Samsung ATIV Book Series 9 Vs MacBook Air: battle of the lightweights
Unless one is set on one platform versus another, device-agnostics looking for a lightweight but powerful laptop have a tough choice to make. There is a lot of punch, packed into small packages these days, which is a requirement both in college, when traveling and very often in the workplace.
In one corner: the Samsung ATIV Book Series 9 13.3 inches
Weighing in at 2.5lb, and featuring 13.3 inches of diagonal screen size, the Series 9 is one of the fastest in its class, powered by an Intel Core i7-4500U up to 3Ghz.
Display
The Series 9 features a resolution of 1920 x 1080, beautifully delivered on its anti-glare display, by the Intel HD Graphics 4500.
Storage
The ATIV comes with an impressive 256GB SSD, offering fast transfer speeds and reliable storage.
Sound
SoundAlive, a proprietary audio technology developed by Samsung, is designed to deliver HD quality audio by analyzing the source, and return a more accurate representation of that original sound. SoundAlive is also becoming a common occurrence on the newest Samsung mobile devices, with as many as 14 different audio presets.
Peripheral connectivity
The Series 9 includes one micro-HDMI, a Headphone/microphone combo jack, one USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, and a Mini-VGA port.
Network connectivity
A nice addition is the 802.11ac radio, as well as a Gigabit Ethernet port, delivering the fastest connection speed, as well as the widest range for the standard.
Battery
The 4 cell lithium-polymer battery delivers up to 10 hours of operation.
In the other corner: the Apple MacBook Air 13 inches
Weighing in at 2.38lb, the MacBook Air is only slightly lighter than the ATIV, although even a few ounces can make a difference in the long term. Just like the ATIV, the MacBook Air screen size is 13.3 inches, and it’s powered by the same class of Intel processors, with support up to the Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost, delivering speeds up to 3.3Ghz.
Display
The native resolution of the MacBook air falls quite a bit shorter than the ATIV, featuring a maximum resolution of 1440x900. However, the built in Intel HD Graphics 5000 offers considerably higher performance, and a top resolution of 2560 by 1600 on an external display.
Storage
The MacBook Air comes with 256GB of built-in PCIe Flash storage, which delivers performance very similar to SSD.
Sound
The MacBook Air delivers considerably high definition sound through the built-in stereo speakers, as well as its dual microphone/headphone port, with support for Apple iPhone headset with remote and microphone.
Peripheral connectivity
The MacBook Air supports slightly more ways to connect devices than the ATIV, featuring two USB 3.0 ports, one Thunderbolt port, a MagSafe 2 power port, and an SDXC card slot.
Network connectivity
The MacBook Air packs a punch, when it comes to network connectivity, with 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n compatibility, and Bluetooth 4.0, which is not found in the ATIV. Granted there are only so many uses for Bluetooth on a laptop, it is surprising that Samsung did not include Bluetooth in the ATIV, a feature that Samsung smartphone owners could have appreciated, in consideration of Apple’s “synergy” effort to connect all its devices seamlessly with AirPlay.
Battery
The MacBook Air 13.3’s 54-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery is capable of up to 30-days of standby, and up to 12 hours of operation.
The final round:
While the ATIV sports an impressive resolution, at least in terms of real estate, high resolution does not equates to high performance, especially when comparing the ATIV’s Intel HD Graphic 4500 with the MacBook Air Intel HD Graphics 5000.
While the two laptops feature slightly similar processing speeds, and both offer the same storage performance, the features and connectivity options on the MacBook Air seem to be a notch over the ATIV, most notably due to the lack of Bluetooth support.
Battery power is a big deal, and the ATIV just doesn’t seem to last as long as the MacBook Air, perhaps due to different resource requirements between the Mac OS and Windows 7.
Price-wise, the MacBook Air seems to be cheaper than the ATIV, shaving off at least a few hundred dollars when comparing models with similar specs.
The Winner:
There are many interesting aspects to the ATIV, such as the bigger resolution and SoundAlive, yet what really matters in a laptop is battery power and processing speed, which is where the MacBook Air seems to excel, when compared to the Samsung ATIV Book Series 9 of similar specs.