Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus review

Samsung was among the first manufacturers to test the waters with an Ultrabook, so it should come as no surprise that the company is also among the first to take the form factor to the next level. The Ativ Book 9 Plus might be a mouthful to say, but its eye-wateringly stunning 3,200×1,800 touchscreen display makes it one highly desirable bit of kit.

DESIGN

On first inspection, little has changed from the previous generation Samsung Series 9 laptops: other than a new name, the Ativ Book 9 Plus retains the same gunmetal grey finish and tapered sides which expand out towards the rear of the machine to make room for the ports.

Twin USB3 ports, Micro HDMI, mini VGA, a 3.5mm audio jack and a multi-format card reader are all you get, which is unsurprising given the size of the laptop. 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 are standard inclusions, but Intel Wi-Di wireless display technology and the gigabit Ethernet adaptor bundled in the box are welcome extras.

From closed the laptop opens to a typical working angle with a single finger …

However, what was once built from several parts is now machined from a single piece of aluminium, with barely any give or flex in the display or main chassis. This makes it slightly heavier than the outgoing model, although at 1.4kg it’s still eminently portable.

An astounding amount of work has gone into perfecting the design. The screen hinges were developed specifically so you can open the lid with just one finger, but then firm up at around 100 degrees so the screen doesn’t wobble either in general use or as a touchscreen. Apply firmer pressure and the lid will open out flat to 180 degrees, letting you use the Ativ more like a tablet than a laptop when you have the room to do so.

… push it more firmly though and it will open up a full 180 degrees

DISPLAY

However you use it, you’ll be blown away by the clarity of the 13.3in display. It uses toughened glass and has no air gap, meaning reflections from the internal backlight are significantly reduced, and at 350nits it’s more than bright enough for indoor use. The glossy finish would make a dimmer screen impossible to read outside because of light reflections, but the Ativ holds up well even in direct sunlight – even if maximum brightness will increase battery drain.

Of course, the star of the show is the huge 3,200×1,800 resolution. That’s over twice the horizontal resolution and 720 more vertical lines than a standard 1080p display, squeezed into a 13.3in screen. That equates to 275 pixels per inch (PPI), which is a higher density than Apple’s Retina iPad 4. The PLS panel has superb viewing angles too, so you should be able to take it all in regardless of how far back you tilt the screen. Naturally for a high-end Ultrabook it’s touch-enabled too, feeling just as responsive as an iPad or quality Android tablet.

Until Windows 8.1 sorts out ultra-high resolution desktop scaling, Samsung has used its own scaling settings to make working at 3,200×1,800 less of a strain on the eyes. This lets you change the text from normal to large scale, or to render the entire desktop at 1080p. We stuck with the latter setting for the most part, as it made working with photos an absolute joy, although it’s worth keeping in mind this setting doesn’t apply to certain apps; we had to squint to read the menus on the pre-installed Photoshop Elements trial. Compared to Apple’s excellent OS X scaling, Windows still has a long way to go, and although this isn’t Samsung’s fault, its solution isn’t a complete fix.

The scaling isn’t perfect, as the teeny, tiny text in Photoshop Elements shows

The down-firing stereo speakers were never going to match the stunning display, but they do a reasonable job with MP3s and YouTube videos. Just don’t expect to enjoy a full-length film without reaching for a pair of headphones first.

HARDWARE PERFORMANCE

The 4th Generation Intel Core i5-4200U processor at the heart of the Ativ Book 9 Plus usually runs at 1.6GHz, but can Turbo Boost up to 2.3GHz when extra performance is required so we never felt wanting for more power. Paired with 4GB of RAM, it should be more than enough for general productivity and office use, as well as multimedia playback and even some light gaming. An overall score of 47 in our updated benchmarks put it on par with Sony’s Vaio Pro 13, which has the same CPU. The 128GB SSD also helps give the system a speed boost when powering on or resuming from sleep – it reaches Windows in less than 10 seconds from a cold boot, and resumes from sleep in less than two.

The i5-4200U is an ultra-low voltage chip, so uses even less power than the already miserly standard Haswell laptop chips, meaning it should last a long time away from the mains. In our light-use test, it managed a superb 11 hours 17 minutes hours, which puts it among the longest lasting laptops we’ve tested. It’s not quite on par with Apple’s unbelievable MacBook Air results, but you’ll still comfortably get a full working day from a single charge.

Intel also provides the graphics power, courtesy of the HD 4400 integrated GPU. It’s perfectly capable of rendering such a vast desktop and plays nicely with full HD video, but even this latest generation isn’t going to handle much gaming. In Dirt Showdown, it managed 19.7fps at 720p, so a reduction in image quality settings will be in order to play most modern titles smoothly, and you can forget about playing at the native resolution.

EVERYDAY USE

We found the Ativ Book 9 Plus an absolute joy to use for everyday tasks, thanks to the excellent keyboard/touchpad combination. The Chiclet-style keyboard has a bright white backlight which is easy to read in low light as well as total darkness. This makes a welcome change from some of the earlier Series 9 machines, which had a blue LED that was often difficult to read. The function keys remain blue here, but it’s less of a problem when it comes to everyday tasks.

The keyboard itself uses full size keys and was incredibly responsive to type on, which came as a surprise given the ultra-thin chassis. Each key has plenty of bounce and a great amount of travel, and although the keyboard tray flexes slightly under pressure, it had no effect on our typing speed or error rate.

The wrist rest is surprisingly spacious for a 13in laptop, although it’s here you’ll find the embossed logos for Samsung’s SideSync and HomeSync apps. We wouldn’t mind it if they were removable stickers, but there’s no way to peel them off and their presence spoils the otherwise completely minimal design.

Although we usually prefer physical touchpad buttons, the all-in-one model used here works very well, thanks to greatly improved palm rejection that prevents accidentally knocking the mouse cursor when typing. It supports all the standard Windows 8 swipe gestures but defaults to inverted two-finger scrolling (so moving your fingers down scrolls up the screen). Thankfully there’s an option to switch it back if you prefer.

THE VERDICT

Intel’s Ultrabook specification has evolved significantly over the last few years, and if the Ativ Book 9 Plus is any indication, Samsung is now at the forefront of the form factor. It’s a stunning piece of hardware with outstanding build quality, a gorgeous display and excellent battery life.

Currently there are very few laptops with resolutions higher than 1,920×1,080. Even Apple’s Retina display Macbook Pro models can’t compete with the Ativ Book 9 Plus in terms of raw pixel count, and those are still powered by previous generation Intel processors. Because of this, we think £1,300 is a reasonable price, although that’s still an awful lot of money to pay for a laptop. If you have that kind of money to spend, then this is the best thin and light Windows laptop available today.