Back in 2013, Samsung decided it would be a good idea to launch a notebook with a premium design and a budget price. Regrettably, the original Ativ Book cost well over a grand and delivered lackluster performance.
On the bright side, however, it looks like Samsung has heard the cries of its naysayers and decided to act with a new model it’s calling the Ativ Book 9 Lite. Unlike the previous offering, this notebook is far more capable, bolstering a slick new Skylake processor and 8GB of memory to address the complaints on horsepower.
The Ativ Book 9 Lite bears a 13.3-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 full HD panel along with an Intel Pentium 4405U processor, a 128GB solid state drive, and Intel HD 510 graphics. Additional features include, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity, and a 30 Whr battery. You can also expect a USB 3.0 port, a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, a mini Ethernet jack, and a built-in SDXC card reader.
In the size department, Samsung’s most recent foray into compact notebooks comes in at 0.7 inches thick and three pounds in weight. That’s a little lighter than the previous model, albeit with an inflated form factor.
Although the Ativ Book 9 Lite has only officially been launched in South Korea, a listing from Energy Star confirms that we can expect to see the notebook in a number of other markets including North America, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand, presumably in 2016.
Earlier today, Samsung also revealed the 900X3L and 900X5L laptops, according to Liliputing, and both of them are even more impressively lightweight than the Ativ Book 9. We’ll have to wait for pricing and availability information, however, to determine which device offers the best value of the pack.
Last year, when we reviewed the original Ativ Book 9, we concluded that its goal of prevailing as a 15-inch MacBook Air was impeded by its lackluster performance. “The ATIV Book 9 is not slow,” wrote Digital Trends computing editor Matt Smith, “but the same hardware can be found in systems that cost almost a third of this laptop’s MSRP.” Let’s see how much of an improvement this updated model offers.
