Samsung Series 9 worthy rival to Apple MacBook Air

in Cracking Open , in Hardware on May 20, 2011, 6:22 AM PST

Bill Detwiler cracks open Apple's redesigned Mac mini for a look at the hardware inside the new unibody enclosure.

At CES 2011, Samsung revealed its answer to the Apple MacBook Air—the Series 9 notebook. This ultrathin laptop has impressive hardware, but it also has an impressive price tag. As of this writing, the 13" Samsung Series 9 (Model: 900X3A) has a suggested retail price of $1,649.99 (US). The 11" Series 9 (Model: 900X1A) has a suggested retail price of $1,199.99 (US).

Samsung sent TechRepublic a 13" Series 9 to test, and I just couldn't resist taking it apart. I'm glad I did. I discovered that the Series 9's case is easy to open, it uses quality internal hardware, and you can upgrade the RAM. I only have one real complaint about the Series 9—listed below.

Full teardown gallery: Cracking Open the Samsung Series 9 (13.3-inch) ultraportable notebook

The 13" Samsung Series 9 has a unique Duralumin case and weighs 2.88 pounds and measures 12.9" (W) x 8.9" (D) x ~0.62" (H).

Our 13" test machine had the following technical specifications:

Processor: 1.4GHz Intel Core i5-2537M
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 3000
RAM: 4GB DDR3 (8GB max)
Storage: 128GB Samsung SSD
Display: 13.3" LED display (400nit; 1366 x 768 max resolution)
Battery: 6-cell Lithium, 6300 mAh (up to 7 hours of battery life)
Ports: Micro HDMI, Ethernet (requires dongle), 1 USB, 2 USB, Micro DS Card slot, headphone jack, mic-in jack
Speakers: 3W Stereo speakers with HD audio
Camera: 1.3MP HD webcam (optional)
Input device: Touch pad (supports multitouch)
Wireless: 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth V3.0 High Speed
Warranty: 3-year
Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Internal hardware and chips

Cracking Open observations

The Series 9's Duralumin case is sturdy, but it doesn't offer the same rigidity as the MacBook Air's unibody aluminum enclosure.

The Series 9 uses standard Phillips screws both inside and outside the case. This fact meant I didn't need to constantly swap driver bits during the teardown or purchase a special screwdriver.

Unlike the MacBook Air (2010), the Series 9 uses standard DDR3 SODIMM DRAM chips. The Series 9's motherboard has two, 204-pin SODIMM slots and can support up to 8GB of RAM. The MacBook Air's 2GB of Elpida 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM was soldered to the machine's motherboard. I was glad to see that our test machine came with a single 4GB chip. This allows you to upgrade the RAM by purchasing a second 4GB chip. Too many PC manufacturers fill their machine's memory slots with low-density chips, which forces you to buy all new chips when upgrading the RAM.

My only real complaint with the Series 9 is its GPU. Samsung used the Intel Core i5-2537M processor's integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 technology. For the Series 9's price tag, I would have preferred it to use a separate GPU, such as the MacBook Air's NVIDIA GeForce 320M.