NP900X3D Series 9 - Worth a buy ?

I just stumbled upon a used, like new NP900X3D (with the 1600x900 screen) for around 550 dollars.

I am asking...... Is this the samsung with the special display panel that's like IPS ? How is it compared to the Zenbook prime which I have think it's amazing ?


Or, should I wait for those new series 7 with the full HD ? But then again, they won't be 550 ey ? More like double ?

Basically If this has IPS like viewing angles i'll just buy it. This is the most important thing in a laptop for me, as I use it for reading in various lighting conditions and various body positions

 

All the NP900X3B / C /D have the PLS (Samsung's equivalent of IPS) display. You can see the viewing angles of my X3B here.

Note that the X3D you are looking at may have the Sandy Bridge CPU and selling for $800 to $900 new). However, performance is fine unless you are a power user. Similarly, the SSD is probably the Sandisk U100 which chokes if confronted with heavy concurrent reading and writing but most people don't create the circumstances that cause it to happen.

John

 

Thanks for the quick reply!!! Seems like it's a great screen.
This being x600 rather than 1080p... Will make a difference in Adobe Reader ? Would you get a 1080p if all you wanted was to read scientific texts all day ?

Right now it's mostly done on an E-INK reader but some books are annoying.. Too small for the charts etc and I hate tablets.

 

@Zalame: I believe it's 1600x900 (not x600). In my opinion, that's just about as high a resolution as I want on a 13.3 inch screen. I have 1600x900 on a slightly larger 14 inch screen (Series 7) which is perfect to me.

FHD (1080p), while super sharp on such a small screen, will cause text to be very small. You can scale that in Windows ( Control Panel - Display - say to 125%) but some older programs don't behave well if set to anything other than 100%. Adobe Reader should be fine, though, as it has its own scaling.

In my opinion you got a good machine there for the price. Just check what kind of warranty (if any) it comes with.

 

Being able to benefit from FHD on a 13.3" screen depends on the quality of your reading vision. 20 years ago my eyes may have been able the handle the small print of a full page of text, but not now.

However, I often scan through PDF documents in full page mode when I'm searching for the parts I want to read. I then zoom in.

John

 

Yea, makes sense !
Well dannemand, it has no warranty whatsoever... Which is quite scary for a used machine ey ? But then again it's quite cheap for such a nice machine.
Perhaps I should just grab a new one for 820$, I have to say this thing looks NICE !!!! Beautifully made.

 

I am a Nervous Nellie when it comes to these things, and consider warranty an important part of my purchase. Or at least a return period so you can test it out. Are you saying you can buy a new (unopened) unit of the same model (still Sandy Bridge) for $820? Can you buy warranty on the used unit?

 

Re the warranty, there's a "first used" (or similar wording) date in the BIOS which should be all that Samsung need to see.

However, there should be an undertaking from the seller that the goods are as described and in full working condition and will give a refund if you are not satisfied.

John