Series 7 Ultra NP730U3E / NP740U3E with AMD HD 8570M and optional 4G LTE

Hi
I just got a 740 with the AMD card and I’m very happy so far. I have on question though. Have any of you got the “turbo boost” function to work when on battery. I have tried every possible power plan but the max frequency I get when on battery are 1,8 GHz. As soon as I plug inn the power adaptor it goes right up to about 2,65

 

I think the linking of turboboost to mains power availability is done at a basic hardware level. I see the same behaviour on my Series 9.

I don't know if it is Samsung's decision or Intel's but turboboost is less power-efficient in terms of work done per watt-hour of electricity used than using the maximum non-turbo speed so disabling turbo improves your battery run time (and lower peak power consumption is better for the battery health).

John

 

This surprises me. I would have thought with Max processor state=100% in the power plan (for both plugged-in and battery) that the CPU would go all the way. I would try to also set System cooling policy=Active for both plugged-in and battery. Even the High performance plan uses Passive cooling policy on battery, which might explain why the CPU won't go Turbo. It's worth trying.

Edit: Correction, my mistake. High Performance uses Active by default, so you probably already tried that.

 

I tried those settings.

Something else I noticed is there is no obvious difference between the Active and Passive cooling policies. My X4C will still go to turbo when on mains power with the Passive cooling policy and the temperatures seem to be the same as with the Active cooling policy.

Also surprising is that, on my X4C, a maximum processor state of 79% or higher is sufficient to enable turbo mode when on mains power and below 39% puts the CPU down to its slowest speed (800MHz). The maximum CPU speed then goes in 100MHz steps (except there's a 200MHz step between 800 and 1000 Mhz) as the processor state is varied between those two values. Those values also seem to apply when on battery except the turbo above 78% doesn't happen.

All the above testing used wPrime to load the CPU.

John

 

I was in a Best Buy yesterday to look at this laptop (NP740u) (Intel Graphics and 128GB drive). I've paged through many of the post here and couldn't find all the answers I was looking for.

1.The new Best Buy display model had 17GB of free disk space! Am I missing something but what is the point of a fast drive and fast computer if I have to carry an external disk drive around with me with all my files? (Even if I wipe everything off it and get up to 50GB of free space, I still need to install many programs and feel I'd need to carry an external drive). Does anyone know any good solutions? I don't understand why Samsung makes a laptop close to perfect but intentionally makes it not perfect with no disk space.

2. Does anyone know when they might sell the 256GB version or higher and also the AMD graphics card version? (I saw something about NP740U3E-A02CA but couldn't find it available anywhere.)

3.Does anyone know how much it costs to add a) video card, b) extra memory c) larger hard drive to the Best Buy version? And is there anything to be concerned about when buying a larger drive? (I just wish samsung could offer it so I don't have to go through the hassle of formatting and installing the drive.)

4. I assume if I remove the 128GB SSD I can't use that in a laptop that takes a standard SATA drive, correct?

5. Is there anything else I should know? Right now my option is to carry around a seagate portable drive with me along with the laptop, and hope I don't drop the drive or lose it.

 

A: You can recover some of the space on the SSD by deleting the main recovery partition after making a backup (preferably 2) using Samsung Recovery Solution. Alternatively, install a higher capacity SSD. It is the mSATA format so the discussion in this thread is relevant. You can see the location of the SSD in this review. 240 / 256GB mSATA SSDs are easily available. There is an option in Samsung Recovery Solution to copy the current SSD.

B: You can upgrade the RAM but you can't change the graphics. The Best Buy version uses the Intel graphics and uses the space otherwise occupied by the GPU to provide two RAM slots. Other versions of this notebook have a single RAM slot.

C: There is a dearth of information about future Samsung models but we hope they have a range of Haswell notebooks ready to launch with Windows 8.1. Maybe there will be some news in a couple of weeks.

John

 

Thanks for the helpful response. I didn't realize an integrated graphics card couldn't be added, nor did I realize the ones with integrated graphics only had one slot for memory.
Do you know if this can handle an SSD greater than 256GB?
Which do you feel is more important, higher memory, or integrated graphics card? (I'd be using it for photo editing, some video editing, and some very high definition video playing. If I upgraded the memory to much higher, wouldn't the graphics card just use the additional memory so it might be better than a 1GB integrated graphics card? However, I think I saw when using the second dim for memory, you have to match the same memory size. If that is the case to really get it up to 16GB memory, you'd have to buy 2 8GB I believe.
Thanks for any help on this. It's tough waiting for something new as I'm struggling using a netbook until I get a new laptop (My old Samsung NC-10)

 

Supposedly, Active and Passive System cooling policy should only make a difference when temps get high enough that either (A) the fan has to kick in, or (B) speed has to be throttled. At that point Active will start the fan (or increase its speed) while Passive will throttle the CPU. So maybe it is to be expected that the resulting temps shouldn't vary much between them -- as it's just two ways to keep temps in check.

What puzzles me, is if your CPU went turbo with Passive policy EVEN if temps were high at the same time. That would mean the entire System cooling policy is a sham. I'll have to test this myself on different systems.

Great tests on that percent vs CPU speed ramp. It debunks the myth that 99% Max processor state should prevent TurboBoost -- a myth which I have believed and even helped perpetuade.

That distinction had escaped my attention. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

A: In case you mis-interpreted my previous remark: The Best Buy version with integrated graphics has two SODIMM slots; other models with AMD GPU have some soldered RAM and one SODIMM slot.

B: The Crucial M500 480GB mSATA is just appearing in the retail chain and there is also a 512GB Samsung mSATA which is not officially in the retail chain. There's also a Mushkin which uses an extra board so it is slightly thicker, but should fit. Prices are likely to drop once availability improves.

C: As explained above, the Best Buy model gives you the potential to have 16GB RAM but 8GB is plenty for most users. For best performance use 2 modules of the same capacity although mixing different sizes doesn't make a very big difference (see my table here).

I'll also do some more tests.

John

 

I am planning to buy this laptop, but I am a bit confused, maybe you guys could help me out?

What is the difference between 730U3E S05DE and 730U3E X06DE?
Is it worth getting i7 on the X06DE for 1600€ or should I go with i5 on the X05DE for 1200€?

The i7 vs i5 problem is important, because as a designer I mainly use photoshop and it must run well. Does anyone have some experience using PS on this laptop. Does it run smooth, even with bigger and more demanding files on higher dpi?
Same questions for After Effects. Occasionally I need to make FHD animations as well.

If possible, could someone please provide a picture showing what X06 and/or x05 (if there is any difference at all) look like under the hood?

 

X05DE and X06DE have Windows 8 Pro, which pushes the price up substantially. S05DE is better value unless you need the extra features provided by the Pro version of Windows. Note that X05DE has only 128GB SSD which doesn't leave the user much space while S05DE has 6GB RAM. However, it is unclear whether 2GB or 4GB is soldered on board (the X models both have 4GB on board).

John

 

Power-user Photoshop on a ULV processor with integrated graphics is barking up the wrong tree, After Effects even more so. If you just need to run those programs and get some work done, you should be alright, but don't expect great performance when doing high-level work. The i7 would help, as would more RAM, but you might want to look into a machine with a full-voltage processor, and maybe a dGPU for After Effects (don't know if it needs it since I've never used it, but since it's animation I'd suspect that a better GPU would help).

 

Well, I am not expecting it to run as well as a full-voltage processor, but it must handle everyday work, mostly webpage design and photo editing (SLR photos). High quality FHD animation rendering will be done on a PC, but laptop must be capable of rendering a medium version, so that I can work on a project with a laptop and when finished, I can send it to a PC for a high quality production render. I am sure that the i7 will help, but is it worth the extra 400€?
I am planning to install extra 8GB of RAM, total of at least 10GB which should be enough (I don't know if the X model has 2 or 4GB soldered?). All the X models should have a dGPU?

Also does the 740 (touch version) has a matte or a glossy display on the X model?

 

The i5 CPU can do everything that the i7 can do, but slightly more slowly. You can compare the difference using the notebookcheck mobile CPU benchmark list. A performance difference of less than 20% is difficult to notice in normal usage.

According to Samsung the -S05DE has 2GB on board and the display is matte. You can see the specs of -X05DE and -X06DE. Something I didn't notice yesterday is that the X models have the slightly fast HD8570M GPU. (Use notebookcheck's mobile graphics benchmark list to see the difference). Note that Samsung also list an -X03DE which has 4GB RAM on board and the normal (not Pro) Windows 8. Use the money saved to upgrade the SSD since 128GB is very cramped.

Assume that the NP740 series with touchscreen are glossy. The specs do not say matte and it is normal for touchscreens to be glossy (easier to clean).

Notebook.de has what appears to be a full list of the current models which should help you compare options and prices.

John

 

Dual channel memory not possible

I have NP740U3E-X02SE a Nordic model I believe. Hwinfo shows that it runs in single channel mode and I get 5.9 on the memory in WEI. Inside it looks just like the one with the double fan here: Samsung ATIV Book 7 series review: with and without touch - Different hardware | Hardware.Info United Kingdom

Am I missing something or has Samsung crippled this model so it can only run single channel? If so, will it help at least a little to install an “enthusiast” 8Gig like this? BLS8G3N169ES4 - 8GB, Ballistix 204-pin SODIMM , DDR3 PC3-12800 from Crucial.com

In almost every web shop I have looked at, it’s specified with a 2+2 configuration including where I bought it. I could return it to the store but except for the memory thing, this is a great machine for the price.

 

What does the SE keyboard layout look like? Does it look like this: File:KB Sweden.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ?

 

Not completely, but you have shared keys for the Nordic letters like ÖØ and ÄÆ you can see here TEST: SAMSUNG SERIES 7 ULTRA NP740U - Ultrabooken med «alt»? - tu.no/tester (this one has a “bent” keyboard though) It gives me the expected letters when I choose Norwegian keyboard in windows

 

The first photo in that link is for the model without the separate GPU: It only has one fan but has two SODIMM slots. The second photo is for the model with a separate GPU - it has a bigger cooling system and only one SODIMM slot.

Both machines are capable of running in either full dual channel (ie the same amount of RAM on each channel) or asymmetric dual channel (there's only a small performance hit as shown by my table here). Samsung is shipping some versions with only single channel RAM and, because the empty RAM slot is theoretically not user-accessible, people think they are stuck with single channel RAM. However, dual channelis waiting for those willing to get inside (as confirmed by this review).

John

 

Going with a non-pro windows 8 seems reasonable on the X03DE model. According to the http://www.samsung.com/de/consumer/...ok/NP730U3E-X03DE-spec?subsubtype=ativ-book-7 it should have 4GB soldered and therefore adding extra 4GB should enable dual channel?

 

Hm… My machine has the separate GPU and the big cooling system. The problem is that the only user accessible RAM slot (that I have found) is already occupied. To me it looks like there is no soldered RAM onboard. If there were any, it should have already been running in dual channel ;-(

 

We need to understand what is happening here. Samsung's specs for all versions indicate there is on-board RAM but not all models have RAM in the slot.

Use CPU-z or HWiNFO to check the contents in each of RAM slots 1 and 2 (ignore 3 and 4 which are only relevant for desktops). I would expect the on-board RAM to be slot 1. If there is some RAM in both slots then which program is telling you it is single channel?

The most reliable test would be to run the SiSoftware Sandra memory bandwidth benchmark. Less than about 12GB/s is probably single channel.

John

 

Yes. Only RAM in slot 2

 

How is that possible? Will your computer start when you remove that RAM? Could you make a photo, showing the components?

 

Does CPU-z's SPD page list a part number and some different timings for each slot with RAM? However, this info don't usually show up if the RAM is on board because the SPD data are stored on a separate chip as part of the RAM module so on-board RAM has no entry on the SPD page.

That's the ultimate test.

John

 

Here is the screenshot of SPD

 

Hello All!

I have a little question about NP730U3E since I consider buying it.

Some time from release and reviews has passed and the new drivers for the GPU arrived. At review time, GPU scored 1378 in 3DMark11 (better than nVidia GeForce GT 620M - 1129), but in real use (for example Diablo 3) it scored only 37 FPS which is just little better than Intel HD 4000 (32,4 FPS) and much less than 620M (60 FPS). Source is here and here.

And my question - does new drivers fix/help with this or not?

 

Thanks. That information is consistent with there being a SODIMM in a socket. Are you 100% sure there is only one RAM socket? The only way to be certain is to look inside.

It appears that Samsung have used both the HD8550M and HD8570M GPUs in this notebook. You can check the performance of both at notebookcheck. The 8550M got 44.9 FPS at medium settings while the Intel HD4000 averaged 26 FPS at medium settings.

John

 

Hello after some thinking i've become a proud owner of the 730u3e, it has been a pair of weeks already and i am very happy for the overall quality and i would reccomand it to everyone who hasnt made yet his mind clear.
I found only two issues which are the most discussed here:
1) the wifi adapter is really unstable and has a lower range than what i'd expect from a premium Ultrabook, my old laptop with some atheros i dont remember has way better range and stability.On the intel forums i saw that a new driver is going under testing and should come out in the near future but i guess that it will only fix the dropping issue and not the low range.
2)touchpad i dont know why but i feel difficult getting used to it and lately it has been actin strange ie : on windows8 start when i switch to desktop mode the pointer is freezed until i press the windows button on keyboard and that manages somehow to unlock it
another issue is somewhat coding-related
i am used to ctrl-shift-home ctrl-shift-fin to select whole line from the start/ to the end but with this layout i have also to use the fn button since left and right arrow have home/fin actions mapped on them is there any way to manage to exclude fn for such combinations?thank you and sorry for wall of text

 

Hi kdma; congrats on that nice new ultranook.

1) For help with WiFi stability and performance, check the WiFi Remedies thread. Some users (myself included) have found better results by rolling back to Win8's built-in WiFi driver, using the procedure described there. Others have had better results with the latest Driver Only package from Intel's website. There are also some tweaks to your Power Plans and Adapter Settings you should make. All described described in that thread.

2) Most of the useful discussion and info here about touchpads are in the Trackpad thread, including tips for finding the latest driver version (by looking up recent models in SW Update). In your case it sounds like uninstalling and re-installing the touchpad driver (reboots in between) would be a good step.

And yes, requiring Fn for navigation keys is one of those things... I am afraid I don't have any suggestions on that. Maybe others do.

 

Does you keyboard include the Fn Lock key (top row 3rd from the right end)? If it is there then you can press it to toggle the Fn functions being on or off.

John

 

Thanks for the replies
Regarding wifi I already downgraded to windows built-in drivers 14.something and they work much better than official ones now i want to see what will happens with the new ones that are going under testing.
For the touchpad i think i messed up by installing the drivers manually since i couldnt find the three finger swype on the control panel.

@John
My fault the correct shortcut was shift-fin/home without ctrl the one with ctrl is for advancing word by word

 

Comparing the same GPU with different CPUs is not what I like. Even the same CPU in different machines can act in different way - for example Sony Vaio Pro 13 (SVP1321) is choking i5-4200U and its HD 4400. That's why I ask those, who already have NP730U3E/NP740U3E

 

Make sure you also try the other tweaks mentioned in the WiFI Remedies thread, as they can help significantly as well.

Manually installing touchpad drivers should be fine. Again, look up a recent model in SW Update and save the driver locally, then uninstall/re-install (reboots in between).

As for controlling gestures, check this post in the Trackpad thread.

Also, I wonder if member damouk's advice in this post may help if you still have problems with freezing.

 

how do u permanently off the backlight i put it at Dark in settings and sometimes it still comes on

 

hey i need help in my country we have two version of this notebook and it is called np730u3e x01TR and 740 version which is not good for me i dont want touch screen model. i read this topic but i cant find any black version of this model i found one video review from my country and at 08:58 they opened laptop from this picture can any body tell me which version of this i want discrete graphic card model and upgradable ram Samsung ATIV Book 7 Ultrabook and one more question. i am considering macbook air 13 becouse of build quality not for look is this laptop solid as macbook air thank you for your answers

 

I just installed win 8.1 via store. Brightness control doesn't, can't access pc definitions... Argh....

 

I just installed 8.1 . my brightness control didnt work too , I noticed the newest intel display driver installed automatically during the update process.so I unisntalled the intel driver and re install the original driver (switchable graphic driver) and it works now , hope this helps

 

On the subject on Win 8.1, please see the sticky thread we just posted about it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...pgrade-until-samsung-has-updated-drivers.html

Even though there is likely to be some issues unique to individual models (particularly relating to graphics drivers) the basic incompatibilities between Win 8.1 and existing Samsung drivers, Settings and SW Update are common to all Samsung models. We're trying to gather experiences and updates about that instead of having it mushroom across all the individual threads (as is currently happening).

 

Too late for me...

I updated from Win Store:

and now, i have a damned all-black screen with the mouse cursor only.

If i try to shut down it go in hibernation ( i guess, left blue light blink...), i can't recovery.

What can i do now ( aside from prayer) ?

 

Read that sticky thread. Your are not alone, and many have posted fixes there.

 

At last i manage to recovery ..

A question: the only option to recovery was delete all ( data etc...), but i wonder if the initially recovery partition is still here...

How can i check?

 

Look at the partitions in Disk Management.

John

 

It seems that is still here, thanks John.

 

That's what I would have expected. Samsung's recovery system is only meant to wipe the C: partition and reload the factory image. This is one reason why I create another partition to hold my personal data: If Windows dies then it doesn't take my work with it.

John

 

^
This, in a nutshell, is why a separate data partition is useful - though it wastes a bit more space.

As for factory restore in Recovery, you can choose whether to repartition (wipe everything) or only restore Windows.

 

no where in the US that sells the series 7 with the AMD video card?

 

anyone here success to update 740U3E to windows 8.1 successfuly without black screen of death?

 

I've managed it without the black screen of death. I had to uninstall and reinstall the older Windows 8 graphics drivers to get the brightness control back.
Most things seem to work, but I feel it's not as fast/ smooth as before.
Honestly, if you haven't updated to 8.1 then wait till Samsung releases their own drivers. My 2 cents.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

 

Re: Upgrade to 8.1: Agree with previous poster. I have successfully upgraded my 740U3E to 8.1 but it required a bit of fussing with drivers and a registry hack. 8.1 isn't worth the risk IMO - my most anticipated feature was per-monitor DPI scaling, and it doesn't work very well anyway. So I'd watch the update thread in this forum to see when the full set of 8.1-compatible drivers are released.

 

I am now certain that the NP740U3E-X02SE can only run in single channel. From factory, it was delivered with a total of 4 GB and when I opened it up again I found a single 4GB DDR3 1600 cl 11 ADATA module and there is no free ram slot
..
Anyway since my last post I have tested another 7 series NP740U3E-A02SE with 6 GB ram in dual channel and no AMD graphics card. I knew they were different and before I tried it, I valued the dual channel ram more than the discrete graphics. I soon changed my mind, they are two totally different machines.

Cooling solution in the X02 with double fans are totally superior. Only when benchmarking the fans are audible. The fan in the A02 spins up very quickly and only keep quiet when doing light work running on battery. The trackpad on A02 was “jumpy” compared, no matter what settings I did. Power consumption on A02 was surprisingly about 1w higher in idle desktop (according to power Management in Settings app). (I suspect it is the SSD. The X02 has a Samsung and the A02 had a Lite-On with Marvell controller). The touch screen were similar but the available color profiles was not. The A02 was either too yellow or too bluish. The keyboard also feels better on the X02.

Based on the experiences I decided to keep the X02 and upgrade the RAM with the best module I could find for a reasonable price. I got a Crucial Ballistix 8GB DDR3 1866 10-10-10-30 1,35V , and so far it seems to play very well with the machine and are able to run at advertised speed and timings. See screen shots below.

My WEI score on the ram went from 5.9 to 7.3 ?? and the “Winsat mem” went from about 10900 MB/s to 12800 MB/s not bad compared to my core I7-2620M Lenovo T420s with 8 Gig in dual channel at about 14900MB/s