14" Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3C

Installed and played Crysis 2. At first with DX 11 on there were black bars on the side of the screen, which was annoying. I turned DX 11 off (maybe this card really isn't made for that?) and now I can play it nice and fullscreen.

Settings are pretty low compared to what they can potentially be with a hardcore gaming rig, but it still looks MUCH better than when I played the game on ps3 (a big part of the reason I sold it is because the blurriness/framerate drops were really annoying). Amazing that a graphics card that's considered to be low-mid range for new dedicated cards coming out for notebooks is running it like this. I'm pretty satisfied on the graphics side of things, especially when the laptop's so small and portable.

 

I'm currently considering getting a NP700Z3CS02, as it is currently on sale. My question is: has the WiFi issues of the model been solved with the new Ivy Bridge generation? Some posts on this forum suggests the problem is gone, others that it's just slightly better than it used to be. I'm hoping some new owners can confirm wether the problem is still there or has been solved.

 

@trefts: I think the reports from SJMiller about WiFi are quite encouraging: Getting a solid connection in a hotel (through multiple walls) where an iPad couldn't; and doing the same on a different floor in his home. In both cases on battery with the card set to reduced power (as reported).

I already already found improvement in my Z3A-S03US with Intel 6230 over an older S05US with Broadcom (although it's still not great). Sounds to me like they improved it further in the Z3C.

Oh, and thanks again for those updates, SJMiller

Edit: @trefts almost forgot: cross-posting is generally frowned upon. I understand when there is parallel discussion in the Z5C thread. The best way may be to post "please check this question of mine in the Z3C thread". That way you don't risk taking heat from regulars or mods. (I'm still new here )

 

Until this thread was started a few days back the NP900Z3C was discussed in the Z5C thread (there are many hardware similarities). However, future discussion of the Z3C should be here.

John

 

Thank you for that clarification, John. I was getting confused too because there's actually a handful of threads with Z3 discussion recently. Didn't mean to be an *ss, hope I didn't come across like it

 

I installed Secret World last night (well yesterday afternoon and last night, it is a huge download) and started it up. The installer told me that my Nvidia drivers are out of date and there may be stability issues. The game wants me to upgrade to drivers in the 300 series. Does anyone know if you can install regular Nvidia drivers on Samsung laptops or do you have to wait for Samsung drivers?

I went into windows device manager and it is also telling me my drivers are up to date. This happened for my desktop as well and when I went to the Nvidia site there were newer drivers that I had to install manually. I am just not sure if I can do this on my shiny new laptop.

With that said, I was able to play the game. My settings were high and full 1600x900 resolution and it seemed nice and smooth, though I didn't have a mouse attached to the laptop so I didn't try and fight anything.

I will hopefully get some game time today.

 

What exactly is the official name of the port left of the mic/headphone slot? I'm looking for a dongle for mini display

 

The manual simply refers to it as a Monitor Port and the dongle as a VGA Adapter. I believe it's Samsung proprietary and doesn't work with generic mini-HDMI dongles. The dongle came with my pc and works fine. So it's included with some models.

 

That's a shame, also looking for a laptop sleeve, any ideas??

 

It's almost the exact same size as the 13" MacBook Air/Pro (it's slightly smaller than they are but very close) so any of those sleeves or bags should do the trick.

 

dp3000: I just went for a walk to our local coffee shop and the 13inch sleeve for my Macbook Pro fits perfectly.

I also discovered that the coffee shop was closed and ended up working on the laptop outside in the bright summer sunlight. Amazing how nice and clear the screen was compared to the glossy screen on my Macbook. I will take reduced viewing angles and muted colours on a matte screen any day for the ability to work in the sunlight like I just did.

 

The way it seems to manage heat is by pushing it towards the front where the screen is. The hinge gets hot. None of the rest of it gets too hot but a top left section of the keyboard gets warm. Your fingertips can get a little sweaty during gaming when it's warmest, which is an annoyance.

 

Cheers guys for the recommendations

 

I turned on active cooling in power management for both battery and plugged-in states. Any other tips that could keep Samsungs cooler?

 

Setting Max Processor State to 99% (same place in power profile). This will prevent TurboBoost from kicking in, so you'll give up some CPU speed - but not GPU speed. Relevant if gaming is a priority.

And using a laptop cooler when gaming helps a lot, of course. We got a Cooler Master NotePal X-Lite, fits the 14" perfectly.

Edit: What temps are you seeing? The Z5C and Z7C threads are full of discussion about heat and gaming, maybe some tips there.

 

Thanks for the tips. No idea how to measure temps is that built in or do I have to download a program for that?

 

HWiNFO is excellent. Free too. www.hwinfo.com

Edit: CPU-Z is great too, and much simpler, fewer features. www.cpuid.com

 

i bought this laptop at this weekend, now i think it's really good and im not gonna return it.. the speaker is way better than the vaio s13.. and i like the design too.. and the display is not as bad as i thought it would be, since i've seen its review.. i think i can bare with its contrast..

and there is a little problem. the samsung easy settings software, when i click it, it will not show up but just use 25% of my cpu.. anyone else has this problem? i've tried the 1.1.2 and 1.1.4 version, neither of them work for me..

 

@ansoncool: Congrat's on your new laptop. It's a great machine!

Easy Settings only loads gradually after you log in. You have to wait a few minutes until it is fully working, then you should be able to open it either by clicking the Easy Settings icon or by pressing Fn-F1.

If you cannot get it to load several minutes after login, something is wrong. In that case I suggest un-installing and re-installing it using Easy Software Manager. Reboot after each.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

 

Do you guys tend to get more heat on the left side (near WSAD) than the right side? The right side is always cool but the left side is usually a dull warm or much warmer during heavy usage.

 

I realize mine is a different motherboard, but I'd think the layout must be similar. I don't remember experiencing heat under on the actual keyboard. Where it gets hot is is near the hinge, and a little towards the left.

If you don't have a laptop cooler, you should at least keep it elevated when you game. But if it's so hot you can't touch the WASD keys, I agree that can't be right.

 

I'd say it never becomes too hot to touch but especially under gaming it can make your palms sweat.

This German review seems to show that the left side of the keyboard hits higher temps for them too:

Test-Update Samsung Serie 7 700Z3C-S01 Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests

Hopefully as everyone else grabs their's they can also report about temps.

 

The right side consists of the ODD while the left cpu, fan etc so yes this area should be a little warm

 

Of course. I should try thinking for a change

 

thanks for your reply.. i've tried to uninstall and reinstall version 1.1.2 and 1.1.4, but they r both not working..

actually, the fn keys are working fine, it's just that i cannot open the easy settings software... i know that u r having a 700z3a right? i wonder is it just me have this problem or other z3c users have this problems too..

 

Just wanna give you guys an update that I received an np700z3c this morning. I really like it so far.
Overall it's really similar to the z5c in terms of build, lcd screen and keyboard quality.

Overall the build quality is great. I love the brushed aluminum finish and the very thin bezel. While
the footprint of z3c is quite smaller than z5c, z3c is not that much lighter than its bigger counterpart.
It's quite hefty for its size.

About the screen, the viewing angle, color production and contrast are very close to the one on z5c.
It's interesting though that I think it looks slightly better on the smaller frame of z3c. I do not see
any degradation (darker area) along the right vertical edge like I did on the z5c. The screen is quite
easy on the eyes when it comes to displaying texts and documents. It's much clearer than the grainy
screen on the Sony S13P. After some calibration(reduce gammas), it looks pretty nice.

Maybe it just happened to be very hot/humid in NY today, but this machine runs a bit warmer
than I expected. It idles around 50c and can go up to 78c when I ran benchmarks. The top part
of the keyboard (which is next to the vent) can get pretty hot. Both palmrests however stay
cool to the touch. WEI scores out of the box are: Processor = 7.1, RAM 7.5, Aero=6.7, Gaming
= 6.7, Disk = 5.9.

For those of you who already got their z3c or are planning to get one. I recommend you updating the
BIOS right away. The BIOS my machine came with didn't allow me to boot from an optical drive, even
though I set the first priority to it. It would just start windows no matter what boot sequence I set.
Everything works fine after the update though.

Overall I am quite happy with it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. By the way, a
macbook pro 13 sleeve I got from amazon (PAS-213) fits my z3c perfectly. =)

 

I'm still waiting for my shipment. It looks like I won't have it (or be able to use it) until tomorrow.

 

@oatsonix: Great review, thanks for posting. And congrats on your new laptop

One comment: in the second paragraph, I think you mean to say it's quite similar to the NP700Z5C, right?

 

Haha yeah, you're right. It's supposed to be z5c. Thanks a lot.

 

@ansoncool: Yes, you are correct, mine is a Z3A. But it's the same Easy Settings software, even the same version (I'm on 1.1.4). If you cannot open it (even with Fn keys working and waiting a few mins after login) that means the SmartSettings module didn't load properly - regardless of models.

Let's see what other z3c owners report. I would be surprised if those European owners who had it for months never reported Easy Settings not working.

Did you update it already using Easy Software Manager or was it already the latest version? Of course you can try and restore the factory image, but that will lose any setup and software you may have installed so far.

 

Could someone from you, lucky owners of 14" Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3C-S02US, post screenshot of GPU-Z which would show whole specifications of video card on this laptop, because, as I know gt 630M video card very variable in specifications, and has many of editions. I have seen what posted guy from Norway about video card on his 14" Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3C-S01SE but he did not post a screenshot of GPU-Z as were requested plus it is S01SE model and S02US actually has a difference, as you all can see it. It is all right here S0"1SE" and S0"2US", maybe, little difference in name, but might have, noticeable difference of hardware, especially in video cards.

 

PS "the more you look the less you know", LOL

 

What's GPU Z?

 

It is program which showing up all specifications of video card, standing in alone side with CPU-Z but this program showing all specifications of CPU, you can google it, you can download GPU-Z almost everywhere for example filehippo.com

 

By the way you no need use special programs to make screenshot, this program has option to make screenshot itself

 

it look like this, it is my current laptop's video card. And more you can upload this screenshot and post the link on this screenshot into forum as I did it here

 

Here you go. Now tell me why it makes my wasd area so hot

imgur: the simple image sharer

 

First of all I am not here for giving answer on every question about 14" Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3C , I am not an employee of samsung, I am simple customer as you are, and I am here for taking answer. And second I would not know that, because I do not own yet 14" Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3C-S02US as you do, that is why I requested you GPU-Z screenshot And by the way thanks for screenshot, and hey it is quite different from S01SE model in there 28nm technology, which more power efficient technology GT 630M...

 

And this screenshot makes me little bit disappointed, because I compared this video card with my Radeon HD 5730M which staying in my Studio XPS 1647. I hoped and still hope this video card would at least on level of this video card

 

40nm technology of gt 630M ( CF117) kind of strange because according to notebookcheck.net ( NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M - Notebookcheck.net Tech ) and anandtech.com ( AnandTech - NVIDIA's GeForce 600M Series: Mobile Kepler and Fermi Die Shrinks ), graphic chip of GT 630M based on CF117 should have 28nm technology

 

But I think it could be problem of GPU-Z which can not retrieve all information of chip, and therefore showing 40nm, answer is simple should wait until new version of this program will be released or use another program to retrieve all information about it. But again it is only my thought about...

 

It's here. I'm now the proud owner of a NP700Z3C-S02US.

I haven't even turned it on yet (I want it to charge a bit first) but here are my initial thoughts:

I love the look of it. The keyboard layout is exactly what I wanted. I basically wanted a smaller/lighter version of my Sony Vaio FW.

It's a perfect size for me. Any bigger and I'd wish the footprint were smaller. Any smaller and I'd want a larger screen.

It's no feather-weight Ultrabook but it actually feels lighter than I expected it to feel. Pleasant surprise.

Keyboard seems good (but I haven't really tested it yet) and I've always wanted a backlit keyboard. It's not all that often that I need one, but sometimes I do.

The screen can be pushed back a good distance. It bugs me when a screen can't be pushed back far enough (like on the Dell XPS 13).

I like that I can open the lid/screen with just one thumb. Nice.

I hook up to an external monitor fairly often so I like the full size HDMI jack. I really didn't want to have to use an adapter.

The power adapter is smaller and lighter than the one from my Vaio, so that's a plus.

An inserted SD card sits nearly flush. Cool.

I like that the DVD drive is a slot-loader. I'm not a fan of the flimsy trays that pop out.

And the free Xbox 360 came along with the laptop. My son is VERY happy about that!

 

@SoundsGood: That's great, congrats You did your homework and got a great PC there.

Being completely paranoid, here's a couple of things I do when I get a new laptop:

1) Charging it fully (as you're doing now), run it fully up-down the first few charge cycles. I've seen opinions that battery discipline is no longer necessary with Lit-Ion and Lit-Pol; but they claimed that with every new battery technology, and I have a great track record maintaining long battery life for years on my PCs and phones by exercising discipline.

2) Make an image backup of the Recovery partition to an external drive. It's really the file content that's important (restoring the image may not work with F4 anyway), so an even better way is to boot PartedMagic LiveCD (or similar) and simply copy or ZIP everything on that Recovery partition to an external drive. Do NOT delete the Recovery partition unless you have this backup AND know how to re-create the partition.

3) Make an image backup of the 100MB System partition to an external drive. Particularly when doing clean install from USB on a Series 5, this one came in handly. I don't think I'll ever need it on the Series 7.

4) Use Samsung Recovery Solution to backup System Software on a DVD. IF you end up without your Recovery partition, this disc and Easy Software Manager (on the disc) will make new Windows installs much easier, instead of downloading individual drivers from samsung.com and figuring which ones to install. (I still do the manual thing, but it's not what I recommend to others )

5) Boot recovery with F4 and press [CTRL]+[ALT]+[F10] to enter Management Mode, password SECCLX (for SRS5). From here, chose the option to create a bootable USB AdminTool on a USB stick. Save this stick in case you ever need to re-create your Recovery partition (say, if you wipe the disk and decide to sell the laptop some day). If you cannot spare the stick, I guess you can just make an image backup of its content.

OR you could also just enjoy your new toy

Admittedly, doing all this is probably overkill. But IF you do them, there is practically no situation you cannot recover from.

Edit: I forgot the most important one: First time you boot Windows, Samsung Recovery should come up and offer to repartition the HDD. (If it DOESN'T, boot Recovery with F4, do a Complete Restore and select Advanced). Make the Windows partition as small as possible (probably 48-50GB, plenty unless you plan to install something humongous) and leave the rest as Data partition. Now move your Documents, Favorites etc to the Data drive along with any other data you use. This way, you can always restore (or re-install) your Windows partition without affecting any data.

 

I appreciate the tips very much, thanks!

Hmmm. I've gotta think about this one. I probably would have NOT repartitioned the hard drive. But now you've got me wondering which is the better way to go. Hmmmm....

 

I played some Secret World last night on high settings at 1600x900. I had the laptop on a book on my lap. By the end of the two hours the bottom left of the laptop was quite warm but I didn't notice any heat on the keys or the at the top left of the laptop, and I have my different abilities mapped to the number keys so my left hand was there the whole time.

I also didn't hear the fan get very loud, but am thinking maybe it should have kicked in more as the bottom did get quite warm.

 

Thanks to those who replied earlier about the WiFi, and yes the reports indicate that the WiFi is better, however some different sources I have indicate that the reception is still poor compared to other (older) notebooks. Any further tests those who have received their laptops could do would be really useful!

 

I just turned it on -- finally!

But guess what? It never asked me anything about partitioning. And it's only got a C: drive.

Is that possibly because it comes from the Microsoft Store? Do they maybe do it differently?

To be honest, having just a C: drive (with no partitions) is what I'm accustomed to and I've never had any problems. I'm not sure if I wanna start messing around with partitions.

For the record, this unit comes with a 750GB (7200 RPM) hard drive and I see that its got 646GB free out of 678GB.

Wow... this thing is so quiet that I can't believe it's on. Seriously.

I see what you guys mean about the screen. It's not terrible, but it's not amazing. It certainly is bright, though.

Speaking of which, I'm trying to turn down the screen brightness but the Fn key doesn't seem to be working. Is there a way to activate it??

Thanks...

 

I also have z3c-s02 from Microsoft store, and it didn't ask me to do partitions on the first
start up either. The fn keys didn't work right away on the first start up, and I had to
manually run Samsung Easy settings to get them to work. After that initial manual activation,
however, the fn keys always work promptly after start ups.

 

Well, I got the Fn keys to work, but I can't believe it doesn't work by default right out of the box. Very strange.

It'll take me beyond today to get everything set up properly and installed (etc) but so far I like the machine A LOT. It should be perfect for me.

 

It looks like that, to minimize bloatware, none of the Samsung programs are installed by default. It may be most convenient to use Easy Software Manager to offer what is available. And run the Samsung BIOS updater to check for a newer BIOS.

John