Is Samsung exiting the Notebook market?

Hey guys.

Yesterday I sold my series 7 Chronod and today went to the local MediaMarkt in the Nethelands to get a Series 9 Plus or the 15" 2014 edition.

To my suprise they didnt have any of the high end series 9 models, except for the series 9 lite.
Talkimg to the Samsung sales person, he said that Samsung is exiting the market from notebooks/ultrabooks.

Strangely the latest series 9 ultra can't be found anywhere here online. And most online laptop store here in the Netherlands don't the latest models, except for maybe a series 8 or the 9 lite.

Am I missing something?



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I would guess a change in models and refresh/update.

 

Ok, does this usually happen in the fall? I was under the impression this happens around CES.

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usually spring and fall for some manufacturers. MSI and ASUS have been doing a point refresh with the CPU bump and some newer GPU's

 

I was right about to buy the 2014 edition, I wonder if I should hold off for a bit

 

I can not rally speculate too much. if you need a machine now I say get it. if not there is a chance we may see more Maxwell GPU's in the near future if you are a gamer. but until anyone shows or confirms much I admit it is all a guess. and any refresh normally is not very big, just a 100-200 MHz bump in CPU and a little on the GPU.

 

Samsung made announcements early this year to the effect that they would leave the Windows notebook business. See the thread linked below. Some say it's just rumors, but their actions would seem to bear it out: The lack of inventory, even in high margin markets (such as UK and Holland, as blue13x found); and their 2014 releases seem to be more aimed at clearing parts inventory than growing new product lines.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/744974-samsung-discontinue-laptop-pcs-ativ-books-2015-a.html

 

HMMM OK I stand corrected thank you Dannemand.

 

I am sorry, my intention was not to correct anybody, since nobody knows anything for sure. The question comes up frequently, and we always just refer to that thread I linked.

 

OK so the usual we are clueless until they say something

 

Yes, sort of like that. We're trying to read the tea leaves the best we can; John is particularly skilled at that.

Of course everybody here hopes they will change their mind, surprise us all, and come out with something spectacular. They have had (and still have) some of the most amazing laptops of any vendor, but they never marketed them much, so sales have been low. They do have a tendency to keep falling short on key areas: Limited RAM sockets and SATA/mSATA ports, no DisplayPort, and they notoriously make bad decisions when it comes to software/firmware.

Still, my old Series 7 14 inch is by far the best small laptop I ever had, and many feel the same about their various Samsung models.

Several years ago, I read an article in the Economist about Jaguar (the car company) being put up for sale. The phrasing of their opening paragraph caught my attention:

"EMOTION is said to play a part in many car purchases, but it is less likely to be a factor when buying a car company. Even so, the reaction this week to the first pictures of Jaguar's new XF saloon (pictured) will have done nothing to still the beating hearts of the half-dozen or so likely bidders..."

I think many notebook buyers feel the same way when they lay eyes (or hands) on a Samsung Series 9 / AB9

 

What was even weirder was the lack of laptops, from any brand.
Anyone know the situation in the USA? Are the laptops readily available.

 

I have a book 9 FHD matte model I bought about a year back. Its disappointing that Samsung may be exiting notebooks. I'm been in Fiji for over three months and tote this little machine around everywhere. At just a bit over 1 KG its a amazing machine. I can't bear to think they will quit making a book 9. Why? Because there is nothing out there that can fill that void. Not even remotely. Only system that catches my eye is the surface pro three.. love that screen. But lack of ports and that silly kickstand and soft KB is a showstopping deal killer.

I'm thinking of picking up a book 9 14" 2014 edition with the 15" screen FHD screen. That's probably the best 15" ultrabook ever made. Book 9 is always the best IMHO.

 

not sure about USA but here in Canada I have a couple retailers with Samsung in very limited supply as well.

 

Yeah, you can still buy the book 9 plus and the 2014 book 9 15" on amazon. Amazon is where i bought mine. I have not been home in the US for quite some time to see if best buy still carries them. But last time I was in that store they only had a few in stock. Amazon is your best bet.

The 15" 2014 cost about 2000 dollars with tax.. ouch. Yet, I know i will regret it if I don't buy it. It says on the web site that machine can only be shipped in the US.

 

the i5 version is $1499

 

I purchased the i7 with 256 SSD when i bought my book 9 FHD 13". It just seems fitting to get the faster processor and more storage when one buys a Book 9. I refuse to buy anything with just 128 SSD. I can live with 256 and don't care to open up this device to replace it. At which point your wasting even more on a new SSD drive. I've really appreciated my 2.0 ghz ivy bridge i7 on my FHD book 9. It was worth the extra bucks. But the 2014 top tier is 2000 dollars. That's allot but I will definitely buy that if i pull the trigger. Probably the best 15 inch notebook ever made. IMO, these devices are so much better then MB airs. The BQ is so precise. The sandblasted dura aluminum surface takes it to a another level. These machines feel luxurious because they are. MB airs feel and look very raw next to a book 9. This is truly the only MB air killer on the market.

 

Quick update, the model i wanted was the NP940X3G-K02NL, basically the top of the line 256gb, i7, touch screen. A search in all dutch onlije vendors revealed that only the 9 lite is availble. That specific model i was looking for is sold out everywhere.

 

Probably have to buy it in US or maybe another country. I'm thinking, the US (amazon) may be the only place left to get it. If you know somebody in the US they could buy/ship it. But i'm thinking you will have an enormous duty to pay when it arrives. The only way is to hand carry one in. I usually carry an extra laptop to Fiji being notebooks have high duties here and I have allot of families wanting US notebooks. When Samsung first got into notebooks they did not even sell them in the US. Ironically, their presence there may only have lasted a few years.. Sad.

Do you have anything like ebay over there? Try looking at buying a used system. Normally I would never recommend buying used. However, there really is no other comparable notebook. The book 9 shares its class with no one.

Does not surprise me the only model left is the lite. What a piece of trash that system is/was. Sorry John if you are reading that At least John's had a matte screen. The low res TN panel that shipped to the US was a horrid screen and very washed out. Terrible saturation and contrast.

 

Very conspicuous that Samsung didn't announce any models at IFC (or in the past several months either). Even though Broadwell is about 4 months away, ASUS and Lenovo still teased a couple of their Core M machines. I broke down and picked up a haswell X3G even though I didn't absolutely need it. Might regret it, but if my selection is limited to Lenovo, Dell, HP, ASUS and Acer; might not. Sony and Samsung think they can make their green off tablets and smartphones instead. I'm not sure they realize how quickly the margins are shrinking in those markets.

 

I would expect Samsung made the decision to phase out laptops last year when things looked wonderful in the Galaxy business. They may not have made the same decision with the current prognoses. That said, I think a significant factor is that Win8 and 8.1 have been incredibly expensive for them to support, as users were experiencing failed Windows installation attempts and UEFI problems. It takes many unit sales to make up the cost of one return or major warranty repair. And they've had plenty of those.

 

Several years ago Samsung made a big push to increase volume and ended up putting a lot of effort into the low margin end of the business and then discovered that the whole market was shrinking. The 13.3" Series / Book 9 was quite widely advertised in the first half of 2013. I remember seeing a very large advertisment for it in Addis Ababa airport. Unfortunately, the nearest place that one could buy it was in Dubai! The 15.0" Series 9 was a well-kept secret where Samsung could have done a lot more to capitalise on its unique size.

However, it is baffling why they haven't shipped as many of the 15.6" Book 9 as people will buy considering that they have incurred the devopment cost. The UK version was listed in their system in April but hasn't appeared. German and Italian versions were sold on Amazon UK but they have disappeared, indicating that stocks of those have dried up.

I sometimes wonder whether Samsung deliberately left a few weaknesses in their products in order to not jeopardise their prospects of selling either components or complete products to that company with a fruity name.

It would be nice if Samsung wound their notebook clock back a few years and just concentrated on the premium end of the market (for those who can't remember, Dell so liked the Samsung X20 that they rebadged it with a few tweaks as the Dell X1). Indeed, it would be best if Samsung just concentrated on getting the hardware right and left someone else to sort out the software. Samsung sold their HDD business to Seagate and the factory is still busy. However, their notebook business has shrunk so much in the past few months that there can't be much left to sell (unless the factory is actually busy making a yet-to-be-released product for someone else).

My lack of optimism is reflected on the fact that I'm typing this on a Dell (which cost me about half what I would have been willing to pay for the 15.6" Book 9 had it shown up). Samsung is based in a part of the world where it is difficult to admit mistakes and do a quick U-turn.

As forwhat is currently available in Europe: There's the Book 9 Style. Search for the NP910S5J. It has some parts shared with the Book 9 (2014) but with a cripped hardware specification and added bling and weight. I can only believe it was created to demonstrate that there was no future in the notebook sector.

John

 

LMAO

Excellent post!

 

Any suggestions for anything thats similar to the srries 9 Plus? Gravitating towards the surface 3 pro i7/256gb/8gb

 

Like I said before, there is nothing in this class. SP3 is nothing like the book 9. Only 1 usb to MB. Book 9 has best in class track pad.. the surface is crap.. and the kickstand.. don't get me going.. That's what really sucks.. there is nothing even remotely close to the book 9. You can only hope that apple puts a high res screen in the air.

 

My personal favorite was, and is, the gamer series. I got in though to avoid Windows 8 so for a subsequent release it would most likely be pointless. Especially being as Samsung does not really have any Windows 7 offerings so I doubt a new gaming system would break the mold.

 

The surface is dockable and supports pen input. I think typing at a desk using the keyboard cover is ok (tried it at best buy). But using as a "lap"top I don't think works well at all. You won't have to stow it during takeoff though.

 

I've just noticed this Dell 2 in 1. It could well be worth watching out for.

John

 

I wish Samsung throws in, a final AB9 before closing down, with windows 9, Broadwell, 4k matte display and 16GB of ram, then I would be done for next five years.
siki

 

You forgot mDP/TB3 instead of vga and 2xUSB3.1.

 

A usually well informed German Samsung blog has conformed that they are going out of the notebook business (for now).

Offiziell: Keine neuen Laptops von Samsung - All About Samsung

https://translate.google.at/transla...ne-neuen-notebook-mehr-entwickeln/&edit-text=

 

There are rumors that Apple will release a high resolution air and even a new 12 inch model with 16:10 screen.

Here is one picture of what a black MB air would look like:




Still not as nice as AB9. But no doubt, if Apple builds this with hi rez screen this would be the closest thing to what a AB9 has. And it would be non touch screen which is fine with me. I have the last generation AB9 FHD matte with classic shell with XP start menu (cascading menus) and charms disabled .

I'm pretty sure Apple is going to fill the Samsung void. After which, it will be even harder for Samsung to re enter the market. I would have already switched to Apple had they put a retina display in the air in the last build. That was a big disappointment and from what I have heard, Apple understands their base was not happy. After all, the competition is kicking their butts as far as displays on ultraportables.

 

And I wonder how much Samsug content is in those rumoured new models?

John

 

Samsung has confirmed they are exiting some markets, including the dutch market.

 

Source?

John

 

Samsung passt sich schnell an aktuelle Marktbedürfnisse und Anforderungen an. In Deutschland werden wir keine Notebooks, dazu gehören auch die Chromebooks, mehr vertreiben. Diese Entscheidung bezieht sich auf den deutschen Markt und ist nicht notwendigerweise repräsentativ für die Bedingungen in anderen Märkten.

Wir setzen den Fokus auf das Potenzial, das die Konvergenz unserer mobilen Geräte und mobilen Lösungen bietet. Hierfür schaffen wir gezielt Synergien, um neue Produktkategorien entwickeln, unsere Marktchancen effektiv nutzen und so auch unsere Wettbewerbsposition stärken zu können. Oberste Priorität hat hierbei das einzigartige Erlebnis, das wir unseren Kunden mit unseren Produkten und mobilen Lösungen bieten möchten.

[Update] Samsung, Alcatel und Microsoft heizen die Gerüchteküche an – Das Windows Phone Magazin – WParea.de

Google translatiion:

Samsung quickly adapts to current market needs and requirements. In Germany we will not sell any more notebooks, these include the Chromebooks. This decision is based on the German market and is not necessarily representative of the conditions in other markets.

We put the focus on the potential offered by the convergence of our mobile devices and mobile solutions. For this, we create targeted synergies to develop new product categories, use our market opportunities effectively and so also can strengthen our competitive position. The top priority here has the unique experience that we want to provide our customers with our products and mobile solutions.

 

Confirmed exit for Europe. Awaiting update on US market.

Samsung to scrap its European PC business - CNET

 

I wonder whats going to happen now to the US market. One way is to determine this is availibility and announcements. Are series 9 laptops readily available? I also havent seen sammy announce anything on the laptop front.

Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note 3

 

Yep you can still buy Book 9's on Amazon USA web site. Both the 13 and 15" models. But they are the ones with haswells. I'm typing this on a 2013 ivy bridge matte FHD book 9 at 2.56 lb's in Fiji. Been overseas for over 5 months and this guy is a work horse. Too bad Apple did not use the dura aluminum on the screwed up IP plus. I mean with the bending issues with IP plus you would think they would have used air craft aluminum like the book 9. The 9 destroys the air... PERIOD.

 

Not for long, not for long ((((

The MS Store I visited in Chicago which always had 4 or more Samsung's on display has pulled ALL Samsung notebooks off the floor. Sales people had no idea why. Maybe its due to no inventory?

 

You can still get them on Amazon in the US. But if your interested don't wait too long.

 

I sold my NP900X3C-A03US and replaced it with NP940X3G-K05US but I'm still considering the 15" version

 

The 2014 15" book nine sounds like a very unique form factor with the best FHD res. I am ready to pull the trigger myself. Samsung uses dura aluminum or as they say air craft aluminum. The book nine is and always has been a no compromise ultra book. Much stronger then the MB air. It's the only MB killer on the market. I really hope they don't quit building this device.

 

I have owned the 2014 15" book nine NP930X5J for several months now and couldn't agree with you more!

 

The post here drew my attention to the Samsung Korea website. It seems that while Samsung isn't producing any new models it is updating the internal hardware such as this NP930X5J with an i7 4550U CPU.

John

 

Also Samsung has announced they are getting out of the EU market. This is somewhat promising being that may mean they are still going to make systems for other markets. Not sure what they plan for the UK which affects you. But for EU it sounds grim at this point.

If its true they are updating the current hardware then that probably means they have not shut down production. Maybe windows 10 will give a boost to the PC industry.

 

UK is part of EU. Stocks of Samsung notebooks have dried up. The UK versions of the NP930X5J were listed in SW Update in April but never arrived while limited stocks of the NP870Z5G and NP900X3G (the other 2014 models) sold out and didn't get replenished.

John

 

Wow. Sorry to hear that John. I thought the UK using the pound separated them from the rest of Europe. It's been too long since I was in London.. 1985. But its the only country in the EU I would like to visit. I had a good time on that one visit. I will say this, the UK was smart not going to the euro dollar.

 

Interesting. According to this review, there is not much difference in the benchmarks between the two CPUs:
Intel Core i7 4550U vs 4500U

 

The 4550U has a lower nominal clock speed (1.5GHz) and Intel graphics 5000 (40 execution units vs 20 on the i7 4500U).

This should result in noticeably faster graphics at the expense of CPU performance when the GPU is working.

There are several Haswell 4*50U or 4*60U CPUs with the HD5000 graphics. However, we didn't previously see them around so maybe the execution units are on all the CPUs but disabled because the yields and or power consumption weren't OK. The process refinements during the past year now give enough suitable chips to be able to sell them in greater quantities.

John