Samsung NP900X3B-A01 Pro Reviews

If you want a slim, light and stylish notebook with a high quality, high resolution display then the 13-inch Samsung Series 9 must be on your shortlist. If you value the display above everything else, then there’s very little competition. However, achieving the slim and light form factor has necessitated some compromises, particularly the below-average battery capacity and the congested ports, many of which need dongles, while Samsung are charging a premium to the users who value this notebook’s attributes. Performance is below average but is still more than adequate for most applications. Some of this notebook’s drawbacks will be overcome with the arrival of the Ivy Bridge version, which promises lower power consumption and/or better performance. Indeed, I would hypothesise that Samsung originally planned the release of this notebook to coincide with the arrival of Intel’s Ivy Bridge platform but then produced an interim version when Ivy Bridge was delayed. However, with the other ultrabooks also benefitting from Ivy Bridge’s improvements, this notebook will still be lagging in some areas.

The 900X3B is a worthy successor to the first generation Series 9 lineup in almost every aspect and is without a doubt high-end quality hardware. In fact, everything that the 900X3B offers to users, it does extraordinarily well. Slightly lower battery life aside, Samsung has flattened the already thin chassis of the original while simultaneously maintaining the same level of durability and updating the internal hardware. Almost everything we loved about the original, from the extremely low noise levels to the excellent portability and great speakers, have all carried over to the 900X3B. Samsung has even managed to squeeze in a mini-VGA-out port this time around, something that we complained about in our review of the original. In addition, users get easy access to the battery and motherboard and a number of its components, a rather rare privilege in the world of Ultrabooks. In general, it’s hard to find a significant fault in the notebook both inside and out.