Do my friend's claims have any validity? -Laptop Brand Related-

While discussing potential laptops and tablets I brought up my interest in the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro as an option. My friend goes to say she doesn't trust or recommend computers that are made by companies that didn't start out making them and goes on to recommend the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 as an option. Her opinion for all purpose and intent is that brands that started out making cell phones usually cut corners when making other devices such as laptops. No particular corners cut were mentioned, but she felt very strongly about this.

While I respect her opinion I wholeheartedly and with all due respect think these claims are invalid. However I was wondering what the forum members think.

 

By her logic the same could be said of Microsoft, even though they are a pc software company at heart

 

There are plenty of complaints about the Surface machines no machine is perfect no matter who makes it.

My opinion on the Samsung Notebook 9 is obviously biased as I have both the Gen7 and Gen8 and they are great machines imho, if EMR is at the top of your check list. If you don't need the amazing pen then there are other machines which would be better based on general hardware spec.

The short cuts that Samsung included would be the slow MicroSD card interface, lack of TB3 or Gen2 USBC and the standard SSD isn't NVMe (easy upgrade worth doing). The screen is 1920x1080 not 4K which for me is a plus to be honest others don't share that opinion. Screen quality and brightness is great. The Gen8 needs to be under-volting if you want it to run cooler with less fan noise.

Build quality is really nice and solid, good range of ports, nice keyboard and track pad. Light and easy to handle for a 15" device battery life could be better although that's rarely a concern of mine. Silo S-pen is handy to have in an emergency. The dGPU isn't amazing but it helps performance with software that actually makes use of it and it is capable of playing some relatively current games at okay frame rates.

I have had many other Samsung laptops over the years, as well as their phones, and they have all been good devices and are all still fully functional. I wouldn't agree with your friends opinion. Samsung have proven themselves to be very capable laptop and tablet producers with a good reputation. Imho MS's hardware devices track record is far more questionable.

If you're not in a hurry you will probably get between $100 and $150 discount from BestBuy as the N9P seems to be on a regular rotation on their discount schedule.

I have seen very few negatives reviews or hardware failures reported from N9P owners, myself included for what it's worth.

 

Thank you for the response Shizaru, I have found more issues with Surface Machines on one reddit page than I can on multiple pages on Samsung's troubleshooting forums. Pen not working, pen offset, computer having major issues to the point of RMA, etc. The N9P comes down to OS related updates and a few minor areas a driver usually fixes. Same with the GB12 if we are comparing apples to apples.

If Samsung made cheaper products that'd be one thing, but since they make flagship phones, own a large portion of Wacom stock, and develop professional components (NAND Flash and DRAM seen in the Surface) it's a little hard to say that just because Samsung didn't START as a tech company doesn't mean they can't make good devices.

Don't get me wrong, I still wonder why Samsung didn't use a different screen ratio for a drawing device, put in a larger battery, 2k screen (at least as an option) and a few other nitpicks for a computer in it's price range, but what Samsung does have over the competition (to justify the price to some) is that wonderful Wacom EMR technology.

I am in no hurry to get it and was thinking of waiting until BF2018 to look into getting one. At the moment, and suggestion from another member, to get a Wacom Cintiq. More specifically a Lenovo ThinkPad with 8th gen hardware and enough RAM to use Clip Studio and Photoshop. Not to mention a dock to run a multi monitor setup too.

 

I too disagree with your friends opinion, I have tried a lot of tablets and phones with different OS's but I didn't feel that companies cut the corner in anything. Whatever the form factor it may be they try to maximize the performance. According to your friends logic we should only use amazon for purchasing books since that is what it was initially created for XD No offense but it was just funny to me.