Samsung Series 9 Laptop Released

This week Samsung released its ultra sleek Series 9 laptop in Australia at a Harvey Norman store. Samsung will be expanding to other retailers nationally starting in June. The laptop was already released in the U.S. in March.

The Series 9 is the first Windows competitor to Apple’s MacBook Air and Samsung’s most public challenge to the Apple company. Samsung is competing against Apple for the computer tablet and smartphone market currently owned by Apple.

The South Korean electronics giant recently released the Sliding PC 7 Series, a tablet-based device equipped with a full keyboard and considers the Series 9 to be their “halo product”.

The Series 9 is the world's thinnest and lightest laptop weighing a petite 1.31kg--which is 10 grams lighter than the MacBook Air.

It features a 13.3 inch screen and a full-size keyboard that can be backlit. It houses a solid-state drive of 128 GB as well as a 1.40gigahertz i5 Sandy Bridge processor, 4 gigabytes of RAM, Intel shared memory graphics, 1 USB 3.0 port, 1 x USB 2.0 port, a Micro-HDMI port, and a micro SD card slot. The Series 9 also comes with Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed.

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The Series 9 also has an InstantOn feature which flips the laptop from sleep to on in three seconds and allows users to start working within 22 seconds.

Though the Series 9 is petite, it’s by no means delicate. Samsung built the Series 9 from a new material called duralumin metal alloy which has twice the strength of aluminium while being half the weight. Its battery life allows for up to 8 hours of usage or 5-6 hours of movie playback.

What makes the Samsung Series 9 unique is its combination of Windows and Apple features. The Series 9 has a large touch pad with no buttons and utilizes a sealed battery like an Apple MacBook. It also has Intel’s latest processor and a matte screen whose maximum brightness is a third higher than the Mac.

Consumers have given the Series 9 highly rated reviews; most notably Walter Mossby of the Wall Street Journal. Mossby called it “a solid, beautiful, speedy laptop that provides Windows users a good alternative to the MacBook Air.”

The biggest con and the biggest setback for the Series 9 is its high price, especially when compared to the MacBook Air. The Series 9’s recommended retail price is $2499 while the equivalent MacBook Air is retailed at $1599.

Only consumer demand will tell whether the Samsung 9 has what it takes to surpass the MacBook Air.