2013 Series 7 chronos / Ativ Book 8 15" owner's lounge (NP770Z5E / NP780Z5E / NP870Z5E / NP880Z5E)

make sure you add those programs to the switchable graphics and set high performance, what it could be is in the middle you a switching cards, which will treat it as an alt tab, and those games might not like that. add it to the list to prevent any switching until that game is closed.

 

Anyone know if it's possible to hook up displays to both the VGA and HDMI ports, or if the video card can only handle one additional monitor?

 

thanks i'll give it a shot..and yeah i'll try the amd drivers too it's just that i haven't had any problems with those provided by samsung so far i guess my games aren't that demanding..i've noticed my laptop getting hotter though when i made the jump to windows 8.1 even when playing a game for about an hour (has affected game play also quite a bit but i'm guessing cause of the temp).

 

I reformat and reinstall all 3 laptops straight after I unbox them. Never had any problems that I must use beta drivers.

 

I'm using the drivers from SWUpdate, never had a 1-2 sec black screen. Try the drivers from SWUpdate?

 

I have done that too. Is there a way to force AMD all the time?

I almost wonder if it's my USB headset, Plantronics Gamecom 780. I've tried to install the drivers as admin, and have tried running without drivers.

 

Strange, its my second ativ book 8 and my first one didnt had this issue

 

I would think uninstalling the HD4000 Drivers would do that, but at the same time, you would greatly decrease battery life.

 

You wouldn't happen to be using MSI Afterburner would you?
If so go into setting and uncheck "Reset display after applying unofficial overclocking."

 

Thank you very much for the detailed instructions. I'll definitely give it a try when I get a chance. I hope the black screen after login is not indicative of a major problem. I also hope the working condition of Switchable Graphics doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you reinstalled the drivers right when you got the computer.

Just to clarify, for the HD4000 did you download the current drivers separately (e.g. Intel's website) and install? or did you just stick with the driver that Windows Update installed?

 

I'd keep intellimemory uninstalled. Check page 1 for instructions to disable the USB3.0 feature in BIOS. It resolved my issue of system lagging when I had HDD.

for GPU-Z are you getting a splash screen that doesn't go away (without the actual program loading)? This is the issue I had. It still acts a little finicky but if I keep the splashscreen up, eventually GPU-Z will load -- sometimes right away, sometimes after 3 minutes, sometimes after ~15minutes. I've noticed that sometimes when I open up a program dedicated to GPU-Z via Switchable Graphics, it "triggers" GPU-Z to load.

 

Hey Guys,

3 weeks ago I updated my 770Z5E to win 8.1 without having any problems, but a few days ago I noticed that videos began to stutter for a very short moment, whereas the sound remains normal..Yesterday I played battlefield 3 the first time after I updated and the game does not run as smoothly as it did before the update (Before the update I played in high settings with more than 30fps, now I get the same results with low to medium settings).

My instinct told me I should try other graphic-drivers, so I tried to install newer ones (like 13.11 beta 1, 13.11 beta 9 etc.) but everytime the installation fails (This was not the first time I installed new drivers, so I am familiar with the procedure ) unfortunately I dont remember why the installation went wrong.. After that I tried to install older drivers than 13.9 (which worked perfectly), but also 13.6 and 13.8 did not work... In the end I deinstalleted the intel and the amd drivers, but windows is always installing some drivers by itself, but after that I have no catalyst center or switchable graphics...

Then I downloaded the graphics-driver from sw update and all of a sudden the installation stopped and the screen went black...after restarting a few times and choosing some repairtools after hitting f8 the laptop went back to normal..after that I was able to install the sw-update drivers without problems...

It seems I am stuck with the 13.9 driver, which does not work for me and I am kind of afraid to try to install other drivers which may lead to another black-screen...

do you have any ideas? I could try to refurbish the hole system, but my bootable stick is in my hometown, (I moved 3 weeks ago), which I could use if the hole system crashes during a reinstallation...

bad situation, it would be very nice if someone could help me

 

Hello Guys,

My ativ8 has been updated automatically the Windows(8). And one of the update didnot go through. It is "Intel driver update for Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced -N 6235". When I try to update, it shows an error 80070103. How can I fix this?

 

Hi, today I've opened the back cover of my np770z5e in order to remove some dust from the fans which have become a bit noisy. I tried to remove the whole heatsink to clean it, but didn't think that the thermal paste was sitting right below it (noob style). Now I put it back in place and tightened it in with all the screws, but I'm worried I should have had some new thermal paste handy to apply. Should I keep an eye on the temps and see if I have to buy some new paste to apply? Is there any particular thermal compound that you would suggest buying?
I always keep my laptop lifted on a cooling pad (that is unfortunately broken so no additional fans) but I don't want to see my CPU melt down while I'm gaming Cheers

Edit: so I'm running HWiNFO and the CPU temp ranges from 50-52 °C to about 57 °C in idle (samsung optimized power mode, only google chrome running) while the GPU stays around 50 °C. How are these values?

I'm also going to look for a nice cooling pad to buy.. Any suggestions? Noise wouldn't be a big concern since I'm going to keep it on only during gaming etc.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_142&products_id=23308

This looks cool.. It shouldn't look bad placed below a silver laptop any opinion?

 

Try getting the driver direct from Intel. If that still gives an error then first uninstall the existing WiFi driver.

Those values are OK but you may see temperatures rise quickly if you load CPU and GPU. The CPU will start to throttle once the temperature reaches around 90C but I'm not sure what thermal protection the GPU has. There will be small air gaps between the CPU and the old paste which will reduce its effectiveness.

I would get the new thermal paste ASAP. You only need a very thin layer (the purpose is to fill any minute gaps between the surfaces of the components and the heatsink) but you also need to ensure that the heatsink has good contact with the various components it is meant to cool.

John

 

Hi John, thank you. I will purchase some thermal compound together with the cooling pad, then.

 

Quick question. CPUz says the stock ram config (8GB for my Model) is only single channel. If I get another 8GB stick, will it run dual channel?

Any suggestions on memory? All I can find is Crucial memory for $79.00 USD (59€

 

All I did was reboot, and let windows install their driver.

 

Yes, assuming that the 8GB is on board. One way you can check is to look at the SPD data in CPU-z. If there isn't any then it means the RAM is soldered.

You should be able to find plenty of RAM options that comply with DDR3 SODIMM 1600MHz. While 8 GB will provide full dual channel, you can put 4GB and get pseudo-dual channel which is almost as fast.

John

 

Windows seems to decide before me which gpu is used.
I set programs( want to use with 8870M)high-performance in ccc,but despite this some probably still uses hd4000.Because i don't see any performance difference whether power-sawing or high-performance is selected(for example Black Ops 2 run smoothly on both options and according to notebookcheck hd4000 doesn't run it).Others run on intel(sims 3 for instance)
Perhaps windows thinks that they're not good enough for 8870m
Thoughts?
amd: 13.5 beta3
intel: 9.17.10.2875

 

Thank you very much, John. You always give answers for my stupid questions. I clicked the link you've given to me, I clicked for windows8 64 and found Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows 8*, but after update it still shows that i have to update an Intel driver update for Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced -N 6235.

 

Is that Intel's version checker or SW Update telling you there's a further update?

One possible cause for confusion is there being both the Intel ProSet package and the driver only package. I think I was in this situation for a few months until I did a full uninstall / reinstall. But if everything is working and Device Manager shows you are using the new driver then I wouldn't worry too much.

John

 

Hello everyone!

I'm new here but found this forum to be the most active regarding laptops especially the one I'm considering, the Ativ Book 8 (870Z5E)

1. As far as I've understood the Ativ Book 8 in Europe comes in 2 different variants with 2 colours each, so basically:

• touch/silver
• touch/black
• non-touch/silver
• non-touch/black

Am I correct? Any other model or do the models I mentioned have any other differences between each other?

2. I live in the UK but I've seen prices here are quite a lot more compared to basically everywhere else. Any idea why is that so? The touchscreen enabled here in the UK is approx 1400£ where as I can get an non-touch panel from Amazon.fr for approx 950£ which is insanely huge difference in my opinion.

3. Except the touch and non-touch difference do these model have any other difference?

4. I just might get the one from Amazon.fr however I do know (called them) that it comes with an AZERTY keyboard. I much prefer the QWERTY UK one to be honest and the software aspect can be tweaked in windows. Is there anyway to make changes to the physical keyboard as well? remap the keys (pulling them out lol), put some keyboard cover? or get a replacement UK keyboard and fit it in there? any ideas?

5. Aside the keyboard the UK and EU/FR variants should be the same right? (except for plug, manuals ofc :thumbsup

6. This one is kind of cheeky but here it is. Would you recommend getting this now or should I wait for a new line-up for example an Haswell chip?

These are a lot of questions I know but I'm researching and these are the questions that I couldn't really find definitive answers on the web.

I would really appreciate if anyone has knowledge regarding them and spends their time answering me

Regards,

 

There can be significant variations in the hardware (CPU, GPU, RAM and possibly HDD) between versions within and between countries.

The UK Ativ Book 8 NP880Z5E-X02UK has a quad core CPU and the AMD 8870M GPU. If you don't need the top end hardware then you can get the Series 7 NP780Z5E-T01UK for about £350 less but it has a dual core CPU and 8550M GPU. If you had been shopping in August you could have bought a high spec Series 7 NP780Z5E-S01UK for under £1000 from John Lewis, but that's history. It seems that Samsung France didn't hike the prices when they did the rebranding.

I've not tried pulling a keycap off one of the recent keyboards to find out if they are swappable. If they are then that's the cheap way to get a good spec computer. Otherwise, you need to buy a complete top unit housing which is a combined keyboard / keyboard surround / palmrest unit. It's not cheap but less than the difference in the prices of the notebook.

As for Haswell, we are short of clues about whether a Haswell version is imminent or even features in Samsung's plans.

John

 

No, it shows in Windows Update.

 

hello guys, have tried everything and i am trying to get over 4-5 hrs of battery life while surfing the net. Any suggestions? I cant seem to get below 20w power consumption i have done 99% on power state, brightness at 40%, eco and silent enabled.

 

Hello John,

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Seems like the amazon.fr version is the same specs as the UK one except it doesn't have a touchscreen.

As for the keys I wi try them out when thr unit is delivered. Regarding the top unit housing you mentioned, any idea where can I find those online?

Many thanks!!

 

But have you installed the latest updates pushed via SW Update?

 

Having graphics driver problems. I can't download particular versions of the display driver (Series 7 chromos) ... the AMD website "protects" the latest "stable" version with their verification tool which has never worked for me. Any way to make that work? The latest beta version, which is available, didn't install correctly on my machine. The links on guru3d all point back to the AMD download page. The desktop versions of the driver are available but not the mobility versions. Any pointers to other download links? At this point, I'm reverting to the version provided by SW Update. Thanks. g

 

I started having lag spikes again.... Noticed the wifi drivers had got updated and rolled back to previous ones, but still my ping randomly goes to 100+ ms which is unacceptable while gaming.. What else can I try? I'm so sick of these issues...

Ps I've been playing thru wifi since I got the laptop and never had connection stability issues, so something happened lately.. My line's fine, my friend always plays next to me on his laptop and his ping doesn't suffer from this.

 

If if think you are up-to-date then you can hide that update in Windows Update.

What is your CPU utilisation in Task Manager? Which browser? Note that Flash can be a resource hog and power consumption will be higher if it is using the AMD GPU.

Is this with Windows 8 or 8.1 (many reports of increased power consumption)?

I think it is this part. Check with the seller. You could also ask them if they could do the swap (and how much) since it involves substantial disassembly of the computer.

I'm waiting until the 8.1 update thread becomes quiet and people stop reporting shorter battery life with 8.1. Also, Samsung have pushed two BIOS updates for my X4C since 8.1 was released so they must think there are some issues to be fixed.

John

 

What browser are you using? Chrome uses more power than IE. I switched back to IE because of this. Don't leave too many browser windows open.

 

New Intel Wi-Fi drivers for Windows 8.1 released - https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3598&DwnldID=23389 Interested to hear how anyones connections are with these.

 

I was working one time using excel then all of a sudden a lot of my papers fell on my keyboard and a lot of buttons were pressed. All of a sudden I couldn't type the numbers from the number pad, I pressed the Num Lock button hoping it would change but nothing was happening. Whenever i press 7 it will be Home, 9 PgUP so on and so forth...

I shut it down and when it restarted, nothing changed. Even in the search bars the numbers from the number pad were not working. Hope someone could help me. Thanks

 

Hello guys,

I have a small problem with my Samsung NP770Z5E-S01UK. I recently bought it and decided to reinstall my windows due to poor performance with the old one. I am not a computer genius, although I reinstalled several windows before, with no problems.
So, I followed the steps in a tutorial I found here, the windows is installed correctly, but I forgot to backup my SAMSUNG drivers (those for keyboard backlight, sensors etc), and now I can't find them anywhere.
Could someone who has the same model please point me in the right direction? Or, I don't know, send me those drivers? I would appreciate that!

Thanks.

 

Get SW Update from the Samsung download site and it should automatically list everything you need (and lots you don't need). If it doesn't do this automatically then use the Find Model option.

John

 

any update on the samsung drivers? its been a coupe weeks since they said it would be a couple weeks

 

ok im back here are some screen shots power consumption is at 20w with a fresh restart. I am running windows 8 pro (not 8.1) . I switched everything to forced power savings and in switched graphics i selected the same. here are screen shots of cpu ultilization and memory utilization.

 

Has anyone managed to get WiDi to work after updating to Windows 8.1? It seems like Intel require you to install new HD 4000 drivers, which do not want to install due to switchable graphics configuration.

 

8-9% CPU utilisation under light usage is high, particularly since you have a quad core CPU (my Firefox with 40+ tabs open is using 0 to 6% of a dual core CPU). What power drain do you get if you close all those instances of Chrome, which account for most of the CPU utilisation? The quad core CPU most likely has a higher idle power drain than dual core but not enough to push 10W to 20W.

How are you measuring the power drain (I suggest Battery Bar or HWinfo's sensors tab)?

John

 

i just use the battery icon at the bottom, not really using anything outside of that, i used hard ware monitor as well.

 

HWiNFO's Sensors tab has the power drain which updates once per second - very useful for seeing quickly the impact of any changes you make.

HWiNFO also has a reading for CPU package power. I'm not sure how that is determined but I think it is broadly correct but may underestimate (telling me that my CPU is using about 2.5W out of 8.5W total - the display backlight is probably using the biggest share).

If your CPU isn't using a lot of power then what is? Perhaps the AMD GPU isn't powering down properly.

John

 

is this what you need?

 

Any news about official Samsung driver for windows 8.1?

 

That's showing CPU power consumption in the range 4 to 8W, which is not unreasonable for a quad core CPU under low utilisation. However you need to scroll down to see the battery drain info. Was that data captured with all your Chrome windows open or closed? I would suggest you do some systematic tests such as:

• Start the computer on battery and leave a few minutes to stabilise
• Open Task Manager and HWiNFO's sensors tab. Make a note of the CPU utilisation from Task Manager, CPU package power and battery drain from HWiNFO.
• Set the display brightness to minimum. Make a note of the battery drain.
• Set the display brightness to mid-way. Make a note of the battery drain.
• Set the display brightness to maximum. Make a note of the battery drain.
• Turn off Bluetooth in Settings. Make a note of the battery drain.
• Turn off WiFi in Settings. Make a note of the battery drain. Turn WiFi on again.
• Open a few Chrome tabs. Make a note of the CPU utilisation, CPU package power and battery drain.
• Change the power plan (if using max battery then swap to Samsung optimized, or vice versa). Make a note of the CPU utilisation, CPU package power and battery drain.

Report back with your findings.

Is SW Update not offering you anything?

Our 8.1 upgrade thread is getting quieter so it appears that Samsung are sorting out the bugs. However, several people have encountered significant reductions in battery run time so it may be prudent to wait until Samsung have issued a further round of updates.

John

 

I've got an AMD driver listed in Windows Update (2013-10-21). My current driver is from 2013-09-26 (the 13.200.16.0 version). Everything is working fine so far, and I had a lot of trouble with drivers after updating to 8.1, so I'm loathe to shake up something that's working. Should I update, or are there known issues with this one? What are the improvements?

 

IMAGE RETENTION
Ok, so now that there are quite a large number of you who have had the ATIV Book 8 for quite some time now, I have a question for those of you who prefer to use it with the screen brightness turned up high - (as that is how my eyes prefer to view the screen).

When I purchased my series 7 chronos a while back, I was disgusted by the nasty image retention it had.
Others, too, had reported the issue.
For some - they could live with the defect - but for others like me, it was a deal-breaker, and I returned it.

Fast forward to the ativ book 8, which is essentially the same beast.
For those of you who have owned it for a while, and HAVE noticed image retention - did this problem get better or worse with time - (or did you simply just get used to it) ?

I am debating taking another run at this machine to see if it is still plagued with image retention - so the feedback from you longer-term owners on this matter would be appreciated.

 

Where are the fans? Are there any on the underside, or just above in the plane of the keyboard?

 

hi im a new member of this forum, and a proud owner of a Samsung NP780
sorry for the bad english btw.. if anyone can help me i would be really thankful
im planning to change the HDD that this notebook have for an Hybrid 750GB Seagate Hard drive ( i cant afford a SSD) ...and the question is .. i have to follow the same guides that are made for people who wants to install a SSD?
there shouldn't be problems with compatibility right?
ty

 

The internal photos here are for an older model but the general arrangement is the same.

The one possible compatibility issue is the drive thickness. Check was is currently in you NP780. I think it is a 7mm thick drive, in which case any replacement needs to be 7mm or thinner.

This Seagate page shows a 500GB 7mm SSHD and a 1TB 9.5mm SSHD. Where is the specification of the 750GB drive?

John