Samsung series 7 17.3 NP700Z7C-S01UB Screen and heat issue.

I recently bought the NP700Z7C-S01UB which is the Samsung series 7 17.3 but sold at best buy and pre installed with windows 8. Whenever i play a graphically intensive game such as skyrim long black marks appear on the screen directly above where the fans blow out air The temps do get high and the fans kick in quite a bit, i assume that its the heat causing the issue since the screen does get hot during game play.. Is this a common issue or is something wrong with my laptop?

 

I'm starting to wonder if Samsung has already discontinued the NP700Z7C laptop due to these heat and wi-fi connectivity issues. I can't find it on their website anymore. Just drivers and stuff for it. No other good replacement for it either - just the lower end 5 series. Too bad. It had a great keyboard. One of the few keyboards with fullsize (meaning full width) numpad keys and a double wide zero key - as all numpads should have! You listening Asus? I still can't believe Asus cheaped out on their N76vz and used the crippled keyboard from the N56vz 15 inch version. A 17 inch laptop should have a proper full width keyboard. No need for cheap gimmicks and penny pinching. Also, while I'm ranting, they should all be backlit! Come on Samsung. A NP550P7C without a backlit keyboard? Get real. Hardly compares to the Asus N76vz without it.

Asus, when you get around to building the G76, please, please, put the full width numpad zero key back in. And while I'm making requests, 802.11ac, IPS MATTE display, and trim about 1.5 kilograms from the weight. About the only thing that sets the G75 apart is the quietness and the rear venting fans. And you are losing the battle for quietness by sticking with Nvidia. If you aren't going to use Optimus, then you might as well put a 7970M in it. Uses less wattage than the still theoretical (in Asus at least) 670mx, yet performs like the 680m. If MSI had put a 7970m in a 17" chassis instead of just in the GX60, I'd likely already own one. Same goes for Lenovo. If they had used a Matte screen on the Y580, I might own one of those already as well. Also Asus, don't lose the rear venting fans. All laptops should be rear venting. Not only for the better cooling, but to direct the sound AWAY from the user as well. Time for everyone else to CLUE IN.


I have a request for all manufactures of Laptops. If you are including a screen, give it a matte finish. If you want to sell more than your competitors, spend the extra $10 per unit and include a great screen. As close to full sRGB color gamut as possible. TN sucks vs IPS, but good TN is still better than bad IPS. Especially for gaming. If you are including a GPU, pay the extra bucks to cool it properly and quietly! If you are adding a numeric keypad, make the keys full width (15mm) just like the rest of the keys, and don't cut the zero key in half. Anyone who actually uses the numeric keypad uses their thumb for the zero. All keyboards should be backlit. Don't gimp up the trackpads! If you can't make your goofy 'no buttons' trackpad work properly, then just put in one with the darn buttons! Functionality is much more important than style! Clue in! I'd much rather have the trackpad from the lowend Samsung NP550P7C and it's buttons, than the trackpad from the Samsung NP700Z7C or from the Asus N76vz. Why? Because IT WORKS! The user interface is the most important part of a laptop. If you make your's suck, then your laptop sucks. Give it a great screen, keyboard and trackpad, and you will outsell your competitors. Even if your's weighs half a pound more, or isn't as stylish looking. The user interface elements trump all other considerations for the end user.

/end rant

 

I should throw a P.S. in for my previous post. I was all ready to over pay for the Samsung NP700Z7C (relative to the Asus N76vz and the Lenovo Y580) because it did have a great screen AND keyboard. It doesn't include a blue-ray player/burner, it had less ram, and some would say the track pad was more bjorked than the other two trackpads. (all a little gimped in my opinion). Style wise, I liked the Samsung's grey finish more than the Asus holey look, but still prefer Lenovo black over both. Couldn't get past the glossy Lenovo screen. Couldn't get past the Samsung wi-fi complaints on the forums. Looks like I'll be grudgingly accepting the n76vz and it's gimped numpad. I don't want to go down to a 630m in the cheaper Samsung or HP models. I want to do a little gaming on the laptop, otherwise I'd just get an ultrabook and use my gaming tower. I wish the next gen of 15 and 17 inch laptops were already out, but I'd probably regret waiting for them, as I doubt any one manufacturer will produce a laptop that meets all of my needs.

To be fair, the rMBP and UX51 come very close, but their prices are just too high and they both have heat issues of their own. If Haswell and the next gen GPUs were out, I'm sure I'd be able to find a perfect fit, but just can't wait a full year for those.

The ideal work/gaming laptop for me would be 17", 1080P, high quality screen (color gamut/contrast wise) (IPS would be nice, but not necessary), matte finish, quad core (3610 is adequate, anything more is just a bonus or spec checkmark - like useless 16 GB ram machines or 3 GB ram laptop GPUs), wi-fi 802.11ac (very important), have a small, cheap 5400 rpm hdd, so that we can toss it and install our own choice of SSD, dual bays preferable but not necessary, accessible back panel (listening Samsung?), great backlit keyboard with 15mm wide numpad keys and full doublewidth zero key, (shrink the arrow keys or just shorten the useless 4 wide shift key! You listening Asus?) and the whole thing would weigh 3 kgs or less. 6.5 lbs if you prefer. 2 bonus points if it is black. 1 bonus point if it is gray. Negative bonus points if your trackpad doesn't work properly. Bonus point if there is a single button to turn off the track pad.

 

They are still available on Samsung site.

Series 7 17.3" Notebook | Samsung Office NP700Z7CH

Best Buy has them online and they are at my local BB store.

 

Ah, I see what went wrong. I looked for them here:
laptops-Notebooks | SAMSUNG

Perhaps they've been discontinued in my country? Online retailers are putting them on sale here.

 

\ Grrr. For what it is worth, I'll post an update. I originally bought the Asus n76vz, but the subwoofer rattled. Even at low volume, even with the 'stand?' removed. Something was obviously wrong with it. The screen was great. Well, at first. After a while I realized looking at text on a white background was slightly irritating. There was sort of a shimmering effect around each pixel. I'd heard this mentioned on other forums, but never experienced it until I had one on my desk. It was not a real problem. More of a minor irritant. I've since seen it on other Asus laptops - like the G75. I don't know who the supplier is, but I'd hope they switch to a different version in the future. Anyway, as I was going to have to take the n76vz back and as my local store was now sold out of them, I decided to try the Samsung np700z7c. I bought the Sammy and kept the Asus for a couple days to do some direct comparisons. Well, much to my surprise, the Samsung didn't have heat issues. In fact, it idled a full 10 degrees cooler than the Asus. It was also noticeably quieter than the Asus while idling. When gaming the left side of the keyboard does get warm, but not super hot. When the fans kick in while gaming, they seem about as loud as the Asus, but the tone is lower. I preferred the lower tone, but others might not.

The Samsung doesn't have quite the color gamut that the Asus screen has, but it doesn't have the speckly effect either. I immediately preferred the Samsung screen. I also prefer the trackpad, but neither was perfect. One thing that sucks about the Samsung is the keyboard. Well, not the whole keyboard. Just the single key wide left shift key. Samsung decided to use a french / english layout which means they stick in an extra slash key to the left of the Z key. I'm used to clicking here to use the shift key. Every time I start typing, I always seem to wind up typing this stupid slash. I haven't re-trained myself yet. I do appreciate the full width keys on the numpad, and especially the double wide zero key. Overall, I'm satisfied with the Samsung and won't be replacing the Asus.

I do wonder at it's cost though. This week there was a Y580 Lenovo on sale for $799, vs the $1299 I paid for the Samsung. The y580 has the same guts, even has a faster GPU, the 660M. So the extra $500 is basically for the Samsung name, and slightly better case. Sammy is really raking in the coin from this laptop.

The only wi-fi issues I've experienced is that it occasionally is turned off after gaming. Don't know why, and can't repeat it. It just seems random. Also, it is weaker than the n76vz. I had them side by side and the Asus was consistently about 20% faster. Not enough to notice it in daily use, but it did show up in speedtest.

The sound is on par with the Asus, but you don't have to have the external subwoofer. That is a big bonus.

The extra pound or half kilo in weight that the Asus has was quite noticable to me. I didn't think it would be, but it was, and quickly became irritating when I had to actually use it on my lap.

Well, I hope this helps someone else make up their mind when choosing between the two laptops.

I went with the Asus first because it was cheaper, had more ram and a blue ray reader, and looked almost as good. But as it turns out, I'm happier with the Sammy. I just hope they drop the french keyboard on future versions.