Samsung Notebook 9 Pro review: Good at almost everything, including light gaming - grabowskicaseas

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

S-Pen support lets you write out and draw with ease
Long assault and battery living
Good performance

Cons

Speaker volume is weak

Our Verdict

Samsung's Notebook 9 Pro enhances its mainstream design with three notable features: a 360-grade hinge, a Radeon 540 discrete GPU, and the S-Compose stylus. It does a good job of giving you a short bit of everything, and the battery life is great, just the pen affirm is the biggest edge it has o'er the competition.

The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro is aiming for the mediate, in a echt fashio. Compared to otherwise models we've proven recently that offer a intoxicated-resolution touchscreen display, a 360-degree hinge, a cool metal chassis, and flatbottom pen support, IT's cautiously designed to offer a little bit of everything, with a few standout features: a discrete Radeon RX 540 GPU, an integrated S-Pen with special Samsung applications A well as Windows 10 inking compatibility, and impressively lasting battery life.

Given its good whole showing, the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro is a laptop many multitude can suchlike, including entry-level gamers. You'll see us comparison it to two other 15-inch laptops with 360-degree hinges: The Lenovo Yoga 720 is very similar in design and price, but its Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 discrete GPU makes it heavier and hotter as well as faster. The 15-inch H.P. Spectre x360 is considered a grade leader, but you mightiness be dumbstricken at how it performed in our tests compared to the Notebook 9 Pro.

Price, specs, and features

The Notebook 9 Pro theoretical account we tried and true (poetically named NP940X5M-X01US) costs $1,300 as configured and is the higher-end of the cardinal SKUs in this mathematical product line (we'll briefly name the former SKU beneath).

CPU: Intel Core i7-7500U. This is a 7th-generation Kaby Lake threefold-core Central processor with a base clock of 2.7GHz and a maximum clock speed of 3.5GHz. It's a pretty sound crisp, but as you'll see in our tests, the performance difference 'tween plural-core and quad-marrow CPUs is significant.

RAM: 16GB of DDR4 RAM. You'll shut up construe some laptops with simply 8GB, merely 16GB is the sweetly speckle right now.

samsung notebook 9 pro ventilation grilles — The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro has delicate grillwork on the bottom board for aerial intake, and along the hinge for effortful warm air. The sports fan is whisper-hush.

GPU: AMD Radeon RX 540 with 2GB of GDDR5 memory. This lower-end discrete GPU isn't going to burn whatever barns, but it'll serve for light gaming.

Display: 15-inch, FHD (1920×1080) IPS LED touchscreen whose top bezel houses a 720p webcam and a facial sensor for use with Windows Hello. The video display offers a sounded maximum brightness of 344 nits (eligible with Samsung's 350-nit spec). You wouldn't want to trash it up each the way, however, especially when running connected bombardment, as brighter displays down more baron.

samsung notebook 9 pro right side ports — The ports along the right side of the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro include microSD and ii USB-A.

Storage: 256GB SATA3 M.2 SSD. A Samsung model, natch, and a good size.

Ports: One USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type C, two USB 3.0 Type A, microSD. To its credit, there's as wel a sonorous HDMI port for connecting an external display. This handy port wine is getting harder to find as laptops bugger off slimmer.

samsung notebook 9 pro left side ports — The ports on the left-hand position of the Samsung Notebook computer 9 Favoring include Alternating current, HDMI, USB-C, and audio.

Weight: A tote-able 3.8 pounds. Bring some other 0.7 Ezra Loomis Poun for the AC adapter. This compares well to 4 pounds, 7 ounces for the 15-edge in HP Spectre x360 and 4 pounds, 9 ounces for the Lenovo Yoga 720.

Dimensions: 13.67 x 9.41 x 0.67 inches

The Notebook 9 Pro has a lower-priced sibling, the NP940X5M-X03US, which differs in having a lower-end dual-core CPU, specifically the Kernel i5-7200U, and only 8GB of RAM. At $1,100, IT seems like a lot to sacrifice for meet $200 in savings.

Occupied: A well-self-balancing automobile

samsung notebook 9 pro tent mode3 — The 360-stage hinge lets you use the Samsung Notebook computer 9 Affirmative in orientations from grapple to tent musical mode (shown) to tablet mode.

The Notebook computer 9 Pro has its quirks, but gross it's a well thought-come out of the closet product. Sure, you South Korean won't get the charisma and drama of a flagship, but pretty much everything works.

The matte-aluminum form with chromed Samsung logo is tasteful and sturdy. There's just some flex in either uncomplete of the body, and the 360-degree hinges feel rock-solid. We treasure the lighter angle as well—bringing IT along doesn't feel like a hard choice.

samsung notebook 9 pro keyboard detail — The Samsung Notebook 9 Favoring has a comfortable keyboard, with slightly concave keys for easier typing.

The keyboard texture is slippery, only the slightly concave keys serve hold bac fingers where they're supposed to be. The keys feel comfortably spaced, none are in an odd location, and their travel feels comfortable. The trackpad is very large and responsive, and its centered location is great—it's always disconcerting when it shifts to one side.

samsung notebook 9 pro s pen — The S-Pen tucks into its own one-armed bandit on the front of the Samsung Notebook 9 Affirmative.

More and Sir Thomas More laptops offer write support, but Samsung had a head start with the S-Pen technology it was already victimization on its Android tablets and phones. A huge advantage off the chiropteran: The pen is housed in its possess slot in the underside of the Notebook computer 9 Pro, rather than in some floppy grommet or loosey-goosey magnetized connecter. You will need to find a riskless place for the special tweezers for removing and instalmen the spare nibs that come with the laptop.

Additionally to its endure for Windows 10 inking features, the S-Pen comes with its own note-taking, drawing, and else productivity apps. Collectively called Gymnastic Instruction, they're easily summoned when you remove the pen from its slot or urge its button when it's near the display. I enjoyed wholly of them, particularly how you ass digitally fuse colors in the drawing app, and how you can select video clips with the pen to relieve oneself your own animated GIFs.

samsung notebook 9 pro air command — Press the S-Write out's release to summon the Air Command menu of Samsung playpen apps. The S-Pen also whole kit and boodle with Windows 10's inking features.

There was only one fulgent brea in our test building block, and that was the audio. The double speakers in the Notebook 9 Pro, nestled into the arse panel, have got a surprisingly limited intensity range, specially considering that this laptop computer is meant to gambling games as well as stream media.

Along the brighter position, the Notebook 9 Pro's discrete GPU runs pretty cool. The slender intake grille connected the bed venire and the exhaust vent between the hinges murmur gently during operation.

Execution: Fortunate medium

The Notebook 9 Pro's test results survey its path of mitigation—with one important exception. You'll see information technology tracks nearly with the similarly configured 15-inch HP Shade x360 on most tests. Although the similarly designed Lenovo Yoga 720 has the advantage of a quad-substance CPU and a more knock-down discrete GPU, the Notebook computer 9 Pro shows information technology a thing OR two. Simply wait 'til you see the electric battery life, which is truly eye-popping and could represent the deciding element for some users.

Our first trial is PCMark Work 8 Conventional, which simulates everyday activities like entanglement browsing, video chew the fat, and document editing. It's a good test for isolating the CPU's character in everyday use. Any machine scoring 2,000 Beaver State above will sail along swimmingly during these devalued-intensity tasks.

samsung notebook 9 pro pcmark 8 work conv — The Samsung Notebook computer 9 Pro can hold its own in mainstream applications, even against quad-core contest.

It's a light test, so it's not surprising that the Notebook 9 Affirmative gets rightmost into the mix with the quad-core competition. The HP Spectre x360 lagged behind moderately because of its 4K display, which simply demands more processing power.

Cinebench R15 offers a useful counterpoint to PCMark Work 8 Nonrepresentational. It's a footloose 3D rendition tryout based connected Maxon's line Cinema4D engine. It's almost altogether Central processor-bound and scales well with the number of cores and threads. In the case of the Notebook computer 9 Pro, you can see a starker difference 'tween its dual-core Central processing unit and the quad-core you can get with the Lenovo Yoga 720.

samsung notebook 9 pro cinebench r15 — In the CPU-intensive Cinebench test, the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro performs as we'd have a bun in the oven for a dual-core CPU, hanging far support compared to quadriceps-core CPUs.

Editing and converting videos offers another good test of dual-core vs. quad-core, because more cores make a big difference. We used the popular and gratuitous Handbrake encoder to change a 30GB 1080p video using the integral Humanoid tablet preset. Because of how long it runs, the results seat also reveal how a system handles itself under heavy thermal load.

samsung notebook 9 pro handbrake — The Samsung Notebook 9 Professional surprised us in the Handbrake test, acting its telecasting changeover quicker than the similar HP Spectre x360.

As you seat see in the chart above, the quad-core Lenovo Yoga 720 and Dell XPS 15 handily beat the treble-core Notebook 9 Pro at this intensive task. Nonetheless, the Notebook 9 Pro in turn makes the HP Spectre x360 look after like a laggard, likely because of fountain choking.

Futuremark's 3DMark Sky Diver is a synthetic test that measures the art performance of a PC. Although it doesn't use an actual computer game engine, IT's still well respected and clearly shows what you get if you prefer for a distinct GPU.

samsung notebook 9 pro 3dmark skydiver — The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro performs predictably in the GPU-intensive 3DMark Skydiver test given its moderately brawny RX 540 GPU.

No surprise, the to a greater extent powerful art engines in the Lenovo Yoga 720 and Dell XPS 15 prevail in this mental test. To its cite, the Samsung Notebook computer 9 Pro achieves a batch with what it has, particularly compared to the Horsepower Spectre x360.

Outstanding battery life

On top of this bullnecked overall benchmark performance, the Notebook 9 Professional can rightfully blow about its battery life story. Note that your mileage will vary depending connected how you enjoyment your laptop, and what power-sucking or power-sipping components it mightiness have. For our try out, we set the display brightness at an office-veritable 250 nits and scan the battery away looping a 4K video, with a pair of earbuds plugged in and the laptop dictated to airplane fashion.

samsung notebook 9 pro battery life — The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro posted an impressive 590 proceedings, Oregon nearly 10 hours, of bombardment life.

The Notebook 9 Pro has a 4-cell, 3,530 mAh/54Whr lithium ion barrage, which lasts up to 11.5 hours, per Samsung. In our test IT lasted 590 minutes, or nearly 10 hours, long enough for most people to get done their day. The other laptops in that chart take over overmuch larger batteries (79.2Whr for the HP Spectre x360, 97Whr for the Dell XPS 15, and 72Whr for the Lenovo Yoga 720), but they can't preserve with the Notebook 9 Pro—their systems demand more power.

A bonus feature we didn't trial run: You prat compress a little Sir Thomas More life out of your laptop computer by charging information technology with any USB-C-connected smartphone battery pack. You won't be capable to recharge the laptop computer fully, just it's a nice backup if you're running along fumes. Anecdotally we also tried and true a third-party USB battery charger on the Notebook 9 Pro, and it was willing to take out a charge.

Conclusion

Samsung's Notebook 9 Pro does a really genuine Book of Job of balancing performance and features with battery aliveness. It's the sort of laptop a mainstream user can get without touch sensation they've compromised much. The distinct GPU, while modest, gives it a notable boost over laptops with integrated graphics. Best of all, the pen support and the long-unceasing battery offer lots of productiveness for the money. The tough option is between this model and the Lenovo Yoga 720. It comes down to how more art power you want, and for what sort of tradeoff. The irregular gamers will liable come down on the side of the Notebook 9 Pro.