Samsung Series 7 Lovers - Here's The NP700Z5C Ivy Bridge!

Make sure you keep in regular contact with them because they could just leave you hanging like they did to me. Also, apparently you're required to send your laptop and its charger together.

 

Could wifi congestion be the issue then? There are about 10-12 other wifi networks that I can pick up and so most of the channels are already being used. I've tried changing the channel to the least congested one but still have the same issue.

Guess I'll wait until Intel re-releases the 15.8 drivers (currently on 15.6.1.20) and see if there are any changes for me.

 

Lots of competing WiFi signals certainly won't help. If your router supports 5GHz then try it.

John

 

So i went in to Best Buy this weekend. They said they'd be sending it out to Samsung for screen replacement. Which makes no sense because I have a service plan...
Anyway, they asked if i had it backed up because "Samsung would wipe the hard drive."

WHAT..?

 

I definitely would not send a PC in for service without a complete backup. Possibly even duplicate backups (assuming that the disk will be wiped). I might do a factory restore of the disk as well -- both to make sure that software issues are ruled out as causes of whatever defect is being serviced, but also because I don't want my private data exposed: ID theft is a very real threat (in USA).

I know it seems silly when the problem is a bad screen

 

Yea, I am tempted to do a wipe. I might just put in a new HDD and install windows to it just so I don't have to go through that.
I mean, I have backups (Home Server Essentials ftw), so I'm not worried about losing my data, but I don't want my data thrown around a Samsung or Best Buy warehouse.

 

It might be easier to get software such as Acronis TrueImage so you can make a full backup image to your server, then use Samsung Recovery Solution to restore the factory image on the notebook. Once it returns you can run Acronis again to restore the image and get the drive back to where it was.

John

 

Also, if you don't want to bother using TrueImage and wasting a trial key (or buying it), EASEUS has a free backup/clone tool you can check out.

 

While we're at it, here is then the comment that you'd probably all expect from me: While I concur with the recommendation of using imaging tools, I would advice against doing image backup/restore of the entire disk -- at least if you still have Recovery Partition(s). You are almost guaranteed to loose your F4 link after restoring such an image.

Image backup/restore of individual partitions OTHER than Recoveries works great, though, and I could not be more emphatic in recommending that.

Personally I use image backup/restore extensively for my Windows Partitions since I am always messing around, and it allows me to quickly revert if something goes wrong. For my Data partition I use a Sync tool, so that my backup disk is a mirror of my Data drive, with all individual files and folders directly accessible.

Yeah I know, I never could stop with these Recovery warnings

 

But also see the comment here about a cloning method that does retain the F4 functionality.

John

 

Oh yes, I took note of that post this morning. As I'm sure you would expect, few posts on this subject escape my attention

I am still a bit puzzled about the cloning feature, and why other users seem to prefer using the bootable USB backup feature to clone just the Factory Image (Windows installation). In any case, fortunately there are now several ways to clone, backup and re-install using SRS6, which WILL preserve F4 -- and which we didn't have before.

The context here was making a full image backup (using Acronis or similar) before sending the laptop in for service. I think that's fine, as long as the Recovery partition(s) are NOT restored when it comes back, since that WILL lose F4.

As I understand the SRS6 cloning feature, it is not a practical alternative to this image backup, since it requires a complete HDD/SSD target on which to clone, whereas image backups are conveniently compressed files that can go on any external HDD. I still haven't seen or heard if SRS6 has a way to backup the entire disk (Recoveries, Windows, Data, partition table and all) as a bootable image. That would be excellent!

I am longing to investigate this further, but unfortunately I am not yet ready to drop the money on a new machine with SRS6.

 

That's rather odd -- Amazon must have found some extra boxes of the NP700Z5C-S01US lying around. Just noticed they have 4 available at $1099.

Amazon.com: Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5C-S01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver): Computers & Accessories

-Matt

 

Looks like Intel has re-released the 15.8.0 drivers!
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Se...oductProduct=Intel®+Centrino®+Advanced-N+6235

I've updated mine, so we'll see if that solves the issue I've been having with my laptop.

 

Sweet let us know how it goes. I'm tempted as always to improve my WiFi performance.

 

I updated to 15.8.0, weirdly in the driver ID it says 15.7.0.3. Anyway, it appears that wifi performance is about the same. It still resumes quickly after sleep like the last driver so at least it's not a step back. Bandwidth remains about the same.

I just did a long Handbrake session on this laptop with 5 or so DVDs and throttling is becoming quite apparent, especially on the 3rd core. When I disassemble my laptop again (hopefully the last time) to replace the bent lid/bezel, I'm going to replace the AS5 with some MX-4 and post the results. Just waiting on the bezel to come in in a few weeks.

 

And here it is, again, now at TigerDirect, this time for $999:

Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5C-S01US Laptop Computer - 3rd generation Intel Core i7-3615QM 2.3GHz, 6GB DDR3, 750GB HDD, DVDRW, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M, 15.6 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit at TigerDirect

EDIT: and woops, now out of stock. I wonder if they only had a few like Amazon? It kind of seems like this is some kind of omen for a June or July announcement of a new model -- or maybe I just have a really active imagination.

-Matt

 

A Haswell release for the NP770Z5E is definitely imminent and might explain why they still have yet to release the Ivy Bridge model in the US. It looks like they're skipping it altogether.

 

On an almost totally unrelated note, I just read an interesting user review of one of the Ativ models, but what caught my eye was:

Amazon.com: dissed's review of Samsung ATIV Book 6 15.6-Inch Full HD Touc...

Worth a try? I noticed in the description that somewhere between (1) and (5) a step is missing, in which presumably the Microsoft driver auto-installs. Seemed to work for the owner, and there's at least one confirmation afterwards from a second owner.

-Matt

 

Thanks for sharing that, Matt.

Yeah, a few members here have found lately that reverting to the Win8 built-in driver worked better than any of the Samsung or Intel-provided updates. Some also reported success reverting to the original Samsung-provided driver. Particularly in the Series 9 threads (for whatever reason). Still, my impression is more people report that updating to newer drivers solves their problems.

I think often it's the device uninstall/re-install (not only the driver version itself) that can make a sudden difference. We've had users who updated and downgraded and re-installed drivers numerous times, then suddenly a thorough uninstall and cleanout, followed by re-install of fresh drivers, solved everything.

I still believe in more cases than not, that getting rid of the PROset junk is a good thing regardless: After that, whether you then have more success with the latest Intel-provided driver or the built-in Win8 driver may depend on your particular device -- or possibly your particular router.

Of course Win7 users don't have a choice, since it doesn't come with 6235 (or even 6230) drivers.

 

ARGH, that didn't occur to me...I wondered why it hadn't been mentioned before!!!

EDIT: know of anyone trying the Win8 driver on a Win7 system?

-Matt

 

That would require a bit of surgery to extract the driver from Win8 and deploy it to Win7. But doable, I am sure, though I a haven't heard of anyone trying it. I wonder if you install a really old driver from Intel, whether Windows Update (in Win7) will offer a Microsoft driver update?

I would recommend anybody with Wi-Fi issues to try the new 15.8.0 driver, which was finally re-released by Intel, this time for both Win7 and Win8. And go through a thorough cleanout first (Device Manager, THEN package uninstall -- as described in this post). Maybe reboot between uninstall and re-install.

And then of course check the other classic fixes, which you and others have covered so extensively in the past. I try to summarize them for new 2013 owners in this post.

Edit: If you don't install any WiFi driver in Win7 (new install or thorough cleanout) doesn't Windows Update offer a Microsoft driver? Of course you'd have to use LAN to connect to Windows Update -- which is probably why few of us ever find out...

 

Aaahhhh this throttling is really killing me. I just popped the bottom off again, dusted the fans, and applied MX-4 after cleaning off the AS5. I did some testing with no bottom and temperatures peaked at 89C, no throttling. Upon putting the bottom on, temperatures peak at 91C with throttling.

Looks like it's a combination of a hot chip, poor heatsink design, and the lack of vents directly under the fans. I'm considering making a new bottom in CAD that has vents similar to the subwoofer grille pattern directly below the fans so they can actually suck in air. All that's really left to do is upgrade my BIOS from P02AAG to P05AAG and hope they've implemented some sort of new fan profile or lower voltages.


...and still throttling. Tried hyperthreading off...still nope. Sigh.

 

Same problem here with my NP700 Z5C S02UB...BIOS ver P06ABJ...temperatures peak at 91C with throttling..I think this guy did something extreme but effective youtube link

 

I think that someone mentioned that the 90 watt power supply causes this issue too. Not just the heat aspect. If a 120 watt or higher was used...then no throttling?

I still haven't tried the Win7 USB 3.0 driver hack yet. My USB 3.0 never worked at full speed, and doesn't recognize some devices at all.

 

Pranktank tried a 120W PSU with his NP780Z5E and described his findings starting here. Some more here.

 

I'm considering doing something along those lines, but....in a cleaner way. Using a CAM at school or something.

I'm not sure that it's running out of power though, because my battery isn't draining (as some other users have reported). What speeds are you hoping for on USB 3.0? The full 5Gb/s? The fastest I've ever gotten on mine is around 130MB/s with a USB 3.0 hard drive but I've never tested anything faster than that to know if there's a problem.

Whoa so it looks like the cooling system on the new one is quite a bit more refined. Did anyone else in that thread maybe test with a Kill-a-Watt meter to determine if the PSU was actually a bottleneck?

 

i purchased an ac adapter branded Targus from Staples with multiple tips. None of them fit the laptop.. any ideas of where to purchase a power brick in store?

 

I don't remember seeing that, but I could have missed it. It won't take you long to scan the thread from the post I linked. It's all happened in the last few weeks.

I suggest you ask pranktank in that thread I linked a few posts back.

 

I bought the ICIDU universal 120W PSU. Although it has the right plug, it is not grounded, which I don't really like.

Nolo2013 bought the thermaltake toughpower 120W psu that did not come with the right plug so he soldered it on.

Yes, nolo2013 reported that his laptop drew 104W of power with his 120W PSU.

While gaming and pretty much all the time, the CPU on the 2013 chronos has some random cores at 1,2 GHz most of the time while other cores turbo. This already happens when the CPU's temperature is far under 80°C. That should not be happening right? Or is it power management? Everything is set to high performance, minimum cpu state is at 100%.

I was wondering if your CPU's act the same way.

 

104W is quite impressive and yet totally expected. Might explain the weird clocks you're seeing on the CPU side.

I think (as I mentioned in our PM coversation), that the CPU in the Z5C definitely throttles because of thermals and not because of power management, as it happens even without the GPU in use; and there's no way the CPU +screen+etc. alone could max out the supplied power adapter.

Also, it consistently happens at 91C, a number I generally reach even without 100% usage on non-turbo clock.

 

Does anybody have a reasonably detailed guide on cleaning the intake fans for the Series 7? I couldn't see any simple way to do it, and I'm wondering how complex it must be. It's about time I clean them as well, it's been way too long haha.

 

I pretty much just blow them out with compressed air. Aim for the exhaust vents I guess?

Surprisingly they don't get too much dust...because there's no intake vents on this thing.

 

Indeed, there have been a few hot days where my room has gotten to over 30C, and running only the CPU at max will result in throttling to around 2.3ish GHz. If I max out the GPU as well, then the CPU drops to around 1.8GHz.

 

I'm looking to acquire this laptop but see that some users experience overheating particularly while gaming. I will be using this laptop mostly for heavy web surfing, word processing, and some youtube. Would anyone say that the notebook would still overheat under that sort of usage?

 

Howdy, and welcome! I'm pleased to hear you're interested in our beloved laptop. My 2 cents is/are that for web/word/video, you should stay pretty cool -- e.g., my 4 cores tend to run around 50C for those kinds of tasks. I see 60C when I do something a bit more prolonged and CPU intensive. For example, I picked up a set of wireless webcams, and for fun yesterday I ran the client-side app while I was at work (which enabled me to "view" my family the whole day -- kinda cool). While doing that, CPU usage ran 15-20% and temps were in the mid-hi 50s.

While I was shopping around last summer, I started a thread that highlighted some of the features of the NP700Z5C. One of things I emphasized is that I look for palmrests that stay cool to the touch, and in that case the Samsung is one of the best I've owned!

-Matt

 

Going with what Matt said, yeah you're definitely not going to see any sort of heating unless you're taxing it 100%. All those tasks are pretty mundane and easy to handle, so I wouldn't worry about it.

In all honesty the system runs really cool in most situations. And I LOVE the cold palmrests.

 

guys, thanks for the input...much appreciated!

 

Now I'm beginning to wonder if I could undervolt the CPU to reduce temperatures provided it still remains stable. I wonder if there's a program that can control the CPU speed well enough to, for example, lock it at 2.5Ghz and send constant voltage. I'll probably look into ThrottleStop and check out its features.

 

I have some issues with my WIFI connection, sometimes it got Disconnected when I playing game online. I checked it everything is okay, my other devices still connected and work okay with the internet but my Laptop isn't. Anyone has experienced this problem before? Because it is very annoying. Thank you

 

Intel have issued several WiFi driver updates during the past few months that are belatedly aimed at addressing the connectivity problem with the 6235 card. Are you up-to-date according to SW Update. If not, try the latest driver that it offers. If you are up-to-date then try the latest driver direct from Intel.

John

 

Thank you John, I apology for the late respond. But it didn't help at all. The problem is still there, I just looked around intel community and found out that a lot of people have this problem too, with N6235 Card. I still waiting for the new update.

And do you know what kind of cooler fit best with this laptop? Cause while I gaming, its getting hot near the speakers at the top and the bottom too. I'm afraid my laptop is not gonna handle gaming without cooler, and its going to die someday . Please answer if you know what kind of cooler are best for this laptop. Thank you

 

If you are using Win8, you can try and roll back to the built-in WiFi driver by following the steps described in this post.

While most users see improvements with the latest Intel-provided drivers, others have had better results with those Win8 drivers from Microsoft. My impression is that this is particularly true for users who suffer from WiFi disconnects.

 

The cooler I'm using right now is the Cooler Master NotePal X-Slim Ultra. For about $19 you can't get a better deal! It's pretty quiet, you can angle it up, and it runs on USB.

Amazon.com: Cooler Master NotePal X-Slim Ultra-Slim Laptop Cooling Pad with 160mm Fan (R9-NBC-XSLI-GP): Computers & Accessories

 

This is the bad boy I'm using on mine: Logisys Computer Wind Pal Black Laptop Cooler Pad Model NP88BK - Newegg.com

If only the Series 7 had vents on the bottom these would actually do something.

 

Just noticed today and thought this might be of interest. My display is now labelled as SEC007. I have the NP700Z5C-S01US on Windows 7, that originally 'came' equipped with the SEC006.

Looks like some sort of driver change or something in the software, not a different hardware display on the S02UB.

 

I've got two questions for you guys.

A. I want to upgrade to 12GB of RAM. How many 4GB sticks(or combination) will I need and what's the best bang for the buck?

B. HD. I want to go SSD and i'm guessing there is only enough room for one or the other. What are the dimensions for the slot?

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

4GB RAM is soldered on board. Your only option is to put an 8GB DDR3 SODIMM in the single RAM slot.

Use a 7mm thick 2.5" SSD. You can put the HDD into the optical drive bay as discussed here.

John

 

Thanks John!

My computer says that i currently have 6GB with 2 of 4 slots filled. So when i pull out the 2GB and replace it with the 8GB that is the most i can fit?

 

It's rare for a notebook to support more than two RAM modules. Programs such as CPU-z are a little misleading by showing 4 slots but, perhaps, the facility is there because desktops my have 4 slots.

Check what is in the single RAM slot. It's probably 2GB but might be 4GB. Either way, swapping it for 8GB is your only current upgrade option. You could, however, install a 16GB module if you can find one. If you check the CPU specs then you should find that it will support 32GB in two memory channels.

John

 

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could someone show me/tell me/link me to a step by step guide on how to put an ssd in and what software changes I need to make? I searched the thread for "ssd" and didn't quite find what I needed

Thank you so much!