Clarifications and list of differences with the Series 7 700Z4A and 700Z5A

Hey guys,

Out of curiosity, does anyone on these forums actually own the 15.0" model, specifically the 700Z4A? So far I'm assuming that everyone here is commenting on either the 700Z5A or 700Z3A?

I'm really getting confused with the models now. From my understanding, there is a 14" model (700Z3A) with only 2 USB ports. an i5 processor, and AMD Radeon HD 6490M GPU, which is significantly smaller than the 700Z5A? This is the one at this link.

Then there is also the 700Z4A which is 15.0" exactly and is smaller than the 700Z5A? So far all my searches of the 700Z4A have led me to Asian websites selling this model (in various countries like China, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong and the Philippines). It seems that this is one of the types of models being sold in Asia; along with the 700Z5A since some forum members here purchased theirs in Singapore.

Now what really interests me is that the 700Z4A actually has significant differences from the 700Z5A. All this time I just thought it had the same chassis but with weaker components compared to the premium 700Z5A.

Here are some of the major differences I have noticed:

1. The 700Z4A has no numerical keypad and maximizes the spaces for keys (which actually seem bigger in pictures than the 700Z5A keyboard).

2. The 700Z4A packs a i5 2430M processor instead of the i7 on the 700Z5A, but both have an AMD Radeon HD 6750 GPU with 1GB GDDR5.

3. The 700Z4A is significantly lighter and smaller than the 700Z5A.

The 700Z4A's dimensions are 23.9mm x 350.4 x 230.1 (height x width x depth) while the 700Z5A's are 25 x 362 x 238.

The Z4A weighs 2.15kg which is lighter than the Z5A at 2.4kg.

4. The i7 700Z5A is approximately $260USD cheaper than the i5 700Z4A with currency conversion (not including any shipping expenses). Almost all specs are the same except for the aforementioned differences.

5. The 700Z4A is 15-inch HD LED display at 1600 x 900 and not a 15.6".

Most of my info for the 700Z4A comes from this website based in the Philippines. They've got generous pictures as well from the Samsung product release of the 700Z4A.

I'd appreciate if anyone can clarify this information for me.

If all goes well, I really actually like the 700Z4A better than the 700Z5A given it's lighter and smaller frame, more centered track-pad, and full-sized keyboard sans the numeric keypad.

I also want to clarify how much performance I would lose by having an i5 instead of the i7 processor. Like, would this translate to lower frame rates on games and slower application switching? I would appreciate the ability to still play BF3 and Skyrim. Would the 8GB Express Cache do anything to improve performance, even with the i5?

Thanks for any replies and I hope to be able to make my purchase this holiday season.

 

Out of curiousity, I decided to weigh my DEAD NP700Z5A. The NP700Z5A is actually only 2.32kg which is not far from Samsung's claim of 2.29kg.




The main difference is the processor here. If you are gaming mostly and not performing processor-intensive tasks like encoding videos, then the i5 is actually better (higher dual-core and single-core frequency than the quad) for gaming since games are still mostly not multi-threaded beyond two threads.

Expresscache makes not much difference to gaming. Levels may load faster and the experience overall may be snappier. Coming from my Intel SSD, I find that it is ridiculously slow still.

Singapore only has the Samsung NP700Z5A-S02SG. There is totally no NP700Z4A sets on sale here. I was actually looking for that.

I would recommend you to buy the Z4A from the Philippines if possible. In most cases although the warranty is international, the problem lies with part availability and sometimes this is an excuse used for delaying repairs. In addition, if you purchase the Z5A from Singapore, the extended 2nd and 3rd free warranty is only for local. In essence you get only 1 year of warranty intl.

An alternative to the NP700Z4A is the HP Pavilion DV4-3000 series (should be DV4-3008TX, DV4-3016TX and DV4-3017TX). You may want to check it out. Same 6750M, same dual core (3008TX offers i7-2620M which is better), and significantly less expensive (~48k to ~53k pesos) I believe with availability in the Philippines.

 

Thanks for the reply yknyong. Appreciate you weighing your machine as well. Too bad it was DOA. Hope you got a replacement from Samsung and sorted the issue out.

Thanks too for clarifying the performance differences with the i5 and i7. While I may be doing some video encoding and music production, it won't be anything too intensive.

I looked up your suggestion of the HP Pavilion DV4-3000, but frankly wasn't too impressed with the build quality and battery life. My only other consideration right now would be the refreshed HP Envy 15, but I'm still more sold on the Series 7 with better pricing, Express Cache, more portable dimensions, and possibly longer battery life.

Looks like I may be purchasing the Z4A in Asia, unless availability and a good coupon comes up on Tiger Direct or J&R Electronics.