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

you ignored my question:


I already send Payment to German shop. SInce 8 am in the morning I can cancel..

What to do????

at this time I have old asus x51 and I never had problems with display. The only thing I did not like was glossy screen (when I was outdoor)

asus x51l
Asus X51L - Notebookcheck.net External Reviews

So you thnink I will like samsung display or is even worse?


I use laptop most for business (office and browsing,news and youtube.
just sometimes some ADobe photoshop, sometimes watch a film.

what you think????

 

Dabs are now showing the full spec, and contrary to Samsung they're listing a Radeon HD 6490M.

 

Sorry (to whom it may concern), but i must comment the screen too. I do believe notebookcheck is accurate with their measurements and people here confirm display trouble too. In my point of view Samsung specs are perfect but i just cannot accept price of it with that display. I was hopping HD+ will bring better parameters then regular HD. Good regular HD notebooks are around for much less.
Today i went to the store to check the competitor vaio SE. Yes, keyboard has some flex if you search for it, yes, GPU is a bit slower (but can be surely overclocked if needed, same amount of shaders as 6750m) and yes, HDD miss express cache. But the screen, boy, it is really fantastic, my jaw just went down. I have been looking for a good hi-res laptop for about 2 years and every single one has some disadvantages, i do accept it, otherwise i would never buy any. In few days time i will go for sony.
I would like to thank to all of you here who brought some light (info) in. It really helped. Tuff decision. And hey, samsung, will see how your chronos II. or III. will do..

 

wish there was an option to add a hd screen for a couple hundred extra...id pay for it.

again...samsung sucks at releasing and actually selling their product

 

ok, ive just cancelled my order due to concerns about the screen and PC World not having any in stock to get a look at.

This is really dissappointing to here as the 7 could have been a really tasty laptop for the money. Ill wait to check the issues complained about then make up my own mind, though I need it for design work whilst travelling next year, so it could be VAIO SE, shame it doesnt come with the premium 1080p screen here in the UK, just the plus!

Can anyone recommend any laptops for graphics work, i.e. CS5 that have real top notch MATTE screens other than VAIO's?

MBP is out of the ? as I refuse to pay the sums involved. Ive been working on macs for nearly 20 years professionally but cant justify something double in price for the sake of an OS, which Ill admit is maginally better than windows, but PCs have caught up by a huge amount in the last 5-8 years. Rant over!!

 

I had the Chronos 7 for a while, the model from Best buy and I think the screen is fine. I don't think the contrast is quite as good as my mbp or other higher end elite books I have, but it was certainly not a deal breaker and the brightness was a lot better than other laptops I've had. I could actually use the Samsung on 3/4 brightness, where my mbp needs to be brighter/higher setting to achieve less eye strain for me. I'm surprised so many people are worried about looking at a laptop from an angle that they won't be looking at it from while using it....odd. For the price, the screen is decent.

I ended up keeping it for 14 days before returning to BB, I saw they are going to release the one with backlit keyboard and figured I'd grab that one once it's out, in addition I wanted the more pumped up video card for gaming occasionally.

All in all, I'd rather use/buy the Chronos 7 than a macbook pro or other laptops I have. I suppose if your requirement is MacOSX, you've got one choice. I have a newer sandy bridge i7 mbp 15", the Samsung is lighter weight and slightly faster in use, and I consistently over the week or more of use got better battery life with the Samsung just surfing/email etc. I was actually shocked to finally have a laptop that I felt did all the things right that Apple does with regard to power management, sleep to use time, boot time etc. All in a smaller/lighter package that feels very solid. The Samsung is nicer to type on than my mbp, the pro cuts my wrists if I have it in my lap, the aluminum is just too sharp for me. I suppose I could change my typing style but it always aggravated me that I had to lift my wrists on the mbp. All in all, the Samsung feels smaller, even though it's only a 1/2lb lighter and a few inches shorter than the mbp (16:9 vs 16:10). This is not a post to bash the mbp, I still use it and like it...but considering the massive price difference I'd go with the Samsung. I'm happy work purchased my mbp.

I installed my agility 3 ssd in the Samsung and was able to get about a 20-25s boot time from the time I click power, to the time I hit the desktop (usable)....it's extremely fast at boot and wake from sleep which I like. I also liked the keyboard, it felt very high quality and didn't feel like it would break down/sink over time. Also to answer some questions on access to change components, don't be afraid to change the hard drive out, it's just a matter of taking the bottom off (all screws aside from memory screw) and it's easy to access everything underneath once the single cover comes off. The battery is very similar to my mbp, easy to access as well. This looks to be user replaceable to me.

Hopefully this will help some of you trying to decide....if I had to buy a windows laptop soon (which I do), it would be the Chronos 7 or the Lenovo 420/420s.....I'm leaning toward the Chronos 7 with back-lit once they are stocked.

Here's my video of the BB version of the Chronos with my agility 3 inside. This is after all drivers are installed and some other software.
Samsung Chronos 7 with Agility 3 fast boot time - YouTube

Quality stinks, it was at night and with my phone, but you can see enough I think.

 

good to hear the laptop is exactly what i expect it to be.
a macbook with windows already preinstalled

if you're complaining about the screen quality...you probably

1. are too picky (because its not that big of a deal if you're just a regular user)
2. if you really DO need to best screen quality out there(graphic designer)...you probably can afford to spend ALOT more (or you should think about investing in a more expensive laptop such as a macbook or sony vaio)

 

Thanks man. You convinced me that I don't cancel my transaction for samsung that would be made this tomorrow at 8am.



after all, these is only one laptop in market that has all these specs that I wanted for my next laptop (quad core, big storage 750 gb + ssd - is a big factor, great graphic card, long battery duration, and thin & light) sound excellent.


and as I said before. I was completly happy with display of asus x51l.
I use laptop for office, and browsing and youtube, sometimes maybe a movie.

So I believe i will not have problems with display right??

 

Completely agree, I was waiting for this one(I alreayd got another one tho by now tho), and everyone in this thread is rambling about Samsung mess it up, didn't meet expectation, time delay, bad screen... But samsung is no sager, the majority who is going to buy this laptop would never know its existance until they see it on shelf, and the majority who is buying this will think the screen is much better than the oehr generic 1366*798, mirroring-all-over screens in the stores. I just saw a series 3 screen today here in Italy, it's better than most others honestly

 

I don't think you will mind the display at all. I thought it was crisp/bright, and seemed plenty good for me. Keep in mind I'm not a graphics designer so I probably don't have the eye for what they look for, but hey if you are that worried about doing photography/graphics design, use your external 24" monitor, not the laptop display .

Given the uses you listed dmwajtjt, I think you'll really enjoy it.

It's also 1600x900, which on a 15.6" is about as high as I'd like. I hate the 1920/1080 on a 15" laptop, it's just too much on that size of a screen.

 

Thank you for your input, I also believe that for regular usage the screen is fine. In your video at the end in the dark the blacks looked decent enough to me.
If you are a design student with high contrast and gammut screen requirements, like you said the mbp is the only option left. But frankly with the price gap between the chronos and the mbp you could buy a apple 27" IPS cinemadisplay or two 24"inch ips screens for that kind of work... I cannot justify to shell out an extra 1000$ just for screen quality.
If you are getting the chronos for work/surf/mail casual gaming or even gaming period (I frankly dont care about the screen quality when I am playing a competitive online game) there's no reason it should not be fine. Maybe during a movie watched in a pitch black room or so the greyish blacks will be an issue but hey just turn a light on and it should not look grey at all, and I am quite sure the movie mode would improve the experience to a decent point. For someone like me who uses a projector to watch movies it doesn't really matter altough that the radiance display on the envy 14 I am used to has kicking black levels (something like 3 time better than the mbp or so) if the envy had such good hardware and especially battery life I'd keep it but hey HP fails where samsung wins and vice versa.

 

I don't think the colors are really any better on my mbp. I used them both side by side. The only thing I felt was better on the mbp vs the samsung was the viewing angle, which I rarely care about.

 

Thanks, where would you put the screen for the Sony SE? Better than T520?

 

Same with Bt

 

If you can return the laptop if you're unsatisfied, I think you'll have to go and give a try... otherwise, maybe it's better to cancel and see it in a store first...

 

What I really want to know is if the ODD can be removed and replaced with the main hard drive. Leaving me to put my M4 SSD into the Main hard drive slot. Meaning SSD for windows and applications, hard drive for storage and back up of SSD content and express cache to do whatever it feels like doing.

 

I agree and very well put. I agree completely. You are, IMO, right and a voice of reason. Those who still want the machine despite the poor screen and premium pricing will know what they are getting into before buying --- poor screen, limited connectivity, so-so sound, great battery, fast boot, good looks, nice trackpad, and so on.

 

I've had the system apart about 5 times swapping drives etc. I think you could probably get the optical out, however I don't remember if the connector was standard sata and could hook directly to your drive. You'd also need to either build your own mount or pad/compress to fix it in there, or maybe wait for a caddy?

Here's a photo of the internals, hopefully this will help a little. Sorry for the quality/size, it was taken from my phone and I don't have resize tools on this system to do it right.



sure looks a lot like a mbp on the inside .

 

I know this may well sound crazy but hear me out...

What I'm looking for from start to finish is simple.

A premium laptop that's good looking and durable with reasonable battery life that can hold its own in the odd game or two. The Series 7 matched that fine. Weight and thickness don't really matter all that much to me. I recently discovered that the Alienware M14x or M11x are not that much more expensive than the Series 7. Would I be mad to consider it? I'd have bitten the bullet and bought it over the Series 7 if it weren't for the fact that I keep hearing conflicting reports on battery life.

 

I actually used the chronos 7 for over a week. what conflicting info do you need more clarity on with regard to battery life? I can help. If the alienware doesn't use a high capacity battery and graphics switching, I'd bet the battery life would be pretty poor.

Looks like the m14x is around 4hrs. http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/alienware-m14x.aspx?page=3

Looks a little better on the m11x r3 http://www.anandtech.com/show/4505/alienware-m11x-r3-portable-powerhouse/4

Another note on the samsung, it was insanely quiet. Granted I wasn't engaging the amd video much in testing other than starcraft II, but it was very very quiet/cool running through almost everything I did with it.

 

Oh no, the conflicting reports are on the Alienware. Some people say it gets a pitiful 2.5 or so hours on power saving mode while others say it can get just about five hours. Most people who've tried out the Chronos are reporting excellent battery lives.

The reason i'm a bit iffy about the Chronos at the moment is because of the whole issue in the UK/Ireland of the 6750M possibly being replaced by the 6490M. If that were the case, i'd have to pass on buying the Chronos.

In any case, I have a few questions:

1. How bad is the screen really? Is it any worse than the screen on say a standard Dell Inspiron 15? I don't really need insanely wide viewing angles as I always just connect it to my TV if I want to watch a film with others but it'd be pretty annoying if I had to constantly adjust the tilt of the screen during normal use.
2. What's the battery life like?
3. Did you try out any games on it? How did it fare?
4. Does ExpressCache really improve boot times?
5. What's the overall feel of the laptop from the packaging to the materials used and build quality? Does it feel premium and just "right" the way that a Macbook, Lenovo or Sony VAIO would feel?

Thanks

 

Was it easy to disassemble? How long did it take?

 

The screen is average for contrast/viewing angle. It's not as good as my elitebook/mbp, but definitely not horrible. The resolution is good, but I did adjust the screen from time to time (tilt) to my liking.

Battery life was awesome, 6-9hrs depending on my screen brightness/power saving mode/wifi activity etc.

Starcraft II was great, but battlefield 3 wouldn't run due to driver issues with graphics switching.

I had the ssd agility 3 in it, so not a good fair assessment (crazy fast with ssd). The stock drive in the BB model is non express cache.

Laptop felt pretty high quality to me, liked the keyboard, didn't like the trackpad as much as mbp. Packaging was good, comes with win7 install disk for restore.

 

The first time was about 15 minutes, every time after that, about 5. I got used to the way it snaps off and back on pretty quickly.

 

Ordered from Tigerdirect. Called them today, and they said it would ship tonight. I opted for next day shipping, so I should be seeing it soon!

 

Hmm... I can live with that I think. Is it much worse than a MBP or just by a small margin?

That's what I wanted to hear...

Damn, I intend to play BF3 on it if/when I get it. Seeing as it's a driver issue it should be sorted out in due course I think.

Good enough.



I've come to a decision I think. If dabs.ie confirm that it has a 6750M and not a 6490M i'm sticking with the Chronos. If it only has a 6490M however i'll be going with an Alienware M14x or M11x or possibly a Lenovo W520 if I can find one cheap enough on Ebay.

 

Please let us know when you get a tracking number.

 

Jesus we need a comprehensive review, cant believe any of the sites haven't a review unit yet. I'm a little worried about the screen and thinking about the Sony vaio SE instead if its as bad as people say!

 

Try: http://translate.google.pt/translat...-Samsung-Serie-7-700Z5A-Notebook.65085.0.html

Can anyone compare the samsung screen to the asus U41sv or sony vaio SB, those were 2 alternatives i was looking into, the sony SE is 1400 euros, starts to get abit out of budget for me.

 

Thanks for the pic. I'll probably just wait for a caddy to be released or find one that fits it. I tried looking for laptops that use the same odd but no luck

 

If the screen is really important for you, then i suggest you getting the sony since it's fullHD.

 

Just called Microsoft (pre-ordered on 10/25), and I'm getting conflicted reports. One guy told me it would ship to me for sure. Next guy told me it was my CC holding up the order. Last guy told me that they had already shipped out all their products, and I had to wait 2 weeks.

 

While the screen is important so is build quality and touchpad , been reading reports of the SE having alot of flex and a crappy touchpad compared to the 7!

I think i will have to look at both in the flesh to make a decision, its a pity as i would be willing to pay the extra for a good display on the Samsung even with a lesser graphics chip

.

 

In that case, maybe consider waiting a bit longer for the 14"/13" S7, which has the same resolution but might have a better display.

 

I just talked with a Microsoft Store rep too. She told me that they shipped out some of the laptops today but mine wasn't one of them. She said I would have to wait 7-14 days for mine to be shipped. I preordered mine on 10/24.

 

i was told mine would ship today or tmrw...what horrible customer service

microsoft store doesnt even know whats going on...I'm keeping my eyes peeled for amazon in case they get it in stock before mine ships im gonna cancel my order asap because amazon will be cheaper(no tax)

hate to say this but this would NEVER happen with apple

either its shipping soon and they have it

or they dont have it

 

Ha. Check this out:

 

There was a 30 day return windows so I pulled the trigger on the 14 incher from the Microsoft Store. They said it would ship out tomorrow for overnight delivery.

 

Doesnt the 14 incher only have an ati 6490?

 

Is the Microsoft Store 14 incher the BB version?

 

I thought the 14 and the 15.6 from BB have the 6490 but I could be wrong on the 14. I know the 15.6 from BB has the 6490

 

Anyone have experience with thinkpads E420 and T420 screen? Are there much shift in color when you move your head like that? How good are those screens compared to this 15" chronos and the T500?

 

When did you order it?

 

They 14 inch was only suppose to have 6490. Someone say earlier in this thread that the chassis is too small to fit a 6750.

 

Some people are jumping to rash conclusions about what kind of screens will and won't be available. So far, the only things we know for sure are that (1) inconsistent stories have circulated about the Series 7 Chronos, and (2) various models of that machine have been released, with variance in key components.

Anyone who thinks they know what components the complete range of sub-models will and won't include are fooling themselves. Of those who care about any particular spec that is yet unclear, the sensible ones among them will wait and see what's real before jumping through hoops. The only folks who should be buying now are those who care about the basic package while not having any great priority on any of the variable component specs such as screen and/or card.

 

Here's the NP700Z5 review from PC PRO UK. Posted today.

Samsung 700Z Chronos review | Laptops | Reviews | PC Pro

 

It gets a fantastic review and mentions that the screen is great. However the cpu is totally different from what you can buy, so i would be concerned that the review model was some kind of early protottype, and potentially has a better display than the ones currently available to buy.

 

"Great looks, stacks of power and a superb screen: a great, cheap alternative to a MacBook."

Compared to a glossy one its not a "superb screen" if you look for shiny colors...

"The screen, for instance, is a matte, 15.6in panel, and is superbly bright. The lack of a glossy finish is a distinct bonus, and although the resolution isn’t good enough to play Full HD content, 1,600 x 900 is easily good enough for most work, including multimedia tasks such as image editing."

Now I'm interested in the opinion of the "the screen is not too good" people

 

what if I use my laptop for more than 5 hours per day? Is the screen important?

 

Well? Is that true? this could be a problem with typists out there. Unless, of course, completely disable it and use mice instead.