Samsung Series 7 Laptops - 15.0" and 15.6" Models (NP700Z4 & NP700Z5)

I have an HP laptop I bought 4 years ago, and it still works. (Unlike this POS Vaio Z....grrr!) The build quality tends not to be that great, though. Plus, there's the fact that HP is getting out of the PC business--I'm not sure what that would mean for you, but it could mean worse support or something.

 

I got Series 7 by chance while browsing laptop section at a local Best Buy and was amazed how different it was from the rest of non-mac laptops, and how it was converging to MBP design-wise at half-price. The latter was the major selling point for me. But then all the excitement faded away when I put S7 through paces during the two weeks of ownership. Screen was bothering me, and this feeling built up gradually. I have a decent desktop screen (2408WFP) and going back and forth between the laptop and desktop hurts.

Performance wise - S7 is a fast computer in principle, but being crippled by 5.4k hard drive it just doesn't feel snappy. I realize that it is likely BB's fault and they simply neutered a great machine and it is possible that the "original" S7 will be much better. But where is that original?

I also got turned off by Samsung Tier 1 and 2 customer support. Majority of them (although not without exceptions) are helpless. My Apple experience is much better.

As I mentioned, before returning S7 I did side-by-side comparison with MBA and MBP. I've read that MBA's screen is not on par with (wider gamut) MBP's, but both screens were so much better than S7's that they both looked equally outstanding to me. One thing that clearly sets MBA and MBP apart is that MBA's antireflective coating is significantly better than MBP's. In terms of performance, MBA is definitely a snappy little laptop. SSDs rule! Since I don't need a lot of hard number crunching it should be perfectly fine for every day use. (The fact that I got S7 with i7 cpu was really an "accident" - I was looking for i5-level machine).

Anyway, this is getting too long. I hope that the uncrippled S7 will be a much better machine than BB model and you guys will enjoy it as much as you hope for. I don't have much patience to wait and see if it materializes.

Cheers-

 

As far as the hard drive goes, is there anyway to replace it?

 

Well guys... it seems that the screen's gonna kill this laptop. Too bad.

Not so happy, but I'm gonna give Sony another chance, IMO screen is more important than brute force.

 

Yes you can replace it

 

Have you seen the screen yourself and messed about with the settings to adjust it if needed?

 

For those still complaining about the screen have you adjusted the settings as recommended by a previous poster?

 

Yes I did. I also tried more "advanced" settings in Intel display properties. It is just not a great panel to start with.

 

I found this for the french model, and it mentions the 7200RPM HDD, the 8go EC, but no mention on the backlit keyboard...
Nevertheless I don't know how old this document is, but hopefully it's fairly recent!

SAMSUNG NP700Z5A S02FR

 

Ok, thanks for letting me know. I'm going to try to swing by Best Buy and check it out.

 

I would have to say no to HP. Build quality and the white listed wifi cards.

 

No, not really. I'm gonna wait a little bit more to see the final flagship version. But from youtube videos (I'm not talking about the promos) and the comments of people round here who bought it, it's obvious that the screen is mediocre at best. I mean, at least the viewing angles, which are very bad, and possibly the contrast ratio. The resolution alone doesn't mean too much. Only the brightness seems to be good enough. Anyway, have to wait for the professional reviews like notebookcheck, blunt figures don't lie.

Don't get me wrong, I'd be more than glad to get a better product from Samsung and not pay to Sony its premium margin. Just not to trade off the screen quality for couple of additional GB of hard drive and the like.

Although chances are slim, I still hope for the BB model to be a sort of downgraded version of a better product. If true, this would be a very uninspired method for launching a nutty new product.

 

which is the best competitive laptop with this? is there any more powerful than this? is this the only quad core laptop that is so thin and light?

or overall better if I would pay more?

and when it will be released in Europe?

 

10/29/11


Samsung Serie 7 700Z5A S01: Amazon.de: Elektronik

 

can sseries 7 have also ssd disk? how big it will be? just 8gb?

what - 3,2 kg? i thought it is gonna be lighter..

anything better than this laptop if price does not matter?

 

Sony has the lightest 15" laptop at ~ 4.4lbs. VAIO SE.

Sure. But it already has 8GB Espress Cache. It makes more sense to keep the 750GB 7200rpm in my opinion.

 

can you give me a link of Vaio that is the most powerfull and similar to this one?

quad core, similar battery life,matt screen, similar resolution...??

 

VAIO SE is mentioned here Sony VAIO SE Now Available

To discuss it please use the Sony forum.

This thread is for Samsung 7 series.

For those who want advice on what laptop to buy we have this forum: http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/

 

higher resolution and better quality screen, but about 25% slower GPU.

Customize 15.5" Laptop | VAIO S Series Configure-to-Order | VPCSE190X CTO | Sony USA

 

It's obviously the whole package weight, since the S7 15.6" is officially 2.2kg

 

Since Tigerdirect got their first batch. Anyone got their order filled?

 

I finally got to see the series 7 at Best Buy today. I did fiddle with the settings and it did decrease the washed out look a bit but the contrast ratio was only fair at best and the viewing angles were not that great. I'm still hoping Best Buy got the gimped display.

 

Crossing fingers too. I have a bad feeling that I may have to import my Envy 14 replacement some day if I decide I still don't like OSX.

 

yea i was today also at best buy, the screen was very dim and the viewing angle were not good as thought it will be, also the unit was very slow and take a lot of time to boot, but i think it was because of the best buy software that was installed on it.

 

The horizontal viewing angles are better on the dell but the samsung screen is almost as good when viewing head on. The power supply on the 7 is slightly smaller than the dell supply but larger than the dell slim charger. Here are some comparison pictures (taken with a cell phone camera). I did not remove the plastic cover from the top of the samsung.













for vertical viewing angles

 

What exactly do some of you guys do that the screen of the s7 is so crap? Some people here are just complaining for no good reason. This forum is becoming soo annoying with people over exaggerating problems. Like with the sony SA, you'd think the laptop was made out of recycled paper.

 

Thank you very much!!
Since I also have the M1530 with the 9-cell battery, i can easily compare them!
It's amzing how the M1530 seems so big, and the samsung seems so small!! Seems like one is a 17" and the other a 13"!!

Would it be possible for you to take pics on both computers next to each other without the battery, in order to avoir the size/volume distortion to the battery please?

 

This laptop is positioned as a Macbook Pro competitor.

If Samsung really put in a low quality screen (low contrast, low gamut) they have every reason to complain.

But I still have to see if the non Bestbuy version really has a low contrast screen.

 

I'm too tired to argue. If you guys want the "greatest" screen ever why not just purchase the macbook and stop complaining.

A lot of people will find the screen to be great but the tone of people here make it sound so disgusting to look at.

 

It's not just the Macbook Pro. Dell XPS 15z and Sony VAIO SE have good screens too.

It would be a shame if Samsung has skipped out on screen quality for alle series 7 models.

True. Going by what is written it would be more accurate to say the screen looks average.

PS. I haven't seen the screen myself yet so can't judge.

 

Call me a freak but I actually like crappy viewing angles for my privacy lol.

 

For your privacy you have confidentiality screens... I have that for work and it's pretty nice, but on my personal laptop I want to be able to see as I'm the only one using the computer!

 

as I see samsung serie 7 is the best 15 inch laptop with quad core procesor and SSD Express Cache, and is also the smallest?

I still can not find another lapotop that has specifications like this one withoud compromisses?

is anything important that this laptop doesnt have as good as others?


It has backlit?

 

The fact you cannot buy the model which has the backlit keyboard YET.
Bestbuy is selling a cheaper version of the Series 7 without backlit, lower graphic card and possibly a crappier screen.
EDIT: And the fact there aren't many comprehensive reviews from well known sites yet.

 

I can agree with this... if the screen looks really good from straight on... that's fine with me.

I understand some people prefer a screen with wider viewing angles for maybe collaborative sharing or media viewing but usually my laptop is for my eyes only.

I think the issue is that even straight on, the BB S7 looks a bit washed out (I have looked at it a few times at my local store). The Sony SE looks much better... but that also may be attributed to the higher pixel density of the 1080p screen.

 

as I see samsung serie 7 is the best 15 inch laptop with quad core procesor and SSD Express Cache, and is also the smallest on the market?

no competition or..?

 

Well no one else has SSD Ecache. But it main competitor is Macbook pro. But other brands like Sony, Dell could be considered. It depends on what you want out of the notebook as gamer, or just casual usage?

 

can you give me all links with specifications for all competitive models - to fast review if I like it??


i prefer windows

 

go make a thread in the what should i buy forum if your looking for options so they know exactly what your looking for.

 

I even doubt the screen is just average

 

So when's the backlit version due to be available?

 

Somewhere between now and end of october.

 

I imposed on the hospitality of Best Buy to run some tests on their display unit with my i1 Display 2 colorimeter (same model that notebookcheck uses). Since I didn't want to tie up their display for too long, I only ran tests in the center of the screen.

DISCLAIMER: This test was not performed in a controlled environment and there was no time to calibrate the display. This information is for entertainment purposes only.

Test procedure: enter Samsung display settings, turn brightness to max, set Display Color to No Effect. Run grayscale and primaries tests using HCFR.

Results:

White level - 285.019 cd/m^2, pretty close to the advertised 300
Black level - 1.592 cd/m^2
Contrast ratio ON/OFF - 179:1

Red primary - (0.562, 0.351)
Green primary - (0.339, 0.571)
Blue primary - (0.158, 0.131)
Color gamut: 61.6% sRGB, or 44.3% NTSC



Note that the grays are kind of bluish, which may explain why people complain about a faded blue tinge.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

so thats pretty bad right?

 

That contrast ration sounds pretty abysmal. Sounds about right though as there was another Samsung laptop right beside the one I was checking out at Best Buy that had much better viewing angles and contrast ration. Still hoping that Samsung did not screw this up for the non-Best Buy models.

 

Ditto. If it turns out they screwed it up, I'll be severely disappointed in Samsung. They've done quite a bit in the past that's garnered my respect. But to put a cruddy display in what should've been a premium notebook smacks of deceptive advertising.

 

Been following this thread for a while, in hopes that I had found my new laptop. My M1530 is on it's last legs (running slow, gets EXTREMELY hot, etc.) and am definitely in the market. The display on my M1530 is awesome, and if it turns out Samsung really does opt for a crummy display (aside from the BB units), then I suppose I will have to look else where, which is a shame.

Any one have recommendations beyond the S7? I've looked at the latest XPS models, which don't quite do it for me, as well as the latest Sony SE, which lacks the same tier of CPU and GPU as the S7. I've also considered a MBP but can't pull myself to spend that much on those internals. What models does ASUS offer that can compare? ASUS seems hard to follow with their constant revisions and model numbers that come out, so I never know what's "new" it seems.

 

Yeap, all things become clear. Leaving the contrast aside, the 61.6% sRGB is VERY BAD. They took a low quality screen and somehow pumped up the brightness, but this was all they could have done to that screen.

Well said, deceptive advertising, I've been impressed by Samsung as well with their mobile phones, what a shame!

 

To be fair, the only quantitative aspect of the screen they advertised was the brightness, and they pretty much delivered based on my measurements. Something had to be sacrificed to fit the machine into the given price point, and in this case it was panel quality.

 

Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed. I've been following this thread (and laptop) for a few weeks thinking that it might be the successor to the macbook pros I've had in recent years.

It's pretty clear that they're trying to go after the MBP market and on paper it looks like a great effort. Sadly, it seems like that was their priority - a MBP competitor that wowed people with its spec / price ratio. Unfortunately the MBP market is driven by people who're willing to spend a bit more for the things that aren't necessarily on the spec sheet.

Screen quality is paramount to most power users and it's too bad they decided to (apparently) compromise here. The price is aggressive which is great, but I wish they would have tacked another 100-150 on top and provided (at least the option for) a top quality panel.

I'm guessing they'll sell a bunch and it's probably a good business decision, but for those of us who don't want to compromise, it kind of sucks. I'd like to believe that the non-BB models will have different panels, but I just don't think it's likely. Guess I'll be saving a bit longer and getting another overpriced (but admittedly nice) 15" macbook pro

/rant over