Samsung on Thursday introduced its next-generation Notebook 9 convertible laptops that will hit the market next year. The new lineup of convertibles includes models with a 13.3-inch display or a 15-inch display. These models and are aimed at professionals who need performance of Intel’s Core i7 CPUs along with convenience of a stylus in a relatively portable package. Also notable is that the new systems are the industry’s first PCs from a renowned brand to feature a UFS card reader.

Samsung’s Notebook 9 lineup of notebooks is well known and respected for its portability and moderate pricing. The company has been expanding this product family for quite a while now, introducing the Notebook 9 Pro in mid-2017, the Notebook 9 Pen in late 2017, and the Notebook 9 Spin convertibles somewhere along the line, creating some confusion. Since the “Pro” and the “Pen” have a lot in common, it looks like Samsung is going to merge these two lineups into one starting next year. Since the new Notebook 9 Pen hybrid laptops will have to address slightly different audiences, Samsung had to significantly alter design of its 13.3-inch Notebook 9 Pen convertible machine: the new one features a higher-capacity battery, but a bit thicker profile and a higher weight (15.9 mm, 1.12 kilograms).

Despite different display sizes (yet both featuring a Full-HD resolution) and overall dimensions (see the table below for exact numbers), the new Samsung Notebook 9 Pen 13 and Notebook 9 Pen 15 resemble each other a lot. Both systems come in a CNC-machined aluminum chassis with Ocean Blue finish.

The new units ship with Samsung’s new S Pen stylus that is stored inside the chassis, can sense 4,000 levels of pressure, has tilt sensitivity, and features a reduced latency when compared to the existing model. Perhaps, the most interesting feature of the tiny device is swappable tip for different types of work. Both machines are equipped with a 54 Wh battery that provides up to 15 hours of battery life on one charge in the best-case scenario.

Hardware wise, both Notebook 9 Pen systems are based on Intel’s 8^th Gen Core i7 processor (think quad-core Whiskey Lake) accompanied by LPDDR3 memory, and a PCIe/NVMe SSD. The 13.3-inch model relies on Intel Graphics UHD 620 iGPU, whereas the 15-inch SKU has an NVIDIA’s GeForce MX150 discrete GPU paired with 2 GB of RAM for extra graphics oomph.

I/O capabilities are strong selling points of Samsung’s Notebook 9 Pen. The upcoming hybrid PCs from Samsung have a 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth controller featuring Gigabit-class performance, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a USB Type-C connector, stereo speakers co-developed with AKG, a microphone, a TRRS audio input/output, and a UFS + microSD card reader. The latter deserves a special attention as this is the first time when a renowned PC maker launches a laptop with a UFS card reader. Being the main driving force behind the UFS specification, Samsung yet has to support these high-performance cards on its other products and we can only wonder why the company has not done so thus far. In the meantime, the fact that Samsung’s new laptops have a UFS card reader may indicate that the company has plans to enable UFS support on other devices as well.

When it comes to security, Samsung’s Notebook 9 Pen systems are outfitted with a fingerprint reader along with an HD webcam featuring IR sensors for Windows Hello facial recognition.

Samsung plans to demonstrate the new Notebook 9 Pen machines next month at CES. Also at the show the company will disclose exact specs of the convertible notebooks as well as prices.

Related Reading

• Samsung Announces New Notebook 9 Pen and Three New Notebook 9 (2018) Laptops
• Samsung Announces Notebook 9 Pro 2-in-1, Includes S Pen Stylus
• Samsung Unveils Galaxy Book2: 12-Inch, Snapdragon 850 with X20 LTE, 20 Hrs
• Samsung Updates Notebook 9: Kaby Lake, USB-C, Starts at 816 Grams
• UFS - USB Bridge Controllers for Card Readers, Hosts Incoming from JMicron & SMI
• Samsung Rolls Out Its First UFS Cards: SSD Performance in Card Form-Factor

Source: Samsung

Samsung plans to demonstrate the new Notebook 9 Pen machines next month at CES. Also at the show the company will disclose exact specs of the convertible notebooks as well as prices.