Introducing The 2013 Series 7 Chronos with AMD HD8870M!

I'm really liking this notebook, not sure what to make of the lousy wifi its been getting though... and the deal breaker for me is the memory... i figured I could drop 16gb and an SSD in this and be fine but only one memory slot means a max of 12gb that won't run dual channel.

Ideally the high end model should come in through amazon so I could get it with free shipping (prime) and no tax. lol.

The screen on this is beautiful once you turn off the adaptive brightness. at 40% its more than bright enough to use.

 

^ WiFi works pretty well for me though. I was downloading something at 2.5 Mb/s no problem on this thing.

My quick thoughts:
1) I've largely forgotten the bottom is plastic.
2) The keyboard has short travel, but I've grown used to it. It's very nice to type on IMO.
3) Screen looks really, really good...but I have smudges galore on it because I've been playing with the touch screen. Glossy screen is so pretty, but...yeah, I might be getting one of those cover sheets to make it matte.
4) Sound, like I mentioned earlier, is excellent.
5) I've messed with the settings a little but I feel like the graphics is a little weak. I have no idea if it's something I did or not. I'm going to reset things to default and try again...I'm installing GW2 as well, I want to see what happens when I try running the game on this comp.
6) It's not the right forum, but I just have to say it: Windows 8 drives me insane.

edit: i should point out I'm annoyed with some of the Windows 8 gestures because I have a nasty habit of using the left side of the touchpad, which Windows thinks is a swipe

 

Maybe you have the wrong drivers installed, or some kind of setting turned off. Or maybe you have a defective unit. The Chronos has the fastest Wi-Fi available, same as the Macbook Retina so you should be getting extremely fast downloads.

 

1. Great news. Kind of a worry for me. I bet it feels like the aluminum anyway.
5. Maybe you should try a clean install of Windows?
6. Awww, I LOVE Windows 8!!!

 

Same. I think it will be, honestly. It's common for mid-range laptops to do things like this. Then the high-end models come in and have premium everything

I just really, really need a release date on this thing. I mean any indication at all of the 8870 model hitting stores would make me so happy.

 

Not having full dual channel is not a significant issue. My table showing impact of RAM configuration on performance here is getting old but is still applicable.

John

 

Tweeted @SamsungUK for a release date. They've come back to me with:
There currently is no official release date for this product within the UK. As always you can register online at our Samsung UK website to receive up to date news on all our upcoming products and services.

So basically a cop out answer but I guess it won't be too soon as they would surely say something if it was going to be in the next few days!? (Maybe)

 

Is it impossible to have dual channel with 2 RAM sticks of different capacity? I thought it was possible

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

At least with ivy bridge it is possible to have dual channel performance gain with different sized sticks, so different sized sticks on this machine shouldn't be much of an issue.

 

"Best Buy Offers $100 Discount On Windows 8 Touchscreen Devices"

Looks like the new touch chronos should be included in this promo. Not a bad deal for this new laptop.

Who's going to take the plunge thanks to this?

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/22/4019384/best-buy-100-windows-8-touchscreen-discount

Sent from my HTC Sensation using Tapatalk 2

 

Well, all the Dutch online retailers told us this beasty would be released around 27-28 February. But it seems they're alle adjusting their claims now and are aiming for a mid-March or even a later time period. Still no sign of any SSD version hitting the markets here, makes me kinda sad

Yet if that website is correct, I will order it in Germany

 

I can't wait. I don't think that website will turn out to be correct. For the ssd: I think buying an aftermarket ssd will turn out to be cheaper anyway. And you'll have more choices and a 1TB hard disk for external storage.

Please keep in mind that when you order from germany you'll end up with a QWERTZ layout instead of QWERTY...

 

Yeah its probably better/cheaper to purchase an Samsung 840 Pro and replace it myself.

Ouch, didn't know about the QWERTZ keyboard layout, thanks for notifying me. That's going to be one tough decision.

 

I just sent otto.de an email to ask their real release date.

You could always swap the y and z and do a reistry hack but if you use a lot of special keys for programming like me e.g. it might be a pain to change all that. I am used to AZERTY which is even more different... For comparison:

 

I just sent otto.de an email to ask their real release date.

You could always swap the y and z and do a reistry hack but if you use a lot of special keys for programming like me e.g. it might be a pain to change all that. I am used to AZERTY which is even more different... For comparison:

View attachment 92321
View attachment 92322

Edit: Sorry but I don't know how to get the pictures to show up bigger? I'm a noob at this.
Edit2: Sorry. I edited my post and now It's double.

 

OTTO has been showing "Deliverable in a week" for about 3 weeks now. I contacted them and they couldn't tell me if they'll be able to keep that promise.

 

@Mac
Im an italian too and looks like for us make an italian qwerty from the german keyboard's layout is very easy. The only thing too do is switch the Z with the Y. Can you confirm it? And do you think is it possible and easy to do too?

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Hardware mod of the key i won't try, you risk to broke the key... But sw mod in layout can set italian layout... If you want, you can buy a sticker and will be perfect ;-)

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It should be perfectly possible to swap the keys without breaking them but there's always a risk. A sticker would be a shame though on this magnificent beast of a laptop.

 

I write without see key so don't a big problem for me..

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Otto.de has great service and already answered my email. Here's what they answered when I asked them about the "Lieferbar innerhalb 1 Woche":

Good news everyone!!!

This site claims to have the dutch 8870m model with a 256gb ssd in stock and available for order for €1399!!!!
http://www.bestsellers.eu/samsung-np770z5e-s01nl-laptop.html

Specs:
Laptop
beeldscherm formaat laptop 15,6 inch
Besturingssysteem Windows 8
Werkgeheugen range 8 GB
Type processor Intel i7
Opslagcapaciteit 256GB SSD/Flash
Gewicht (kg) 2300 gram
Webcam Ja
Luidsprekers Ja
Videokaart type 2GB AMD AMD Radeon HD 8870M
Aansluitingen 2x USB 3.0 1x USB 2.0 WiFi

Edit: this site does not deliver in Belgium and is apparently known for wrong availability statuses. I am dissapointed .

 

Has anyone ordered/received 17 inch model with 8870 yet?

 

since the lower end version is so slow to hit the US market, I guess one should not expect it to show up in Canada anytime soon

 

LOL 8870 and 256 GB SSD for 1399?? Something tells me that availability status isn't the only wrong thing in that site

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It's not only one key, with German keyboard you loose even "è","é","ì","ò","à","ù" also to reach the keyboard you must dismantle the entire notebook and it's not sure that it is possible to exchange keys.
Best alternative to Italian Keyboard is UK Keyboard, and if you are a developer you may like the US keyboard.

 

I think that availability will be the same for all Europe, so the clues indicate after 15 March...
I wonder what kind of SSD, Samsung has used in this notebook...
I bet that they has not used their 840 Pro.

 

I've ordered the model 770Z7E-S03DE today, when it arrives (I hope mid week) I can give you detailed information about it.

Greetings

 

Guild Wars 2 on max settings kind of chugs along...to be expected I guess for the 8770 card. I'd like to see what the 8870 card can do...had to reduce more than a few settings to hit 30 FPS.

 

Just ran 3dmark 06 on the 8770 best buy model. It looked pretty and kept 30+ fps on just about everything and hit 60+ fps quite often.

Its final score was 12997.

Which puts it just below my asus g73sw-3de with its 460m 1.5gb gpu that routinely hit 13000 and about 850 points below the 650m average on notebookcheck.com

I guess i'll have to download a later 3dmark and see how it does there.

 

I wonder, does anyone know if the 8770 and 8870 have different power needs and heat generation? Im wondering if the 8770 might run cooler or hotter than the 8870 and if one would make a difference over the other for power draw although thats not a big concern since on battery you would probably be using the 4000 video anyway.

 

More info on the Best buy 8770 model...

After applying all windows updates and disabling the need to login at startup... it boots to the metro interface in 20.4 seconds. and it restores from a Resume in... about 2.1 seconds.

Not bad considering it has that 5400rpm drive in there.

 

I have to agree. I closed the lid which puts my computer into sleep mode. When I opened it again and pressed the power button the screen popped almost instantly back to life. It left me confused if I had actually put the computer to sleep or not!

 

Keep in mind that Samsung declares for touch screen model a shorter battery life than the model without this feature:
10.5 hours vs 11.5 hours.
Battery life test is made using mobilemark2007 that includes several software that don't seem to involve the use of GPU, so even not considering GPU, touch screen model has a shorter battery life.

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How is heat and cooling management when gaming? I do expect it to be hot, but is it still manageable? I know that when I game on my Macbook Pro Retina here, Crysis 2 over HDMI on my TV, fans are running full blast and it does get hot around the vents but it never overheats or anything.

On a similar note, how is heat and cooling management when not gaming? Like when, say, just editing a word document or browsing the internet?

 

That's extremely good considering that 5400rpm drive! It just makes me extremely excited for when I throw in that Samsung 840 Pro SSD with over 500mb/s read AND write haha. Damn, this thing will FLY when I have that in there.

 

You shouldn't have to press the power button to wake it up, if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't you just only have to open the lid?

 

Thanks. I assumed touch screen would have an effect on battery life just as the 5400rpm drive vs SSD will. So im guessing this model would probably get a mobile mark about 8-9hrs. I did an overnight battery test but while it said it had 8hrs left when i went to bed... 6hrs later it was turned off. (I had disabled all the screen, hd, and sleep timers). I probably like my screen a bit brighter than their tests use too, most people do.

 

Maybe. I did both in quick succession

 

Btw, folks... a bit more GPU performance information (yea, im doing geek testing today it seems). After applying all windows updates 3dmark 06 is routinely getting around 13050. Not a big gain, but at least its over 13000 now.

I also discovered silent mode... (next to the wifi/air plane mode fn key). It lets you toggle the behavior so it won't crank up the fan (not that the fan gets that loud anyway) but will instead throttle to keep the heat at acceptable levels.

I ran 3dmark 06 in silent mode... the fan never got above a barely audible level and the results were 6132... a far cry from 13050 but about 50% better than an HD 4000 intel which averages around 4691.

 

By default... you should just have to raise the lid... and it will be up pretty close to the time you get the screen up where you can look at it. You can change how the lid operates though so it doesn't resume then you would have to press the button.

 

Why nobody is testing with Hwinfo64 in log mode in background?

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Can anyone test the real world battery usage out of this machine? I have a Thinkpad Tablet 2 for my day to day tablet usages and am looking to upgrade my laptop to something a little more powerful than an ultrabook. This looks great! I don't do a ton of gaming so I think the 8770M will suffice. For instance, I play games like Civ 5 and the new SimCity game coming out on March 5.

 

Hello im new in the forum.
Im interested also in this computer . Also i want to know if you can add 4gb or gb to the 8770 model that best buy is selling right now.

 

This is true.

AHH! You guys are both getting me so excited for this computer! I literally cannot wait for the 8870m version. I can't wait to be able to add it to my Amazon cart, along with the 256GB Samsung 840 PRO SSD, and have it delivered in 2 days via Prime shipping with no tax!!

 

I may. Is it worth it for 1099? I'm looking at a $950 Asus touch screen but I love samsung.

 

Right now at best buy its $1299 with $100 discount to $1199. Tomorrow that sale probably ends and the new $100 off touch screens begins. If they both stay active that will be great and get it at $1099 (ill be going back to price adjust and keeping it if that happens) but I kind of doubt it will.

BTW: It works fine with THREE SIMULTANEOUS SCREENS... the built in touch screen and a monitor plugged into both the VGA and HDMI ports. Makes me want to put a pair of 1080p monitors above my desk so I can put the notebook in front of me and throw things up to those screens while I'm working.

 

So would you recommend it? It's either this or this Asus.

What do you think of this


Asus 15.6" TouchScreen Laptop 8GB Memory 750GB Hard Drive Q500A-BHI7T05 - Best Buy

 

Ah, i've seen that asus a few times. The samsung is really in a different league in a few respects. If you don't need a dvd drive (or have or can pick up an external usb drive) id say its a slam dunk for the samsung over the asus. At $1199 (or maybe $1099 tomorrow but doubtful) its about $250 more than the asus, but you get alot more capable computer.

- The processor, screen resolution and memory are similar on both units.
- the graphics processor is light years better in the samsung. You actually get a dedicated GPU (8770m ati) with 1gb of memory that can play most games reasonably well and give your alot more flexibility in what it your machine can do.
- Hibrid graphics, so when on battery you use the intell 4000 GPU (same as the asus) but when you need it you can switch to the dedicated cpu for extra performance.
- The battery in the chronos is over 90000mwh, this puts this 15.6" battery life into the realm of the best ultrabooks. It should be able to get you though day of normal use.

On the subjective side... the samsung screen is gorgeous, asus makes great screen notebooks to but they often have light bleed issues which make dark screens look less than stellar at times. Also, the touch screen in general... when you touch the asus screen near the edges if you press firmly the screen underneath ripples. The samsung doesn't do that, and feels more solid.

On memory, it looks like this bestbuy chronos can only be upgraded to 12gb of ram.

In my opinion, its not even a choice going with the samsung... the choice im trying to make is to go with this one or wait for the higher end model coming that will likely be more pricy as well.. but might be through amazon saving me a bit of money on taxes and shipping.

 

Anybody care to venture a guess what the US version of the Chronos with 8870m video and 256gb SSD is likely to cost? I see versions of the last chronos on sale for upwards of $1899 so wondering how much this one is likely to sell for.

 

First a note on Wifi... apparently whatever it was has sorted itself out as I've been getting great wifi reception today.

Now on to graphics benchmarks... here are results from 3dmark 11... it scored 2215 putting it 402 higher than the 460m, 164 higher than the 560m and 81 lower than the 650m.

Id say this 8770 cards performance is just shy of the 650m performance. (81 lower in 3dmark 11, 157 lower in 3dmark 06).

Its not the beast that the 8870 is foretold to be but its seeming pretty solid.