Introducing The 2013 Series 7 Chronos with AMD HD8870M!

Thank God!! My money is burning my pocket!!!

Another (hope last) question about swapping the hard drive with a SSD: if I use the Samsung Recovery software to clone the system into the SSD, is it legit to think that the SSD will not be aligned? I've read that with SSDs it is preferable to do a clean install because Windows aligns the SSD during installation, granting the best performance possible. Can someone say something about this please?

 

You're right, my mistake, sorry about that.

 

Is this it: SAMSUNG COMPUTER 15.6" TouchScreen Laptop 8GB Memory 1TB Hard Drive NP780Z5E-S - Best Buy ??

 

Just read that review... good info. Agree they are wrong on it being IPS, their 6hr max battery runtime is low as well but it all depends on how you are running it... adaptive brightness on/off, screen at 50% or brighter, etc. etc. They don't do the new 3dmark though which I would really like to see as its the most modern 3dmark test. Also id like to see a futuremark cpu score, not just the overall score.

 

I'm about to order it to be picked up at Bestbuy for my "2 week trial" of it.

It says it won't get there until next Wednesday, so I'm considering getting it shipped to where I'm staying instead, where it will come Monday or Tuesday. However that would mean that I have to stay home all day so I much prefer to get it from the store.

Does Bestbuy have a tendency of getting their estimates right? Or is it possible that it comes sooner than Wednesday?

 

Thats the best buy 'more or less' exclusive version. The main differences are that its out now in the US and it has an 8770 gpu instead of the more powerful 8870 in the normal chronos when it comes out.

 

We are interested about throttling because cooling system on 15" is different respect 17".
I suggest the follow test

 

Notebookcheck finally put the english review of the np770Z 7E online.
Review Samsung Series 7 Chronos 770Z7E Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

Ahh thank you. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer. I really hope Amazon carries this soon.

 

My guess is that CPU alone isn't going to make this thing throttle. I've ran extended wPrimes on it (best buy version, same cpu) and it gets a passmark cpu score in the 8400s. I really think the GPU is going to be the instigator here either due to heat, power draw or both.

 

Ordered mine for pick up
I'm definitely waiting for the 8870m 16gb version, but this way I can try it out for nearly 2 weeks
I'll let you all know what I think about it

 

May English owners confirm that cooling system is the same of this picture (780Z5E with 8770m from BestBuy):

View attachment 92936

 

I used the bestbuy version this morning attached to my desk rig... two 23" monitors, usb3 docking station external mouse/keyboard and 1tb hard drive. Used it for about 3 hours, surfing, writing and playing videos. It was dead silent... if the fan came on at all it was minimal at a level you could hear if you held your ear to the keyboard. I thought i would test this out since my vizio which is whisper quiet on its own will go into fits of fan thrashing when attached to this setup for some reason.

I then played skyrim for about an hour with fraps running... high settings with filtering turned off... got 38fps on average... hit 44-45 a few times.. never got below 37. The fan definitely turned on, but was still quieter than my vizio fan and very unobtrusive. The unit does get warm in the center in front of the screen where the vent kicks up the hot air. The keyboard itself was not warm though.

I wonder about how the heat disipation will be on the 8870 though, I wouldn't want it to get much warmer than it does when the 8770 stretches its legs and the 8870 has a higher thermal profile.

 

Just to confirm, CPU is the same in 8770 and 8870 versions? So when it comes to price for 8870 in US (estimate 1599) you pay 400 more just for better GPU...that's a lot.

 

Thats why I was asking the earlier poster who got an 8870 version today what they paid, and if it included VAT. So we could get an idea of what it is likely to cost in the US. It does seem that the only difference is the 8870 vs the 8770. Right now the best buy model is selling for $1199 + tax. If the 8870 version ends up costing 1500+ the best buy version is still a great deal.

 

Exactly, I am not hardcore gamer, so paying $1280 (tax included) for bestbuy model + $180 | 250 GB SSD + $50 RAM, you are at $1510 and that's more than great deal.

 

Getting rid of the 20% VAT puts it at $1300ish US, which is no more expensive than the 8770 version(currently on sale for $1200 from $1300)
My guess is that it will go up to $1300 as soon as it has an 8870m, and a version with 16gb ram and possibly a larger express cache will come out for $1700 around the same time

 

What recovery program are you speaking of?

 

That is unfortunately the 8770m model

 

Its a samsung app thats included on the laptop. Just start typing recovery and it will find it. It lets you make a bootable factory recovery disk that you can use to install everything on a new drive like it just came out of the box. You can also use it to make a bootable disk that will restore the computer to exactly where it is at any given point in time, letting you take snapshots of your current system so to speak and restore to that. I may use this feature after I get everything installed so I can easily restore it to working condition if needed.

 

So I can essentially burn to a DVD a copy of Windows along with all of the Samsung software and drivers? And you boot from it?

 

take a look at this
http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/702308-introducing-new-series-7-chronos-amd-hd8870m-258.html
look at the user damouk post, he has the hd 8870 version :thumbsup:

 

Yes and no... you can make a disk you can boot from to easily restore your computer to its like new state (takes about 10-15 minutes to reinstall everything to an ssd) but you need at least 16gb for this disk so a DVD is out. A 16gb or 32gb flash drive is likely your best bet.

 

The more I play with this laptop, the more I love it! It's build quality and features are really excellent. The addition of the 840 Pro SSD makes a world of difference too, we'll worth the investment.

I will rerun all the benchmarks tomorrow (midnight here now and my mrs is complaining!), not sure about throttling on the 8870, I'm not sure if it is or not, can't seem to get the test software to generate a report. One thing I will say is that the fan span up, but nowhere near as loud as I expected.

 

Flash drive or external disc is the only way to go I think, you can also create and access network snapshot images, but obviously can't boot from those.

I followed your instructions on this that you posted the other day and it worked perfectly, thank you.

 

Awesome, and I'm sure keeping a copy of the backup on your dropbox or something will come in handy, just in case.

Oh and how is wifi performance?

 

I had spotty wifi before installing all the windows updates.. I honestly don't know if it was the machine or the site I was trying to download from at the time. Since then the wifi has been good, haven't had any problems. If your running the stock HD and downloading updates the bottleneck will be the HD not the wifi. Switch to and SSD and the Wifi moves a bit faster and the HD isn't taxed at all... goes from like 100% utilizing on the HD to like 1-5% on the HD. Going to the samsung 840 ssd was really night and day difference.

 

It was rubbish to start with, dropped the connection altogether twice, but I put that down to Windows being funny and the fact that i was messing about with all the settings to test it out, because since upgrading to an SSD and reinstalling the OS (and not messing about with wifi settings) the wifi's been perfect, I've had 300mbps connection permanently.

Edit. Just read alchemists post - installing Windows updates was the other thing I did after installing the SSD, so it could have been that which stabilised it for me too... I really think the early issues were windows and not hardware!

 

had any chance to play with the 3dmark ( 3DMark - test your graphics card with the gamer's benchmark) benchmarks? really curious to see how wide a margin it out performs my 8770 equipped model.

 

I know but he lives in the UK

 

Hi guys, I got best buy version and I have to say this laptop is really nice. The only thing that bothers me is uneven keyboard. Backspace key is little bit higher than 0 or - keys.. Same with F4 and F5..
Has anyone noticed that? or am I just being paranoid?

 

Are you talking about the backlight?

 

Anyone able to compare these speakers to Msi GT60/70 speakers?
What about to the jambox?
Or something like a Sonos play 3?

 

I noticed something bizarre about the screen, in a certain instance...

Go to PC settings, Star Screen and pick the 3rd color scheme from the left... the Blue on the dark gray background. then hit the windows key to go back to the modern interface. If you look at the rows of icons you can see that there is a ghosted line of sorts extending from each block across the screen... its easy to see at the left edge of the tile blocks.

It only seems to happen with that color... its a wierd bleed effect. I don't know if its the screen or the rendering, but thought it odd.

 

No.. Actual keys on keyboard are uneven, on the right-hand side are slightly raised when compared to the middle of the keyboard. Also, Backspace and Shift are slightly askew. This doesn't affect typing though..
I'm just wondering if it's a common issue..

 

This might not be an issue... island keyboard keys are never exactly level and the shorter the travel the keys have the more the differences show themselves. I wound run my hand across the keys to see if anything feels out of place... and also type on it to see if it feels ok.

 

the keyboard is so dimm!! is there a way to increase the brightness of the keyboard beyond the max brightness? maybe through a registry tweak?

 

I think the brightness is likely tied to the ambient light sensor. I haven't found a way to disconnect this yet. I would really like to just have it controlled completely from the keyboard without all the auto on and auto adjust it seems to do which in some lighting situations is more annoying than useful. There are some lighting conditions that you just want the backlight off.

 

hi alchemist.. the dimness is so annoying! i want a very bright keyboard! have u or anyone been able to get the keyboard to brighten up big time? beyond the max brightness?

 

I don't think its designed to go too bright as its mainly useful in low light situations and its probably designed to conserve battery life as much as possible.

 

like i was saying earlier, i think it's a hardware restriction, not a registry tweak. that's probably the max output the LEDs can do. samsung chose that model most likely for low power consumption, and as Alch is saying, it's meant for low light situations only, where even a little light is noticeable.

 

Damouk:

Did you do a fresh install of Windows on the SSD, and then add the Samsung drivers, or did you create a recovery disk while you had the factory HD and reinstall from that? I would prefer the former, providing I can get all the necessary drivers that way, as I prefer a system never to have crapware rather than have to remove crapware. Also I will be running Windows 8 Pro, may as well do a clean install rather than an upgrade.

 

can't believe the UK has got the release before other countries.... this must be a first!

I won't be back in the UK till April! Fingers crossed its still in stock and the price stays the same (or drops down haha).

 

I prefer the 1st solution too! Besides, if I use the Samsung Recovery software to clone the system into the SSD, is it legit to think that the SSD will not be aligned? I've read that with SSDs it is preferable to do a clean install because Windows aligns the SSD during installation, granting the best performance possible. Can someone say something about this please?

Order it and send a friend to pick it up for you!

 

haha I'd still have to wait a month before I could play around with it! This is so frustrating! I thought one of the pros of being in Hong Kong is that I'd be able to get ahold of new tech both sooner and for less money than in the UK!

Does anyone know if this is even coming to HK? Last time I went into a major electrical store here and asked if they the 'samsung chronos 7' instore I had to spell it out for them as nobody had even heard of it Then the manager came out with a grin on his face and said they did... it was an outdated 17" model. Heart was broken.

 

Just ordered the 8770 version from Best buy earlier today, and I'm very excited. I would just like to remind everyone that they current 1199 dollar price is after a 100 dollar discount, and the discount will likely end on the 9th, so if anyone is one the fence they might want to get down there soon.

This seems like the perfect laptop for me, I will be installing an ssd and an 8GB ram stick right away, so I expect to see some serious performance. As far as I'm concerned this is pretty much a retina macbook at half the price. Sadly I will have to wait until Tuesday before the laptop arrives, it seems none of the best buy stores in the area think this is a particularly interesting model.

I might report back once I get it up and running, I plan to use the samsung recovery tool to create a recovery flash drive, and to use the credit card at the front method to open it, hopefully there will not be too many issues. If anyone had any questions about the device I might be able to answer them once I get it, but I probably won't have time to run any lengthy tests.

 

I am fairly certain it won't happen soon. Your best bet is to try those couple of stores in Wan Chai Computer Centre, and then a couple more in Mongkok Computer Centre. They just might, might, import a couple when most other countries have it.

 

Now that is unfortunate. If they're importing, they'll be grey market... can't be buying with no international warranty. Guess I'll just have to bide my time till April...

 

I read your "I" as "It" which made me panic for a while!

 

If no one has Windows 8 Pro installed (and can check then whether Hyper-V will run) could anyone please reboot into the bios (press F2) and see if the Intel virtualisation features are enabled? In other Samsung laptops I saw in store last night, they had virtualisation supported but not configurable (I assume that means always enabled).

Alternatively, run this from a command prompt: systeminfo and paste the output here.

Example from a laptop that has WIndows 8 but doesn't support Hyper-v:

Code:

[FONT=Courier New]Hyper-V Requirements:      VM Monitor Mode Extensions: Yes
                           Virtualization Enabled In Firmware: No
                           Second Level Address Translation: No
                           Data Execution Prevention Available: Yes[/FONT]

Hopefully on the Chronos, those will all be Yes. (And hopefully vanilla Windows 8 includes the systeminfo command!)