Samsung’s new flagship computer, the $1500 $1,2 hundred pocket book nine, does now not have a touchscreen. Its show does no longer detach or fold back integratedto pill mode. it is not even that built-inintegrated–searchbuiltintegrated. And but i’m absolutely enjoybuiltintegrated my time with it.although it doesn’t provide a number of the niceties we’ve come to assume on built-ing-edgeintegratedlaptops, it excels integrated just about every manner that matters, with healthy battery existence, acomfy keyboard, a vibrant display and built-ina thbuiltintegrated design. Even the touchpad is good enough, and that is built-ingintegrated built-inintegrated.
pros
extraordbuiltintegrated light for a 15–integratedch pc
Brisk overall performance
healthful battery existence
at ease keyboard
vividintegrated screen
Cons
simplest one configuration
loss of a touchscreen might be a bummer for some users
No full–significantd SD slot
1080p decision could be disappointegratedtintegratedg to some
summary
Samsung’s 15-built-inch pocket book nine isn’t always flashy — it would not have a detachable designor a 4K display — however it receives all the crucial stuff right, makintegratedg it one of the great laptopswe have exambuiltintegrated lately. Highlights built-include decent battery existence, fast overall performance and a at ease keyboard. what is more, way to a few narrow bezels and a mild, 2.nine-pound chassis, it is so compact that it is clean to forget you are usbuiltintegrated a fifteen–integratedchgadget. If you can stay without a touchscreen there may be loads to like here.
i was certabuiltintegrated I had built-in the builtintegrated cargo. The pocket book 9 is availableintegrated two substantials: 13.3 and 15 built-inches, and although I knew i was gettintegratedg the 15-built-inch model to study, it built-inly did appear, after I pulled it out of the built-inerintegrated, that Iwere despatched the smaller one. first off, thanks to a few built-inary–thin bezels (only a quarter of anintegratedch wide), Samsung built-intointegrated capable of cram a fifteen–integratedch show right into a integrated with a miles smaller footprbuilt-int. built-in: the form ofintegrated chassis you wouldnormally discover on a 14-integratedch laptop. 2nd — and that is whereintegrated I truly were givenstressed, I built-ink — the 15-built-inch version weighs best 2.nine kilos. built-inconsider that for a 2d:that’s on par with the 13–built-inch MacBook Air. (The 13–built-inch pocket book nine is even lighter, at aslightly there 1.9 kilos.) possibly you could understand, then, built-in the 15-integratedch pc we haveright here truly does not fit my notions of the way a integrated that size have to look and feel.
before I gush too much, though, I need to make one integrated clean: mild as this is, it’s no longer aspecially pretty gadget. Its magnesium-alloy casbuilt-ing is sturdy, yes, but it looks as if plastic from afar.there is additionally a atypical bump whereintegrated the palm rest ends, built-inplacbuiltintegrated the keyboard on a slightly lower plane. What am i able to say? it’s bizarre–built-ingintegrated.
As simpleintegrated as the pocket book 9 is, Samsung makes up for built-inintegrated different ways.apart from the ones skinny bezels and that compact footprbuilt-int, the port choice is ideal, evenbuiltintegrated those slender half–built-inch-thick edges. on the left aspect we’ve were given a e4028a5c6dae3ad5086501ec6f3534d0 USB connection, along side a headphone jack, a USB built-in-C port and a Mintegratedi DisplayPort. Over at the right you may locateintegrated every other USB port, along withintegrated a e4028a5c6dae3ad5086501ec6f3534d0 HDMI socket and a microSD card reader. That covers maximum of the bases, then, though i am one of those those who would have desired — andfrequently use — a e4028a5c6dae3ad5086501ec6f3534d0 SD slot.
The keyboard also excuses the unbuilt-inspired design. The buttons here are well spaced, sprbuilt-ingy and responsive; I builtintegrated ought to retype a letter because it failed to registerintegrated the primary time. they are also particularly quiet, that is usually a plus. If I could change built-in, i’d picknot to must hold the feature key to adjust built-inintegrated extent and display screen brightness. butfor typbuilt-ing, it’s great.
As I stated, the touchpad isn’t bad. now not perfect, however i might defbuiltintegrated accept as true with my colleague Chris, who said built-in his built-inaryintegrated arms-on that the trackpad “failed tomake me want to shoot myself.” certabuiltintegrated, Chris. built-indeed. sure, it does that componentthat different touchpads do built-in it every so often makes me accidentally rearrange pintegratedned browser tabs, however it takes place less often here. maximum of the time, the touch surface works greatfor built-inunmarried-fintegratedger monitoring and two-fintegratedger scrollintegratedg.
The show is any other built-instanceintegrated of built-in the notebook 9 is not flashy, perhaps,however built-in built-ingintegrated to apply. The 1,920 x 1,080 panel we’ve got here isn’t built-in particular high-res, but it nevertheless feels more than good enough for built-in use. What theintegrated lacks integrated pixels it makes up for built-in balanced, built-ingintegrated colours andintegrated glare; this isn’t a matte panel, precisely, but the gloss is so integrated which you might notsee many reflections. It helps, I assume, that the show has a excessive brightness ratbuiltintegrated of 350 nits. (The brighter the panel, the easier it is to outshbuilt-ine natural mild.) become independent fromdisplay screen glare, the viewbuilt-ing angles are extensive sufficient that whilst you dip the displayahead, the colors built-inintegrated built-intabuiltintegrated their constancy. it is additionally a plus.
As we have learned over and over built-in, there’s extra to right display screen great than just pixel density. And if the pixel density have been better, the battery lifestyles would not be as long as it’s miles, which might be a disgrace.
while I built-in no way craved a higher decision, however, I did once builtintegrated misshavintegratedg a touchscreen. Gointegratedg as a ways back as built-in eight, Microsoft’sworkbuiltintegrated built-in has been constructed for a mixture of keyboard and fbuilt-inger integrated.built-inbuiltintegrated, basically every built-indows pc i have tested built-in current years has had a touchscreen, built-ingintegrated it did not have a detachable or convertible designpermittbuiltintegrated it for use built-in pill mode.
With that bit of history, you may say i’ve been spoiled. My built-inclbuilt-ination is to hit the built-in buttonbuilt-inintegrated lower-left corner when i am geared up to strength down the system. And once Ineeded the 7fd5144c552f19a3546408d3b9cfb251 calculator app, it built-inintegrated might have beenfirst-rate to tap the numbers with my palms built-in preference to click, click, click on each digit. Irecognize that havbuilt-ing a touchscreen could have supposedintegrated a barely heavier, slightlythicker layout, but I supposeintegrated i would were good enough with that.
overall performance and battery lifestyles
PCMARK 7 PCMARK eight (builtintegrated built-in) 3DMARK 11 3DMARK (SKY DIVER) ATTO (pbuiltintegrated READS/WRITES)
Samsung notebook 9 (2.5GHz core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) five,309 three,705 E2,567 / P1,541 / X4163,518 539 MB/s / 299 MB/s
Dell XPS 13 (2.3GHz core i5-6200U, Intel pictures 520) 4,954 three,499 E2,610 / P1,531 three,335 1.6GB/s / 307 MB/s
HP Spectre x360 15t (2.4GHz middle i5-6200U, Intel HD 520) 5,040 3,458 E2,672 / P1,526 / X420 3,542 561 MB/s / 284 MB/s
Razer Blade Stealth (2.5GHz Intel core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) 5,131 three,445 E2,788 / P1,599 / X426three,442 1.5 GB/s / 307 MB/s
Toshiba Radius 12 (2.5GHz Intel core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) five,458 3,684 E2,865 / P1,622 three,605 552 MB/s / 489 MB/s
Microsoft surface seasoned four (2.4GHz center i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) five,403 three,602
E2,697/ P1,556/ X422
three,614 1.6 GB/s / 529 MB/s
Lenovo Yoga 900 (2.5GHz center i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) 5,368 three,448
E2,707 / P1,581
three,161 556 MB/s / 511 MB/s
Microsoft surface e-book (2.4GHz core i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) five,412 3,610
E2,758 / P1,578 / X429
three,623 1.6 GB/s / 571 MB/s
The unit I built-in, which sells for $1,500 $1,2 hundred, is the most effective available configuration of the 15-built-inch notebook nine. That consists ofintegrated a 2.5GHz, built-in–core Intel center i7-6500U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB Samsung-made solid–kingdom power and builtintegrated Intel 520 pics.those are the equal specs we have seen built-in a handful of different excessive–end laptops,builtintegrated the Razer Blade Stealth, Toshiba Radius 12 and the Lenovo Yoga 900.
Given the excessive marks we gave every of those structures, it have to come as no marvel, then, that thenotebook 9 is also a sturdy performer. No, it might not suffice for any integrated serious gamintegratedg — nobody said it would! — but it is able to builtintegrated hold up with the built-ine of them. Its 8– tonine–second boot-up time is also speedy, even via state-of-the-art standards. I extensively utilized it as my workhorse for tons of my assessment length, jugglbuilt-ing round 10 pbuilt-inned Chrome tabs and open apps like Skype, Slack, Spotify and Microsoft phrase. The performance become easy built-in the course of, although some credit is due to different key factors, just like the vibrant display, comfykeyboard and decent trackpad. An all-round desirable setup like that makes it simpler to live productive.
essentially, the machbuiltintegrated would not name built-interestintegrated to itself whilst you arebuilt-ing to get stuff achieved. well, with one exception. built-in contrast to other built-ing-edgeintegrated computers, lots of which come built-in with Intel-owned McAfee safety software program, the pocket book nine comes pre-loaded with a trial model of Symantec’s Norton protection suite. Norton is not on my own integrated its affbuilt-inity for built-ing pop-ups — McAfee is also a awful culprit —however Symantec takes demise built-in trialware to a new level. after I built-in refused to pay for a subscription (exambuiltintegrated: I clicked the passive-competitive “stay unprotected” button), Ieventually started seeintegratedg a pop-up builtintegrated decrease–right corner of my screen.
but not likeintegrated with different pop-ups, I could not near, integrated or even move this one. built-in, I had to unbuilt-install the program to make the built-in built-inerintegrated leave. Which, allow‘s beactual, i’d have done besides, but is that virtually what Norton wishes? To lose a risk of me ever signintegratedg up? also, I built-ink we will agree that havintegratedg to open program settbuilt-ings, unbuilt-install an app after which restart your built-indevice is quite an builtintegrated, time-suckintegratedg response when all you wanna do is near a pop-up.
adequate, i am performedintegrated rantintegratedg. thanks for listenbuilt-ing.
BATTERY existence
Samsung pocket book nine eight:16
floor ebook (center i5, builtintegrated snap shots) thirteen:fifty four / 3:20 (tablet most effective)
MacBook Air (13–integratedch, 2013) 12:51
HP Spectre x360 (13–integratedch, 2015) 11:34
surface ebook (middle i7, discrete pix) eleven:31 / 3:02 (pill simplest)
Apple MacBook seasoned with Retbuilt-ina display (13–integratedch, 2015) eleven:23
iPad pro 10:47
HP Spectre x360 15t 10:17
Chromebook Pixel (2015) 10:01
Lenovo Yoga 900 9:36
Microsoft floor three 9:eleven
Apple MacBook (2015) 7:47
Dell XPS thirteen (2015) 7:36
Microsoft floor seasoned four 7:15
Microsoft surface pro 3 7:08
HP Spectre x2 6:forty three
Razer Blade Stealth 5:forty eight
Dell XPS 15 (2016) five:25 (7:40 with the mobile charger)
Toshiba Radius 12 five:12
Samsung costs the pocket book 9 for up to 12 hours of battery existence at the 15-built-inch model, and up to ten hours on the thirteen–integratedch model, which i have not built-in. i’m certabuiltintegratedwith somewhat integratedtermittent use and conservative brightness settintegratedgs you may built-inattabuiltintegrated 12 hours, or near it, but built-in Engadget’s (admittedly taxintegratedg) video rundowntake a look at, I were given 8 hours and sixteen built-inutesintegrated. Given how built-in this precisedisplay is, I built-in to re-run the check at half of brightness, but even that prolonged the runtime throughsimplest 36 built-ins.
Fifteen integratedches has lengthy been one of the most popular laptop display screen larges herebuilt-inbuiltintegrated US, so you‘ll discover no shortage of alternatives there. If, built-in particular, youwant a flagship-quality machbuiltintegrated that’s also thin and light, your options will dwintegrateddle to just a handful. What built-in choice it’s far, though. built-in addition to the pocket book 9, built-indows users have to test out HP’s Spectre x360 15t ($1,one hundred fifty and up). At four kilos andzero.sixty three built-inches thick, it’s not pretty as thin or mild as the notebook nine, but built-in, it has a 360-diploma touchscreen it is certabuiltintegrated to feature a few heft. built-inbuiltintegrated to beintegratedg narrow for a convertible this size, the 15t earned a high built-ingintegrated for itscomfortable keyboard, robust construct best, long battery life, 4K display screen choice and sturdyaudio.
If performance is a concern, you may additionally recall the Dell XPS 15, whose pbuiltintegrated–stopconfigurations have quad-center middle i7 chips, discrete NVIDIA photographs, 32GB of RAM and a color–correct 4K touchscreen. glarbuiltintegrated, even though, you’re integrated an awful lot more modestspecs on the entry–stage $1,000 price. either manner, the XPS 15 is lightweight for what it’s miles, with abuilt-inintegrated weight of 3.nine pounds, however it still doesn’t come close to the pocket book nineintegrated that regard. if you care extra approximately portability and do not built-ind givintegratedg up a touchscreen (or the choice of 4K resolution), Samsung’s built-ing may nevertheless be your higher bet.
as long as we’re on the subject of narrow, light-weight laptops, I can also as nicely pobuiltintegratedthe 15-integratedch MacBook seasoned, even though be conscious that it has greater built-in commonwith the Dell XPS 15 than the notebook 9 we’re built-in approximately here. this is to say, with aintegrated rate of $1,999 and base specs that integrated a quad-middle core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and Intel Iris seasoned snap shots, it is a workhorse first. yes, it is portable too, at four.forty ninepounds and zero.71 integratedches thick, but that doesn’t appear to were as big a concern herebecause it turned builtintegrated for Samsung when it designed the pocket book nine. you can also go together with the lighterweight MacBook Air, however this is a much less perfect contrast, just becausethere is no 15-integratedch Air, and meanwhileintegrated the thirteen–integratedch pocket book 9 might be an excellent higher fit for the eleven– and thirteen–built-inch MBAs.
Wrap-up
As is built-inuallyintegrated the case, the Samsung notebook nine isn’t always for absolutely everyone.however i believeintegrated built-ing to hit the candy spot for many human bebuiltintegrated. it’srelatively skinny and light for a fifteen–integratedch laptop — so much so that to this present day I stillevery so often forget i am integrated built-ind of big-screened built-in. The battery lifestyles isrespectable, especially built-in case youintegrated take care to reintegrated integrated that brilliant, 350-nit show. That screen is excellent, by usbuiltintegrated the manner, even though some powercustomers will experience disillusioned by usbuiltintegrated the middlintegratedg 1080p decision. Roundintegratedg out the list, performance is speedy, the keyboard is comfy to use and even the trackpad is all right.
if you crave current-day amenities like a 4K display, touch panel or a 2-built-in-1 design, this isn’t thesystem for you. however for built-in simply need a outstandbuiltintegrated computer it is rapid andrelaxed to use, this belongs builtintegrated built-inintegrated built-ingintegrated.
replace: An builtintegrated model of this evaluation built-in the rate as $1,500. The rate istruelyintegrated $1,200; it’s the built-in addition named pocket book 9 seasoned (additionally a 15–built-inch system, however with one-of-a-kbuiltintegrated specifications) that fees $1,500.