Samsung Notebook 9 Pen (2019): Wacom EMR

This is the new thread for all things Notebook 9 Pen 2019 split from the original Notebook 9 Pen 13 & 15" 2019 thread.

 

Thanks for splitting these threads. I am surprised at some of the decisions Samsung has made with these two lines. Why is the pen model capped at 8 GB RAM, while the Pro AES model goes upto 16 GB RAM for $100 cheaper and arguably has a better design?

 

Are they capped at 8Gb? I've been seeing the Pen available on Amazon, (for crazy high $$!), which come with 16Gb. Is it just the 2019 model they're limiting? That would be annoying, especially given the ticket price!

I have to also say... I really prefer the look of new Pro chassis. It looks super premium and elegant. (Though.., I wonder if the hard edges would be uncomfortable to hold after a while..?)

 

The Pen 2019 model released in US for the 13.3" version is a single model with 8GB RAM. The 15.6" 2019 model though is available with 16GB RAM.

Interestingly, in Samsung South Korea website though the Pen 13.3" models are available with 16GB RAM options. Why not in US? Its just very strange .

I too much prefer the look of the new Pro chassis but I can't do AES. Every OEM has jumped on the AES/N-Trig bandwagon and it makes me wonder have they ever used EMR pens? Even Apple pencil can't touch the performance of EMR pen.

Samsung claims that they have lowered the latency of S-Pen in 2019 version to 3.8 ms compared to 9.7 ms in the 2018 version. I think Pixelbook, Surface Pro, iPad Pro are all hovering near 20 ms latency.

The pen performance in the 2018 version was already exceptional. I can't imagine what this 50% reduction in latency could even translate to in terms of experience, as it was already so good. At this rate paper and pencil will have to release an upgrade to match the EMR performance.

 

Ok got my unit. Here is the initial impression:

1) Looks way more premium in reality than it does in pictures. I was afraid I would hate the blue color but it looks very professional in real life. Except its a fingerprint magnet and soon gets covered in them. This is annoying as the 2018 version looks pristine no matter how much you handle it.

2) It feels very solid with no flex and has tight tolerances. You get the feeling you are holding a premium product. However, I can feel the weight difference even though its only 0.3 lbs heavier than the 2018 version, only because I got used to carrying around the lighter 2018 version. The 2019 version feels more like every other PC in terms of handling while the 2018 version felt quite unique in its lightness.

3) Display is as good as the previous 2018 version in terms of color, contrast, brightness, pixel density etc. However, curiously the display elements seem closer to the screen somehow when touching them, even though the screen in the previous version as far as I know was also laminated. It just seems the screen part in the 2019 version is thinner and more compact thus giving that feeling.

4) Fingerprint sensor is a little flakier than 2018 version. My 2018 version never once failed to register quickly while the 2019 version sometimes won't, but the failure rate is less than 10%.

5) Speakers are way louder and fuller.

6) 8 GB RAM is disappointing in a product of this price but for my use case it is probably sufficient.

7) Fan runs on heavy load (syncing OneDrive for example) and the sound is a little milder compared to the 2018 version.

8) Pen performance is beyond excellent! Nothing competes. Nothing even comes close in my experience with all Windows PCs, tablets, chromebooks over the years. This is the best feature of this notebook.

9) Battery life seems good. 40% more battery capacity than the 2018 version with the same processor efficiency so I am expecting 40% more battery life. The 2018 version reliably gave me 6.5 hrs battery life. I am expecting 9 hrs of battery life with this one and so far nothing seems to tell me otherwise. This is the second best feature.

10) Thunderbolt ports are an added bonus but I don't have plans to use it much until I get a Razer core and try some VR products. This is the third best feature for me but the potential is untested at this point.

 

Could you elaborate on what differences you noticed compared to other EMR products? Is the "reduced latency of up to 2x" in the press release refering to stroke or hover latency? How has it improved the writing or drawing experience for you?

Oh and big thanks for ordering this pricey jewel to become the guinea pig for us.

 

I think it's stroke latency, in how closely the ink tracks the pen nib. I didn't measure with a high speed camera so it's a subjective feel but when things are off it just doesn't "feel" right. This one feels the best. Although I think most people would be completely fine with the 2018 version or the Galaxy Book as well. Pixelbook, Chromebook Pro, iPad Pro, Pixel slate, Surface Pro 6 that I have either owned or tested in store display don't quite give me the same feeling of ink flow from the tip of the pen.

 

What tech is the PIxelBook? I've always felt there was a little lag in the Android based tablets even then they were using EMR. The others are AES tech though? no?

 

Pixelbook, pixel slate are AES. Out of the ones I listed only chromebook pro is EMR. Most Chrome OS based ones have a lag in pen performance that is more apparent when using Android apps on it. Although Squid android app is an exception where the writing is very smooth and fluid. In general the pen performance seems to be best on Windows in my experience.

 

There seems to be a persistent issue with losing battery in sleep. Overnight it can lose upto 25% battery life when in sleep mode.
Looking at the log it seems that it keeps going into active mode from connected standby mode every 9 minutes and stays in active mode for 30 seconds, and the cycle continues. This only happens when put in sleep mode on battery. Not when its being charged.

I looked at the event log and its littered with warnings like this:

USB device draining system power when system is idle.
USB Device: VID: 0x4E8 PID: 0x730A REV: 0x0
Removal action failed: SkippedAsRecentIoObservered

I haven't connected any USB device to it, just the charging cable connected to its non-thunderbolt port. No micro-sd card either.

The only thing that seems to help is enable it to go to Hibernate mode. Then this problem no longer exist. Hope Samsung can fix this soon. It didn't exist in the 2018 version and its quite annoying. Even the reviewer on YouTube had pointed this out. Not sure if someone has a more elegant solution so I can stay in connected standby and not have to hibernate.