Here’s the unboxing video.
You can find out more about the Samsung Series 5 from previous testing articles and the database. We will be doing a live review of this Ultrabook tomorrow. Details here.
Unboxing and overview, comparison and information on a free software package below.
I’m still not clear on the difference bt the Series 5 and Series 9. …other than the Series 9 is thinner and prettier design.
Great video Chippy, keep up the great work!
IMHO, two completely different categories. The 9 is the creme de la creme. The 5 is a souped up Acer S3. The build, screen, speakers, SSD and appearance are all superior, hands down.
At nearly 1.5Kgs (1430g to be precise), its not really anything to shout about. In terms of weight, no achievement. Infact, the benchmark should be the Toshiba Z830 at 1.1KG.
Manufacturers must try to beat this figure. Only then its called improvement. There is no improvemment here. Infact, it looks like ultrabooks are getting heavier. Its just bullshit to the public, nothing else.
A year has passed and the least manufacturers should do is come out with something that beats the Z830 in terms of weight. A 13 inch ultrabook should be now at 1KG or lesser.
Has battery life improved?
I don’t think 1.1 vs. 1.5 kg is a big deal; there’s plenty of ultra light devices and it’s really diminishing returns from 1.5 kg on down.
Battery life has been ABANDONED. In April 2006 the first Intel ULV “Core Solo” chips came out with a TDP of 5.5 watts, what has been done on the ultra low TDP but decent performance front since then? My wife’s Acer Aspire 3810t with a Core 2 Solo ULV SU3500 (5.5 watt TDP) was released in Spring of 2009 -they had a 10 watt dual core version.
Still to this day the Acer Timeline 3810TZ with with a Core 2 ULV U4100 CPU is tied for the MobileMark longest runtime. http://www.bapco.com/support/fdrs/MobileMark2007web.html
It’s utterly embarrassing that 3 years later Intel still hasn’t managed to release a modern proper processor in that 5.5watt – 10 watt range.
I want an Ultrabook with a REAL 8 hour battery life. The Acer Aspire Timeline 3810t is 1.1″ thick, 3.5lbs and TRULY gets 8-9 hours WITH WIFI ON and cost only $650 back in summer of 09. Where is the modern replacement for this machine?!?! -I’ve been waiting for YEARS for something with more power that can still get this battery life and costs roughly the same. I thought the promise of the Ultrabook meant I would see it; if I have to pay $100-$150 extra ($700-$750) for thinner and lighter that’s fine as long as I can still get 8 hours of REAL use with wifi on.
There not only seems to not be a machine that can do this, but I have little hope that Ivybridge will fix the situation.
I just really want some non-UGLY ultrabooks with a proper REAL 8 hour battery life. (The HP is the closest one so far but fails the ugly test.)
Adam
You are right Adam. The TDP has gone up substantially. My SU7300 Core2Duo 4years ago gave decently fast performance but with nearly 6 to 7 hours battery life because the TDP was just 10watt. Its a disgrace that Intel has not come out with a decently fast processor in the 5w to 10watt category. Infact, the TDP has been going higher and higher with the obsession or marketing gimmick that people want faster processors. What people also want is longer battery life, say, 8 to 10 hours. The 4 to 5 hour category is really old news. Infact some basic and cheapest (light also) notebooks can give more than 6 hours already.
I have to disagree about the fact that 1.1kg and 1.5kg has no real difference. It does. Infact, 400grams is nearly half a kilo and makes a world of difference.
I am not an Apple fanboy but it seems, apple really improves their battery performance with each new model introduced.
fully agree with Michael about 1.5kg vs 1.1kg. IT’s a BIG difference. Especially when you do a lot of backpacking where each additional gram of equipment matters. I recently compared Toshiba Z830 vs Hp Folio at one store and let me tell you that they are completely in different league of portability.
Chippy, you are doing an amazing job. Thx and Keep it up!
borys
That 5.5W TDP doesn’t include the graphics. The current Intel chips moved the CPU, graphics and northbridge chips into a single chip. So the TDP for these new chips includes all 3 components.
Battery size is being sacrificed for thinness. For me, less than 1″ has diminishing returns. At that point, I care more about the footprint of the notebook.
The main development in the last couple of years is not that CPUs are more power hungry but rather that manufacturers have not increased the battery capacity in laptops (and in some cases decreased the capacity), leading to no improvement in battery life.
I had a toshiba T115 laptop that got ~7 hours of battery life. Yes, it uses a single core Pentium CULV CPU, but the main reason was that the battery capacity is 60+ whr, larger than many ultrabook batteries. In comparison, my UX31 with 50whr capacity (showing 9.8% wear already) gets about 5 hours. W/hr is slightly higher for the UX31 than the T115, but that can be attributed to the increased screen size and pixel count, not necessarily due to the faster CPU.
Chippy = Samsung fanboy
But seriously, in the non-Apple world, over the last few years Samsung has clearly become the top tier phone/tablet/laptop manufacture spanning Android & Windows. No other company even comes close to their overall portfolio. Which is the primary reason why Apple has singled them out so specifically in lawsuits.
So when are we going to see an in-depth impression of Chippy’s thoughts on W8?
Anyone know if the 11.6″ NP300 is getting refreshed? It has the smallest height and width of all the 11.6″ notebooks I’ve seen. The main reason I’m not getting one right now is that there are many reports of WiFi being unreliable and short battery life.
There’s an 8850 mAh extended battery that gives 8-9 hours of WiFi surfing for the NP300.
Hmm Samsung series 9 1st gen 13″ can be found for 850-900$ on bestbuy. If ivy got delayed it’s a way better then all 1st gen ultrabooks :)
If you can get the wifi to work properly, you mean… Otherwise you’re stuck with the best offline device ever made by Samsung.
I was about to say the same thing. Even if some versions (with Centrino) are working for some people I still see bad reportsaout WiFi. Otherwise i would be the owner of a Series 9 right now – fantastic machine in every other respect.
There was a patch that fixed the problem with the wi-fi. If you get a broken unit it’s bad luck, because MBA had the same problems and I had to return it year before…
Actually I’m quite positive the problem was not addressable with a simple patch, it was a design flaw. Most people reported it happened due to the metal case. Also, some people managed to change the adapter and/or adding a third antenna, but the problem still persisted. I don’t own an unit though, so I’m not insisting..
Well in many reviews I read that the software patch fixed the problems (some units didn’t have problems at all). At the end we’re not trying to make records, just to have normal connection for work :)
What a disgrace, something costing so expensive but cannot make basic things work. Consumers should just sue.
Very true about ultrabook battery wear. Many friends have complained that they used to get 5 hours initially, now, only 4 hours, having used their ultrabook for ONLY 4 months.
As for my usage on the Samsung NP350 (ultrabook wannabe), I too have noticed that after using my notebook for 4 months now, it gives about 1 hour less than it used to when I first bought it. I understand a battery loses capacity over time, say, after 1 year but in ultrabooks, the wear is EVEN faster.
Chippy, you may want to investigate this. It looks like the thinner batteries seem to lose their capacity very fast. Since battery life is prime importance, this matter is quite serious.
I’d like to hear/learn more about this issue… great point. I bet the bank on the U300s long term performance. Two months now, and it’s as good as new for me though.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html
For those interested in monitoring battery wear. I use this program, obviously it offers ALOT more information about your PC than just battery wear.
click on > Power Status > Battery
It’s an important point. I agree. With HWMonitor youcan see current max capacity of the battery. Have you checked? I will check my NP350
One other thing – as time goes on, Windows gets less efficient. It’s always worth taking a disk snapshot at an early stage of ownership (after you’ve removed crapware!)
Great point, you are right. …that’s one of the things I love about Lenovo… the One Touch Restore button.