Samsung's 2018 Notebook 9 lineup includes MacBook, Surface challengers
A pen-equipped 2-in-1 and three thin-and-light laptops are coming to CES.
Last year Samsung's Notebook 9 laptop kept it simple with a standard thin-and-light design that got the important things right, but didn't sport flashy features like a high-res display or hybrid design. Earlier this year the Pro edition added a folding hinge for 2-in-1 tablet use and a stylus, and next year the company will fully revamp its lineup with four new devices. The new Notebook 9 Pen is ready to take on Surface devices with its built-in battery-free S Pen stylus, to go with a "thoughtfully designed" 2-in-1 hybrid laptop/tablet. The 13-inch devices comes with an 8th generation Intel Core i7 CPU, up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage, but weighs just 2.2 pounds thanks to its "Metal12" magnesium-aluminum alloy.
The three new Notebook 9 laptops have a more familiar look and feel, and are available in either 13.3- or 15-inch sizes. They can include up to 1TB of storage, and the 15-inch has an option for discrete graphics, but they share the Pen's CPU and RAM options. All of these laptops include fingerprint scanners and Windows Hello support (the 9 Pen includes IR scanning for facial recognition), while only the 15-inch has a Thunderbolt port.
We'll learn more about them in a couple of weeks at CES, and see all the new competition on the way in 2018. There's no word on price or exact release date, but they're due to arrive in the US during Q1.
