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

Do you happen to have the link for the touch pad drivers?
It will probably save me some head scratching when I start my Win 7 installation.

 

Try these: ELANTECH Drivers

 

Sure: elan_touchpad_14.1.3-allos.7z These are version 14.1.3

 

Just ordered a booq courier m.

I'll let you all know how it fits when I get it. Looks like a beautiful and function bag!

 

I'm thinking about buying this laptop instead of the UX51VZ which I was still waiting for..

Is there any particular model of SSD you guys would suggest buying, to replace the HDD? I think 256 GB would do for me.

Also, I'm reading that the wifi issue seems to be fixed after the latest driver updates: I hope it's true, cause I'm having enough navigation issues with my iPhone 5, I don't want to see the same on a laptop -.-

 

That depends on your budget. If you want the fastest and most reliable, but the mos expensive, go for the samsung 840 pro. If you want the lowest cost per gb while still having speed and reliability, go for the crucial m500

 

I went with the 840PRO for my 780Z. I had windows reinstalled in about 10 minutes. It's so bloody fast

 

Thanks both of you for your reply.
I'm trying to purchase it from Amazon ITALY and have it shipped here in Australia. I didn't think it could work, but it seems to be ok. Can you tell me the prices for the 256 GB version of those SSDs you mentioned? I'm going to see if they have them on amazon so that I can make a single purchase and shipment. Let me know if you know anything about amazon and shipments outside Europe

Edit: so I found the 840 pro (MZ-7PD256), 256 GB, and it's €200. Doesn't sound too much to me.. What I don't get is: would that be the only internal memory that I'll have? How many slots does this laptop have for the storage drives? 256 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD (the one included?) would be AWESOME for me.

 

This laptop sadly only comes with one HDD bay, only with the 17" version you can swap the dvd drive for a second HDD. Wouldn't the shipping fees and customs fees be huge if you let it ship from italy?

 

Well, the total of the order is € 1509 which looks good to me.. (With the 256 GB SSD)
That includes €60 for the shipment and €140 (roughly) for some "import costs deposit" (no idea what that is). Do I have to expect additional customs costs? Italy is my home country, and this laptop is not on the Australian market.. I just decided to buy it instead of the Asus UX51VZ which is "older" and it's taking too long to become available here... I just need to understand if I'm going to incur additional costs...

(Anyway I guess I'd have to buy the 512 SSD to get decent internal storage capacity.. I don't like the idea of having an external drive with me all the time)


Edit: if you have any other suggestions (eg buy on another amazon "branch" or elsewhere closer to Oceania) just tell me.. Buying my new laptop is driving me crazy :\

 

Wanted to share my experiences tinkering with the bios on my NP780Z5E-S02CA unit. It is an AMI aptio bios and as such you are able to mod these types of bios quite easily.

What you will need if you are interested is a utility called "AFUDOS" as well as "AMIBCP", both of which are made by AMI directly. A quick google search will bring up download links for both of these.

The general process is as follows:

1. Create a bootable DOS USB stick and put the afudos exe on it
2. Enable the appropriate bios options to allow for booting from USB (If you're one who is about to tinker with the bios then you should be able to figure this out on your own)
3. Boot the dos usb stick and execute the following command to dump your current bios rom image onto the stick: afudos.exe somename.rom /O
4. Now you can run AMIBCP and change settings that would normally be inaccessible. After editing save the rom file and reflash the bios using afudos again.

As far as bios editing goes, this is by far one of the easiest I've seen to tinker with. However as with anything BIOS related, proceed at your own risk! I am not responsible for anything that can happen.

Here's a sample screenshot of some of the options available in the current bios as well as one showing the current bios version:





If anyone is interested, I can provide the bios ROM image to save you the fuss of setting up the bios usb stick to dump the native bios.


EDIT:

For those who were wondering about whether or not upgrading the power brick to a higher wattage one would overcome the throttling issue, it appears from this here that 90W is the max...

 

I was wondering if the difference between IPS and TN panel was clearly noticeable? The only difference between the chronos and the ux51vz is that the second one has IPS screen which seems to be much better in terms of colors rendering and viewing angles: what about the chronos' panel, is it good enough? I spent the whole night trying to figure out the duties and GST to be payed to import a laptop from overseas and looks like I'm going to pay GST only to import the NP770Z5E (10% instead of 21% in the country of purchase), but this panel thing is still holding me from purchasing... Damn, and still no response from the website I ordered the asus from :\

 

The 770Z5E has a great viewing angle. Also in terms of colors it is almost same good as the rMBP (see here: Test Samsung Serie 7 Chronos 770Z5E-S01DE Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests). Actually, the notebook is really great. But i have a problem with image retention / ghosting. Not sure if this is a general problem, but i am not the only one -> http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...ng-2013-series-7-chronos-amd-hd8870m-489.html

 

Anyone hear of someone doing this with the 17? I am wondering about availability of parts, e.g., plate to cover optical slot, etc.

 

Thanks.
Does anyone know a website which ships internationally? I could only find amazon.it but they are of course equipped with the IT keyboard layout and I'd rather having an English keyboard layout (Australian if possible, I'm not sure if its the same as the US layout).

 

Let me know if you manage to ship any Chronos 7 to Australia. I am finding ways to get it ship to Melbourne too, maybe using Mail Forwarder from Canada.

 

Well I was calculating now the final price including the customs fees and duties and it was about AUD 2400 (rounded, inclusive of the Samsung 840 pro SSD 512GB). I'm still not sure if it's worth doing it, especially because I'm terribly worried that I could find some bad surprises with the customs (eg duties are much higher than expected).

From what I read on the Internet, the duties would be something around $60 plus a $10 for something (lol) plus the GST. Price of the laptop, SSD and shipment, converted from euros to AUD, is ~2100, so 60+10+210 = AUD 280 of customs "frees" (roughly)?

That'd make the total price of AUD 2400 for having this powerful laptop at my door with one of the best SSDs.

On the other hand, for the UX51VZ the price would be ~ AUD2460. I'm still wondering if buying the chronos would be worth the while... I keep going on Amazon on my shopping cart and then going back to read about the customs, and then back again on amazon.. I'm going crazy :\

I'm going to have a look on the service you mentioned to see if the prices get a bit lower and more convenient (I'm still trying to find a model equipped with English, or Australian, keyboard layout)

 

just received a update for the backup software and touchpad.

Can't really see any improvements

 

The Chronos screen is an MVA panel, which is a variant of IPS/PLS. A quick google will tell you about the technologies, but rest assured this is far superior to TN panels.

 

Hi Guys
I bought my 780Z5 from hongkong for two weeks,I also have keyboard back-light problem same everyone here, hopley samsung will fix this soon.And now I have two question to ask which I did't see in here.

1.Is this model support SSD3 ,is it have a SSD3 port ? or it only can run in SSD2 speed?
2.The touchpad sometime will auto jump a little bit (not smooth ),like 30 secs for once,any one the same?can I fix it?

 

I presume you mean SATA3? Yes, this model is totally SATA3 compliant - it's just provided with a SATA2 HDD.
Try the newly available touchpad drivers on SW Update (11.7.10.4). For me they've already made a difference to the touchpad performance, and stopped the "jumping" I was getting from time to time.

 

Thanks for the reply,Yes I mean SATA3 ,happy to hear that fully support SATA3.
About the mouse jumping issue seems the new driver fix it ,I will try for more days.

Two more question :

1.How much SATA port in this model ?

2.In Recovery software there is a HDD copy function ,if I want change HDD to SSD,Can I use it clone all my used system to a new SSD 100%? and then just change HDD to SSD to get it done with out any setup step?or I still need do some setup?

 

Was playing with my Bestbuy version last night and was surprised (in a good way) to find that the intel Wifi supports Dual band N!!!

I just upgraded my old Buffalo router this weekend to a newer NetGear Dual Band so got the laptop to connect at 5Ghz wifi (range is somewhat lesser compared to 2.4GHz but definitely more speedier considering my 5Ghz mode only has 3 devices connected..the chronos, my Samsung Note 2 phone and Ipad3).

After owning 2 laptops with atheros based wifi cards, I prefer Intel based cards. From my own experience, the Intel cards fare much better in terms of less Wifi drops and better throughput compared to Atheros cards.

 

Did you use SW update tool? I cannot seem to install wireless lan update or touchpad and backup software updates. Tried uninstalling wireless driver and reinstalling but no luck. Any suggestions?

 

Jop, I did. Everything worked fine

Handschriftlich von meinem Note 2 gesendet

 

That's good news.

Can you guys post the product name for the US version of the 15.6 Chronos?
I missed the chance to order the last one from amazon.it (NP770Z5E) and now I'm trying to find one from a US website that ships worldwide.. But I can't find anything with that product code. Please help

 

Hi feskey, I intend to buy 780Z5 from Hong Kong too.
Can you tell me where did you buy from? What is the price? Any free gifts?
Lastly is the keyboard layout US (English) standard or the English/ Chinese layout?

 

Hi triston77

price is 12890 HKD (about 1632 USD),
You can buy it in any HK Electronic shop,all the same price ,I suggest you go to Mongkok there many Electronic shop such as Broadway and Fortress.
Free gift : 8G USB Stick X2 ,samsung original 15" notbook bag (in Fortress)
keyboard is US layout,

 

Hi Guys,

I've found these forums extremely helpful in helping me make my decision to purchase a 770Z5E. Thanks for all the tips thus far!



Here's my own short review from a designer/photographers perspective:
Samsung Chronos 7 (2013)

 

Hey im looking for a replacement power adapter for my samsung chronos NP770Z5E-S01UB i've tried looking on amazon but could only find power adapters for the Np-700z3a. Are they the same? they are both 90w so i figured i could use it but wanted to make sure with you guys first. If yall know of any other quality power adapters a link would be appreciated. (locally available would be great)

BTW: openbox+no power adapter+slight case damage on one corner=$950 before taxes, Good deal? or no?

 

i am experimenting some ghosting in my NP770z5e screen, its just noticeable when you press Ctrl+Alt+Supr, is not a BIG PROBLEM to me, like a said, is just really noticeable when I go to task manager.

What do you recommend ??? just keep the notebook because the problem is not really annoying. Or its better to change it ?? the ghosting problem could increase with the time ???

thanks

 

Hi, can I know what is the spec of the HK version of Chronos? I believe it is 16GB ram and 8870M version?

Do you know if there is any online shop that is sell it and ship internationally? Thanks!

 

Hi all:
I just picked up a 780Z5E. Still trying to figure out all the little quirks endemic to every laptop. One thing I'm wondering about, sometimes when I put it to sleep it wakes up when I open the lid, other times I have to press the on button after opening the lid. Does anyone know how this is governed?

 

read the review, amazing stuff

 

Again, can anybody post a US shop that ships the NP770z5E internationally? Or any other place, I need it shipped to Oz

 

Obyboby, the US only have the 8770M version, you sure you want to buy from the US?

If so, I heard good reviews about this mail forwarder.

http://www.shipito.com/

 

Thank you. I didn't realise that, of course I'm after the HD 8870 version, so I guess I'll have to find it somewhere in Europe.

 

Yes ，it is 16GB and 8870M.
Sorry,don't know the online shop about this

 

did you pay cash? thats what i did at fortress to get an extra 3% off the rrp.

They didn't have any samsung bags when i bought mine though, is there anychance you could upload a picture? I for a lenovo bag instead and im curious on what im missing out on...

 

I've downloaded the latest wireless drivers from Intel, but I'm still having trouble with WIFI. (Actually, I didn't have any problems before the SW Update software updated the drivers a couple weeks ago.) I just reinstalled the drivers without removing the old ones, so maybe that's the problem.

Main problems I'm having:
- Limited connection on wake or computer restart which takes 5+ times of resetting the connection/troubleshooting before it will stay connected. Each time it says that "the default gateway is not available."
- Can't see or connect to 5 ghz networks

 

I had the wireless problems mentioned in this thread. Solved it by rolling back to what I think is 15.6.1.6. I also set it to "prefer 5Ghz".

Ignoring the SWUpdate prompt to update again for now.

NP770Z5E-S01UK

 

I'm having trouble with my USB 3.0 ports - they won't read my WD Passport (external HDD, which is 3.0 compatible). The drive is receiving power, but Windows isn't recognizing the drive. Any thoughts?

 

Why don't you try from Hong Kong?
The keyboard has US layout and even 16GB and 8870m.

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

I am also interested in buying the 16GB 8870m touch screen from HK but fail to find any online store have it (and do international shipping).
I did send a message to Fortress HK to ask them but no reply until now.
Anyone help will be appreciated.

 

I also have a USB3 Passport and it works fine. Does it show up in Windows Disk Management? Did you ever have it formatted with Linux or anything else non-Windows?

 

Using the old drivers from Intel, the wireless seems to be working fine right now like other users have experienced. However, when running Intel WiDi it says you need the latest wireless drivers. Is this the same for you guys and any way to bypass this?

 

Do update us if you manage to get info about shipping Chronos from HK. I believe many of us here are interested at HK version, thanks buddy!

 

Got me one of these babies - 2.4Ghz i7, 16GB RAM, 8870 graphics (the Futureshop version). Still need to swap the HDD for a 256GB Crucial SSD though.

What do I need to uninstall from the crapware and change to the settings? I've already got adaptive brightness off.

Also what is the best way to take care of the battery? I have it set to max charge 80%, and from what I understand it's healthier to run on battery power and deplete as much of it as possible rather than have it plugged in all the time and recharge after partial depletion. Is this correct?