PCSTATS     
[X]   Directory of
Guides & Reviews

Beginners Guides
Motherboards by Brand
Weekly Newsletter
Archived Newsletters

Samsung 9-Series NP900X4C-A02 15.1-inch Ultrabook Laptop Review
Samsung 9-Series NP900X4C-A02 15.1-inch Ultrabook Laptop Review - PCSTATS
Design wise, Samsung have done well by their 9-Series Ultrabook; the system is wrapped in dark cobalt blue aluminum chassis that adopts many of the design elements of an Apple Macbook Air, yet posses the large screen size of a MacBook Pro (albeit with better hardware) and a sticker prices that won't cause heart failure.
 87% Rating:   
Filed under: Notebooks Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Samsung Feb 02 2013   Max Page  
Home > Reviews > Notebooks > Samsung NP900X4C-A02

360° View - Laptop Screen, Viewing Angles

The Samsung NP900X4C-A02 features a widescreen aspect ratio, 15" display that uses LED backlights rated to 400nits luminance. The screen has a matt, anti-reflective coating to diminish the impact of reflected light sources and its widescreen format gives the monitor an overall size of 13"w x 7.5"h (33.3cm x 18.5cm).

The display has a native resolution of 1600x900 which makes the overall dot pitch high enough to look sharp, but it's not so fine that you'll be squinting to see text. Video output to an external monitor can be handled via a standard VGA port dongle (not included) or through micro-HDMI output.

The display is pleasing too look at, head on, with nice colour saturation and a fine pixel pitch. Illumination goes up to blindingly bright levels... One neat trick with the Samsung NP900X4C-A02 is that it has an ambient light sensor nestled in just above the keyboard. This sensor automatically calibrates screen brightness to the particular environment, so for example if you move from a dark room to a sunny back yard you don't have to fiddle with anything to make the screen legible again. The keyboard backlight is also tied into this light sensor, but PCSTATS found the keyboard backlight a little dull, at best. The backlight is suitably bright for typing in complete darkness, but not bright enough for dusk situations.

Over the week or so PCSTATS had hands on time with the Samsung 900X4C-A02 we unfortunately found the screen to have pretty poor viewing angles. Head on, the 1600x900 screen looks wonderful, but if you stray too far off to one side, or tilt the screen too far forward contrast goes out the window. Notebooks typically have shallower viewing angles than desktop LCD monitors (which average 180/180), but given the wide screen display here, we expected markedly better side-to-side colour fastness than the Samsung 900X4C-A02 delivered.


(Click to view full size image)

Here's a real world example of why viewing angles matter: if you're typing on an airplane and the person in the seat in front of you leans back, it can cause the 900X4C-A02's display to tilt forward ~60-70 degrees to eye level. At this point the shallow vertical viewing angle makes it difficult to read text, as you can see for yourself in the top/bottom/left/right photo montage below. Click on the image above for a full size picture. Samsung do not disclose the exact angles, we'd estimate them to be around 140 - 150 degrees.

The screen panel is 5mm thick - remarkably thin - the bezel around the screen is 12mm wide. The screen doe not tilt flat all the way back, but at most to about 25 degrees.

PCSTATS goes in for a closer look at the side and ports on the NP900X4C-A02 Ultrabook, next.

< Previous Page © 2023 PCSTATS.com Next Page >

 

Contents of Article: Samsung NP900X4C-A02
 Pg 1.  Samsung 9-Series NP900X4C-A02 15.1-inch Ultrabook Laptop Review
 Pg 2.  — 360° View - Laptop Screen, Viewing Angles
 Pg 3.  360° View: Left/Right Side Ports
 Pg 4.  360° View: Keyboard, Ease of Typing, Touch Pad
 Pg 5.  Keyboard Back Light and WebCamera
 Pg 6.  Software and What's Included in the Box
 Pg 7.  Notebook Benchmarks: MobileMark, Sysmark 2012, PCmark Vantage
 Pg 8.  Notebook Gaming Benchmarks: 3DMark06, 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark 11
 Pg 9.  Notebook Benchmarks: Sandra 2012 CPU / Memory / SSD
 Pg 10.  Notebook SSD Benchmarks: PCmark Vantage HDD Suite, AS SSD
 Pg 11.  Conclusions: Samsung's 900X4C-A02 Core i7 Ultrabook

 
Hardware Sections 


 
PCSTATS Network Features Information About Us Contact
FrostyTech
PCSTATS Newsletter
Tech Glossary
Technology WebSite Listings
News Archives
(Review RSS Feed)
Site Map
PCstats Wallpaper
About Us
Privacy Policy
Advertise on PCSTATS

How's Our Driving?
© Copyright 1999-2023 www.pcstats.com All rights reserved. Privacy policy and Terms of Use.