PCWorld: Review: Samsung Series 9 Ultraportable Laptop
Less than 3 lbs. and only .7 of an inch thick, the new Samsung Series 9 laptop goes head-to-head with Apple’s stylish MacBook Air and keeps pace with it – it’s faster but also more expensive. PC World gives it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
“Samsung’s Series 9 laptop isn’t the first Windows-bearing PC to try to steal Apple’s MacBook Air limelight. Remember the troubled Adamo from Dell, set to compete with the first-generation Air? At less than three pounds and 0.7 inch thick, the Series 9 is trying again where Dell slipped up the first time. While the Adamo offered inferior hardware at a dramatically higher price than Apple, Samsung at least gets the hardware part right, and narrows the price gap a little. The Series 9 is costlier than the competing 13-inch MacBook Air with a starting price of $1649 (compared with Apple’s $1299), but it offers mostly superior hardware and is eminently usable.
The biggest advantage that Samsung’s slim wonder has over the Air is in the processor. Apple is still using a two-generations-old Core 2 Duo, while the Series 9 comes equipped with a new “Sandy Bridge” Core i5 2537M. So, while the default clock speed of the Air is 1.86GHz (with a 2.13GHz option available), and the ultralow-voltage CPU in the Series 9 is only 1.4GHz, the Samsung laptop is actually a bit faster. Some of this is due to architectural differences between the old Intel chip and the new one, and some of it is because the Core i5 2537M allows for Turbo Mode speeds up to 2.3GHz. The difference is not astounding, but it’s noticeable: The Series 9 earned a WorldBench score of 103, while the 13-inch MacBook Air scored 90. Also note that while Apple gives you 2GB of RAM, Samsung includes 4GB.”
