Since its official global launch at the end of July this year, there have been a number of contenders launching their new Windows 10 products. The latest to join is Samsung with two new products: The ATIV Book 9 Pro for the notebook market with a 4K display, and the 2-in-1 ATIV Book 9 Spin.
Priced at around $1,600 and $1,400 respectively, they join the ATIV Book 9 released earlier this year as part of a range of premium-price products designed to compete with market front runners Apple and Google. Both new products will be on sale in the US this month.
The Book 9 had a somewhat muted reception when it was released on March1st. While it performed better than many peer products using Windows 8, the battery life was no match for a MacBook, and the lack of touch screen, small touch pad, and high price tag meant it failed to make the hoped-for impact on the market. Can Samsung fare better this time?
ATIV Book 9 Pro
The technical specs:
- 6” 4K touch display
- NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 950M graphics processor
- 8GB RAM
- 6GHz Intel Core i7 processor
- 256GM SSD
What does all this mean?
THE PROS:
The ATIV Book 9 Pro looks the part with its backlit keyboard, Type C reversible USB port (in addition to three Type A ports), 4K HDMI output, SD card reader, and microphone port. The 4K display is great, though perhaps a little wasted on a screen this small, and weighing in at 1.81kg, this laptop is lighter than a MacBook Pro.
THE CON:
The big downside is, as with its predecessor, the Book 9, battery life. Though 6.5 hours is a very respectable charge life, it’s far from being one of the best available. A MacBook Pro (with a similar price tag to the ATIV Book 9 Pro) has a charge life of up to 9 hours.
ATIV Book 9 Spin
The technical specs:
- 3” QHD+ display
- Intel HD Graphics processor
- 5GHz Intel Core i7 processor
- 8GB RAM
- 256GM SSD
The lack of 4K display is irrelevant on a screen of this size, so leaving it off the list of specs I favour of the 3,200 by1, 800 pixel resolution, QHD+ display may be a smart move on Samsung’s part. So, what do we think of the rest of it?
THE PROS:
Aside from its obvious technical pros, as a 2-in-1 (tablet and laptop at once) option; the ATIV Book 9 Spin looks great and ticks a lot of boxes: touch screen, and a display that can be removed and used as a tablet or swiveled on a 360-degree hinge.
THE CONS:
Like the Book 9 and the Book 9 Pro, the Spin falls down on battery life. The manufacturer specs say 7.5 hours—not bad, but not the 9+ hours of the HP Spectre x360, for example.
Our conclusion?
Both the Book 9 Pro and the Spin are good and stylish products. At the more expensive end of the market, you’re paying for graphics, high quality displays, and high processing and storage capacities. Much of this comes at the expense of battery life.
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