Samsung CES Booth Tour: Tablets, Phones, and Core M ATIV Book 9
by Jarred Walton on January 19, 2015 2:41 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Samsung
- Smartphones
- Mobile
- Tablets
- Trade Shows
- ATIV
- Ultrabook
- Core M
- CES 2015
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Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Samsung’s booth is what they weren’t showing: laptops. They had exactly one laptop on display, the new ATIV Book 9 with Core M-5Y10c – that’s the configurable TDP “c” variant of Core M, which allows the manufacturer to target different power levels. In the case of the 5Y10c, it can target 3.5W and 6W as well as the default 4.5W, allowing for lower performance but potentially increased battery life (or at least less heat) on the one hand, and higher performance but more heat (and potentially less battery life) on the other. On paper, the configurable TDP mostly affects the base frequency, with the default being 800MHz and TDP down dropping that to 600MHz while TDP up bumps it to 1GHz – the maximum Turbo Boost remains 2GHz in all modes, as far as I’m aware – but for sustained workloads the TDP should also affect what Turbo clock the CPU is able to maintain.
The laptop itself is quite sleek, with hints of the MacBook Air school of design, and Samsung is boasting of battery life of up to 12.5 hours. Connectivity consists of two USB 3.0 ports (one with sleep charging), a headset jack, a micro-SD slot, and one micro-HDMI port. The display is also a nice looking 2560x1600 panel – yes, that’s a 16:10 resolution for a change – which is the same display used in the Samsung Galaxy Tab/Note Pro 12.2. I have to admit that it’s still rather frustrating that other than Apple, all laptops are generally now on 16:9 aspect ratio displays while most tablets remain at 16:10, but I digress. The latest ATIV Book 9 should be shipping soon (it’s listed as preorder/out of stock on at least a few sites), with pricing of $1399 for 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD.
The remainder of the Samsung booth was mostly products that have already launched, with a lot of tablets and phones on display. There were a few non-US phones (the A5 and A3), and the Galaxy Note Edge that has an OLED with the curved right side ostensibly used for notifications and other items that looks interesting but may not be particularly practical. The Galaxy Tab S tablets were also present, along with the ruggedized and waterproof Galaxy Tab Active. Of course it was fun to ask the booth attendants about the hardware only to be told “we’re not making that information public yet” – particularly unhelpful since the products are already on store shelves. The Tab Active is equipped with a Snapdragon 400 if you’re wondering, so it’s more about being rugged than performance, and the price as usual for ruggedized products is quite high.
Of course Samsung had a ton of other products on display, including displays, HDTVs, All-in-One PCs, and more, but our primary focus was on the above categories for this CES.
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Source: Samsung
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Notmyusualid - Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - link
+1ingwe - Monday, January 19, 2015 - link
It is a shame you have to deal with this. Some people just can't be happy. Also, if you painted it silver, people couldn't tell the difference.Will you get a chance to review the ATIV 9? I am really hoping Samsung sends you one.
JarredWalton - Monday, January 19, 2015 - link
I'm going to see if I have any good Samsung contacts... we didn't seem to get anything at CES for them, but let's hope.JeffFlanagan - Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - link
Someone points out your error, and your response is "Give me a break", and a bunch of other mindless defensiveness, displaying your unwillingness to admit mistakes and try to improve. Maybe you'd fit in better at a less rational website.JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - link
My point is saying something is similar to a well-known product and getting a bunch of anti-Apple craziness is the real problem. I read the original text and it is still not wrong or an "error" as you call it, and to suggest such shows that there is little rationality going on here. The defensiveness is really on the other side of the fence, trying to prevent people from using a name like "Apple MacBook Air" in an article simply because... why? Because they dislike Apple?Furthermore, the MacBook Air is now a product I would generally skip altogether, unless you want the MBA 11, as the rMBP 13 ends up superior in just about every way with only a 0.5 pound weight penalty for all the other upgrades. (rMBP13 has a better display, more RAM, more ports, better performance.) So when I say something is "from the MacBook Air school of design" I'm not just talking about appearance but also bringing in the limitations of the MBA platform. Samsung's new ATIV laptop has a good display, but the limited port selection and reduced performance thanks to Core M are all very real concerns. At least it weighs close to 2 pounds, so almost a full pound lighter than the MBA13. But at the price, it's going to target a very niche market IMO.
I'd love to see this sort of laptop (Ultrabook) closer to $1000. That would be something to use as a reference point for future articles.
VengenceIsMine - Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - link
That would be fine if the design style of that laptop was new to Samsung in some way and the MBA was the closest reference point. However, given how much it looks like a slight evolution of Samsung's existing models and design language, scaled to a 12" form factor with a fanless chip and different aspect ratio, it is simply lazy to define it in comparison to Apple rather than Samsung.lilmoe - Monday, January 19, 2015 - link
Pathetic it is, also petty. Just get the info you need and move on. That's what I do. It'll never end, so stop trying make them stop.....mkozakewich - Monday, January 19, 2015 - link
It seems you were right.Tams80 - Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - link
I'd like them to release a new AtivBook 8 based on this (mainly for the aspect ratio). If they did that I would also like a switch back to an AMD GPU.It's not worth thinking about though, as aren't Samsung leaving the laptop arena?
metafor - Monday, January 19, 2015 - link
Are we going to get an Anandtech review of the 2015 ATIV Book 9? I'm particularly interested in how the actual battery life numbers look like.