The Samsung Notebook Pen 9 is a 2-in-1 laptop with features found in most high-end laptop. However, the Pen 9 seems to be an ordinary budget computer at first glance, seeing as its design choice decided not to be too showy.
One of the major things going for the Pen 9 is its weight. For a 13-inch laptop, it is incredibly light, weighing only 2.2 pounds. The company achieves this by using a special proprietary metal alloy called Metal 12, which primarily contains magnesium. They then treat the metal with a microarc oxidation process to make the device more durable.
The only downside to this is that Samsung's special alloy looks and feels like cheap plastic. As a result, the Notebook Pen 9 looks more like a $400 budget notebook than the $1,399 gadget it really is.
Other than that, the Notebook Pen 9 is a snappy computer that can keep up with modern demands. It is powered by and eighth generation Core i7 processor and can have anywhere from 8 GB to 16 GB of random access memory (RAM). Hard drive space can also come in 256 GB and 512 GB variants. It is a fairly powerful computer, but users should not expect it to run modern games smoothly as it only runs with an integrated video card.
Perhaps the weakest point of the Pen 9 is its battery life. Reportedly, the 2-in1 can only operate for four to five hours after which point it needs to be charged again. This is caused in part by software pre-installed on the laptop, some of which consume excessive battery power in the background.
If a user can look past the poor battery life and the nondescript design, the Samsung Notebook Pen 9 is a solid choice and remains to be one of the best Windows 10 2-in-1 portables on the market.
The Samsung Notebook Pen 9 is available now, and costs $1,399.
