Introducing The 2013 Series 7 Chronos with AMD HD8870M!

I can only see the i5 version on curry's /pc world website. Is that the one you guys are referring to? I really want the i7 processor.

 

Here you go:

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

 

Wicked - Thanks for that link.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only difference between the PCWorld listing and the Series 7 Chronos model at Best Buy in the US is the Radeon 8870m rather than the 8770m. Using today's exchange rate for British Pounds to USD, the PCWorld listing costs approx. USD $1660, versus the Best Buy model which is currently going for USD $1,199.

Exactly how significant is the difference between the 8770m and the 8870m and is it worth the USD $450 price difference?

 

The difference is big. The 8770m is around the 650m and the 8870m is around the 670m (in optimal conditions that is). The 8770m makes this a kinda fast laptop. The 8870m gives this laptop the very best mobility to gaming performance ratio out there in the 15"+ range imo. Which is more than worth it for me. The only thing that comes a little close is the $2500 razer blade.

 

In the UK, we have to pay 20% Value Added Tax. If you take away the 20%, you'll end up with ~£880 which is ~$1330, which is around what the US version with 8870 should be.

 

Thanks for the clarification pranktank :thumbsup:

Prospective buyer here and I'm new to this.

 

The other big difference IS the cost, the UK price includes 20% VAT (sales Tax), from reading on here, it sounds like the Best Buy price doesn't include that and any Tax you have pay on top depends on where you live (not sure how tax works over the pond, though, so don't shoot me if I'm wrong!). Take 20% off the UK price and suddenly its not such a bad price, is it? Especially considering the difference in graphics card!

EDIT: dammit, beaten to the VAT point!

 

What really bugs me is that samsung didn't go with the 3632qm. It draws 10W less and it gets less hot. It would help both heat and power limitations.

 

Can't wait for the 8870m version to come out in the US... Hopefully in black!

 

You can try just downlocking the CPU with ThrottleStop.

 

Look what Samsung has on its website, ready for purchase NP770Z7E-S01UB: Series 7 17.3

I tossed the model number in Best Buys website, it didn't show up. It's the same price as the AMD8770 model! $1299 at samsung.

 

Awesome!
8870m finally in North America(kinda)
Although the site does say that it has a touchscreen, which is wrong

 

It doesn't?!?

 

Not that model.
None of the 17" chronos models have touchscreens

 

That might explain the same price point then. Lose the touch, gain the enhanced graphics card.

 

Yep, tested few games. SC2 HOTS few minutes ago and compared to notebookcheck results. Moves between 660m and 670m. ~40 fps on ultra + AA in fullhd. In Metro2033 it's similar to 670m, in Skyrim too. Just make sure you tune your enegery profiles, they are not set for max performance.

Surfed the web for 3-4 hours today and windows reports me crazy battery runtime, like 10 hours on 80% load (silent mode). The best is, it ran passive the whole time, no fan noise at all.

All in all, a good purchase. If they tune bios and drivers, it has good potentional to get even better.

 

They must've fixed the mistake. They have a strange collection of pictures in the Features section though. They must be stock pics.

 

Yep they fixed it
So, samsung's doing things!
It'll show up soon. So exciting!
My hope is to get an 8870m 16gb black for under $1700, and soon.
After having the 8770m version for a week, I know that I'll need to change the drive to another one, but not sure what type yet.
I have to say, I don't love the mouse on this thing, but the latest driver update helped a lot, so I can see it getting only better.

 

Ok so you guys are saying that the battery lasts for quite some time. But after a few years, once the battery has less battery capacity, how are we supposed to replace the battery? I mean what are our options once the battery starts to die on us very quickly?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

What did Samsung do??

It's worrying me that they don't have the 15 Inch with 8870m on the Website. It makes me think it isn't coming to the US or something. You can purchase the 17 inch 8870m right there on the website and have it shipped to your door.

 

17" version with 8870m on their site with a "buy now" button
http://m.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP770Z7E-S01UB#specs

 

Pretty sure that the battery is replaceable, just not user replaceable.
You can probably take it out once you remove the bottom off of it.
It apparently retains 80% of it's capacity after 1000 charges, which is pretty good

 

The battery is about as replaceable as the HD, maybe a little more trouble. The hurdle is getting into the case in the first place since its not designed for user maintenance. In any case you could have samsung swap the battery or if you could buy one somewhere it likely woudn't be a hard swap.

 

Recently, the volume-up key (F8) has stopped working on our Chronos 7 15". All the other function keys operate just fine. I've previously taken the case apart before to service the hard drive, but access to the keyboard is another story. Does anyone have experience removing the keyboard? Any thoughts as to what would cause one key to stop responding? I've already manually popped off the key, looked over the switch below the key for issues, and then reset the key.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

I just popped the case to swap back in the HD (taking back the best buy version tomorrow) and the battery is held in place by 4 screws then had cables that connect it to the motherboard. It should be about as easy to swap as the HD assuming you can buy the part.

 

BTW, here's the U.S. link for the Best Buy edition: Series 7 15.6
Interesting how both this and the 17-inch version are the same price.

 

Didn't see the edit

It's coming to the US and Canada. There is no way that samsung wouldn't bring it here after announcing it and saying that it would be available between march and April.
More so, this is Samsung's flagship laptop. They wouldn't not bring the S4 to North America.

 

I'll never be able to afford it however

 

It's interesting how the first 17.3 inch model (NP700z7c) is still $1499

Wait until used and refurbished ones start appearing for only $1000 or less

 

Still waiting

 

Is there any way of bypassing the battery completely? Bought a 17" model cause my laptop never leaves my house and is always plugged.

With it set to the 80% battery saver it says "not charging"....does this mean the battery is being bypassed?

Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

Yes it's a feature that stops charging your battery at 80% so the battery wears a lot less. You can turn it off but I don't think you can chang anything else about it.

 

I remember someone a while back talking about deactivating the battery by pressing a little hole on the bottom of the laptop to cut the power going to the battery, but I don't think anyone's actually tried it... does the 17" have it as well??
But it'd be logical for a manufacturer to do, no? For a battery not to take any more charge once it's been fully charged? I'm sure that would ruin the battery even more if it did. But I'm guessing it might get topped up once in a while if charge slightly decreases..

 

It's there both on the 15" and 17" to disconnect the battery when you want to get acces to the components because you can't simply take out the battery. A user also said that if the battery is disconnected and the laptop plugged in, the laptop does not work.

 

Edit : Nothing

 

Whats the windows experience index rating for the 8770 version?

 

As far as i remember it is 6,7 for the 8770 and 7,0 for the 8870 version

 

I opened my 17" model and pressed the button and it indeed deactivates the battery.

But when you plug the latop back in with the power supply and turn it back on...it activates the battery.

Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

Ok reinstall xlean win8, fixed the suspension bug, but I still have some wifi problem.. It disconnect me after short time, and have to reinizialize the wifi card to come back to life..
Anyone have this problem? It's my router fault?

Inviato dal mio GT-I9300 con Tapatalk 2

 

I hope so. I mean, technically it is here with the 8770m version, but I wouldn't even consider that. 8870m or nothing!

 

And that's without SSDs. Expect that number to jump one or two points with an SSD installed.

 

Actually the Windows Experience Index for the GPU is 6.7 with the 8770 and it goes up to 7.0 with the 8870. The overall WEI is 5.9 (and ive seen 5.8) due to the 5400rpm hard drive.

If you swap the HD for a samsung 840 ssd the WEI for the disk goes up to 8.1 leaving the GPU as the lowest spec at either 6.7 or 7.0.

 

If anyone is interested the Samsung 840 (not pro) 500gig ssd is on sale for $259 with free shipping

Here: Rakuten.com Shopping

Edit: nevermind. Price went up

 

I've been following this thread since its first page as I was going to buy the previous generation of Chronos 7 when this new one got announced.

Although I live in Europe I'm really happy to see that the 8870 version is starting to show up on Samsung's US website as it's cheaper than in Europe and I can have someone bring me one next month... I prefer the 17" version as I presume the heat management should be better than in the 15.6" version with the same CPU and GPU and also becasue 1920x1200 seems barely usable on anything smaller than 17" (even this is somewhat pushing it).

One of the few things that's not yet clear (or at least I haven't seen cleared in the previous pages) is what version the HDMI connector is, if it can handle 2560x1440 or 2560x1600. Can anyone that already has this laptop, be it the BestBuy version or another, check this resolution limit from the laptop's connectors?

 

where has the 8870 shown up in US? just on samsung site or in any stores?

 

The battery disconnect switch is for maintenance purposes.

The Battery Life Extender (BLE) option charges the battery to 80% and then stops charging. The system automatically stops charging the battery once it is full (or 80% of BLE is enabled) and won't initiate further charging until either (a) the charge level drops by a couple of percent or (b) the mains power is disconnected and reconnected.

If you do not need to use the full battery capacity then it is recommended to enable BLE. The current wisdom is that most of the wear to the Lithium battery chemistry occurs at the two ends of the charge range - either cramming the last amount of charge in to reach 100% or sucking the last amount of power out of an empty battery.

John

 

Samsung's site but you can order directly from there. It's just the 17"version with 8870.

 

can you link me? im having a tough time finding any on their site from this new gen

 

Series 7 17.3 - this one. The link was here a few pages ago. I know the photos look like the previous generation but the product code number and specs match the new one.