Series 7 Chronos All Models: Push for SAMSUNG to implement "FIXED MODE" in BIOS

i was looking for an alternative, and i found this piece of samsung

Samsung NP400B5B, Core i5-2410M, 4096MB, 500GB (NP-400B5B-H01DE)


Main difference (appart from the much worse looks...) it has Nvidia Quardo graphics (but same WLAN Connectivity)


Do you think this could be an alternative which works?


THX for your thoughts

 

Thanks, it worked

 

The Series 7 Chronos is a fantastic laptop and can't be beaten for the price.

The graphics issue was fixed through a driver update. The trackpad issue is minor and can be fixed with some minor tweaking of the settings. Just make sure it has the Intel WiFi card, rather than the Broadcomm one and connectivity should be fine.

 

Really Elephant ? Everyone else agrees?

Thank you!


btw. How can i find out about the WiFi card? and which update fixed the issue?

 

You'll have to check the specifications on the model you're buying to see which WiFi card it has. See page 50 of this topic for more info about the graphics card driver update that fixed OpenGL support and switching.

I highly doubt you'd regret purchasing this machine. Mine is awesome.

 

Thx again elephant

i just wanted to be sure, because in my country the Chronos is not "well Priced", it is one of the most expensive ones :-s


and u might understand, before buing such an expensive piece of tool, you want to be sure.

So all in all and after all; No Drawbacks? Recomendation without restrictions?

BIG
THX

 

btw, has Annyone tried to manually upgrad the notebook with a 2.5" ssd? from waht i read, it is hard to get the back of the notebook open, to remove the original hdd, is that true?


THX

 

Look at the guide and see if you are up to the task.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...ies-7-chronos-np700z5a-disassembly-guide.html

I tried, it works with a SSD.

 

The only drawback is the screen, which is not the best on the market. Although it has a nice matte finish, it doesn't have the best image quality or viewing angles. I'd suggest you check out a display model before you buy and see if it's good enough for your purposes. Other than that, I haven't encountered any issues worth mentioning.

 

Swissbone use a credit card to help open the laptop.

I have a Samsung SSD 830 and works great. Only the access time to the SSD is higher than normal and I can't figure why; but works great.

 

Beware that if you use a card, the plastic edges may be damaged, so use an old card you no longer need.

 

Even though the s7 is now back in stock and all the major technical problems have been resolved, I'm still going to hold off on buying one. I just feel that this laptop has been out for long enough that it should provide better hardware. Specifically, I'm not happy about the 2675QM chip which benchmarks much lower than similarly priced CPUs:

Rating / Chip Model
7533 / Intel Core i7-2760QM @ 2.40GHz
7490 / Intel Core i7-2920XM @ 2.50GHz
7483 / Intel Core i7-2600 S @ 2.80GHz
7006 / Intel Core i7-2720QM @ 2.20GHz
6809 / Intel Core i7-2670QM @ 2.20GHz
6424 / Intel Core i7-2675QM @ 2.20GHz
6366 / Intel Core i7-2635QM @ 2.00GHz
6356 / Intel Core i7-2630QM @ 2.00GHz

source: PassMark Intel vs AMD CPU Benchmarks - High End

 

Pretty sure that the only difference between the 2675QM and 2670QM is the maximum gpu speed for the built in Intel HD 3000 GPU, so they should perform exactly the same.

So I don't give those tests much credit. No way from what I've read that there can be an overall 10% difference in those to when it comes to CPU power.

 

I use the notebookcheck list to compare performance. However, on this occasion they have no results for the 2675QM so its position in the list is based on the rated clock speeds. However, it is possible that heat-induced trottling could cause the CPU to not sustain the rated speeds unless it is benefiting from either a very good cooling system or running in low ambient temperatures.

John

 

The Samsung Series 7 has a borderline cooling system. It throttles the processor to 0.8GHz under stress and gaming. I live in a tropical country (ambient 35C) and that throttling causes poor performance when playing games, FPS dips when throttling occurs (95C -100C) and spikes when full speed is restored, all repeating in a few seconds.

If the 2675QM is not throttling, it should have similar scores as the 2670QM. They are pretty much similar.

 

They "should", but if in real world conditions an equal or inferior design chip functions better, then that's the only thing I care about. In this case, I'd rather a better performing chip and I'm going to wait until they put one in

 

ok, thanks everybody, just this moment i ordered it

 

I've never had any problems with cooling or throttling, but then again I don't live in a tropical country. Never had any FPS dips or simillar due to heat and I've never seen GPU nor CPU over 85C.

Either way, if someone is comparing raw CPUs, then it the results would be simillar, hence that list is missleading.

 

I haven't had any noticeable throttling/temp issues either.

 

For those of you who aren't sure, HWiNFO32 / HWiNFO64 CPU speed display will show any throttling.

John

 

Hi, I'm a new Italian user. Sorry for my English, it's very bad..
I've bought a Samsung 700Z5A-S02, and I'm looking for some info and photoes to change the optical drive with a ssd. Can anyone help me please? Thanks a lot.

 

See here.

John

 

Well, although the AMD graphics card is detected by OpenGL programs in performance mode with the new driver. The OpenGL benchmark results on performance (AMD) and power saving (Intel) are exactly the same..

So we got detection, but no acceleration......?

 

i get errors when i try to use Windows Gagdets for CPU Usage, GPU Usage and Battry life....has annyone the same issues?

 

Can more people verify and test?

 

No, people cannot. He didn't even say which benchmark he used.

 

You can use Furmark to bench with both settings. As long as OpenGL is enabled, any OpenGL programme will benefit.

 

I can use some specific program, right. But that doesn't do anything to verify or falsify his claims, as he didn't say which one he used. Without knowing that, the program he used could have automatically chosen the Radeon card or whatever, he didn't even say anything about his settings.

Without any information, peoply cannot try to verify anything. And that the fact that the Radeon card is used for OpenGL is immediately obvious for any application that needs the extra performance, because they ran like crap before.

As for furmark, yes it uses the Radeon as is visible from the renderer string and the more than 10x FPS.

 

The 6750M uses OpenGL with the new drivers.

I played a couple games I had problems before using the intel HD3000.

 

Hi,

Here in the UK there has been no sign of a driver update through the software centre. Has anyone heard or seen anything?

thanks

 

The driver is available from the Samsung support website but has the wrong date. It's the version 8.940 vga driver listed there.

 

Thanks a lot

Hang on - there are two listed: on released on the 20th with the description 'VGA(Graphics),AMD(Costco MS)', one on the 17th, description 'VGA(Graphics),AMD'

Do you know what the difference is? I'm looking at http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/model/NP700Z5A-S02UK-downloads#

 

The first one doesn't even work. You can't download, the second and third one are the same I think. Unless it resembles a store in UK. I think just downloading VGA(Graphics),AMD is default one.

 

The time has came - time to buy a notebook
It seems that problems like WIFI connections when Intel chipset is used or OpenGl issue with update are resolved. However one thing bothers me:

Review Samsung Series 7 700Z3A-S03DE Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

look for "minor throttling" regarding processor i5 and the Turbo Boost. They noticed that during load/gaming when the turbo should be used it's not. Also the benchmarks for the processor are worse than in other laptops with the same processor. The hope is that there is (in the review) a model with i5 2430M (2.4GHz) and the one in tigerdirect has i5 2450M (2.5GHz) where this problem might be not present. Anyone has seen such problems (Turbo boost throttling)?

2 more candidates: XPS15 or Alienware M14x

 

Are you going for a 15inch or 14inch?
Mine is this one
Samsung NP700Z5A-S04US Series 7 Notebook PC - Intel Core i7-2675QM 2.2GHz, 6GB DDR3, 750GB HDD, DVDRW, Backlit Keyboard, AMD Radeon HD 6750M, DVDRW, 15.6 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit at TigerDirect.com

Btw, these laptops weren't really design for gaming. They were more for daily usage. Because really it's a sacrifice either you want powerful gaming wise you getting a big fat laptop or you going for someone thin like this that will be less powerful.

 

I wanted 14". I hoped that there would be a better screen than in 15" but it's not.
I know that these one are not for gaming but if you have i5 or i7 with the turbo boost option it should be used (during have load or demanding tasks) and not limited by Samsung.

 

Hey guys! I'm not sure if it's still news because I got my laptop back for repair just recently... but it seems that with the latest updates, OpenGL in photoshop finally works with Radeon. Yay! Could it be that Samsung reads forums? On unrelated news: my laptop came back with cooling system, hard drive and motherboard replaced for new ones by Samsung. I used it for a week... Where are these laptops assembled?

 

But what was the initial problem?

Yes, the new drivers fixes the OpenGl issues - it was discovered some time ago

Maybe you know, does your Samsung have processor throttling (when using Turbo boost it doesn't use it all time while on heavy load like other i5s and i7s do)?

 

Which initial problem? I sent it for repair because of HDD clicking. It failed completely the day I was making backup, heh.

Well I've never seen "turbo boost" option here but I noticed that on Silent Mode the system often becomes slower rather than louder when it's hot... so yeah something is just not right with this cooling. If by "Turbo boost" you mean just silent mode off then I have yet to notice this.

 

By initial problem I meant the HDD clicking - I wasn't familiar with your problem

No, the Turbo boost is an i5 and i7 series feature, which enables a higher frequency when needed. I.e. you have 2.5GHz but while playing demanding games the i5 can automatically with no user assistance increase the speed up to 3.1 GHz. I've read here ( Review Samsung Series 7 700Z3A-S03DE Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews) that these models have problem with this feature which means that other laptops with the same processor had better benchmarks. However the tested model in the review had i5-2430m, you probably have i5-2450m. Maybe these Samsungs don't have the Turbo boost issue.

You can check it using a freeware software HWiNFO, HWiNFO32 & HWiNFO64 - Hardware Information and Analysis Tools which monitors the clock speed. Make a 'heavy load test' and monitor the clock speeds. It should be over 2.5GHz without random drops.

 

I have i7-2675QM my friend. I will check it, I'm just kinda overloaded with work right now.

 

I thought you have 14", the 15" doesn't have this problem...

 

thanks - all works fine. VirtualBox now working with OpenGL. woo.

 

Silent mode makes the fan spin slower to generate less noise. How this is achieved: lowering processor clocks to generate less heat.

 

I used furmark; plugged in; first in performance mode, then in power savings.

To verify OpenGL acceleration:
1. Download FurMark
2. Plug-in your laptop
3. Start FurMark » Benchmark Preset 720 » close FurMark
performance (with acceleration):
4. Right click on desktop » Configure Switchable Graphics » Set Furmark to "Performance" » Apply
5. Open FurMark » Benchmark Preset 720 (now performing benchmark in performance mode) » close FurMark
power-saving (without):
6. Right click on desktop » Configure Switchable Graphics » Set FurMark to "Power Saving" » Apply
7. Open FurMark » Benchmark Preset 720 (now performing benchmark in power saving mode)

You can focus on the FPS, no need to finish the benchmark entirely. If the OpenGL acceleration does work, the fps in performance-mode should be noticably higher than in powersaving-mode.

edit: tried again, seems to work now!! (14 fps instead of 4)

 

worked for me, too

 

Cant get OpenCL (not GL) to work.
It just won't switch to AMD gpu when using hashcat.

 

Well... OpenCL.

 

What program uses OpenCL?

 

How can you tell if Solidworks is using the dedicated graphics?