Forget Galaxy Note 9, Check Out This New Notebook 9 Pen By Samsung

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If you are in love with the Galaxy Note line and Samsung’s S Pen stylus, the company has a new offering for you. It will arrive long before the rumored Galaxy Note 9. Samsung showcased a Galaxy Note-flavored convertible 2-in-1 laptop called Notebook 9 Pen at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The Korean company seems to be taking advantage of its popularity in the smartphone market to sell more computers. The Notebook 9 Pen will be competing against Microsoft’s Surface Book.

Boring design but powerful specs

The Notebook 9 Pen was originally announced about a month ago along with a couple of other products. Samsung is now showcasing it to tech enthusiasts at the CES. The 13.3-inch hybrid laptop brings the familiar S Pen stylus to a laptop for the first time. The 2-in-1 laptop is incredibly light at just 995g (2.2 pounds) and thin at just 0.64 inches, making it easier to carry around when you are traveling.

The Notebook 9 Pen has a sturdy all-metal magnesium aluminum design and runs Windows 10. It doesn’t have an inspiring design as lacks the Wow factor, but it’s portable. Samsung seems to have focused more on building a lightweight, sturdy machine that gets the job done rather than on the design. Another thing that might turn you off is the battery. The Notebook 9 Pen comes with a 39Wh battery, which isn’t great.

The smaller battery may have helped Samsung keep the device lightweight, but it would also affect its battery life. Samsung claims the Notebook 9 Pen should last up to 9 hours of 1080p video playback. That’s far less than Microsoft Surface Book 2’s 17 hours and Lenovo Yoga 920’s 15 hours.

In terms of specs, the Notebook 9 Pen comes with a 13.3-inch Full HD RealViewTouch display. It is powered by Intel’s 8th-generation Core i7 processor and up to 16GB of RAM. The device offers up to 512GB storage and Intel HD Graphics. It has a backlit keyboard, precision touchpad, and a fingerprint sensor. Its maximum display brightness isn’t all that great at 450 nits, especially under direct sunlight.

The Notebook 9 Pen features a single HDMI port, a USB Type-C port, a regular USB port, along with a microSD slot. It comes with built-in Windows Hello for security. Samsung offers a variety of tools for productivity and collaboration such as Samsung Link Sharing, Samsung Message, Voice Note, and Studio Plus.

Samsung Notebook 9 Pen is all about the S Pen

The biggest highlight of the hybrid laptop is Samsung’s signature S Pen stylus borrowed from the Galaxy Note line. The stylus is battery-free and fits nicely at the base of the device. As Engadget points out, Samsung is positioning the device for artists, and the S Pen comes handy when you are drawing or sketching in the tablet mode. The S Pen has a 0.7mm nib and 4,096 pressure levels. Samsung claims its convenient tilt detection allows for a more natural drawing and writing experience.

The stylus may feel too small for people with big hands. It allows you to jot down quick notes in OneNote or Samsung’s Notes app. When you pop the stylus out, you’ll get a Galaxy Note-like “Air Command” menu with shortcuts for different features. You can record lectures and conversations using Voice Note and jot down notes using the S Pen simultaneously. According to Engadget, if you lose the hybrid laptop’s S Pen, the Galaxy Note’s stylus works just fine with the device.

Samsung hasn’t revealed its price, but the device has already gone on sale in South Korea. The United States and other markets would get it in the first quarter of this year. Considering it will be competing against Microsoft’s Surface Book series, we expect the Notebook 9 Pen to undercut Microsoft’s laptop.

If you are a Note fan but aren’t interested in Samsung’s S Pen-totting laptop, the Korean company is planning to release the Galaxy Note 9 in the second half of this year. The Note 9 is rumored to come with an in-display fingerprint sensor that would allow you to unlock the phone and authenticate payments by putting your finger on the screen. It would also feature an improved S Pen stylus, Samsung executives have confirmed.

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