Samsung Series 9 NP900X3D-A03PH - 13 inch Macbook Air/Zenbook Killer?

When talk comes around to reasonable priced low cost 13-inch Ultrabooks these days, the discussion often centers around the Apple's MacBook Air and Asus Zenbook. Samsung wants to break into that party, with its Samsung Series 9 NP900X3D. 

The Samsung Series 9 NP900X3D comes in a sleek all metal body which is just 2.49 pounds in weight and 0.52 mm thin. This makes it 0.5 pounds lighter and 0.15 mm thinner than its Apple and Asus competitors. Priced at Php52,900 with a 128 GB SSD, it also shaves a bit off the price, being priced Php3,000 lower than the comparably spec'ed MacBook Air. The price includes a Windows 8 license.

The display is a 13.3-inch, 400nit display with a high resolution 1600 x 900 resolution making it a bit sharper than Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air. The display is also Anti-Reflective which provides better legibility outdoors. The display is not a touchscreen display though.

Inside, you have a sufficiently powerful Intel Core i5 3317U processor with 4 GB of RAM. The package has everything you expect with a Micro-HDMI port, a 3-in-1 card reader and USB 3.0. I do not have any information on battery life yet. 

The thinner aspect of this laptop does not appeal to me too much. But the 2.49 pound weight does. It tips the scales at the same weight as an 11.6-inch MacBook Air. This certainly makes the Samsung Series 9 NP900X3D worthy of a long look if you are looking to buy a 13-inch ultraportable.

MSI X370x-E35+5H

I was a bit surprised finding a laptop like the MSI X370x-E35-5H being sold. The reason for the slight sense of shock was the MSI X370x-E35-5H is powered by a two year old AMD E-350 Accelerated Processing Unit. I did not even know AMD was still manufacturing this APU. Being a two year old chipset, it lacks USB 3.0, which is now standard on pretty much all laptops.

Still, despite being based on a two year old unit, with a price of just Php15,995, this laptop might be worth your consideration. The MSI X370x-E35-5H has a 13.4-inch HD display (1366 x 768), which is wrapped in a slim and light. The laptop is less than an inch thin and weighs in a about 3.2 pounds. 

The AMD E-350 APU is powerful enough to let this laptop to play HD content, and even do some light 3D gaming. The MSI X370x-E35-5H comes equipped with 2 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, a card reader and HDMI out.

For Php15,995 this laptop does not come with an operating system.