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The Samsung Series 9 2nd Gen (SS9) is a beautifully crafted piece of machinery. This system is presented gorgeously straight right out of the box in its packaging and presentation. So far, I have no regrets on my purchase although it is quite a pricey system. Considering many people are familiar with the Macbook Air 13.3" (MBA), I will frequently compare the SS9 for the rest of the review to it. Also, I did not purchase this system through Amazon but through a local Comp USA who was selling the system at $1299.00.
Display
The display is 400 nits of brightness with a matte finish. It can easily be used in any environment whether it be dark in a room or outside on a patio in near direct sunlight. The MBA has a reflective screen with an anti-glare finish that still offers glare. The SS9 also comes with a higher resolution screen at 1600 X 900 compared to the MBA's 1440 X 900. Honestly, higher resolution isn't always better because it becomes more difficult to read text at higher resolutions. The display colors appear natural, bright and vivid. This is the nicest screen I've ever seen on any system. I do prefer this screen over any and that of the MBA.
Sound
The sound is loud and crisp with a little bass to it. The MBA has a little more bass, but doesn't go as loud. The sound is great for watching any streaming media and ok for listening to music. It's a way better experience with audio watching movies on the SS9 than the MBA. The sound is seems more directional.
Keyboard
The keys are shallow, square and flat. They're not overally shallow like the Toshiba Portege, but I would say it has an acquired feel to it. Typing is smooth, quick, responsive and natural. Typing on this machine is different than the MBA. The MBA has more curvature and give to the keys. The back-lighting to the back-lit keyboard is the first of its kind. It projects an aqua-marine green color. I'm not a fan of it, but it gets the job done for those late nights. Also, the color prevents interfering with night vision. Although neat and interesting, I still prefer the white back-lit keyboard of the MBA over the SS9.
Trac-pad
This system must have the most responsive and best trac-pad to date on any windows based system. My favorite feature is the two finger tap because I do not like to physically click the trac-pad out of personal preference. It is right on par with the MBA and responds nearly without flaw. I prefer using the trac-pad over a mouse on this system; most other laptops its the other way around. The trac-pad is glass covered with a black finish.
Connectivity
Wireless (Wifi) works great. I don't have anything to really put into perspective with this system other than my wife's Toshiba laptop. My wife has three bars of signal on the opposite end of our home away from the router while this system still maintains a full signal. This is a huge improvement over the original SS9. Ports, you can check the specs. They're nothing spectacular and I prefer the MBA's multi-display port over the SS9 proprietary VGA dongle port that isn't included with this system. This system does include a micro-HDMI port that I prefer to use with external monitors over the propriety SS9 VGA dongle. The proprietary ethernet dongle is included with this system so you do not need to use a USB based ethernet dongle to take up a USB port. There is an SD card reader under the chassis on the right side of the computer under a discrete flap.
Performance
I have yet to hear the two fans kick on with this system (Yes, this system has two separately controlled fans). I have actually been able to look at the fans running independently at the bottom of the chassis, but I have yet to see both on at one time if they even come on at all. This system is also the most quiet and cool laptop/computer I have ever used. I'm shocked at how cool it runs. The only way for you to fully understand this is to see/experience for yourself. The fans hardly ever come on when running full screen video after an extended period of time. I would be concerned about a defect if it weren't for the fact that I have seen both fans run before and the system puts off little to no heat which baffles my mind in such a slim form factor; this is one of the most unique things about this system. The responsiveness of this system is lighting quick for basic computing tasks, boot up and start up from standby. I believe the MBA comes with the 1.7Ghz ULV processor while the SS9 comes with the 1.6Ghz ULV processor. Either processor is preference and one is not much more powerful than the other; I prefer lower Ghz for longer battery life and cooler performance. I prefer the 1.6Ghz for heat dissipation and I didn't purchase the SS9 for heavy computing like compiling video. I purchased it for school to type up papers and putting together presentations, writing/responding to email and a little media consumption. The MBA is nothing in comparison for noise or heat. The MBA puts off significant heat and fan-noise under loads, while it does run fairly quite under regular to light use. Again to emphasize the point, you really need to experience the ability of this system (SS9) to run cool and quite under most any computing task. Also, when running video on the SS9 it remains cool and quite while the MBA gets pretty noisy and hot to the touch when the fan spins up.
Battery
The battery gets anywhere from 6.5 to 7.5 hours as advertised. Also, the system comes with a thousand cycle battery in case you are the type of individual concerned about the life of the battery or needing to change it out. The MBA uses the same type of long-life battery.
Build
The build is rock solid and gorgeous. This system attracts little to no fingerprints with its matte blue-metal finish. There is also an eye-catching silver edge on this system and around the edge of the trac-pad. The SS9 is only .5"s in depth and super light. The charging port is nothing spectacular; I prefer the MBA magnetic charging adapter tip over the SS9's, while the charging adapter/block is very nice; nicer than the MBA. The charging block has the windows 7 OS license on it like the Asus Zenbook with a slim and square profile and rectangular cool-blue power light. This is the nicest charging block I've seen with any system and I have experienced every ultrabook to date to exclude the Lenovo U300 and X1.
Overall this system performs flawlessly with beauty; I'm very pleased. The most important and unique features I feel this system has to offer is its ability to run super-cool, an amazing screen and a beautiful and light high quality chassis. I will be looking forward to having this system around for the next year, two or even three...
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