New Samsung Series 7 NP700Z7C-S01US Laptop i7 3615QM 650m Review!

I know, I downloaded the image and flipped it even...still it looks weird.
What's that black DDR3 ONLY thing, some kind of cover.

 

I tried, they are all clueless. The word ivy bridge is like another language to some of them.

I just ended up getting frustrated and ordered it site to store. I'll have it tuesday. Then I'll compare them and return one.

I just ordered some ram for the g75. Any chance that the samsung will take two more sticks of 4 gb ddr3 1600?

Thanks for all the info paul!

 

Ram mounts right on top of that.

 

You could do a 8gb stick which would give you 12gb. You have to pull the motherboard out to get to the other stick.

 

Paul - Can you post some photos? It has slot load drive, yes?

 

4Gb is soldered on the mainboard according to specs - same as the 15", actually from pic it looks just like the 15" mainboard with just minor changes.

I hope you are right about speakers being better than on the G75. Samsung 700Z5A (sandy bridge) had very poor speakers (and very poor screen - that is why I'm considering the 17").

 

Yes, it has slot load dvd drive.

 

how does the screen on this new model compare to the previous series 7 chronos? apart from the resolution, is it a brighter screen/better colors/viewing angles, etc?

 

I had the last model with the 1600X900 screen and this is much nicer. I took two of them back because the right side of the screen was really dark.

I will have one last detailed video on the low down of the laptop in the morning then I fly to Reno. I will be using the Samsung to Live Stream a Seminar

 

You don't need to answer this if you don't want to but may I ask what your job is? You seem to have a lot of money to constantly buy laptops.

 

This made my wife laugh I have a Electrical Contracting Company and a Dark Chocolate Company plus some really bad crack cough Technology habits. I turned my wifes Evolution 8 car into a 1117 whp drag monster which she still won't forgive me for! Now Technogolgy and Running 50-100 mile trail runs just facinate me. I get up every morning and read tech blogs and running blogs

 

Its good to live a good life
750HP Supra here btw . Not for drag track, but circuit.
I dont own any company tho.

 

Thanks Paul!

This is exactly what i wanted to hear....i appreciate your input!

I had bought a sony SA 13.3 bout 8 months ago, and am not a big fan of tiny screen, bad colors/viewing angle, and how hot it got OCing it. Though its a perfect little laptop in a lot of ways, i may just have to sell it.

 

Oh is there anything to mention about battery life?

 

I got a chance to use it last night for awhile and it was at 50% with 4 hours of use! That's in Battery Eco mode

 

You guys think it's wise for me to OC the laptop if it's going to be on 24/7.
And when I am behind it I'll be running 2 games at the same time + other stuff.

 

Paul,

How are the black levels (are they greyish in games and movies?)

Viewing angles?

 

Loading up World of Warcraft right now have not had a chance to watch Netflix on it yet but will keep you up to date!

 

Well I was waiting for the new 15.6 Series 7 Ivy Bridge but you might have sold me on the 17.3 instead. I have heard issues of poor WIFI on the other Chronos models which run the BROADCOM instead of INTEL chip. How is your WIFI range and speed? Do you know which card yours came with?

 

It has the Intel-N 6235 and the wifi works great. Haven't tested exact speeds yet.

 

Thank you Paul. I really appreciate the review.

 

Seems like the laptop of the year price/performance.
Not to mention if what paul has experienced so far, they used premium components.

Unlike the old 15'6 model which is plagued by tons of issues.

 

Stupid question, but
is the GT 650 M a kepler?

I'm reading so many conflicting articles now.

I read here and other places that the 640, 650 and 660 are based off of the same chip, being the gk107 and are kepler.

But then when you read this, I get the idea that the 650 is fermi

AnandTech - NVIDIA's GeForce 600M Series: Mobile Kepler and Fermi Die Shrinks

 

Yes, 28nm Kepler. 40/50/60/80 all Keplers.

 

Thx! I hate the nvidia naming convention.

That and Intel i3, i5, i7. It should represent the number of cores and should not vary. Up until recently I thought all i3 were dual, i5 were quad, and i7 were six... ugh
Amd at-least does that better with its x's

 

So far with WoW installed at 73% full 1920X1080p Ultra Settings I'm getting around 35-50fps in SW. I do not have it overclocked. I can take down Multisampling to 4 and see what I get. This display is awesome! You have to see it in action to really get it.

 

Less than 24 hours before it will appear at my doorsteps. Paul did you do store pick up? Because I also placed my order Sunday when it was released and you were like the first person to get it.

 

Yeah I did a store search and had to drive about 30 minutes to get it. I had them hold it for me. If you can do it switch out the HDD other than that its a really nice system.

 

I've heard that there were touchpad issues with the previous Series 7 models. Have they fixed that with these ivy bridge models?

Thanks!

 

hey guys

just picked this laptop up from my local best buy. like paul said, the screen is fantastic. i have it plugged into a dell ips monitor and even side by side it still looks good.

specs are as advertised. battery life - fully charged on optimal performance settings is saying around 5:30 hours. i'm sure it would go up if i adjusted settings or put it in power saving mode.

keyboard is great. laptop is solid. i was wasn't even considering a 17'' until i saw this model, but i'm glad i got it!

ONE quirk though! when i use my laptop on my desk or on my lap, the wireless works great. however, when i put the laptop on my cooler (cooler master with aluminum grating and 2 moveable fans - forget model) the signal dies and i can hardly connect! took me bit to figure out what was going on - updated the drivers etc etc. has anyone heard of this before, where wireless signal dies on a laptop cooler? kind of reminds me of the iphone death grip thing...

 

dantat3 - touchpad works find for normal stuff. i had some trouble with the 3/4 finger swipe gestures - but i also have the same issues on a macbook... so i chalk it up to user error. otherwise, feels smooth and responsive.

 

Awesome to hear! (besides the wifi thing). I wish I didn't have to wait till tues. to get mine. I've pretty much decided that this g75 is too big, doesn't have a good enough battery life, and screen quality is more important to me than a slightly better gfx card.

How loud is the fan? How hot is it getting? * I know paul has already made remarks, but I am interested in hearing from another view point.

How are the touch pad buttons? The ones on the g75 is fantastic. Honestly the g75 keyboard is great as well.

 

How do you do that (use your wife's driver license number for returns)? Best Buy flagged me during the holiday season for some reason. I'm a sliver rewards member and buy most our electronics from them... I would like to try that for future reference. Thanks.

 

also - sound is great! you can tell it has a sub, and volume gets very loud. of course its not as clear as a set of nice headphones or speakers but it does very well for a laptop. it's not 'offensive' to the music like my other laptops

does it make any sense that this intel advanced-n 6235 has less range than my old 2007 vostro? speeds upstairs near the router are fantastic, but when i come downstairs the download speeds are considerably slower...

 

It gets slightly warm toward the back. I'm at a hotel right now in bed with it sitting on top of the covers and its dead quiet and cool to the touch.

 

They track everything via Drivers License. My wife has never returned anything there so I just said I want to keep this with her name or ID on it since its for her...

 

Thanks, I appreciate the help. I tried the system (The new Samsung centered on this discussion), but there are six stuck/dead pixels in the screen. I'm somewhat disappointed. I'll swap it tomorrow, hopefully I'll get a good one. I was flagged back in February and I think its a 90 day period before they'll accept an exchange under my ID. I've been a rewards silver member for two years. You'd think they would have a little more leniency... thanks again, enjoy and take care.

 

That might be caused by the router and/or frequency. Is it a new or old router? Inssider will show what frequencies are being used and whether you have possible conflict with other routers.

John

 

Hi guys,

I was planning to buy a 700Z4A but after seeing this thread...

Do you guys have any idea when the NP700Z7C is going to be released in China ? Can't seem to find any info on it...

Thanks in advance !

 

Hey Paul!

Thanks for the review. I was actually trying to decide between the Samsung and the new Asus G series.

I couldn't really find anything online in terms of reviews for the Samsung, since it is so new. However, I stumbled upon this forum and read + watched your video.

I made an account so I could personally thank you for making my decision a lot easier. I ordered the Samsung! Should get it Monday! I'm pretty excited. Might play hooky from work just to stay home and set it up (i'll blame that one on you, if anyone asks.)

Thanks again!

 

Any chance any of you that got the 700Z7C can check what LCD panel you've got? Device manager --> monitor --> properties --> details --> choose hardware ID in the dropdown menu. For example, my Asus N55SF has an "SEC314C" panel, which means it's an samsung panel.

 

I am in a hotel more than half the year, you dont know how nice that is to hear after dealing with my Sony SA. I am def purchasing this asap, almost regretting the 5 boroughs nyc bike ride im doing this weekend

 

I don't have the samsung yet, but the G75 says CMO1720

 

Chi Mei Optoelectronics. Same panel as used in the Clevo P170EM reviewed here: Review Clevo P170EM Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

Which got these excellent results:
Information
Gossen Mavo-Monitor
Maximum: 293 cd/m²
Average: 272.7 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 87 %
Center on Battery: 281 cd/m²
Black: 0.31 cd/m²
Contrast: 906:1

I hope the samsung has an similar good display, but this CMO panel is one of the very best panels there is for low black values and high contrast. Also color-details is among the best.

I've heard comments that the anti-glare coating of this panel makes white look a bit "grainy". Same as for example Dell U2711 which also has anti-glare coating making light colors looking "grainy".

 

It's seems to be a good screen, but its almost dull feeling. Not too vibrant. Some HD video looks great on it though.

definitely grainy which annoyed me at first on all these white webpages. Looking forward to how the samsung compares.

 

What state do you live in where sales tax is so low? I had free shipping and my total costs more than you. I have to pay 8.25% here in Texas payed around $115 in sales tax for the laptop.

 

A quick look at his image would show that he's in Nebraska. They have 6% tax.

 

Does the video card use ddr3 or ddr5 ram?

 

In the great state of Nebraska! Where corn is plentiful, light pollution is non-existent outside of the Omaha/Lincoln area (Amateur astronomers dream!) and a 6% sales tax!

 

DDR5.

Same for the 15" as well, but lower clocked chip (GT640M) and 1gig of mem.