Samsung 15" Series 9 NP900X4C with Ivy Bridge CPU

Did you use the old Easy Display Manager program? You should use the Easy Settings package. Version 2, which is included in the Settings software package for Windows 8, is better behaved. Use Samsung's SW Update (download using the link on this page) to obtain your drivers and software.

On a different topic, my X4C is now just over 11 months old so I've just run the battery calibration to check the battery health. It's still at 0% wear although the fully charged capacity is now the same as the design capacity (it used to be slightly more).

John

 

I have a couple of quick queries

Is anyone using a USB3.0 Docking solution

I was looking to get a new monitor, is there a maximum resolution that can be output? I can't seem to see in the manual I was going to go for;

BenQ GW2750HM 27 inch Full HD LED Monitor: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Thanks in advance.

 

Lol! Yeah, I've noticed! I checked device manager, and it's definitely there. The keyboard automatically shuts off its backlighting when it's bright enough, so I guess my screen should have the same ability. I checked in the HD4000 control panel after installing the Intel driver (I've done a clean install of Windows 7), but can't find anything under there that would enable automatic brightness for the screen.

Awesome, thanks for the link! Google has only been referring me to here: Support - Laptops NP900X4C | Samsung PCs (actually, it points me to the A01US, tried changing it to my model but it doesn't seem to make a difference).

Edit/Update: I'm running 1.1.1.4 for Easy Settings, not running display manager after all. I have the setting so that adaptive is enabled when on battery. The keyboard is reacting, but not the display.

 

Yeah, definitely use SW Update to get a newer Easy Settings as John said. I am currently using 2.0.0.49, and there is an even newer one out.

The Adaptive timeout slider in Easy Settings is only for Keyboard Backlight. For the screen, you have to tweak the power profiles and the HD4000 graphics control panel. Sorry, maybe you already did...

 

Thanks for the reply. Is the newer easy settings compatible with Windows 7? The update manager isn't showing an update for it. I can't find anything to control adaptive brightness in the hd4000 control panel. Might be because I'm using Intel's latest version instead of oem. The windows power profile shows enabled adaptive brightness as enabled, too.

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Easy Settings V2 works fine with Windows 7. It is in the Win 7 folder in the Windows 8 version of the Settings package. Samsung have stopped bothering to update the Windows 7 driver and software in its database although the software development people have evidently not stopped Win 7 support. You may need to use the Samsung version of the graphics driver to ensure that the Fn keys and light sensor have the required effects.

You can also check if your Intel Rapid Start Technology is working correctly as discussed here.

John

 

Yes. Anything called Easy Settings is made for Win7 (as opposed to just Settings which is made for Win8). Apparently Samsung is too busy to update the SW Update entries under Win7 for older models. And it's an oddity that they put them in a Win7 folder under the Settings package for Win8.

The Win7 installation on my old NP700Z3A has been running Easy Settings 2.0.0.30 forever now, but SW Update still shows 1.1.0.28 as the latest under Win7. (I hardly ever use this Win7 installation, or I would have updated to even newer versions of Easy Settings).

Edit: Once again John and I posted on top of each other. And once again John beat me to it

 

Happen to have a link to the download of the new settings? The support page doesn't seem to show any newer versions for software.

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As John said, it's not on the web, so there is no link anybody can give you. It's in Samsung's driver database, and you have to use SW Update to get it. Just follow our instructions on how to find it.

 

Thanks for the help! So now, through the SW Update program, I've installed Settings v2.0.0.38 (from the Windows 7 folder), and have "Use the auto brightness control depending on the ambient illumination" checked for both "Plugged in" and "On battery." Is it normal to still be able to adjust the slider above these check boxes? I'm still able to manually adjust the brightness, and it does not seem to be doing anything on its own. I've also checked the HD4000 options (OEM this time), and cannot see anything to set the brightness to automatic (includes checking under the Power Options in advanced). Should I try a newer version of the Settings program? If it helps, I have the NP900X4C-A06US, and that's where I've downloaded both the Settings and the HD graphics drivers from.

 

OK, you got Easy Settings 2.x installed, that's great. There is an even newer 2.0.0.55 under model NP880X5E-X03CA (if I remember correctly), but it should work with the one you got.

It's normal that you can still adjust brightness manually, but Adaptive Brightness overrides when ambient lighting changes and it limits the max brightness (don't ask me why).

There should definitely be an option in your Power Profile settings looking like the screenshot below. If not, something else is wrong. In that case I would try and uninstall that Sensor device in Device Manager and let it re-detect that. And maybe uninstall HD4000 drivers completely and re-install those (reboot in between). The goal is to get the Windows' power management to properly discover that the PC has Adaptive Brightness hardware.

 

Yep, the settings in my power options for the current profile are detecting the sensor, and adaptive is set to "On" for both battery and plugged in. The Intel HD4000 drivers have been clean installed, no change. I've tried reinstalling the sensor in Device Manager without success as well. Hmm... The keyboard is definitely detecting the ambient lighting, because its backlight turns off when I turn lights on. So, the sensor must be working...man, my machine is being stubborn! lol

 

Yeah, that really IS weird.

How about swapping this machine with a user who wants to get rid of Adaptive Brightness? You may even be able to get two machines in exchange for that rare specimen

I am sorry, that wasn't very tactful, I just couldn't help myself.

Did you try the Easy Settings that comes with Settings 2.0.0.49 or 2.0.0.55? I ask because the Settings in those contain new software to enable/disable Adaptive Brightness (which wasn't there before). Maybe Samsung added something to help turn it off -- but the same new code might help you turn it on. Again, look under model NP880Z5E-X03CA.

If that doesn't fix it, all I can think of is a full backup, restore to factory (F4), to see if the issue is still there. IF so, it's a hardware issue.

 

Hey, that may be a good idea

I'll try the Easy Settings under the Windows 7 section for the model you listed (2.0.0.49), and if that doesn't work, the one under Windows 8 (2.0.0.55). Don't think I'd be able to do a recovery, since I blew away all partitions to get rid of the GPT formatting of the drive to get Windows 7 to play nice...I may be able to download those files again I believe, there's a recovery piece of software that's downloadable via the SW Update program. I'd really prefer not to go back to Windows 8 if I can avoid it...for the time being anyway.

 

I never liked by display changing brightness without my specific permission so I have a piece of black tape over the ALS.

However, there are at least two factors in the brightness equation: Ambient lighting (and the effect may change depending on whether on mains or battery power) and the content of what is being displayed. The latter is within the Intel graphics and may be linked to the Intel Display Power Saving Technology which should appear as an option for the On Battery Power settings. In Easy Settings I have the Display Color set to No Effect and the Auto Brightness is enabled for Battery but not mains power (but is over-ridden by my black tape).

John

 

Ah, thanks for the info. Would you mind sharing where the ALS is? I'm still trying to guess in order to test if my adaptive brightness actually works yet.

 

It's time you read the User Guide!

(Hint: Just to the right of the power light).

John

 

I suppose that would help alleviate some of my questions... Thanks for that though. The keyboard is responding to ambient light changes, but not the screen. I'm stumped. Attached should be images of how I have everything configured. I do have the display power saving technology option in the HD4000 panel disabled; I've already tried enabling it with no effect on the brightness. All it does for me is change the color of the screen, which is just annoying to me.

Should I be seeing options in the HD4000 panel for adaptive brightness?

 

You seem to have ticked the right boxes.

I'm wondering if there was another option in the original graphics driver - I remember that it took me several attempts to stop the brightness changing by itself. What happens if you install the original graphics driver from here? There definitely used to be an option whereby the screen brightness would automatically change according to the content - a lot of white would result in the backlight dimming.

I've also just noticed that the % brightness in the Windows power settings doesn't bear much resemblance to Samsung's 1/8 increments when using the Fn control - 6/8 brightness ends up as about 60% on power (which may be about right in terms of power consumption).

John

 

Actually both Easy Settings .49 and .55 are found under Win8 drivers (NOT under Win7) just for different models. I know, it's ridiculously confusing. Just go straight to the .55 version by looking up the NP880Z5E-X03CA model.

as John said, you've set the right switches (thanks for posting those screenshots).

I'll say again, I think it's time to restore to factory (boot F4) to find out if this really works on your machine. If you call Samsung, they'll probably ask you to do the same. You can make a backup of your Windows partition first, which you can restore once you tested the factory installation.

 

Just tried the original graphics drivers, and it's a no-go, unfortunately. :\ I've tried the latest from Intel as well with no luck. Neither version's control panel seems to show anything that's related to adaptive brightness. I'm not a fan of the "power saving technology" feature intel provides when on battery; that seems to reduce the brightness of the picture whenever looking at mostly dark content (noticed it immensely when enabled with my older Dell XPS 15 L502x, and ended up disabling it). Maybe the A06US doesn't support adaptive brightness. It's quite puzzling that Windows power options indicate that the option is there though, and the light sensor does show up in Device Manager. The keyboard backlighting is definitely adaptive.

Ah, yeah, I'm definitely on 2.0.0.55 now. F4 probably won't do much since I've wiped the recovery partition (Windows 7 installation wasn't liking it, possibly was preventing moving away from GPT-based formatting of the drive). I don't think I'm worried about it to the point of redoing the OS again, so I could very well live among everyone else with manual backlighting.

Nothing in the BIOS that would dictate whether the adaptive backlight works or not, right? I've looked through a few times, doesn't look nearly as complex as my ASUS Sabertooth Z77 system's BIOS!

 

I think you just gave us the answer, if you say you went through a UEFI/GPT to BIOS/MBR conversion: Based on the discussion here it would appear that Adaptive Brightness on Win8-delivered models is controlled by a setting in the UEFI BIOS which is not visible in the classic BIOS.

If this setting is disabled on yours (for some reason) you can't re-enable it because you no longer have access to your UEFI BIOS after converting to BIOS/MBR and Win7.

If that assumption is correct, then the only reason this hasn't come up previously from other users who downgraded (and converted) is because most people cannot get rid of Adaptive Brightness fast enough, so they never notice a problem.

Conversely, the opposite may be true as well: That some of those who cannot seem to disable Adaptive Brightness, are users who downgraded to Win7 while this setting was still enabled in their UEFI BIOS, but having switched to BIOS/MBR they lost access to those settings -- and it's still enabled.

That actually makes a lot of sense to me. Maybe others can point out flaws in my logic

 

Ughh.. anybody can give me advice what should I do?
I was looking into 15 inch Samsung Series 9 for the price of ~940 dollars in Amazon, until few days ago, when Amazon suddenly raised the price to 1100 dollars and there are only 3rd party sellers available for selling ~900ish. The reason why I'm worrying about is that I read some bad review regarding Series 9 wi-fi chip, and in case of defective model or malfunctioning, buying straight from Amazon will give me an option of exchange product in fast way. Should I risk this and buy from 3rd party seller in Amazon or should I just wait little bit for price to drop when new Series 9 is showing up? I was kind of waiting whether new Ativ book 9 with 15 inch model will be available or not.

 

Ah, make sense! Uh oh, does that mean I'd have to reinstall Windows 8 to get back to the UEFI BIOS?

 

If you really want this feature -- and IF what I described is indeed the reason -- then you will need something to access those UEFI BIOS settings. Win8 can do it (Advanced Startup Options). But I assume you can also use a Linux LiveCD (or USB) with UEFI support. However, that's a subject I know hardly anything about.

There are also the risks described in the thread linked below, which I believe could apply to your generation (I mean your laptop's generation, not yours personally )

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/706510-samsung-laptops-bricked-using-uefi.html

What are your current BIOS settings for SecureBoot and OS Mode Selection? I am wondering if you installed Win7 in UEFI mode and maybe it has a way of accessing the UEFI BIOS settings. I never tried that myself.

 

The Series 9 WiFi is sub-par for two reasons: (i) the antennae are along the back of the chassis between the hinges so the signal gets partly blocked by all the metal; and (ii) the Intel 6235 WiFi card had well documented issues with maintaining a connection. Intel were slow to address this problem but driver updates issued during the past three months have given noticeable improvements for most (but not all) users. Some Windows 8 users find the Windows 8 default WiFi driver to be better than Intel's.

John

 

Oh... I see.. I saw so many negative reviews regarding intel wi-fi card so I was really worried about it. But I actually ordered 15 inch Series 9 through 3rd party seller in Amazon, paid around 940 dollars, which I think it's not bad at all. If I get my laptop I would have to make sure if it has wi-fi issue, but I'm really excited to receive this beautiful laptop in my hands

 

Had a look when I installed an m4 mSATA last night. Doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with the fan, at least not the ball bearings. Was a bit of dust in there which I removed. It's still quite noisy under load, but it seems a bit better. Possibly just placebo though.

Thanks for the tip re; using clonezilla for swapping the SSD to whoever linked that guide. Effortless and easy. I recommend using a fast external HDD though. My old WD Passport USB 2.0 was surprisingly not ideal Would've probably been faster using a samba share than the passport.

EDIT: spelling.

 

You can't complain at that price!

Get the newest WiFi driver from Intel and you should find it will hold the connection OK. (I'm currently sitting in an airport where, 6 month ago I was getting frustrated by connection problems but now everything seems to be fine). I bought one of these as backup for the occasions when the signal strength was too weak to hold a connection. In reality, that adapter has had very little use.

John

 

After refreshing my PC without affecting your files (a lovely Win8 option), my X4D seems to be slower and the battery time is most definitely less while running on battery mode. I feel like something is constantly eating CPU/RAM, therefor browsing is much laggier etc. I've updated drivers that SW Update gave me and I haven't installed IntelliMemory, Rapid Storage and other bloatware, which was removed before refreshing. WinUpdate is also done.

Am I really missing something or does anyone has ideas? And no, I don't have Silent mode on (a common mistake many users do).

Screenshot of Task Manager:
Image 2013-07-03 at 1.10.27 PM.png

Screenshot of SW Update:
Image 2013-07-03 at 1.11.47 PM.png

 

I've been set to CSM and SecureBoot disabled, but recently changed to CSM and UEFI to see if that made a difference in the options I had. I can't see anything different option-wise in the BIOS (I'm guessing the BIOS is the "CSM part", and I'd need an OS to acquire any sort of UEFI settings.).

 

Got it. Yeah, BIOS/MBR is generally the recommended way to install Win7 in these Sammies.

And that's exactly right: CSM = Compatibility Support Module = old school BIOS. UEFI is software based, so you need some software to access those settings. But remember, again, it is merely speculation on my part so far that this is what prevents Adaptive Brightness from kicking in.

I would LOVE to hear the outcome, though, if you take this on. It could explain a lot for others who're struggling to control Adaptive Brightness.

 

Ah ok, not to confuse myself with the BIOS of my PC rig's board. I believe that's also UEFI; must be advanced enough to not be dependent on any additional software.

I'll let you guys know if I find anything (will probably try a live usb of Ubuntu to see if it sees any of those advanced BIOS options).

 

Yes, yes, of course UEFI is a BIOS feature too. It just relies on software features (off the EFI/ESP partition) more than the classic old BIOS did. I agree that Linux Live USB is your best choice (just keep those risks in mind that I linked). Enable UEFI for that purpose, then set it back to CSM when you're done.

 

So, how is that "lovely Win8 option" working out for you? Looks like the answer is "not at all".

Rapid storage is not "bloatware". It's an essential (and tremendously useful) piece of driver software.

 

I've just been admiring what seems to be the best spec X4C available anywhere on the globe: The NP900X4C-A02IN. i7 3537U + 512GB + Windows 8 Pro. Price is Indian Rupees 111,000 (~US$ 1900).

Which gives me dilemma: Should I give up on Crucial getting round to making their 480GB M500 mSATA available and try to buy this machine with a decent CPU and SSD capacity? I then don't need to worry about whether or not Samsung introduces a new 15" model. Or, if they do bring one out then I can afford to sit out if it arrives with a bottom end Haswell CPU and wait for something faster. I also get to keep the 1600 x 900 display that my eyes are happy with. win 8 Pro also gives me downgrade rights to Win 7 if I don't like it.

Any thoughts?

John

 

I was hoping I'd be able to pick up a 480-512GB for $250 by years end. But that's looking less and less likely. I can let it slide a little since it uses the new NAND, but I find it annoying that SSD prices have hardly moved in the past year. Equally perturbing is Samsung's complete silence on a 15" refresh or a more reasonable 13" model. Since you already have an X4C (ivy or sandy?) I would just wait on the crucial. I feel in a few months that model will be on closeout for a lot less and I would kick myself if I paid full price now. With the drop in PC sales the past year, I think most of these OEMs are sitting on a pile of ivy chips they're still trying to move.

 

I've been making further deliberations on the subject. Some points are:

1. Samsung have effectively closed out the X4C in UK and the few that are remaining are attracting silly pricing.
2. While Samsung UK have brought in some X3Es with i7 CPUs and up to 512GB SSDs, they've just let the 15" fade away.
3. I've no confidence that, even if a new 15" model appears, it will be offered in UK with a decent sized SSD and i7 CPU, at least during the next few months. Witness the X3G with 4200U CPU and 128GB SSD. In that context, getting an Ivy Bridge model now with a decent CPU makes sense.
4. It looks as if the new Series 9s use an M.2 (gumstick) SSD so, if I get a 480GB M500 mSATA for my present X4C then I wouldn't be able to swap it into the next generation machine.
5. Addressing my SSD capacity problem now (and getting a faster CPU as a bonus) means I'm able to worrying about whether the X4C's successor will (a) appear at all; (b) have a glossy screen; (c) cause me display scaling problems; and (d) put on weight (like the X3G). I'm comfortable with the current X4C display although better viewing angles would be welcome.

Buying a new computer is the expensive work-around for getting more SSD capacity! Of course, the credit card might not cooperate.

John

 

Yep, that's always the weak link.
With that high demand, you may be able to ebay your current X4C to soften the blow.

 

(Un)fortunately, the credit card transaction went through so I've now got two X4C's on my desk. Murphy's Law decrees that the 480GB M500 will be available in the UK in the next 10 days. I didn't want to wait a week since there were only two in stock (one on display and one unopened).

Out-of-the-box WEI data for the new machine are below with values for the old one in ().

Processor: 7.1 (6.9)
Memory: 7.5 (7.4)
Desktop graphics: 5.8 (6.5)
Gaming graphics: 6.5 (6.5)
Primary Hard Disk 8.3 (7.9 (Crucial m4 256GB))

I'm wondering why the Desktop Graphics score is so much lower. A Windows 8 side-effect? so I might soon might be able to make some intelligent comments about Windows 8 issues. At the moment I'm trying to decide whether I need to invest in Start8 (life will be a lot easier with the latter).

John

PS: I'm surprised to see that the new X4C has a different BIOS (now P07ABK) than the older one (P06AAC). Did the BIOS family change with the introduction of Windows 8 and UEFI?

 

Thought I'd give a little update as to what I've tried. So now, I'm dual booting with Ubuntu and Win7. I have a feeling I had Ubuntu install while under CSM instead of UEFI though...

I tried booting into Ubuntu via USB while in UEFI mode, but I couldn't see any option for adaptive brightness anywhere. I'm thinking the only way for me to get to the option would be to start fresh and install Windows 8 again. If I get bored enough, guess I'll try that!

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Thanks for the update. I don't know about Ubuntu, but in Win8, you get to the UEFI firmware settings by using the Advanced Startup feature within Win8, then restarting, which boots you to the UEFI settings screen. The question is it's possible to ever get to that UEFI screen without the disk being GPT and containing an EFI partition (so-called ESP partition).

I'll be very interested in hearing your results!

 

Congrats, John. That's quite a machine you got there

Is 256GB going to be enough with the images you want to store? Or will that M500 still be tempting you?

 

The new X4C has the 512GB Samsung SSD. That was the main reason for buying it (an expensive way to get hold of the SSD!). I mentioned the Crucial m4 in the WEI scores because that's what's currently in the old X4C. The HDD WEI score for the stock Sandisk U100 is 7.5.

Anyway, I still can't get the Windows 8 desktop graphics above 5.8. Perhaps M$ tweaked something in Win 8 because the Win 7 scores for the Intel graphics were getting too good.

Interestingly, the new X4C was actually made in January so it's been sitting on the shelves for a long time.

John

 

Ah yes, that note after your WEI score was indeed what confused me, as I knew the bigger drive was a key motivation behind your purchase.

I vaguely seem to remember a comment that WEI scores are not directly comparable between Win7 and Win8 (which would explain the lower graphics score). I'm not sure though, going off memory.

Anyways, an awesome machine you got there!

 

Nice hardware but I'm not yet convinced about the benefits of Windows 8, UEFI and GPT. For some reason I can't shrink the C: to less than half of its original size in Windows Disk Management and Acronis Disk Director won't touch GPT. I didn't yet install Start8 but the Window 8 user interface is a step backwards in terms of productivity. Even the list of all applications uses a load of icons sorted in some irrational manner. I couldn't find windows Update there and had to get it through control panel (which thankfully still has a familiar appearance).

John

 

John, I think it is a good decision to buy the existing X4C even if it could be used for a short time. You can now enjoy a faster and a larger SSD. However, as soon as you find new information about a "new 15 inch series 9", if any, you can consider to keep it or sale it.

Did you see any change in display, wifi signal strength and touch pad?

For start menu, I guess this one is the best free option. Try it out. Just avoid using metro apps while disabling metro completely. Metro will be killed using this app, but if you upgrade to 8.1, it might not work.

 

Oh yes, I understand (and agree) with those usability aspects of Win8. You probably remember my initial reactions as well. Without Start Menu 8 (free from iobit.com) I would not be able to use it productively. It's not only that flipping to the Start Screen (which hides whatever you're currently doing) is less efficient that picking from a Start Menu (which discretely overlays what you're doing) -- that part I could probably learn to accept. But the Start Screen is such a mess, and quite a lot of work to customize. If at least it was structured (to start out with) in the same programs groups as the Start Menu it would be a much more acceptable hurdle to overcome. Of course for touch screens it is far more usable than Start Menu, I understand that.

You will also find that some control panel functionality has been moved to Metro, so that you will have to flip back and forth to complete some management tasks. It's not too bad, though, just silly. In 8.1 they revamped the entire Metro Settings interface to let you complete more tasks there.

As you probably found, moving the mouse to the screen corners is where all the functionality is hidden. Right-click low-left corner is a secret gem!

As for shrinking your Windows partition, try the following: Temporarily disable hibernation (POWERCFG /H OFF) and disable Page File, that should delete several GB of unmovable files; also run Disk Cleanup and CCleaner; now defrag and try Shrinking again. You can of course re-enable hibernation and page file afterwards. (For page File Initial size, I personally use 256MB on 4GB machines and 512MB on 8GB machines). If you still cannot Shrink it enough, Gparted will do it -- if you have the courage to boot a Linux LiveUSB

Performance and boot speed is what I appreciate most in Win8. Maybe my experience is skewed by the fact that I've run a clean install since the beginning, so it's always been quite snappy.

 

The display looks very similar. WiFi seems OK (once with the latest Intel driver) but side-by-side testing will have to wait until I get home. The touchpad behaves the same once the driver was updated and I had disabled the "reverse" option. The keyboard backlighting looks to be a little brighter, or it may be mre light leakage around the keys.

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a try, but not today.

I've been busy running a few benchmarks to confirm that the CPU and SSD are running as expected (ie typically 20 to 25% faster than my old machine with Crucial m4). wPrime 32M showed >30% improvement which suggests that in burst mode the faster CPU can do more than the increase in clock speed suggests - perhaps it can run a little longer at full load before some power algorithm cuts the core speeds back. Fan noise is similar to the older X4C (but it's doing that extra work for a given amount of time). HWiNFO shows that both cores fully loaded can run at a sustained 2.9 GHz (the i5 3317 runs at 2.4 GHz under sustained load).

John

 

Hey guys, amidst my ordeal with adaptive brightness, I'm finally settling into my clean install of Windows 7. In my Samsung SW Update program, it's showing a WLAN driver update from 15.0.7.4 to 15.0.7.5 (I think those are the right numbers...will change if I find out otherwise) is available. However, when I go to update to this version, it says that the update fails. Anyone else experiencing this?

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