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    Samsung Series 7 Chronos 17.3 or HP Envy 17

    Discussion in 'Samsung' started by lbell, Aug 30, 2012.

  1. lbell

    lbell Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm going to buy a laptop but I can't decide which one to have.

    NP700Z7C
    (1) Lighter & thinner
    (important, 3kg+90W 0.3kg adapter compared to 3.4kg+120W adapter, and thinner means more pleasing aesthetically)
    (2) Much longer battery life
    (important, 6hrs compared to 3 - 4hrs, wifi surfing, see Update 1)
    (3) Better display quality
    (4) More quiet

    vs

    Envy17
    (1) Higher graphics performance
    (important, 7850M, driver sucks sometime but okay in bf3, cod & nfs and that's enough, takes a 50% ~ 150% lead compared to gt650m, playable in bf3 ultra)
    (2) More ports & 3 bays
    (2 hdd + 1 odd)
    (3) Lower temperature
    (so no throttling, overclock possible)
    (4) Better wifi signal
    (important, see Update 2)

    Same in other aspects.

    Update 1:
    Envy 17 seems to have problem switching from 7850M to HD4000, so very poor battery life.

    Update 2:
    Envy 17 has no wifi issues.
     
    lbell, Aug 30, 2012
    #1
  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Many notebook selections are a compromise between size/weight and performance.

    Make yourself a table listing all the features of each notebook so that you can make a full comparison. This often highlights some other features (eg selection of ports) you may otherwise overlook. Then you can apply a scoring system which reflects how you value the features. Note that on the Z7C you can replace the optical drive with a HDD using a cheap caddy then install an SSD as the boot drive.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Aug 30, 2012
    #2
  3. Jocelyn84

    Jocelyn84 Notebook Consultant

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    Jocelyn84, Aug 30, 2012
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  4. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    John Ratsey, Aug 30, 2012
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  5. Jocelyn84

    Jocelyn84 Notebook Consultant

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    Of course, but not 50-150% as mentioned by the OP.

    Sent from my Samsung Epic 4G Touch using Tapatalk
     
    Jocelyn84, Aug 30, 2012
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  6. lbell

    lbell Notebook Enthusiast

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    The data are from YouTube (7850M) & Notebookcheck (650M)
    BF3 High 45 - 55fps (40fps in another review)/ 32fps
    BF3 Ultra 35 - 45fps (doubtful but really playable in the video)/ 14fps
    MW3 Ultra 60fps/ 41fps
    Dirt3 Ultra 30 - 38fps/ 26fps
    Skyrim Ultra 49 - 60fps/ 24fps
    Crysis 2 High 30 - 35fps (maybe due to the driver)/ 60fps
    (1080p)
     
    lbell, Aug 30, 2012
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  7. DvP

    DvP Notebook Evangelist

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    @ lbell
    According to Notebookcheck the 7850 is about 15-20% faster (which is quite impressive) but I did not find any power consumption comparison which would be the other important point for me.
    The only review which I found about the Envy 17 using the 7850 tells that is has only 1GB vRam which could turn out as an issue in FullHD + real life performance.
     
    DvP, Aug 31, 2012
    #7