose the Samsung, ultimately, because it just got me excited. It had both form and function.First thing to note is that it has the most gorgeous screen imaginable. Samsung does screens better than anybody. It's MATTE, which was very important to me. I hate those uber shiny screens that show every finger print and cause huge amounts of glare. Plus the colors are supple and the text/images are crisp. It was the screen that ultimately sold me on this thing.Another plus, it's incredibly light. Almost light as an iPad. Yet it doesn't feel fragile. Only 2.6 lbs and 9 hours of battery life!In terms of performance, I have yet to test it fully, but I was very pleased to see that it played my graphics-heavy MMO (STWOR)quite smoothly at lower settings. It's not a gaming laptop, of course, but I was happy that I would have the option to play my favorite games on it. It also played Civ 5 no problem. The bottom does get a little hot when you push the performance, but I put it on a lap pad with a fan, and that cooled it off no problem, even while the game was running.The only major downside we discovered so far is that it comes with a 20 GB back-up partition installed. I am sure this was put there with good intentions, but it's really a bummer to lose 20 GB of storage out of the box when you only have 128 GB to begin with. We removed the partition (with a quite a bit of finagling) and we plan to do backups on an external drive.A last comment...I wanted to give props to Samsung for packaging the computer in such a classy fashion. It comes in an absolutely stunning box (almost like a sturdy board game box) that's covered in a black canvas material and has the branding empossed in a metallic print. It really reinforces that you are buying a high-end, special piece of equippment. Even though I don't need the box, I will definitely keep it!
With the new ivy bridge and intel HD4000 graphics, this is the best ultrabook on the market. Period.However, there's one thing buyers should know- this NP900X3C is using Sandisk SSD. Not Samsung SSD like NP900X3B.You won't feel the difference very much in everyday use but the benchmark numbers show the Samsung SSD is far superior than Sandisk.
I feel like most people are extremely critical about any laptop on the market other than Apple. Had a Macbook Pro the last two years but wanted to return to PCs so it'd be easier to work on the road/home. Definitely also considered the air before buying this but honestly thought the air couldn't compare to this (though I admit I'm always gonna be a PC fan so not sure if it's a fair fight).Not sure about the quality control issues the other guys here are talking about - sounds awful...but I received my samsung laptop and have been playing around with it for like a week now with no issues. Trackpad is really responsive, keyboard is better/easier to type on than other ultrabooks I've tried like Asus's zenbook and overall haven't had any issues with startup or processing (easy to use and fast). In terms of design- please go in store and see it yourself. Much improved from the previous series 9 (glad I waited) - no wifi issues and design is sleaker/more expensive looking material. And so thin/light!
I want and still do love this laptop from a design perspective. The quality control is troubling though.Problems with the first laptop:1) Screen had extreme back-light bleed through on the edges, especially the top right corner. Before asking for an exchange I went to a local store to see how the screen looked and it didn't exhibit the back-light bleed problem.2) Laptop got very hot so I opened it up to see what was happening. The right fan vent was completely blocked by a plastic tab when the fan was installed so even though it was running, it wasn't bringing cold air into the machine.3) While opening the laptop to inspect fan, I noticed that the battery was missing all of it's screws to hold it securely in place. It wasn't even assembled correctly.Problem with second laptop:1) Screen bleed problem was resolved, but not there it had a very obvious dead/stuck pixel on the screen. I expect the screen to not have bad pixels when paying for a $1300 laptop.Problems with third laptop:1) Screen is perfect, no back-light bleed or bad pixels.2) Track pad is horrible, very loose and makes clicking noises when just swiping finger across it, not even pressing it for the left/right "click".3) Right fan has a much more audible clicking noise than the previous 900x3c's I returned.4) Question mark key on keyboard has paint missing/scratched so backlight shines through in a slit on the edge of it.5) After a few days, computer would no longer boot, called Samsung and it turns out to be a hardware, not ssd problem so they recommended another replacement.That was the last replacement Amazon would allow me to get, now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I would really love this laptop if the quality control issues were resolved. I feel like I could assemble the good qualities of 3 laptops myself to get 1 good one that's up to par.------ Update ------I received my new 900x3c and it has none of the issues the previous three had. Maybe I was extremely unlucky with the previous ones or there was a bad batch? Now that I have one that is working to specs here's my review.Design:The laptop is extremely thin and looks very sharp. I've used it in a few public settings and get a lot of compliments and small talk about it from random people that want to hold and feel it. I believe the design is better than the macbook air and very solid with no creeks as I hold it or move the screen.Screen:The screen has great viewing angles from above and from the sides, has very rich color, and can be turned up very bright. I have no dead pixels and the screen backlight is very uniform and the resolution is great.Keyboard and Trackpad:The keys are slightly on the stiff side, with expected limited travel, but not a deal breaker and still great to type on. The backlight is a nice shade of blue/green and the brightness can be adjusted.The trackpad is nice and large, supports multi-touch and is very nice - no complaints.Hard Drive:The hard drive is on the small side, but upgradeable. I wish Samsung had included a 256 gig one instead of the 128 gig one. I have already upgraded the drive to the MyDigitalSSD 256GB SMART SATA III (6G) SandForce mSATA Solid State Drive which is extremely fast and I highly recommend it. It took about 10 minutes for me to removed the old SSD and install the new one.RAM:This is the only area that regret about the laptop. 4GB of RAM is ok, but not ideal, especially in a few years. I think I'll be able to get by and I haven't run short on memory yet, but really think Samsung should have included 8GB. The RAM is also not upgradeable in the 900x3c and is soldered to the motherboard.Battery Life:I seem to be getting between 5 and 6 hours of battery life on a full charge with light web usage. I would prefer a little more, but this seems acceptable. The battery is user upgradeable and is held in place by 4 screws visible once the bottom of the laptop is removed. This will come in handy in a couple years as the battery life starts to fade.Wireless Signal Strength:No issues with the wireless signal strength. It seems to perform well and has as much if not more signal strength than any other laptop I've used.Heat/Noise:The only time the bottom of the laptop got pretty warm was when playing Diablo III. The laptop has two fans and they are very quiet. Even at full speed, it's much quieter than a macbook air or pro. The fans don't come on at all during normal/light usage such as web surfing/emailing/word document editing and the laptop regulates temperature very well.Speed/Performance:The laptop is very quick for an ultra book. It can do a cold boot in about 10 seconds and wakes up from sleep in about 1 to 2 seconds. Graphic performance is very good too, for an ultrabook. No issues playing HD videos. I even loaded Diablo III and it runs very smooth with all high settings and a resolution of 1600 x 900. That's the only game I've tried so far.Windows Experience Index:Processor: 6.9Memory (RAM): 5.9Graphics: 6.4Gaming graphics: 6.4Primary Hard Disk: 7.4 for the original one... 7.9 when I upgraded to the MyDigitalSSDLet me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to answer.
...More Reviews...
Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US Ultrabook 13.3-Inch Laptop (Ash Black) Explore
| List price : $1,299.99 Buy now : Check today price Read Customer review and Compare price of all dealers for Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US Ultrabook 13.3-Inch Laptop (Ash Black) Usually ships in 24 hours |
No comments:
Post a Comment