Samsung 9 Series laptop (ZX310 / 900X3A) unveiled

UGH!! After reading the above and everybody else's issues on the wifi, this has left me with a huge urge to SCREAM!!!! Can't anybody make a decent laptop, thats affordable and doesn't have any issues? I guess the PC industries motto (et al) is "if it doesn't work, sell it anyway".
I was so looking forward to getting this, guess I'll keep looking.

 

My reason for posting againis to find out if there is another way for me to see if I have wifi problems that others have. First my unit has April 2011 on the back & I have only had it a week. I first tested it with speakeasy in the same room as my wireless router & it had 5 bars & tested 2.65Mbps. I took it to my attached garage about 50ft from router & tested and it showed between 2 &3 bars & test speed at 2.7. Then at the same location I streamed netflix movie for 30 min. with no problem. I really like the unit and can see no reason to return it unless some other test I don't know about would change my mind. I would appreciate any ideas. Also I do remember that Apple had a problem with some of the products not showing the correct amount of bars and that was fixed with software changes. jimjoh

 

"It truly is a love affair with the wifi being the heartbreak." Very well said, thats exactly how I feel. But the reviewer also shows a way out of this: Samsung, replace the metal bottom with a plastic one!

 

Is there a set of drivers out there that will fix the acpi lid (3 second sleep / wake) and the ambient light auto adjust (while on battery)?

I too reloaded the system to Windows 7 Pro 64 bit... reclaimed the 20 gig restore hidden partition.

Samsung tech support has gotten me no where... and since they can remote diagnose, they just gave me a number for a service centre (no longer on warranty).

 

If Wifi works well in the places you normally use the laptop, I would not worry about it. For the rare occasions when you are somewhere else and run into the problem: an external Wifi USB stick/antenna is going to cost you $15 and won't add much to the weight of your computer bag.

The problem I - and many others - seem to be having is, that Wifi does not work in the places where we normaly use it: I can no longer stream video from my slingbox to the laptop in HD quality when on my bed. My - very old - Lenovo X61 does not have any signal strenth degradation in the very same spot. The drop off is also very sudden, so a few feet closer or further from the router can make a significant difference.

 

Yes, I saw that but....getting them to actually do something about it in a timely manner is another thing. I don't want to buy something that only works a certain way and I don't want to wait for months for promises that may never materialize and no consumer should condone this behavior from a manufacturer. I may wait a month to see if the problem seems to be resolved before I buy it, but I refuse to be the sheep.

I already have a USB laptop connect card and was hoping to get a Mifi device and use this wirelessly in my office with the Mifi by the window. I work in gov't so I prefer private connection. Otherwise I have to use an extended antenna from my USB to boost the signal from the window, limited length of antenna wire, 5ft. So you can see my issue, as I'm sure everyone has one of some sort, but I shouldn't have to stand on my head while patting my stomach to get the thing to work.

Lets just hope that Sammy gets wind of this issue and rights the wrong quickly.

 

I got the Series 9 last week, this thread has been very informative.

My only issue is I too am getting a measly 5.2 CPU score.

Mine is a UK model from April 2011.

I've done a fresh reload and it still remains the same... which bothers me since it's a whole point below what others are getting. I've been through the BIOS and everything is up-to-date. No idea what the problem could be.

I've order 8gb of RAM and a 6200 Intel Wifi card which I should get soon. My wifi hasn't actually been a problem connecting or maintaining at all, but I dont mind spending another 30$ if it will make it that little bit better speed-wise.

 

Is anyone's lid catching on the bottom lip in the back when it opens? The right edge of my lid is catching the metal overhang right above the power button when I open it. I don't think this happened when I first got it a few weeks ago but I noticed it last night. Samsung!!!

 

The WiFi issue is perplexing. I tested the wireless download of the Intel WiDi Software with the Broadcom card. The download speed was around 2.4 MBS. I then did the same download using a D-Link USB wireless adaptor and got essentially the same speed of download. If the case is the problem, this test does not demostrate it.

I think there are two problems. In certain positions (and maybe generally at distances), the metal case may dampen or reduce signal strength. However, I also think there is some type of bottleneck in the download speeds that the laptop can attain, and I am not covinced that it is related to the WiFi card or the metal case.

 

Can you explain? I thought WiDi software wouldn't even run on non-Intel card...

I agree 100%. I've made a comprehensive wi-fi check and will post it later today. BTW, what's the best way to share an Excel file? Rapidshare? Does forum support excel workbooks?

Nope. I was able to squeeze 12.4/17.2 download/upload speeds out of Sammy, so it's not the hardware issue.

 

Have to ask a question even tho it shows how little I know. In citing cpu speeds of like 5.2 where do you find these figures. Thanking all jimjoh

 

I guess I'll weigh in on the WIFI issue, though I don't want to ruffle any feathers. My WIFI actually works as well as I could expect, meaning that it works everywhere I'd expect it to, and everywhere that my old laptop did. I was able to pull about 20MB down / 15MB up over my FIOS connection using WIFI from about 15 feet away. Right now I'm using it from behind 2 walls about 100 feet away and I have 2/5 bars in Win7.

I would say my biggest issue with this thing is the touchpad, which works great when it works, but most of the time it just acts crazy, moving the cursor when I click, not recognizing right-clicks or 2-finger scrolling, moving the cursor while I'm typing, and just generally ignoring my input.

 

I am not running the WiDi sfotware, I just used it as the test file to download to see what the effect download speed was.

Don't know about sharing Excel file.

I can attain download speed test results approaching 20 mps when using speakeasy or speedtest sites (BTW, again, the these test results are the same with internal Broadcom card and external D-Link USB adaptor). However, I am not sure I have seen anywhere near those speeds in an actual download of a file.

 

Dear All,

Let's share our wireless results in a common figures:
Mbit/s - Megabit per second
Mb/s - Megabyte per second
The second one is 8 times more than first one.

20 Megabytes per second from a stock Broadcom?

Check my earlier post with the touchpad settings - helps a lot. Haven't found a solution to moving the cursor while typing yet. I guess it might be Smartsense settings...

 

Update: it only helped in the short run. It happens again. All settings turned off (Samsung Control Center - Adaptive Brightness - Off; Intel Control Panel - Media - Image Enhancement - Adaptive Contrast Enhancement - Off; Intel Control Panel - Power - On battery - Balanced, Display power saving technology unchecked). Looking at a dark web page with bright adds on the side (Series 9 review posted earlier - The Samsung Series 9 900X3A-A01CA Laptop Review – This May Be a Work of Art… Almost | The SSD Review) and enjoying constant screen adaptations to changing adds...

Any ideas?

 

For those testing for wifi if I may suggest, the total bars mean nothing with respect to your wifi stability and power. My system shows 4 bars yet the speedtest is terrible

I would love to hear some results with users doing Speedtest 5 feet from their wireless router and then 25 feet and then see if this affects all or not.

If some return with relatively the same coverage or slightly less (ie 15Mbps down to 13Mbps), then we can look at another reason other than the all metal exterior IMHO.

Further, I would love to hear others who have taken the base plate off and have tested with speedtest removing the plate halfway through the test.

 

I have said this in 2 previous posts here but I will repeat. First I have dsl from AT&T here in the foothills and the most speed from them is advertised at 3 mbps but the actual speed shown by speakeasy is 2.7 or 2.8. Three times I have tested my 90x3a here in the same room as the wireless router and the speed is 2.7. Withing 5 min of each time I have gone into my attached garage and each time the test shows 2.7 or 2.8. I am also getting paranoid about this today I used a wireless adapter with a antenna and the tests were the very same range both places. Also as I said each in the same room I show 5 bars but in the garage it only shows 2 or 3 bars. Also I will repeat that in the garage I streamed netflix for 30 mins. with no interruptions. I also have a good Cisco (Linksly) router because with my old router I could not stream netflix on my tv I am satisfied. jimjoh

 

Ok, sorry, I guess being a programmer I should've known to distinguish between Mbits and MBytes. I just tested using Speedtest.net over WIFI about 20 feet (w/ no walls) from my 25/25Mbit Verizon FIOS router and got 15Mbit down and 20Mbit up (believe that, faster up than down?!)

phil1980, I'll look for your touchpad post. I have the smartsense turned up to the max but it still seems to do a terrible job of detecting when I bump the touchpad while typing.

 

You are not the only one. As I mentioned before, I also have no problems with wifi, and I have used it with a variety of routers in several locations. I suspect that wifi card / router compatibility issues could perhaps play a role with those that are having trouble. For example, my HP HDX has an unstable connection on one router, but is perfect on others. So far, the the Samsung 9 connection has been consistent and stable, with average speed in comparison to my three other laptops.

For real world usage (nevermind the tests), my wifi speed has been perfectly acceptable and has not been a limiting factor in my daily needs.

Files don't download as fast as your maximum speed typically because of bottlenecks on the internet sites / servers or ISP themselves. Heavy traffic can slow many sites dramatically, and I suspect this is the reason your real world download speed is lower than tested on speedtest.net...this is why phil1980 suggested a more accurate method to test wifi speed.

 

Hotels often still have an ethernet cable in the room. I got an airport express router from apple and now I can share the internet connection with my wife - the thing paid for itself in a week ....

Regarding USB antenna: I did a lot of "research" on this and ended up buying an alfa with the directional 7db antenna. Works very well!

 

I totally agree. After all we are talking about a $1700 laptop here. I was looking for the laptop with the best screen and I found it in the sammy, but the WiFi is a bummer. Still have almost 60 days to return it to Costco and I hope Samsung comes up with a solution. Talking to customer support didn't give me much hope that they will get it ..

 

The touchpad used to drive me crazy too, but I'm beginning to warm up to it (I have had it for a little over a month now). I can't type with ten figures, so touching it with my palm is not an issue for me. But I found it very difficult to highlight text,for example. I spent some time customizing the touchpad and now I'm pretty happy with it.

 

Tackled the wifi card router compatibility issues. After receiving 15MBps on my other laptop I simply removed the card from that laptop and put it into the S9. The reception dropped just the same.

 

Hm! I have not noticed it after I changed the settings as described. Does this happen when you surf the Web, etc., or when you watch a movie?

 

I think the only way to get meaningful results is to compare two or more laptops using the same network connection. Network speeds wildly differ depending on your provider and the time of the day ...

 

My system is March 2011. I haven't had any wifi issue since the first day I got it. It was purchased from beachcamera.com.

I haven't found time to do some solid testing but i'll try this week. It would be a good idea to post up the router model and service provider. maybe we can all follow a format so that we have a good idea. Maybe a new thread would be better with the testing instructions.

 

May not be as scientific as we'd like, but it does seem some of them function as expected, while others don't. That suggests either a revision in the manufacture, or quality control. More people posting manufacturing dates for both functioning and defective units might help sort that out.

Today mine will arrive at the person who is going to forward it to me in Hong Kong, and I really don't know what to do. I'm thinking of having it sent straight back, and either getting the E220s now or waiting to see what the new Air 13 looks like.

On the other hand, if the wifi works, the Sammy would be the one....

Has anyone bought theirs from Buy.Com, and if so, could you report on the wifi?

 

First post here on Sammy. Just received my NP900X3A-A03US through CircuitCity (from Amazon site) today.

I can upgrade to Win7 Premium; reclaim the extra 20GB; etc. but decided to leave it as is and see if it all works. Installed all Windows updates. There might be some Samsung drivers to upgrade.

{Edited} In my initial testing, I thought the WiFi was OK. I haven't been able to do extensive testing but today (only my second day with it), I found that the WiFi was really bad at times. I'm going to try to see if I can figure out a pattern but I can definitely be added to those with WiFi concerns

 

I dont really understand this as I only have the same wifi network connection.

 

You don't understand it because it doesn't make any sense. Only the Internet side of the equation changes with time, not the wifi side. The way you test the speed is superior, transferring large files across the network.

 

Actually I understand it perfectly well but when I can put 3 systems side by side, all working from the same wifi source and 2 get 15mbps and higher while the Samsung struggles to reach one, there is a problem.

To confirm the problem, we then do similar testing at the router 5 foot mark and then 25 feet away where the reception drops significantly which seems to be the case with most.

To carry it one step further, we can test without the bottom cover on and most, if not all that have tried, realize a definite gain in reception.

To then actually switch the wifi cards of the laptops while at the same difference and still see the poor quality of the Samsung kind of puts the icing on the cake.

Trust me when I say that I want an answer as much if not more than anyone. The problem is not an individual issue as separate occurences are now popping up all over the net.

Its really an easily identifiable issue. Go to the 25 foot mark and unscrew the bottom of your unit. Run Speedtest with the base plate on and then off.

 

Okay. I have done some experiments with the wifi and there are some interesting results...

For reference Mbps = megabits per second
MB/s or MBps = megabyte per second
My router is a Belkin 802.11n F5D8635-4v1 (but am changing to BT homehub 3 tomorrow so will retest then)

First, as I have said before, file transfers with the stock broadcom were pathetic = getting about 650Kbps and frequent signal loss, so I took Phil's advice and swapped out the broadcom for the Intel 6300. Speed and stability increased a little, but not like Phil's. Next I installed the third antenna (the 6300 has 3 aerial connections). My antenna was too large to place next to the existing ones, so I put it under the touchpad, between it and the battery. Speed was a little better, but still flakey and no faster than 5MB/s, even with signal strength of 99%, right beside the router.

So I took the knickers off the laptop again and tested the antennae individually. Surprisingly, it doesn't need antennae at all to get 40% signal strength. Even more surprisingly, connecting the antenna which is placed under the left side of the keyboard (black wire) doesn't change signal strength at all (!). Connecting the antenna on the left side (white wire) boosts signal to 61%, and you can download at about 3MB/s over that (again, right beside the router). Connecting the antenna placed under the touchpad made no difference to signal strength from baseline, however taking it out and holding it in the air boosts signal to 99% (good for 8MB/s), even from 25' away. Holding the aluminium base plate between the aerial and the router drops the signal to 0 again (baseline at 25').

Phil, where exactly did you place your 3rd antenna to get 450mbps? You said it was just below the one under the right side of the keyboard (white wire), but there's no room for another antenna there. A photo would be greatly appreciated.

There has got to be a solution to this damn wifi connectivity - if I could get mine to work like Phil's I would be a happy man...

 

If this were really so, then it looks like the antenna has not been connected properly during the manufacturing process and the laptop should get returned.

 

Actually he atates same as most are experiencing when he mentions that holding aluminum base between antenna and router drops sig to 0. IMHO, if we can find a location to place the antenna where there is not Duralumin, we may have the answer.

I have tried attaching to antenna and then running along fan opening with no luck. Samsung could consider repositioning to within the plastic piece at the bottom of the monitor.

 

Though it clearly has an effect on the defective units, I don't see how the metal case could be the root cause, since some people report good wifi performance out of the box, including the laptopmag measurements I posted earlier. I wonder if the antennae run under the plastic bezel surrounding the screen, and the problem is a poor or nonexistent connection.

I've noticed that Samsung reps actually read and respond to some posts in the CNet Samsung forum, but no one has posted about the wifi problem. Perhaps owners could try posting there and see what they say.

Samsung Forum and Discussion - CNET Forums

 

Or under the keyboard?, but I can't figure out a way to get anything into that space. Does the keyboard sit on a metal bottom? Thanks for posting about putting it under the fan grill though - saves me having to try that.

 

I have started to do the wifi testing. I am getting impressive numbers. I'll post it in very detail soon. mostly using both lantest and speedtest from 5ft, 25ft and 50 ft. For lan test I going to use 100MB and 500MB file.

If anyone is in the process of buying router please try ASUS black diamond first. Believe me you will definitely be impressed by the speed and stability of it

The configuartion I have is Intel 6230 WIFI card and Asus Black Diamond Router
(RT-N56U)
Just to give an Idea of impressive numbers:
with Speedtest.net, I am getting 21Megabit/s consistently from 5ft ,25 ft,50 ft. sometimes it went upto 22.90 Megabit/s
( In the earlier post I had Linksys 310n router,Intel 6230 card and it used to give me 8Megabit/s)
I am really excited to do more tests and post results

sorry phil1980 for doing this test now as I had some important work to take care of

 

Does this mean that you replaced the broadcom Wifi card in the sammy with the intel 6230? Is the improvement due to that change?

 

Yes

No.

It is because of my new Asus router. I did the test earlier with my old linksys 310n router and intel 6230 andI was getting 8Megabit/s which you can see in my earlier post

and one more thing the speed I mentioned in my prior post is downlink only

 

I have this cheap ($15) usb wifi with an antenna and attached you will see the results I got with this plugged into my sammy and the results I got with the sammy's built in Wifi, about 25ft from my WRT54GL linksys router. I ran the speedtest.net tests just seconds apart and repeated it 3 times - the results were always about the same ...

From all I have read I conclude that this is a design flaw and not that I have a defective unit. The only fix I can see is to get a more powerful router, like the Asus. I have decided to return it to Costco and wait for the next generation of this laptop.

 

Thanks guys, but I am not buying a new router, just bought one 6 months ago E3000 and it works fine on the three other lappys I own, Bluray player, and PS3 and 360 consoles. Not going to spend $1600 on a laptop only to have to buy another router AND wifi card because of whatever. Besides I can't take the router everywhere I go and ask whoever "to use this so I can get a signal".

Its plain and simple that the wifi in this product should work wherever at acceptable "specified" requirements or its nothing but a piece of junk.

I hope Sammy fixes this issue real quick or I will be looking for some other laptop.

 

mine is arriving any moment and i'm concerned about the wifi issue, would this help?
Amazon.com: AirLink101 AWLL5088 Wireless N 150 Ultra Mini USB Adapter: Ace Photo Digital

...or should i get the intel card?

thanks!

 

Just talked to Samsung 2nd tier support: They are not aware of any problems with Wifi and there is no update or other fixes in the works. I could send in the laptop, as it is still under warranty, but from what I have learned on this - excellent - forum, there is no fix for this (except getting a stronger router). So it will go back to Costco

 

Check the bad reviews on Amazon: there is a complaint about poor range.

I got this: Amazon.com: 1000mW Wireless N/G 802.11n/g USB Wifi Network Adapter with 5 dBi antenna Up to 150Mbps: Electronics

and it worked, but it is bulky ...

 

what i don't like about these usb adapters is well, you lose 1 usb port!
thanks for the info!

 

Please tell me why you need to buy wifi card also?

 

Right-click My Computer -> Properties. You'll see the system rating there.

I'm wondering why there would be such vast differences in the ratings between the same systems. It doesn't seem right to me, although it doesn't seem like anyone here is as bothered by it as the WiFi issue.

Anyone who is getting over a 6.0 CPU rating, do you have the i5-2537M 1.4GHZ model? I'm curious if the UK version is possibly different from the US version, even though it cost over $600 more.

 

I am getting 6.3. Yes I have i5-2537M 1.4GHZ US Version.

 

When I called them, they also said they were not ware of any wifi problem. I guess they will say the same thing to any issue to anyone. If they don't even recognize the problem, how can they fix it? I will return mine tomorrow but I'm thinking of buying it in future, if I can find a working unit. However, if Samsung keeps saying there's no problem with their 9 series, I will not wasting my time waiting. It's so pointless. Samsung doesn't care about us. They only focus on new products.

 

Of course they arent aware of the wifi problem. Most have yet to even look in the service guide because this is a select item owned by few people. WE are 1/50th of normal sales for say...the Timeline 13"'

When I called Support, they said initially that they had yet to download the manual and would have to put me on hold for a bit.

The next time the guy tried to tell me that the 1Mbps I was getting was an excellent result and he couldnt suggest anything.

I just opened my 3rd unit, all of which have had the Intel 6230 and can see right off (before taking any plastic off) that I am 3 bars less than 25 ft fm my Wifi N Extreme DIR-655 which is supposed to be a GREAT router.

New right out of the box 6Gbps... second test 2.66

My other... 14Mbps. Crap!!!!!

My ping 35ms the other 5ms

#@$#%$^%&^%*&^(*&)(O!!!!!!