HANGING OUT WITH SAMSUNG’S LAPTOP DESIGNERS AND ENGINEERS IN KOREA
Check out my vid clip of today’s GlobalTV Sunday Morning News Tech Talk on the Samsung New Series 9 ultra-portable laptop:http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/video/jun+17++tech+talk/video.html?v=2246939189&p=1&s=dd#themorningnews/video
And check out my guide on choosing the right ultra portable laptop at: http://www.globalnews.ca/choosing+a+notebook/6442662830/story.html
Samsung New Series 9 13.3-inch is small, light and sharp
Checking out the insides of Samsung’s New Series 9 laptop with Kevin Lee, VP PC Development Group IT Solutions Business in Korea
SEOUL, KOREA June 17, 2012
Up to now, Apple’s MacBook Air was the premium ultra-portable
laptop to have for most of us and the laptop to beat by Windows PC makers.
Since the Air’s launch three years ago, the competition has
tried to take that distinction back. They have come close, but could not match
the overall design and performance of the sleek Air, a result of Apple’s and the
late Steve Jobs penchant for building the best and pushing the laws of physics
to the limit.
But things change. Last week’s arrival in Canadian stores of
the Samsung New Series 9 13.3-inch and 15-inch laptops, has the Korean electronics
giant creating a new benchmark in “post-Air” computing.
Samsung Principal Designer Sangwon Yoon, left and Senior Designer Junghwan Hong show finished Series 9 and and models. “Some engineers still don’t like us”
Completely redesigned from last year’s original model the
New Series 9 13.3 inch outweighs the same size screen Air 1.16 kg to 1.35 kg
and trims 11 mm and 8 mm off the width and height. Its 12.9 mm height is 4.1 mm
thinner than the Air’s thickest 17mm tapered design. Currently this is the
smallest and lightest 13.3 inch laptop, finished in an aluminum unibody design,
and sand-blasted to matte ‘Mineral Ash Black’ finish. Both sizes come with 128
GB SSD drive and 4GB Ram. The 13.3-inch is available at Future Shop and Staples
online for $1,299.99 while the soon-to-arrive 15-inch is slated for $1,499.99.
This may seem pricey compared to the slew of $999 Windows
UltraBooks but the Series 9 is beyond this Intel engineering spec. I prefer to
compare it to Apple’s newly refreshed MacBook Air 13.3 which retails for $1,229
with almost identical Intel 3rd generation Intel Core chips, HD 4000
graphics and system storage.
“Our New Series 9 is 28 per cent smaller than last year’s,”
said Raymond Wah, Samsung VP Product Planning and Marketing IT solutions
Business. “It actually fits completely inside last year’s shell,” he said at
Samsung’s Electronics, Suwon Digital City in Korea where I was invited to see
the inside story of how Samsung laptops are made.
New Series 9 featherweight carved-out unibody aluminum
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“Consumers are willing to pay for the right features and too
many trade-offs will not please a customer,” said Wah, defending the higher
price of the New Series 9 laptops.
It should be noted that since last year, all laptop makes
have been using the same Intel 2n Generation Processor technology with low
voltage chips and Intel HD technology tuned to consumer eintertainment graphics
for HD content. New models like the New Air, Series 9 and UltraBooks have
upgraded to Intel 3rd Generation Processor technology with even
better performance.
Samsung Electronics Executive VP Head of IT Solutions Business “Intel should pay us”
How was Samsung, who currently enjoys leading global market
growth in TV and smartphones, able to build a premium ultra portable laptop?
said David Song Samsung Senior VP PC Sales and Marketing IT Solutions Business.This
includes PLS superior wide angle viewing screen display technology which makes
viewing much like that of a plasma TV, especially in tight quarters like an
airplane seat. The only issue here is privacy as anyone next to you can see
your screen just as clearly. Still, no other laptop, including the Air and dozens
of Windows UltraBooks can match the Series 9 400 NIT brightness, making it ideal
for outdoor viewing. Its upgraded 1600×900
resolution ( for both screen sizes) brings noticeably sharper anti-reflective display
allowing smaller fonts, pictures and movie details to display better.Shrinking the Series 9 was not easy as Samsung designers and
engineers butted heads on esthetics versus functions. “Engineers don’t like
taking risks,” said Samsung Principal Designer Sangwon Yoon, “some still don’t
like us.”
I checked out the New Series 9 ultra-thin and bright flexible display layers using a row (top yellow) of sidelit LED lights
Samsung 13.3-inch Series 9 shaved 4.1 mm off the Air
Using a single aluminum body block lathed down to intricate
hallow spots gives strength and lightness to the Series 9. Picking one up from
the very edge feels solid with not stress noise. A tour of the high security
testing lab showed Samsung’s penchant for quality control. Dozens of laptops
are subjected to extreme hot and cold environments, one dropping to and from 80
degrees to -40 degrees in five minutes every half hour. A dust room clogs up
laptop fan cooling systems till the PC simply stops working and laptops are
opened and closed 40,000 thousand times. Eight Kilovolt shocks are applied to
laptops until they stop working too.
The keyboard proved especially challenging as users still
want to feel a good solid deep press experience. A series of blind tests had
users try different depth settings on early test models. “We stopped reducing
the key depth when testers started to complain,” said Mah, which is down to
1.35 mm, something noticed by many reviewers.
Samsung’s Raymond Wah VP Product Planning and Marketing IT Solutions Business “Our New Series 9 fits inside last year’s shell”
Engineers managed to slice one mm off the Series 9 narrow panel
bezel flap to that of the Air, using patented side backlit LED lighting.
Samsung boasts to only have one third of the standard industry failure
rate.
Samsung hinge closes 40,000 times at test lab
Despite, the obvious engineering and design success of the New
Series 9 laptops, Samsung management at Suwon Digital City headquarters although
clearly enthusiastic, still maintains humbleness in this very competitive
market.
“I am envious of the quality of products from company ‘A’
(Apple) but we want to show we can do that too. I believe we are uniquely
positioned to leverage sharing of our TVs, phones, tablets and PCs ,” said
Seongwoo Nam, Executive VP IT Solutions Business. “There are a lot of clouds
out there…I think it it’s going to rain soon,” he added.
After my tour, hot charcoal cooking with hosts David Song Senior VP PC Sales and Marketing and Won Park-Costof VP of Marketing IT Solutions Business
Samsung self-charging phone for developing countries with little electricity
Samsung Smart Tree? Just tender loving care at one of the many parks in Samsung’s Suwon Digital City in Korea
SAMSUNG NEW SERIES 9 VERSUS MACBOOK AIR BENCHMARKS
Apple and Samsung have drawn their lines in the sand with
their newest ultra-portable 13.3-inch laptops,
so let’s see how they compare.
They offer similar Intel 3rd Generation Core and
HD 4000 graphics horsepower, Series 9 with a 1.7 GHz and the Air with a 1.8 GHz
CPU. Both processors are low voltage and automatically “overclock” to faster
speeds as required, making smart use of power consumption.
With 4 GB of RAM and an 128 GB SSD drive the Series 9 sells
for $1,299.99 while the Air costs $1,229. Apple also offers 256 GB SSD option.
How do they compare when is use? I ran both side-by-side for
several days.
SIMILARITIES
They are similar in speed processing. Samsung’s claim of a
9.1 second bootup is true in its purest mode but in reality it took 12 seconds
before you could actually do something onscreen matching the Air’s bootup time.
The Series 9 did have a faster wakeup from sleep mode of 1.35 seconds compared to
the Air’s 1.8 seconds.
Adobe CS6 Photoshop took two seconds to start on both laptops,
while in Photoshop Action files tests (a bunch of sequential image manipulation
requests) Air had a slight edge completing the task in 105 seconds to Series 9
111 seconds. I suspect the Air’s one notch up 1.8 GHz CPU compared to the
Series 9 1.7 GHz contributes the extra kick. Similarly, using CS6 Photoshop’s
very excellent video editing feature, downsizing a 30-second 1920p 60 fps video
clip to a more manageable 720p 29.97 fps file was slightly faster on the Air at
280 seconds to the Series 9 295 seconds.
STRENTGHS
Series 9 unquestionably has a better screen display that
truly looks great from any angle. Its 1600×900 resolution PLS antireflective
screen to the Air’s 1440×900 gives noticeably extra sharpness and screen detail
on smaller fonts and more graphics detail on photos.The Series 9 400 NIT
brightness is twice as bright. For the small price difference, you get the
biggest bang for your buck with the Series 9 on graphics.
Series 9 is clearly the lightest feather weight for a
13-inch laptop on the newest Intel chip technology and is 16 per cent lighter
at 1.16 kg.
WEAKNESSES
Samsung says a fully charged battery Series 9 offer “up to”
10 hours on the Series 9 15-inch and 7 hours on the 13.3 inch, while Apple
claims 7 hours of wireless web. Side by side I got 6.6 hours on the Air compared
to the 5.5 hours on the Series 9 with the same screen brightness settings. But
if you were to watch a Blu-ray quality movie off the laptops’ SSD drives, with similar
average screen brightness settings, on
an airplane, the Air will played for 3 hours 15 minutes compared to the Series
9 2 hours and 47 minutes. Obviously the Series 9 larger resolution draws more
energy.
CONCLUSION
If you are a Windows user, the Series 9 will deliver the
best fine-tuned premium portable computing quality and looks in the smallest
package and you will have no Air envy whatsoever.
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