Laptop Alternatives For Series 7 Owners Who Refunded Their S7s

Guess most of us are in the market for a new replacement.
i7 Quad + GT550M or above
or i7 Quad + HD6750M or above

Hard to find. Any suggestions?

 

Lenovo y470 has a quad i7 gt550 I think and costs allot less.

However it only has a 720 screen and it's a little bigger in size.

But it also supports msata.

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I was considering the Alienware M14x before I got the S7.
Alienware M14x Gamer Laptop Details | Dell

 

gt 550 in y470 is not 'real' gt550, read about it.
Theres no computer like chronos right now. Maybe macbook pro...

We have to wait for next genration of laptops. Really i have 1200 USD and i CAN'T but nothing, cus theres a units with very hard problems, like red/orange sony se/envy, glossy screen like dell xps, ugly ones, like dell xps... Poor screen quaility, chronos... Of course im not from USA so workstations are more expensive than here...

 

^I agree, it is kind of a bad time to buy a laptop since it will be considered outdated in only a few months. Unless you really need one, I would probably hold off on buying one.

 

XPS 15z is the only thing that comes to mind but they are a bit pricier than the Chronos I believe. Y570 has a fake 555M so skip it. Maybe some Clevo build?

Actually, I think XPS 15Z use 525M only...shame. Maybe the 17 incher if you are willing to go for a bigger build?

ASUS N55? Can't think of anything else with Nvidia in the price range. AMD switchable as you know best is terrible so stay away for the moment

 

HP Envy 15 is an alternative, similar specs but full 1080 HD and benchmarks about 40% better performance. You just need to pay to upgrade from windows Home to Pro if so desired. One big advantage to the Envy IMO is that you can load it with 16GB of DDR3 RAM. Pretty amazing

MobileTechReview Forum and News: HP Envy 15 vs. Samsung Series 7 Chronos Comparison Smackdown

The sleek design of the Chronos may still win me over though

 

And you need 16 GB RAM for? Are you designing cruiseships or something?

 

I always have a minimum of 50 windows open on my desktop, sometimes including high resolution photoshop images and several excel files with 1 million lines of data each. I can never have enough RAM.

 

lol, you are an exception I guess, most people can barely fill 4 GB, let alone 8 GB...16 is for special cases like you I can't see it as a huge advantage for the average person that would be interested in these sort of cosumer laptops...

 

The Envy 15 isn't an alternative in the UK as its inexplicitly not available!

The problem with the XPS 15z is that its so large, much larger than the Chronos and almost as large as a 16.4 inch Vaio.

 

As for Aesthetics - I know the envy is high quality materials, but I think the light color gives it a cheaper look. I much prefer the darker color of the Samsung or previous model Envy. I hate laptop shopping time, I never find one that's "perfect."

 

I can easily fill 16 gigs using only adobe applications.

 

That felt like a very biased comparison, but even thou she praised the HP I still would not want to have the Envy 15 over my S7. I'm sticking with what I got and I'm happy with it.

 

How was the comparison biased? It would be good if you could point that out to us.

 

Just look thru the review once more, and listen to how she talks about the HP compared to how she talks about the S7. She even changes things up about the S7 during the review. Like with the keyboard, first it was one of the best keyboards on any notebook, then a minute later it was just a "good" one.

And she brings up alot of useless things and pushes for the HP. Like the volume button on the side. Really, it's such a big deal?

Just listen to what kinda words she uses when she describes things about the HP compared to when she describes the S7.

On a sidenote, there was some things I reacted to when it came to her description about more technical things, but I guess she is more of a user than someone who really understands the tech inside a PC.

 

Yes, she was tripped up by Speed Boot. She noted fast startup time and then lamented that widgets didn't appear until well after startup (which is a function of Speed Boot). It doesn't help that samsung has features named ExpressCache, Fast Start and Speed Boot that are all quite different from each other...

 

What you say is true.

I didn't view the YT video just now, and now it seems that she missed out certain important flaws for the ENVY 15 - Glossy display which cannot display the primary colour of red and any colour that needs red - the owners are complaining and doing a similar petition we did in the HP forums. This means that her review is inaccurate since she mentioned accurate colour reproduction for the E15. She does not seem to understand the functions of ExpressCache and speed boot and hence she mixed them up.

I also noted that she likes to downplay important issues in one review, and yet in another, she emphasises heavily and claims it may be a deal-breaker.

The inability to produce red on the screen is one factor that causes me to sit on the fence when considering the E15. Now if HP would fix this I would buy the E15 in a heartbeat.

 

I know you can, anybody can think of a way to do it - but how many potential buyers would do it an at least a weekly basis? 5%? 8% tops.

On the Display side - since when is 1920x1080 better than 1600x900 on a 15 inch laptop?? I'd prefer 1600x900 anyday, as it is build for the 15 inch size. 1920x1080 is for 17inchers and above, as on a 15 inch display some things are really small. And then there is a matte vs glossy, which is in favor of the Chronos...however, if the vertical angles of the HP really are better that is a serious plus. Overall, the only real advantage for HP is that they fixed their BIOS, for some it is going to be worth the extra 20% in price, for others it won't be. It depends on what you are going to use it for.

Volume control - my RF has dedicated buttons for volume - I use them once a month (the mute button specifically), the FN+arrows I use 20 times a day - the HP button is nothing for me personally, the positioning of the keyboard volume control is much more convenient for me.

 

Close some windows?

 

Hp laptops in the UK are rip off. I'd would recommend uk buyers to avoid them or get someone from overseas to buy it for you.

 

Almost all laptops in the UK are rip-off (including Samsung). The only ones that are sold on OKish price are Dells and Lenovos.

 

Pretty much anywhere non-US get the higher prices. In Singapore, most laptops are over-priced (S7 included).

 

dell xps 14z - i7 M 2.4ghz, 750GB, 8GB, 520M, 5 hr battery life, just 2 usb ports though. ????

 

XPS 15 -L502X seems better i7 quad, 540m, 750GB, 5hr batt with 9 cell

 

XPS 15-L5 series are only good with FHD screens and they still have design issues (weight, size, noise due to fan control, adapter issues, etc). XPS 15z are better machines but they are generally pricier. Samsung RFs have proven to be very good machines in terms of reliability and the lack of apparent issues if you are happy with 540M, but, and it is a big BUT, 1366x768 res... Why, oh why, don't they offer anything higher is beyond me. Would have been the perfect multimedia laptop with a 1600x900 (assuming you change the HDD with a faster one, which is quite easy).

 

Then it becomes ENVY15 again. Oh the horrors.

 

I was originally gonna get the samsung chronos as well until I heard about all the issues with it. I think I am now going to get a laptop that has not gotten much attention on these forums. it comes in at less than an inch thick and under 4 and a and half pounds. has a gt 550m and it is very easy to upgrade to an I7 wall still keeping the price under a thousand. can even add a blue ray burner for 150 dollars more. I'm talking about the msi x460dx. it can even be configured from exotic pc with an I7.

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MSIs have terrible cooling. make sure to check that this model can handle the hardware in it. Otherwise, you WILL have problems soon.

http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/notebook-review-msi-x460dx-i548w7p-nkmj-1597/4 - this is what I mean. You can use google translate to see what they are saying.

"The cooling is not enough by far. Even in idle mode, the surface warming significantly in a short time. So we measure at the top and bottom of up to 38.2 ° C or 41.3 ° C. At high load, the temperatures rise again dramatically to 40.1 ° C at the top and 56.2 ° C at the bottom.

A lap of operation is thus even when idle mode critical. A stress test finally shows a significant warming of the processor. Up to 96 ° C is reached, the CPU and must help each with a distinct CPU throttling on only 800 MHz."

And this is with and i5 and 540M and when new. When you put i7 and 550M, and gather some inevitable dust and you have an HOT oven. Stay away!

 

Wow, I haven't heard anything bad about heat, even on the owners thread and figured if xoticpc configures them with I 7s it would be okay. not sure what I'm gonna get now and my tax return is almost here. I'm mostly concerned about compact size and im not much of a gamer but do want raw power.

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Well the ASUS-es have better cooling (U46) - it isn't great as this is an ultrabook after all but definitely better than the MSI. You can upgrade to an i7, but these notebooks are not the best fit for it, so I wouldn't do it unless you absolutely need it. Or you can always go for XPS 14/15z or HP Envy 14/15...

 

Asus N55S ?
Bit bulky but otherwise seems the only reasonably priced option to me.

 

HP deliberately sell cheaper specs at a high price. Take the new hp env 17, it comes with a 1600*900 and AMD radeon 6770M screen and it costs £1300. That is just bull. Other manufacturers are much more reasonable but due to our strong currency we will always be ripped off.

 

Does MATlab and autocad use opengl? Also, if you don't need opengl then the series 7 is still a good laptop

 

Yes they do, but I don't know if it causes problems on the Chronos. Maybe one of the owners can confirm this. It is a great laptop if you can live with its faults (OpenGL, weaker Wireless, etc)

 

I love my Chronus and it works great with everything I do with it, all from productivity (I use it for work) and also entertainment/gaming. I don't have any problems with it at all, not even the wifi issue some has. I do know that OpenGL is an issue, and that it sometimes can be worked around with the alternate drivers, but since I don't need OpenGL that is not an issue for me.

I don't know how much those programs would really benefit from using AMD OpenGL compared to the build in Intel HD one. Alot of application just support OpenGL as a way to get stuff onto the screen, and the actual performance is not an issue since any actual calculations is made on the CPU.

So, is the performance difference in those OpenGL applications really a big issue? Ofcourse in some programs it is, but far from all of them.

And I'm not talking about games now, but there are not many that require OpenGL these days. Rage being the only one that comes to mind, and wasn't it possible to play that one with the alternate drivers?

Oh and Minecraft also uses OpenGL if you are into that, not sure if that works under Leshcats drivers.

 

It is quite useful for AutoCAD as it uses some serious GPU acceleration but will only be noticed in big projects - if you are just a student, don't worry. MATLAB, you can live with an integrated GPU even for relatively pro work, still an AMD would be better, but Intel HD would be sufficient.

Hoever, only someone with the laptop, can confirm whether they perform as expected.

 

I was looking at getting the Chronos 7 Series but obviously the switching graphics is a problem.

I live in the UK and the only alternative seems the Envy 15 and the 15z. The 15z is only dual core and the Envy 15 hasn't been released.

Does anyone know if the Envy 15 will be released in the UK and when?

 

Envy have red/orange issue.

 

I think that the GPU performance only matters in AutoCAD (or other CAD programs - I use Bricscad since it gives much more for the money) if the user is rendering sizeable 3D models. In my experience a lot of users only use AutoCAD as the modern alternative to a 2D drawing board. Don't forget that a lot of these software packages have been around since the days of dedicated GPUs having 1 /10th of the speed of the current Intel graphics and they still worked (but perhaps ran more slowly).

John

 

Can somebody tell me why need to look for alternative laptop? I see the series 7 is a sweet machine and I am saving up my money to buying it

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People have problems with wi-fi issues and graphics (openGL), and a a few other minor ones.

 

It looks like its only some people that have wifi issues, mine is working just fine. And even if you need better wifi it is possible to change the card in it.

I think the only ones who should look for something different are the ones who need OpenGL more than what Leshcats alternate drivers can provide them.

 

Agreed. wi-fi works just fine here.
even better than my white macbook

 

Can somone actually clarify what programs won't use the graphics card. I'm looking to purchase it and I sometimes use some of the adobe programs like photoshop, dreamweaver, fireworks and sony vegas and also play a few games eg fifa, NFS, counter strike. Will these work on the Samsung?

 

Yes please, can someone clarify the OpenGL problem. I only really need to use Photoshop, does the alternate drivers work with Photoshop. I really really liked this laptop. It was perfect, but no OpenGL is a killer.

 

Usually only open sources software and indie games(minecraft) use OpenGL. Professional program such as photoshop doesn't use it.

 

I've been running Photoshop cs2 without issue, though it does seem like it should be smoother. The experience is almost identical to my 3 year old XPS M1330. Vegas, however, smokes. I'm very happy with how it runs Vegas 10.

 

OpenGL will work with the Intel HD3000 only.

 

Okay I don't really understand Graphics and stuff. I'm not really computer literate in this area, I've never had to worry much about it. Can you explain the problem, how the fix works, what the above means, I'd really appreciate it. Does OpenGL not work at all without the fix?

For whoever said Photoshop doesn't use OpenGl, it does but only CS4 and CS5 (canvas rotation, smooth zooming, etc), I don't think CS2 had OpenGl features for whoever else mentioned that.