The finest 2-in-1 laptops come a long way since their awkward first steps on the market a couple of years ago, and Samsung may be the best example. The legendary producer's Notebook 9 Pro is a fantastic example of a meteoric improvement.

The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro comes from equally 13-inch and 15-inch forms, also it is a 2-in-1 laptop that's far removed from the trappings of conventional notebooks. Rather, the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro simplifies matters using one configuration for the two models, while focusing effort on the S-Pen and Air Control software.

This combines to produce the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro a trendy, but economical Ultrabook packed front to rear with Samsung's most up-to-date touchscreen and stylus tech. If we are being honest, we are so impressed from the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro's power and style regardless of the cost that we have awarded it our Editor's Choice award.

Price and availability

Samsung has smartly specced and priced the Notebook 9 Pro to be cheap. The 15-inch version we have reviewed -- its just configuration -- prices $1,299 (about £1,000, AU$1,720). (The 13-inch model goes for $1,099,about £850, AU$1,460.)

That's a lot compared to, say, the HP Spectre x360 15. But it just offers half as much RAM to start, but it is still aggressive with Nvidia GTX 940MX graphics forcing a sharper 4K touchscreen for $1,279 (about £1,000, AU$1,680). However, it does comprise the HP Active Pen, even though it isn't built in the Spectre's framework and demands a AAAA battery.

Meanwhile, the 15-inch MacBook Pro costs almost two times as far at $2,399 (£2,349, AU$3,499) to get a sharper-still screen, the 2,880 x 1,800 Retina display endorsed by marginally stronger Radeon Pro 555 graphics. Especially, the Notebook 9 Pro's 16GB DDR4 memory is a step over the MacBook Pro's 16GB of DDR3 memory. In Addition, facial login along with also a touchscreen to the Samsung hybrid vehicle are stand-ins to get Apple's Touch ID along with the Touch Bar, respectively.

For all the usefulness and quality-of-life improvements that the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro brings to the table using its smart array of components, it is a far better bargain than the MacBook Pro for many users, also butts heads rather tightly together with the HP Spectre x360.

Design

The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro builds on the tech behemoth's modern laptop design in a means that's more uniform and nearer to the way it constructs smartphones. This results in a curvier laptop than ever, in either the lid and keyboard , using an outward silver sheen bedecked with a carbon-colored metal on the inside.

The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro keyboard is equally comfy and spacious, with a whole lot of space for the monumental trackpad. Regardless of the dimensions, Samsung chosen to get more spacing between the nicely backlit keys within a numerical keyboard.

Rather, additional space is given to webpage control keys in addition to arrow keys, meanwhile the speakers have been relegated to under the foundation. You'll discover lots of punch in these curved keys, and also the smallest curve for their surface.

Samsung managed to attain delightfully thin bezels on the display's sides, squeezing a 15-inch diagonal screen inside a 13.67-inch-wide framework. Similarly, the laptop measures only 1.7cm (0.67 inches) thin and weighs 1.7kg (3.79 lbs ).

The screen is as color-rich as some of Samsung's smartphone displays, which makes the complete most of its relatively just-satisfactory resolution of 1080p. Samsung also calls this type of RealView display, able to glow in 350 nits brightness in normal mode as well as 450 nits in outdoor mode.

This makes it much easier to see your work or play at the sunlight, even though it's still a shiny panel, which makes warmth an inherent annoyance. That said, games and video look fantastic on the display, as do doodles from the Samsung Air Command app.

The S-Pen on Windows 10

Talking of that, the addition of the S-Pen this is fairly smart, with a slot for the stylus inserted to the right side of the foundation in the lip. Unlike electronic pens, it demands no charging, and however, offers up to 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity in addition to tilt controls. This stylus is aggressive with Microsoft's most up-to-date Surface Pen, which weighs two times as much and demands a battery to get the exact same standard functions save to get a software eraser and heavier Windows controls.

Drawing the S-Pen out of the sheath automatically conjures a radial menu of options from in which the Action Center appears. This can be called Air Command, as well as the options available include Produce Note, View All Notes, Smart Select, Screen and Show Window.

The first option is that a note taking app very similar to OneNote, called Samsung Notes, however much easier than Microsoft's version. It offers various ink types and colours... and more. At least you can save and share those notes in addition to draw existing image files.

Smart Select is a far more effective tool, letting you use the S-Pen to draw out rectangular or oval-shaped screenshots, and may read text from said picture and pull it into another document. Even better, the application can make GIFs by framing a recording area on your favourite video clips whatever the source.

Screen Write only captures a screen and lets you doodle on it, whilst Show Window lets you pick which windows have been shown on which displays in multi-screen surroundings.

Overall, it is a strong stylus offering that feels totally mild and fast. Digital ink does not lead a lot of whilst writing and drawing, thanks in part to powerful display reaction. While we favor the"truer" eraser from the Surface , we will choose the button-based one about the S-Pen because of the improved portability and entertaining features.

• Compare this to Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro

Performance

The Notebook 9 Pro will not disappoint the normal user, offering more than suitable performance for the student or home user using its Core i7 processor and AMD graphics.

You may even anticipate to game moderately well, though do not expect to get much further than games such as World of Warcraft or even Hearthstone.

Together with 16GB of DDR4 memory, then you can anticipate to have the ability to multitask especially well, with space for lots of browser tabs from there. As we have mentioned earlier, the touchscreen delivers too, with snappy result of the stylus and facial login through Windows Hello is fast.

This laptop seems to market getting to anything it's that you are doing quickly, and in style, over the majority of other facets. That's where Samsung's smart financial choice making came to play, choosing Full HD 1080p rather than 4K screen resolution, as an example.

Choices like these not only aided the Notebook 9 Pro outperform the Spectre x360, competing against its 4K display basically, in graphics, but also in strength.

Battery life

We watched varying battery lifetime scores in the Notebook 9 Pro within our 2 evaluations, providing testament to just how far they ought to be trusted. Though the Samsung laptop came within one hour short of the HP device within our PCMark 8 battery evaluation, the Notebook 9 Pro acquired its competition in battery lifetime by almost 3 hours in our video playback evaluation.

Beyond that, we have found general use to sit down 6 to 8 hours. This may in part be due to battery-saving improvements Microsoft introduced into Windows 10 using the Creators Update only last spring, even following the Spectre x360 has been reviewed. Meanwhile, the indomitable 15-inch MacBook Pro boasts a much-closer 7 hours and 45 minutes.

However, this battery outlasts both, and even supports fast charging via the laptop's USB-C port. In this book, these are the makings of a winner.

General assessment

We might not be enormous fans of hybrid laptops of the dimension, Samsung has done it so well that we might well be converts. Awfully aggressive with close competitions and also taking the 15-inch MacBook Pro to task, the 15-inch Samsung Notebook 9 Pro must be in your list of go-to 15-inch laptops.

In the event you not flip the laptop 360 levels via its gorgeous, sturdy hinges, then you're still able to appreciate as much convenience and power from this system. It is for that reason that we have recognized the Notebook 9 Pro worthy of the Editor's Choice Award.