- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How they compare
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Compare with...
- HP Envy Spectre XT
- Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C
- Samsung Chromebook
- ASUS U30 Series U30SD
- ASUS ZENBOOK UX31A
Rated 90% by by TrustedReviews (Sep, 2012)Weighed against all this goodness, the 900X3B’s average battery life seems a minor downer, and overall Samsung’s latest ultraportable is worth every penny of its premium price.
- 15.4"
- 2.5 GHz Dual core
- 2 GB DDR2-667
- 200 GB HDD
Released October, 2001
Rated 100% by by Descended-Master--G (Jun, 2008)The speed bump on this model is well worth the extra $ over the 2.4 ghz version.
Conclusion Which is better for you?
Features Key features of the Samsung Series 9 NP900X3B compared to the Apple MacBook Pro 4th Gen
GHz2.3
Intel Core i5 2467M
Rated 90% by by TrustedReviews (Sep, 2012)Battery life and performance might be merely average, but in every other regard this is the king among thin and light laptops - due in no small part to its stunning high-resolution PLS screen, which more than justifies the premium over many rivals.
2.5 GHz
screen size
13.3"
15.4"
Series 9 NP900X3B by William-R.-Green (Feb, 2013)The screen is very easy on the eyes , though I made an adjustment to the font size to 125% to ease the my eye strain for long periods of time of use.
MacBook Pro 4th Gen by K.-Harby--LocustTrees (Aug, 2008)The screen is also smallish-although the diagonal measure is true, the depth of the screen is less than my other computers.
screen resolution
MacBook Pro 4th Gen by Richard-D.-Silvius-Jr. (Feb, 2009)I decided just to keep the unit, and the pixel really hasn't bugged me since, although I subtracted a star because for the price, I really feel the screen ought to be flawless.
cpu speed
| 0 GHz | 2.5 GHz | 3 GHz |
Series 9 NP900X3B by Saint04Either processor is preference and one is not much more powerful than the other; I prefer lower Ghz for longer battery life and cooler performance.
MacBook Pro 4th Gen by physicistjedi (Mar, 2008)PS: I have the 15.4 inch, 2.4 GHz CPU, 200 GB 7200 RPM HDD, 4 GB RAM model.
processor
Series 9 NP900X3B by TechCoupleMy computer can go from off to up and running in 30 seconds including punching in my user password at the login screen; My previous laptop is 5 years old and had Windows Vista with a faster processor speed and 3 Gb of RAM, yet start-up was on the order of 3-6 minutes.
MacBook Pro 4th Gen by Jason (Apr, 2008)The 2k model has less cache than last years santa rosa model (3mb compared to last years 4mb) this model and the 17 inch has 6mb, as well as the 512mb graphics card, dual core processor, and the ability to use 4gb of ram.
memory
| 0 GB | 4 GB | 4 GB |
Series 9 NP900X3B by TechCoupleIf you are happy with 4 GB of RAM then a rating of 5 stars is still valid.
MacBook Pro 4th Gen by Gerald-L.-Riddle (Sep, 2008)Performance of the Virtual Machines is smooth and very robust...the additional RAM is really a requirement if you are running Virtual Machines.
Performance Real world tests of Samsung Series 9 NP900X3B vs Apple MacBook Pro 4th Gen
battery life
7 hour
6 hour
Series 9 NP900X3B by techgeek32The battery life is not great for a 13", but this recharges so fast (about 80% in 30 minutes) that I can plug it in for a quick charge and be ready for more work.
MacBook Pro 4th Gen by Ryan (Dec, 2008)I've been working on it for a solid 2 hours and it's very comfortable on my lap.
Differences What are the advantages of each
Advantages compared to the Apple MacBook Pro 4th Gen
| Slightly newer | Mar, 2012 | vs | Oct, 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Release date over 10 years later | |||
| Much faster internal storage | 0.1 ms (SSD) | vs | 10 ms (HDD) |
| 100x faster random access time; faster boot times and shorter application load times | |||
| Significantly sharper screen | 138 ppi | vs | 110 ppi |
| Around 30% sharper PPI; enjoy photo-realistic, crisp images | |||
| More RAM | 4 GB | vs | 2 GB |
| Twice as much RAM; run more applications and have more browser tabs open without slowing down the system | |||
| Much faster USB | 572 MB/s (USB 3.0) | vs | 57 MB/s (USB 2.0) |
| More than 10x faster USB; connect a high-speed external hard drive or other high-speed device | |||
| Longer battery life | 7 hour | vs | 6 hour |
| Around 20% longer battery life; surf the web longer without having to plug in | |||
| Faster RAM | DDR3 | vs | DDR2-667 |
| More than 20% faster RAM; data is transferred to/from RAM more quickly | |||
| Higher resolution screen | 1600 x 900 | vs | 1440 x 900 |
| More than 10% higher resolution screen | |||
Advantages compared to the Samsung Series 9 NP900X3B
| Much bigger screen | 15.4" | vs | 13.3" |
|---|---|---|---|
| Around 20% bigger screen | |||
| Faster processor | 2.5 GHz | vs | 2.3 GHz |
| Around 10% faster processor; run computation-intensive applications, such as photo editing, faster | |||
| More storage capacity | 200 GB | vs | 128 GB |
| Around 60% more storage capacity | |||
| More USB ports | 2 | vs | 1 |
| Twice as many USB ports | |||
Reviews Word on the street
Samsung Series 9 NP900X3B | Apple MacBook Pro 4th Gen | ||
 |    Rated by 45 users at amazon.com Rated 100% by by Dave (Mar, 2012) Rated 80% by by Piel (Apr, 2012)  Rated 100% by by Dave (Mar, 2012) | Rated by 160 users at amazon.com Rated 80% by by Y.-Gu (Sep, 2008) Rated 100% by by Roma-Edwards. (Jan, 2009) Rated 100% by by Chien-hao-Chi--Benjamin-C. (Jun, 2008) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Competition What else you should consider
 | 4 | ASUS U30 Series U30SD Largest amount of storage capacity |
 | 5 | ASUS ZENBOOK UX31A Highest resolution screen |
 | 6 | Dell Latitude D430 3-way tie: Has a DVD reader |
 | 7 | Samsung Series 9 NP900X3A-B01UB 4-way tie: Really fast internal storage |
