Samsung Releasing Macbook Air beating 12.2-inch fanless laptop with 1600p display at 700 nits of brightness
What are buyers to do when they dislike the Mac OS X, the closed approach of all things Apple but want something like a Macbook Air on the hardware side? Well look towards the Samsung range of laptops, of course, especially the latest Samsung Ativ Book 9.
Display and Brightness
The Ativ Book 9 is an Ultrabook with a 12.2-inch display which sports a Retina Display-like 2,560 x 1,600 pixels with a sharpness and clarity that is pleasing to the eye. The brightness, which is measured in nits, is commonly 250 nits for many LED LCD monitors rising to 350 nits for the more expensive variety. In the case of the Samsung Ativ Book 9, this model comes with a special Outdoor Mode which offers up to 700 nits of brightness to help the screen still be visible even on the brightness of days at the beach. The on-screen touch controls have been removed from this model because they didn't prove popular with buyers of previous versions.
Slick Design Choices
The design keeps to the more recent aesthetic from Samsung with a unibody design and construction featuring aluminium to give the unit that premium look and feel. The ultrabook is just 0.46 inches thin and weighs in at only 2.06 pounds or only slightly over a kilo.
New Type of Processor
At the heart of the Ativ Book 9 is the Core M 5T10C CPU which is so power efficient and cool that this ultrabook doesn't even need a fan to keep it cool which reduces the thickness of the unit and the sound coming out of it.
Memory and Storage
The two main versions of this ultrabook model include either 4 GB of RAM and a fast 128 GB solid-state drive or 8 GB of memory and a quick 256 GB SSD.
Ports
Despite the small size of the laptop it still has two fast USB 3.0 ports, a micro HDMI port to carry the on-screen display over to a larger monitor or TV, a headphone and microphone jack, and a convenient SD card reader. There is also a USB dongle provided which can turn one of the USB 3.0 ports into an Ethernet port for those times in a hotel where they only have a LAN cable with internet connection rather than a Wi-Fi network.
It's nice to see the dongle provided rather than having to buy it separately as is the case with Apple when they did away with the Ethernet port altogether like networks no longer existed.
Battery
In terms of battery life, the lower powered processor coupled with the lack of fan and SSD instead of traditional hard drive do a lot to reduce the amount of battery power needed to keep the Ativ running. Basic battery life statistics from Samsung suggest up to 10 hours of use for this model at standard brightness and with the Outdoor Mode initialized for part of the running time then realistic use with be closer to 5-6 hours.
There is a handy power saving mode built into this laptop which with a single tap will turn off Wi-Fi, LAN, Bluetooth and fix the brightness at a sensible level to get the most out of what juice the battery has left. There is also a Wi-Fi boosting feature to help improve Wi-Fi internet speeds when the Wi-Fi is turned on.
Security
Samsung have added a pattern login approach using the trackpad for the owner to trace a selected path with their finger to gain access. In case of spyware accessing Windows 8.1 and recording you surreptitiously there is an option to disable both the audio and video recording facilities of the included 720p webcam. A nice thought.
Pricing
The price of the Samsung Ativ Book 9 won't come cheap. It looks like around $1,199 for the 4 GB model with 128 GB SSD and $1,399 for the 8 GB model with 256 GB SSD.
