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

Has anyone tried to see if the processor is removable on this model? I am more than comfortable to open it up and check myself too but just wanted to see if anyone has tried it already.

For gaming the i7 we have receives relatively low physics scores in 3dmark whereas the graphics tests pass with flying colours. I'm considering swapping out the i7-3635QM that we have (2.4GHz up to 3.4GHz, 6MB cache, 45W TDP, FCPGA988 socket) for the i7-3840QM (2.8GHz up to 3.8GHz, 8MB cache, 45W TDP, FCPGA988 socket). The 3840 is the most powerful processor that will fit our socket at 45W and seems like it would be a good match for the amd 8870m graphics performance wise.

Please don't comment with "laptop processors aren't upgradeable", I have worked as a certified computer technician for years and have changed many processors. *Some* are soldered on but there are many that aren't.

I appreciate your comments

 

These laptops can only have 1 HDD in them right?

 

The 7260 completely fixed my disconnect problem.

 

Unfortunately, yes.

 

Many of us have had our cases open to swap in SSDs, but I'll be honest I never even looked twice at the heatsink for the CPU, let alone took it off to see if the CPU would be replaceable. With you being the certified computer technician, I vote that you go ahead an open it up and let us know.

My gut feeling is no. In order to fit into the slimmer form factor they tend to make a lot of sacrifices on things that take up space, like removable batteries and CPU sockets.

 

Hi everyone, I just got this laptop and updated everything so that I am on windows 8.1.
I installed the latest beta drivers for the 8870 card (13.12 I believe), when I right click on catalyst control centre it only shows the Intel 4400, I was just wondering if this will change to the 8870 when doing more rigorous tasks of have I installed something incorrectly? Any information would be greatly appreciated

 

Dang it, this rules out these models for me, thanks for the info.

 

as an owner of the 2 laptops stated on my signature, swapping the hdd for my ssd in my systems, and having looked at the i7 version of the ATIV book 8 's video teardown

i can assure you that the CPU is soldered as a BGA chip, it does not have a socket and a latch for the CPU to pop off

also, for your reference that base quad core i7 is more than enough to drive the 8870m graphics card, heck the base quad core i7 can drive the GTX780m SLI without breaking a sweat

and yes, my other system, the MSI 16F3, does have a non-soldered CPU, and the difference of soldered vs non-soldered CPU is very trivial, one comes with a latch and a socketed square rises above the motherboard another one comes with no latch and the CPU chip's height is the only thing that is above the motherboard, no socketed square of course

there were a lot of tests done on the desktop side and some done on the laptop side to show the following:

a desktop i5 and a desktop i7 makes no difference in gaming performance with the same graphics card

a laptop i5 and an i7 makes no difference in gaming performance when the game does not have multiple physical characters displayed on-screen

what it means by that is: the number of physical characters on-screen has their movements done by CPU calculation, thus if the CPU isn't fast enough to finish the character's movement the game has to skip the movement and does an fps spike occurs, however having extra-extra (more than enough) juice in the CPU will not produce higher frames, since CPU calculations does not directly contribute to the fps on display, but instead it only handles a number of physical movement-per-second, and as we know, a higher fps does not contribute to more physical movement-per-second but player's input, moreover number of player/computer controlled units displayed on screen will be the only thing contributing to the physical movement-per-second, which is easily handled by any i7, and for FPS games, they are mostly handled fluently

 

I've got the 770z5e model and there's a tiny gap when it's on my desk and closed flush when it's in my hand - I think it's just a tiny bit of flex in the construction - I wouldn't worry about it!

 

Thanks for the reply. Well the weird thing is that the gap from the one I got doesn't close. In fact I tried pushing the middle of the screen down a little bit to see if it would be closed flush then which it didn't. There was always a gap on the left side and I really didn't want to try with brute force.
To be honest, I think that the one from the same store (second image I posted) had a much smaller gap than the one I received.

 

I'd say mine is like that too, especially the left side doesn't close completely. I never really notice it and wouldn't worry about it, but if it really bothers you that much then I guess you could try looking for one that doesn't have it and exchange it. I think that given the computer specs and its price some compromises would have to be made, whether you can live with them or not depends on you

 

On earlier Series 7 models (2011 and 2012) a small gap is by design: Little rubber spacers keep the lid from closing completely. This is so as to prevent the keys from leaving finger grease marks on the screen.

I don't know if this is also the case on 2013 Series 7 / Ativ Book 8.

 

The part that bugs me about this is that the 880Z5E doesn't have that issue. Also, the straightness and the levelness are outside any tolerances that would be covered by the DIN standard.

I know about the rubber spacers. However, those spacers don't even touch in large parts of the front as one can see in these pictures: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...780z5e-np870z5e-np880z5e-383.html#post9520475

I think I will return this for now and see if I can find one that doesn't have that huge gap.

 

As OsoAlgo said, whether it's acceptable to you is a personal matter. Mine actually closed a little too tight, and I added two small rubber spacers on the screen bezel in order to keep the screen clean.

 

I'm thinking of upgrading my laptop (NP770Z5E) with an SSD drive. Do I have to remove the hard drive which is installed now or is there enough place for both disks to run side by side?
Has anyone tried Crucial's M500 SSD (link below)? I'd like to hear your opinion(s).

CT480M500SSD1 Crucial M500 (480GB) 2.5 inch Solid State Drive 6Gb/s SATA | eBay

 

You have to replace the old drive with the new one. Im am using the 840EVO, but I am sure the M500 should also be fine.

 

Did anyone change stock wireless module with an Intel ac7260? Any improvement with wifi drops and signal overall?

 

I was wondering if anyone had this problem before who might be able to help. I ended up waiting a year to put in my SSD, but it's in, and I'm loving the new boot time! However, upon trying to install AMD drivers for graphics, it hangs on "detective graphics hardware." Meanwhile, in the device manager, the graphics card is listed as an "unknown device." Upon searching, it seemed one person with a similar problem was able to install 13.5, which worked. I've tried installing 13.5, 13.8, 13.10, and 13.11--all hang at the same place. As rebooting no longer makes me homicidal, I've been rebooting between every attempt. I've had my anti-virus off (though I doubt that'd do anything), and nothing seems to work! I haven't tried installing an AMD driver *over* the Samsung version, because I remember hearing that that kills brightness control, and is a pain to fix.

I should mention that despite all this, 12.9 installed through SW Update still works just fine, even if it's not giving me the performance that I'd like. I can always fall back onto that driver--but would anyone know why I can't seem to install the newer ones?

Cheers!

EDIT: If it helps, this is the bad kind of hang, not the good kind--the sort of hang that requires ending task through task manager to halt the install.

EDIT 2: I'm a load of crap--I just gave 13.5 another shot and it did, in fact, work. I'll see if I can bump it up to something newer now!

 

check a few pages back, i asked the same question. It seems that it does, but i havent swapped it yet as im waiting for buy a dualband router before i do so.

 

Haven't changed the stock one but haven't had any problems with it either

 

I have been using the NP770Z5E for 8 months. It's almost time for an upgrade to an SSD.

I'm thinking of the Samsung 840 Evo 1TB.

A few questions:
1) Can I do a fresh install to Windows 8.1 or downgrade to Windows 7?
2) Are there any issues with the system running on Windows 7 or 8.1?
3) How do I install the OS from a USB stick?
4) Where can I download all the Samsung drivers for my notebook?
5) What version is the latest AMD drivers with brightness that works for this notebook?

I hope you guys can help.

Any tips or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

 

Hello!

I recently purchased the Samsung Ativ Book 8 8870m ver and also installed a 250gb Samsung Evo SSD. And let me say that the computer is just amazing. My last laptop was a Dell D630 so you can probably imagine the speed difference I also just run the 3dmark and one thing I noticed is that the result I get are significantly lower than the ones on notebookcheck review and the problem seems to be the physics score. Does anyone know what seems to be the problem? Link to the results: AMD Radeon HD 8870M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3635QM,SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. NP880Z5E-X01EE . I don't know if you can see the score but just in case I also did a screenshot:

 

Is it a good idea to leave the laptop plugged in 24/7 even when it is fully charged? I use my laptop as a desktop replacement so it is always connected to a power supply. I've tried looking for the battery life extender option in the Settings as well as BIOS but can't find it.

Also, is there anything wrong with putting it to sleep while leaving it plugged in?

Thanks

 

Samsung removed the battery extender feature because their recent advancements in battery technology keeps the battery from wearing out too much when kept at full charge, so you no longer have to keep it at 50% or 80%. To maintain the usable battery life I believe keeping it at 100% wears it out less than using it on battery, recharging it, then use it again, and repeating this recharge/discharge cycle.

For having it plugged in while sleeping I don't see a problem with it. Do you leave it plugged in when you turn it off?

 

I'm a little confused as to this line, but it certainly does interest me. I hope this is the right place for these questions.

I'm interested in the long battery run times claimed. As I understand it, the 2012 version got 8+ hours and the 2013 touchscreen version gets around 6 hours. Is this correct?

Further, does the 2013 non-touchscreen version get better battery run time?

 

I've been searching for a solution but cannot seem to fix problems with my sound driver.

Long story short, I updated to an SSD a couple of weeks ago, ended up doing a system refresh that fixed a lot of small issues I was having with my Ativ Book 8.

The only issue I'm having now is with Samsung's Software Update Utility. Every time I try to download and install the Sound Driver, the installation fails. I have tried searching online and manually downloading the Realtek HD Sound Driver, but to no avail. I would like to know what might be causing this issue, as well as what I can do to fix it. I ignored the issue for a while until I realized that my audio out port wasn't working with headphones. I uninstalled the Sound Driver this afternoon, which has fixed the issue, but I would like to retain full functionality of the JBL speakers in the computer.

 

Just wanted to follow-up on this for anyone in the future who might search--oddly enough, the solution to this is to remove any and all USB devices plugged in. I think it might have to do with the other bugs that this machine sometimes encounters with USB 3.0

Cheers!

 

Screen Flicker.

I had been trying to get my Chronos 7 2013 15" to talk to my Dell ultrasharp 1440p monitor and was playing around with screen settings. After eventually succeeding with a new cable and converter (HDMI>DVI-D), now I'm left with the actual laptop screen having a very noticeable flicker, whether used on its own or with the external monitor. In my Intel driver settings, I have only one refresh rate available - 60hz. Is that right? Have I messed the settings up somehow?

I don't really want any more headaches from staring at this flicker! Any help is much appreciated :thumbsup:

 

I have the 2013 ATIV Book 8 and I get 13 hours of Word Processing, 8 hours of Web Browsing

 

what about following following steps? I had same problems as you.
so checked these are written on the manual.

1. Right-click on the Desktop and select Configure Switchable Graphics from the popup menu.
2. click the Browse button and register the software and click the Apply button.
3. some of the functions of the registered program that require a high graphics performance will
run with the external graphics chipset without additional configuration.

hope it would be helpful

 

what about following following steps? I had same problems as you.
so checked these are written on the manual.

1. Right-click on the Desktop and select Configure Switchable Graphics from the popup menu.
2. click the Browse button and register the software and click the Apply button.
3. some of the functions of the registered program that require a high graphics performance will
run with the external graphics chipset without additional configuration.

hope it would be helpful

 

what about following following steps? I had same problems as you.
so checked these are written on the manual.

1. Right-click on the Desktop and select Configure Switchable Graphics from the popup menu.
2. click the Browse button and register the software and click the Apply button.
3. some of the functions of the registered program that require a high graphics performance will
run with the external graphics chipset without additional configuration.

hope it would be helpful

 

what about following following steps? I had same problems as you.
so checked these are written on the manual.
1. Right-click on the Desktop and select Configure Switchable Graphics from the popup menu.
2. click the Browse button and register the software and click the Apply button.
3. some of the functions of the registered program that require a high graphics performance will
run with the external graphics chipset without additional configuration.
hope it would be helpful

 

Thanks; that sounds fantastic! Is that the model with the touchscreen? Also, is 'Word Processing' with WLAN on or off?

 

Hi,

I'm having a weird problem with this computer. I had installed Ubuntu with Windows 8 and I decided to update to windows 8.1. Evertyhing works fine but the problem is that when I turn off the computer sometimes it turns on by itself and tries to boot but it get to a part where it says that the disk has nothing bootable so I should press F4. I turn it off and turn it on again and it just starts working as normal. Last night it did that thing and when I woke up I had no battery...

I'm wondering if it has something to do with leaving the mouse connected....

 

Hi,

this is how it's meant to work, but unfortunately this functionality is broken. Thats what the discussion is all about.

Thanks anyway,
-- Ch.

 

Of course i know this function and i using it but sometimes is broken right now

But for me works:
- if i have fps drop then in game i press FN+F1 (some Samsung settings app), screen few times blinks to black, desktop and then FPS is back. If there is fps drop again after reloading map, minimalize game, close Samsung app and again in game press FN+F1

or i can unplug and plug power cord but this is not good for my battery

 

Hey guys.

I've recently started having an issue with my laptop where it is freezing all the time. I have a feeling it's something to do with the graphic drivers because the picture will scramble. Just thought I'd check here to see if anyone else has had similar experiences and for some advice.

Thanks in advance!

 

videocard dead(

 

You should get into contact with samsung, that looks like a dying video card (or overheating one). You'll probably need a replacement.

Sorry to inform you but hdmi on this laptop only supports 30hz at that resolution, converting it to dvi-d tricks the display so you can use it at 60Hz, but since it's not native there will be issues. Just use 30Hz since our laptop does not have displayport, which is my biggest quarrel with this laptop...

 

I just got the Ativ Book 8 - US version at Best Buy.
I returned the 1st one because the track pad was lower on the right side (right click area).
I got an exchange unit and looked at the track pad and it was good.
But I noticed yesterday that a spot was wearing on the bottom near one of the fan vents.
It seems there is a bulge in the bottom of the case that extends beyond the rubber feet causing it to rub when sitting on a flat surface.

Should I return this one too, or am I being too picky?!

 

I used Company of Heros 2 performance test to test the video drivers. I used the Samsung factory drivers, the 13.10 beta 1 and 13.11 beta 1.

I got 18.03 fps with the Samsung drivers, 17.6 fps with the 13.10, and 17.9 fps with the 13.11.
(880z5e, win 8.1)

So I see no difference in using the Samsung video drivers.

 

I got the 880z5e from US Best Buy. One had a low right corner of the track pad. The exchange one has a bulge in the bottom near a fan vent that contacts a flat surface like one of the rubber feet. I'm thinking of exchanging that one too.

 

hey all.. Do u guys know any video for screen replacement of samsung np780z5e. I need it deadly. OR any link where i can get the detailed info. reply asap. thanks in advance

 

Mine has the same problem. The spot is right below the HDD and the wifi chip.

I "fixed" it by putting some transparent tape on the spot that started to get scratched really badly.

 

I have the same problem after an update from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. SW Update keeps ending with:

Sound Driver Essential Installable 463MB Failed(-10)

Did you find a solution?

 

it sounds really serious. how about showing it around here? like photo..

 

HI GUYS,

I am using a 256 GB samsung SSD drive. Recently i have noticed that the boot up times have been from 15 to 20 sec. Previously it was 7 to 10 seconds. CAN ANY ONE HELP . I have already checked what programs run at start up and also i have checked the drive for errors . Shut down times have not been effected though. It is 6 sec..

 

First try reinstalling Samsung's Settings program. The installation process includes system software optimisation.

If that doesn't fix anything then temporarily install Soluto and let it figure out what is taking up all the time. Some anti-virus programs do a scan as part of the boot process.

John

 

I need some help, please help me!!

Sometimes im browsing the web and my screen goes black and i get a notification saying that AMD display something has stopped working.

What could be triggering it? After the crash, i need to restart firefox because it doesnt work anymore, stays blank with no text.
This is happening alot now..

But doesnt happen while I game

EDIT: Just happened twice in a row.



TRANSLATED: The display controller has stopped working and recovered sucessfully.
The amd display controller has stopped working and recovered sucessfully.