The war for the best premium ultraportable is just getting started as Samsung clearly shows with their new Series 9. Its obvious competitor is Apple’s Macbook Air but Samsung has included a much more powerful processor in the mix. 

The Cupertino company has had great success with its smallest notebook since they lowered the price and updated the lineup with an 11-inch model. It has become something of a benchmark for competitors to respond to. Samsung has created a machine that trumps the 13-inch Apple machine’s dimensions and matches its weight.

Before building the Series 9, the discussion over at Samsung’s R&D department must have went something like this: “Build a computer that’s as thin as possible without compromising on performance. Also use some exotic materials and different design that give a sense of luxury. And by the way, don’t worry about the price tag, we’re not targeting the netbook market with this one. ”

Enter the Samsung Series 9, an ultraportable laptop built from an exotic alloy that includes magnesium, copper and manganese, among other things used in the framework of the airship Hindenburg. The good old hard drive is also gone in favor of a much faster 128GB SSD (solid state drive). Its processor is a low-voltage Intel Core i5 2537M from the latest Sandy Bridge Intel’s integrated graphics chip (actually, in this generation the term “integrated” is as accurate as it gets, as the graphics chip is in the same piece of silicon die as the processor).

Great-Looking and Capable

Samsung is perhaps the first Windows PC manufacturer to actually come close to Apple in terms of build quality and design. Dell has tried with the Adamo, as have others, but this one actually succeeds in matching and even surpassing the MacBook Air on some levels. The Series 9 feels solid even though it is exceptionally thin. The computer is fast enough for most tasks thanks to its speedy CPU (relative to MacBook Air); just about anything can be done on the Series 9 save for playing the latest 3D games.

On the whole, it’s a machine with muscle beneath its thin frame. The surprising speed of the computer is much thanks to the flash disk that has replaced the mechanical hard drive. It boots quickly, almost instantly wakes up from sleep mode and takes care of everything related to reading and writing from disk quickly and efficiently.

Great Display, USB 3.0

Samsung’s high-end ultraportable is exactly what one would expect from its rather hefty price tag and then some. Its display is also something that stands out, with bright colors, excellent viewing angles, and also excellent outdoor properties (again thanks to its generous brightness). Another nice touch is the USB 3.0 connector on one side of the Series 9.

There are only a couple of issues where the Samsung misses the Bullseye. The touchpad is large and comes with more or less the same multi-tough gestures as in the MacBooks, but it’s overly sensitive–responding to the slightest touch and sometimes gets in the way of typing. Another nuisance is the automatic brightness adjustments, which is also overly sensitive.

Conclusion

In spite of these minor shortcomings, Samsung has done an admirable job with the Series 9. The price tag puts it squarely in the premium segment, but compared to Apple’s Macbook Air, which is considerably less powerful, this doesn’t seem justified to complain about; you get a faster processor, twice the RAM, USB 3.0 and an Ethernet port.

The crux of the matter for Mac users is of course that you also get Windows 7 instead of Mac OS X. But as a Windows version of the MacBook Air, the Series 9 is the first laptop to pass with flying colors.

Samsung Series 9 13″/11″ Prices:
	$1149.00
	$1599.00

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