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 ------------
----------Update 7/1 -------------
I still love the laptop, but I've had it long enough to figure out the things that bother me the most in common use.
1) Speed when running Adobe Lightroom. Just about everything else I do on the laptop the speed is fine. Not fast, but fine. But in Lightroom it can be terribly slow rendering previews. I had hoped the SSD and i3 processor could handle it, but the 2GB of RAM is the really limiting factor, I think. It's useable, but frustrating.
2) Battery life when the screen brightness is up. Part of the joy of this laptop is the bright, beautiful screen. So it stinks that if you have the brightness all the way up (and are using wi-fi, etc.) the battery only lasts about 2 hours. Yes, I can put it in power-saving mode and get several more hours, but I'm sacrificing processor speed and, more importantly, screen brightness.
-----------Update 7/1 ------------
------------Update 9/15 --------------
This is my last update. As I've started using a laptop more and more for work I need a bigger screen. I upgraded to a 13" and because of the recent refresh to the Macbook Air (Sandy Bridge) and the good price, I went that direction.
All in all, I was still quite satisfied with the Samsung 9. One of the port covers, an early concern for many, did disassemble under heavy use and needed repair. Other than that I found the computer durable, fast enough, and very stylish. The screen will be missed but I needed more real estate.
-update 3/5/2012 --
I had this same error popping up on a new computer I purchased (dell xps 13 ultrabook), and it seemed strange that Windows 7 would not install. It turns out if you plug an external cd/dvd drive into a usb 3.0 port it wont work; this is because Windows 7 and older os's do not ship with a usb 3.0 driver. So while the drive does work it doesnt work sufficiently to install Windows. So while the error says it cant find the cd/dvd drive its more the problem that the usb port the drive is plugged into isnt fully supported with a driver. MS likely will fix this with Windows 8. The solution is to simply plug your cd/dvd drive into the other usb port which is a usb 2.0 port and it works fine! So apologies to samsung for the harsh criticism regarding the missing driver; however I still feel bloatware should not be included on these machines when you are paying that much upfront.
-update 3/5/2012 --
I'm coming from a macbook air 11.6 model using Windows under bootcamp. This series 9 is a little thicker in the front than the macbook air, but the back portion of the laptops are the same size. The backlit keys and the feel of the keys on this machine are excellent! The core i3 is blazing fast and boots up instantly under 7 seconds, whereas windows boots up in about 35 seconds on the macbook air (bootcamp) attributed likely to poor drivers by apple. The screen quality is excellent, bright display and vivid colors. The touchpad is very responsive and is actually one of the best multitouch touchpads I've used on any Windows laptop being able to support gestures perfectly that I havent found on other windows laptops. I found the slide out port panels to be very flimsy, in fact they somewhat stick sometimes and feel like they are about to break if you press on them too hard this is poor design on samsungs part. Samsung should have just let the ports be visible instead of hide them behind poorly made door/panels that likely will break.
Now to the bad part the custom drivers and software samsung includes on this laptop is horrendous. The first problem I encountered was the function keys to toggle wifi, sound, brightness did not work, sometimes they would work sometimes they didnt. The F1 toggle to open the samsung panel is very slow to load (5+ seconds to open), and the wifi toggle on/off when it does work crashes randomly. Then when you can adjust the brightness of the display it never keeps the settings saved, anytime you boot into the laptop (even when plugged in) it goes to the very lowest brightness possible. I tried changing the power profile and that did not change anything, once you reboot it goes back to the dimmest brightness. Top it off when I purchase a $1200 laptop why is samsung putting bloatware like norton, wildtangent and the bing bar on this laptop? samsung if you want to offer a premium product why do you think its okay to trash the laptop on the software side? Some companies simply dont understand all these extra programs are TRASH and should not be put on computers to make a extra few bucks and harm user experience! I've noticed this trend, alot of pc manufacturers will sell a high end product but try to make a few extra dollars bundling these crapware products either sell something premium with no crapware or keep selling low priced garbage computers with as much crapware you want. You cant charge $1000+ for a laptop and have a crappy software experience. Now most of us who can reformat with a fresh stock copy of Windows this isnt an issue, but most people never do that and samsung shouldnt force crap on people who are paying premium prices. This goes onto my second problem with this laptop...
I figured no big deal I'll just wipe the harddrive and use stock windows with a reformat. Tried that with a stock windows 7 disc it wouldnt work (it works on every other computer I have and is a retail copy of Windows 7), also tried with the samsung restore disc; same problem. You get an error message at the beginning of install that says 'a required cd/dvd device driver is missing'. This likely is the driver for the ssd controller. I checked on both of the discs that samsung provides and there is no driver to be found at all, I checked each directory manually to try to locate the driver nothing and Windows install will not continue until you supply the driver. Called samsung support and they had no resolution other than to ship them the laptop and get a replacement. The point was to get rid of samsungs crapware and poor drivers and use stock windows, not get a replacement laptop with the same problems and unable to use stock windows.
So while the hardware on this laptop is very good, the custom firmware samsung wrote is pathetic and makes this laptop a poor choice compared to the macbook air. I really wanted to get rid of the macbook air and move back to a pure windows computer that is properly optimzied for Windows; but samsung let me down. Samsung has issues with trying to write custom software on their mobile phones and it seems on their laptops they simply do not know how to write software and should just leave the operating system alone!
With no way to fix all the problems and no way to reformat with a stock Windows install, I have returned this laptop as it is defective. Don't buy this laptop until Samsung can provide the proper drivers so you can install your own copy of Windows without all the bloatware and crappy drivers that samsung wrote.
Buy Samsung Series 9 NP900X1A-A01US 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Now
Three obvious problems.
As everyone else says, wifi connection is horrible.
When using Skype, serious noise to the recipient. Disconnecting the power line may help, but not always. (After 5 months, it is getting worse and worse. Disconnecting the power line reduces the noise just a little bit.)
When the power line is connected without ground connection (earth), you could be electrocuted. Of course I am exaggerating, but I am not kidding. Disconnecting the power line always helps.
I bought this pretty laptop in the US and broght it to Samsung headquarters, a newly built beautiful glass-tower at Gangnam District in Seoul Korea for repair. What did I hear from Samsung headquarters?
They knew about the wifi issue. They will find a solution.
They knew about the leaking electricity to the surface of laptop, but they insisted that no one would be killed by such a low voltage. They said that any product with metal outfit would have the same problem. Then, why did they use DURALUMIN from the beginning? Didn't they know that many hotels in the world do not have ground connection?
The noise issue? It was not worth it.
I visited Samsung three times and let their technicians and CS people feel the leaking electric shock. They tested other laptops in their warehouse and felt the same electric shock. They finally admitted that this product has serious defects and said they would consider a worldwide recall. But they still refused refund because I bought it from Amazon. I came back to the States and found out that it was too late for refund.
I am now stuck with this pretty shocker (literally) waiting for a recall. Then today I found out that Samsung reduced the price substantially. Has Samsung decided to get rid of this product from their sight just as HP did? A desperate step before the worldwide recall?
Read Best Reviews of Samsung Series 9 NP900X1A-A01US 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
I love this Samsung Series 9 11.6". The matted screen and build quality are superb, possibly the best screen I have ever witness. The keyboard and trackpad are very easy to use, and the backlight keyboard is a nice touch. I love the fact that it has a modern i3 processor unlike Apple's offering with the 2 years outdated core 2 processor. Restart/reboot/wake-up times are almost instant. For normal use, ie internet and word processing, I have been getting almost 6 hours of battery usage. Wireless speeds have been fast, too bad it doesn't have 5Ghz, only 2.4ghz (planning to upgrade this myself). The fast SSD hard drive could also be larger, but fortunately Samsung placed the recovery on a DVD and not the drive. Highly recommend this laptop if you have the money.
Update 5/28/11
Random notes
With stock Broadcom wifi card, I did not notice any wifi problems as discused with some 13.3". On speedtest.net, I get comparable speeds as my other laptops, maxing the internet speeds of my wifi connection. No drops, so this is a non-issue.
Removing the base is easy, remove the 8 screws under the 8 rubber stubs. Carefully pry open. I start from the area between the screen, easiest for me.
Upgrading to wifi Intel 6230 is easy, just swap. Removed all wifi/bluetooth drivers, then install the wifi and bluetooth drivers from Intel for Windows 7 64-bt. Although the device manager shows 3 bluetooth yellow ticks, both wifi and bluetooth work fine without any issues. Speed on 5Ghz is faster than 2.4ghz, insanly fast.Swapping to 128GB SSD is easy too,As far as I can tell, memory is not upgradable. There are no memory slots visible. It is either onboard or hidden somewhere that you cannot easily get access to. I have opened every scew possible, evening removing the battery.
Battery is easily replaceable. Unscrew, unplug (1 plug), and replace with new battery.
The 64GB SSD does not come with recovery partition. but recovery disc are included as DVDS. I CANNOT GET RECOVERY DISC TO WORK. DVD boots into windows startup fine, then I get these generic Windows 7 errors below. This was tried with USB DVD from both USB ports, and also from an bootable USB with image as an *.iso. BIOS was also reset, and different BIOS settings were changed to to test out. Nothing :-(. I advise to backup your image first thing.
"A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now.
Note: If the Windows installation media is in the CD/DVD drive, you can safely remove it for this step"
"No device drivers were found. Make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers, and then click OK."
For the time being, I made a Acronis Truge Image of the 64GB and put it on the 128GB. This is the only way I can get Windows running on the 128GB. I love the extra space of the 128GB.
Want Samsung Series 9 NP900X1A-A01US 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?
I'm not going to lie, I could not resist how cool this laptop looked so this was an impulsive purchase for me. I'm giving it 5 stars because it fully met my expectations, not because it is without flaws. For example, yes, the HD is small, but I knew that going in so I'm not going to dock a star because it can't store my entire movie collection.
Positives:
+ It's beautiful. Let's be honest, that's the main reason you're here.
+ Lightweight yet very sturdy. My last 2 laptops were a X60 Thinkpad and Vaio Z-series. With both of those, I feel like if you pressed hard enough on the cover, you'd be pressing the screen into the keyboard. That is not the case here (sorry, I hate puns). You can definitely pick it up easily by the corner and feel like you're not bending anything. I'm constantly on the run between class, coffee shops, group meetings, etc. so this is a big positive for me. Even compared to my X60, I didn't think 1/2 of a pound would be noticeable but it is. I suspect part of this is psychological too because the laptop is physically smaller. Also, the power cord is closer in size to a phone charger, which saves a lot of room in your bag.
+ Awesome battery life. I got almost 6 hours with wifi on and brightness at about 40% (which is still pretty bright on this laptop).
+ Gorgeously bright screen. I saw people complaining about the auto-adjusting brightness setting. I did not have problems, but even if you do, you can turn it off.
+ Even when it's chugging, it runs pretty quietly, but it can get a bit warm (when I was installing large programs).
+ The keyboard and trackpad have a nice rubbery feel to it. The multi-touch trackpad took me a while to get use to, but is pretty convenient now. If you don't like the multi-touch functions, you can always turn it off, too.
+ It's pretty fast and responsive although I admit I'm not a particularly heavy user, mostly just browsing, Word, Excel, Powerpoint.
+ No wi-fi problems as reported with 13.3in version.
Negatives:
The ports are a little different than the 13.3 version. Instead of dropping down, there's a little sliding door that reveals the ports. Someone else pointed this out, but they seem kind of flimsy when they're open.
The hard drive is small. I did a pretty thorough job of cleaning out unnecessary bloatware and was left with about 37GB of hard disk space. With that said, I think if I need it, I will get a bigger microSD card and store some stuff on there.
Arrow keys are kind of small.. about 1/2 the size of a regular key.
Fingerprint magnet.
The screen does not bend all the way back like 13.3 series, not sure if that matters for anyone.
Conclusion:
It's a great laptop if you want something ultra-light and appealing to the eye but don't need a ton of computing power. This is not the greatest value laptop; as in, you can get something with the same specs that's a little bit heavier/thicker for a lot cheaper. At the same time, a souped up Ford Focus can do 0-60 faster than a Porsche 911 and cost 1/4 as much, but driving it just doesn't feel the same.
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The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because one part was broken (which the seller described when I purchased it). Other than that, this is the best computer ever. And when I took it to school with me, others (who had purchased more expensive laptops) were going ga-ga over it.
