Introducing The 2013 Series 7 Chronos with AMD HD8870M!

@damourk (UK)

Please can you perform a battery test, perhaps overnight as you go to sleep?

Play a movie on continous, switch off all automatic settings that may occur when laptop is idle and put the brightness at 40% perhaps. Or search this thread for a better battery test. Thank you.

 

That's all there is to complain about. It's amazing to me, but the the OCD in me couldn't stand it. Maybe it was just a defect. I'll never know.

 

Really need your help guys.

I've been trying to put this laptop through it's paces, using Crysis demo as suggested to get some HWInfo reports - but I can't tell if it's using the 8870M GPU. If I open HWInfo, it keeps reporting the Intel GPU. I turn all the graphics options in Crysis to their highest and it still runs absolutely smoothly, but I just don't know if this is the Intel or AMD graphics at play.

Any ideas on another way to test this (without spending any money, I've just spent far too much buying the laptop, SSD, Win 8 Pro Pack, Office 2013 and a couple of Pen Drive's!!)?

One thing I would say, the Crysis demo didn't even whir up the fans that much on max setting and in my opinion, performance was outstanding, so either way, this is a damned good laptop.

I've run 3D Mark too, but only the Demo version - again, that seems to only use the Intel GPU.

I have really been messing with this laptop though, mainly to figure out how the hell to use Windows 8 (still not sure I like it!), so maybe a clean install would be a good idea - plan to do that anyway, when I've finished messing with it and installing/uninstalling everything to get it to a configuration I like).

 

Wait this is amazing.....

I know for a fact that my Macbook Pro Retina cannot do that at all.

 

I'm usually OCD about that kind of stuff and it didn't bother me at all. I really am just so pissed that Best Buy's little exclusivity deal is keeping the rest of the US public from getting the laptop they really want. Ain't nobody got time for dat' 8770m sh*t!! Where's my 8870 with touchscreen, US?!

Argggghhhhh, I get more and more anxious everyday, especially now that people in the UK can readily walk into a store and purchase one.

 

currently your only option is to buy the laptop via the best buy website and get it shipped to a U.S mailing address, and then have someone ship it to you from the states.

 

You need to go to enduro graphic switching settings and set it up to use the radeon graphics for each .exe that 3dmark uses for benchmarking. If you already ran 3dmark once with the intel they should appear in the list. If thats the last 3dmark youre using there should be a .exe per test to setup.

 

dell xps has the most crappy screen even in 1080p, every where you loook you can see the same complaint, if you watch a dell xps review in hd video on youtube and compare it to a hd review of the chronos, its obvious that the chronos trumps it, and you call it the worst screen? dell is behind only asus and samsung did something this year and we are looking forward to LEGIT review , thank you

 

out of curiosity how many have the battery life extender option on?

 

Just got back from Best Buy. Played with the Chronos for about an hour and liked what I saw. I would consider myself particularly picky when it comes to screen quality, and I thought that the display on the unit looks great. Colors seemed accurate and no orangegate issues. I can only see the grainy effect that people mentioned if you really really look for it, but otherwise not really noticeable. I compared the screen to other touch screen laptops at best buy and the grainy texture seems to be part of the touch display build. Viewing angles were wide too. Would have purchased one if they had some in stock.



Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

 

So the graininess is affecting touchscreen models only?

 

We don't know

 

damouk... there are 3 3dmark tests worth doing... 3dmark 06, 3dmark 11, and the new 3d mark... O6 and 11 automatically jump to high performance and use the ATI GPU but the new 3dmark doesnt... here is what you do to get a test, and its worth doing because even the 8770 is night and day in look/performance. First thing... run the 3dmark benchmark once... let it run through and complete... make note of the scores. Then exit out of it.... and right click the desktop, pick configure switchable graphics... then it will show you recently run programs... there are 3 programs that were part of the 3dmark... set them all to 'high performance'. Close that window and relaunch 3dmark... This time it will use the ATI card... let it finish and record the scores... now compare them to the first run and you will notice they are alot faster. I'd love to see the results of this.

 

Man france has some weird ways to do online payments. Validating it has taken over 2 days now . I really want to check grainyness on my non-touch model for you but this useless, rediculous payment thing is delaying everything. Does anyone of you have experience in this?

Wait in 1080p? That's pretty damn good. Can't wait!

 

if u can run crysis 3 with the 8870m with everything on high at 1080p then color me super-impresssed. more likely running at 720p or whatever. my razer blade running a 660m can run 1080p crysis with textures on ultra but everything else on low to medium.

 

I think he's running crisis 2 demo

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

Same for me
It's because its not available yet ... it's a pre-order (called FNAC support)

Google was wrong, it's not "En stock"

 

3Dmark detect always HD4000 even if it is running on 8870m, because 8870m uses HD4000 buffer to connect it to display, so this is not a issue.
As I said many times, in order that HWinfo detects 8870m you have to launch, before to launch HWinfo, an application that uses the 8870m only after this it will be able to detect 8870m.

The performance on Crysis3 with 8870m is already published by Notebookcheck, it seems that standard driver has some problem with Crysis3, but there is already a new driver Catalyst 13.2 beta 7 that improve the performance:

Review Samsung Series 7 Chronos 770Z7E Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

3dmark is probably the best objective way to see how the 8870 compares to the 8770 in the best buy model and to see how it compares to other GPUs which may give us an idea of how much its being throttled.

 

3Dmark doesn't say practically nothing about throttling. The time of its execution is too short, also it doesn't use both CPU and GPU at 100% in the same moment.
Even a notebook like XPS15 L521X is capable to perform decently a 3Dmark tests, as many of us know XPS15 has big throttling issue, so if your target is to check throttling you don't need to perform it.

The best way to check throttling is the test usually performed by Notebookcheck called stress test.
The alternative at that test is to play some heavy game, for example Crysis2, at least for 15 minutes, and to log the performance with HWinfo.

 

The whole grainy display debate really needs to end. It's went from nitpicking, to personal attacks, to complete overkill. It's really not the issue this thread has made It seem.

 

^^ Umm no. This is a thread to discuss the laptop and issues. Get use to it, its an issue and it will continue to be discussed.

 

Your stance has been noted. Next topic.

 

LOL Yours has as well and no next topic. If you don't like it go somewhere else.

 

It's is an issue when people are about to drop $1300 on a machine that they expect to be spectacular. I stated my opinion and it looks like other people notice it. If you don't, then good for you. IIt's on topic and can be discussed if needed.

 

is there a youtube video showing how to replace the HD with the SSD?

 

I think so
http://youtu.be/w_RYG6Izcdw
Don't remember if it shows switching the HD, but think it does.

 

I'll save you 6 minutes of your life... that video does show how to switch the HD for an SSD, but sadly doesn't show you how to remove the back casing in order to gain access to the HD in the first place - which is what I assume you really want to see.

 

A proper picture with a good camera speaks a thousand words.

 

I know no one probably cares about my personal opinion, but I bought this computer today and the only time I really notice the graininess is on this website. In metro its somewhat apparent but not a big deal. The screen is amazing and I don't personally think it breaks the excellent deal you get here. I forgot about the graininess until I came to check on this thread tbh. If you need an idea of how it looks, think of how a screen looks with a screen protector on it. Pictures make it look worse than it really is.

Also my camera sucks, it isn't a good replication of the "problem" so don't ask for pics.

Beyond that, I can answer any other question people have about the notebook.

 

Please can you perform a battery test and hwinfo (throttling) test whilst playing a demanding game like Crysis 2 or 3. Thanks

Please let us focus on BENCHMARKS with OWNERS of this laptop not on naysayers.

 

Is this "grainy screen" thing the only problem with the notebook? Seriously, if this is the only thing you can complain about then it must be the best out there...

 

So you ordered from fnac France too? Do you have any idea when it arrives then? the waiting is killing me. I really thought they had it in stock, that's not something I'm used to from fnac.

If you have an update on your order could you please let me know? Via pm or something. I'll do that as well for you.

 

You really don't need one - be brave and tackle it yourself...
Image your original hard drive or factory image using Samsungs Recovery software. Choosing the bootable option.
Press the battery off button with a paper clip opened out.
Open your Samsung, by undoing all the screws on the bottom, including the RAM door.
Using a credit card or iPhone opening "lever" type tool, gently but firmly pry open the FRONT of the laptop, between the plastic underside and the rim round the laptop, once your hear a gentle click, move about an inch and do it again, keep going round both sides, pay extra care between all the ports as they're clipped and a bit fiddly. Don't be tempted to twist whatever tool you use for this whole process, you WILL damage the plastic, just use a back/forward lever movement to pry it open.
Once you've done front and sides, the cover should just unhook from around the hinge, there are no clips, it's just made to hook over that area.
Next, undo the 4 screws holding the HD mount in place.
Gently pry off the SATA connector before carefully lifting out the drive & mount.
Undo the 4 screws holding the HD to the mount. Make a note of the direction of the SATA port in the mount, it's easy to put a new one in upside down.
Now just reverse the whole process to put it back together.
Firmly hook and then push the bottom cover back, and it'll just click into place, make sure you do this between all the ports individually too.
Do up all the screws and power on the laptop (no need to push the battery disconnect again, the power button overrides it).
Press F2 to go to the BIOS as soon as you turn the power on.
Turn off secure boot, reboot, press F2 again and choose the boot device you created with the recovery.
Proceed through the Recovery steps and you should be back in full working order.

It took me about 20 minutes end to end, including about 5 minutes hunting for the right size screw driver.

It's not difficult, just takes some bravery to dismantle a very expensive laptop. Of course, if you do cause any damage, don't blame me, I'm just offering advice from my experience - I refuse any liability

 

To all those asking for pictures of the graininess, I have just had a thought... How can you tell if any graining is from the screen, the camera or your OWN screen?

That's a bit like saying show me the quality of XHD TV on a CRT monitor!! .

The only way to tell is to go and have a look for yourselves.

Personally, it's not an issue for me, I've been using touch devices for years, and all of them have it to some degree or other (I'd actually NEVER noticed it until people on here started commenting!), it's a property of the glass touch panel, I think. It's only noticeable on large blocks of white, even using Excel, the lines of the cells break up the pattern and make it vanish (or not noticeable).

The outstanding quality of this screen colours and clarity in all other respects far outweigh any issues of a very faint texture on the touchscreen.

 

I've been looking to do this - is there any tool which can record the time the mains power is unplugged, to the time the machine switches off from battery drain? I really don't fancy watching it for up to 11 hours, and if it died overnight, I'd have no way to know what time! Only prepared to do this at night, as I'd prefer to be using the laptop when I'm awake!

 

Going to put this to bed once and for all, and go out and buy Crysis 3 pre-owned, so it should be cheap, and then run a load of tests for you guys.

To those saying to open the game and then HWInfo, I've been doing that from the demo, but I think going back to the desktop to launch HWInfo reverts to the intel GPU. Any way around this?

 

Anyone of the users know whether you can disconnect the battery while plugged to avoid wear?

 

You can't, but you can make it stop charging at 80% in the BIOS

 

And that's what i was looking for. Very clear guide. thanks man.
Just spoke to Currys customer service.As it is back in stock i should have mine tomorrow or Tuesday. Also ordered 512GB Samsung SSD Pro. Hopefully will have both with me by Wednesday.

 

Long time reader, first time poster.

Just wanted to inform anyone from the UK that It's now in stock at PC world!

SAMSUNG Series 7 Chronos 15.6" Touchscreen Laptop - Silver Deals | Pcworld

Edit: didn't stay in stock for long...

 

It seems to be out of stock again...

 

I've just ordered the Series 7 Chronos NP780Z5E (£899) from PCWorld

Being delivered Tuesday morning, can't wait

 

What are the specs?
For that price I think that is a low specs model.

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

It would be this one:
SAMSUNG Series 7 Chronos NP780Z5E 15.6" Touchscreen Laptop - Silver Deals | Pcworld
i5 and 8850m.

 

I Think he bought this one:

Intel® Core™ i5-3230M processor (2.6 GHz, 3.1 GHz with TurboBoost, DMI 5 GT/s, 3 MB Cache)

Operating System Windows 8
RAM 8 GB DDR3 (1600 MHz)
Graphics card AMD® Radeon™ 8850M (2 GB gDDR3 Power Express)

Screen type Superbright 300nit Anti Reflective FHD LED Display with 10 point Touch Screen Panel
Screen resolution 1920 x 1080
Screen size 15.6"
Screen features LED Back-lit
Hard drive 1 TB hard drive, SATA II (5400 rpm)
Optical disk drive No
Memory card reader 3-in-1 (SD, SDHC, SDXC)
USB 2 x USB 2.0
2 x Hi-Speed USB 3.0
Modem/Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet LAN
WiFi Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6235, 2x2
IEEE 802.11 a/bg/n
Bluetooth Built-in Bluetooth v.4.0
Video interface 1 x VGA
1 x HDMI
Audio interface 1 x 3.5 mm headphone/microphone combo
Expansion card slot No
Sound Built-in stereo JBL® speakers
Webcam 720p HD Camera
Keyboard & Mouse Low profile keyboard
Multi-gesture touchpad

Battery 8-cell Li-polymer (91Wh) battery
Up to 10 hours autonomous battery life
Additional features BIOS Boot Up Password
HDD Password
Samsung Recovery Solution
Accessories included AC Adaptor, Power Cord, Manual
Software included S Player
S Gallery
S Camera
Evernote
Settings
Support Centre
SW Update
Recovery
Microsoft Office Trail (60 days via download)
Norton Internet Security (60 days Trial)

Size 376 x 250 x 260 (open) / 22.7 (closed) mm
Weight 2.4 kg

EDIT
PickyPurchaser u beat me to it

 

In the italian support page of the Chronos NP770Z5E, Samsung has posted (8 March) a new Windows 8 update, here's the link:
NP770Z5E -

Curious that is not out yet in Italy, but there are already the updates

 

I doubt this will be too much of a deal breaker if any, for most people (inc. gamers). The 8850m has the same amount of shaders as the 8870m, and not too many programs/games are programmed to take advantage of processors of more than 2 cores anyway. I would gladly trade £200 for that compromise.

 

8850 is DDR3 so 8870 with DDR5 will perform much better.

 

Yep, that's the one

I'm not a gamer so I think this will be more than enough for me.

Screen, everyday speed, sound and build quality were what I was looking for so think I'm going to be very happy with this.

I believe that apart from the slightly inferior processor and graphics card this is the same laptop as the higher priced one.