Introducing The 2013 Series 7 Chronos with AMD HD8870M!

It should be an easy update to 12gb. A bit unusual though... the battery isn't removable so you have to disable it before accessing the memory. There is a little reset like pen hole on the bottom... you use a paperclip in it to push a button... this toggles power so once you hit it you can't turn on the notebook anymore until you do it again (or so it says in the instructions, I haven't tried). Then there is one screw on the back to take off the access door... beneath the door is a single standard memory slot like on any other notebook.

My only question is... will the memory be optimized since it won't be the same size as the 4gb soldered on the board.

 

I remember reading something a while ago that said that companies like Asus were going to announce new laptops at MWC.
Maybe samsung will release new info on the chronos at MWC?

 

I was actually thinking the same thing. It is a very good possibility. We'll find out soon enough. Next week!

 

Dude... I may be out of my mind but it doesn't alter the facts. I'm just posting information out of the manual for the chronos on samsungs site. Heres the link:

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201301/20130116091029716/Win8_Manual_eng.pdf

Its definitely for this chronos series since it mentions the 8870 and 8770 gpus and touch screens which are new editions this time around.

 

Yeah, while they may have done that they clearly didn't change the pictures they show in the manual. The new Chronos has a silver keyboard instead of the black one in the old one, and there DEFINITELY is no optical drive in any model. The display bezel is black in the new one as well. Speaker grille design is different on the new Chronos too. SD card slot was on the front on the old one, not on the new one. The pictures in the manual clearly reflect none of those things.

The information in the manual might pertain to the new Chronos, but the pictures certainly don't. And for the CD Drive section, it says "if equipped". It also says "if equipped" or "optional" on a lot of the items in that manual, proving that it was made as a general manual for Samsung computers rather than specifically the Chronos.

 

Just thought of this. I'll wait and see. Hate how there's so much good products but never have information or never releases on time. Cough Asus cough.

 

I agree. Its' infuriating. If Samsung would just give us a date it would make everyone so much happier. Don't they understand that we WANT to give them our money??!! Give us some information!

 

Well the manual says there IS an optical drive in the 17" model and it has the SD card slot in the FRONT instead of the SIDE. At least according to the manual... pictures are often reused in manuals, the content is definitely about this generation since the last generation used nvidia chips, etc. etc. etc. But hey, you believe what you want, as will I.

 

Samsung might well be waiting on AMD. Has anyone investigated how the production of the new AMD GPUs is getting on? I haven't, but history suggests that ramping up production of any of the new chips often takes longer than hoped. Getting stable operation at the advertised frequency within the power envelope often needs some tweaking of the fabrication process. This aspect may also explain why a lower rated version of the CPU is shipping - it's an easier goal to get.

John

 

That very well may be the case, although since the 8870 is a rebadged 7870 it might already be available unless they are tweaking the clocks and such. I have read that samsung often does soft launches... launch with whats available, upgrade to later gpus and cpus as they are available. Keeps their design fresh until the next revision.

 

As long as the 8870m model does actually come out, I have no problem. I won't even consider the 8770m version

 

Samsung gives a crap to send laptops to reviewers, that's fact (hiding something?)
8870m is available since last week in Germany (17 inch).

You can find 770Z7E + 8870 @ Amazon.de
But there are only few in stock.

Not even Samsung waits until the end if there isn't something wrong.
I bet it's the Samsung UEFI brick bug which was discovered 1-2 weeks ago.

 

The 15" with HD8870M is available for preorder here in Norway. Estimated delivery is late march.

Modell: NP770Z5E-S02SE
15.6" Intel Core i7-3635QM Quad Core 2.40GHz, 6MB L3 Cache
8GB memory
256GB SSD
AMD Radeon HD 8870M 2GB
WiDi, Bluetooth 4.0
HD Webcam
No DVDRW
Windows 8 64-bit
JBL Stereo Speakers 4W x 2 (w / Virtual Woofer)
Price NOK 12490,- (about 2200$ USD) But this includes 25% Norwegian VAT.
http://www.multicom.no/7-serien-Chr...olve-Backlite-2e35kg-SAMSUNG/cat-p/c/p5845040

 

Netonnet.no sells the same laptop for 13500 NOK, but it is supposedly available 28.02.13, whilst Multicom is expected to be available on 18.03.13.

 

How'd we miss this?
Unboxing, review and teardown!
http://youtu.be/0-0-e4w3iRI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzePdOuyyWg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_RYG6Izcdw
Yet to watch, but woah, this should be good

 

Just looked at netonnet, it's 28.03.2013

 

ah, misread the date then. Quite sure it was 28.02.13 yesterday though :l

 

Thank you both for the great news!
About TOUCHPAD: does it interfere while you're typing? Many UX51VZ owners complain that they miss click often while typing, accidentally moving the cursor. Does it happen also with this Samsung ?

About BATTERY: can you please make a test in these conditions? Disable screen saver or anything similar (like automatic screen shut down), put it in Energy Saving power setting, but check that automatic Sleep/Hibernation is set as lowest at possible. Now set 50% display brightness, audio volume at 100% (you might want to plug in some headphones not to be annoyed by noise during the test) and run a 1080p video/movie until it sleeps/hibernate (you can check after the test the exact time in the windows registry event).
Thank you in advance for your willingness!

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Nice thank you a lot.

 

Off topic but the Transformer Book has finally made it into Best buy. $1399

Asus Transformer Book Convertible 13.3" TouchScreen Laptop 4GB Memory 500GB Hard Drive TX300CA-DH - Best Buy

 

Right now I don't think any version of the Chronos besides the one that's already hit shelves can be taken as set in stone. Everyone is stating that all the statements at CES that the 15" will come with the 8870M is a fact, however, based on other products revealed at CES, the posters and YouTube reviewers only get their facts from the hosts at the booth or the plaques next to the hardware, both of which have been wrong in the past. Hell, tech sites are now reporting that the 8870M model is now trickling into Best Buys in the USA when in fact it is ONLY the 8770M model. I would not believe any configuration until we see it on shelves or on Samsung's website (a lot of pre-order sites will post supposed specs simply to get your order and then update them and notify prior to shipping).

Right now all we know for sure is that a 15" touchscreen model with 8770M exists and that a 17" non-touchscreen model with 8870M exists (at least over seas I think). That said until official announcements come out I wouldn't take any other configuration as set in stone.

I do agree that the delays may be due to issues with AMD and/or the 8870M. It is really the only piece of hardware that has no past.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

It is a fact that Samsung brought at CES a 15" version with touchscreen and 8870 (reviewers from CES showed in the videos that Windows itself detected AMD 8870 and not 8770). Besides, in Samsung official website (at least the Italian one) they write AMD 8870 for the new Samsung Chronos 7 15",thus this is much more than a mere speculation, it's a confirmed feature

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Well. Lenovo's official website had the Helix with only 4GB RAM max, while their documentation that was released before official release had up to 8. Samsung is also notorious for putting variations of their series 9 laptops on display that never see massed manufacturing. I'm not saying that we won't at some point see a 15" 8870M for sale. But I also wouldn't be shocked if Samsung announced that due to the temperatures of the newly released 8870M they had to go with a larger chassis, or something like that. It's much cheaper to manufacture 2 models then 8.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

There are so many european sites that are offering the np770Z5E (15" series 7 chronos) with the 8870m for pre-order. Amazon.fr, amazon.de, otto.de, cyberport.de, bestsellers.eu, laptopshop.nl,....

I can assure there will be a 15" 8870m version. Why do you find that so hard to believe? If you want I'll post specific links for you.

Also, the official video from samsung for the series 7 chronos featured the 15" version with the 8870m. You can verify that it's the 15" version in the video because it does not have an optical drive which the 17" does have.

 

Touché. I have just been burned by Samsung releases before.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Crysis 3 on 8870M and the rest.

 

The Bestbuy version of Chronos 7 is still at $1199, too bad.

 

Wait 660m does better? What's the source?

 

Source? i7+8870 would have same fps as i5+650? It's a bit hard to believe...

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Benchmarkcheck: Crysis 3 - Notebookcheck.com Tests

Edit :
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8870M.86798.0.html
Running on 770Z7E-S01DE.

Driver's issue perhaps?

 

I'm thinking this is the case, since later in the manual we can see pictures of the bottom of the laptop, which has a Windows 7 logo instead of 8. But I'm still keeping my hopes up. I'm really hoping the specced-out version is less than $2K (my budget for a laptop now).

 

Still very much worth it at that price.

 

I think is very likely that notebook with 3635QM+8870m is a Chronos series 7 (15" or 17"), until now it doesn't seem that there are others notebook on the market with this combination.
(At the end of article Notebookcheck says what system they have used and they are all Clevo system, but they don't say what system they have used for 3635QM+8870m, and 17" Chronos series 7 is already in German market).

I'm not so surprised of this result, as I have said many times today cooling system can do the difference, also if you consider a notebook like Gigabyte P2542G (3630QM/3610QM+GTX660m) that have any kind of throttling even with Furmark+Prime95 stress test, it has a power supply of 120W, so it can push at max of its performance in any kind of test.
Unfortunately no one owners have supplied a log of their test, so we don't know how much severe is the throttling and if it depends by power supply or temps (cooling system).

 

Wow, a 3dmark11 score of 3292 is pretty damn good! That's quite a bit higher than a 670m. If amd keeps improving their drivers this might card may be very wel around 670m in-game performance!

 

Check this and click on benchmark details:
AMD Radeon HD 8870M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

It was tested with a 770Z7E-S01DE and is rated +0-9% above 670m in all benchmark tools.
My experience with AMD is poor driver support. Nvidia is permanently optimizing for popular games.

But for sure you can say it's on par with 650m at least.

 

I guess nobody has heard anything about the Chronos Ultrabook?

 

There must be some kind of throttling, don't know if related with temperatures or power supply. Maybe we'll know something more when they publish a full review of the 770Z7E

 

Look at this:
Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - NotebookCheck.net Tech

 

but now we know they already have one and are testing
something is still fishy, sometimes it competes with 670m and sometimes gets beaten by 650m.

my bet is throttling + poor drivers

 

I just went to two Best Buy's in San Antonio, Texas and neither have HEARD of it or have it in stock other than the older one. Ugh.

 

It must be a driver issue or due to throttling as expected from the 8770m experience someone commented before. This GPU should be similar to the GTX660m not the GT650m as shown. This is why I was a bit holding my hopes from getting high regarding the performance of the Samsung and said that it would be similar to that of the Asus UX51VZ.

 

I don't really think so. If it would throttle, it would also throttle during benchmarks like 3dmark11. I don't think it did since it gets around 3300 points which is more than 1000 points more than a 650m. (Around 50% more!)

During crysis 3 the 8870m gets around 650m-660m performance. So I think that drivers are to blame, not throttling. It might have throttled, but not a lot.

 

3Dmark11 is a short life test compared with others kind of tests, so it not the best way to check throttling, especially if it's related to temps/cooling system.

There is a specific thread for Chronos Ultra, and we have speaking of it at the start of this thread.
I suggest to ask your question in this specific forum:
What Notebook Should I Buy? - A Laptop Buyers Guide

 

Several notebooks while throttling reduce its CPU clock @1200MHz, other notebook instead can handle Turbo boost @around 3000MHz, so you can find a big difference in global performance.
If you add even a GPU throttling you could see slightly more than half of the expected performance.

 

Here there is a comparison of some games with the 8870M

 

Yes. If you check the AMD site, there are no drivers for 8870m.

 

Yup. Could be throttling issues too though.

 

Indeed. Thinking on the 3DMark11 score and the low performance in Crysis3 points strongly a cooling deficiency causing it to severely throttle and not a driver issue.

I'll wait some more results but if this is an issue with the temps then the Asus UX51VZ seems a better option at $1500.

 

Asus UX51VZ has CPU throttling @1.2GHz just gaming on Crysis2.

 

I really hope that AMD put their sh*t together and release a good driver, because with this performance (same as 650) there's no point in buying the Chronos over the UX51 (IMHO)

Source? I viewed all the reports from the owner, and I don't remember this