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

Hey Obyboby, the catchOfTheDay is offering the 17" version few minutes ago, it might interest you, check it out.

CatchOfTheDay.com.au

 

My bad... A windows update fixed it.
Cheers.

 

I'm in the same boat... Interested in what others have to say.
I also want to do a clean install of windows, but I'm having trouble finding a legit .iso... I'd rather not have to buy a new lisence. (I did manage to extract the Windows product key from the bios though.)

 

why does notebookcheck review say that the 8870 is only suitable for casual gamers? makes me think if waiting for 8870 version over 8770 is worth it or not

 

look/search google for digitalriver or search on warezbb for LEGIT untouched iso, you'll find.
I'm assuming you want win 8 - it should be found there. I know, for sure, I just downloaded windows 7 clean untouched iso from there the other week...
Good luck

 

As far as I'm aware the digitalriver does not work for win8 anymore. The only known solution I know is to download the windows 8 upgrade program, enter your product key (or a dummy one) and then it will allow you to download an iso image or create a bootable usb drive. Please note that this setup utility should be ran on a 64 bit computer to produce a 64 bit iso, or 32 bit computer for 32 bit iso.

Here's the link to the setup program that can make iso's: Upgrade to Windows 8 with only a product key - Microsoft Windows

Keep in mind that it is only supposed to work with upgrade keys and not oem keys. So Like I said try to find a "dummy" upgrade key if you want to use this method.

 

How do I decline or hide an update in SW Update?

 

If you're trying to find a laptop that can max every game at 1080p, with 60FPS, this is not going to do it. This is a multimedia notebook that can game at good settings at 1080p, not a gaming laptop

 

Finally managed to purchase this laptop. I bought a 512GB Samsung 840 pro SSD too.
Do I need any particular tools to reach the HDD and swap it with the SSD?

Also, is there a way to transform the internal HDD into an external USB drive? Would be really handy for me despite being a 5400 rpm drive.

 

sorry to not answer your question, but was kind of curious how you got it shipped to melbourne? i've been looking online too, but failing to find anything useful. which version did you get? and through which company? sorry if I'm distracting from the thread! feel free to pm me instead if it's not useful to anyone else

oh and to answer your question just google external caddy, you can just plug the hard drive into one.

 

Do a search for hard drive enclosures or "caddys", I think the laptop ones are 2.5".

 

My trackpad seems slightly more recessed in the bottom right hand corner, hardware problem but it works perfectly fine. Does anyone else have this issue?

 

Purchased my US NP780Z5E from Best Buy on Wednesday and just this morning got around to running Passmark after having an unease about the speed of my particular unit. My Passmark scores definitely seem startlingly low for this model -- especially the 3318 CPUMark score (considering the i7-3635Q should be around 6500) -- and even had what seemed to be the Win8 version of the BSOD when I ran the test the first time. Has anyone else had the opportunity to Passmark the US model and if so did you have similar results? I'm thinking about returning it but wish I had another to compare it to first.

PassMark results:

Overall PassMark rating - 1047
CPU Mark - 3318
2D Graphics Mark - 248.9
3D Graphics Mark - 299.9
Mermory Mark - 1173
Disk Mark - 632

 

Thanks both of you, will have a look at this caddy.

Regarding the shipment, I'm just having it sent to my old place in Italy, and my parents will ship it to me with some other stuff I need.

Anyway, amazon.it had a few units (Italian and German versions) that were eligible for international shipment. In fact, I was planning to buy it using this method, but there is no info about when the new stock is coming in, so I changed my mind and decided to get it shipped home first from an Italian online shop, and then here to Perth where I am now to study.

 

Make sure that you have not enabled Silent Mode - that runs the CPU at minimum speed to reduce heat generation and consequent fan activity.

Then make sure you are running on mains power with the Samsung Optimized power plan.

HWiNFO has a useful dynamic CPU speed display so you can see that speed range you CPU is working in.

John

 

Thanks for the help John.....I re-ran Passmark again after adjusting the min processor value in my High Performance plan from the default 5% to 100% and that upped my CPUMark to 6418 -- nearly double.

I'm not sure I understand what you were referring to as far as "mains power" goes in the Samsung Optimized power plan.

I ran HWiNFO and noticed my CPU current of 1197MHz is actually slightly below the CPU minimum (1200MHz) for this particular i7 which is somewhat interesting.

 

To those of you who had the image retention / ghosting issue: Still the same or is it getting better or even worse?

 

Does anybody know where I could get a second cable/charger for my NP770Z5E? I'm sick of carrying it to work and back!

Thanks.

 

This seems to be normal. They all have this, and so do many other laptops with the same types of trackpad - I wondered if it was done to make it easier to find the right click corner when you're not looking at your hand - that's what I use it for, whether its by design or not!

 

I am almost certain that John meant to make sure power is plugged in, in order to get an accurate benchmark (as opposed to running on battery). It may sound trivial, but some users do not realize how this affects performance.

I would add that even though increasing Min processor state may improve performance some, the CPU should normally scale up and down as needed. By increasing that value you are preventing the CPU from slowing down, even when there is nothing to do -- thus increasing power consumption and heat. You probably already new that. If so, maybe it will help others

Oh, and BTW, welcome to the forum

 

Any one Find a way to completely turn off the keyboard backlight?

 

You are in Silent Mode. Press F11 and run the test again

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

If cpu should normally scale up/dawn as needed, and obviously would scale at max for bench test - right/ - how/why, then would his reported cpumark scores have nearly DOUBLED by changing min from 5%-100%????

Does this model have a definite scaling issue that requires min cpu state to be forced at 100% (which I would think is a definite no-no for efficiency and life span considerations!!
O am I misconstruing something here??/

 

You are right, than can happen: As many others pointed out, if Silent Mode is enabled Max processor state will be kept down in order to keep the system cool and prevent the fan from running. This will be the case even if switching to the High Performance profile. Switching to Silent Mode will itself change to the Power Saver profile, but the user could then manually switch to the High Performance and even change its Processor settings -- and performance would STILL be throttled due to Silent Mode.

Silent Mode can be toggled by pressing Pressing Fn-F11 (as mentioned by alfling) or on the General tab in Settings (Fn-F1).



My point about being careful when changing Min processor state was that, during normal operation, you shouldn't have to, because the CPU should scale up or down as needed. The exceptions are (A) when Silent Mode is enabled; and (B) when the PC is running on battery. Both of these will cause the PC to prioritize reduced power consumption over speed.

Hope that clarifies

 

I would also like to know whether and how I can use ATA encryption. Thinking of upgrading to a 840 pro ssd and want to use its hardware encryption.

In the BIOS I see supervisor and user password, but both limited to 8 characters. If HD supports it, will BIOS give me option to set a HD password?

Edit: and can laptop resume from sleep when HD encrypted... i.e. will there be any problem entering HD password on resume?

 

Tried playing games on battery the other day and noticed my framerates were about 1/4 of what they were plugged in. Have any of you experienced this? I have confirmed that my switchable graphics global settings are both set to "maximize performance" for both battery and ac. The Program itself is set to High Performance as well.

EDIT: Just found my answer I think. Under advanced power settings there is an option for graphics power that was set to maximize battery. So it would appear that no matter what you choose in the switchable graphics global settings page it will be overridden by your current power plan options.

 

in case anyone was having problems running off amd gpu:

every time i tried to run FF14 it would switch to the intel 4000 ...fps was weak like ~15fps

i went to power plan and switched intel 4000 to maximize battery, and put the amd to max performance.

now when i play FF14 it uses the amd and it runs at ~40fps.

 

Bit of a weird situation - Skyrim's settings don't seem to recognize the 8870, so it only gives the Intel graphics as an option when auto-detecting (and so gives Low as suggested settings), but telling it to set everything to Ultra anyway works perfectly fine and runs with a smooth frame rate (so the 8870 must be kicking in).

 

There seem to be a lot of issues with this samsung series 7 model line...
Just browsing all of the forums owner's thread's, particularly the 'Introducing...'

Do you guys think this might be a flawed product that maybe should be reconsidered as a purchase candidate???
I mean not going to spend hours citing all of the problems I've seen over and over, but it seems there are MANY that have been cited over and over -
and it seems quite a few of these issues are of major importance / major functional flaws - not just a few minor irritations here and there.

I mean, my god, are there even legit drivers yet that allow the discrete gpu to function 100% - the 8770 or even the 8870?
Or have the gpu drivers been rectified since I first started reading that many of the 'Best Buy' versions weren't even able to use anything but the integrated intel HD 4000?

--> On top of my concerns with flaws, it seems we're all a bit more than just aggravated with the actual product versions availability
eg: the CES version w/ 8870 and 8GB soldiered RAM upgradeable to 16 GB

---> If I decide this is all just a bit too much to deal with, can you guys suggest some similarly equipped thin/light laptops, in the <$1300 HDD / $!500 w SSD that maybe good candidates -
whether available immediately or shortly to be available?

 

Let me get this straight. You want a laptop like the Chronos but $400 cheaper and better? If such a thing were available, this thread and the "Introducing" thread would both be at 0 pages.

I have not experienced the image retention, GPU, or WiFi connection issues. My only problems with the machine are the bilingual keyboard (specific to Canadian versions) and the aggressive auto-backlight. Someone in the other thread put it very well - you're not hearing about different problems, you're hearing about the same problems from the same people. There will be many people who, if they get a bad unit, go find a forum and see how they can solve the problem. Nobody gets a computer, and then goes to find a computer forum just to say "hey I got one and everything is perfect, toodles."

 

I don't see where you got the idea that coldengrey wanted it $400 cheaper from, the 15.6" and 17" are both $1299 with a HDD (the $1300 mentioned), so adding $200 for a reasonable sized SSD gives the $1500 price. Unless I am missing something?

 

Did anyone get the laptop with latest bios version (dated 02/26/2013 in cpuz) already installed?
I've got the feeling that my laptop is from a return but I don't know how to prove it.

 

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

 

Hey there, well - first of all it is not ghosting, it is called image retention or image persistence.
Quite a few people (myself included) have noticed the issue with the new chronos and have returned them to the store.
You ask if the defect will get worse with time ?
Nobody here knows the answer to that - but I was not going to keep mine around long enough to find out !
There was no way I was going to accept a flaw like that in a brand new laptop, especially for the price these are selling at.

I noticed image retention on the second day I had mine - upon doing a shutdown - and it floored me.
I saw darkened after-images of the desktop icons, taskbar, and open browser window.
Now that I think about it, this is supposed to be a multimedia pc.
I would HATE to see what the image retention would look like after watching a Letterboxed Movie for 2 hours !

I hope Samsung gets their act together and changes their panel tech so this will no longer be an issue on upcoming models.

 

$1300 is for the non-touch version with 8GB RAM and 8770, isn't it? I don't consider than the "real" version of this laptop.

 

Both the versions available in the US are the same price so far as I can tell; the 17" has 16 GB RAM, 8870m and no touch. The 15" has 8 GB, 8770 and touch, I think!

I am sorely tempted by the 17", I can't see a need for touch and the finger prints on the screen will annoy me, not to mention the lack of an optical drive on the 15"...

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

first of all, thank you very much for the response.

I have to ask, they replace your notebook for other NP770Z5E without the image retention problem?? because i really love this model, and the others NP770 i have tested, have this problem too.

this is a hardware or a software problem ?

there are others NP770 without this problem i can get replaced mine ??? like i said, other NP770 i have tested, have this problem too.

regards !!!!

 

Up please

 

Mine is stuck at splash screen too...

 

I did not get another one from the store - so I simply got my money back.
I had seen reports of other people here with the same image retention issue, so I figured that it is most likely an issue with all of them.
By the way, the image retention problem was reported on both the model with the glossy touchscreen, AND the model with the matte non-touchscreen.
So, it would seem that the panels that Samsung is buying to place into these laptops are being made by the same manufacturer - thus all have the issue.

Some on here say they don't have the image retention problem.
All I can say to that is that perhaps they just don't see it or notice it (even if it is actually there).
Some people are simply better at spotting visual anomalies than others - and also some people would be bothered by it, and some people would decide to accept it.

Lastly, this is a hardware problem. I believe AUO is the manufacturer of the display.
I wonder if they even know about the problems we are experiencing...

 

okay, like you said all the NP770 must have this image retention problem, just someone didnt notice.

i prefer to keep the notebook some time, i dont think this problem could getting worse than is now, very unlikely in a high tech model like this one.

thanks agains for the response.

 

i got a question about maintenance of the thing. as in cleaning it. what would be the best thing to use to clean it, any sort cloth or wet cloth. would be for both keyboard and screen.
would be nice with link to amazon so i know what u mean, thanks=)

 

Posted this on the Chronos mega-thread, but it might be interesting for those that are avoiding that monstrosity!

Interesting to note, for those of you thinking that a Haswell version of this will hit in June (and it still could), but Toshiba's high end Kirabook, coming out mid to late May will be available with Ivy Bridge i5 and i7 processors only. You would think they would wait a few weeks if they were able to go for Haswell. Makes me think that Haswell based machines are probably, in reality, not going to be available for quite a while yet - and I suspect the Chronos will be similar.

 

I would say that what Toshiba does has little bearing on Samsung's Haswell refresh schedule. Nowadays manufacturers will often have the chips on hand already at the time of release. Now whether they too release updated laptops at this time will depend on a few factors: How much left overstock they have (they will have to start clearing out their ivy bridge stock prior to haswell), time that they've had to test these units and put it through the design phases and consumer demand which will only increase with marketing geared at informing users of the benefits of Haswell. So in short I believe it is very possible we could see a Haswell Chronos/Ativ Book in June, but whether it actually happens no one will know till then.

I've personally purchased a chromos 7 from futureshop but am debating whether to keep it or hold off. As much as I want to be "current" the benefits of Haswell seem only so-so. Also there is a usb hardware bug affecting all Haswell chips (at least the initial shipments) Something about buying a laptop with a known defecr (albeit minor) rubs me the wrong way.

 

Hey guys, I'd like to buy the 770z5E but sadly it's not available in my country....Do any of u have some info where in europe i can buy it with an international keyboard layout and ships internationally inside the EU?

 

There is not really any such thing as an international keyboard. In Europe/EU you have:
QWERTY
AZERTY
QWERTZ
and many other layouts (see here)

What language are you looking for?

 

Good point - but it seems to be a general consensus that while Haswell might well come out around June, it's highly unlikely to make it into mass-production notebooks for some time (if you call the Chronos Mass-production with its current limited availability, I'm not sure!!). Normal Intel (and other) releases have seen a slow introduction while manufacturing and supply chains are sorted out. Toshiba's high end notebook release in May indicates that other major manufacturers are not waiting for Haswell, making it highly probable that Samsung will do similar things - of course, they could surprise us and release a flood of Haswell machines immediately - but I wonder what that would do to the cost.

 

Isn't the UK keyboard the same as the US keyboard?

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Check this out: ATIV Book 6. Here, you'll find a 15.6-inch, 1080p touchscreen display, an Intel Core i7 (3635QM) CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive and a discrete Radeon HD 8770M graphics chipset. This more powerful model weighs in at 5.18 pounds, and is available on pre-order now for $1,200.
Samsung extends ATIV branding to all Windows PCs, adds Book 5, Book 6 and SideSync software to the roster
and also:

Samsung Rebrands Entire Windows PC Portfolio, Introduces Some Android Synergy - Forbes

PS: The term "Ativ" is a reversal of the word "vita", meaning "life".

 

If you actually look at the spec comparison, this Ativ Book 6 model isn't as powerful, it is both 0.1" thicker and has a 57 Watt hour battery instead of 91, as well as only 4 watts of total speaker power, instead of 8 like the Series 7. I'm interested, because if you look at Samsung's new naming scheme, the ATIV book 6 is actually a replacement for the Series 5 Chronos, and the Series 7 Chronos is supposed to be the ATIV book 8.