Samsung Series 9 NP900X3B Review: An Ultrabook With A Great Display Discussion

The Samsung Series 9 NP900X3B is Samsung's top of the range offering in the 13-inch ultrabook category and is an updated version of the NP900X3A which was released in early 2011. It is expected that the Ivy Bridge version (NP900X3C) will be the same except for the upgrade to the new Intel platform.

Read the full content of this Article: Samsung Series 9 NP900X3B Review: An Ultrabook With A Great Display

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Thanks for the review, John.

I'm particularly impressed by the display (hope to see something similar in a Thinkpad X1 refresh!) and the two fans. Most 15" laptops with discrete GPUs don't even have 2 fans, so using such a robust cooling system in an ultrabook is very surprising indeed: good to see that it pans out as expected, with cool and quiet operation. Hope to see more of this going forward as well!

 

John,

Somebody stole your review:
{Best Souvenirs} |

 

Thanks for letting us know. Our lawyers have been notified about the stolen content and they are taking care of that now.

 

I am happy to hear about the fixed wifi issue. Hopefully this will carry over to their series 7 15 inch refresh.

 

This is really nice and I was torn between this and the X220 I got this last week. However, I still think I made the practical choice. The screen on the series 9 has a much better resolution, but overall I still think the X220 is a much better machine with a smaller footprint.

More ultra/notebook makers need to start putting higher quality and resolution screens in their machines. At least make it an option.

 

Well THAT didn't take long!

 

Great review... I esp like the usability comments about the ports on the left and the need for dongles.

Also, turning down the brightness to match standard laptop displays to get a more accurate battery test was good to see... I don't recall any other review sites adjusting in such a manner and I appreciated that.

I think I'm going to wait for the 1920x1080 Asus Zenbook (even though I dislike their keyboard)... I'm a pixel density nut.

 

I know this is asking a lot but it would be nice if you could use a DSLR and tripod while taking the pictures. Especially those of the screen have a silly amount of visible noise which makes it hard to judge the actual quality.

Besides that, great review!

 

You are lucky to be able to zoom in to see that level of detail.

John

 

I'd agree, great review John. I'm somewhat jealous over the HD+ PLS LCD, but prefer the versatility the mSATA + HDD my X220i provides.

 

Great review! Good review on a great laptop!

 

I wonder what the specs are on that small form factor PLS panel?

8-bit? 6-bit?
60% NTSC gamut? 70%? 75%? 90%+?
WLED? RGBLED?
6ms? 8ms? 12ms? 20ms+?

 

HWiNFO shows the colour bit depth as 8 bits per primary colour. Is there any way of checking the other information?

John

 

You could determine the gamut with a proper display calibrator.

 

It looks like this screen is the best you can currently buy in this price category.

 

How does the samsung compare to the Sony vaio z2?

 

The Vaio is definitely the premium machine, this model np9003xb can be had for $969 right now because the "c" models are here and have a bigger resolution.

The Vaio Z2 starts in the $1.6k range based on a short search, the comparison should be with the np900x3c series

 

Truly excellent review. I'm eagerly awaiting the IvB version to see how it compares - if they can address a few of the issues you pointed out and no one else trumps before then (I'm looking at you Asus), I have a feeling it will be my next notebook.

 

The only change that Ivy Bridge will bring is some boost to performance and perhaps a modest increase in the battery time. The other hardware won't change.

This is also a convenient time for me to give an update. I am very happy with the keyboard. My fingers are getting lazy in their old age so the limited key travel is an advantage compared to the Lenovo T420s where sometimes I didn't press the keys down far enough for them to register.

It took a little while to figure out how the Intel Rapid Start Technology (IRST) works and discover that Samsung had provided an incomplete installation lacking the control for the time delay from sleep to hibernation. The fix is discussed in this thread. The very fast wake-up from sleep and only a few seconds to resume from hibernation are very useful features, but are shared with ultrabooks that have implemented IRST.

I have now invested in a Spyder 4 Express to calibrate the display. It measured that the display has 71% of the sRGB gamut and created a new display profile (.icc file - attached).



The changes to the display after calibration are noticeable. Among other things white is a less dazzing and red is less saturated (and I find 5/8 brightness is fine for indoor use).

Overall, I am still happy with this investment particularly on account of the display.

John

 

Were can you find it for $969? I can't seem to come up with a price under $1200