Introducing The 2013 Series 7 Chronos with AMD HD8870M!

quote: "So, now enthusiasts have a general sense for how Haswell will compare to high-end Sandy Bridge, Sandy Bridge-E, and Ivy Bridge processors. You probably could have guessed this before even looking at our benchmarks, but the pre-production Core i7-4770K is in the neighborhood of 7 to 13% faster"

That's not that much to be worth waiting a long time for haswell.

 

I'm officially out of the thread now.

Slickdeals has a thread going right now on it.....Lenovo is now doing the Nvidia 750M in their Y500 15" gaming laptops. Shipping date is end of this month. May come with the Haswell as well. Ordered mine just now. Now the wait begins.

If you don't care for touchscreen and battery life (the Y500 still has decent 3-4hrs), at $899+taxes, you are getting one hell of a user upgradeable powerhouse (even though it's not as thin as the Samsung, the overall weight is almost the same). And you get the bad- red backlight keyboard.

 

sammek - regarding the keyboard backlight - can you (manually) control the illumination, or is it always automatic ?
Also, if it is automatic, then it should not be turning itself on in the daytime, right ?
Let me know - thanks, as I would prefer if the user has the ability to control the backlight of the keyboard manually.

 

I fixed your post.

 

Haswell will be out at the end of May, so it's less than 2 months.
Also there are new set of instructions and seems that combinations between Windows Blue and Haswell will bring benefits for battery life.

Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 con Tapatalk 2

 

I'm pretty sure the release is pretty imminent. The samsung notebook facebook page is full of posts about the "Samsung new Series 7 chronos"

 

That doesn't interest me. Both my home and my office have AC power outlets.
So shorter battery life doesn't bother me.
I would only wait for haswell if it was going to be MUCH MORE powerful.

 

So what's the difference between the one that's about to come out, and the Best Buy model, besides the graphics card?

 

It'll also have more ram, and possibly have windows 8 pro.
It should come out in black soon too.

 

Hey man, thanks for helping me out with the configuration and test results.

This is the test results from the liteon lmt 256m3m:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 477.439 MB/s
Sequential Write : 410.602 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 321.916 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 377.959 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 20.582 MB/s [ 5024.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 38.486 MB/s [ 9396.1 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 201.674 MB/s [ 49236.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 112.705 MB/s [ 27515.8 IOPS]

Test : 4000 MB [C: 37.3% (80.5/215.7 GB)] (x9) <1Fill>
Date : 2013/04/08 6:40:58
OS : Windows 8 [6.2 Build 9200] (x64)

if these results are good im fine, but one of them concerns me (the one I made bold) its less then half of yours, when will this be a noticable difference?

 

There is 4-5 levels of back-light: off, not noticable, also not noticable, noticable, more noticable (the buttons F9 and F10 are to adjust them)

its on automatic by default but you can change this if you want so that you can manually change the backlight without getting disturbed...

 

Where did you find the setting to shut off the automatic backlight?

 

Decided to get the 8770 model. It's absolutely fantastic. The screen is NOT as bad as people think... it's fantastic in fact. Touch screen is a nice addition although I'm more of a mouse and keyboard guy. The only caveat is the slow 5400 RPM hard drive that seems to take a while to load things, but I'm not complaining too much. The 1TB space is fantastic, and contrary to popular belief, the 8770M is great for decent gaming. Combine all that with a 1199 price point, and I'm definitely a fan.

 

I went around the tech markets in Guangzhou China yesterday to find the laptop, they didnt have a clue what I was talking about.
-Do you have the series 7 chronos?
+series 9, we have.
-no, the series 7, it came out recently.
+series 5, this one, very good.
I showed him a photo on the phone, he didnt have a clue what that was...
Is the 15" 8870 touchscreen still not available in the UK?
I read in the previous pages that someone got their laptops pre installed with an SSD, has anybody else seen that?

 

I just noticed... this model does not have an HDD light indicator. Am I missing something? There are only two lights: power and charging. Where are the others?

 

I've seen those posts, it is so annoying they keep teasing us with these new chronos 7 posts, and they completely ignore people who keep asking them when the release date is. I"m sick of it, it annoying and completely unnecessary and stupid.

I truly hope the release date is within this week, alot of laptop manufactures are lining up new models soon which will rival the chornos 7. Lenovo y500 with a Nvidia 750M + hanswell is a good example as someone posted, it even cheaper at 899$ (same weight at chronos 7)

 

Do you plan to replace the HDD with SSD ? and can you also share with us some gaming performance ?

 

Look back one or two pages, you'll find your answer

 

Loving this machine, been smashing out BF3 and GTA IV and it handles it lovely.

Having one major annoyance though. For the life of me I cannot get the keyboard backlight to stay on longer than 1 minute! So annoying. I have asked this here before but no one seems to be able to help. I still have the issue so I'm having another crack here.

If I cover the ambient light sensor the keyboard backlight works fine! I really don't want to be putting black tape on this machine thought as it distracts from the nice design, so can anyone please advise how to fully disable the ambient light sensor within drivers, bios etc anything to get this bloody thing to turn off forever!!!

FYI I have already disabled adaptive brightness in power setttings and it has no affect on this keyboard situation, only the screen. I have contact Samsung and their only suggestion is to fully restore the system to eliminate software errors and if that doesnt work, to send the laptop in for repair. What more can they do!? Since I hear of others with the same issue I'm not sure I'm in a rush to wipe my machine just yet.

Please help as this is really annoying, especially in a dimmly lit room and because the light sensor detects a lamp way behind me, I get stuck with a dark keyboard!!!


Edit: Oh and FYI I have played with the Samsung settings, unticking the box for disabling the backlight after x amount of time. Even setting this to 10 mins. I have not seen the keyboard backlight stay on for longer than 1.5 minutes after trying all these settings.


Someone asked for this before I think:

John Lewis laptop price for 8870m non touch: £1099.95
Model: NP770Z5E-S01UK

 

But you're also getting an incredibly flawed design with TERRIBLE build quality. Yeah, I read the NotebookCheck review. Not to mention it's made of plastic, not aluminum. Yuck. It's full of seams too. Hate the Y500. No thanks, definitely will wait for the real laptop here.

 

Don't forget the 8870m too, right?

And oh wow! I see what you mean about the Facebook page. Looks like they definitely are! My birthday is a week from today, here's hoping it hits shelves today!

 

His question was "what changes other than the 8870m" lol

 

The keyboard backlight issues are discussed in this thread but I don't think anyone has identified a software solution.

Samsung support evidently don't understand the problem - I think they get little or no "hands-on" time with the computers for which they provide support and just work from various scripts. (Sensibly they should all be given new Samsung notebooks to use then they would quickly understand our problems). I suggest you try harder to explain it to them in simple words that it's a design defect that most likely can be fixed by a software (Settings) and/ or driver and/or BIOS update in order to give users the same level of control that they used to have on the old Series 7 and Series 9. I stress the "used to have" because something in a recent update has introduced some reliability.

John

 

Not really sure what real-world difference that makes, the Samsung 840 Pro might be an unfair comparison as it really is a very top end drive - probably worth getting a few other SSD benchmarks. Anyone able to help out?

If you haven't done it, it's also worth running a TRIM function - either the software that came with you SSD or run what used to be defrag (I access it from a right-click on the drive in explorer, and going through properties). Run it on the SSD and it will perform a trim function.

The keyboard backlight is the single most annoying problem with this laptop. It works perfectly as designed, but the light from the screen actually causes the contrast to make the letters unreadable when the backlight is on (trust me, cup your hands between the screen and the keyboard, so you block the light from the screen, and you will see the keyboard perfectly well). And if you try to change the keyboard backlight, it works for about a second, before the sensor overrides it back to exactly where it was.

I'm currently investigating whether there's a way to hook into the Sensor and override the keyboard backlight with a bit of simple code, but it doesn't look to obvious (or not as obvious as I'd hoped!) - so if anyone with better programming skills than me has any ideas, feel free to help out!

 

Do you think they will discontinue the 8770 models when the 8870 hits properly? If the 8870 ends up being much more expensive, I may have to get the 8770 one instead.

 

I went to bestbuy today and the guy was nice enough to check their systems for 780z5e-s02ub in the to be released and found nothing in the system. I'm not sure if it means anything in terms of release date.

 

Haha, if we had a series 7 chronos for every time you wished that, we'd all have one.

 

They won't

 

Thanks alot for checking with best buy, the fact they don't have it on their system is not a good sign, i'm starting to speculate we won't be seeing 8870 till END April - early May in the USA. Or maybe they consider the 8770 as the version US deserves ? Ugh i hope i'm wrong.

 

I hope so as my mom will be in the usa buy then and it needs to be there
ive been waiting so long for it

 

Hi there, so if i wanna upgrade the RAM what do i need to watch out for? does it need to be a specific brand (same as already in there) naturally would be a 8gb one.
Also will larger RAM use up more battery? thanks

also would like to know, what people think on how this one is better than the ux51, i was originally looking at that one, but then saw it in a shop and it was hidious. hope this one is gonna be better.

 

I do too. I would be extremely angry with Samsung if they never release the 15 inch touchscreen 8870m in the US. That would be a terrible decision.

 

Bestbuy not carrying it doesn't mean it won't be released in the US. It is normal for Bestbuy to have slightly gimped, less expensive versions of flagship products, often as short term exclusives, prior to wide release of the release of the true flagship.

 

also, just because that specific model number isn't in their system doesn't mean they won't have a chronos with an 8870m

 

Plus for all we know we could have the potential model number wrong.

 

Is it also possible that BB will have their own model number, for their own version of a 15 inch 8870M with a touchscreen?

 

Depends on which model and factory config you're talking about..
** I was going to confirm some of this on this forum, but here's what I believe to be the issues..

**? Don't both sticks of RAM HAVE TO BE EXACT CAPACITY??? (or is it different with these new laptops soldiering 4/8gb?)
If both sticks MUST be EQUAL capacity...

- The 15" 8770 (best buy) only has 4GB soldiered, so I believe you'd ONLY be able to add a second stick of the SAME CAPACITY, which it comes factory configured with (MAX TOTAL RAM is 8GB)
**? I do not believe that they will accept 2 upgradeable sticks of RAM, in addition to soldiered, which is the ONLY way you MAY be able to get that 8770 up to 12gb total (2x4gb + soldiered 4gb?)

- If 17" or next version of 15" 8870 comes with 8gb soldiered, instead of PUNY 4gb soldiered, you could add a second stick of 8gb ram...
? Do think they MAY come configured with a second stick of 8gb?? 16gb total? Or maybe they just ship with the 8gb soldiered ram?-----

RE ASUS comparisons... Though I've not personally seen that asus, I think it's like $2200+, isn't it (unless Im looking at a different model or configuration)?
Unless Samsung jacks the price way up for the 8870m 15" because they add 8gb RAM soldiered and MAYBE an SSD option or HDD with ssd cache - still not even close to same price point as samsung.

Now, if you can afford the asus at $2200 - it's likely that maybe a better option as this Samsung sounds like a headache, at best, with a lot of issues owners are reporting. Unless asus is having power supply caused throttling, possible GPU not even functioning (as earlier reports of the 8770m driver issues with windows 8 not even kicking in - haven't gone back through to see if samsung/amd have fixed the video drivers)
--> I'd suppose if those 8770m video drivers still having issues - the 8870m upgraded gpu version would likely suffer same problems...

 

There's only one upgradable ram slot. It comes with 4gb, but you can switch it for an 8.
There's been some debate on this forum as to whether having a 4+8 setup would result in lower performance, but I think the consensus was no.

And this whole "it's not coming out" thing doesn't make sense to me.
They said it was coming out in march/April. It is now early April, and it hasn't come out. So, it must not be coming out? Really makes no sense to me

 

The fact that both the NP770Z5E S01UK and S02UK models are on Samsung's website make me think it will come out. Same with the US ones.

Very tempted to pick up the i5/8750M NP780Z5E model now, but I don't think I could deal with the glossy screen and I don't see the point beyond the gestures you can do on a track-pad or touch-mouse.

Some pictures and accounts of using touch would be great from the few with these notebooks already.

 

I give up....I cannot stay away from this thread .

For the record, the Bestbuy (US ONLY), the 15" chronos is not a exclusive, etc. It's the same as the one on the US Samsung website.
Series 7 15.6

BB link:
Samsung 15.6" TouchScreen Laptop 8GB Memory 1TB Hard Drive NP780Z5E-S01UB - Best Buy

What I've noticed is some of the models (e.g the newer 13" Chronos) are NOT the same offerings either in different markets. Some countries get slightly different configurations and model numbers. I collect watches too and Seiko/Citizen do the same thing (the Japanese versions usually get premium materials at a much higher price while the US versions get the toned down YET cheaper version). I just hope that the US version doesn't end up this way. Cheap compared to other countries but stuck with the 8770 instead of 8870.

I was at my BB just now during my lunch break and I noticed a open box discounted at $1049!!!! Quickly checked the box and yep...it's the same one I returned last week!! I could tell from the coffee stain on the other side of the box (I had spilled my coffee cup when I was unboxing it at home). The funny thing is BB listed it as "Open Box with missing accesories". When I returned mine, it had everything that came with the box, incl the paper and plastic wraps. Not sure if someone from the store itself misplaced the power adapter, etc. Unless they are counting the Kaspersky Virusscan CD that came free with the Samsung (store promotion) last week.

But really really tempted to buy it back, especially at the $1049 price!!! I can live with the 8770 (probably similar performance as Nvidia 650M..I played Half-Life 2 and Witcher 2 and both ran fine at full HD, granted these are older games). On the same note, the Lenovo y500 that I ordered yesterday will come with the Nvidia 750m (and possibly Haswell) albeit less stellar screen and definitely terrible battery life. Other than the GFX, I firmly believe the US 15" Chronos is no different than the version with 8870 sold in Canada/Europe.

I'll think on this tonight and decide tomorrow.....assuming the open box 780Z5E is still available by then.

Here's the pic off the open box rack at BB (not shown is the craploads of Macbooks they had on the upper racks):

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Best Buy exclusive is a bit of a misnomer. S01UB refers to a Best Buy-specific configuration, but it looks like Samsung has opted to make it available themselves. Normal US releases would be S01US, S02US, etc.

 

It isn't sold in Canada yet, just on a few sites as out of stock.

 

You mean S01UB and S02UB. I just hope it comes out soon, I already have my eye out on the Samsung 840 Pro 512gb, too bad I missed this on it. Link>>

 

You missed his point.
At bestbuy it'll be s01ub and s02ub
But everywhere else it'll be s01us and s02us

 

Sorry for the double post but just noticed 2 interesting things on canadacomputers.com
Canada Computers | Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets | Samsung Nike II High (NP780Z5E-S02CA) Touch Screen Notebook | Intel i7-3635QM (2.4GHz), 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, DVD Writer | 15.6" FHD Display, AMD Radeon HD8870M, 802.11b/g/n, Win 8 finally has a picture. It has been on backorder for a few months now, but has had no picture. This could mean that they are getting it in soon.
Canada Computers | Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets | Samsung Nike II (NP760Z5E-U01CA) Touch Screen Notebook | Intel i7-3635QM (2.40GHz), 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, DVD Writer | 15.6" HD Display, AMD Radeon HD8770M, 802.11b/g/n, Win 8 has the same specs as the 780z5e-s01ub. 8gb of ram, 770z5e, etc. Only it has the model 760z5e-u01ca. Hmm

 

Last year's "Best Buy Model" originally came with 6GB RAM and no keyboard backlight. Eventually they replaced that model at Best Buy with one that was nearly identical to the model found elsewhere.

 

How long did that take?

 

dvd writer in 15"?? definitely something wrong there...

 

I fixed your post again.

 

The guy who bought the Y500 with a GPU that is only barely announced is a fool.