Samsung 15" Series 9 NP900X4C with Ivy Bridge CPU

Thanks for the reply. Since Samsung claims that Win 7 32-bit is not supported on the NP900X4C, I might just go with a 15" Mac Book Pro and "Bootcamp". But first I'll check to make sure that the current drivers in that case do still support the installation of Win 7 32-bit.

Thanks again. This is medical transcription software that must run together with an electronic medical record, and running both in a VM might be slower than "bootcamp" on a Mac, even if the Mac-provided drivers aren't the most efficient.

 

Where do Samsung say that 32-bit Windows is not supported? The X4C download site shows provision for 32 bit Win 7 (and XP if you want it!).

John

 

Thanks, John. If you'd be willing to walk me through the process (just the order of installation), I'd be willing to try- and would be greatly appreciative! Just one caveat- I'd have to be able to fully restore to factory installation from the included DVD so I could return the Samsung if things still did not work out. Do you know if the DVD could be used in that way?

To answer your question: the Samsung rep indicated that 32-bit installation was not supported.

 

I seriously doubt that. The Samsung SSD's have some of the fastest I/O on the market. The NP900X4C supports up to 16GB of RAM and there fore you can allocated a full 3GB to the VM. I would be shocked to learn the VM and apps are CPU bound.

Trust me, running a 32 bit version of Windows on a mac via bootcamp isn't a better scenario. You aren't going to like the shorter battery life and extra heat.

If you are going to buy a mac, you might as well run VMWare Fusion or Parallels and stuff the apps inside a Windows virtual machine there. Then you are right back to the solution on the Sammy.

It sounds like the scenario you are describing hasn't been fully tested across the various options. If there are more than a few machines involved, it needs to be so you can pick the best solution.

The rep is misinformed. The Samsung support and download area at Support - Notebooks NP900X4C | Samsung Laptops has downloads for Windows XP and the 32 bit version of Windows 7.

If they don't support them, then they should not be on the download center.

 

Thanks, Thors.H. Unfortunately, it seems as if the combination of needing a SSD and 15" screen severely limits my options. If you feel I'd be better off with the 32-bit running under a VM than by attempting to install the 32-bit OS directly to hardware, then I'd be willing to try.

 

First, as long as you keep the recovery partition then you can backup your existing Windows as already installed and restore it later. One of the Fn keys (F4?) when pressed at boot can get you into a BIOS level version of SRS but I haven't checked how will it works but should be a way to restore a previous Windows installation. Check it out.

So which process do you want to try?

No surprise there! We ought to have a special thread with all the Samsung support wrong, poor or useless advice. Maybe someone would eventually notice it and realise they have a problem.

John

 

Thanks to both John & Thors, and sorry about the cross-thread. I suppose I ought to try the 32-bit direct install first, as I assume that that would give me the best performance. Correct assumption?

Yes; F4 brings me to BIOS & SRS. I've copied over my Win7-x86 DVD to a flash drive. Do all of the files need to be on root level? I take it I can install drivers afterwards, or might there be something crucial missing from the standard Win7-x86 install that might prevent me from going further? (As you can see, I am not especially experienced in this, so please assume that I need to be advised in the details). Thanks so much for your help.

 

Does F4 + SRS allow you to make a full backup of C:? If so, do it (assuming the backup fits into the recovery partition).

I've not tried making a bootable flash drive Windows installer (I use a USB optical drive) but this method should work. The challenge is to get the required boot info into the right place and that can't be done by copying files.

Then go into Easy Settings and disable Samsung Fast start which will improve your chances of being able to boot off the flash drive and it's safer to use the USB 2.0 port because Windows 7 doesn't have built-in USB 3.0 support. When you're ready to run press F10 at the BIOS screen to get you to a one-time boot menu and select the flash drive as the boot device. Your Samsung Windows key is on the PSU.

John

 

Thanks. Am working on it...Which USB port is 2.0?

 

Take a look: The blue tabs indicate USB 3.0.

John

 

I would certainly test a 32 bit install after you have made the recovery and software DVD's so you can restore the machine back to it's original state.

By running the 32 bit OS on the native hardware you can only use 3GB of RAM so it isn't the smartest long term configuration choice. This is why I would recommend the virtualization route. I don't think you are going to give up that much performance and it will be infinitely more flexible.

 

I see. 3 GB RAM might be a comparable performance hit to running in a VM. Will try and see what works out. Will let you know. Thanks to all.

 

Hello,
according to Samsung 900X4C, Core i7-3517U 1.70GHz, 8192MB, 256GB SSD (NP-900X4C-A02DE) | Geizhals.at Österreich next week the 900X4C-A02DE might be available.
It has an i7 and a 256GB SSD for an only slightly higher price. If this comes true, it might be worth to wait for it. Does anybody already know which SSD is in it?

 

So far, Samsung have shipped either their own SSD or a Liteon (which has very good test results). However, another batch to another country could use something else.

John

 

I stopped by my local BB to play with the 15'' series 9 and found the screen hinge slightly on the loose side...

How is the build quality for you guys? Maybe in the BB showcase is the constant wave of people playing with the machine, opening and closing the lid
haha.

 

Hmm, well now I can't hear the high pitched whine anymore.. strange. Anyway, John, regarding the post you made earlier about telling me to disable two Intel-graphics exes from running, I've done that now.

My question would be, what mode did you calibrate your monitor in? Samsung's monitor settings has comes with "standard" as the default setting, while there's also a "no effect" option.

My eyes tell me "standard" should be what I'm to leave it on after loading your profile, but just want to make sure.

What are some of the non-essential services/programs you guys uninstalled as to not drain battery life unnecessarily?

The mousepad isn't as bad as what my impression was from reading reviews, but it'd be good if I could tune the tapping sensitivity down. I haven't been able to find a way to do that, so I've had to turn it off instead. Having to depress the pad to click isn't really a problem.. more that the pad actually has left and right buttons so clicking the right-hand one instead of the left one happens every now and again. A uniform pad to distribute the pressure, with two-finger-click being right-click would be nice. Of course, the best thing would be to be able to tune the tapping sensitivity in the first place though.

 

Thanks John for the BIOS link, I though it wasn't that one since its date is way back to April. Now I realise that the program is just the updater, not the update itself. Is there any way to know when there is a BIOS update available just by looking at Samsung's website? I am running Linux, and I can't launch the updater for checking if there is something on queue.

 

Hi John,
are you using that power brick on the right?
If so, how do you like it? Is it a lot better than the Samsung one?

 

My X4C display feels slightly less rigid then the X3B but I think this is not looseness in the hinges but a combination of (a) the display itself being slightly less rigid and (b) the way the hinges are fixed to the chassis. The latter may be the weakness: Pulling forward on an open display appears to make the back of the chassis lift slightly.

Yes, I'm on "standard" and have disabled the movie color enhancer because it was reverting the display color to the original profile, not the calibrated profile.

The background processes don't take a lot of power. Add the CPU time column in Task Manager's processes page and you can see the cumulative CPU usage for each process.

There are better controls, including sensitivity, if you extract ETDAniConf.exe from the touchpad driver package, put it somewhere and run it.

You will have to follow this thread to see if anyone reports a BIOS update.

The third party PSU is smaller and lighter than the Samsung PSU. However, the L-shaped plug (less awkward and less fragile) on the new version of the Samsung PSU makes that my favorite. I travel with 2 PSUs. normally one sits in the hotel and the other in the office but the redundancy means I'm not stuck if one PSU dies (finding spare PSUs with the Samsung tip isn't easy).

John

 

Fair enough, hope that people would like to report that, otherwise I'll ask from time to time

By the way, knowing that you have the same laptop as me gives me additional confidence, thanks for your tips!

 

I installed the 32-bit Windows 7 in a VM. Programs seem to function OK. Now all that remains is to see whether my wife is willing to use it set up that way. Thanks to all for the rapid assistance!

 

Ok thx John

Now could this charger be even lighter and smaller than the one you posted on the right?

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=130701666827&index=7&nav=SEARCH&nid=90573761289

 

I just bought yesterday this laptop!!!
After a few undecisions, between the Asus UX32VD, than in my country, Portugal, didn't had the i7 and FHD version, although Asus Portugal did say that at last are going to release, in a near future, that version, but didn't gave any timeline... so after I saw the brilliant battery life of the Samsung, I forgot the lack of FHD and the 1.65 kg (I came from a 2011 Sony SB with 1.7kg) and pull the trigger...
In fact, 1.65kg on a 15" (with a 14" laptop size) display is marvelous!!!

By the way, my A01PT is an i7 with a Samsung 256GB SSD!!! Hurray!!!
I ddouble checked that before I got one, since the place I got it, Fnac, had one for displaying

Okay, of now almost everything is brilliant and ok with the laptop.
One minor thing that I didn't understand from Samsung. Why the hell they did put Resenas usb bus for the usb 3.0 ?!?! Why?!?!
This was supposed to have the intel usb 3.0 bus as it was released with the new ivy bridge architecture. Renesas is something pre ivy bridge, on 2011 when sandy bridge didn't have the support for the usb 3.0 from intel itself... what a (little) shame...

Two things...
I tried to enable hibernation but the command, said that it was not supported on this model.
Does the sleep mode on this laptop is any different from the rest of the others laptops or desktop pcs?!?
Does it drain more battery than on hibernation?? and what if in sleep mode it runs out of battery, do I loose my stuff, just like the in the "normal" sleep mode??

Is because those two things, that if the sleep mode is like the rest of sleeps modes, I would like to have hibernation back, but the thing is that I can't enable it...

Another thing, I would like to backup those 20GB of space occupied by the recovery partition. Right now, I did the F4 and I'm backing up to an external disk, but the thing is that it says that it's recovering 4GB. What happen to the rest?!?! Isn't suppose to have a bigger size?!? Thos 4GB are from the hidden partition?!?

 

I think Samsung use the same power tip as for the X3A but it may be worth asking in which case this chould be even lighter because there is no mains power cable. Do you know how long the DC cable is?

The question is why did Intel make and Samsung use the HM75 chipset (lower power consumption?).

I think you need to enable the Intel Rapid Start Technology n Easy Settings (bottom of General page). There's more discussion about this technology in this thread. I still haven't got it working 100% reliably on the X4C, unlike the X3B.

Yes, the recovery partition is about 20GB because, I think, it is intended to have space for a compressed image of the working Windows installation on C: You can check in disk management.

John

 

Just placed an order for the NP900X4C-A01US on amazon last night! Excited!

 

John, thanks for the tip, BIOS now all updated, interesting, post update easy software manager burst back into file and is now correctly reporting available updates, as opposed to claiming I was full upto date

 

Just making sure you folks know the 13.3" NP900X3B-A02US is on sale at the microsoft store for $799. See Buy Samsung Series 9 900X3B-A02, 13.3 inch notebook PC, Intel Core i5 processor, sleek design, HDMI - Microsoft Store Online and use promo code SUMMERPC2.

 

I just bought the series 9 15" 4C-A04, I was wondering if other owners have a ringing/vibrating noise from when the speakers hit a certain volume. It's almost as if it hits some resonant frequency and something on the right side of the laptop starts vibrating. Don't know if this is standard or if mine is a little off.

 

Does anyone have this adapter? It does look a bit wider but that could be just the photo

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=130701666827&index=7&nav=SEARCH&nid=90573761289

 

But in disk management I can't assign a drive letter to see the contects of that partition

Does anyone knows a utility that can show me the contents of that partition?!?

 

You have to change the partition type from the WinRE 0x27 type.

 

I've only read through a few pages of this thread so forgive me if this has already been asked but how hard is it to upgrade the SSD eg. opening the case, getting access to the ssd slot? The only computers I've every upgraded were desktops with much more room to move around in. And if the battery is non-removable, how do I make sure I don't short the motherboard or other parts?

 

I just got this thing in the mail today. Open turning it on, I only have about 52GB free. What are some programs not really vital and would give back some disk space? Thanks!

 

If that's a 128GB SSD, the actual starting point is 119GB for a naked drive. A clean install of Windows 7 is only about 8-9GB plus some storage space for the page file. That's usually about 3-4GB initially. If hibernation is turned on, that sucks up another few gig to match the amount of RAM. On the typical 4C, that is going to be 8GB.

So before installing apps, you should have about 100GB free if you wipe all the drive partitions and clean install.

 

Questions for you or someone else who've tried the adapters on ebay:

1) May I assume that the power adapter for the 13inch series 9 and 15in series 9 are the same?

2) May I assume that the x4a/4b/4c adapters are interchangeable?

thx!

 

I am somewhat technologically challenged when it comes to these kind of things. Am I able to do a clean install to regain almost 50gb with the materials I got? I already have an external optical drive connected.Thanks!

 

Recommend you have someone work with you that is more of an expert.

 

A couple of battery power observations from sitting on a plane yesterday: The workload was reading a PDF file and making notes in Word. 2/8 brightness no WiFi / BT and backlit keyboard on (most of the blinds were closed so ambient lighting was low). (i) 94% = 10hr 27min (ii) 83% = 8hr 56 min. So 10 hours is feasible with dim backlight and light usage.

I know the PSUs for the X3B and X4C are interchangeable because I've tried and I'm 99% certain that all X*B, X*C and X*D will be interchangeable. The sellers of third party PSUs usually have a long list of compatible machines.

John

 

Hi all

I'm a Sony Z2 user and my father just got the Series 9 (13" version). Its a very nice machine from the looks of it. I'm strongly considering possible switch but, there are couple things that bother me about the S9. The Z2 has two SSD hard drives in RAID0. With BIOS hack hopefully soon, one could switch to RAID1. Memory on my is 6GB upgradable to 8GB. But the biggest thing for me is the screen resolution. With my upgraded version it is at 1920x1080.

Is anyone here aware of Samsung plans as to offering a higher resolution screen (1920x1080) on the 13" Series 9? I could live with only one HD and 4GB of RAM, but the lower resolution screen is a bit of a killer for me.

* The Sony's higher res screen can definitely be hard to read at times with its mega resolution

Another nice thing is that with the Sony's dock, one can run up to 3 external monitors. I run 2x24" with it when at home. I guess with the Series 9 I would have to use external USB video card to do the same so its doable.

Thanks!

 

I did some more research,if I can backup a clone image of the ssd onto a hard drive using the Samsung recovery software,would it be okay to delete the recovery partition(that will get me back the 20-21gb).

edit*

I will be following this article: Recovery Partition and get 20 gigs (Samsung Slate) | illustration.org. It's not quite the same laptop, but it is a samsung regardless and should be similar.

 

Sounds like you have already made up your mind. Samsung has not made any announcements of their future plans for notebook screen technology.

 

I've had a 4C for about five days. In that time, I have slowly been updating the software using Easy Software Manager. In the past couple of days, I've noticed when I turn on the machine, about 30 seconds after starting, WiFi gets turned off. I use the Easy Setting software to turn it on, but on next start, it turns off again. This may have been discussed, but I am unable to locate that entry. I have the "maintain previous settings" box checked also. Any thoughts?

 

I don't recognise that problem. Perhaps try reinstalling the WiFi driver.

John

 

At this point, I have deleted the Recovery partition and trying to extend the C: drive using the unallocated space. However, it is not letting me extend as the option is greyed out. Any tips on where to go from here?

 

I just want to confirm but the Crucial M4 mSATA 256GB will work in this computer?

 

Try a 3rd party Partition Manager. Where is your hibernation partition?

I can't guarantee that it will work in your X4C but it is working fine in mine as I type this. More details here.

John

 

I still have the hibernation partition(8.3gb) on it.
I currently have 4 total partitions:
-system 100mb
-C:/ 89.16gb
-Hibernation 8.3gb
-unallocated about 22gb

What are some good 3rd partition manager programs?

 

I use Acronis Disk Director but someone recommended a free partition manager during the past few days in one of the Series 9 threads. Go hunting.

John

 

Thanks, but is there a particular reason why the disk management won't allow me to extend the :C/ drive when there is a big unallocated space?

 

Old programming practices and APIs in the OS. There used to be physical reasons in the old days (contiguous blocks) but with direct addressing in a SSD, it should not apply.

Most likely the best solution at this point is going to be a clean install of Windows 7. I might be doing the same soon. It really depends on how good the "Signature" edition provided by the microsoftstore.com folks is.