Ativ Book 9 refresh (13 inch)

I know this probably gets asked alot but here goes.

I'm in the market for a new laptop, which I need by July, latest September. I was looking at the 940x3g which seemed perfect. Then Samsung brought out the 15 inch refresh with a 1080p screen and now I'm kinda on the fence, dont tknow which model to get. I really like the 13 inch form factor but the apparently amazing battery life of the new 15 inch version plus the fact that it has AC wifi really speaks to me. That notebook in a 13 inch form factor would be amazing, also 1080p would be enough for me (Its 1080p or 4K for me but thats not going to happen). Is there even the tinyiest bit of news as to when and if a 13" refresh is incoming, I kinda feel stupid buying an alomost 1 year old machine only to have it replaced in week. I have only just discovered Samsung notebooks, how have they done these things in the past? I know 1080p 13 inch version came out in january 900x3f I think but thats not what I'm looking for..

Cheers
crosslimit

 

Chances are there won't be any: http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/744974-samsung-discontinue-laptop-pcs-ativ-books-2015-a.html
Even if the rumors turn out to be false, don't expect a major refresh until Broadwell will be released.

 

Oh man that would suck bigtime, and broadwell probably wont be out until 2015...

 

The NP930X5J has a 62 WHr which I reckon is good for about up to 10 hours continuous light usage. I don't think it will run for more than an hour or two more than the NP940X3G with its 55 WHr battery because backlighting the bigger display will need more power.

There's also the NP900X3G if you prefer a matte screen but that won't run as long because it has a 44 WHr battery but is a much lighter computer.

I personally think that the Samsung name won't disappear from the notebook market but they may focus on the top end of the market and might seek to sell the notebook brand. They sold their HDD business to Seagate a couple of years ago but you can still buy Samsung branded HDDs (made by Seagate in what was Samsung's HDD factory).

John

 

Can't you upgrade the wifi card on the AB9+ as well? If AC is the only thing keeping the OP from that model

 

Yeah I probably could upgrade the card since its socketed, thats not the only thing keeping me however, I'm more scared that samsung will bring out an awesome 4K/broadwell 15hour battery life awesomebook and i'm stuck with last years model, which isnt bad by any means just wont be as good then...

 

If you apply that philosophy then you'll never buy anything because there is always something better around the corner.

And don't expect the next step in technology to cause a big jump in light usage battery life. We are already at the stage where the display backlight is the biggest power consumer under light usage. And could you tell the difference between the current NP940X3G display and a 4k panel without using a magnifying glass?

John

 

Yeah, I'd like one of those too.
I think the broadwell battery life improvement will be small, 10-15%, that's about what Haswell has seen and it was a tock. 4k is a possibility, I'm more concerned that none of Samsung's offerings support external 4K displays or provide an easy docking solution ATM. TB3 will supposedly offer charging as well as a fast connection to the pci-e bus, but it's unclear if anyone but apple will use it. But yeah, you could wait forever for something better. One option is getting a deal now and resale later if a new model comes out.

 

I think I'd have a problem reselling it to be honest. I now that there is always somethin better around the corner but I like to get things when the release new... Anyway probably goint to pull the trigger on this one soon

 

Broadwell CPUs are still quite some time away, it isn't even assured that they will be released in 2014. They will only bring minor improvements anyways as Broadwell is just a process shrink. So Haswell is definitely a good buy.