Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black)

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Price: $1,299.99 $1,299.00   

Product Feature

• Intel Core i5 3317U Processor 1.7GHz
• 4 GB RAM
• 128GB Hard Drive
• 13.3-Inch Screen
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Product Description

Samsung Series 9 900X3C - Core i5 3317U / 1.7 GHz - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 4 GB RAM - 128 GB SSD - 13.3" wide 1600 x 900 / HD+ - Intel HD Graphics 4000 - mineral ash black

Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black) Review

I want and still do love this laptop from a design perspective. The quality control is troubling though.

Problems with the first laptop:
1) Screen had extreme back-light bleed through on the edges, especially the top right corner. Before asking for an exchange I went to a local store to see how the screen looked and it didn't exhibit the back-light bleed problem.
2) Laptop got very hot so I opened it up to see what was happening. The right fan vent was completely blocked by a plastic tab when the fan was installed so even though it was running, it wasn't bringing cold air into the machine.
3) While opening the laptop to inspect fan, I noticed that the battery was missing all of it's screws to hold it securely in place. It wasn't even assembled correctly.

Problem with second laptop:
1) Screen bleed problem was resolved, but not there it had a very obvious dead/stuck pixel on the screen. I expect the screen to not have bad pixels when paying for a $1300 laptop.

Problems with third laptop:
1) Screen is perfect, no back-light bleed or bad pixels.
2) Track pad is horrible, very loose and makes clicking noises when just swiping finger across it, not even pressing it for the left/right "click".
3) Right fan has a much more audible clicking noise than the previous 900x3c's I returned.
4) Question mark key on keyboard has paint missing/scratched so backlight shines through in a slit on the edge of it.
5) After a few days, computer would no longer boot, called Samsung and it turns out to be a hardware, not ssd problem so they recommended another replacement.

That was the last replacement Amazon would allow me to get, now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I would really love this laptop if the quality control issues were resolved. I feel like I could assemble the good qualities of 3 laptops myself to get 1 good one that's up to par.

------ Update ------

I received my new 900x3c and it has none of the issues the previous three had. Maybe I was extremely unlucky with the previous ones or there was a bad batch? Now that I have one that is working to specs here's my review.

Design:
The laptop is extremely thin and looks very sharp. I've used it in a few public settings and get a lot of compliments and small talk about it from random people that want to hold and feel it. I believe the design is better than the macbook air and very solid with no creeks as I hold it or move the screen.

Screen:
The screen has great viewing angles from above and from the sides, has very rich color, and can be turned up very bright. I have no dead pixels and the screen backlight is very uniform and the resolution is great.

Keyboard and Trackpad:
The keys are slightly on the stiff side, with expected limited travel, but not a deal breaker and still great to type on. The backlight is a nice shade of blue/green and the brightness can be adjusted.
The trackpad is nice and large, supports multi-touch and is very nice - no complaints.

Hard Drive:
The hard drive is on the small side, but upgradeable. I wish Samsung had included a 256 gig one instead of the 128 gig one. I have already upgraded the drive to the MyDigitalSSD 256GB SMART SATA III (6G) SandForce mSATA Solid State Drive which is extremely fast and I highly recommend it. It took about 10 minutes for me to removed the old SSD and install the new one.

RAM:
This is the only area that regret about the laptop. 4GB of RAM is ok, but not ideal, especially in a few years. I think I'll be able to get by and I haven't run short on memory yet, but really think Samsung should have included 8GB. The RAM is also not upgradeable in the 900x3c and is soldered to the motherboard.

Battery Life:
I seem to be getting between 5 and 6 hours of battery life on a full charge with light web usage. I would prefer a little more, but this seems acceptable. The battery is user upgradeable and is held in place by 4 screws visible once the bottom of the laptop is removed. This will come in handy in a couple years as the battery life starts to fade.

Wireless Signal Strength:
No issues with the wireless signal strength. It seems to perform well and has as much if not more signal strength than any other laptop I've used.

Heat/Noise:
The only time the bottom of the laptop got pretty warm was when playing Diablo III. The laptop has two fans and they are very quiet. Even at full speed, it's much quieter than a macbook air or pro. The fans don't come on at all during normal/light usage such as web surfing/emailing/word document editing and the laptop regulates temperature very well.

Speed/Performance:
The laptop is very quick for an ultra book. It can do a cold boot in about 10 seconds and wakes up from sleep in about 1 to 2 seconds. Graphic performance is very good too, for an ultrabook. No issues playing HD videos. I even loaded Diablo III and it runs very smooth with all high settings and a resolution of 1600 x 900. That's the only game I've tried so far.

Windows Experience Index:
Processor: 6.9
Memory (RAM): 5.9
Graphics: 6.4
Gaming graphics: 6.4
Primary Hard Disk: 7.4 for the original one... 7.9 when I upgraded to the MyDigitalSSD

Let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to answer.

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