Samsung Launches 3200x1800 Pixel ATIV Book 9 Plus Laptop

sfcrazy writes "As expected Samsung has updated its Ultrabook family giving direct competition to Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. When Apple launched its MacBook Air with 12 hours of battery life every one was looking at only one company to outdo Apple and that company was Samsung and the leading Android maker did not disappoint. With the launch of ATIV Book 9 Plus featuring:

* 256GB SSD (seems 128GB would be the base model)
* 3200x1800 resolution
* Touch Screen
* Haswell Processor
* 12 Hours battery life
* More 'standard' ports as compared to Apple's proprietary ports."

Comments

Resolution

[Anonymous Coward]

The high resolution is a major win over the Macbook Air. Typing this on a MBA and the one thing I wish it had was higher screen resolution.

Re:Resolution

[sosume]

I have never heard of Windows desktop software struggling with monitor resolution. Please elaborate. Everything is fine here at 2550x1600, why would 3200x1800 suddenly cause 'too many programs' to 'not run properly'?

Re:Resolution

[rsmith-mac]

Unfortunately Windows can't currently do that. Such functionality is expected in Win8.1, which we should know more about next week.

Re:Resolution

[Smirker]

When you increase the DPI so you can actually read the content, some poorly designed programs struggle. You can see this for yourself by going into Display settings and increasing DPI from Smaller (100%) to Medium or Larger (125/150%). Windows doesn't "zoom" the content, but more or less forces changes in positioning and sizing of elements and font sizes. This screws with many apps that have positioning defined that is incompatible with this type of resizing. Honestly though, the problems encountered are minimal.

One basic example: iTunes (Updater) in Windows has a Label element with text such as "...blah blah blah, for more information, click this URL: ". To the right of the "URL" text is a Hyperlink control that is independent of that Label control containing the hyperlink. It is positioned explicitly so it fits the flow of text (at normal DPI). When you change the DPI in Windows, the text in the label changes position relative to the Hyperlink control, and the text overlaps.

So sure, if you left DPI at the normal setting, everything would work fine, but you probably couldn't read very much comfortably. You would want to increase DPI at such a high relative resolution, but as described, there are some shortfalls.

Re: Resolution

[Andtalath]

Basically, you are saying that you are more adept at using windows, and therefore someone else should be as well.

Logical failure.

When things fuck up, I prefer Linux sence then I know I can fix the issue.
Things happen to fuck up a lot more on the desktop on linux though.

Re:Resolution

[Benaiah]

2560x1600 is the standard 30" monitor res.
Cramming 3200x1800 into 13" can make many things appear mighty small. Its not that it wont work. Its that windows (and 3rd party apps) has traditionally been pretty bad at handling anything other than standard 96 PPI. The Samsung screen has an actual PPI of 275. So that x on the top of a window is going to be 1/3 of the size of what windows intended unless its scaled. Same with all your menu bars and whatnot. If you are using a fixed size application such as Calculator it may end up being unusable.

Re:Resolution

[Bert64]

Screens are supposed to report their physical size as well as their resolution, so the system can work out the DPI and scale things accordingly. Unfortunately many things just use bitmap graphics which look crap when scaled, instead of vector artwork which would just look more detailed.

Re: Resolution

[LordLimecat]

I find windows easier to troubleshoot; the tools seem to be better. I have not heard of any good Linux alternatives for Process Explorer, Process Monitor, and Nirsoft's bluescreen analyzer, or even the built in Resource Monitor.

Re: Resolution

[Bert64]

Working without virtual workspaces is slow and unproductive, i'd rather have virtual workspaces than extra physical screens because its easier to flip.

And windows needs third party apps for everything, even the example you give - notepad++ is a third party app. It's pretty much only linux distros that are usable out of the box.

Also if you make a programming error that causes an infinite loop you kill the process and get about fixing the bug, don't just leave it running and wasting cycles for nothing.

Re:Resolution

[Stuarticus]

But then the text overflows boxes and looks horrendous. It isn't consistent across all software either.

Re: Resolution

[Stuarticus]

When will someone produce finally produce a good Linux blue screen analyser? A question I'm sure we're all asking ourselves.

Re: Resolution

[petman]

I'm pretty sure there are Linux alternatives to all those tools if you look hard enough. KDE System Guard, for example. Even without additional tools, simply running Linux programs from a console often produces a wealth of debug information that can help with troubleshooting, something that is not available on Windows.

Re: Resolution

[gnasher719]

If you really want hassle-free, you would use windows. OSX needs 3rd party apps for everything. OSX is always trying to sell you apps. Windows has lots of great free apps, like NotePad++, but OSX wants you to pay for BBedit. Plus the OSX MS Office is far inferior. Also, it's way harder to fix a mac, always have to deal with permissions problems. For every good thing I like about OSX, I find some bad thing about it too. It's a wash at best. Plus, when I'm working, I don't want to have to stop to look up how to do XYZ on a Mac, when I already know how to do XYZ on windows.

You need to mark your post clearly as being sarcastic, or people might not get it and think you are on drugs or something like that.

Re:Resolution

[rsmith-mac]

That would be with XP style scaling. On WinVista and later that mode can only be used with scaling levels less than or equal to 125%. After 125% you get Vista style scaling, which depending on how well behaved an application is will result in one of two things.

If the application is flagged as being DPI scaling aware (Office, web browsers, etc) then the application will take care of scaling on its own, and hopefully render a suitably large image natively. If an application isn't flagged as being DPI scaling aware, then Vista reverts to "fractional scaling", where it simply does a bilinear upscale of the application window, resulting in a blurry, god-awful mess where nothing was rendered natively.

Apple does something similar here, but their innovation was that instead of resorting to fractional scaling on non-aware applications they do integer scaling, which is far cleaner in practice. Furthermore all of Apple's drawing APIs were retina aware, so applications that weren't fully retina aware themselves could still have their text drawn natively, whereas Vista would always have to upscale the resulting Window.

The worst case scenario then for Mac OS X (a non-aware application not using Apple's drawing APIs) is that at the default 2x setting (backing scale factor 2.0) every element will simply be scaled up by a factor of 4:1; every 1 pixel now occupies 4 pixels. This means that there aren't any benefits gained from using the retina display, but using integer scaling means that this doesn't introduce any fractional interpolation artifacts that hurt the text quality, since every original text pixel maps cleanly to 4 display pixels.

Right now the expectation is that Microsoft will be introducing something similar in Win8.1. There's only so much they can do without breaking backwards compatibility, but if they follow Apple's "render big then scale down" philosophy rather than Vista's "render small and scale up" philosophy, then results should be much cleaner.

Re:Resolution

[Stuarticus]

No, that's the experience I currently have with Windows 7 on my HTPC when it's playing windows games rather than being in Linux.

Re:Resolution

[dbIII]

Typing this on a MBA and the one thing I wish it had was higher screen resolution.

Me too, but I wish I had a table instead because the MBA won't keep still and keeps complaining he didn't go to college to be treated like this.

Re:Resolution

[DrXym]

I don't know why you're marked a troll. Many games and other apps pay no attention to the Windows dpi settings, metrics or theme engine. If the resolution increases they'll look proportionately smaller by comparison.

In the old days this increase in resolution was typically cancelled out by the fact that the higher the res, the larger the monitor typically was. But now we're talking about 11-12" laptops packing in the pixels that you wouldn't even see in a 27" display. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of problem apps, especially games and it's bound to take a while to shake out the issues.

Re: Resolution

[dbIII]

We really need to expose these kids to *nix in school instead of an MS monoculture. The tools you are looking for begin with things such as "ps" and "top" which are older than linux itself, and end with a cast of thousands covering a wide variety of niche uses.

Re:Resolution

[gl4ss]

2560x1600 is the standard 30" monitor res.

Cramming 3200x1800 into 13" can make many things appear mighty small. Its not that it wont work. Its that windows (and 3rd party apps) has traditionally been pretty bad at handling anything other than standard 96 PPI. The Samsung screen has an actual PPI of 275. So that x on the top of a window is going to be 1/3 of the size of what windows intended unless its scaled. Same with all your menu bars and whatnot. If you are using a fixed size application such as Calculator it may end up being unusable.

it's pretty good actually at it. the scaling has been a must for years for me, using high resolution monitors. I haven't used windows without scaling the ui elements bigger in years. it's also why I don't like osx - because it doesn't have good support for this(only pixel doubling for retina and slight meaningless font adjustment).

scaling the scroll bars etc works just fine, all the ui elements get scaled and have been that way in windows for a mighty long time, at least since win95. only apps that don't work very well are apps that are badly done that do their own decor(mobo "tuning sw" from asian manufacturers etc). oh and some games of the 2003 vintage(if you run them at full res, ui is too small in them).

Re:Resolution

[amorsen]

It does not work. It scales the fonts, but in many applications it does not scale the bitmaps. Lots of applications are effectively unusable on a high-DPI display.

The release version of Firefox is fairly broken for high DPI on Windows, but the Nightly handles it fine.

Remote desktop is almost unusable at high DPI in Windows; you cannot change scaling per user in Windows Server, so it only works if all your clients are high DPI.

Re: Resolution

[haakoflo]

A programmer who never produces infinite loops is not programming. However, if he keeps trying to fix programming errors by buying more hardware, he is such a poor programmer, that it may be better if he does nothing.

Re: Resolution

[fnj]

Pretty certain you ARE joking, but in case you are not, linux comes with a FAR richer set of tools in that vein and they are all free. And linux tools are designed to hook together in bash to whip out any ad hoc construction you need in quick order

Re:Resolution

[cheekyboy]

Then email the authors and tell them their software sucks and place screen shots on Flickr showing how crap it is. I bet with in a week there will be a patch, unless they are shit ass coders.

I personally dont mind micro tiny windows.

Re:Resolution

[Plumpaquatsch]

I have never heard of Windows desktop software struggling with monitor resolution. Please elaborate. Everything is fine here at 2550x1600, why would 3200x1800 suddenly cause 'too many programs' to 'not run properly'?

Because there is a difference between 2550x1600 on a 30" screen and 3200x1800 on 13".

Re:Resolution

[cheekyboy]

I have had very little need for many native windows apps. I dont mind sticking to 100% scale level, and hate upscaling.

And btw, you can replace application resource icons/bitmaps, so you could hack an app to use larger bitmaps if they dont scale, by replacing the bitmaps to create a high dpi only app.

Then again the authors could do this with a days effort , but they are lazy fucks, who cant even afford high dpi screens for their devs.

So if your fav app doesnt scale, EMAIL THEM and ask for the feature.

Re: Resolution

[cheekyboy]

like wise in windows powershell and registry and api there are more things than the gui.

Having said that, Linux really needs a better process monitor like resource monitor that isnt shit.

Re: Resolution

[cheekyboy]

yeah 500 types of --version -version -v -ver -Ver, or --help -help -h -? --?

or -v equals something else, some programs using retarted args, like 'date' that is shit ass cli.

oh yeah lots of fun.

Re:Resolution

[ILongForDarkness]

Yeah I don't get why the latest refresh didn't bring Retina to the air line. The pro line has it and you are essentially paying the pro price in exchange for the ultra portable form factor. Would be nice if they threw in or at least offered for $200 an upgrade to Retina.

Re: Resolution

[halltk1983]

man $command

I'm sure you'l find that works much better.

Re:Resolution

[JDG1980]

You can see this for yourself by going into Display settings and increasing DPI from Smaller (100%) to Medium or Larger (125/150%). Windows doesn't "zoom" the content, but more or less forces changes in positioning and sizing of elements and font sizes.

That is no longer true for sizes above 125% (which, by default, still uses "XP style DPI scaling"). On larger scaling factors, Windows Vista and 7 will render the app window to an off-screen buffer, then have the compositor upscale it by the selected factor. This results in blurrier text and graphics, but avoids the situation you describe where icons or text are repositioned or broken. An application can declare itself DPI-aware in the manifest, in which case it will be exempted from the automatic scaling methods. The problem comes with badly-behaved applications that claim to be DPI-aware but really aren't.

Adobe is one of the biggest laggards here. Lightroom is DPI-aware, but Photoshop and Acrobat aren't.

Re:Resolution

[JDG1980]

Screens are supposed to report their physical size as well as their resolution, so the system can work out the DPI and scale things accordingly. Unfortunately many things just use bitmap graphics which look crap when scaled, instead of vector artwork which would just look more detailed.

Unfortunately, the standard Win32 API has no support for vector-based icons. What you're supposed to do is create an .ico file which has about two dozen different bitmap images, all the way from 16x16 with 16 colors up to 256x256 32-bit. (This latter resolution was added in Vista; before that, icons maxed out at 48x48 if I'm not mistaken.) The OS will then scale one of the bitmaps to fit the size needed.

There are good reasons for having a hand-drawn bitmap for 16x16 (scaling vectors or larger bitmaps down this low usually means subpar results, for the same reason that non-hinted fonts look bad at low point sizes). But most of the intermediate sizes are really only there for legacy reasons. The Windows icon file format is a sloppy and outdated mess.

Re: Resolution

[halltk1983]

vi works fine on OSX. You have a full unix shell. You can install any number of apps written in python through pip. My MBP (work provided) has 4 real cores, 4 HT cores, 8GB RAM (one day, I'll upgrade to 16 if it causes a problem), and more. I have 2 external monitors hooked to it, in addition to the monitor on the laptop. One from its display port, and one driven by USB (which works fine for text, email, and chat apps). I use all of the power on it when needed. Then again, I use it like a linux box, sitting in the CLI most of the time working on things. I don't want to have to learn to use crappy third party apps on windows, worry extensively about malware, and have to worry about trying to make scripting languages work. If I programmed .NET or something, I could see using windows. But for real work, using scripting languages, dev engines like eclipse, and having the compilers installed and configured in a couple of commands, able to administrate thousands of machines from a central location, you can beat a *nix base. And OSX gives me that on something I don't really have to worry about administrating and fixing.

Re: Resolution

[philip.paradis]

However, if he keeps trying to fix programming errors by buying more hardware, he is such a poor programmer, that it may be better if he does nothing.

In most such cases he will soon run out of money, either his own or that of VCs, and the problem will be resolved.

Re: Resolution

[freezin fat guy]

The good news is the kids are increasingly the ones intrepid enough to step outside the MS monoculture while the old men stay loyal to Redmond.

Re:Resolution

[cyfer2000]

Yes. this is the link.

Re: Resolution

[LordLimecat]

Oh right, I forgot. Linux never OOPS's, bugchecks, or does a memory dump. Sure am glad that it never sticks you in a reboot cycle, hangs @ initramfs, has driver bugs that kill your E1000 adapter....

Linux: the only piece of software with no bugs whatsoever. Honestly I dont know why they keep updating it, since its already reached perfection.

Re: Resolution

[LordLimecat]

PS isnt really comparable in any way, shape, or form to Process Explorer, much less Process monitor.

Perhaps LSOF comes close, except that its nowhere near as granular as ProcMon. More importantly, its a lot less discoverable-- just by knowing the general terms that ProcMon uses, ANY IT person can pick it up and start using it. Top / lsof need a bit more reading to begin using them, because theyre a lot more clunky.

I also am not aware of either PS or Top being capable of showing me what a process is trying to access (for example, if its trying to read /etc/someconfig, and that file does not exist-- what utility would tell me that?)

Just as an example, in the past ive run into programs that open and then close, seemingly for no reason. The root culprit was some registry keys that the program had screwed up, and expected to be there. I discovered that with procmon by seeing what files and registry keys the process was trying to access, filtering for non-success codes, and noticing a whole bunch of attempts to read those messed up reg keys. I was able to fix it at that point. How, exactly, would you troubleshoot a similar problem on *nix?

I appreciate the disparaging "kids" and "ms monoculture" comments. Certainly its not possible that Ive been in IT for 8 years, worked with linux for 6 of them, and have wide experience with BSD, VMWare, Cisco, and a number of other CLI environments. I think there are good things about windows, so clearly im a noob.

Re: Resolution

[LordLimecat]

Ok, that would be wonderful if true. What would you recommend as viable alternatives to the 4 programs I listed? And for the record, ps is more the equivalent to tasklist or taskmgr, and doesnt really hold a candle to process Explorer.

Re:Resolution

[dywolf]

a lot of things are a win over the macbook air.
i'm still waiting for the proper aspect ratio to come back. this one is still that horrendous widescreen ration intended for movies and not work.

Re: Resolution

[LordLimecat]

Top is not even remotely close to procmon. It doesnt even do the same thing; you probably want to look up what procmon does before recommending replacements that have none of its functionality.

Re: Resolution

[TheLink]

If you find "flipping" easier than extra screens then this could help: http://sourceforge.net/projects/linkkey/

It's a Windows utility I wrote that allows you to quickly assign alt+[number] to the 9 most recently used set of windows. Then you can use those keyboard shortcuts from then on for those windows till you reassign them. It's a bit like screen or the linux/BSD console but for GUI windows.

I find it handy for times where I need to edit stuff in more than two windows, while referring to another document. No need to move hand to mouse and back.

Long ago I did propose something like this to KDE etc first but they weren't interested. And I wasn't that interested in "Desktop Linux".

Windows 7 has that winkey+number thing which is similar but not so useful if you have many windows of the same app (e.g. spreadsheets, word processor docs).

Re:Resolution

[shutdown -p now]

Apple does something similar here, but their innovation was that instead of resorting to fractional scaling on non-aware applications they do integer scaling, which is far cleaner in practice.

It should be noted that this is a strict subset of fractional scaling that Windows has. If you set scaling to 200% in the latter, then you'll get the same integer scaling for non-DPI-aware apps.

Re:Resolution

[shutdown -p now]

It is strictly application-dependent. If app declares itself as high-DPI-aware (which they have to do explicitly in the app manifest), then it's expected to properly handle DPI by scaling everything appropriately. Some frameworks do it automatically - for example, WPF. Others do not, but people declare their apps as high-DPI-aware anyway because they don't understand what it actually implies.

Re:Resolution

[shutdown -p now]

You don't have to provide all the intermediate sizes in an .ico file - you can have one that only has 16x16 and 256x256, for example.

Also, aren't OS X icons bitmap-only as well? My impression was that only Linux DEs have embraced vector graphics for everything.

Re: Resolution

[Fjandr]

You seriously didn't get the joke?

Re:Resolution

[cffrost]

One basic example: iTunes (Updater) in Windows has a Label element with text such as "...blah blah blah, for more information, click this URL: ". To the right of the "URL" text is a Hyperlink control that is independent of that Label control containing the hyperlink. It is positioned explicitly so it fits the flow of text (at normal DPI). When you change the DPI in Windows, the text in the label changes position relative to the Hyperlink control, and the text overlaps.

Malware authors tend not to be overly concerned with the client's UI.

Re:Resolution

[Bert64]

SGI IRIX also used vector graphics, you had a zoom scroller in every file management window and could zoom an icon so it took up most of the screen.

I also always liked how the icon for a core dump was a picture of a crashed car with smoke coming out of it...

Re:Resolution

[toddestan]

You can't select 640x480 but Windows will boot up in it if it as a fallback if it thinks it has to.

Re:Resolution

[amorsen]

You are talking about Mac OS X. Windows is not that smart. I was replying to a comment about Windows.

Firefox has been fine on Mac OS X high DPI for several releases. Many applications without intentional high DPI support work fine on Mac OS X even if you manually declare them high DPI aware. No such luck on Windows.

Re:Resolution

[GrahamJ]

There'll be a Retina Air at some point. I just returned a Surface Pro and went back to an Air largely due to how horribly Windows handles high DPI. Most people with this "Ativ Book 9 Plus" (ugh) will run it at a much lower res, guaranteed.

Re:Resolution

[shutdown -p now]

You are talking about Mac OS X. Windows is not that smart.

No, I was talking about Windows (Vista and above). And yes, it is that smart.

At the same time, most apps that don't declare themselves as high-DPI aware really aren't (in fact, some which do also aren't). The good old Win32 UI APIs mostly measure things in device-dependent pixels (except for CreateDialog, which uses device-independent "dialog units"). The first UI framework that was DPI-independent through and through was WPF, and that came in relatively late, in 2006. On the other hand, with WPF, it is practically impossible to write an app that is not DPI-aware (because even WPF pixels are logical).

Re:Resolution

[amorsen]

Fair enough, my experience is that most applications are almost unusable in Windows 7 on a Macbook Retina with DPI set to 200%. It is possible that Windows is smart, but it certainly isn't showing it. Remote Desktop is a disaster, but everything else is pretty sad too. Fonts scale beautifully, everything else breaks around the pretty text.

Re:Resolution

[shutdown -p now]

That's actually the "good" experience - it's truly broken when text also breaks (e.g. widgets are not properly resized to fit their labels etc). The problem with graphics scaling is that most Windows apps use bitmaps for everything, and most UI frameworks don't even bother to scale them. So you get widgets resized, and text resized to fit, but bitmaps remain as is. Sometimes you get bitmaps upscaled automatically, e.g. for toolbar icons, but this still looks ugly if app author didn't provide higher-res icons.

As noted earlier, things got very different with WPF, which scales everything. This was continued in Silverlight, and now also in both Win8 frameworks for store apps (HTML5/JS, and the XAML-based one).

Re:Resolution

[Ed Avis]

Vista reverts to "fractional scaling", where it simply does a bilinear upscale of the application window, resulting in a blurry, god-awful mess where nothing was rendered natively.

I have to say I've never seen this on either XP or Win7. Perhaps it helps to have exactly 200% scaling so everything can be enlarged exactly. But as far as I can see, programs that aren't scaling aware (such as the command prompt window) are just rendered unscaled. Maybe it is because I have Aero turned off.

Re:Resolution

[Ed Avis]

I wonder why my experience differs from yours - I have found almost all the applications I use (Firefox, PuTTY, Visual Studio, MS Office, TortoiseSVN) work fine with a simple 200% scaling in Windows 7. I agree that Remote Desktop is a pain.

borat

[noh8rz10]

very nice, how much?

Re:borat

[Sponge Bath]

very nice, how much?

And when will it be available to test the claimed specs? Hopefully soon, I'm looking for an upgrade for my Windows laptop and this could fit the bill if the price is not bonkers and the performance is as claimed. I've grown accustomed to the portability of my Macbook Air and would like my Windows machine be as light. If Samsung really has leapfrogged Apple with the display, maybe that will prompt Apple to get back in the game after their "silent" year of minor bumps to existing products.

Re:borat

[noh8rz10]

you call the ipad mini a spec bump? and the iphone 5?

Re:borat

[BrokenHalo]

I'm looking for an upgrade for my Windows laptop and this could fit the bill if the price is not bonkers

Give it a month, and this model will be superseded by something else. Samsung moves fast.

I quite like the look of the machine, but to be any use to me, it has to run Linux. From what I've read, though, it looks like I would be SOL with getting around the UEFI lockout. (I've read that Ubuntu is working on some sort of certification, but that is probably my last choice of preferred distros.) So at this stage it looks like Samsung will be missing out on at least one sale.

Re:borat

[ganjadude]

well the GS3 was as good as the IP5 from the start and the GS4 is at least 2x the IP5 as it stands. but there really isnt much that competes with the ipad mini in its form factor. its just the right risze, not to big, not to small fits in your hands, my only issue with it is IOS but the hardware is great, my sister has one

Re:borat

[noh8rz10]

its just the right risze, not to big, not to small fits in your hands,

that's what she said!

the hardware is great, my sister has one

erm... awkward!

Re:borat

[cbhacking]

Microsoft mandates that all Windows OEMs who implement UEFI Secure Boot for WIndows 8 also allow the user to disable Secure Boot. Even Microsoft's own Surface Pro has this option. This has been widely reported for months now, there are easy-to-find tutorials online discussing how to do it, and...

People are *still* complaining about that? Really?

Ubuntu is adding Secure Boot support so that you can leave Secure Boot enabled while running Linux, as a protection against malware attacking or replacing the bootloader (either on the internal storage or removable media). This is a reasonable enough goal. However, it is not and never has been required if you want to dual-boot or want to replace Win8 entirely.

Re:borat

[Anonymous Coward]

you call the ipad mini a spec bump?

No actually its just a shrunken iPad2.

and the iphone 5?

Yes. Slightly larger screen and minor spec bump.

Re:borat

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft mandates that all Windows OEMs who implement UEFI Secure Boot for WIndows 8 also allow the user to disable Secure Boot.

Only on x86.

Re:borat

[cbhacking]

Windows 8 doesn't run on anything except x86/x64. Windows RT (not "Windows 8 RT") is a separate product, for all that it's a nearly identical codebase.

Don't get me wrong, I think the requirement for unremovable Secure Boot on WRT is stupid and anti-consumer, but your post was nonetheless redundent to mine.

Re:borat

[BrokenHalo]

Don't get me wrong, I think the requirement for unremovable Secure Boot on WRT is stupid and anti-consumer, but your post was nonetheless redundent to mine.

However, as I mentioned in another post, there have been numerous cases where people have been unable to boot this Samsung device from USB (at least according to a page full of Google results), despite having disabled UEFI, so one might argue that your post was redundant to mine. :P

Left out the best feature

[Anonymous Coward]

FTFA:

weighs only 1.39 grams

Re:Left out the best feature

[geekmux]

FTFA:

weighs only 1.39 grams

Wow.

All the weight must have gone out the Window(s).

ba dum dum..tiss.

Apple's has proprietary ports?

[dugancent]

Care to name them?

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[stephanruby]

Care to name them?

They're probably comparing it to an iPad since the MacBooks don't have touchscreens.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[R3d M3rcury]

"Proprietary" may be the wrong word, but Thunderbolt display output may certainly qualify.

Is there anybody other than Apple who makes a display which works with Thunderbolt?

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[Anonymous Coward]

Many, many mini-DP compatible displays out there.

Thunderbolt is more than just a graphics port--it is an all-purpose port.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[jtownatpunk.net]

Any monitor with a displayport. Mini-displayport plugs directly into thunderbolt. Nothing special required except a cable with the correct plug on each end.

I'm a little shocked and a lot disappointed that this is still uncommon knowledge.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thunderbolt is Intel's not Apple. Fireware is an IEEE standard. Only minidisplay port is an Apple "proprietary" port.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[jtownatpunk.net]

Reality shouldn't be uncommon knowledge. Maybe I'm also one of the few people that knows you can plug a monitor with a DVI port into an HDMI port with a simple cable. And that i-link and Firewire are the same thing.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[ArchieBunker]

How about IEE1394?

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[the_B0fh]

Thunderbolt is proprietary the same way USB is proprietary - both are owned by Intel.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[the_B0fh]

Name one one fucked up port? Are you saying the Thunderbolt port that Intel created is a fucked up port? And the fact that Thunderbolt cables require a chip in them (that Intel made necessary) is now Apple's fault?

Seriously? You've been smoking too strange stuff.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[mjwx]

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4806:15tnmo.2.3

Guess again.
Serial Number 85314959
Word Mark THUNDERBOLT
Owner (APPLICANT) Apple Inc.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[Keen Anthony]

Don't expect many people to take to Thunderbolt, but I use it for portable hard drives, though I still find myself preferring FireWire 800 a little more.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[bill_mcgonigle]

If you want to use IEEE1394, you need to pay... Apple.

That was true ... in 1998. Yes, we said it was stupid at $1/port and then stupid when they went with a flat fee. Eventually they got that. By time they bought Zayante for the PHY's this had all blown over.

https://developer.apple.com/softwarelicensing/agreements/firewire.html

Waiting for the inevitable mod-down by Apple fanboys who dont like the truth.

You can't just be wrong and them blame fanbois for calling you out on it.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[rsmith-mac]

It was transferred to Intel nearly 2 years ago.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/11/05/20/thunderbolt_trademark_rights_will_be_transferred_from_apple_to_intel.html

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is entirely incorrect. Intel owns the thunderbolt trademark and all devices using the spec are Thunderbolt devices.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[Alioth]

I use a DisplayPort monitor with mine. It's not proprietary, and any DisplayPort monitor will work with a Thunderbolt port.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[threephaseboy]

Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S and other countries

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[Solandri]

USB is non-proprietary. It was developed by Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC and Nortel. You may be thinking of Intel's southbridge chipsets which have a USB controller built into them, and are ubiquitous on motherboards taking Intel CPUs. Well, AMD has their own southbridge and it does USB just fine.

Thunderbolt is proprietary - owned solely by Intel. Mini-Displayport was proprietary too (Apple). VESA finally incorporated it into the (full-sized) Displayport standard a few years back.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[fnj]

Meanwhile the rest of us use USB 3.0 and eSATA and have a FAR wider choice of drives which cost far less.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[fnj]

And in case somebody out there doesn't believe this actually happened, INTEL: Usage Guidelines for the Thunderbolt(TM) Trademark.

To be fair, when Apple DOESN'T fuck up, they don't fuck up.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[fnj]

Can you support your allegation that Apple requires payment? Perhaps you are unaware that Apple transferred the Thunderbolt trademark to Intel. Thunderbolt is not at all proprietary to either Apple or Intel; at least since a couple of years ago. It is Intel who controls Thunderbolt now, and they furnish royalty-free licenses. The allegation is that Intel's policies are holding back Thunderbolt, but Intel denies this fairly convincingly.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[MachineShedFred]

Maybe not, but there's lots of people that make DisplayPort displays, which work with the same port. The Mac recognizes if there is a Thunderbolt signal, or DisplayPort signal, and adjusts it's behavior on that port accordingly.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[drinkypoo]

Touchscreen laptops are a useless fad, and ergonomically horrible.

It's mandatory in a convertible, and a bit useless otherwise.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[nine-times]

No, Lightpeak is Intel, Thunderbolt is Apple.

Nope. Both Apple and Intel were involved in developing both.

Intel developed Lightpeak, Apple simply purchased the technology and named it Thunderbolt, hence Apple owns the trademark on that one.

Not quite. It was called "Lightpeak" while it was in development, partially because it was an optical interface using fiber. Partially because they switched it to use coper, but perhaps also for other marketing reasons, they switched over to using Thunderbolt when it was released.

Intel can sell Lightpeak to other companies without Apple's permission, but not Thunderbolt as Thunderbolt belongs to Apple.

Then why is it being sold everywhere as "Thunderbolt" or even "Intel Thunderbolt" even when being used in generic PC hardware?

Also, just because Firewire is an IEEE standard does not mean it is not proprietary. Being non-proprietary was never a requirement for IEEE standards. If you want to use IEEE1394, you need to pay... Apple.

Well actually, yes, it does kind of mean it's not "proprietary"-- at least how people in the tech industry tend to use that word. Proprietary generally means that there is no standard for anyone else to develop against, and therefore people can't make competing products using the same technology. If you have an open standard, it is not considered "proprietary" even if it is encumbered by some patents or trademarks, so long as you're still able to pay licensing fees and develop your own version.

If that were not the case, then we would have to consider all kinds of things proprietary, including CDs, DVDs, and MP3 files. I believe it would even include USB and HDMI, but I don't remember for sure.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[nine-times]

Only minidisplay port is an Apple "proprietary" port.

Sort of, but not meaningfully. Apple did develop it in-house, but it's based on DisplayPort (which is not proprietary), and Apple offers an open license of the Mini DisplayPort design at no cost. I think the design was even adopted as a part of the official DisplayPort specifications, though I could be wrong about that.

The point is, even with Mini DisplayPort, other companies have access to the specs, and they can (and do) include the ports in their own products without paying Apple.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[redback]

Because DisplayPort is the standard monitor connection of the future.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[redback]

Well to be fair, Apple did invent the MiniDisplayPort connector, but they gave it out for free to everyone.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[jeremyp]

"Open" does not mean free as in beer any more than open source software or Free software has to be free as in beer.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[samkass]

Meanwhile the rest of us use USB 3.0 and eSATA and have a FAR wider choice of drives which cost far less.

It's true that low-speed interfaces like USB 3.0 and eSATA are going to be cheaper... and fortunately, the MacBook Air has two USB 3 ports for people who prefer cheaper-but-slower drives. It also has a Thunderbolt port for creative professionals who need the throughput, or as a replacement for the "docking station" concept found in a lot of Windows laptops. (Or, as others have noted, who just want to plug in an external monitor, since Thunderbolt is also a standard mini-displayport port.)

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[Minwee]

Care to name them?

I call dibs on MagSafe.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[Fjandr]

What is this drive speed difference of which you speak? I'm not aware of Thunderbolt-only drives that are faster than can be connected via eSATA.

Actually, I'm not aware of the existence of any Thunderbolt-only drives.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[Flammon]

All the Thunderbolt hoopla seems to be coming from the Apple marketing machine. It's no wonder everyone thinks it's Apple proprietary technology and at the same time this is exactly what Apple wants everyone to think. They're quite good at convincing the world that all their ideas are original and that no other product can compete with what "they've" produced. I'm shocked that you're shocked.

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[toddestan]

eSATA is just a SATA connection with a different plug, so unless they make native Thunderbolt hard drives, eSATA will be the fastest connection available (perhaps save for SCSI).

Re:Apple's has proprietary ports?

[toddestan]

The big problem was that Apple and Intel made some deal where Thunderbolt would be exclusive to Macs until (if I remember right) the end of 2011 before anyone else would be allowed to use it. So while it may be a "standard" now, for a while it was truly an Apple-only port which is why many people still think it's propriety.

Honestly, I don't know why Intel would make a deal like that. Many people wisely avoid the propriety garbage Apple likes to push out, so what's the point of giving Apple exclusive early access to a new standard, therefore fooling people into thinking it's just some propriety crap Apple came up with and ignoring it?

Proprietary ports?

[Roogna]

Which port is that exactly? The USB, the HDMI, the SD slot, or the Thunderbolt ports. All of which are standards.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Guspaz]

The mac air doesn't have an HDMI port, it has a MiniDP port. Which is still royalty free... Oh, and don't forget the headphone jack :)

In fact, my mac air has more "standard ports" than the Ativ in the article is depicted as having (they mention/show nothing but a single USB, headphone, and HDMI).

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thunderbolt is a standard now? Show me a non-Intel Thunderbolt host implementation then.

Remember kids, calling something a standard doesn't make it a standard. Documenting it doesn't make it a standard. Documentation plus multiple independent implementations capable of interoperating makes it a standard.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[noh8rz10]

the magnetic power cable port is proprietary.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, so all one of Apple's proprietary ports. Got it.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[dugancent]

The poster never said standard, he said proprietary, which its not.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[guruevi]

There are AMD motherboards and non-Apple systems with Thunderbolt. The specification is open AFAIK, there are companies developing their own implementation.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[grub]

I love that magnetic power port. It has definitely saved my Air from damage when the dog/girl run by and pull it out.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Crudely_Indecent]

Mac Air:
2xUSB 3.0, HP/Mic, SD (Air 13), Thunderbolt

Ativ:
2xUSB 3.0, micro HDMI, mini VGA, RJ45(Dongle), SD, HP/Mic

Ativ beats air by 2 video outputs and wired ethernet. Also by SD when compared to the Air 11.

So, going by the dictionary definition of the word "more", I'd have to say the the Ativ beats the Air when it comes to standard ports.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Stewie241]

You know, a lot of people say this. And while it does accomplish that, the implication is that a regular power connector doesn't come out when you pull on it. My Acer laptop has a power connector that comes out just fine with a little bit of force on the cord.

The MacBook is decent and the magnetic power port is an elegant design. It was a major pain when I somehow ended up with a tiny piece of metal stuck in it though. Had a challenging time trying to get it out. Can't shake it out because the magnet holds it on.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[tehlinux]

I hope it's better than the one on my surface.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Cinder6]

I've used an Apple laptop (exclusively) for years, so I have to ask--are power adapters standardized on PCs?

As an aside, I love the Magsafe adapter. It's so much better than any other adapter I've used.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Cinder6]

RJ45(Dongle)

Does it come with the dongle? If not, then you can't include that in your comparison. Not only does Apple offer both USB and Thunderbolt Ethernet adapters, you can also use any off-brand adapter you want. If you do want to include it, then the Air also offers HDMI, DVI, and VGA via dongles.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[martinX]

While micro HDMI and mini VGA might not be proprietary, if you expect to plug them into anyone else's displays and you aren't carrying an adapter cable, you're going to be disappointed. Samsung should have put in a Thunderbolt port and sold adapters.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your Acer connector may come out when pulled directly away from the machine (plus or minus 30 degrees in any direction) but try yanking on it perpendicular to the connector - the laptop will likely spin around and possibly fly off the table/lap on which it rests even if the connector does eventually come out in the end.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Hadlock]

Many laptops have standardized on a 20v power input, HP Dell and Lenovo all run on 20V DC, 3.5-6A generally for a 15" workstation. I think HP and Lenovo use a standard Barrel connector, but Dell changes every so often. The actual brick is compatible however. Some netbooks were 19v (HP mini in particular) but generally they will take 20v as well.
 
Aftermarket laptop power adapters are cheeeeeeap. Like, $10 for commodity, $20 for name brand. I picked up a 12v car adapter for my Thinkpad for $20 shipped.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Hadlock]

Google "lenovo thinkpad t430s" and see what comes up. It's not common, but they exist on the high end. I don't think you're going to see a low end laptop with an expensive to implement port on it.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Nerdfest]

The magnetic connector was used on deep fryers for a very long time before Apple managed to get a patent on it.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[The Grim Reefer]

I've used an Apple laptop (exclusively) for years, so I have to ask--are power adapters standardized on PCs?

IEC C13 has been around for years and still is.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Anonymous Coward]

try this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Thunderbolt-compatible_devices

Re:Proprietary ports?

[flimflammer]

Little trouble with reading lately? Reread the last sentence of the post you're referring to.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Guspaz]

You'll need adapters if it's mini anything, really. As far as I know, there's only one thunderbolt display on the market (Apple's), and any normal display that supports displayport is probably full sized. So hooking up pretty much any laptop that doesn't have a full-sized port is going to require adapters, including Apple laptops.

Luckily, miniDP adapters are pretty cheap. I've got a Mac Air, and I grabbed some adapters from monoprice. Adapters for DVI and HDMI are under seven bucks, VGA is under fourteen bucks, and they have a multi-port one with full-sized DVI, DP, and HDMI for under fourteen bucks.

The only ones that cost a lot are the dual-link DVI adapters. Those are seventy bucks. My understanding is that single-link DVI and HDMI are cheap because displayport can use passive adapters for those (output DVI signals over the DP pins), but there are only enough pins in DP for single-link DVI, so dual-link requires an active adapter. No idea why VGA is so cheap, though, since that also needs an active adapter...

Re:Proprietary ports?

[the_B0fh]

And after market Apple power adapters are expensive?

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/macbook-power-cord

Re:Proprietary ports?

[the_B0fh]

And how many laptops use it? At my company, every time I get a new laptop (2 years on average), I get a new freaking power adapter that doesn't connect to the old one. Lenovo, if you're curious.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[the_B0fh]

So... Ativ with RJ45 dongle = wired ethernet, but macbook air with RJ45 dongle = no mention?

Re:Proprietary ports?

[noh8rz10]

dude, good luck with that shizznit. i'm not plugging that into my laptop. let me know how it goes for you!

Re:Proprietary ports?

[rworne]

You forgot to add Thunderbolt Firewire 800 to that list.

What's also nice is these Apple adaptors are plentiful and readily available. I doubt it is the same for Samsung.

If I were to get off a plane in a strange city and found I forgot a cable for my rMBP, I can get one at a local Best Buy, Fry's or Apple Store. I cannot say the same for proprietary Samsung cables (well, maybe Fry's has some Samsung love and BB would be a long shot).

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Crudely_Indecent]

bla bla bla, USB can also be HDMI, VGA, Ethernet and everything that thunderbolt offers. I don't consider anything that plugs into thunderbolt as a "dongle" but as an adapter, like any USB adapter.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Crudely_Indecent]

Ethernet is a port, AC smartass.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Crudely_Indecent]

If you're trying to call a USB ethernet adapter a dongle, then OK. In that case, the Ativ has 3 ethernet ports - one with the included dongle and 2 additional via USB. If you want to include a USB hub "dongle" it can have many more.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC704ZM/A/apple-usb-ethernet-adapter

Are we really going to start calling every USB device a dongle?

I wrote about actual physical ports included with each machine. I did not include adapters because that's a ridiculous argument. Both systems can be extended with adapters - Ativ requires fewer adapters to achieve what has come to be accepted as standard functionality (multiple monitor support and wired ethernet).

Re: Proprietary ports?

[shitzu]

Dell changes every so often? Its been the same for over 10 years, probably more. The old adapters still work, if it has enough W.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[cbhacking]

Actually, no... Ethernet is a protocol, defining things like a packet format (Ethernet frames) and an addressing scheme (MAC addresses). Ethernet operates on a number of different connections; 10BASE-T (Ethernet over Twisted Pair, which uses RJ45) and its descendants offering greater speeds is the most common on home PCs today. Mobile and embedded devices frequently use Ethernet over USB. NICs from the 80s and 90s frequently featured coaxial connectors of various types (10BASE5 "thick ethernet" and 10BASE2 "ThinNet" being common examples).

A 8P8C connector with RJ45 wiring is a port. The thing a dongle (which itself takes an 8P8C connector with RJ45 wiring to carry Ethernet data) plugs into is a port.

If you're going to call people "asshole", at least get your facts right...

Re:Proprietary ports?

[rsmith-mac]

Samsung should have put in a Thunderbolt port and sold adapters.

At the very least they should have put in mini-DP. What's the point of a 3200x1800 monitor, and not having the ability to drive an external/second monitor even half that resolution? Micro-HDMI is cute, but it's incredibly limited in 2013. One mini-DP1.2 port would get you the ability to drive a 4K monitor, or easily convert it over to HDMI or VGA.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Crudely_Indecent]

I didn't call anyone an "asshole". I called someone a smartass - a person who has previously called me a dumbass. You, however, I will call pedantic.

Did you expect me to paste the wikipedia entry?

Should I have considered that the laptop has ethernet simply because it's possible for a USB device to provide that capability? If that's the case, then I should I have also listed that the laptop has a 1TB drive because that is also available as a USB device. Maybe I should have written that both laptops have 50 USB ports, because I recently saw a 49 port USB hub.

I only named physical ports listed by the manufacturers and I'm getting all kinds of grief for it!

Re:Proprietary ports?

[AmiMoJo]

I really don't understand how they managed that. It seems like a case of "on a computer", except it isn't even a novel software implementation.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Bert64]

Regular power connectors usually come out when pulled straight, but when pulled at an angle are more likely to stay put and drag the laptop with them.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Bert64]

So the RJ45 requires a dongle, and is the dongle connector any form of standard or do you have to use the proprietary dongle?

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Stuarticus]

Or crack the solder joints holding the power socket to the mobo. Then you can get arcing or failure to charge.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Stuarticus]

Spoken like someone who's never tried to open a laptop power supply to repair it, they are all a nightmare to open. In my opinion this doesn't indicate "design/thoughts" but rather an attempt to make sure they are thrown away and a new one bought if you ever have any problems with them.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[gnasher719]

The magnetic connector was used on deep fryers for a very long time before Apple managed to get a patent on it.

You don't get a patent on the idea that pulling violently on a cable should just unplug the cable instead of throwing the connected device around or damaging it. You get a patent on a non-obvious and new implementation of that idea, so I suppose Apple's implementation is different. I find it interesting that nobody has created their own implementation.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Crudely_Indecent]

I would hope it's some sort of standard dongle, like the old 3com/megahertz ethernet dongles - but I don't know. The manufacturers specs don't specify.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[pantaril]

Samsung should have put in a Thunderbolt port and sold adapters.

I'm glad they haven't done it. Thunderbolt cables are ten times more expnesive then hdmi/displayports/usb alternatives. Lot of consumers would not buy devices which needs thunderbolt cables unless they are significantly cheaper then today.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Solandri]

The MacBook is decent and the magnetic power port is an elegant design. It was a major pain when I somehow ended up with a tiny piece of metal stuck in it though. Had a challenging time trying to get it out. Can't shake it out because the magnet holds it on.

That sounds like a very inelegant design. Common sense would dictate it should be designed with a magnet on the male end, mating to a paramagnetic or non-permanent ferromagnetic material on the female end. That way only the protruding male part is magnetic, and any metal pieces it picks up can easily be scraped off. While the recessed female part is non-magnetic until in the proximity of a magnet.

I just checked my Zojirushi water boiler and that's the way its magnetic power cord is designed - magnet on the protruding end, metal in the receptacle.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Alioth]

But is compatible with DisplayPort. The Thunderbolt ports all work as mini display port ports, you just need a passive mini display port to whatever adapter and it doesn't have to come from Apple.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[fnj]

Incorrect actually.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[MachineShedFred]

Or done what Lenovo is doing with their entire notebook line - go with Mini DisplayPort that converts to everything, as it's a VESA standard.

Mini-HDMI pretty much means you're going to have to carry a dongle with you everywhere. Ditto with Mini-VGA. At least there are DisplayPort displays out there that can plug directly in.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[the_B0fh]

You really are an idiot. If the included dongled Ethernet is *NOT* USB based, then the physical port on the laptop *WOULD BE MOST LIKELY FUCKING PROPRIETARY!!!*

As in, lose dongle, pay shitloads to Samsung for a new one, because this time, you probably won't find it on ebay.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[bingoUV]

Did. It's neither non-Intel, nor does it have thunderbolt. Maybe it is different for your region.

I see "Intel Core i5-3230M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.20 GHz) on Mother Board" as description.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[mmcxii]

the implication is that a regular power connector doesn't come out when you pull on it.

Maybe, maybe not but I got sick of paying top dollar for high end HPs (Nearly as much as I paid for my MBP) that used more traditional power ports that would go buggy about 3 minutes after the warranty was up. HP's solution? Buy a new systemboard for about 800 USD... and install it yourself. You want HP to do it? You're looking at a cool grand on top of the 2200 you already spent on top of buying their laptop.

I'm not an Apple fanboy but I felt great about over paying for a MBP knowing that this wasn't going to be another 2000+ laptop that I was going to throw on the junk heap because of another bad power port. And mine isn't the only one I've seen go that way, I have a number of friends who've come to me with power port issues with the same story that I've told. And I don't know how long Apple keeps spare parts floating around for their old machines but at least 2 people I know have told me that HP no longer produced the systemboard after a couple years and they were SOL.

So yeah, I feel pretty damn good about shelling out money for a machine with a magnetic power port. I'd recommend every manufacturer do it

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Quila]

I don't even like the idea of an RJ45 port anymore. What if I want to hook it up to our 10 GigE network? This thing won't even allow for that. With the Air I can get a Thunderbolt adapter. If you want regular GigE, get a USB 3 adapter. This thing already requires a dongle anyway.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Guspaz]

Not on the air it's not.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[jeremyp]

Good luck with that 60 watt supply. MacBook Pros need an 85 watt supply. The old MAcBooks and possibly the Air can get away with less.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[organgtool]

so I suppose Apple's implementation is different

Yes - Apple's patent says "on a computer" rather than "on a deep fryer". Actually, the patent more likely says "on a computer, computing device, computer peripheral, display, phone, tablet, or any other portable electronic device".

Re:Proprietary ports?

[whit3]

Mac Air:
2xUSB 3.0, HP/Mic, SD (Air 13), Thunderbolt

Ativ:
2xUSB 3.0, micro HDMI, mini VGA, RJ45(Dongle), SD, HP/Mic

Ativ beats air by 2 video outputs and wired ethernet. Also by SD when compared to the Air 11.

The Thunderbolt contains miniDisplayPort i.e. DVI and HDMI and VGA all in one;
just choose a short adapter or use long cable with two different end-connectors.
Maybe you can call the tiny connector 'nonstandard', but it supports two distinct
standards (DVI and VGA) as well as some variants like HDMI.

The 'micro HDMI' isn't any more standard, in any useful sense. The real difference,
  is only the missing wired Ethernet port and maybe SD card slot. Neither gets lots of use on laptops.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Crudely_Indecent]

just choose a short adapter

I did not include adapters in my list because they are not part of the delivered product.

The 'micro HDMI' isn't any more standard, in any useful sense

HDMI Connector Type D (the micro connector) is definitely part of the HDMI 1.3 specification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

Ethernet port and maybe SD card slot

Using ethernet on my laptop now, and SD frequently - copying from SD cards used in my cameras

Re:Proprietary ports?

[organgtool]

Go read it

I have read the patent, but it's been a couple of years and I don't have the time to look it up on the USPTO web site and find that block of text.

discusses the improvements and differences in their own implementation (including an orientation-agnostic plug design and signaling to the power brick).

Orientation-agnostic plugs are becoming very common and have little to do with the fact that it is held in with a magnet. Signaling to the power source is also becoming more common so that the device can negotiate how much power it needs and again has nothing to do with being held in by a magnet. None of these improvements individually seem worthy of a patent nor do they seem related enough to consider this plug significantly different from the plug in the deep fryer, let alone considered a new invention. Slapping a few industry-standard features onto an existing invention does not constitute a novel invention worthy of patent.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Type44Q]

That's a jack, not a port. :)

Re:Proprietary ports?

[the_B0fh]

What do standard PC bricks look like? What do Apple bricks look like? What did standard 110VAC->USB power points look like? What does Apple's look like?

How is that not putting thought and effort into it?

Re:Proprietary ports?

[GrahamJ]

That Thunderbolt port can break out to any number of other ports, even PCIe slots. Can't do that with the Sammy.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[GrahamJ]

The Thunderbolt port is backwards compatible with DisplayPort which is a standard. It just happens to have another 20Gbps available if you need it - oh the horror!

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Stuarticus]

The implication of your comment was that the fact that it took a lot of effort to open up was what made it well designed or thought out.

Re:Proprietary ports?

[the_B0fh]

Of course. A plug that is designed to be hard to break, but yet functional at the same time, and uses less space than conventional plugs, is well designed and thought out.

Is it different over there in your world?

Re:Proprietary ports?

[Stuarticus]

Read your ORIGINAL comment.

Literally unbelievable

[sqrt(2)]

...and weighs only 1.39 grams

Wow! It must be constructed from helium infused aero gels and space age nano-materials. Almost makes the horrible OS worth enduring. Almost.

Re:Literally unbelievable

[ClickOnThis]

...and weighs only 1.39 grams

Wow! It must be constructed from helium infused aero gels and space age nano-materials. Almost makes the horrible OS worth enduring. Almost.

Careful. Wipe the bloated Win8 OS and the damn thing just might float in mid-air. I mean really, it needs some kind of paperweight.

Re:Literally unbelievable

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, at least now we know it's vaporware.

Re:Literally unbelievable

[Arran4]

But.... Does it have enough traction?

WTF is a muktworld?

[Sez Zero]

At least link to an article with more than 300 words. Review at CNET.

Re:WTF is a muktworld?

[ColdWetDog]

TL;DR

Re:WTF is a muktworld?

[Noughmad]

Once in a while I open TFA, and get this:

Samsung is not going to leave Apple alone, in the market. Samsung is doing which Dell, HP or Lenovo can't do - creating devices which will make even an Apple user envious (sans software as Mac is simply far better than Windows).

WTF is this? Written by three-year-old Apple fanboy?

Re:WTF is a muktworld?

[Luthair]

That article is only marginally better, it doesn't even mention a price or any hardware details beyond the screen resolution?

crap article

[Ritchie70]

TFA is hideous. Poorly written and says nothing really factual except that Samsung has a sexy new laptop out.

The curse of price in Windows World

[Anonymous Coward]

Will the price become obstacle for this one?

Just for windows?

[gmuslera]

Does it runs Linux? Does gets bricked if try something different from Windows 8, or even windows 8 itself? With that resolution and battery life even Linus could love it... if can run his own system on it, of course.

Re:Just for windows?

[Nerdfest]

I'd love this as a Linux laptop to replace my Acer ultraBook. I haven't seen any mention of a price though, and that worries me a bit. The Acers play quite nicely with Linux ... I hope Samsung sticks to fairly mainstream supported hardware for wireless, etc.

Re:Just for windows?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a series 9 - the fully loaded version - and it's the best laptop I've ever owned... better than my 2 year old mackbook pro. I have another one sitting here for an employee that is a lesser version of the s9 and it's still better than anything else.

To answer your question, dual-boot Win7 and Fedora on this without issue. I would assume the new ones can do the same.

Re:Just for windows?

[rrohbeck]

I haven't seen any mention of a price though, and that worries me a bit.

If you have to ask...

Re:Just for windows?

[gl4ss]

you can boot whatever os you want on it..

Re:Just for windows?

[Alomex]

Is it any better than the new lighter high-res Asus Zenbook Infinity?

Re:Samsung's strategy

[Anonymous Coward]

No. It is designed in the west and farmed out to the east where labor is cheap and copying/stealing is considered an honor.
Samsung doesn't design shit. They copy.
   

Re:Ya know...

[datavirtue]

The rating is based on the device sitting there doing nothing. My god, how are they supposed to know that your were going to send and receive data over a wireless connection or update the screen with graphics! Pft!

OSX needs more hardware choice and new mac

[Joe_Dragon]

OSX needs more hardware choice and new mac pro just seems to make the mini to pro gap even bigger.

Where is the mini plus with a desktop cpu, and at least mid range video? Don't want AIO's.

13.3-inch screen?

[Vinegar Joe]

You're kidding, right? Other than Facebook or playing FreeCell, what is it good for?

Re:13.3-inch screen?

[ClickOnThis]

You're kidding, right? Other than Facebook or playing FreeCell, what is it good for?

Porn? Geez man, look at the resolution on this puppy...

Re:13.3-inch screen?

[White Flame]

It's good for people who don't have bad vision. Bring on the pixels!

Re:13.3-inch screen?

[wonkey_monkey]

Porn? Geez man, look at the resolution on this puppy...

Okay, animal porn is bad enough, but kiddy animal porn? Sick!

Price?

[hahn]

When they announce a price of $1299, we can start comparing this to the Macbook Air, okay?

Re:Price?

[Barlo_Mung_42]

Can't we just roll out all the old excuses we heard from the apple fans about how it may cost more but you get what you pay for?

Will it run Linux?

[sconeu]

Or even Win7?

Does it have the stupid-ass "Secure Boot"? Does it need to be disabled?

DETAILS!!! Even the CNet article linked in the comments doesn't cover this.

Be wary...

[djnanite]

I bought a Samsung Chronos Notebook a year ago, and it was a horrible experience.

The touchpad broke twice.
The headphone socket produced a buzz every time the laptop was plugged into the mains.
The WiFi kept disconnecting
Out of date drivers that have never been updated.
No support for Windows 8.
Terrible support staff who were either incompetent, lazy, or bored.
Badly written system software: it takes a full 20 seconds to enable/disable the WiFi, no support for non-administrators, it's intrusive and yet it's also required for full system functionality.

Even if all the hardware on this new model is up to scratch, nothing else has changed, and this deal will leave you sour. Basically, don't expect any real after-sales support in the way you probably expect it from most other laptop manufacturers. If you think of it as an appliance (like a TV) and never upgrade it, you *may* be fine.

Re:Be wary...

[Anonymous Coward]

No support for Windows 8.

Why'd you include that point with the list of failings? That's a feature.

Re:Be wary...

[AmiMoJo]

I bought a MacBook air a year ago. The first one exploded to blew my hand off. The next one killed my dog. It wouldn't run DR-DOS at all. The wifi screwed up and sterilized my nuts.

Overall I was left with a really bad feeling about all Apple products, which obviously must all have similar defects. Anecdotes by unverifiable semi-anonymous internet posters prove that to be true.

Re:Be wary...

[MachineShedFred]

Clearly he's more clever than you, because you didn't notice that it wasn't an anti-Apple post. It was a post about how the plural of anecdote isn't spelled "data".

You missed the "Anecdotes by unverifiable semi-anonymous Internet posters" part, where he basically says that the above story is false.

Re:Be wary...

[toddestan]

If it doesn't support Windows 8 it likely won't support any later versions of Windows either.

Looks good, but -

[onyxruby]

Will it run Windows 7? The hardware looks brilliant and the screen looks incredible. Samsung has ratcheted their game up considerably over the last several years. Unfortunately Microsoft has ratcheted theirs down just as far. The computer comes with Windows 8 and that is a deal breaker if it can't be replace with Windows 7.

Re:Looks good, but -

[MachineShedFred]

Many manufacturers are releasing Win7 drivers for current hardware, especially if it's a machine meant for enterprise deployment. Even some machines that are clearly designed for Windows 8 are getting Win7 support because big business isn't doing Windows 8.

Re:Looks good, but -

[JDG1980]

I would be very surprised if it didn't run on Windows 7. Even with many OEM systems which officially don't have Win7 support, that just means you can't download the Win7 drivers straight from their website. And why would you want OEM drivers (which are usually outdated and/or bundled with crap) anyway? Download the Intel chipset drivers from Intel, the Realtek sound/NIC drivers from Realtek's website, and so forth. It's not like these companies are actually making their chips in house. (Well, Samsung might make some of them, but even there, most of their stuff is going to be from the usual vendors.)

Re:Looks good, but -

[onyxruby]

No doubt you can do exactly that, I've done it for creating Hardware Independent Images over the years. Perhaps I should clarify my point to one of does it support Windows 7?

Having official support can be a deal breaker for many business that wants to exercise downgrade rights from Windows 8 to Windows 7. This affects support as well as making it easier to get warranty coverage. Without Windows 7 support this laptop is dead on arrival for anything other than the consumer market.

Re:Apple's proprietary ports?

[Arker]

Thunderbolt is proprietary (although it isnt *Apples*) as is the 'mini display port' which is the only way to attach an external monitor.

The larger issue in my mind is the lack of standard ports. A notebook that has only one USB port, NO ethernet (the option to add it is with a dongle that will then occupy that single USB port,) and NO standard display port on it is pure fail, without even considering the lack of a replaceable battery. It's small and light which is wonderful, but in order to actually USE it one would have to first buy and then carry a second case full of dongles, adapters, USB hubs, and quickchargers, and at that point you might as well just buy a real laptop - the total package will be lighter and less bulky as well as less expensive.

Re:Samsung Linux?

[Arker]

"Why on earth would you want to use a Samsung Linux distro?"

First reason - to be sure you have all the drivers. (Better way to ensure that is simply to donate the drivers and specs to the kernel team for maint but people still think this way.)

Second reason - a fantasy that Samsung would actually clean up the UI and make a more polished OS. (Doubtful, the last time I saw a company try this it was Asus and their Linux version was exactly the opposite of polished. And I mean it was bloody awful. It was clear that it was made by someone who had no clue about linux, and I expect Samsung would do little better.)

Re:Ya know...

[smash]

Just browsing, I've had 8 hours out of my Macbook pro before. It is advertised as getting 7.

*sigh*

[ArchieBunker]

To conform to the UEFI spec there must be a way to disable secureboot. Its really not a big deal. Yes your beloved AMD is just one of the other members of the UEFI group. Secureboot does as much as the TPM module that Slashdot claimed would kill Linux.

Re:*sigh*

[BrokenHalo]

To conform to the UEFI spec there must be a way to disable secureboot. Its really not a big deal.

It shouldn't be, but I read in several places that Samsung has done something to make it difficult (or impossible) to boot from USB even with UEFI supposedly disabled.

Re:*sigh*

[Anonymous Coward]

Anon because (ahem).

This laptop (and a number of similar ones which carry common components) will have no mechanism to disable secureboot. I don't know what drugs your on but the UEFI spec requires no such thing. There were some linux people citing some microsoft documents on this, but it seems the Microsoft folks have different opinions.

Re:*sigh*

[sconeu]

Where did I say anything about AMD?

Touch screen is ...

[craznar]

... another way of saying shiny screen.

No thanks.

Re:Touch screen is ...

[MachineShedFred]

The other problem with touchscreen notebooks: let's make it as thin and light as possible, and then put a touchscreen on it, so that if you actually use the touchscreen, it levers the bottom of the notebook off the desk and bangs it back onto the desk. Unless the hinges are weak shit, in which case it just constantly pushes the screen away, and you will have to be adjusting it all the time. Oh, and it's one more thing to take your hands off the keyboard.

Re:cue apple-hater about face in 5, 4, 3....

[black3d]

While I'm sure there have been (and will be) dozens of such hypocritical comments made, the allowance must also be made that some of the folks who made such comments are simply those who prefer to see their pixels and won't be impressed or buying into this resolution. I've tried 4k displays before myself, and the whole thing just feels unnerving to me. Maybe it's because I do so much work in graphics, or maybe it's just "what feels comfortable" the same way we prefer technically inferior 25fps movies to 100fps digital film; I just can't see a way forward where I'll feel comfortable with the 4k revolution (admittedly, this screen is only 3/4ths of the way there, but it won't be much longer before we see 4k laptops).

Re:Apple's proprietary ports?

[jwgreene]

No standard display port is fail? How so? I bough cheap mini display port to display port, DVI, and VGA adapters and I can thus hook my MBP to any display I care to. And it saves needing some huge ass ports making the notebook thicker and bulkier. And just what are you toting around that you need multiple USB and Ethernet cables plugged into it to be useful? The whole point of a laptop if portability, and the Macbook Air (and ultrabooks by extension) are the ultimate in portability.

Re:Now imagine...

[cameloid]

Old School.

What OSes support high DPI well?

[tlhIngan]

Other than OS X, what other OSes support high DPI displays that work well?

Windows is relatively horrible - set it to 150% and yeah, it's usable, but it seems most apps don't properly handle it so you have text exceeding their bounding boxes constantly. Set it to 100% and it's squint central.

Linux is no better - it just assumes a standard DPI display, and X is just.. horrible to deal with. Yeah, I can have a huge terminal window, but that's relatively useless to me because I want nice crisp text.

Hell, Google spent a lot of time with ChromeOS, it does look great on high DPI mode on the Chromebook Pixel. Alas, regular Linux beside it? Awful.

So, OS X and ChromeOS. Though I like the OS X implementation - because when I run the display in "most text" mode (virtual 1920x1200) it looks damn nice, and looks native still (the scaling is 150% to native panel pixels). Obviously Apple worked hard getting it to that point, better than Windows any day (no text exceeding their bounding boxes! UI widgets scaled up!)

Re:What OSes support high DPI well?

[White Flame]

OSX doesn't have that good of support, either, until it lets you set whatever zoom factor you want, not just a few factory presets.

Re: What OSes support high DPI well?

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux works great with a high dpi screen once you adjust the dpi settings of kde and gtk. For kde it was surprisingly simple - just one number in a system preferences dialog and all kde applications adjust automatically. Unfortunately gtk is harder for now, but at least the technical capability is there and I expect they will add a proper preferences setting once high dpi screens are more commonplace.

Re:What OSes support high DPI well?

[Nerdfest]

Linux with KDE.

Re:What OSes support high DPI well?

[rjstanford]

The thing is that - for most people, most of the time, in the real world - the available presets that are guaranteed to work and to look good are, in fact, just fine. In exchange for not having a setting between 125% and 150%, Apple offers its users the security and convenience of a one-click solution that is, actually, the first one in any consumer OS that actually works and works as advertised. Even with windows spanning displays at different DPIs, everything looks "correct."

In exchange for getting all that without trying I'll happily stick to one of the five different preset levels, personally. I prefer to spend my time using my laptop rather than configuring it. But maybe that's just me.

Re:What OSes support high DPI well?

[Arker]

"Linux is no better - it just assumes a standard DPI display, and X is just.. horrible to deal with. Yeah, I can have a huge terminal window, but that's relatively useless to me because I want nice crisp text."

Linux has nothing whatsoever to do with this. It's a correctable issue with your settings in X and most likely your GTK and/or KDE settings, depending on what software you are running on top of linux.

Re:What OSes support high DPI well?

[GrahamJ]

That's that happens when you run an ancient codebase. At least Apple had the good sense to throw out their old OS and build something future-friendly.

Re:Ya know...

[the_B0fh]

PC Mag got the new 13" macbook air to go to 15.5 hours on their battery tests (browsing).

With OS X 10.9 getting another 25% extra battery savings, that's going to be almost 19 hours of battery time.

Re:cue apple-hater about face in 5, 4, 3....

[adolf]

As an alternative point of view:

I don't want to see pixels, ever, when I'm just using a computer for...computing. I just want smoothly-rendered fonts.

When I had a CRT, this was easy: Set the resolution to something ridiculous, tweak the modeline to get a respectable refresh rate, increase the font sizes accordingly, and done.

When I would work with graphics back then, sure: Seeing the pixels was sometimes useful, but that's always just a couple of taps of the zoom hotkey away no matter how finely-pitched the display is.

Re: Film. You must be British if you think that film is 25fps. ;) But the truth is, we've had a long, long time to optimize techniques for dealing with conventional film speeds. Meanwhile this new-fangled high-speed digital stuff is still so new that it frankly must still be poorly-understood as a production medium, as to say otherwise is to also suggest that we've learned as much about it as we need to.

Wow, may make me want to upgrade

[Hrrrg]

I bought a Sony Vaio Z about 3 years ago and, since the line has been discontinued, I have felt there really wasn't an equivalent laptop on the market. Before I would be tempted by this new laptop, it would have to best the specs of my 3 year old laptop:

1920x1080 IPS screen
excellent backlit keyboard
excellent trackpad
exchangeable battery
2.53 GHz Core I5 processor (boost 3.06 GHz)
3.07 lbs or less (the mentioned laptop appears to be exactly this weight)

My current laptop also has a DVD drive, which pretty much makes it irreplaceable (and at the time, it could have been purchased with a blu-ray burner for $500 more without really impacting the weight. Core i7 versions were also available).

My laptop also has discreet graphics and 4 SSDs set up in Raid 0. However, I suspect that integrated graphics and more modern SSD's may mean that the performance on this new laptop from Samsung may equal or exceed that of my current laptop.

It's a pity that Sony discontinued the Vaio Z line of laptops, as, even 3 years later, they appear to have no peer.

Disclaimer: this laptop cost $2400 in 2010 and, fully loaded, the cost could have gone over $4000.
Disclaimer 2: Yes, I can live without a DVD drive, but, all things being equal, I prefer to have one built-in.

Re:Wow, may make me want to upgrade

[drinkypoo]

Do you keep that laptop in a vault, do you transport it in a carbon fibre clamshell padded with unicorn tears, or did Sony finally manage to build a decent laptop? Because before three years with a Vaio, I am usually preparing for defenestration.

I will believe it, when I can buy one

[bored]

Samsung announced a laptop last year with a >1080p screen (to lazy to google it). For about 6-8 months I regularly went to their site and searched google/ebay for one.

Nada. It was just a paper release. Now this, maybe they will release it, but until I can click buy and have it shipped to my door in a couple days its just BS.

Frankly, I can't really believe that the only manufacture making a laptop with a screen >150PPI is Apple. Every single PC manufacture thinks it ok to put a garbage screen on their crapbooks, and maybe grace the really high end ones with full 1080p, like its some kind of magic resolution. No wonder dell/HP are screwed, 3/4's of the tablets I look at have better resolutions than nearly every laptop sold at retail outside of an apple store.

Re:I will believe it, when I can buy one

[Microlith]

That's what happens when you're hamstrung by Microsoft. Even now Windows is terrible with high DPI screens unless you restrict yourself to Windows Store environment applications. No one can move forward until Microsoft feels they're good and ready. And Microsoft isn't likely to fix the problems on the desktop.

Re:I will believe it, when I can buy one

[gl4ss]

That's what happens when you're hamstrung by Microsoft. Even now Windows is terrible with high DPI screens unless you restrict yourself to Windows Store environment applications. No one can move forward until Microsoft feels they're good and ready. And Microsoft isn't likely to fix the problems on the desktop.

stop with this bullshit and try using one! I've used 125% to 150% dpi scaling for years! only thing you need to do is disable pixel doubling option if you're on the older windows versions, since that often fecks up mouse click coordinates.

Re:I will believe it, when I can buy one

[Archon-X]

Rubbish.
Sony and Samsung have had hi-res laptops for ages

Re:I will believe it, when I can buy one

[toddestan]

Windows is fine with higher DPI screens. Actually, they are better than OS X which pretty much restricts you to 200% scaling, which is why their high DPI screens are exactly 2x the dimensions of a common resolution (i.e. 2880x1800 - 1440x900) because OS X couldn't handle an intermediate setting well. The problem with Windows is the applications. but really it's the backwards compatibility that's biting Windows in the ass. Apple conveniently gets around this by constantly breaking compatibility so that you aren't going to be running anything older than a few years on a recent Macbook. But in the Microsoft world, you can still install and run that old application from Windows 98 which naturally doesn't know about DPI scaling and thus of course looks like crap when Windows tries to scale it. But unlike on OSX, the program will still generally run and you can still use it, even if it's ugly.

Re:Apple's proprietary ports?

[Arker]

"I bough cheap mini display port to display port, DVI, and VGA adapters and I can thus hook my MBP to any display I care to. And it saves needing some huge ass ports making the notebook thicker and bulkier."

And my point which obviously went right over your head is that those adapters you are carting around add much more bulk to your kit than simply having a regular port in the laptop to begin with.

"And just what are you toting around that you need multiple USB and Ethernet cables plugged into it to be useful?"

Ethernet should be self explanatory, hello? Then practically every gadget one might want to use these days is USB, so whatever you are doing, if you are doing more than trying to look stylish, you will use those ports.

You cant tell me these things make it too heavy when the adapters you are carrying around just so you can use a monitor and a network jack are going to weigh more and be waaay more bulky. My old EeePC has two USB ports in addition to ethernet, sd card slot, replaceable batteries, and a standard monitor port. And it's tougher and lighter to boot.

Re:cue apple-hater about face in 5, 4, 3....

[Microlith]

How about: "All I want is the screen."

Re:Samsung Linux?

[real-modo]

Er, woosh?

Re:Ya know...

[jones_supa]

What's the sucky part of OSX 10.9? Just a neutral question, I'm not that familiar with OSX myself.

Re:Ya know...

[Stuarticus]

I use 8 at home and 7 at work and many time I am at work missing a feature I have at home with 8.

Is it being able to log in to /.?

Re:cue apple-hater about face in 5, 4, 3....

[black3d]

Who's the "we" you're referring to when you say "we hate blah blah"? Mine was pretty clearly spelled out, with comments such as "those who prefer to see their pixels". You're a hypocrite to accuse someone else of "speaking for others" (even though I actually explained whom I was speaking about), and then go on to do the same yourself.

Also, you're confusing film with television, but don't let that stop your crazed rant. I too, only watch full HD, 100hz digital TV. That's not what I see where I go to the cinema, however, mainly because it's not being shown.

640x480 is still supported

[Ottibus]

Try using a version of Windows that isn't 15 years old. 640x480 isn't even a supported resolution

640x480 is still supported but it is hidden in the UI when larger modes are available.

Why 16:9

[Noughmad]

Why, oh why, can't somebody other than Apple make a 16:10 laptop?

Re:Why 16:9

[toddestan]

I believe the Panasonic Toughbooks are still 16:10.

Waiting for a non apple full sized retina laptop

[iceco2]

I don't want an ultra book, I want something full size I can code on
and it seems currently my options are either Apple or settle for FHD. :(

Re:cue apple-hater about face in 5, 4, 3....

[drinkypoo]

I've always wanted more pixels and I still do, but ironically NeXTStep would have been better-poised to take advantage of them than OSX at the time the high-res displays started to hit non-pocket devices. I don't know (because I haven't tried to find out) if Apple has finished putting display resolution independence back into OSX, but if so that eliminates a major objection, at least on that platform.

I don't think I've seen an actual X app on Linux in a while, so I suppose I could probably use a display with a lot of pixels per inch now. Until just a few years ago, it was fairly normal for me to have to resort to some antiquated X app (which would not scale on such a monitor) for something now and then, but it's been some time.

Re:Ya know...

[the_B0fh]

He's just trolling. So far, out of 10 or so people I've moved to OS X, 9 of them are far happier with it than with Windows. 1 decided to move back to Windows.

Article is horseshit.

[MachineShedFred]

So in which departments does ATIV Book 9 Plus beat the MacBook AIR?

* Great design

What the hell does this even mean? The MacBook Air defined the "Ultrabook" form factor, which this is following onto. Oh, but somehow Apple is behind when this is the exact same form factor, with a bit of side moulding?

* 256GB SSD (seems 128GB would be the base model)

Exactly the same as MacBook Air, except the MacBook Air has faster storage, because it's PCI-E based instead of SATA.

* 3200x1800 resolution

Yes, that's more pixels then MacBook Air. However, there is no OS you can run on this thing that properly deals with Hi-DPI displays.

* Touch Screen

Do not want.

* Haswell Processor

Same as MacBook Air.

* 12 Hours battery life

Claimed 12 hour battery life. Is this a real "I can use it for 12 hours on wireless, with the backlight on, doing real work" or "It can idle with the backlight and all radios off, and every power management setting at maximum, and it will barely squeak out 12 hours" ? MacBook Air's 11 hour battery life is real world proven by reviewers.

* More 'standard' ports as compared to Apple's proprietary ports.

What the hell does this mean? Mini-VGA is not any standard you'll find on anything. What on the MacBook Air is "proprietary" to Apple, other than the MagSafe power? DisplayPort is a VESA standard. Thunderbolt is a licensable tech from Intel.

This article is astroturf garbage.

Re:Now imagine...

[isorox]

A Beowulf cluster of these!

Running a raytrace of Natille Portman, Naked and Petrified!

Oooh it's enough to put hot grits down your pants (pants are optional, but recommended for you)

How well does it run linux ?!?

[dargaud]

Well, if there's no reply, simply send one of those to me and I'll be happy to boot and report... C;-)

Re:What the fuck does it run Android?

[redback]

Shit article, written by an idiot.

Re:Waiting for a non apple full sized retina lapto

[redback]

This.

Optical drive.

Real ethernet port.

And a trackpoint.

Hey Lenovo, go break into Samsungs house and steal their screens and put them into a nice Thinkpad for me, eh?

Re:Now imagine...

[grub]

Did anybody remember to bring the greased Yoda dolls?

Re:Apple's proprietary ports?

[Arker]

I am sorry but simply publishing a spec does not make your interface a standard. Multiple independent implementations in widespread use make it a standard. MiniDP is not there yet. It might be years from now, but it is not now. If you want to plug into a monitor you need a different port or an adapter.

Let's try this again

[dbIII]

The monoculture comment I believe is fully valid - many people are unaware of what is in other systems to the point in this case where a highly constrained GUI tool is being held up as a good way to do things. For some things yes, for others definitely not. The *nix way, like it or not, is a pile of little tools instead of a single big one that tries to do everything but cannot. To be frank I find some of the tools you suggested frustrating to use so see the "why isn't there anything as good as ..." as being a sign of writing in ignorance.
For "kids" I probably could have substituted "students", especially high school students, because that's when they really should be exposed to computers as a wide field (as used to be done) instead of just typing stuff in MS Word. I didn't expect you to be so thin skinned as to take offence and assume that I'm calling you a child. I expected you to take it at face value and notice the regret that your generation was presented with a monoculture, and the belief that the next should not be given such a narrow view.
I also think there are good things about MS Windows (it's finally getting some stuff running on 64 bit) but I've seen it grow so slowly and have so many backward steps that I am no fanboy.

How, exactly, would you troubleshoot a similar problem on *nix

To start with there is no registry to add confusion and you've already answered your own question about finding what files a process has open by mentioning "lsof".

Re:Let's try this again

[LordLimecat]

LSOF will list open files, not files that a process tried and failed to open (whether because it was not found, or because there were insufficient permissions.

RE Registry, theres not much practical difference between a program not opening because of a missing reg key, and not opening because of a missing dat / log / conf file. An example of this sort of problem on *nix would be when I was attempting to get SS5 running on pfSense, it continually errored out, and I had to reverse engineer where the various files it wanted to use had to be. Luckily it threw console errors indicating what files were missing, and I was able to create those files-- but it would have been easier with a proc-mon type tool, and certainly the lack of a registry didnt make things easier or better, just different.

Re:Let's try this again

[dbIII]

strace then.

Intel developed Thunderbolt, not Apple

[sjbe]

No, Lightpeak is Intel, Thunderbolt is Apple

Light Peak was the code name for Thunderbolt which was developed by Intel and Intel owns the full rights to the trademark. It uses an Apple developed connector and Apple was the first ones to put Thunderbolt on their machines but it is unambiguously an Intel owned technology.

Intel developed Lightpeak, Apple simply purchased the technology and named it Thunderbolt, hence Apple owns the trademark on that one.

Apple transferred the Thunderbolt trademark to Intel about two years ago.

If you want to use IEEE1394, you need to pay... Apple.

As well as 9 other corporations that hold essential patent rights to the technology in IEEE1394.

Waiting for the inevitable mod-down by Apple fanboys who dont like the truth.

Since virtually all your facts are wrong you might consider taking a less adversarial tone.

Intel owns Thunderbolt

[sjbe]

Thunderbolt is Apple proprietary. The Intel version which is freely licensable is called Lightpeak.

Your facts are wrong. Intel developed this technology and the code name for it was Light Peak. Apple registered the trademark for Thunderbolt but transferred the rights to that trademark to Intel two years ago. Thunderbolt is not proprietary to Apple in any meaningful way.

Hardly anything supports it.

Thunderbolt is just PCI Express and Displayport with DC power baked in. Both PCIe and DP are well supported and widespread. A Thunderbolt port can be used for PCIe or Displayport devices. It's accurate however that Thunderbolt is not widely used outside of Apple products at this time.

Why only 8GB of RAM?

[hawguy]

Why do these new laptops top out at only 8GB of RAM? My 5 year old desktop has 8GB and I make good use of the RAM and sometimes find myself wanting more. Anyone that does java development or graphics/video editing can easily run into memory constraints with only 8GB.

This will probably be my next laptop

[elabs]

Slap Windows 8.1 on there and you've got a customer.

Re:Ya know...

[smash]

I'm running 10.9 right now and it is the best version of OS X i have ever used, going back to 10.5. It is what Lion (and Mountain Lion) should have been.

No thanks until I see the price

[yenic]

Price? TBD. To me until I have that this thing is meaningless. Also, it's meant to compete with the MBP, not the MBA. Unless it's going to be the same price. From what I see so far, all things considered (not forgetting the build quality of Apple could possibly be matched, at best)- the MBA would still be my choice.

What's in a name?

[GrahamJ]

"Ativ Book 9 Plus" Keep trying to figure out product naming Sammy!

Re:Commoditized Apple

[GrahamJ]

Who says Apple needs free advertising?

Re:Commoditized Apple

[datavirtue]

It is all down hill from here which creates a wall of cognitive dissonance at Apple resulting in their ultimate waning. The innovation died, or rather had a limited lifetime. Apple will wane for the same reason it was successful. The wonderful market action we so dearly love--the ability to copy successful products, services, and ideas.

Re:Commoditized Apple

[datavirtue]

It was a serious comment. The troll detectors are set to 11 here.

Super high res laptops are great, but...

[adobelis]

I'm writing this on my MacBook Pro Retina. I love the screen, for the most part, but there are a few issues. For one thing, it down-resolves by default, so you don't get all the extra screen real estate you might want. Second, sometimes that down-resolving looks really shitty. The Office suite, for example, is vomitously gross to look at. Otherwise, yay. There are some other issues too, but it is really the best computer I've ever owned.