
Samsung markets the display on its Series 9 as SuperBright Plus, and that name is fairly accurate. Images are crisp and colors are incredibly vivid. In fact, the new Series 9 reminds us a lot of the company's Galaxy Tab 10.1. Both sport IPS panels from the company's own factories, so our inclination might not be far off, either.

Rendering ~50% of the Adobe RGB (1998) gamut, the 13.3" Series 9 is close to the top of the list compared to many of the tablets and Ultrabooks we've tested. Notably, it bests the ThinkPad X230T, which is another business-oriented mobile platform. The larger gamut profile is a side effect of Samsung's IPS panel. Lenovo's setup employs a TN-based display.

Samsung claims its SuperBright Plus is capable of 400 nits, which is already pretty darn bright. Yet, our 13.3" Series 9 sample nearly achieves 450 nits, putting it on par with Apple's iPad 3. Again, this is a phenomenally crisp display, due in large part to its brightness. Unfortunately, high-luminance IPS displays are usually handicapped when it comes to contrast ratio. Blacks have a tendency to appear as dark grey. And indeed, we see this from our Series 9.



- Samsung 13.3" Series 9: Now With Ivy Bridge-Based CPUs
- Series 9 Processor Performance: Mobile Ivy Bridge Delivers
- Benchmark Results: PCMark 7 And Battlefield 3
- Transcoding Performance: Second-Gen Quick Sync
- Display Performance: SuperBright Plus, Indeed
- Battery Performance: Four Hours Of Real-World Use
- Samsung 13.3" Series 9: Better In 2012
Because this samsung notebook takes more time than other i7's in 'quality' setting, but lesser time in 'performance' settings.
What..? No. That's the dell's and I'm not even joking.
I was watching a demo and their Dell XPS ultrabooks with GT640's in them continuously overheated during the demos and lowered the FPS catastrophically low.
They have these ultrabooks at my local Jb HiFi (Well.. the i5 version at least) and it was cool to the touch and very solid (I've noticed even Acer's ultrabooks don't feel flimsy as sh*t like their notebooks).
1)Is the touchpad annoying? Compared to Apple's touchpads, for example.
2)Can you keep it in your lap, sitting or lying down slightly (you know, with the notebook against your knees)? Or does it get too warm?
These two are deal breakers for me, personally. So is the keyboard, but you've clearly stated what's wrong with that (touchpad too, but just wanted to know if it's a noticeable annoyance).
I haven't gone out to buy one yet
I have it here in the lab, and it'll be the next Ultrabook we look at (I have something special planned for it ;-)
I can't speak to the Samsung, but on the X1, the touchpad (which everyone seems to rave about) is sooo not good compared to the MBA's. It does not get too warm, though. Again, this is specific to the X1.
I haven't gone out to buy one of those, either
Usually, that's the case. I think Andrew highlighted all one column to indicate it's the Samsung. I just went back and made sure that the *winning* numbers are in bold!
I did not find the "right click" confusing at all. It's not that hard to keep in mind that to activate the right click I need to move to the lower end of the touchpad. All you need to do is dedicate 2 minutes to test, practice and familiarize yourself with the boundaries of the touchpad. I love Macbook touchpads, and this is the closest any Windows PC touchpad has ever come as far as I have tried. I loved it.
@ ojas.. No, it never got too warm while I used it for 48 hours. However, I did not use it to encode videos nor did I do something silly like play "Battlefield 3" on it. So I can't say it will remain cool while doing that. But during regular use (including many software installations), it stayed cool!
This is my favorite Ultrabook and my only recommendation to clients and friends.
Oh, and it really does feel incredibly light and it has a very high quality premium feel overall, justifying the price tag.
i thought Apple would have sent a review sample to you. A positive review from Toms is a big thing...
My office I use an HP EliteBook Mobile Workstation and some of us use others including ASUS, but for home, travel or even work it's still tough to ignore the MBA or MBP which is one of Samsung's major competitors in this category. None of these notebooks are really any good for gaming.
Now if all you're doing is smurfing the web, checking your email, Facebook, documents, and a slew of other typical tasks then any of the notebooks or tablets are 'good enough.'
Normally, I'd agree with you...but my two exceptions are 1600x900 (why wouldn't you take that over 1440x900) and 1920x1080 as a replacement for 1680x1050 (though it's bull$#!+ that manufacturers are using it in place of 1920x1200).