Samsung Series 9 (NP900X3A) review

As you’d expect from an ultra-portable, there’s a 128GB SSD installed. This makes the laptop pretty snappy, with fast start up and application load times. It should be enough for most people’s needs, but you’ll need some external storage if you’ve got lots of videos, photos and music files.

An SSD uses less power than a mechanical hard disk, which should help to boost battery life. In our light use test, we managed to get almost six hours out of this model, which is the same as the 13.3in MacBook Air and impressive for such a slim device. The battery is integrated, so you can’t replace it easily without removing the entire underside.

With such a thin case, squeezing in ports of any type is going to be difficult. Flaps on either side pull down to reveal full-sized USB (one’s a USB3) ports and mini-HDMI. It’s slightly disappointing to see that there’s only a MicroSD card slot, as this format is only really used by smartphones, rather than video cameras and digital cameras that you’ll want to read from more often.

There’s also no room for a full Ethernet port, so Samsung provides a proprietary connector and adaptor in the box. You’ll need to make sure that you don’t lose this if you want to used wired networking.

Perhaps the biggest issue we have with the Series 9 is its price. At £1,299 it’s £90 more expensive than a 13.3in MacBook Air with a 128GB hard disk and 4GB of RAM. Currently, this extra cash buys you a brand new processor, where as the MacBook Air is running an old Core 2 Duo; however, as soon as the new models start coming out (rumoured to be June), Apple will have caught up.

Regardless of what Apple will do in the future, the Series 9 is a fantastic bit of kit. It’s well made, fast, light and has excellent battery. In short, it’s everything that you could want from an ultra-portable laptop. If you want Windows, it’s a great choice, but if the OS isn’t so important we’d be tempted to wait for the new MacBook Air instead.