Samsung ativ book 9 (2015) review: a slim 12

The Samsung ATIV BOOK 9 Spin is a recent entry in the premium tier of 2-in-1 ultraportables và a direct competitor for the HP Spectre X360 và the Lenovo Yoga 900.

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The ATIV Book 9 Spin is not available worldwide, but for those of you living in the US, it’s definitely a device worth considering. A latest generation vi xử lý core i7 configuration with 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD sells for around $1300, which puts it on par with a similarly equipped version of the Spectre x360 and makes it $100 more expensive than the Yoga 900. For that kind of money you’ll also get a 2.9 lbs aluminum unibody, a 360-degrees convertible display with a QHD+ IPS panel, a full-set of ports & a 39 Wh battery.

I’ve added a complete specs sheet below for more details.

Now, if you’re looking for a premium hybrid 13-incher, you probably read our comparison of the Yoga 900 và the Spectre x360, based on our reader’s Ash impressions, who bought both of them in his quest for the perfect ultraportable. When the Spin was launched, he gave this one a try, & below you’ll find what he thinks about this Samsung, after owning it for a few weeks. Go through the post and post your feedback and questions in the comments section, Ash and I are around and will help if possible.

The screen is very bright

Also, the screen, as advertised, can be set very bright, which leads me to lớn believe that it can probably bởi better in bright sunlight than the other two.

The display driver has crashed twice so far. It instantly restarts & causes no interruption khổng lồ usage. That happens on the Yoga as well.

One more thing, when I first turned on the Spin, as it was loading, I noticed a yellow tint on the screen, coming from the bottom right corner (right above where Windows 10 clock loads up). It goes away after Windows gets to the desktop. I don’t know what this is & whether or not it is an issue. I had read in the past about people having issues with some brands with regards to lớn some kind of back light issue. It is just a bit annoying khổng lồ see this every time the system loads up, but if it is like this on all Spin units, then I will live with it. If not, then I guess I’ll have to vị an exchange which will annoy me most of all because it will mean having lớn switch my purchased 512GB SSD into another Spin unit.

Performance & daily use

Performance is fast và pretty much the same as the Spectre và Yoga, which was expected, given they cốt truyện the same specs.

One more thing that I lượt thích is that the Spin is very easy to xuất hiện up. No need to lớn use a Torx screwdriver as the screws are just regular Philips screws. I unscrewed the bottom and it lifts right up (no clips or sliding).

Now here is where I feel lượt thích a fool. I had purchased the Samsung 1TB 850 Pro SSD, thinking that it would fit this laptop. I have since learned about the type of SSD drives many of these ultrabooks use. So I found the right type, at a local store & picked that up this morning. It’s the same 512GB SSD that comes in the Yoga 900. Once again, very easy khổng lồ install it into the Spin. I had a little bit of trouble cloning the original Spin SSD partitions lớn the new one, because I don’t have external connectors & cables. I ended up exporting the Samsung recovery partition, to lớn a UBS stick và with a Windows USB boot disc, I was able lớn reinstall Windows và all of the Samsung drivers và apps on the new SSD.

BTW, Samsung also wins the award for least amount of bloatware. Norton và Skype are the only two apps that I ended up deleting.

Issues: After I reinstalled Windows on the 512GB SSD I installed, my Logitech MX revolution mouse looses connection each time I have lớn restart Windows. I hope lớn find a solution soon, as it’s driving me crazy and I am a wireless mouse kinda guy.

Update: I still have the issue with my Logitech wireless mouse when I restart the system, the mouse says connected, but it will not move. This only happens on restart. It doesn’t happen from waking from sleep or starting from powered off/shutdown.

One more thin I should địa chỉ is that unlike with the Spectre, I have had zero Wi-Fi connection issues with this Samsung. The Spin does have a different wireless adapter than the other two, which both use Intel, while this one uses a Qualcomm Atheros.

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Battery life

Battery life, is the only thing that I would consider lớn be not that great. Radios on, Chrome browsing, 20% brightness, yields between 6 & 7 hours so far as tested in the middle power management setting.

Samsung include a very lightweight và small nguồn brick, along with it’s very thin cable, leading up khổng lồ the máy tính xách tay port. The power nguồn brick has a small xanh light on it. I also lượt thích the power button on the Spin. On the Yoga, just by picking it up, I kept accidentally pressing its power nguồn button và sending the unit to sleep. The Spectre has the best nguồn button of the three, as it is hardest khổng lồ press, but the Spin’s is almost there as well.

Something else that I noticed và liked is that when you nguồn off the Spin while it’s plugged in, the screen will display a 2-inch green animated battery icon & text telling you how long until the battery is fully charged.

Wrap up

Other than the issue with my mouse và the 6 to lớn 7 hours of battery, this device is just about perfect. The hinges are small & move with ease, but also feel solid. The tín đồ has kicked on many times, but was never too loud.

So far I feel lượt thích I’ve found the right ultrabook for my personal và business needs.

Update: I’m still loving everything about the Spin, other than the 6 to 7 hours of battery life. I like the design and feel so much that I considered upgrading khổng lồ the 15.6-inch version, but then I figured I’d maybe not lượt thích the extra 2 pounds & that perhaps I’d have heat issues with the dedicated graphics card & Quad i7 CPU.

I also figured that if I were willing khổng lồ move up khổng lồ 15-inch, then I might as well go with the XPS 15 which has better specs than the Samsung, for the money (16GB RAM vs 8GB, 1TB SSD vs 256GB SSD and more). I did look into it and even read the XPS 15 forums. It seems that people are only getting 5 khổng lồ 6 hours of battery on the new 4K XPS 15.

So after rethinking it all, I’m going to lớn stick with the Spin and just purchase a high-res external display for when I’m in my trang chủ office & want a bigger screen.

After all of this, I would say that the Spin and x360, are the overall best 2-in-1’s currently on the market.”

Andrei: Thanks Ash for your detailed impressions.

From what Ash is saying, it looks lớn me Samsung did a great job with this computer. There’s no surprise the build quality is đứng đầu notch & the touchpad is very good. The previous ATIV Books had some shallow keys & problems with high temperatures, I’m glad this isn’t the case here anymore.

Personally, I’m astonished by how long this thing can last from only a 39 Wh battery. If anyone else owns the Spin và can chia sẻ some details on battery life, that would be great.

Compared lớn the Lenovo Yoga 900, the Spin is a better built machine and gets a superior keyboard. It’s not available with 16 GB of RAM though and it’s more expensive.

Compared lớn the HP Spectre x360, the Spin is more compact và lighter, seems khổng lồ rn a bit cooler and not encounter any Wi-Fi issues, but at the same time it lacks a digitizer, which could be a deal-breaker for some of you.