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

Great, good job getting it working. Thanks for the update.

 

I bought the model with 8570m graphics. Even on the box itself shows 8570m. However when I run the display manager, it shows only 8500m. Any one encountering the similar issue? Did I get scammed?

 

The label on the box usually gets the hardware correct. Sometimes software can only detect the broad family of the hardware and not the specific version.

I would run some graphics benchmarks and compare the results with the range of results reported by notebookcheck.

John

 

Hi John,

What are the programs that can run the benchmark tests, is GPU-Z or hwinfo run those tests?

 

3DMark from Futuremark.

Notebookcheck lists results for 3DMark11, 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark06.

John

 

Hey guys, I updated to 8.1 pretty early on and everything is working fine (bar the AMD GPU, anybody got a fix for that?), but battery life has just been terrible ever since.

I was easily getting 4.5h on a charge on 8, but now I can never get more than 3.

I took a look at the discharge rate and it never dips below 19W unless I turn on the 'silent mode' and turn down the brightness to about half way, where it'll go down to about 16W.

This isn't normal right? I would have thought that the system would only hit around 20W at full load unless the dGPU was on (it's disabled as it isn't working for some reason) so that can't be the cause of the power draw.

Anybody had any fix for the battery life (or the dGPU)? Really temped to actually roll back to 8, but I'll really miss 8.1.

Thanks


EDIT: Forgot to say, task manager never shows the CPU above 60% when i'm browsing, so the system isn't at full load bar the odd spike, so surely 20W is a bit mad? Fan spins up a lot louder since 8.1 too, might be connected.

 

hi. I have a Samsung ativ 7 13.3' laptop. I was wondering how I could turn off the auto backlit keyboard?

 

Hello giggity_gooo, welcome to the Samsung forum.

If all the right drivers as well Samsung Settings are installed, you can adjust the backlight using Fn-F9 and Fn-F10. You can also open the Settings Control center (Fn-F1) where you should find Keyboard Backlight on the General tab.

If these functions don't work for you, that would indicate a problem with your installation.

 

thanks for the response dannemand. when i press fn+f1 into the general tab, it says "automatically turns on the keyboard when ambient illumination decreases". i dont see an option to prevent this. i just want to turn on the backlit keyboard when i want to.

thanks!

 

This thread may contain some guidance about keeping the ambient light sensor under control.

I have personally put some black tape over the sensor on my Series 9 so the sensor thinks it is in permanent darkness. I then have manual control over the keyboard backlight.

John

 

Anybody got any solutions?

 

Hello weirdwilly, welcome to NBR.

I notice that you have not been getting any traction with your question, even after bumping it. I don't have a fix for you myself, but many members have posted in our Win 8.1 update thread (linked below) as well as other threads about higher power consumption in 8.1. Samsung's support of 8.1 has been spotty (at best). I am personally hoping that the new 8.1 Update due next month will be better supported and that many of these issues will be solved.

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

 

Hi guys,
Just signed to the forum for this great thread since I have a np 730u3e-s02
I just bought an ssd to upgrade the 120gb liteon to samsung evo msata 500

Does anywhere exists a detailed description how to proceed to avoid any problems?

Thanks all for the great help this website provides!

 

Hi Dan,

I am looking at your option, I would need an advice if you have.
I am going to replace the ssd, now I have the wndows 8.1 uodate (it works fine now that I have installed the drivers).
I set up windows to be more efficient for ssd, so it works fine. I do not have many programs indeed so i clean install could be a good idea, but I am not sure this could cause me any issues since I finally managed to make the laptop work fine.
Since I am happy with the settings it has now and the wins 8.1, I was thinking to copy the disk.
I connect throughtout an adapter the new ssd to the laptop, I migrate the data with data migration tool for samsung evo.
Then I switch on with magician installed and it goes to the point?
Am I missing something? Sorry I am not an expert of this kind of procedures (especially for ssd),
Thanks in advance

 

Hi thunderboard, welcome to NBR and the Samsung forum.

Since you have an adapter, and you like your current installation, cloning makes sense instead of installing anew. The only concern is whether you want to preserve Recovery on the new SSD (assuming it's still on your original SSD and you didn't already delete it to gain space).

If preserving Recovery is NOT a concern, you can clone using Samsung Data Migration as you suggested. One member reported that the latest version of Samsung Data Migration does indeed copy the Recovery partitions, but he never verified that Recovery actually works on the new SSD, only that the partitions were copied (which any cloning tool will do).

Otherwise you can clone using Recovery's own Disk Copy feature (press F4 immediately after boot) which WILL preserve Recovery on the new SSD. Follow this Samsung guide.

If you want to preserve Recovery on the new SSD, but still gain maximum space on it, then check this post.

In any case, keep the original SSD safe, so that you can at least use that to restore the machine to factory state, either if you want to sell it someday, or if you need to convince Samsung of a hardware issue for warranty repair.

 

Thanks Dan.
I do have the recovery samsung solution when I can set when in the timeline I want to restore the settings of the laptop, but I did not ever use it. (I know I should).
For the migration data tool released by Samsung seems quite straightforward as you said. I will install the magician in the laptop before proceeding on any operations.
Then It seems to be fine.
In your opinion the windows from stratch is generally speaking a better solution?
I did some modifcations over the time to get better wifi signal (a thread in the forum that revealed itself a great solution for that).
Moreover I did some improvements in terms of windows settings concerning the normal windows set up that does not fit 100% with the ssd usage (paging, writing).
The only issue I am still having is to make work fine Skype for Windows 8.1. It does but it crashes in the middle of the conversation video.
I understand the graphic drivers are the reason, but the latest version tells me cannot be installed, I did install a late but I could not the latest. Someone did find a solution for the AMD driver being compatible with Windows 8.1?

PS. The advice to keep the previous ssd as it was is very useful, I was not even thinking in case of warranty to put it back in the situation I could need it.
By the way the Ram has been already upgraded, I don't think the warranty can work anymore
Thanks

 

It is unlikely that Samsung would deny warranty coverage because you added more RAM. Generally you should be OK with warranty, as long as you put the original components back before sending it in.

Where Recovery and the original SSD can be handy, is if you have to convince Samsung that a certain problem is indeed a hardware defect, to get them to offer warranty service. They will often ask that you perform a factory restore to make sure it's not just a messed up installation. So yes, do keep that original SSD safe.

If you don't think you will ever need Recovery (and you have other Win 8 install media) it doesn't matter whether you use Recovery or Samsung Data Migration for the cloning. If you DO use Samsung Data Migration, it would be great if you can post here whether Recovery works on the new SSD -- even if you plan to delete it afterwards. As I wrote, we don't have positive confirmation of that yet working yet.

I personally like to do clean installs, because I can keep the Windows installation as trimmed as possible. But it really does take time to get everything set up just right the way you had before -- the Windows installation itself is the least of it. Samsung's factory installations are not bad, once the bloatware is removed. You could always clone, then decide later if you want to perform a clean install.

As for issues with Win 8.1, I am afraid I don't have much to offer. I made a couple of test installations on my own NP700Z3A (and got it working) but I still use Win8 as my main OS. The 8.1 update thread (linked below) contains the most info. And some in this thread as well.

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

 

Great, I didn't know such a kind of upgrading (RAM increase) would not affect the warranty status. Good to know.
I will certainly do, I didn't even think there could be issues with Data migration tool since it is a samsung software for a samsung msata/sata to be used in a samsung laptop. But I will give it a chance and tell you all the results in this thread.
Anyway it is very bizarre that samsung does not provide you one of its top laptop with a proper samsung ssd, which is something any customer would have expected. Anyway the liteon I admit it works fine, the only issue relates with the size, 120gb is very small for a device without any other storage option.

I am also glad to listen from you that once I copied the OS and the ssd into the new one I can eventually choose to do a clean install. When I tried to to the reinstall as I am now I could not as the available space in the drive was not sufficient.
I am sure in the new one there will be no problem in case I'd opt for it.

I will keep you updated.....

 

Many manufacturers can become difficult over warranty issues if told that the hardware has been changed for two reasons: (i) the new component is either incompatible, defective or not installed properly; and (ii) something has been damaged.

It is therefore prudent to keep any replaced components until the warranty has expired and, if there is a problem, put back them back and keep silent about any changes.

John

 

Put it back and keep silent. Noted

 

Hi everyone

I just bought my np730

Has anybody installed new bios yet? Is there any issues? I decided to stay on win8 according do driver problems.

 

Hi!
Just installed Windows 8.1 Update (April 2014), the last BIOS update P07ABW with Settings 2.0.0.72 on my NP730U3E-S03IT (in reverse order, actually).
Everything seems alright.

 

Thanks for update, however could you possibly describe laptop behavior after bios update? I mean fan noise issues after update (my girlfriend have same laptop with updated bios and it's much louder than mine with p03ABW bios).

You've updated bios prior to windows 8.1 update right?

How about graphics drivers? Has samsung update this?

Thank you in advance

 

I haven't noticed any difference in fan noise but i need to do some more testing in the next few days. Righ now, with the standard power profile, the fans are completely silent but the pc isn't doing any heavy lifting.
Yes, I've updated the bios prior to the windows update.
My last graphic drivers are 10.18.10.3304, according to Software Update.
I think that they are those who came out after the update to windows 8.1 a few months ago.
Since then i've only tried a troublesome amd driver update from windows update and then rolled back to this version on samsung software update.

EDIT:
I've forgot to mention, coming from the original bios to the P06ABW (maybe P05, i don't remember) the fans had become a bit more louder.
I was talking about difference from P06 (or P05) to P07 and it seems that the fans behavior is the same.

 

Thank you for reply.

It's a shame that computer became louder. I'm running my 730 with old p03abw bios and it's completely silent, and for me it's a big deal-breaker. Maybe other improvements - battery? because mine work lot worse than my girlfriend 730 with windows 8.1 and louder bios. 80% battery left with 2h usage

This is crazy but i'm curious

 

Probably the only reason to update the bios it's to install windows 8.1.
If you do not have specific problems or needs it may be better staying with your current setup.
I'm not sure to have understood whether the battery life on your pc is better or worse than the battery life on your girlfriend's pc but I can't really compare the difference in battery life, because I seldom use it on battery and I've set the max charge level to 80%.

 

Thank you very much for update,

an update regards using windows 8.1 - differences on new bios and drives if you discover any would be nice after a week or so

it would be very helpful for a lot of users that hesitate from upgrade

cheers

 

Hi everyone,

I also am the proud owner of a 740U3E with the discrete AMD graphics card for 5 months now and I can say that I am quite happy with this little machine (apart from the fact that it is a real fingerprint magnet because its not in silver colour but mineral ash black ).

Regarding the bios update and fan noise issue mentioned in previous posts I also noticed an increase in the fan noise when upgraded from the original P03ABW bios to the subsequent ones (I currently am at the latest P07ABW bios). I can hear the fan running when the laptop is iddle when previously it was completely silent in iddle. I havent noticed any change in battery life with the new bios or other significant improvements and I am thinking about rolling back to previous bios versions (p03ABW).

Has anyone managed to do that successfully ? Unfortunately samsung does not provide old bios executables or any other option to roll back.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

P.S i am still running WIN 8.0 and dont plan to upgrade to WIN 8.1

Thanks in advance and sorry for the previous incomplete post

 

It's not easy to roll back but see http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/696197-samsung-laptops-roll-back-bios-updates.html

John

 

Many thanks for the quick reply John.

I have already checked out the thread you mention but unfortunately I cant find the P03ABW bios. So i guess i am stuck with the current P07ABW bios unless somenone has got a link where I can download the previous versions.

Cheers

 

You will find near the end of that thread that someone posted a simple program in which you can define a range of parameters to search through the database. It's worth trying if you have a reasonably good idea of the date range for P03ABW.

John

 

hahaha, that will teach me not to be lazy and read the whole thread before crying out for help

I will give it a try and post any positive results.

Thanks again John.

 

Unfortunately even with the use of the bios finder program mentioned above I was unable to locate and download the P03ABW bios . After searching thousands of urls for 3 days, I finally gave up.

If anyone has any other ideas on how to find this bios please post them.

Also, I would advise everybody if they want to upgrade their bios to use the standalone program and not samsungs update center. In this way they can keep a copy of the downloaded bios in case they need to roll back in the future.

Regards

 

How about http://sbuservice.samsungmobile.com/upload/BIOSUpdateItem/ITEM_20130228_1011_WIN_P03ABW.exe ?

John

 

John you are a true life saver !!! My hat's off to you, mate!! :thumbsup: Thank you very much for this.

So I guess the trick was to scan for bios ID >1000. I was putting bios ID up to 1000.

I will post how the roll back goes and if it affects the fan noise or not in the coming days.

Regards

 

Perhaps I had the unfair advantage of knowing that one of the BIOS updates for my X4C was ITEM_20130219_1005_WIN_P06AAC.exe. Web searching also indicated that your notebook was released in March 2013 with the P03ABW BIOS, which narrowed the search range. However, I was searching over a number range of 1006 up to 1200.

However, I then wasted time by putting just ABW in the BIOS name field instead of the full P03ABW. It's good training for me to occasionally try doing what I recommend others to do.

John

 

Excellent detective work John

 

I've tried to find out if in the NP740u3e-x01ES model is possible to upgrade the 4GB Ram it brings inthebox... is it possible? How many Mb??

Thanks! Regards.

 

Hello dabezt, welcome to NBR.

Some of these models come with two SODIMM RAM sockets, while others come with a discrete AMD GPU and only one RAM socket. According to Samsung's tech spec page, your model has AMD 8570 GPU, 2GB RAM on the motherboard, and one RAM socket containing additional 2GB.

To add more RAM you would have to replace the 2GB RAM in the socket with a 4GB or 8GB module, for a maximum of 10GB (including the 2GB on the motherboard). There will be a small performance penalty in speed going from the current symmetrical dual-channel setup (2+2GB) to assymetrical (2+8GB). It is not a big hit, though, and you will see a performance improvement by increasing the RAM -- depending on the work you do.

There is quite a bit of discussion about this in the thread, but I am afraid you will have to search for it (or scan through the pages) since I don't have any of those discussions bookmarked.

 

Thanks a lot Dannemand!! I think it will be worth to increase memory in order to have more, although a little bit slower than with symetrical ones...

BTW: I've read a lot of the Win 8.1 + BIOS update problems... I think that win 8.1 is not driver compatible if you don't upgrade the bios. And I think upgrading the BIOS puts the fan always on and CPU use is incremented a lot. Isn't it? Is this already solved?

Thanks again!

 

It would make sense that you need the BIOS update before updating to Win8.1. I don't own this model myself, and I am afraid I cannot speak to whether the latest BIOS has such issues. Hopefully other owners will chime in with their experience.

I personally found that Win8.1 works more in the background, which would generally cause more CPU and fan activity. If Win8 runs well for you, I don't think 8.1 offers any benefits beyond what a good 3rd party Start Menu can do.

 

I have a NP730U3E-S02SE.

Currently I'm running Windows 8 with BIOS version P06ABW and Catalyst 13.11
My regional Samsung support site for Windows 8.1 lists my model as compatible. Windows Holiday BOM

In SW Update I can update to BIOS version P07ABW and Settings version 2.0.0.72. Are those updates required for a successful upgrade to Windows 8.1? And if so, will this model suffer from increased fan noise once updated?

Thanks for all the useful information posted in this forum!

 

Hello roybot, welcome to NBR.

Check the update in the opening post of our stickied Win8 update thread, linked below, and also scan that thread backwards for relevant posts over the last few weeks.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/734915-windows-8-1-update-issues-discussion.html

You generally want to perform BIOS updates first, though I cannot say if it has the issues you mention, since I don't own the same model. Hopefully other owners can comment on that.

After Microsoft's updates to Win8.1 you should be able to use any recent version of Settings, including 2.0.0.72 or the newer versions 2.3.x.

 

Seems the laptop I bought for my wife developed really loud fan noise.
I didn't look into it yet, maybe on a weekend when I have more time, but anyone with similar problem ?

 

There are a few people in the forum who have reported increased fan activity after BIOS updates but I'm too lazy to read through this thread to see if this model is affected.

However, a bit of fluff in the cooling system could push the CPU temperature over a threshold for one of the fan speed changes. Samsung usually have these at 51C (very low) 61C (medium), 71C (high) and, maybe, 81C (frantic). You can use HWiNFO > Sensors to see what the CPU temperature is doing. The idle temperature should be well below 61C (the speed at which the fan becomes quite audible). My NP900X4C is currently in the low 50s. If your CPU temperature is above the mid 50s then check the CPU utilization in Task Manager. 5% is a typical figure for light usage. If there is any process with 25% CPU then it is stuck in a loop because 25% represents one core running at full speed.

If the temperature is a little high but the CPU usage is OK then it's time to get the base off and clean out the cooling system. The air inlets on the bottom tend to suck in any dirt they can find.

John

 

Oh, it's not an issue of fan working faster and creating more noise.
it's an issue of fan making strange noise when it's working, like the fan is rubbing against something, or is not working smooth.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

A few people have encountered similar problems although not specifically with this notebook.

I would first take the bottom off the notebook and have a closer look / listen. Even if you are covered by warranty it may be easier to get a new fan from samsungparts.com and fit it yourself than send it to a service center who (since they are relatively noisy places) can't detect anything abnormal and send the computer back without fixing it.

John

 

Hi Guys,

I have the NP740U3E but without the dedicated graphics card I would like to buy and upgrade to the AMD Radeon™ HD 8570M graphics card, but I can't find it anywhere. Is it possible to upgrade? Does anybody know where I could find one?

Thanks

 

This is not an easy upgrade.

You would need to change the mainboard and heat sink. The AMD graphics chip is soldered and effectively replaces one of the SODIMM slots.

John

 

Hi everyone

I'm seriously looking at buying a new laptop and this 13" ultrabook with full HD screen seems pretty good. Especially the NP740U3E with discrete graphics card.

Can anyone comment on the Linux support for this model?
I'm planning to run Xubuntu/Debian testing/Linux Mint as my primary OS. I'm not even particularly bothered about keeping the Win 8 partition as I have no intention of using Windows.

I've never used UEFI or Windows 8 and from various bits out on the internet it seems there are difficulties with Samsung laptops UEFI, dual booting Win 8/Linux etc.

Anyone got any first-hand experience of the extent of Linux support for this model?
I'd love to find a laptop where all the functions run as expected under Linux. I always end up having to mess about solving Wifi stability, or fan/power issues.

Cheers, B