Samsung 9 Series laptop (ZX310 / 900X3A) unveiled

Most of the tech support people are not aware of the WiFi issue (or have been told to not acknowledge it). On one of my tickets, the Product Specialist had responded that they knew about the weak WiFi issue but did not have solution yet.

If I was you, I would not send back your laptop unless they have told you what they are going to do to fix the WiFi issue. A number of people have reported that they have received their laptops back with no changes (or in some cases, the Intel Centrino 6230 was installed -- which helps a little). Yours probably has the Intel 6230 already.

 

I already do have the intel centrino installed. I am pretty sure if I call them to find out what they will do to fix it, i will get the runaround and be told that they need to diagnose it first. Is there a possibility that it will come back with the issue being worse?

 

Hey I just got my 9 Series from Costco and have been using it for about 2 weeks now with no problem until today.

The lower right corner is constantly emitting a strange buzzing noise when it is plugged in. When it is running on battery it seems to be better but it still happens sometimes. Anyone else experiencing this problem?

I'm probably going to go to Costco for an exchange, anyone have any insight into their return/exchange policy?

 

I do not, but I want to let everyone know to look at the fine print when buying this one. I didn't. When you buy this from Tiger Direct, they WILL NOT take it back. Period, end of story. Something to do with the agreement they have with samsung. I am not sure why they are so special when I am sure alot of other places will take it back from what i am reading in the forums here.

 

Quick question for those of you with teh Intel Centrino WIFI. Do you find you have more stability with your connection using the 2.4Ghz or the 5Ghz connection? For me seems like a "stronger" signal with the 2.4, although the 5Ghz seems to provide more throughput and consistency with the signal (although I get less "bars" with it).

Just curious what others are seeing.

 

@frazzxr

2.4GHz is apparently better at getting through walls etc. than 5GHz connection so it would typically be more stable/stronger than 5GHz at distance. That matched my "distance testing" results too.
I use 5GHz where I can though (and yes, my bars drops on 5GHz before they do on 2.4GHz too).

 

I returned mine to COSTCO: You have got 90 days, no questions asked, and they even refund shipping!

 

It seems Amazon lowered the price on A03 (previous version, I guess)... In case anybody is interested....

 

Hello all. When I hit Function F1, it brings up the "control center". How do you launch that from the start menu or from the control panel... where is this located other than FN+F1?

 

That's awesome! Costco doesn't charge a 10% restocking fee or anything of that sort right?

 

No, it does not. There are others that are good like that such as CircuitCity.com (through Amazon).

 

I'm moving for a couple of months to a place in Italy without wifi, so I've been experimenting with tethering my phone for wifi using a usb cable. I thought the results might be interesting for people considering getting a dongle.

In a place where the S9 with Intel 6300 gets 0.7 - 3 Mbps, using the phone to connect to the same router produced 3 -6.5 Mbps, with considerably less fluctuation.

 

There is always the thought of picking up a cheap $20 wifi router and setting it up when you get there no? I have done this several times throughout the year.... always have a portable for those hotel rooms that only have wired access.

I hate being confined to that connection and also usually have wife/kids so one wired connection just won't cut it.

 

Could you please explain what do you mean? Do you connect your phone to the router via wi-fi and share this Internet connection with the laptop over usb?

 

I use an old Apple Airport Express all the time. When I've travelling with my family, we have laptops, iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches so have to have WiFi...
I was just in a London hotel that charged 15 Pounds per night for WiFi (and no wired access). Unfortunately, we had sign-up on every device every day that we wanted to use it -- at least the charges weren't duplicated though. I probably could have done USB network out from my S9 to my Airport Express...

 

For only $8.17 each when QTY 50+ purchased - Mini USB Wireless Lan 802.11N Adapter - 1T1R (150Mbps) | USB Network Adapters - Wireless (150Mbps)

 

This can be found cheaper, and this is super tiny. I have ordered one but yet to get it.

AirLink101 AWLL5088 Wireless N 150 Ultra Mini USB Adapter:Amazon:Electronics

 

what to prefer... what is faster:
i7-2617M in A05
or
i5-2467M in B02
maybe somebody have benchmarks of each? thank you.

 

You'll be lucky to get 1200.

 

The info here suggests that while the i7-2617M has a slightly higher TurboBoost speed, it also has a lower maximum graphics speed. I wouldn't pay a significant price premium for it.

John

 

Actually when I can I always use wired connections for my work use, but I won't have any internet in the place I'm staying. So some sort of cell connection is the only possibility.

 

Yes, that's what I'm doing right now as a test.

Since I won't have any internet in Italy, I'll use the phone to connect via the cell network.

 

I have wondered about the difference between those processors too as I have thought about returning my A05. I think there is very little difference between but I would prefer the Core i7. Here's an Intel comparison table.

Differences are small but i5-2467M has faster Clock Speed, lower Max Turbo Frequency, smaller Cache, higher Graphics Max Dynamic Frequency, and does not have some other Intel technologies which are highlighted in green (by Intel). Real world impact of any of that is probably minimal...

 

Does anyone know if it is possible to change the area of the right and left click buttons. Say that I want 70/30% split for right/left click space instead of the 50/50% default. Is that possible?

Thanks,

Z

 

Is everyone USB's working fine? I have an external hard drive usb 3.0 hooked up via the USB3 port and everything works fine. Lately the last two weeks, it randomly disconnects while watching a movie off of the hard drive or while im using it. Does anyone else have this problem?

 

Perhaps there is some power saving mode on where it kills your USB port to conserve power. What power mode are you on?

 

is it possible to change CPU yourself in these notebooks? Anybody tried? I was thinking about buying b02 and upgrading CPU to i7-2677M - the same 17 watts but much greater performance and even graphics clock - will it work?

 

Quote:

Is everyone USB's working fine? I have an external hard drive usb 3.0 hooked up via the USB3 port and everything works fine. Lately the last two weeks, it randomly disconnects while watching a movie off of the hard drive or while im using it. Does anyone else have this problem?

Perhaps there is some power saving mode on where it kills your USB port to conserve power. What power mode are you on?

I am on the Long Lasting Battery. Could that be it?

 

It's funny that you ask that. Earlier today, I was just looking at what was involved in (future) upgrade to my A05 (which has i7-2617M). That i7-2677M looked like a good upgrade but it costs $700!!!

So I didn't answer your question on the B02 capability but at these costs, does not seem worthwhile...

 

Probably. If you're plugged in, click on the battery icon and select High Performance. See if that clears up.

 

The setting, that I think was being referred to, was Power Options > USB Settings > USB selective suspend setting. I noticed that there's a BIOS setting for USB 3.0 too -- by default that is not on. I've always had that toggled on. So there's two things that you can look at.

I'd be a little concerned about your situation though as you say "it randomly disconnects while ... i'm using it". That does not sound like a power saving setting that would impact that. Do you have another USB 3.0 device, like a USB 3.0 flash drive, that you could test with?

 

Don't have anything against Canada. Some of my best friend are Canadian

But why, on the Samsung Facebook > Showroom site, does it show this for North America? It does not even have a link for the USA????

 

I do not have another USB 3.0 device but I will try the two options I have now.

 

But according to wiki it should cost $317... but still I want to ask - is it possible to upgrade CPU by yourself )? any difficultes?

 

That Wiki price is probably the wholesaler's price. Do a search for that part and you'll find $700.

No, I have not looked into upgrading the CPU or read of anyone looking into it. If I open mine up again, I'll take a look.

 

Anyone know if the wifi issue has been fixed in the newer models? If so then I might pull the trigger.

 

@kiwibuddy.
No, there's no indication that it has. I have another ticket open with Tech Support. I'm doing everything that I can to get it escalated.

 

I'm having a problem recording my screen - while the video works fine, the only audio recording device I have available is the microphone. I've never had a computer that didn't have some internal device.

I don't think I've changed the audio driver at all. Is this the case for everyone else? Does anyone have a suggestion for finding a way to get input directly from the internal audio?

 

Go to Control Panel => Sound => Recording. Right click on an empty space below Microphone, select "Show disabled devices". You should see a 2nd device - Stereo Mix. Right click on it => enable. Good luck!

 

What do you mean by "click"? If you do mean a hardware click, then the answer is "no", because you cannot change the physical dimensions of the buttons/touchpad.
If you do mean a software click aka "tapping", then the answer is "yes": go to your Mouse => Synaptics settings => Tapping and customize Bottom Right Action as a Secondary click and a size of a zone for it.

 

That's very interesting. How did you get that info?

 

Samsung Support is driving me crazy! What is the matter with them?

I have received and sent about 20 tweet DM's (direct messages) in last two days.

After all my tickets, that I've submitted for weak WiFi over the last 6 weeks, they say that all that they can offer is take it in for service, evaluate it and fix it. I pushed them on whether they have a fix. They then respond " According to the team you've spoken to they are having engineers work on your particular issue. When we have more info we will share" followed by " Currently, our policy is to set this up for service and a service tech can evaluate it and fix it."

This is ridiculous. They say that engineers are working on my particular issue (which I have made clear is not "my" issue -- it's an issue with all Series 9 models) but they still want me to send it in for service. I'm not sending it in until I know that they have a fix...

 

They sent me a UPS label for mine. Until someone here reports a definitive fix, i am not gonna bother.. just seems like less time with my laptop for no reason.

 

I'm still having problems always hooking up my hard drive to the S9. It randomly still disconnects even if I change the power to max performance. It disconnects and askes me always to format the harddrive, I know one day by accident i'm gonna hit format and i'm really going to be pissed. Does anyone have a fix? Should I try to reinstall the usb 3.0 drives?

 

I see people reporting things like this and problems with the audio jack. could this be due to the "drop down" connection? maybe the loosen up? I only use things like this on a plane and havne't hooked anything up to mine yet. I am thinking i might want to so I can test these things before my warranty is up. With all the problems these things are having, I am considering selling mine. anyone know what I can reasonably get for a slightly used B02 version?

 

I'm thinking about selling mine as well. Wifi is a huge problem for me and I regularly need my hard drive hooked up to it to view documents/files and I cant keep on unplugging it and plugging it back in and waiting for it to connect.

I think I might take a $400-500 hit on mine I have the A03 and I paid well over $1,600

 

@arods3:
I know that you don't have another USB3 device to test with, but can you test that external hard drive with another PC/Mac/laptop to see if it's a problem with the hard drive rather than the S9? If it's the S9, it can probably be serviced. WiFi is still issue for you though.

@frazzxr:
I know that people have had problems with Series 9 other than the weak WiFi. I guess I've been lucky in that respect with both the A03 that I had and the A05 that I have now, in that I haven't had a single other issue. That's apart from the "sloping End key" -- which appears that it might be a common problem -- but definitely one I can live with.
I'm not saying the Series 9 is perfect but, after looking at the new Sony Z, I much prefer the Series 9 for the price.

 

Google It's not an S9 issue - very common to Win 7 laptops.

 

Yeah, I assumed that afterwards. Just wanted to give you credit for being smart