With the 900X 3A, Korea’s Samsung has made one of the best ultraportable Windows laptops we’ve seen. Though it costs slightly more than a similarly sized MacBook Air, in a number of ways it’s better equipped than the Apple machine.
Weighing in at a meagre 1,3kg and measuring just 16,1mm at its thickest point, the 900X lives up to its ultraportable moniker. Despite its diminutive proportions, it is incredibly sturdy. Samsung says it’s wrapped in a particularly durable kind of aluminium usually found in aircraft, and unfortunately dubbed “Duralumin”.
The result is a brushed metal, black lid that looks great, though it does tend to collect fingerprints. Though the bottom of the unit looks like plastic, it’s actually powder-coated aluminium. The edges resemble an aircraft wing and are trimmed with chrome, all of which add to the 900X’s already glorious aesthetics.
Lifting the lid on the 900X reveals a backlit, slim and responsive keyboard, a Mac-like buttonless trackpad, and a 13,3-inch, 1366×768-resolution, 400-Nit backlit LED display. There’s no doubt the 900X is beautifully made, and turning it on proves that there’s plenty going on beneath its sleek exterior, too.
One of its most impressive features is that it goes from off to booted in under 20 seconds, and wakes up in three. This is thanks to three things: its 128GB solid-state drive (SSD), its Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor and something Samsung calls “Power Back”, which prioritises boot tasks and allows the remainder to occur in the background.
Samsung has managed to fit a surprising number of ports on the 900X, despite its diminutive size. The left-hand side’s port cover opens to reveal mini Ethernet (Samsung includes the necessary adaptor), mini HDMI and USB 3.0 ports, while the right-hand side has a microSD slot, a 3,5mm audio in-out jack and a USB 2.0 port. Like most ultraportables, the 900X has no optical drive, but who really needs one in this day and age?
The trackpad — or, as Samsung calls it, the “SuperButton ClickPad” — is clearly borrowed from Apple, and although it requires a bit of practice to get the required pressure right, it’s one of the best trackpads we’ve seen on a Windows laptop. Like the Air, the 900X also supports two-finger scrolling and four-finger gestures to bring up the desktop or Aero.
The inclusion of an ambient light sensor means the stunning 13,3-inch matte display does its utmost to conserve power. While it doesn’t boast the resolution of a 13-inch MacBook, the 900X’s colours are vivid, its blacks are deep, and its viewing angles are excellent. Moreover, the inclusion of Intel’s integrated HD 3000 graphics card means it handles HD content with aplomb.
Samsung claims battery life in the region of seven hours, but actual use sees it tap out around the five-hour mark, depending on screen brightness and what you’re actually doing with it, of course. Still, for such a compact device, that’s entirely respectable. A minor gripe, however, is that there is no external indicator showing when the device is charging.
The question, really, is whether or not it measures up to the MacBook Air. Though it has a lower resolution screen, a less impressive touchpad and doesn’t quite match the Air’s battery life, the 900X includes USB 3.0, a microSD slot, Bluetooth 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, a faster processor and a backlit keyboard.
The TechCentral unboxing (via YouTube):
Available this month, the 900X will retail for R13 999. That’s R1 000 more than the equivalent MacBook Air, but the Air has a slower processor and half the RAM (the Samsung has 4GB standard, expandable to 8GB). The 900X is aimed at power users who demand portability and expect to spend five figures on a laptop. Not only is it priced in keeping with its competitors, but the 900X delivers the best performance we’ve seen to date.
Would we recommend it? Without a doubt. — Craig Wilson, TechCentral
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