Samsung is refreshing its notebook lineup with two new models: a premium thin-and-light convertible with an all-metal design and an Intel Whiskey lake processor and a budget model sporting an Intel Gemini Lake processor and a plastic chassis.

The new Samsung Notebook 9 Pro is a 13.3 inch convertible with a touchscreen display, pen support, and a 360-degree hinge. It has a refreshed design, an aluminum chassis, and an Intel Whiskey Lake processor.

There’s no word on the price or release date yet, other than “early 2019,” but Samsung’s Notebook 9 series devices don’t tend to be cheap.

The latest model features diamond-cut edges, stereo 1.5 watt speakers, a backlit keyboard, a fingerprint sensor, and it comes with a pen that supports more than 4000 levels of pressure sensitivity.

The 2019 Samsung Notebook 9 Pro featrues an Intel Core o7-8565U processor, 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 256GB of PCIe NVMe solid state storage, and a 55 Wh battery.

It has two Thunderbolt 3/USB Type-C ports, one more USB-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card slot, and the laptop measures 12.1″ x 8.1″ x 0.55″ and weighs 2.84 pounds.

Samsung also recently introduced a related model called the Samsung Notebook 9 Pen. That version has a smaller, S-Pen stylus that fits into a hole in the laptop when it’s not in use. The Notebook 9 Pro pen is too large to do that with.

The company is also bringing a new budget laptop to market. It’s called the Samsung Notebook Flash, and it’s a 13.3 inch model with an Intel Gemini Lake processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of eMMC storage.

The Samsung Notebook Flash measures 12.7″ x 8.6″ x 0.67″ and weighs about 3 pounds. It has a full HD display and a fingerprint sensor, which are both a little unusual on low-cost laptops. It’ll be available with Intel Celeron N4000 or Pentium Silver N5000 processor options.

I/O features include two USB Type-C ports, a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, a headset jack, and a microSD card reader. The laptop has a 39 Wh battery and supports 802.11ac WiFi.

Samsung hasn’t provided pricing information for either laptop yet.

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3 replies on “Samsung introduces Notebook 9 Pro premium convertible and Notebook Flash budget laptops”

  1. Is it just me who finds the Samsung Notebook Flash the most interesting of what Brad has showcased so far? My notebook buying strategy so far has been buying refurbished X-series ThinkPads, but I’d be happy to ditch this strategy to buy something new for a fair price, even if it’s less powerful, new hardware have its advantages.

    For example in 2017 I’ve bought the then 4-year old ThinkPad X230 for 220 euros. My unit looked new, by the way. For me the three most important features of a notebook are its screen, keyboard, and pointing device. For light use. Mine has a 12.5″ 1366 by 768 TN panel, I can’t complain about the keyboard and the pointing stick. I’d even upgrade to something new with a 11.6″ 1366 by 768 display but at least with IPS. It has its benefits, when it comes to Linux: https://liliputing.com/2019/01/asus-introduces-3-new-chromebooks-for-students.html#comment-1126000

    Sadly, most value 11.6″ notebooks don’t come with IPS displays. Who needs a 2-in-1 with a tablet mode? I don’t. I’d rather buy yet another decent tablet.

    One other thing is battery life. The ThinkPads of this age have either huge, heavy, bulging batteries or small, weak batteries. So I just removed mine and use the notebook always plugged in. I certainly feel less mobile this way. In this aspect new technology may be an improvement. My other interest in a new and even relatively less prestigious notebook than the ThinkPad X is fanless operation. It’s not so straightforward (or worthwhile) to dissect a ThinkPad X and clean its fan. Any thoughts on my rambling?

    1. There are three valid options, good, bad and ugly.

      The good one is “just” to earn some money to buy X280 or X1. Yeah.

      The bad one is to go shoping for 11-13″ Aliexpress laptops, like Jumper EZBook or Chuwi. These laptops usually have IPS and a M.2 2242 slot (not NVMe, though), passively cooled Apollo/Gemini Lake CPUs, and can live on battery for 8-9 hours. Also, they are really cheap (sub 300 eur without an SSD and customs). The downside is that RAM is soldered in that price range and that you’re basically gambling on the build quality as warranty issues are hard to resolve. Generally the build quality is okay, but it’s gambling still.

      The ugly one is to embrace that X230 is a very moddable laptop. Replacing the screen to 1366×768 IPS is pretty straightforward (x230+ips+mod will result in plenty of guides and videos) and the screens themselves are about 50 euros with shipping. Upgrading to FHD IPS is possible, though it requires a specialized PCB and some soldering, consult https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=122640 if you’re interested in it. Also, you can find a battery up to your liking on Aliexpress (looks like a 6-cell aftermarket is an acceptable tradeoff) and people at https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-REQUEST-Lenovo-Thinkpad-X230-i-G2ETxxWW-Whitelist-Removal are usually very helpful at making them work.

      1. There are a lot of things, let’s get into them!

        “There are three valid options, good, bad and ugly. ”

        From all the options, you somehow missed the one I’m talking about: The Samsung Notebook Flash.

        “The good one is “just” to earn some money to buy X280 or X1. Yeah.”

        You made two assumptions with this one: That I’m poor and that I wish I could buy an X280 for 1000. Neither is true in this form. Mostly because I’m not a notebook person in the first place in 2019. A notebook is just one of the gadgets my portfolio consists of: It isn’t my main device. Under no circumstances I see it justified to spend 1000 on one. Let alone the X280 isn’t functionally that different to me to justify the price difference. It loses its value quite quickly.

        I said I’ve bought the X230 in 2017 for 220 euros. Similarly, I could easily upgrade for an X250 in 2019 for roughly the same price. Sure, the X280 is an upgrade. But the X250 is an upgrade, too for 1/4 the price, and the two, functionally, are almost identical to me. If I wanted an IPS display in an X-series ThinkPad, there are older, cheaper options than the latest X280. But it isn’t my priority either.

        Yeah, I said the three most important things for me in a laptop are its keyboard and pointing device, and its screen. I forgot to add that in this particular order. That input devices are most important than the screen. What I forgot to add that besdes its input devices and screen, I wish my notebook were fanless, which most of them, like the X-series, aren’t. Only special notebooks are fanless.

        I can relate to this Linus Sebastian video I’ve just seen on YouTube in which he said for 90-95% of times a Chromebook would be fine for you. But not for the other 5-10% of time. So don’t buy one. Chromebooks are these cheap and not so powerful (but fanless!) notebooks with nice keyboards and touchpads (thanks to Google’s strict standards), but mostly TN panel displays. Almost a good compromise, unless it’s hard if not impossible to install any OS other than ChromeOS on most of them. Unless that particular Chromebook is supported by a community BIOS.

        That’s why I said this cheap Samsung is a step in the right direction by PC makers to make affordable, fanless Windows notebooks as well with nice keyboards and hopefully its touchpad is nice as well. I hope the other PC makers will make competing devices to this Samsung Notebook Flash.

        To address your post, I certainly don’t want to add a big, heavy battery bulging out from my X230, nor bothering with installing an IPS display. My main pet peeve with this machine is cleaning the fan. I’m not 100% comfortable with the process of taking it all apart, so I rather just sell if after 2 years of service than paying someone 40 euros to do the cleaning for me and get an X250 instead. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

        Thank for your tips though, the BIOS Mods site might be helpful for something in the future! So any thoughts on the Samsung Notebook Flash in particular and the possible direction it may mean to cheap Windows notebooks to compete with Chromebooks? I rather embrace brands with established sales and service channels in the West making these type of notebooks than having to buy a Chuwi from AliExpress. Chuwi is welcome to establish itself in the West, though. However I’m skeptical of its notebook’s keyboard and touchpad as of yet. I’ve learned from The Verge’s report that the Samsung Notebook Flash has been available since autumn in Asia as you can find two videos of it on Samsung’s official YouTube channel and I’ve also found some hands-on videos from CES. I’t s available for pre-order on Samsung’s US site. It display isn’t IPS. I get that, they have to save somewhere to keep a price point. It’s a nice looking device, though.

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