Some questions before ordering 6224w

Hi...

I am about to order the 6224.. But before I do, I have some questions about what to choose..

1.should I get 2gb in 2 sticks? or the more expensive 2gb in 1 stick?

2. Should I get 160 hybrid drive or 100 gb 7200rpm drive?

tnx in advance

 

-If you think you just need 2GB for the future than buy 2 x 1GB
If you want to put 4GB in your laptop in the future buy 2 x 2GB!

I have 2 x 1GB 800MHz RAM! A 2GB module costs 85 euro so if I wanna
upgrade to 4GB I will pay 170 euro! (and I can sell the 2 x 1GB modules)

My conclusion: Go for the 2 x 1GB!!

-Uhm what are the applications you wanna use!?
I would say: 'go for the much faster 7200rpm HD'

 

I will mostly use it for games, and flash, photoshop and so on... so the 7200rpm would be the better choice for that?

 

I went with 2x1gb ram, cant justify the much higher price for one 2gb stick. If there comes a time when I need 4gb in this lappy prices will probably have dropped so that I will save money going this route anyway, thats a guess but it feels probable to me.

Also went with 7200rpm drive, never considered hybrid drive but didnt do a lot of research, so dont really have a reason for it other than they've been working well and hybrid drives are new and no significant performance gain.

 

Yepz!!! So go for the 7200rpm'er!

 

Hmm. How much of a difference in performance is there between 5400 and 7200? Just wondering if I should change my order up to the higher one.
My main reason for choosing 5400 was for the higher capacity (160Gb instead of 100Gb) and figured I might as well choose the hybrid version of the 160Gbers.
Any thoughts? Is 100gb enough space? :S

Update:

I just noticed that there's a 120Gb 7200rpm drive. Somehow it's £5 cheaper than the 100gb one too. Anyone know why that is? The drives are:
120GB SATA 2,5" 7200 RPM - SAMSUNG (-£25.72)
100GB 7200rpm SATA Harddisk Hitachi® (- £20.00)
(Selecting the 120gb 7200rpm gives an error - I guess it's a mistake on the website?)


Am I right in assuming that a 7200rpm standard drive will vastly outperform a 5400rpm Hybrid drive?
This article:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/custompc-reviews/115580/samsung-flashon-160gb.html
Seems to imply that there's little difference in performance?

 

There hasn't been enough reviews of the hybrid hdd "phenomenon" really yet to give a clear and easy answer. I pondered some time over the same thing as you whether hybrid was the best choice, trying to find as much info on it as possible before ordering my 3415. I choose a non-hybrid 160gb 5400rpm though, supposedly it equals something like an 80gb 7200rpm hdd. The bigger, the faster.

Maybe hybrid would've been the wisest choice, maybe not...honestly I don't care that much.

But in your case, if you can afford it, go for the 7200 rpm. Unless increased battery performance is a high priority for you.

 

Robson 1GB + 160GB HDD 5400
Search time: 20ms random access
Search time: 15ms full stroke access
Transfer rate: 32MB/S
Power consumption Theoretical values max: 3,2W
Power consumption Theoretical values min: 1,2W

160GB HDD 5400
Search time: 30ms random access
Search time: 25ms full stroke access
Transfer rate: 34MB/S
Power consumption Theoretical values max: 2,2W
Power consumption Theoretical values min: 0,6W

Samsung 160GB Hybrid 256MB
Search time: 18ms random access
Search time: 16ms full stroke access
Transfer rate: 35MB/S
Power consumption Theoretical values max: 2,1W
Power consumption Theoretical values max: 0,6W



This should show that the hybrid in real world is the best solution, both on speed, performance, and power consumption – the robson is only slightly faster in the full stroke seek, which maybe because it has the bigger cache

Results done with Sandra 2007

 

You're right about the 80gb 7200rpm versus 160gb 5400rpm thing:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storage25.html?modelx=33&model1=843&model2=424&chart=142
This compares the two HDDs and clearly the 160Gb does better.

This link:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storage25.html?modelx=33&model1=843&model2=427&chart=142
Compares a 100Gb 7200RPM with 160Gb 5400RPM. This time, the 100Gb does a fair bit better (5 MB/s).

I'm leaning towards the Hybrid drive at the moment. Not because of the Hybrid features, but because it's a bigger drive.

 

If i'm not mistaken, if you're working with smaller files (e.g. Word documents), the hybrid drive will tend to keep these in flash memory - reducing the need to spin up the platters. This in turn will mean that the hybrid drive will tend towards lower power consumption than a regular drive.

 

that's 100% correct

 

Yeah, you're right.
However, if you're trying to access something that is not in the flash memory cache, then the drive has to spin up and satisfy the access from the disk itself. For web surfing, programming, word documents, and so on, this will rarely happen.
For games, on the other hand, I speculate that the vast majority of memory accesses will not be satisfied by the flash memory. Indeed, I reckon that for games, there will be little or no benefit from a hybrid drive. In which case, the drive is essentially a non-hybrid drive (i.e. a 160Gb 5400RPM HDD), so you can just consider the benchmarks for the equivalent non hybrid drive.
(Hybrid Samsung = http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...=spinpointmseries&model_cd=HM160JI&ppmi=1089#)
(Equivalent non-hybrid = http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...hybridhdd_flashon&model_cd=HM16HJI&ppmi=1093#)
Anyone agree? I'd really like to see some synthetic gaming benchmarks with hybrid drives to see the difference in performance.

 

There is possibilities to order 250Gb 5400 (I was thinking to do so). is it really so slow? Any comments from Zepto owners?

 

The bigger the capacity of a drive, the better performance it has. Read this thread for more info:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=59053&page=11

For this reason, some (larger capacity) 5400rpm drives can outperform some (smaller capacity) 7200rpm drives. Tomshardware has some benchmarks of notebook drives, and if you look here you can see that a 250Gb 5400RPM drive does very well against most of the 7200RPMers (bear in mind the Zepto 250Gb drive is actually a Samsung, so may be slightly different to the Western Digital on tomshardware).

 

160 gb and 200gb 7200 rpm hard drives are coming out, 160gb is out now, 200gb is out 1st aug

 

Some nice 160Gb 7200

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-136-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=896
£105.74 inc VAT

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-131-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=896
£95.16 inc VAT

 

I mean from zepto direct, like being able to order them with the laptop.

 

50 Pieces of the 200GB 7200 on the 1st of August

 

I know i recieved the email today

They have 40 "pieces" of 160gb hard drives in at the moment.

 

I just ordered a 6224 with one of those 160gb 7200.
Now I'm just hoping it will actually arrive within a reasonable amount of time compared to the "expected deliverance"

 

How much do you have to pay for the 160 and 200GB 7200rpm'ers!?
Here in the Netherlands you can't order them and I think it is cheaper
to buy it in a webshop! Here the 200GB 7200rpm'er costs 270,- (euro)

 

from the 80gigs 7200 to the 160gigs, it's an extra 80 Euros or so.

 

How did you order it, by phone? Its not on the website. What was the spec and price?

 

It's available through the Danish website
www.zepto.dk
it's not the 200gigs version though, only 160

I ordered:

Znote 6224W - Offer/Discount

Intel Pro/Wireless 4965AGN (260029)
SAMSUNG DVD-RW DL Brænder (150123)
DK tastatur layout, Black (170074)
14,1" WXGA+ 1440x900 - 6224W (100302)
6 Cell batteri (250324)
NVIDIA® Geforce 8600M GT (800104)
Miljøafgift (300108)
Onlinerabat 6224W Power (901014)
2.00 GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo T7300 800MHz (120626)
2048MB (1024x2) DDR2 667/PC5300 SODIMM, Zepto (130121)
160GB 7200rpm SATA Harddisk Samsung® (140035)

Zepto Sleeve M

All in all it's 10.273,25dkr, which is roughly 1380 Euros
EDIT: that price includes postal fee, and "Cash On Delivery" fee

 

All zeptos websites are different, the dutch one offers the 2.2 and 2.4 ghz processors, the danish one is offering 160gb 7200rpms, whats going on.

I live in the uk, apparantly they have the bios fix for the faster processors so i wonder how long this will take before zepto use it and start installing it in their machines. They have had 160gb hard drives in stock for almost 2 weeks now, maybe more, and still havent updated their website to offer this.

 

The Dutch website will be changed...I can assure you that...

 

Will zepto be using the bios fix they already have to put faster processors in the 6224w?

When will the 160gb 7200 rpm hard drive be available from the uk website?

 

It doesn't matter if Zepto have the BIOS fix, as they need to get their barebones preinstalled with the newest BIOS to be able to sell the T7500 and T7700 CPUs.

As long as the barebones don't have the new BIOS preinstalled, they would have to install a lower end CPU like the T7100 in the computer, flash the BIOS, then disassemble the notebook again and install the T7500 or T7700.

If some countries pages list the T7500 or T7700 as aviable, it might be because the first shipments of barebones with the new BIOS have been shipped to those countries.

 

No, but if there ever changes we would inform here first. 160GB over the next couple of days but I can put it on a set config if you were going to place an oreder. Its a long tedious process im afraid

 

160GB going on UK site today...Limited stock tho

 

OK.. I will use my own thread to adress some issues with my newly attained 6224w

The annoyances: the right side of the keyboard seems to be worse than the left side. if I press PGUP or any of the keys in that area, the whole left side of the keyboard moves with it. Seems that it hasn't been attached correctly or something..

The dvd-drive hits the edge of the computer when I push it back in.

It's very loud. Even when I turned DTS off in the bios, the "idle" state of the fan is very loud. anything to do about it?

The problem:
When I shutdown the computer in Vista, it reboots instead. Does anyone know what to do about that?

I get under 3000 at default resolution in 3dmark06 seems quite low compared to others. what do you think?

 

Since the hardware has many similarities to my 6024W, I will share my observations.

The optical drive means that there are no fixing screws holding the right side of the keyboard. Fixing relies on some small clips at the edges but they aren't very good. I am about to test using some double-sided tape under the keyboard (I once had a Fujitsu notebook which included this as standard). If my fix is successful, I hope that Zepto can be encouraged to apply this fix at the production stage.

I haven't had this problem.

Go into the BIOS and select the factory defaults. This is a known bug and a revised BIOS is currently being tested. (I had this problem yesterday).

I was getting a similar problem when I tried to hibernate the computer but it has gone away. Another BIOS problem?

John

 

OK, I tried to set factory defaults.. but didn't help.. tried the dts calibration again.. and worked.. not as loud now.. but when I played a game for 10 minutes I got a warning that the temp was over 80 :S

 

what program do you guys use to see the temp? I think my 6224 is getting unusually hot, to the point where you could get burned

 

notebook hardware control

 

I use RMClock. At the moment I'm using it mainly for monitoring. I don't think it handles the new Intel CPUs with their 800MHz setting properly but is still worth trying if your CPU is running hot.

However, I've just given it a quick run with the T7300 running two instances of the Prime95 torture test. With the CPU running at 1.25V @ 2GHz the temperature stabilised at around 79C. Dropping the maximum voltage to 1.15V got the temperature down to 73C; 1.10V -> 70C, 1.05V -> 68C. However, I got a BSOD at 1.0V, so around 1.05V is the lower limit for my T7300. (And after the BSOD the fan was stuck in fast mode until I reset the BIOS).

This is all without any significant heat contribution from the GPU (only the X3100 in my case). I can quite believe a temperature of over 80C with both the CPU and GPU under load.

John

 

Still I have the problem where when I shutdown Vista.. the computer shuts down, and after about 5 seconds boots up again.. Does anyone know how to fix this? is it a Vista problem or a Zepto problem?

 

What happens when you set the computer to hibernate or sleep? Does it immediately restart? What happens if you disconnect mains power before you shut down?

Have you got anything connected to any ports? (I discovered that the USB ports on the 6024W have power when the computer is off but plugged into the mains).

Check in the properties of each device (particularly the network devices) and disable any ability to wake or start the computer.

John

 

OMG im having serious doubts about buying a zepto now, the build quality sounds awful. It sounds like these laptops are gonna fall apart in your hands. Im just waiting for moon angels review which was supposed to be up today before i make a decision, but its still not up. Your not the first person to talk about lose keyboards not fitted properly and loud fans on all the time though.

 

Mhmm....still no sign of them on the uk site.

 

I have to say I don't think the build quality is awful on these, and I haven't had fan problems.
However I agree that the keyboard has some issues on the right side, it's not something that annoys me at all though.
They keyboard issues on my laptop is restricted to the del, hom, pgup row o buttons and the arrow buttons, that's all

 

What is the problem with the keyboards exactly. Do the buttons not work? Do you have to push harder on them? Are they out of place? Is the keyboard raised there? Is it out of alignment? Do the buttons work occasionaly?

On the fan problems, apparently theyre on high all the time and make a lot of noise.

Has anyone else had the problem with vista not shutting down? Is it a bios problem?

All these bios problems and keyboard faults are really off putting. Im waiting for moon angels review STILL, but it sounds like its gonna be full of negative points about the laptop too (or as she puts it, "being objective" and "not being a fanboy"). I'll just have to wait and see if this mysterious review actually appears anytime soon, its only been 4 weeks, i understand it usually takes a few years to write a review and post it on here so i completely understand.

:-D

 

1. Keyboard problem: The right side of the keyboard can feel a little loose and hollow because the optical drive prevents any fixing screws. Instead there are some latches around the edge. There also seem to be some cases of the keyboard not being pushed down properly for these latches to engage properly. I believe that this issue can be addressed by more attention (and some sticky tape) during assembly. Overall, it is a good keyboard with more travel than on my Samsung notebooks. However, I need to remap the right Windows key to Ctrl.

2. Fan / BIOS Problem: This is annoying but erratic and we are assured that an updated BIOS will be issued soon. The problem may be a side-effect of having a BIOS with many more options than is normal.

The not shutting down problem seems to be rare and therefore more difficult to pin down the cause.

Let Zepto demonstrate their potential strength of being a small and flexible company by addressing these issues quickly.

John

 

OK, I have still not fixed the shutdown problem.. When I try to hibernate it turns off the screen and it's still on. I have nothing connected to it...and tried to turn it off without the power cord connected.. It's really annoying, it turns off.. is off for a couple of seconds, and starts to boot again...

 

Just a thought, and maybe we have already covered this ground. Is your hibernation the real hibernation or the hybrid sleep? See this article.

John

 

No it's not hybrid sleep. It's shut off. I still can¨t shut down the computer properly

 

The only time I had something similar happen was with a Dell Inspiron 2650. The switch which senses hat the display is shut hadn't been properly installed and the computer was coming on when the display was closed. It took two attempts to get it fixed because they didn't see the problem the first time it when back - the computer functioned fine when turned on and in use.

So, if you have exhausted all the software options and determined that the computer wakes up on mains and battery power, with nothing connected, with wireless turned off ......, then we have to suspect the hardware.

So how are you turning the computer off at the moment? Pulling out the battery?

John

 

I have to hold the power button... :S