I am starting to get the distinct impression that Samsung must be shaping up to be Apple’s biggest adversary based on their innovative hardware products when it comes to various offerings. Indeed, when Samsung launched their latest Android tablets a few months ago, Apple immediately took legal action to block Samsung from selling them in key markets because they felt Samsung had ripped off innovations in the iPad2 – this Apple reasoned was due to the fact that Samsung is one of its major suppliers and therefore were privy to Apple innovations well in advance.

More recently, the Samsung Galaxy S2 has become one of the world’s best selling high-end Android mobile phone and in some credible reviews has been found to be actually better than Apple’s latest iPhone 4S – Siri non-withstanding. In what I see as the latest salvo fired where Samsung may put a major dent on Apple is that of notebooks. Personally, I have used Apple MacBooks for just over 3 years and I have never ever considered anything else since I switched from Windows powered notebooks. That is, until now.

Whilst I am highly desirous of an upgrade from my trusty MacBook Pro, to the latest Macbook Air, I recently came across Samsung’s Series 9 notebooks in a Kenyan Newspaper. I’m a sucker for great design when it comes to all things technology and I have to say that the Series 9 simply makes me go gaga! The finish and overall presentation of this notebook is “Apple-esque” and makes me for the first time possibly reconsider a MacBook Air as the epitome of a well-designed, light and clean notebook.

As advertised, one of the key selling points to the Series 9 is that its casing is made from Duralumin, the same material used on advanced aircraft which makes this notebook twice as strong as aluminum yet weighs less than 3 pounds (to emphasize the point here, MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs are made from heavier aluminium). The Series 9 is also only 0.64 inches thin making it one of the thinnest notebooks in the world. The Series 9 comes with 4GB of RAM, Intel HD Graphics and a 128 GB Solid State Drive (SSD) which like the MacBook Air means there are no moving parts in the hard disk – this translates into faster performance, less power consumption and less heat generated. The 13 inch screen is a gorgeous and bright HD LED screen. It also comes with a speedy Intel Core i5 processor meaning this bad boy of a notebook is no slouch!

The Samsung Series 9 is retailing in Kenya for Kes. 175,000.00, putting it firmly in the realm of high-end notebooks for the well-heeled. What is surprising to me is that with the exception of fairly inconspicuous print ads in a few newspapers in Kenya, Samsung is hardly marketing this gorgeous execution of a sleek notebook that does give the MacBook Air a run for its money, design-wise that is. However, as much as I am a fan of great hardware design, it all boils down to the combined experience of great hardware and software which in this case includes Windows 7 on the Series 9. I have nothing against Windows 7 per se but I am an unashamed fan of Apple’s OS X, truth be said. However, should I get to give the Series 9 a spin, and it works for me, I may just reconsider my opinion as lots of other Samsung offerings have made me do recently – nuff said.