Samsung Easy Settings - Bug or feature?

Hello Notebook Community,

i'm a new user here, but've been visiting this forum for quite some time now, especially because i had to buy a new Laptop.
This new laptop turned out to be a Series 7 Chronos 14".
I have to admit i was quite frustrated until 2 hours ago ... and i thought i might let you ppl know of this, cause it seems strange to me that i'm the only one who noticed this.

Now, first day i bought my laptop i set up everything very accurately and nicely, as one is supposed to do with a new machine.
After i worked on the laptop for a couple of days i noticed BAD performance ... so i went to my power plan settings --> HIGH PERFORMANCE and off you go right? no ... it didn't change anything ... so i checked in the task manager ... on high performance my CPU was running at 1.15GHz steady ... and it schould run at 2.5GHz (up to 3 with TurboBoost).
So i started to load the CPU with IntelBurnTest and Prime95 ... still nothing changed ...

I contacted Samsung Customer support wich told me that the power plan setting has nothing to do with the performance ... Thanks! ... most incompetent answer ever ...

Well let's go on ... i tried to change basically every setting possible in windows, unplugging, re-plugging, changing power source etc. - to no avail ...
Frustrated and hopeless i wanted to return my laptop when i came across EASY SETTINGS ... easy my a** ... it made my life hell for 4 weeks ...
You can open this setting page by pressing Fn+F1 simultaneously. ok, now i checked every setting, but nothing about CPU came up ...
i had Z-CPU and Task Manager running to see if anything would affect the clockrate ... and see there, i found it.

The neat little thingy is called SILENT MODE ... if u set this to AUTO (automatically recognizes whether the fan is needed or not - as the name says it) your CPU clock rate will be fixed at 1.15GHz - even if ur in HIGH PERFORMANCE mode ... seriously samsung? ...

after smacking "silent mode" to OFF everything was fine - clock went up to 2.88GHz in Performance mode and adjusted its clock when using power plans like "balanced" or "samsung optimized" as it is supposed to do ...

So if ur experiencing performance issues try to have a look at your CPU clock and then "silent mode".

Maybe this helps some poor souls out there - as i couldn't find anything about this on any page ... not even google

Cheers!

 

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your new laptop

I have a 14 inch Series 7 like yourself - although an older model. It has some quirks (as do most laptops) but I like it a lot.

I have often expressed criticism of how Easy Settings is implemented, but I consider Silent Mode to be one of the more useful features. If you have Auto set under Silent Mode in Easy Settings, Silent Mode (Fn-F11) will activate the the Power Saver Windows profile. When Silent Mode is off, it will revert to the Samsung Optimized power profile.

As you discovered, the Power Saver profile uses Passive System Cooling Policy (it slows the CPU down if temps get too high) whereas the Samsung Optimized profile uses Active System Cooling Policy when plugged in (runs the fan faster to keep temps down) and Passive when on battery. It also sets Maximum Processor State to 50% when on battery.

Silent Mode is only activated after pressing Fn-F11 (or enabling it in Easy Settings). When NOT activated (ie Samsung Optimized power profile is in effect) and while plugged in, there is no CPU throttling except if the fan is unable to keep temps down.

I am puzzled why or how this feature would have caused your PC to be slow for 4 weeks, across multiple restarts. Maybe there are other issues in play here.

On my PC, I changed Maximum Processor State / On Battery from 50% to 100% in the Samsung Optimized profile -- because I want full speed potential even when on battery. Minimum Processor State is still at 5% for both battery and plugged in, so the CPU will scale up and down as required. In my Power Saver profile I set Maximum Processor State to 100% when plugged in and 80% on battery.

For times when I want maximum battery life at Starbucks or on my patio, I just hit Fn-F11 to invoke Silent Mode. That switches to the Power Saver profile and gives me 1-2 hours hours extra battery life (depending on what I do).

Now, once again, I am not an Easy Settings fanboy (try and google my handle and Easy Settings, you'll know what I mean ) But it has some useful features, even though I don't like how it's implemented.

 

The post linked below spells out more exactly how I've set my power profiles and how I use Silent Mode. Hopefully it's more clear than what I wrote above

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...latencies-samsung-laptops-10.html#post9060674

 

Hey! How do you know when silent mode is on?

 

Personally, I just look at which power profile is selected (click Power tray icon): If it's Power Saver, I know I'm in Silent Mode. If it's Samsung Optimized, I know Silent Mode is off.

In Win7 you can also just toggle Silent Mode with the Fn key, a big status display will show. In Win8 there is no status display (unfortunately).

 

So, how do you know if it is working or not then? I have Win8 and nothing happened. I pushed the FN/F1 key to get it.

I'm gonna throw a rant in here... I see this all the time where a newbie with one post will post a question and when it gets answers, he never comes back. It is more common that you think...
never come back or even said thanks!
Rant over.

 

It's Fn-F11. My last post (just before yours) tells how to see whether it is on or not in Win8. Judging by how many people fall into the Silent Mode trap, there really should be a big red LED when it is active -- or even a screen warning.

 

What you said was there was no way to see Fn/F11 if you had Win8 (I have Win8)

Only way I could get it was... I pushed the FN/F1 key to get it.... Fn/F11 got me nothing.

 

Oh, I apologize, now I understand. Indeed, opening Settings (Fn-F1) is another way to check or change Silent Mode.

Fn-F11 actually toggles Silent Mode on/off. I would say that's by far the most convenient way. If it doesn't on your computer, something is broken with Settings. But to verify it (in Win8) you have to look either at the current power profile (click the Power tray icon) or open Settings (Fn-F1 as you said, or open Settings from the Start Menu/Start Screen).

Edit: I took the liberty of editing your rant a bit. The point you raise is completely valid, but I don't like calling out individual members here. Many come to have one particular problem solved, and may find answers themselves or elsewhere -- then move on before someone here can respond. Such is the nature of internet forums, I suppose.