13.3" Samsung NP900X3C with Ivy Bridge CPU

so after following this thread for the past few weeks i finally bought the thing, got it delivered about an hour ago and its up and running. just signed up to say that there are 2 stickers (at least on mine), a windows 7 one and a intel i5 one. haven't tried to take them off yet but am planning to. it seems like they should come off fairly easily, they're not like some of the semi metal stickers ive seen on other laptops.

also, been using my friends MBA for the past few days whilst waiting for this. They are essentially the same machine. just little things you need to get used to. but one thing i do miss strangely is the reverse scrolling. or generally the touchpad on the MBA is much better than the one on the samsung. inertia controls and speed etc. not sure if there's a better driver to install but for now i'm very happy!

 

Brill! Thanks Cowboy!

Edit:

Oh! Okay. If you do try to take them off (no worries if not) can you post here? Cheers!

 

I've seen grey stickers on some foreign laptops but they're etched in the uk. If yours has stickers just peel them off, the sticky residue can easily be removed using white spirit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Sounds like a plan - thanks!

(For others' reference: as a Canadian who's lived in the UK, white spirit = rubbing alcohol.)

 

I've also noticed the inertia scroll speed. It seems a little jumpy to me. I think I have the latest drivers, so not sure if that will solve the issue. For the most part, I really like the touchpad. But, I think you're right. This is definitely an area where the MBA outdoes the SS9. But, not a deal breaker for me.

 

yeah, they haven't got the speed control right at all. to be honest im sure some nice person is gonna come up with a work around as im sure there must be a million people who use windows for work and have a mbp/mba for home.

oh and just for the record, i bought mine in the usa even though i am from the uk. just out here on holiday and thought i'd load up. definitely need to upgrade the hdd though as it says i've only got 93gb left and i haven't done anything but install chrome yet!#

oh and has anyone found a really slick sleeve for the laptop? i know they've got some pretty nice ones for the mba. basically competing with my flatmate who's got the better one.

 

May or may not be to your taste, but there are some awesome ones that you can custom order on Etsy. Pack and Smooch do some amazing things:
leather felt case on Etsy, a global handmade and vintage marketplace.
Pack & Smooch Creating finest lifestyle by packandsmooch on Etsy

Alternately, just look up materials you're interested in and see what turns up.

 

I think a lot of MBA 13 sleeves will work. I grabbed one of the Hard Candy bubble sleeves, made for the MBA, but fits the SS9 pretty perfectly. My only complaint is that the interior has four rounded "bumpers" to fit the four rounded corners of the MBA. Well, the SS9 has two rounded corners and two more squarish corners. No real impact at all, but it bothers me

Bubble Sleeve MacBook Air Case | MacBook Cases | Hard Candy Cases

Love the look of the Pack and Smooch. I will attempt to refrain from buying one!

 

I bought the A02 version last week. (W7 Pro, TPM)
My impressions are extremely positive. I love the build quality, the screen, the weight, etc..

I have already upgraded to the MYSSD 256 SMART drive. The difference in response and speed is very noticeable, and the extra space is certainly welcome. Shipping was in a day from MyDigitaldiscount.

As for stickers, my machine has 4 on the face. Energy star, international warranty, Intel, W7.

 

Where do folks buy these online in?
Any good/bad experiences? I'm in the US.

My last two laptops I ordered from Dell directly and BestBuy online...

Thanks.

 

Same to you, if you decide to remove them, can you check in with us?

 

Purchased from Amazon...

 

At the moment this is only 256GB mSATA available in UK.

I bought a couple of sleeves off Amazon but decided they were too bulky. I then found a thin neoprene sleeve in Poundland (branded "Signalex") which, I think, is ideal because it provides protection against dirt and scrapes without significantly adding to the size. Details in this thread.

John

 

Hi all
just picked up an NP900X3C from dubai while on my way to kuwait. also went ahead and got the BP 256gb msata from amazon USA
any hints or quick description on on how to go about the upgrade?
do i just unscrew the bottom and the ssd would be readily available to replace?
thanks in advance

 

Yes, you need to remove the bottom. Take out all the screws and then carefully detach the base starting at the front. There is this photo of the internal arrangement in my X3B review. The SSD is half way up the right side of the photo.

When replacing the base make sure that it is first clipped on near the hinges.

John

 

I had two stickers on my (Canadian i5) NP900X3C. Came off without problems, just using fingernails to lift one edge and then slowly pulling them off. The adhesive that was left behind on the laptop was easily removed by reapplying one half of a sticker while holding the other half, and then pulling it back off. Repeat a few times and all adhesive should be sticking to the sticker and none left on the laptop. Never rub the adhesive as it will only spread and make it more sticky. Instead always try to "pull" it up/off with the method just described above. This has worked very well for me with all laptops I have had so far.

 

Thanks mate.

Canadian model, (eh?)
I went to future shop to check out the SS9 model, and understandably the Canadian model has multilingual markings. But disappointed you can't get a version without them here in Canada without going through a US retailer. The Zenbook has two versions for Canada - bilingual markings and without - shame Samsung didn't do the same.

 

How many keys does the keyboard of the Canadian version have, 101 or 102?

 

Has anyone checked the other partitions on the disk, seems like a waste to have a seperate 4gig partition for hibernation, wouldn't it only be needed when battery runs out ? And a 24GB recovery partition, does windows install files really need that much ?

 

where is the most reliable place to purchase a new one of these? I know amazon sometimes gives out reboxed previously returned products and I'd really prefer having a brand new one to buy. Bestbuy doesn't even have them in stock

 

They only have a multilingual keyboard option, yes. Doesn't bother me though and the French markings aren't illuminated.

 

I think the same as the US. The one I saw used the second (right) alt button for the FR symbols.

Yep, of course. I considered it, but I figured if I was going to get a lower-spec laptop than the Asus, I damn well better get exactly the clean look I want.

 

Sorry if this has been asked, can't get search to work:
Are these new IB Series 9's shipped and displayed in stores as their native
1600x900 @ 100% in Windows 7, or are they scaled to 125% or another
scaling?

Thanks!

 

Is this Windows Experience Index running Boot Camp or in Parallels or other virtualization?
I briefly had a mid-2011 MBA, and the MBA BIOS and Boot Camp drivers only supported the SSD
in IDE mode, not AHCI, leading to a far worse score than in OSX.
Has anything changed in the 2012 MBA in this regard, other than a faster SSD, which I am assuming
would still only be supported in IDE mode?

Back on topic, considering MBA, SONY Z and this S9.
You can pm regarding the above question if you wish, to not clutter the thread.

 

shipped 100%

 

Triskite--thanks for this! I may use this approach. I have a couple questions (sorry if they are obvious--I'm new to this!). For step 6, do I need a second flash drive? The first is the boot drive for clonezilla and the second for storage of the image? Got a little confused there.

And finally, step 9 is, I guess, a restart to BIOS step. Enable SSD, move it to the top of the priority list, and enable Fast Start. (or just a return to defaults should do the trick). Right?

Then, I would be good to go. Thanks again!

 

Here is a screen shot of my NP900X3C sandisk U100

 

Back on topic, considering MBA, SONY Z and this S9.
You can pm regarding the above question if you wish, to not clutter the thread.[/QUOTE]

I would like to know this aswell. i have a 2011 MBA running only bootcamp but the IDE mode only is very annoying. I purchased the MBPH and bootcamp seemed a lot better, but the screen res is not for me. I am typing this on a Sony Z3 that i picked up the other day, not sure I am in love with it as the screen res is very small for text and I might be getting to old for this high res screen. I am looking at the samsung not sure what I think about it yet... I am also considering getting a 2012 mba if they finally wrote decent bootcamp drivers....

 

I assume you adjusted the scaling to 125-150%? Sometimes it helps.

 

What about power consumption difference to sandisk u100? When do you especially notice the speed difference?

 

Hey Everyone,

I got my 13.3" Ivy Bridge series 9 last week after sending the Sandy Bridge version back to Amazon once I found out there was a new version coming out within my first 30 days. I noticed that my fan noise is audible with a clicking sound on the Ivy Bridge where as the Sandy Bridge was dead silent. Upon inspection, when looking at the bottom, only the left fan was coming on while I have yet to observe the right fan ever coming on.

Has anyone experienced this? I'm just wondering if I should send this one back to or if it's common and working as designed.

Thanks in advance for any feedback you guys can provide.

 

Ya have it set at 125, still very small. The screen in amazing, wish they offered the older screen on the z3.

 

This sounds like you got a bad one. There is absolutely no clicking sound on mine (Ivy Bridge) and both fans are whirring pretty silently under low usage.

However, I have already crashed the machine several times due to apparent overheating by playing Bastion under Ubuntu. The game runs very well but at some point the system freezes with repeating audio loop and the bottom of the chassis is so hot that it's uncomfortable to touch, even though both fans are running at what appears to be full speed.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? I'm starting to wonder what the point of the Intel 4000 graphics power is if the cooling can't handle it.

 

These machines are designed for Windows with office productivity applications.

 

Any takers? Anybody that has sucessfully installed Windows in UEFI mode? For me it looks like there is a bug in the UEFI BIOS.

Thanks - Chris

 

Is there any Linux equivalent of HWiNFO that will let you watch both temperatures and power consumption? The CPU / GPU package has a nominal 17W power envelope which includes balancing the speed of one against the other. Perhaps this isn't working properly under Linux.

Windows probably yes but not exclusively office productivity. Who has some Windows games to try on one of these?

John

 

This might help..

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

 

Running "sensors" in a terminal should at least report the CPU temperature. I do not think that something similar exists for the GPU, however some operational parameters are found in the kernel debug FS, under /sys/kernel/debug/dri/64

Usually Linux works OK with CPU and GPU scaling, specially for the HD 4000 GPU, for which open source drivers from Intel itself are used. Maybe the laptop was just pushed too hard, have you tried using a cooling pad when you game?

I'll try getting into a serious kernel compilation as soon as my 15" version arrives, tough such benchmark won't go heavy on the GPU.

 

I'm not sure how to monitor GPU temperature but for the CPU, there is e.g. Psensor as an application. I'll let that run in the background next time I play Bastion.

I also noticed that I was able to decrease the chance of a heat-crash by lifting the back of the laptop about 1cm off my desk so that air could more easily reach the fan intakes. Since doing that I haven't had a crash anymore. Furthermore, when the laptop was crashing, ambient room temperature was around 30 degrees C. That probably played a role as well.

 

That's a warm room! The bottom mounted air intakes are vulnerable to restricted airflow which reduces cooling efficiency so raising the back of the notebook improves the airflow. However, the CPU should start to throttle itself (at ~95C).

John

 

I have a Z3 and bought my wife a Samsung S9 13", so I can compare using both directly. Let me know if you have questions. If the color gamut matters to you, don't get the Samsung. Here's a comparison of the two next to each other (Samsung left, Sony right):

 

86F is too hot for me.

 

Yes, I have questions regarding the Z vs S9 13":
1.) Are you running the Z3 @ 125% in Windows, if so what issues? I ran another notebook at 125% and had some problems.
2.) Do you prefer the larger Elan trackpad of the S9 or the smaller Synaptics of the Z3?
3.) Which keyboard do you prefer? I preferred the keyboard of the older Z1 that I had to the Z3.
4.) Can you hear either models speakers to any real useful extent?
5.) Do you consider the Z3 better overall other than the better gamut? I don't know what the picture you are displaying is supposed to look
like, and am assuming the Z3 displays it more accurately? Are the viewing angles better on the S9?
Thanks!

 

After closely comparing this SS9 to the Asus zenbook prime UX31A, now I'm leaning towards this one. I've been waiting for more using feedback before jumping on the UX31A, but after seeing so many complaints and initial problems like backlight bleeding, keyboard flex, constant fan noises, and huge inconsistencies in quality control, it's turning me away from the UX31 to this Samsung.

From reading almost all the pages in this thread and other S9 threads, it seems like majority agrees that ivy bridge S9's only problem is slow SanDisk SSD, soldered memory won't allow upgrades, and high cost for the included hardware, and no DP port (but rather a useless mini VGA port). Am I missing any other general complaints on this notebook?

Still deciding if I should get SS9 or Asus zenbook prime based on the pros and cons.

 

This is my life right now.

 

Yes, and I begin to think that an 8GB model won't be released, at least not any time soon.

Samsung sells an adapter (part AV2N12B) for this port, it is about $40 in US.

 

$40 for adapter is freakin' ridiculous. Other manufacturers include adapters with their notebooks. Why make a port that in order to use, you're forced to buy this one adapter that you can't even use on anything else? If samsung is going to make a non-standard port like this, then at the very least include the adapter. Otherwise, I'm still considering it as a "useless port".

 

The room was warm but outside it was even warmer, starting at 28C in the morning and 35C the rest of the day

Anyway, just ran Bastion under Ubuntu 12.04 for an hour with the back of the laptop lifted up 1cm. The temperature that I get from the readout had a max of 78C with the fans running at full speed. After quitting the game, temperature immediately dropped to 60C, now down to low 50s after 10 minutes and no crash during that time. Ambient temp is about 23C today.

 

35C is a cool day here. Hope you have air conditioning.

 

Sony Z3 vs. Samsung Series 9...

1. Scaling: I am running at (the default) 125% on the Z, 100% on the SS9. 125% a little bit funky, but nothing that's bothered me a lot so far. Parts of some programs don't scale at all, which is weird. Actually, notice in my picture that the SS9 at native 1600x900 has slightly more desktop icon space than the Z3 at 125%. I think the screen on the SS9 is really nice, just not ideal for photo editing. If you have bad vision, the Z3 screen will probably be a bit uncomfortable sometimes.

2. Trackpad: When I first got the two, I would have said the SS9 trackpad wins hands down, but I've warmed to the Z3's. I like Sony's dedicated button areas where I can rest my left had to click without moving the mouse and easily right-click. I think both are good. One bonus with the Sony is the fingerprint reader. I did not consider this at all when purchasing, but it is actually really cool.

3. Keyboard: The Sony Z3 keyboard is ok, but I like the feel of the Samsung keys better.

4. Speakers: Audio sounds fine out of both for stuff like listening to a YouTube video. I haven't really compared carefully. The Sony comes with some earplug headphones (in the US) which sound really good actually. Comfortable too, which I find is a rarity among the kind that seals in your ear.

5. Screen: The background I used is a standard Windows 7 background, so if you have it, you can load it up on your own monitor. Obviously, it's hard to get a perfect comparison of color gamut with me taking a picture.

It's pretty obvious in the image and in person that the Samsung's PLS screen is not able to display the deep reds and violets that the Sony's screen produces. The Sony displays 92% of Adobe RGB color, while the Samsung only can display 60% of sRGB (which is not nearly as wide as Adobe RGB). If you edit photos and care about accurate color, you will definitely notice the difference. For most people though, the Samsung is perfectly fine, and you will not notice unless the two are side by side.

Viewing angles are definitely better on the S9, which retains good colors when off-axis. The Sony has pretty good viewing angles though. Enough that I don't need to keep adjusting my head. And smaller viewing angles can actually be a benefit if you don't want people reading over your shoulder (in a class or on an airplane, for example).

Hopefully that answers most of your questions. I personally think the Z is the better deal, since for $300 more you get a full voltage processor, better screen, 8GB RAM, and a screaming fast Raid 0 SSD array. If you want to add more options, you can do so as well on the Sony, but the Samsung is one size fits all.

By the way, I'd just like to point out for those considering these systems, that "128GB" is not as much space as you might think once you actually look at what you have left on your C: drive. 128GB advertised is actually 119GB of actual storage. Then you have your "Recovery" partition--around 20GB. Both also set aside a partition to save your RAM to the SSD and shut down completely when sleeping, so that's either 4GB (SS9) or 8GB (Z). Saves battery, but worth 8GB on an already small hard drive? So you're down to around 90GB left. That's about what both computers C: drives are partitioned to hold. Then subtract 23GB for Windows 7 and don't forget your page file on top of that. Once you finally load up all of the software that comes pre-loaded on each computer, you're left with about 70GB free on the Samsung, and a paltry 46GB on the Sony Z (more pre-loaded media from Sony's creative software suite). Yikes. Once I created the recovery media on my Sony, I removed the additional partitions, removed some software, and reclaimed 35GB or so to bring me up to around 80GB. That's workable, but not as comfortable as 256GB would have allowed.