Samsung Notebook 9 Pen review: Stylus convenience, devoid of style

Enlarge (credit: Valentina Palladino)

You're probably familiar with Samsung smartphones, Samsung TVs, and maybe even Samsung home appliances, like futuristic refrigerators. People know Samsung for a lot of reasons, but their PC business generally isn't one of them. While the South Korean tech giant sells a number of laptops, it knows that those devices aren't as prevalent in the general consumer consciousness as competing Dell, HP, and Lenovo PCs.

Samsung Notebook 9 Pen

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Starts at: $1,399.99 at Samsung

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Samsung wants to change this with the Notebook 9 Pen. The new flagship convertible packs in many of the features you'd expect of a 2018 ultrabook-a design with premium materials, an 8th-gen Intel processor, integrated graphics, and biometric security-along with a few classic Samsung creations like the company's S Pen stylus. But it takes more than similar specs to compete with the top two-in-ones available today, and the compromises presented by the Notebook 9 Pen may be too great to convince some users.

Look and feel

Hold the Notebook 9 Pen while blindfolded and you may think it's a device that follows the same design language as modern ultrabooks. But open your eyes and you'll be disappointed: while the Notebook 9 weighs just 2.2 pounds, its design makes it look like it could be a much heftier machine.

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