I just got my Series 9 AO7 with Windows 8 and it is nothing short of Awesome! In August I bought a 13" MacBook Air, which revolutionized my business travel experience with its slim profile and light weight, and for the most part it is a very satisfying laptop. The problem for me with the Mac was that I mostly use Microsoft Office programs, and Excel on a Mac is a true nightmare of biblical proportions; slow and not at all user-friendly. That was my first Mac experience and if not for the Excel issues I would probably be very happy. The Series 9 has all the great multi-function pad features of the Mac, but this 15" has double the Ram plus the latest 1.9 I7 processor and it is blindingly fast. Win8 is taking a little getting used to but the learning curve is very fast if you are comfortable playing around a bit. The weight difference between the 13" Mac and 15" S9 isn't noticeable and the bigger screen is quite welcome with a length profile that is less than 2" different. The S9 case is sleek and beautiful, it fits perfectly in my briefcase which was a concern, and the powercord comes apart and is much slimmer than my old Dell (which I'll never go back to).I have not noticed any of the wifi issues others have complained about; maybe it was fixed?
This Samsung Ultrabook is hands down the best PC I've ever owned. I highly recommend it!
It took a long time to figure out how to make this computer boot from USB so I could install Win7 so i'll give some instructions here:
1. boot computer and push F2 repeatedly to enter bios
2. hit arrow key to right and stop at Advanced. Disable Fast BIOS Mode
3. tap over more to Boot tab and disable secure boot; change OS Mode to CSM OS
4. Select Device Priority and ENTER, then change Boot Order making USB first
5. F10 to save.
now should boot USB.
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I was very surprised with just how much I enjoy this laptop! I was looking for something light and mobile, but still big enough to accommodate a good sized screen and a decent resolution. I read a lot of reviews, and the general consensus was that it was a great laptop but, of course, not perfect.The first thing I noticed when I got it was how ridiculously good looking it is. It has a sleek, dark metallic design with silver brushed sides. It is definitely something I wouldn't mind being seen with :-P
It is also extremely light and comfortable to work with. It is easy to move around, even in tight quarters. It also never gets too hot from what I could tell, although I mostly stick to just web browsing, so you can take that with a grain of salt. The joint between the screen and the base also has a great resistance to rotating. It is enough to stop it from tilting the screen from moving it around, but still easy enough to adjust it when you need to.
The keyboard is fantastic. The backlight is useful in the dark, and the keys have a nice, responsive feel to them. The only thing I don't like is that you have to turn on the "Fn Lock" to use the programmed keys for volume, brightness, etc.
The trackpad was the best I've ever used (yes, even better than the MBP). It has all of the familiar features (click with two fingers for a right click (or you could do a normal right click), swipe with two fingers to scroll, and pinch to zoom), and it is much easier to click than on the MBP. There is honestly nothing bad about it. Bravo!
The screen is beautiful. I was hoping to find a laptop with 1920x1080, but the 1600x900 is not bad at all. The picture looks crisp, and the colors are bright and vivid. The screen also gets extremely bright; it's pretty impressive considering the big battery life.
The battery life blows my mind a bit. It says 7.2 on the specs, but with just web browsing, I've been getting somewhere between 9-10 hours. It's nice not having to worry about the battery throughout the day.
In my opinion, they had too much pre-installed software. I'm not a big fan of pre-installed software, but luckily they made it easy to get rid of it all. You just go into the Windows 8 settings and reinstall Windows 8. Erase everything and once it boots up again (all of the pre-installed software will be gone) it'll have a nice little convenient Samsung download center on your desktop with all of the drivers and software that you need.
I should also note that the webcam works very well. A lot of laptops ignore the webcam quality, but the Series 9 did a great job with it's.
Overall, it is the best laptop I've ever used. It suits my needs perfectly, and I don't plan on upgrading for a while. Although, I have heard that they are working on a new series 9 laptop with a ridiculous resolution and touch screen. So if that is important to you, you might want to Google it to see if you want to hold off for that one!
So in Summary:
PROS:
Good looking
Light and comfortable
Resposive, backlit keyboard
Best trackpad I've ever used
Bright, vivid 1600x900 screen
Outstanding battery life
Easy to use software for required drivers and additional software
Great webcam
CONS:
Too much pre-installed software
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This is not a review of the built quality of the Samsung Series 9 notebook, but rather of the Samsung support.I was planning on formatting the SSD and installing a Linux distribution. I thought it would be a good idea to have a way of reinstalling the original OS in the future if I ever wanted to. I tried to get a product key or installation media from Amazon, but they directed me to Samsung which I expected but hopped to avoid.
I chatted with a Samsung support agent (Marcus) and then with his supervisor (Rick S) for well over an hour. During that time I explained repeatedly that I wanted a way of reinstalling the copy of Windows 8 that came with the notebook after I installed a different operating system on it.
The answers I received were so inconsistent and careless that I didn't know what to say at first. I will list a few here so you can judge for yourself.
"You will find the product key on the rear panel of the device." (There is no sticker with the serial number on this notebook)
"I have check with the information and for windows 8 OS there will be no product key."
"Windows 8 OS doesn't have product key."
If you need to reinstall the OS, you need to send the notebook to Samsung repair for re-imaging.
There is no way of reinstalling Windows 8 on your own.
This is a very minor issue that most manufacturers take care of by simply sending the customer the installation media and the serial number in exchange for a small fee in the worst case. If you take this example as an indication of the overall helpfulness of Samsung support, you will realize that you are on your own when you buy one of their products.
If there is someone from Samsung reading this, the chat ID is LTK56402767308X. There is also an Executive Customer Relations' ticket associated with this issue, 5105395990.
I will update this review when (and if) I am contacted by the Executive Customer Relations department.
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This unit is probably fine if you're working mostly with documents, but it fails completely for image-related work. Not sure if I got a defective unit, but the display is so sensitive to angle of view that there is no way to tell if colors are accurate. There is a HUGE change in perceived color with just a small tilt of the display, or if viewed from the side. If you work with images or video, you need to spring for a true IPS display or perhaps one of the "wide-viewing angle" displays available from some manufacturers like Asus. I also think the case is TOO thin. Doesn't really fit the hand and has so little mass that it requires two hands to open. The fact that it needs a special dongle (that will likely get lost in a week) to plug-in a standard ethernet cable tells you they took this concept too far. Returned to Amazon.Save 3% Off
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