Samsung NP930X5J / NP940X5J ATIV Book 9 (2014) 15.6" Haswell announced Jan 6, 2014

FYI you can use a program 'Remote Desktop Connection Manager v2.2' from Microsoft that will allow you to handle scaling of Remote Desktop sessions better than RDP. It lets you define multiple connections, each with their own resolution and other settings. I think it's one of those 'power tools' type of apps from MS that they don't officially support but offer it for general usage. I specifically use it to handle display scaling. Also, FYI, the latest version of RDP handles scaling very well, but only when talking to a host that is windows 2012 and above. RDP to a 2008 R2 host sucks.

 

Has anyone on this thread (ATIV Book 9 15.6" users) tried the Vizio 15.6 model? http://www.vizio.com/ct15a1.html . I think it's discontinued and I don't know if there is a replacement, but my colleague at work has one and says its great for her (though she's not a power user). If the consensus is that its good, I was thinking of picking one up cheap to check it out.

 

Hi ATIV Book 9 2014 edition owners,

I bought my NP940x5j-K02US for Microsoft store three months ago. I tried to install "recovery ver 6" for SW Update but it says recover partition does not exist and cannot install the software. I check in the Disk Management and shows that I have a recovery partition already created with 9.5GB space and it has 100% free space (no backup/recovery exists in that partition).

Could anyone please let me know in detail steps how to create recovery/backup of my current windows 8.1 OS to my recovery partition.

Thank you very much in advance,

 

The Microsoft editions of the notebook don't have Samsung's recovery partition because the notebooks have Microsoft's own Windows installation.

You may be able to install SRS if you can jump through the various hoops discussed here but I wonder whether it is worth the hassle.

John

 

Dude sweet purchase, let us know what you think of it, that sounds like a great price. I have not seen a hard case for the 2014 AB9, or even earlier SS9 models unfortunately. Other members may know more, but I left my stock plastic cover sheet on the back of my 2014 (looks cheap. but it works). I'd like to do a clean vinyl wrap or something nice to it; alternatively clear screen protector material. Are you worried more about drops, or scratches? There have been some cloth cases ([think the Case Logic was mentioned?]) which fit the 2014 fairly well) posted earlier in the thread if that's what you're after. The 2014 may have similar dimensions to the MBP IIRC.

Also the first place I got paint wear marks were along the exterior screen spine edges/sharp corner, and hinges. Like, within the first couple weeks! Still very light wear after 1 1/2 years of rough backpack, school, & home usage. Keyboard paint is doing great against oils, seems Samsung has fixed some prior complaints. Aesthetically I'm a happy guy, I'd rate it a 8.5-9/10 if you don't include scratches to the base



Quirks with my NP940X5J-K01US (also i5 4200, 128gb)
-Sometimes keys stick after pressing shift. Like when Itype that.
-Think I've had some of the bottom screws come loose naturally, but that could have been the other SS9, or both. You can put some blue locktite on them and they shouldn't be a problem anymore. This may be a great idea to do, since screws backing out voluntarily is a common problem after removing the bottom panel even more so (like <$5 at an auto parts store I think).
-When I was in there I replaced the thermal paste with some Arctic Silver 5. If that's something you feel comfortable doing, it wouldn't hurt. The paste on my chips was there & adeqaute, but some was understandably misaligned & globby. I haven't had overheating problems before/since (and I'm a cruel user on vent holes sometimes ). I mostly did it because I had the stuff lying around, and for curiosity.
-There might be a piece of tape on the original SSD to act as a spacer or heatsink. Nothing a careful razor blade + tape won't transfer I guess.
-Finally, the only part of disassembly that I was worried about was in separating the rear plastic where the exhaust vent is. I think I wound up carefully using a fingernail and credit card corner to slide along the slit, gently edging it along and separating it. I've done it twice, so can't all be luck. Right?


Have fun! That's gonna be a nice machine. Let us know how it turns out, there's a lot of Ativ Book/SS9 fans.
Can you share the reasons you're choosing SSD, rather than removable storage? I'm using micro sd cards + a short SD card-to-micro SD adapter card to escape my 128gb limit (*Ahem* 104gb actually) lol. I can see why the 512 in one space would be convenient, rather than a plus 64 or 128gb swappable. Also faster read speeds etc., I was just never sure if that translated to real world notice. My multiple micro SD filing system of clutter and duplicated files deserves punishment lol, I share them between my phones too, so it's a complete rat's nest. That's why I use them though, I had the 64 & 128gb from before, and a lot of that space was not being used. I still haven't determined whether a bigger SSD is a good investment; definitely a nice luxury, but I really only store like <70gb of programs on C:, and the rest is mostly media that I'm too cheap to move in permanently I use it as more of a portable/research/school machine, and my desktop for games, photoshop, and other intense-use programs. If 256gb drives plummet, or I found a great used one, I would definitely pick one up though. Are you familiar with the SSD-battery life drama that I think was in this thread awhile ago? I don't remember the facts, think an SSD model was causing worse battery performance. What is the purpose of your NP940 going to be?

There's also a bunch of info @ post 1064 & ~p 54+ about formatting new SSDs if you need the rundown. What have your other computers/computer experience been like?


*edit: If John Ratsey can't help you no one can

 

I've had my AB9 2014 Edition NP940X5J-K01US for ~1 1/2 years now, and have really mostly enjoyed it. I'm planning on writing a more in depth review, like I've done in the past, time permitting. If there is anything you'd like to know/hear about please post and I'll try to answer questions. I also have a Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C ([15"] the predecessor, which I bought used and love too).

Some topics off the top of my head:
-I'd like a way to analyze the battery, battery life seems (maybe) to be decreasing, I'd like numbers
-Applied new thermal paste, no problems
-Speaker directionality
-Screen color temperature
-Touchscreen usability
-Tablet charging mode
-Fn lock
-Cursor problems
-Classic shell experience
-Bluetooth experience
-AB9 vs SS9 comparison

They're mostly tiny things I've run into; I like to hear what other people are experiencing too. I notice some people are buying used too so if there's anything in that area I can help with lemme know.


I've also been away from the ultrabook/tablet-keyboard/etc. since the 2014, and when Asus was realeasing it's MBP competitor. If this is the appropriate place for it, can we discuss AB9 competitors? Not looking to get rid of her anytime soon, ...but you know, technology is the evil siren song (Only silent now due to fewer moving parts! )

 

Has anyone attempted the Windows 10 preview on this laptop yet?

 

This is a long shot, and possibly nothing to do with the specific model (ATIV Book 9 2014) but ... I just noticed that when I remove the power plug, CPU utilization spikes (nothing unusual there) but then settles to a higher utilization consistently compared to being plugged in. This seems counter-intuitive to me.

I've reviewed the power plan and I'm using Samsung Optimized, with all defaults. Every setting is essentially set to 'optimize battery' when on battery, vs. Optimize performance' when on power.

This is not a big deal, but it does suggest to me I'm actually using MORE power when on battery, which would tend to suggest poor battery life.

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

UPDATE - this article seems to answer the question, in a very detailed fashion ... http://blogs.technet.com/b/winserve...cpu-utilization-for-performance-analysis.aspx

Bottom line seems to be, when you pull the plug (go to battery), the processor switches to a reduced frequency to conserve power, and thus, your existing processes are going to use a higher percentage of that reduced available capacity. Now, that's intuitive, but - where do I see this 'go to reduced power' setting ... I thought I checked and didn't see anywhere in the power plan that said to change processor frequency on battery. But regardless ... this is starting to make more sense.

 

Samsung notebooks disable turbo mode when running on battery. This is quite logical since increased voltage is needed to keep the CPU stable at the higher speeds and the result is slightly less work done per unit of power used. H0wever, as you have found out, the lower maximum CPU speed makes it appear that the CPU is working harder.

I use BatteryInfoView to show the battery power being used as an indication of what the system is doing. Around 5W to 6W is a reasonable target with a dim screen and the system on idle.

John

 

Does anyone one know how to disable touchscreen in NP940x5j. I have turned off the touchscreen option in "settings" under "input" tab but still my touchscreen is working not disabled. Does anyone faced this issue?

 

Anyone looking to buy a brand new NT930X5J-S01 ?

 

If it had a UK keyboard, is running English Windows and has the second M.2 slot then I could be interested. However, the NT prefix suggests it is the Korean version of the notebook.

John

 

Hello John, this is US model with English keyboard and English Windows 8.1 (came with 7 and included 8.1 license so I upgraded). I do not know about the second M.2 slot as I did not open it. I purchased it new as none of the local stores had it on display so I could compare to my NP940X3G-K05US and decide which one I was going to keep. As I travel on train to and from work 4 times a week (45min each way) I opted to stay with the smaller option. This thing is practically brand new. I never had it out of the house and never really used it.

I just scheduled ebay auction for later today and here are some details and pictures.

http://cybermash.com/ebay/samsung930.htm

Darius

 

It it is the US version then it's the N P930X5J-S01 and not N T as you put in your post above (the ebay listing is OK) I think that version of the notebook does have the second M.2 slot. It should also be possible to stretch the battery to at least 10 hours.

Unfortunately, since the UK keyboard for this notebook doesn't exist then I won't be bidding. I bought an Indian NP900X4C (as the only way at the time to get a 512GB SSD) but it eventually got put aside because the US keyboard layout confused my fingers.

John

 

Sorry got the model confused yes its NP930X5J-S01US

 

B&H has the SamsungATIV Book 9 NP940X5J-K02US 15.6" Multi-Touch with Instant Savings: $400.00, bringing the price down to $1399:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ook_9_i74500_8gb_256ssd_windows_8_1_15_6.html

Does that mean Samsung is going to come out with a "refresh"?

 

hi,

is there a m.2 ssd on the np930x5j ? Is it possible to change it? Anywhere i read that you may could install 2 ssd?
i opened the notebook, but it was not clear for me where i find the ssd

thank you

 

The SSD is hidden under the blue connector marked "main" - "sub" in this photo. I understand that the connector lifts off (there's discussion about this a few posts up this thread).

Whether you have provision for a second SSD depends on whether you have a socket where it says "2ND SSD" in this photo. Some versions of the notebook have the socket and others have the empty space (as in the photo).

John

 

Ok thank you

http://www.pic-upload.de/view-26755695/IMG_1776.jpg.html

There is only space for one or?

This in 500gb should work ? http://www.storagereview.com/samsung_850_evo_m2_ssd_review

 

Yes, it looks as if you have the solder pads for the 2nd SSD slot so you will have to change the SSD you have.

The product that you linked to looks to be the right part: M.2 2280 form factor and SATA interface.

John

 

Does anyone one know how to disable touchscreen in NP940x5j? I have turned off the touchscreen option in "settings" under "input" tab but still my touchscreen is working not disabled. Does anyone had this issue?

 

I have an annoying problem with this laptop although it's probably not specific to the make or model.

It constantly loses the headphone jack output. If I go into the Realtek HD Audio Mgr > Advanced Settings and toggle between the 2 settings (attached) it will eventually start working but, obviously, this is not ideal. There was a Realtek update applied on 4/4 so it may be related to that. Any good advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Has anyone installed this drive in the np930/940?

 

NVM...resolved.

 

Hi, guys!
Need help. I bought on ebay used NP940X5J-K02. Nice device, but the previous owner did something, and now I cannot boot or reinstall windows on SSD in UEFI mode.

In CMS OS mode all works well, but I have a purely sporting interest to install in UEFI

Using Clonezilla I made the image of the contents of the disk to an external HDD. Then deleted all partitions on the SSD, converted it to gpt. And after all in the BIOS boot device priority SSD disappears. It seems like BIOS does not see SSD. So, windows repair from usb doesnt work too.

How to make the SSD appeared in boot menu?

Sorry for my english, it is not my native language

 

The SSD 850 EVO M.2 500GB
should definitely work in the np930/940.
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memory-storage/MZ-N5E500BW

Amazon has it for $199 - and they have a very generous and easy return policy:
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-EVO-3-5-Inch-MZ-N5E500BW/dp/B00TGIW1XG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430944004&sr=8-1&keywords=Samsung 850 EVO M.2 SSD

Please send us your beanchmarks and post them here!

 

There are a few comments about the 850 EVO M.2 in this thread. I can't think of a reason why this SSD wouldn't work in this notebook.

John

 

Hi guys,

I'm selling the NP930X5JI version which does have a QWERTY keyboard.

PM me for enquiries and pictures etc

 

Hi
Does anyone know how i can revert the two finger scroll on the touchpad ?
when i drag my fingers upp it scrolls down and when i drag them down it scrolls up kinda annoying im running
windows 7.

Also how can i save my brightness setting ? everytime i start the computer it goes back to standard screen brightness so i have to increase it is there anyway i can save my screen brightness setting ? I did try to save it
under the power options screen brightness but that dosent work

Thanx

 

Our accumulated knowledge about configuring the touchpad is in this thread.

Try using Easy Settings (Fn+F1) to configure the display brightness and make sure that the auto brightness is disabled.

John

 

im sorry to bother u but the link you gave me there is nothing about reverting for this laptop only for the chronos 7 and elan drivers etc the screen brightnes thingy worked it was on auto brightness thanx for that tip

 

I apologise for giving the link to the Elan pad software. I had forgotten that this notebook, for reasons best known to Samsung, uses a pad without a proper driver and control panel. There's probably a registry hack that will do the necessary. Perhaps this?

John

 

Is there anyway i can improve the touchpad somehow i feel when i drag my finger on the touchpad. The cursor has like a half a second delay from my finger movement its kinda annoying speically if i need to ajust something very small like the volume or something else that requires small small movements.

 

anyone ?

 

-S01 vs -S02 designation

My understanding of the model numbering was:
NP940X5J-K02US – i7 processor, touch
NP940X5J-K01US – i5 processor, touch
NP930X5J-S02US – i7, non-touch
NP930X5J-S01US – i5, non-touch

but - I just saw this -
http://www.samsung.com/us/business/computing/laptops/NP930X5J-S01US
which clearly has an i7 - so the 'S01US' vs 'S02US' designations are not what I thought.

Also - anyone know what the 'S' vs the 'K' is in the section after the hyphen?

I'm researching additional models to buy. Thanks!

 

All NP930 are non touch and all NP940 are touch.

SW Update shows that there are only two US versions of the NP930 - the S01US and the S02US. Which version of Windows and whether the second SSD slot is present are other options but all versions with the same number will have shipped with the same configuration.

SW Update also lists four versions of the NP940 - S01US, S02US, K01US and K02US. Check if the K versions were those sold by Microsoft.

John

 

Has anyone found any further information regarding fans and fan speed control on the book 9 (2014) models? I found this thread but not much info: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/controlling-fan-speed-on-samsung-laptops.750051/

I find the options in the 'silent mode' to be way too drastic; setting 'auto' or 'low' in the silent mode setting of the 'settings' app slows down the laptop to the point where the trackpad doesn't track properly.

I just recently discovered 'Macs Fan Control', ( http://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control ) which is a mac fan control program, but also works in windows on mac hardware under bootcamp. It lets you tie fan speed to temperatures in a very logical manner ... would love to find something like that for the ATIV Book 9.

As an aside, I'm giving the MacBook Pro under bootcamp a serious look as a full-time replacement as my daily windows computer. The trackpad on the MBP, even under windows, is superior to the ATIV, and the fan control is perfect. I'm just not sure I can live with the limited keyboard and other issues. It has the same 15.6" screen, and roughly the same 4.5lb weight.

 

No one, to my knowledge, has developed a program to manage the Samsung notebook fans.

One indirect way for limiting the maximum fan speed is to reduce the maximum CPU state in the advanced power options. The easiest way to understand how this setting controls CPU speed (and hence power / heat) is to run HWiNFO and watch the CPU speed graphic as you change the maximum CPU state.

John

 

Interesting ... In Advanced Power Options, I adjusted 'Maximum Processor State' from 20% all the way up to 100% in 5% steps, and noted the Core CPU Clocks and Ratios. The results were not as I expected.

Code:

Max Proc     CPU      Delta
20           800
25           800    0
30           800    0
35           800    0
40           900    100
45           1100   200
50           1200   100
55           1300   100
60           1400   100
65           1500   100
70           1700   200
75           2700   1000
80           2700    0
85           2700    0
90           2700    0
95           2700    0
100          2700    0

from 20 to 35%, there is no change. From 40 through 70%, the CPU frequency tracks in increments of 100 except a couple of 200 jumps, but then from 70 to 75, it jumps a whopping 1000, and after that, no further increase. The CPU values in particular were 'Core #0 Clock' and 'Core #1 Clock' (they both tracked identically). Note - actual values were always along the lines of 1497, 1696, 2697, etc, which I rounded up to nearest boundary above.

This was all under 'idle', but adding stress made virtually no difference. The 'Ratio' values tracked identically (9x, 11x, 12x, 13x, etc up to 27x) ('Core #0 Ratio', 'Core #1 Ratio').

Setting the 'LOW' option in the 'settings' app (Silent Mode) seems to be identical to setting a value of '35' in max proc state.

Setting '70%' as the max proc state seems to be a reasonable compromise for fan speed noise. I'm going to leave it set there and observe how the machine behaves.

I'm trying to post a screen shot but can't figure out how to do that - do I need to upload to a 'gallery' first ? Or is 'upload file' the only way?

 

I had also observed a series of steps when I went through this exercise (on my NP900X4C) some time ago although I don't recall such a big step at the top end of the speed range - the change was turbo mode on to turbo mode off.

You can attach a screen dump by clicking on the More Options button below the bottom right of the reply box.

John

 

I clicked 'reply' and get a standard reply box. I clicked 'More Options....' and I get a 'full screen' version of the reply box, but I still don't see any option to include an image. I do see 'upload a file', but that's a generalized file feature. I guess that's it ... so here goes ... Below is the info I'm tracking as I modify the 'maximum processor state'.

 

As I think you have now figured out, uploading an image has the required effect. There is also the insert image option which is for when you want to include an image that is hosted elsewhere.

You don't need to watch both the CPU clock and the CPU ratio. One is effectively 100 x the other so either will show how the speed responds, in its irregular steps, to the Maximum CPU state. Also interesting to watch, and make a note of, would be the CPU power. Once the CPU goes into Turbo mode the power consumption increases much faster than the speed because the voltage is increased.

John

 

As noted in prior posts, I upgraded my SSD to the Transcend 512 GB drive:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KLTPVV8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s01 .

From that Amazon page, I see that 512 GB is still the biggest size available. Does anyone know when a 1TB version may become available?

Edit To Add: my gut feeling is that my battery is draining faster since I did the upgrade, but I have no concrete proof. Has anyone done any measurements on this?

 

1. I have seen 1GB M.2 drives mentioned in manufacturers pipelines but haven't seen any being sold.

2. It's possible that the system needs tweaking to enable optimum power management for the new SSD. I would suggest you first reinstall the chipset and SATA drivers and, if that makes no difference, read this article.

John

 

Wow - that's an interesting article! I take it that the NP940X5J SHOULD support all those nice DIPM settings in power management. They don't currently show up under any of my plans, so I will set about fixing that. What is the best way, on this system, to reinstall Chipset and SATA drivers?

 

I think there are some issues with manufacturers enabling full support for the various power management options. These include HIPM, DIPM and DevSlp and some SSDs are better than others at reducing their idle power consumption ( Crucial m4 being worse than Samsung EVO but my newer Crucial M550 seems OK in this respect). SiSoftware Sandra should be able to figure out which power management options your hardware supports.

I would go to the Intel download site for the latest chipset and SATA drivers (the latter is bundled in the Intel Rapid Storage technology package which should do some reconfiguration during installation). The reinstallation process can fix issues even if it's the same version as previous but quite often whatever is offered by Samsung is out of date.

John

 

I have the Transcend 512 GB in my 940X5J, and the original Samsung SSD in a newly acquired 930X5J.

Comparing the two, the Transcend has HIPM but not DIPM, (which I presume is not good news) but also has DevSlp ...



While the original Samsung SSD has no HIPM but does have DIPM, and also has DevSlp:



I downloaded a utility (really, just a reg file) that enables the more extensive power management features. I now have these options:



As you can see, I've selected HIPM+DIPM. However, since the Transcend does not support DIPM, I guess I'm somewhat SOL.

Further - I see that, for the Transcend, HIPM says 'yes' but does not say 'yes, enabled'. Not sure how to enable it (I downloaded the 'scope' app from Transcend, doesn't seem to offer the means to adjust this).

However - where does 'DevSlp' come into this? BOTH drives support DevSlp, it would seem, but there is no reference to DevSlp in the advanced power applet above (though there is a 'Lowest' ... ).

EDIT TO ADD: I just re-read the article you linked to above, and noted this: "Windows 8.1/10 add 2 new settings "DIPM" only and "Lowest" which means "HIPM+DIPM+DevSlp" - i.e. this also enables "DevSleep" if supported by the SSD. It is recommended to select this option if supported by the SSD".

So - even though DIPM not supported, DevSlp is settable using 'lowest'. I guess I'll try that!

Obviously an intricate area ...

 

I think that DevSlp is intended to minimise the power drain when the computer is on standby / sleep. The first challenge is to try to be sure that HIPM working with the Transcend.

You've evidently made some progress with the tweaking so maybe it's time to sit back for a while and get a feel for whether the power drain has improved.

John

 

The biggest problem I face is that my 'normal' working environment is to have IE open with at least 20 tabs, and also Firefox with another 20 tabs, plus excel, word, etc. I can't really explain why I like to do this, but keeping all my 'recent' tabs open is good for me (it's the same as keeping papers on my desk rather than filing them away, I guess ...) - their presence is a reminder of what lines of thought I'm pursuing. And this is an issue because, invariably (looking at Process Explorer or even just task manager), those browsers / tabs are consuming CPU cycles. But anyway, I'll keep my system 'lean' for a while and see if the battery life improves.

 

I've lost count of the number of tabs I have open in Firefox but it's probably over 50, for much the same reasons as you, and cumulatively they take 5% to 15% CPU time. With web content caches being updated it also reduces opportunity for the storage drive to sleep. I know from experience that makes a big impact on my battery time so, if I'm trying to be frugal and, for example, working on a document in Word, the Firefox gets shut down. A workaround could be to have a few essential web pages open in another browser.

John