Making sense of Samsung's product lines

I'm shopping for a new laptop, and I'm pretty sure that I want it to be a Samsung, but I'm totally frustrated trying to find information about how the product lines differ, so that I can concentrate on the ones that are likely to meet my needs.

I don't want Windows 8, so I gather I'm limited to used machines and refurbs. That means that the marketing fluff on Samsung's web site isn't even directly relevant.

One must-have feature for me is a direct-connect (non-USB) docking station. Samsung's current model docking station appears to be model AA-RD7NDOC/US. The product description says it's compatible with "Samsung Notebook Series" 4 and 6. But all of the product descriptions I've seen are for Series 3, 5, and 9, and lately a Series 7. And when I go to Samsung's web site, all I find is "ATIV Book 9," "ATIV Book 6," etc. Is an "ATIV Book 6" a "Series 6"? Or is this Samsung's way of saying that its docking station isn't compatible with any of its computers at all?

How do I make sense of this?

 

Samsung re-branded all of their laptops last year. They used to be called Series 3, 5, 7 and 9, and are now called Ativ Book 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Some of the "Series" numbers match the new "Ativ Book" numbers (Series 9 became Ativ Book 9) whereas others were broken out. For example, what used to be "Series 7 Ultra" (an ultrabook) became Ativ Book 7, while the rest of the Series 7 (NOT ultrabooks) became Ativ book 6 and 8.

This chart sums it up pretty well.

Generally, higher numbers mean higher build quality and more expensive design. The Ativ Book 9 models are some of the most beautifully designed and well built notebooks you will find anywhere, with excellent screens (excluding the Ativ Book 9 Lite, which has cheaper build quality and components). But they are all ultrabooks ( ULV CPUs) so they are not all the fastest performers. And all the new Ativ Book 9 models are 13.3 inch, though you may still find good deals on last year's 15 inch Series 9.

Ativ Book 8 is the performance power house (regular mobile CPUs and discrete GPUs) but also much bigger and heavier. All 15.6 inch. They are popular with gamers. Ativ Book 6 is almost the same at AB8, but with smaller battery and a few other cost saving tweaks.

Ativ Book 7 is a very nice ultrabook with a good screen, compared to most other brands. But next to Ativ Book 9 you will notice the difference in design and build quality.

Ativ Book 5 and 3 are mainstream notebooks and ultrabooks of different sizes -- and despite the lower price point, some of them are very nicely designed and good build quality.

I recommend you go to a store (such as Best Buy in US) where you can compare the models and get a feel for the difference.

I am afraid I have no experience with the docking stations. Hopefully others will chime in there.

 

Samsung is also pulling out of the notebook game, I would think twice. Not sure what the tool and driver support will look like. You can always hope OEM drivers work but that isn't guaranteed.

 

Yes, important to keep that in mind. I would think twice myself.

 

Book 4, and perhaps Book 6, have a business focus so maybe they have a docking connector. I would look at the user manual for any shortlisted models to see if the docking capability is there.

I interpret Samsung's talk of pulling out of the notebook business as being a public complaint about Microsoft and Intel trying to impose their perceptions of what consumers want onto a company which would like to exercise its own judgement and produce notebooks that people queue up to buy. It's also possible that Samsung might sell their notebook business, as they did with their HDD business, rather than shut it down completely.

John

 

Thanks for everyone's comments. They've enabled me to focus on the Series 7 as the most appropriate product line for me, and that narrows the choices enough to let me study them invidividually.

I'm not too worried about Samsung pulling out of the laptop market. First, the market reports I've looked at put them at #4 in this market (after Lenovo, Dell, and HP), with more than half as much market share as #1. It seems unlikely to me that they'd give that up.

Second... call me cynical, but I pretty much discount the after-sale support of any computer vendor in the individual market. So, if my laptop's vendor leaves the business, I don't expect it to make much difference to me. I'm much more interested in their reputation for not needing support in the first place. By all reports, Samsung excels there.

 

Unfortunately, the comment about Samsung pulling out of the PC market was not merely speculation. They actually announced that they would. Whether they will follow through or sell the unit or whatever, is anyone's guess.

And I agree, you are generally better off being self-supported. NBR has a great community of owners to help with that

But you will depend on Samsung to release updated drivers. Windows 8.1 was a prime example, since Microsoft broke backwards compatibility in this (supposedly minor) update, forcing vendors to re-write and update drivers. Samsung has been slow to do that, and still to this date does not wholeheartedly support Win 8.1. Many models that were delivered with Win7 (particularly Sandy Bridge models) will not receive official Win 8.1 support.

I speculate that the massive costs of supporting Win8 and 8.1 is a main reason why Samsung decided to pull out.

As much I like Samsung's hardware, I would personally think twice before buying right now, because you depend on their support for software -- an area where they have historically been weak. OTOH could it create opportunities to buy some of that great hardware at reduced prices.

 

Based on reliability surveys, the machines I find attractive are Mac (a clear #1), Asus, Samsung, and Toshiba.

I have no desire to abandon Windows, or to pay Apple's premium prices. Scratch Mac.

Current Asus computers do not have a bus connector. I won't go into the reasons here, but that's a no-go; USB docking stations are not a satisfactory alternative. Scratch Asus.

I've found that Toshiba laptops cost up to 50% more than Samsung, for no good reason that I can see. Scratch Toshiba.

What would you suggest I look at?

BTW, I looked at the link you posted. It does not say that Samsung has announced it will discontinue its laptops. It says that a previously reported rumor to that effect "suddenly becomes quite plausible after the fact that Sony has sold Vaio."

I won't dismiss this as pure fluff, but it is pure speculation. Why should Sony's exit make Samsung more likely to do the same?

If anything, it strongly suggests that if Samsung should decide to get out of the business, it too will sell the product line, not discontinue it. Then the products will still be supported, just by someone else. Whether that someone's support will be better, or worse, is utter speculation.

The prospect that Samsung might sell its product line to another company which might offer poorer support hardly seems like a powerful deterrent -- especially when I've already observed that I take poor support as a given with any brand.

 

Where did they announce that?
Nowhere in that thread does anyone link to any sort of official statement from Samsung.

The OP of that thread links to GSMArena's blog, which in turn links to digitimes, who quote 'sources' - sources they attribute to Taiwanese ODMs, who they then go on to highlight have very little involvement with Samsung's IM division, so are particularly poorly placed to offer any meaningful insight.



As for the OP's wish to avoid Win8, Samsung generally support the option of 'downgrading' to an older version of Windows.
My ATIV Book 9 Plus allows me to download a full set of Win7 drivers through the S/W Update program, so that you have everything you need for a fresh install.

So that opens up more options than just refurbs and used models.

 

I was positively surprised when Samsung released Win7 drivers for the AB9+ since they had not done that for many previous models. And models that were pre-installed with Win7 haven't seen driver updates since fall 2012.

I love Samsung laptops, that's how I came to be here. I think their hardware is some of the best of any vendors, particularly in ultrabooks. But at no point since I got my NP700Z3A (which I still find awesome) have I been impressed with their driver development or software skills. I think they want to differentiate through software (everybody is taught that in management school). But in my opinion, their implementations are often hacky -- and thus difficult for them to update and maintain as hardware and operating systems change.

Regarding the "announcement" about Samsung pulling back out of the PC market, I don't claim to know anything beyond what has already been posted here. If indeed it should turn out to be just a false rumor, I will be as happy as anyone.

 

There would not be happier man then me if that was false rumor.But Samsung has definitely pulling out from notebook market.They already pull out of small countries ,from 01/01/2014 they just told main import companies they will not take orders any more from them..Croatia,Serbija,Slovenija,Bosna etc. all together about 20 million people market.What somebody did notice is that Samsung need resources for growing mobile market(tablets and smartphones) production and I strongly believe that's the number one reason.Number two reason is ,we can say what we want but Samsung don't sell number of units thay want.Samsung have big ego,or they in first two or they are not in that market any more.One of the reason they don't sell what they want is they never advertise their notebooks and that's way people don't know about them.
I showed my friends my 900x3c and they were astonished. They never saw it before and they told me its great.They also told me its not like al the others notebooks and that it look like its from future especially when its open.