Ultraportable Laptop Battle: Apple MacBook Air vs. Samsung Series 9

Published July 21, 2011

By Louis Ramirez, dealnews senior feature writer

Apple's just-released MacBook Air and Samsung's forthcoming NP900X1B-A02 laptop are two of the sharpest-looking ultraportable notebooks around. And at $999 each for the entry models, they're both targeting the same buyer. Yet despite their similar profiles and price points, these notebooks are sporting completely different innards. Or are they? We put both systems side-by-side to find out which is more deserving of your hard-earned cash.

Ultraportable Face-Off

	Samsung NP900X1B-A02	Apple MacBook Air 2011

Price*	$999	$999
Processor	1.3GHz Intel Core i3 Sandy Bridge dual-core	1.6GHz Intel Core i5 Sandy Bridge dual-core
Display	11.6" 1366x768 LED backlit	11.6" 1366x768 LED backlit
RAM	2GB DDR3	2GB DDR3
SSD Storage	64GB	64GB
Weight	2.34 lbs.	2.38 lbs.
Other features	Bluetooth 3.0, microSD card slot, backlit keyboard, micro-HDMI, one USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, Mic-in, 1.3MP webcam, 802.11n	Bluetooth 4.0, Thunderbolt port, backlit keyboard, 2 USB 2.0 ports, Mic-in, FaceTime camera, 802.11n
Rated Battery	up to 7 hours	up to 5 hours

^{*Manufacturer price}

Samsung's Series 9 laptops made their debut back in April, when the orginal 13.3" Series 9 laptop (NP900X3A) lost our face-off against the 2010 MacBook Air. Since then, Samsung has refreshed the series and added two new 11" models to the line up. The NP900X1B-A02 is the entry level model, which will ship in August for $999.

Like its 13" predecessor, the new 11" NP900X1B-A02 laptop features an attractive duralumin design, backlit keyboard, and LED display. However, the new 11" Series 9 downgrades to a 1.3GHz Core i3 CPU (from a Core i5) and just 2GB of RAM (from 4GB). It retains the same 64GB SSD drive and many of its other secondary features as listed in our chart above.

Rather than detract, the new 2011 MacBook Air got significant upgrades and yet maintained its $999 price tag. New in the 2011 MacBook Air is an Intel Core i5 Sandy Bridge CPU (upgraded from an Intel Core 2 Duo) and a backlit keyboard, an option that was sorely missing from the 2010 model.

In addition to hardware upgrades, the 2011 MacBook Air now comes with Mac OS X Lion, Apple's highly-anticipated OS which combines the best features of iOS with OS X. Also worth noting is that the MacBook Air (like many Macs) is capable of running Windows 7 via its Boot Camp feature. By contrast, the Samsung can't natively run another OS.

Conclusion
It's abundantly clear that Apple's 2011 MacBook Air received multiple hardware and software upgrades (and maintained its $999 price tag), whereas Samsung's new 11" Series 9 laptop received multiple downgrades to reach its $999 price tag. It's also very likely we'll see early Apple reseller discounts on the new 2011 MacBook Air, whereas the previous Samsung Series 9 laptop didn't see a single deal since its April debut.

Thus, history is repeating itself as we favor the 2011 MacBook Air over the 11" Samsung Series 9 laptop.

 An avid gadget lover, Louis Ramirez has covered technology for Gizmodo, CNET, Laptop, and various other publications. Follow him on Twitter at @LouisRamirez. You can also sign up for an email alert for all dealnews features. 