Introducing The 2013 Series 7 Chronos with AMD HD8870M!

Do you really think the would lie about their in-game fps numbers? I find that hard to believe.

 

Guys, Zenbook U500 has been on sale since November! Touch versions are going to be available very soon, but if you're looking for a competitor to this Samsung than the Zenbook is certainly one (and it's better than MBPR IMHO). Let's hope that 8870 version meets expectations, because on the paper it should be the best choice!

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You're welcome. I'm glad I came across it. It doesn't say Chronos for some reason (I wonder why) but when I searched Chronos, that came up.

I hate ordering things and having to wait. First world problems haha


P.S- If anyone knows a good HD screen recording program for Windows 8, PM me please. Don't want to derail the thread to just shoot me a message. Thanks.

 

I just ordered 1 Asus UX51at $1500. I think for the performance figures and in general other stuff is a better deal.

 

Where did you get it for $1500?

 

Sorry for the typo. I mean CAD $1600 which comes about US$1550.
Here:

NCIX - Buy Computers, Computer Parts, Laptops, World's Leading Discount Computer Store

It comes with a WD 1TB external drive as a gift.

 

Is it the 8870m model? I heard Canada has that model.

 

It's the asus zenbook
There's one store that has it, but it is still on back order. I went to it a few weeks ago and they said that they're waiting for the order from samsung to come in, but that they had placed an order.

 

They placed an order for the 8870m model? And where do you live?

 

I live in Toronto, Ontario

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_577_369&item_id=057634

The store told me that they have placed an order for the 8870m touch model with 16gb of ram and are waiting on it from samsung.

I did post this on the forums a few days ago!

 

Why so many rubbish in this thread?

"I have a Samsung microwave is it possible a way to have interaction with Chronos?
"I have just ordered an Asus Zenbook"
"What notebook I should buy?"
"I have intention to swap the HDD with SSD at day one" (around every 10 post)
"I don't believe that's is true, but I don't know why"
"I want so badly this notebook"
"Anyone knows a good HD screen recording program for Windows 8"
"I'm enjoying with current series 7 and waiting for Haswell "
"If you have questions about the RMBP, ask me."
"I use these software, but I want to know if this notebook is fine"

 

Your forgetting about, every other page someone complaining about all the garbage in this thread, the thread would be better without so an so and so on.

Couldn't resist. ;-)

 

This is fantastic! Hopefully it all works out! Once you get yours, I believe that will be the start of all the 8870s coming into market!

 

Guilty.

I vow to only talk about Chronos related questions, comments, and excitements from now on

 

You need to sizzle down cowboy. We're all anxious for a perfectly good reason.

 

I didn't order one from them, but I'll definitely go see it once they get it in.
I would order from them except they have a horrible return policy- 15% restocking fee!
I'll order from bestbuy or futureshop(another bestbuy brand)
My guess is that once they get it in stock, stores like bestbuy will get it as well.

 

This is mildly OT, but when I first looked into these notebooks, before Canadian availability, they were in the +$2000 range, which was outside of my budget. Can someone explain why it is now $1600? As you stated, for that price, 1080p, 650m, and SSD, it's a reasonable price. Certainly a competitor on paper to the new Chronos 7.

 

maybe they want to make way for the touch version which is purportedly due soon. im still debating between these two, just waiting for a legitimate review from notebookcheck

 

My guess is that it is to compete with the Samsung 7 with 8870m given that they have similar performance. I was debating as well whether to wait for the Samsung or the UX51 (non touch) but after seeing the notebookcheck review on the amd 8870m performance on the Samsung 17" model I just made up my mind.

The UX51vz has better build quality (aluminium), lighter, faster and similar gaming performance. On top I get a gift of a WD 1TB external HDD....a no brainer imho.

PS: I don't like touchscreen. If you do so probably Samsung is a better choice.

 

I've just spoke with my Samsung vacuum cleaner and he told me true about the new Chronos. They grew up in the same factory so he knows him well. Everything you know about him is a lie and soon the true will come out.

 

Windows 8 almost requires a touch screen for ease of use. The Chronos is also made of aluminum. Nobody should care about the bottom plastic. I sure as hell don't want hot metal on my lap. and Asus tends to have a lot of light bleed.

 

Have had this laptop for a week now but not done too much. Not a serious gamer anymore, two kids and a job does that to you. My impressions:

Screen: Fantastic. No complaints here, crisp and sharp. Turned off the adaptive brightness. Quite happy with 125% size but that's personal preference. responsive to touch and the fact that it is glossy does not matter to me cause it is so bright and I will not likely use it much outdoors anyway

Overall build quality: Great, the fact that it has a plastic bottom is barely noticeable to me. The machine looks very sleek but is heavier than it looks.

Startup time: I was worried about the fact that it had a 5400 rpm hd but no matter, resumes from sleep almost instantly and boot time is 20 seconds. If you want it any faster, I want to know what exactly you plan to accomplish in the few seconds you save. I believe it does do some sort of cacheing....at least that was one of the updates I downloaded.

Keyboard: The keys have less travel but I get used to it. No problem. I wish the keys were black so that the lighted letters were more clearly visible in dark but oh well. It has a separate number pad which is a waste for me. The mouse pad works fine except for occasionally swiping on the right side brings up the menu onscreen.

Wireless: No problems here.

Any other questions let me know. I'm no techie, just a regular user.

 

Battery Test Results - Take 2 (Idle Life)

Well folks I ran the idle battery test all afternoon and the 7% warning came up a few seconds after I got home this evening. It goes from 7% down to 5% pretty fast though so the test is over. It didn't go quite as long as It suggested it would in the early hours of the test but I still think its impressive...

Time: 8 hours, 46.14 seconds.
Conditions: Samsung optimized power plan, all timeouts disabled, batterymon running writing to its log every 10 seconds keeping the hd active.

I figure in general use using office apps and the like this should be good for about 7:00 to 8:00 hours on battery considering this test and the previous result of 6hr, 18 minutes while streaming video over netflix.

All in all pretty damn good for a notebook with a 1080p screen and a spinning platter. Going with an SSD would likely give you another hour.

 

Sweet, thanks for the tests and updates. much appreciated.

 

i actually think it's an annoyance that they chose plastic over metal, i don't know by how much samsung has lowered the price with this move. personally i think no matter what the composite it is, it's still plastic, and that's a downgrade from aluminum. i think to get max rigidity and solid feel metal unibody is the key, otherwise use metal in the chasis and surfaces. unless you do hardcore gaming on your lap, hot metal isn't going to be an issue. there is light bleed and it's noticeable, but i'm not sure if asus decided to fix it with the touch version panel

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see an aluminum back on the non-BestBuy version.

 

Thanks for the review - nice to see some actual information in this thread! I do have one question: does the HDMI output support resolutions >1920x1200?

 

i saw this laptop (NP780Z5E) at best buy and i'm STRONGLY thinking about buying it.. but i want to know 2 things:

1) is it possible to replace the silver keys with black ones?

2) where can i buy this computer from without paying taxes?

 

Not sure about keys but sometimes you can on Amazon I believe. Not sure when it will be on there though. Its only $72. But i understand that is a lot sometimes. Depending where you live.

 

Cancelled my order because I became unsure of this laptop. 8770, 12gb max, just bothered me for that price when you can get a Lenovo y500 for $900 with more power. So I am holding off for a bit till I feel comfortable getting one or the other.


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I doubt you will find a way to swap out the keys with black ones. I can say that its quite easy to type on.

I had the same question on taxes, The gov is spending way too much of our money these days so I try not to help whenever possible. Amazon is usually good especially if your a prime member and get free shipping too, but I think this is a best buy specific model and the higher end 8870m equipped model isn't available yet and no timeline on release.

That said, at least best buy has it on sale this week for $100 off and ironically in my case tax was $99 so it end up costing $1299, which is probably what amazon and the like would charge for it online without taxes.

 

The Lenovo doesn't have a touch screen, terrible battery and I mean terrible. Less than 4 hours.
Also it has touch pad problems.

 

The lenovo y500 is hard to beat for pure graphics processing power at its price. You can get an i7 quad core and 650m for under $100 or go all out and get dual 650m SLI gpu's and 16gb RAM for about $1150 with a 1080p screen. If you don't need the 1080p screen go y400 and cust about $200-300 off those prices and get an 1366x768 display. The price of this is battery life which tops out at 3hrs and there is no hd4000 graphics switching so no low power GPU on battery. In general use if you get 2hrs it will be a good day. Still, i thought seriously about this option as the performance for price is outstanding.

The chronos costs a bit more at $1299 (out the door price more or less after tax with the $100 off this week at best buy) and the 12gb limit on memory bugs the hell out of me as well. The 8870 would be nice over the 8770 but you get what you pay for and im sure there will be a $300+ premium on the 8870 equipped model. That said, the 8770 specs out just below the 650m graphic wise and the CPU is equal or better than that in the y500. Having played with them both extensively, the chronos has better build quality, has a touch screen, silent mode and the battery life is pretty much without equal in this performance category.

For me touch was required, so going with the y500 meant getting an external touch monitor and those are going for $550-$750 right now by themselves so I had to pass no matter how much the raw power of the 650m SLI was compelling for the gamer geek in me. Although today i'm not nearly as much of a gamer and the 8770 will be more than enough for my needs.

 

is thickness one of your concerns? if it's not, you might want to give Y500 a shot, if you need a slim system, either chronos or U500VZ touch when it's out

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-IdeaPad-Y500-Notebook.87585.0.html

link to Y500 review if you need it

 

4hrs would be fantastic... the y500 is only rated for 3 and its always running on the 650m and has gaming style backlit keyboard. If you have the brightness up 50% or higher im guessing 3hrs would be very optimistic. I'm guessing maybe 2, less if you put the 2nd 650m in the ultrabay for SLI graphics. Its got power, but its definitely a bring the AC adapter along for the ride kinda notebook.

Edit: The better choice may be the y580. You lose the SLI in favor of the 660m but you gain the hd4000 and optimus which brings the battery life up to 5hrs. Its build quality is fairly run of the mill though and the gloss plastic board around the screen doesn't look the best. Its a solid performer though and will best the Chronos in gaming benchmarks for less money. Still nothing like the 6-9hrs you can get out of the best buy chronos... and remember its rated for 11hrs. No computer gets what they are rated at in real use.

Edit again: The 16gb mssd in both the y500 and y580 is a bonus and should help windows performance. I'm amazed that the chronos is booting in 20 seconds without one.

 

You convinced me to reorder it. So it has been done. Thank you. Btw, is there an extended warranty for this thing reasonable?


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Get a warranty through Square Trade.

You have a 1 year manufactures warranty.

 

Well, glad I could help. The y500 is a machine that I looked long and hard at. I originally planned on replacing my g73 asus with an all in one, but almost noone is making all in one touch units with i7 quads and dedicated graphics and those that are cost quite a bit and are mail order only at this point. So i decided to replace it with another notebook, looked long and hard at the y500 and y580, there is alot of power for the price in those too but as I said buying a touch screen separately was just cost prohibitive, they need to come down a bit when you can buy a full win 8 tablet for less than a monitor. I had been looking for weeks, then the chronos came along, great screen, great performance and graphics and battery life like ive never seen in an i7 quad before. I bought it as soon as I could get one... the only sticker for me is the 12gb limit... but more ram will cut into battery life a bit and the version that supports 16gb will likely be alot more pricy so i'm getting used to the idea. lol.

 

Honestly I don't know where I would find that info. If you know where I can look it up I will. The user manual on the laptop did not address this.

I have not yet pushed the laptop hard so will be interesting to see how the hd holds up.

 

You need HDMI 1.4 to support resolutions higher than 1920x1080. I haven't been able to find any information about about what HDMI version is in the Chronos although its new so its a fair bet it would be 1.4.

I did find the following about the Intel hd4000 video that runs the show in the chronos (at least while the hybrid graphics are enabled)... "IOW, the internal architecture of the Ivy Bridge HD 4000 video can support 3 ports (and they could all be DispayPorts if desired). But, only one port (which has to be a DisplayPort) is capable of 2560x1600 resolution. The other two outputs from HD 4000 are limited to 1920x1200."

This would seem to indicate, since the Chronos doesn't have a displayport (unless you get the 17" model) that the maximum you can get out of it is 1920x1200.

I have tried connecting 2 1080p monitors and running all three (including the internal display) and it works quite well, doesn't even effect 3d performance benchmark times but thats not related to resolution.

I would also love to know if its possible to split a single HDMI to two monitors so I could cut down on the plugs I have to plug in and out ever day and still run a 3 monitor desktop.

 

Any recommendations on a nice external burner so I can install software and burn when I need it?


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How's this: Amazon.com: Samsung Ultra Portable Slim DVD+/-RW USB External Drive, Black SE-218BB/RSBS: Computers & Accessories

 

Hope this helps.

The Best External DVD Burners | PCMag.com

 

Battery Recharge Test

I thought it might be interesting to see how long it takes the Chronos to recharge to 100% from its 5% automatic turnoff point.

The notebook was on, in use on the High Performance profile during recharge and took 2 hr, 14 minutes to fully recharge to 100%.

Not bad, 6-8hrs of useful life for a bit over a 2hr recharge.

I gotta say... I love this battery. Its giving performance numbers more like PDAs i used to test instead of a notebook.

 

Personally I always go with a drive that supports Light Scribe so I can use the DVD writer itself to label the disks. Its HPs standard but some other brands support it as well. You can get one for $60-70. I think mine was $54 at best buy but today id probably look amazon first.

 

hey alchemist.. thanks for your opinion.. but wat SSD @ 128GB. do u recommend thats not relatively expensive?

 

You should be able to get the samsung 830 or 840 for about 100-120. The 840 uses 3 bit locations (they can hold more values that way, but require those locations to be accessed more frequently) some like them and say they are faster, others prefer the 830 series older style of doing things both series of drives are still available.

Personally, if you wanted to go SSD id recommend going 256 and using a transfer kit so you can transfer the drive image off the 1tb drive onto the ssd. That way you will avoid any missing driver issues and such like the guy who went to ssd on youtube. You can get the samsung 840 series drive with data migration kit for around $170 on amazon. I had planned to do this myself but with 20 second boots and 2 second resumes on the 1tb drive I may stick with it.

 

^ same here. I was planning to rage against the spin drive, but other than the boot time, it's really not that bad, is it?

SLIGHTLY off-topic - to the owners in here, any suggestions for a carrying case / backpack?

 

Not bad at all, even at boot time... my vizio with its 128gb ssd boots in 9 seconds... the samsung is taking 20 which is good for a spinning drive, and I think a few seconds may be shaved off of it if you get rid of unneeded startup items. Like bitcasa, what the hell is bitcasa? its a big time eater at startup and I have no idea what it does. I haven't even looked at optimizing the software yet really. I've just been benchmarking the hardware and deciding how I like the device... which as it turns out I like alot with minor reservations ive mentioned again and again. lol.

Edit: I was just looking for a case myself. Like to find something light since I definitely don't need to carry the power brick with this one (even though its a small brick). Haven't found one yet though. even a sleeve would work, just something to protect it without becoming a major bag.

 

bitcasa is some cloud storage company. i uninstalled it because i'm not bothering with them; i figure between dropbox, google, and skydrive, i already have mounds of space i can use!

we should probably get a list of bloatware going. bitcasa, a few of the samsung throwing "demo" / explanation apps come to mind.

i'm surfing amazon myself, but let me know if you find something that looks good! i'm thinking case more than sleeve, i don't think i need to go to a full backpack for this one.