Samsung Notebook 9 NP900X5T-X01US Laptop Review

For the most part Samsung’s latest offering into the Ultrabooks department is a bang on. Pricing in around $1499, Samsung Notebook 9 NP900X5T-X01US has lot going for it albeit considering a few flaws. The Laptop which is available in only Light Titan color is quite the sleek affair. Weighing in at only 2.8 lbs and measuring about 0.6 inches (H) the device is very light weight and portable.

Build quality is pretty amazing as it is expected from a brand like Samsung. An aluminum frame gives the added benefit of looking stylish and premium. The device is mostly flat, avoiding curves which contribute to the sleek factor and also providing room for more full sized ports. It has two USB 3.1 ports and a regular USB port along with a full sized HDMI port.

Samsung has future proofed this laptop with the addition of a type-c Thunderbolt port which has multiple functionality including fast charging or charging via a power bank. The laptop also has an AC charging port along with a micro SD card slot and a head headphone jack. The device can be opened with one hand and it opens up to 180 degrees.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The keyboard of this device is well spaced but lacks a tactile feel to it. Keyboard backlight could also be a bit brighter but all this just comes down to personal preference. Also fit snugly into the bottom right corner of the keyboard is the finger print scanner. Scanner is quite snappy and quick and does its job well.

Trackpad in this laptop is quite big and has a good finish to it. It is made out of glass and is quite responsive. This comes as no surprise because Samsung is one of the best manufacturers of track pads and hence this is one of the best out there.

Display and Audio

First things first, the screen of this laptop is extremely thin which adds to the overall look. It’s a 15 inch Full HD LED display with a resolution of 1920x 1080 and a 16:9 aspect ratio. Samsung being a top tier manufacturer of TVs and monitors, can’t really go wrong with the display and they don’t.

The display is pretty crisp, the blacks pretty deep and colors are vibrant. Having a 1080p resolution does have a boon and a curse though. The boon is that it contributes to battery life because the system doesn’t have to power a 4K FHD screen. The downside or the curse is that, you can’t edit or watch 4K quality videos.

Screen is not touch though which is not really important but then again comes down to personal preferences. As for the brightness of the screen the maximum brightness clocks out at 350 nits which is pretty bright but the Laptop also has an outdoor mode which adds about 150 nits more. This does have pretty big effect on the battery life but it is useful nevertheless.

Speakers on this device are nothing to write home about. It has stereo speakers with Realtek HD audio and is downwards firing. Sound quality is okay but it can be improved. All in all, not very impressive audio.

Performance and Storage

One thing to keep in mind is that, this is a performance driven device. It has an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 Mobile Processor along with NVIDIA MX150 graphics. So we have a quad core processor with a pretty decent but mid-range GPU. So, it is safe to say that this device is not suitable for heavy gaming. Games like League of Legends or DOTA 2 would work fine; it is suitable for light gaming. GPU in this case is useful for making your applications look perkier and snappier. This laptop is ideal for some Photoshop or Premiere pro.

Now coming to the memory, it has 16GB inbuilt RAM which is of DDR4 type, very quick and very modern. It helps a lot with performance. Huge chunks of computational tasks can be executed at once without any lag. SSD is kind of problem though because we are just offered 256GB space which is kind of low compared to what its competitors like Dell are offering. It has a PCle interface, which is very fast but still the space is very low.

Battery

This is the key feature of this laptop. It really has awesome battery life due to its huge 75 WH battery. Most important thing to note here is that many of the other features compliment this battery hereby increasing its life. This laptop has a 1080p display which zaps less battery as compared to 4K HD screen.

DDR4 ram actually boosts battery life and SSD consumes less battery compared to an HDD. It also supports fast charging via Thunderbolt port. So it is safe to say that Samsung has built this laptop around longevity and performance and has succeeded in it.

Software

Samsung has pre-installed many applications, some of which are removable and some are integrated into the system. As said before, Samsung has integrated an outdoor mode for more brightness. An HDR mode is also included. It is not true Dolby HDR but it is good enough to make colors look better. Anti- Virus protection by McAfee is included, which wasn’t really necessary but its there. There are also toggles for keyboard lighting, power saver mode, better performance mode etc. All in all Samsung does provide a useful bundle of pre-installed applications.

Verdict

Samsung Notebook 9 NP900X5T-X01US is a Laptop which appeals to a certain niche. It would be perfect laptop for a student or a lawyer or maybe even a doctor but it is not suitable a person who is just looking for a gaming experience.

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