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

I carry it around and its fine. Its feels like more of a 15 inch to me!

 

Could we please get some pictures of the ASUS G75 screen vs. the SAMSUNG 700Z5C? I'm very interested and will need to buy a laptop within a month. I'm interested in a PC with good enough screen quality for Photoshop, GIMP or equal programs.

 

People have said that Samsung's screen is better. There is like 2 or 3 pictures earlier in the thread.

 

I just took my Asus back

 

the 8 pounder...

 

I think I would like an SSD and more RAM, but because of the flimsiness of the plastic panel on the back, I'm a bit apprehensive about doing this myself. Do you think Samsumg will offer another configuration that comes pre-loaded with the SSD or more memory?

 

I do not if you bought this from Best Buy I'm sure Geek Squad could do it. Just don't show them my video

 

Been messing with mine for the last hour or so. Just got it today.

First impression upon turning it on was how "slow" windows booted once I finished setup.

I then spent about 30 minutes uninstalling junkware, restarted, and bam. Runs as smooth as butter running down a guys double chin.

Speakers on this thing are amazing. The bass. I have never heard such good speakers or bass on a laptop.

At first I felt like the trackpad was funky. Turned out it was the software vs the hardware. Once I changed some settings to make it a little more "traditional", I'm happy with it.

Currently installing the basics (Chrome, winamp, Steam, WoW, Tribes, Origin, etc.).

Oh! I also saw someone ask how well do large 1080p videos files run. I just tried an MKV file (File size 16.3gb) of a movie running at 1080p off of an external HD with USB 3.0. It played the file like a champ. Just as well as my desktop (Which is a beast of a machine), but the audio was better than my desktop speakers!!

What else..oh- there is an ambient light sensor near the power button. I've been kind of messing with it. If you have certain power saving profiles activated, if it detects light it will turn off the backlight keyboard (and not allow you to turn it on if you aren't in a dark area) and dim the screen a little bit.

Screen is top notch. At first I didn't care for it. Seemed dim and the colors seems washed out. Messed with the brightness/contract. Now things "pop".

Only thing I am skeptical of is the size of the over machine. My sweet spot is the 15.6 inch area. But I haven't given it a chance yet. I only have lifted it and picked it up when I was taking it out of the box.

 

Just wondering what you changed for the screen setting?

 

Thanks for all the reviews, it's appreciated.

For me, the decision appears to be between this and the upcoming 15" S9 (dual core i7 / 1.9 GHz). Both are about the same price. I wonder if this S7 is tailored more towards gamers which I am not. Do you think S9 (i7) will be powerful enough for a desktop replacement (connected to a larger screen, maybe 27")? It should manage 1080p video playback & internet browsing effortlessly, occasional Photoshopping etc... regular tasks or is it still a "no-brainer"?

S7 seem to have 300nit HD+ Display and S9 400nit HD+ Display. S9 has sand-blasted aluminum all over = less plastic & SSD by default. Both have 8GB of RAM. You can carry S9 everywhere, S7 maybe not quite...

 

I adjusted the brightness/contrast/saturation a tad from inside of the Nvidia Control panel.

 

Just placed my order on amazon! Came out to be around 1300. Cant wait to get it thanks for all the reviews!

 

Just wondering what settings you used? If its not too much trouble to post it

 

@Jussi

The Series 7 is a multimedia laptop, which will accommodate your needs of photoshopping and 1080p playback, and connect to a larger screen. The series 9 is going to use the intel 4000 since it is not going to have a dedicated graphics card, so those "multimedia tasks" will run a tad slower. I don't mind the 17 inch because my laptop sits at the desk around 95% of the time, but if need your laptop for mobility and want something light weight, go for the Series 9. If you want performance, go for the Series 7. Also the series 7 can be carried around if you don't mind weight of it.

 

Well, a couple of things to consider: The S9 is definitely an ultrabook. You can absolutely take anywhere they will permit you to. The S7, while I haven't picked it up a whole lot, feels a little unwieldy closed. But it has such a uniform shape and weight that it suddenly doesn't feel so bad to lug around.

My "couch" test is just that. If I can lay or sit on the couch with system on my lap and it does not feel awkward because of size and weight, then it's a keeper, for me. This one passed said test just now.

Also, keep in mind, the screen resolutions are different. The S9 has a 1600 x 900 vs the S7 which has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. The S7, while a little more tailored for gamers in the sense that it has a dedicated Kepler GPU, isn't really only for gamers.

If you are looking for a desktop replacement, I would say S7 because vs the S9 for the price and specs, the S7 will get you further and do more for you.

But if portability is what you are after (I mean a machine you are going to move and take with you everywhere everyday- not just around the house or when you do travel), the I would say the S9.

 

No trouble at all.

So here they are , for both the Nvidia and IntelHD settings. Like I said, just adjusted them a tad, and to my liking. These settings may not look great to your eyes, but to me and my friend, these looked best.

Use the IntelHD to "boost" colors/brightness/contrast in your general windows environment. Nvidia for gaming (Only tried it with Tribes: Ascend as it's the only thing I have installed thus far.).

I believe you may be able to set the 650 as your regular GPU for everything, although i m not certain as I have not tried. In which case, you would use the Nvidia Control panel for your general windows environment.

Edit: I've been tweaking with it some more. More Saturation = more color pop inside of the IntelHD setting. Don't go too crazy with it though. You don't want to wash the details out.

 

Thank you for the video file info. I really enjoy watching something on the computer while I do work.

 

Here's something you guys could do, make screenshots of the programs installed after deleting the bloatware.

Never had a Samsung before, so not sure what should remained installed and what should be deleted.

And description of what the programs do would be nice.

 

Not a problem. I should also add I was using VLC player.

 

Ask and Ye shall receive.

This is what I have after uninstalling bloatware and installing a few things (Java, Steam, HiRez/Tribes, VLC player, Chrome).

A lot of the bloatware is that Cyberlink media crap. About 6 things. Then there are some Samsung programs, like Kies and a few other things that I can't remember exactly. Then there is this terrible game software, can't recall the name, Icon is a purple W. It lures you in with some good casual games (plants vs. zombies, Peggle, Zuma) but it's not very good.

Of course, Norton, which I promptly uninstalled when the window popped up on its own when
i first booted the system.

And Skype was already on here, but I don't mind skype as I use it. Also, Microsoft Office 2010 and essentials, which I also left on here for now.

 

Sweetish
+rep and what does E-Pop do?

 

Anyone? Please...

 

Ooops! You are going to want to uninstall that. Doesn't really do much. It is essentially a little program that runs in the top left hand corner for stores to open when displaying a model on their show floor.

It stays open over evrything you do and it says "SAMSUNG NOTEBOOK SERIES 7 CHRONOS 17" and then some little icons that are vauge and ambigous like, "SAMSUNG FAST SOLUTIONS" and "SUPER BRIGHT SCREEN."

It only opened for me the first time I booted. I just hit the X to close out of it. Never ran again, unless I manually ran it.

 

Hi, do you think it will be good machine for "laptop" 3D works (3ds max etc)
is it possible to upgrade RAM to 16GB?

 

As mentioned several times in this thread already.
Max memory is 12GB, 4GB is soldered to the mainboard so you can only replace ONE of the 4BB banks with a 8GB = 12GB.

I wish people would actually browse through the replies instead of just popping up and ask the same thing that has been asked several times before.

 

.. browsed about 20 pages and did not see it ...to big discussion already
what about the main question? do you think it will be good machine for "laptop" 3D works (3ds max etc)

 

Yes, it will be a good laptop, and the GT 650 will have pretty fast render times as well.

 

There should be an up leveled version NP700z7c-s02 that should be released by the end of the year, very likely in October. That should ship a comparable processor but 16gig ram on board and a choice of SSD and bluray.

 

Hey paul, I'm stuck between waiting for the envy and this sick samsung...any chance you can tell me what kind of battery life your getting? Thanks man

 

I don't know if I can do that envy lover! battery mode 6-8 hours normal mode watching online videos and downloading stuff about 5

 

HOLY COW, 6-8 hours with normal browsing on a 17"?

I wonder what the 15.6" will be getting, that's crazy O_O

 

its just a name i might just get the samsung, after all your positive feedback, i dont see how anything wrong with it!

 

How is the samsung compared to this one:

HP Core i7 Quad 2.3GHz Ivy Bridge 17" Blu-ray Laptop for $900 + free shipping deal - CNET Marketplace


It only costs $1200 for i7-3610QM, 8gb, gt 650M, 750gb, 1920x1080, 802.11 b/g/n, and the bluray.

 

Screen resolution of 1600x900 on a 17.3 in is kinda low, also the graphics card is a gt630 1gb. I guess for the price point, it is not that bad of a deal.

 

Could someone please check how it handles some more demanding games like Battlefield 3, Metro 2033, Skyrim, or Crysis 2 (preferably with the dx11 and hi-res texture pack) if possible?

I'm guessing it would have to run them at a lower res to handle most of the eye candy but i'm really curious roughly what kind of frame rates it can manage (especially overclocked)

 

1600x900 and 630M are for $900.
You can customize the screen and graphics card for $300 and get 1920x1200 and 650M.
Other ports are exactly the same as the samsung, except for the bluray available on hp.
And you can spend another $200 somewhere online for a 256GB ssd, preferably crucial m4. That breaks even with the $1400 samsung.
I am not sure if this is a huge deal.

 

probably Samsung is better ..will wait until 16GB will come out or S01US gets cheaper

 

Currently in the process of getting BF3, Skyrim, and Crysis 2 on it right now.

I will put up a gaming report in a few hours time.

 

Given that it is a HP, the build quality is probably much worst (in my experience)

 

I also feel that samsung could be better in its exterior design. The HP may be better in cooling due to the thickness.
I have already taken mine back to bestbuy. Even for $1399, the samsung is overpriced given the hardware cost these days. Also the keyboard warms up too much, and this keeps away developers.

 

I agree, I don't really know what is really causing the heat though since the temperature of the CPU and the nvidia graphics card is 40-50 degrees Celsius. According to speedfan, ACPI is the one that is what is causing the heat, always 65-70 degrees C. Does anyone know what the ACPI even is?

 

Don't fall for it. HP's quality control sucks big time. Both DV7 and Envy lines are nowhere close to this Samsung laptop. DV7 sound is pretty bad. And it heats up like crazy. Its wireless is junk and keep chopping in power save mode and eats too much battery in normal mode. Screens in both Envy and DV7 are inferior. Battery life on DV7 sucked (around 3-4 hours).

Envy line is better (battery life was about 5-6 hours) than DV7 but had several issues as well. Read my sig and the forums. I gave up on HP.

With Samsung I ended up spending 300$ more but I am a happy camper although specs wise, Samsung is inferior (dual hard drives and Bluray) to HP. I don't care for both as much as I care about having a good screen, keyboard, wireless, battery life and raw speed.

 

ACPI, this maybe?

 

Ya, I already looked it up but didn't really understand much of it. From what I can get from it is that it is something to do with the power supply.

 

From the little bit I read it seems some kind of power management.
Though in this case it's specific to the Samsung as a clean W7 install does not have it.

Maybe that's the trick to a longer battery life, could try and disable it.

 

it is most likely what is known as PWM on desktop motherboards. Its the power regulation hardware around the CPU. It is known to get very hot but it can take temps reaching to 110 to 120C. So, no issue with it dying due to heat. Only problem is that those temps are no good for humans.... And a laptop exposing them to humans is sort of not designed well.

Samsung did not invest time in routing the heat on this laptop. The underside does get warm even during normal web and simple video kind of usage. There is no escape for heat. So, heat rises and it heats up the keyboard.

 

so is there no solution for this?

 

So how bad is the heat really?
Because I'll leave the thing on 24/7 to craft in the MMORG I play.
And I will be using the laptop a lot for gaming and in general.

For the winter it might be a nice hand warmer
But in the summer and such it might be the last thing you want.
Thoughts?

Laptop cooler as an external method maybe, or pray it's fixed with a firmware.
On that note did you guys update all the drivers?

 

I think it can definitely use a laptop cooler. Even a simple pad which separates your lap from the laptop, will help. I am not worried about laptop having issues. I think these things are designed to withstand those temps.

 

Can't rule that out. May be there is still some voltage switching going on and engaging PWM more than it is needed. May be a CPU microcode update or BIOS update may fix that.

One thing I would definitely want to try is to undervolt the CPU and GPUs during idle and upclock them only when I am gaming. And I will happily not put it in my lap or put it on a cooler when gaming.