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

Thank-you so much that would be great if you could keep me updated, I may see if I can get it at Warden and Eglinton tomorrow!

 

Some tests of 730U3E-S04 are on this YouTube channel:
Angelika Schlächter - YouTube

 

Hi,

has anyone of you installed his own "clean" Windows 8 instead of the preinstalled Samsung version?
As soon as I install the AMD driver (With the Samsung SW Update Software) on my own Windows 8 Pro version the notebook shows an error when closing the lid. (SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED)

Has anyone else encountered the same problem and found a solution?

 

@ tdotter: Every BB location should have it in stock tonight, if Warden & Eglington is not your closest, id suggest calling your closest one around 8pm, give them the webcode and ask if they have them available to sell yet.

 

What's the model number for the 8870 version in USA?

 

It would be 8570m...the 8870m is in the Samsung 7 Chronos. As of right now there is no word on a 8570m version in USA or Canada.

 

Does Samsung throw in more configurations from time to time or do we have to wait for the next platform upgrade to expect any changes?

 

Configurations that are being offered in other countries may become available in yours if the Samsung marketing department in your country decide to order a batch from the factory. However, with Haswell said to be only a few months away I would expect many different versions.

John

 

I been using the Best Buy version for almost a week now.

The display, trackpad, keyboard are excellent.

This is almost the perfect laptop for me, except ...

1 I cannot see the keys when backlighting is on. I cannot find a way to adjust or disable the keyboard backlighting.
2 Why is samsung hiding so many controls? Where is the battery life extender? where is the backlighting control?
3 I could not see the screen when adaptive brightness turned on in the evening. Regular brightness indicators said the screen was on highest setting. I tried both power settings, still screen was way too dark. I had to go deep in the weeds to find brightness adjustment when the adaptive brightness was on (still can't fix keyboard adaptive brightness issue)

Two other issues for me are not related to this model. 128GB is likely not enough storage. I've deleted the bloatware. I've added chrome, firefox, gimp, open office, and about 10 pictures and I have 47.5GB left. I still need to install a video editor. If I keep this laptop, I can replace the SSD.

If I can fix the backlight issue, I will likely keep this laptop.

 

Almost on the same boat. I really like this laptop a lot. The brightness issue is really anoying and also for some reason my backlit keybaord doesn't keep the setting. light the backlit keys would turn off and i would have to manually turn them back on.

 

The simplest way to deal with display backlight might be to disable adaptive display backlight in the BIOS (press f2 when the machine is booting to enter the UEFI BIOS settings). Otherwise, turn off Windows 8's auto brightness under general settings in the Charms menu, then disable adaptive backlight in advanced power plan settings. Many notebooks require both steps, and it's a pain.

The keyboard backlight is easily fooled by overhead lights that are far away and I find it turns off if the display is tipped back and the sensor (next to the webcam) sees that ceiling light in the distance.

PollyUSA: there are two keyboard backlight adjustment keys in the Fn row up top and there are 4 levels of keyboard backlight.

 

Thanks so much. I will try this in the evening when the problems start.

 

Im with PollyUSA here....Thanks I will also try this.

 

Is the series 7 ultra available (or going to be available) with 256 GB SSD and i7?

 

I hesitate between Series 9 and Series 7 Ultra. First one is prettier, lighter and with matte display. The second one adds some weight, it is not as stunning, but it has touchscreen, longer battery life and more ports... It's a hard choice to make.

 

Don´t forget the extra RAM (upgradeable).

Can someone recommend a nice 8 GB RAM module for this notebook? Is KINGSTON - 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SO-DIMM good enough?

 

apparently I should have read the very first post in the thread.....
I guess no retailers in Canada are selling an i7 version yet.

 

I'd sugest installing RAM in matched pairs so you get dual channel speed improvements. That's assuming you have one of the models with two RAM slots. In the US and Canada we get two RAM slots, but hear the German version has only one slot?

 

I intalled this kit from newegg.
G.SKILL Model F3-1600C10D-16GSQ Laptop Memory - Newegg.com

So far im enjoying the extra ram. I wanted to get the 9 latency version but it was too pricy. The laptop came with an 11 Latency card so i thought the 10 would be an upgrade lol. So far so good.

 

I'm typing right now on a i7 version with one sodimm slot, 128GB SSD and 4 GB ram. Euro version... Got to check that dual channel ram...

By the way, what bloatware is to get rid off?

 

Is it Intel HD 4000 version without dGPU?

 

Is it possible to hide whole SD card to the slot and close SD card slots doors? So i can use SD card as another disc.

 

Then you're probably lucky and got dedicated graphics, unlike us Americans

Dual channel RAM requires pairs of RAM slots, so if you have only 1 slot, there's pretty much no way to make a dual channel configuration while also increasing your RAM amount. Dual channel isn't special RAM, it's just paired matching RAM modules on a motherboard that supports dual channel (most modern motherboards do support it).

 

But the need to have full symmetric dual channel RAM is debatable. See here for some discussion about this matter. However, don't leave an empty slot.

John

 

I did get a 250 point jump in PCMark 7 after changing our Series 7 Ultra over to dual channel RAM (2 4 gig DIMMs). When I used a single 8 gig DIMM, the benchmark was the same as out of the box with a single 4 gig DIMM, so it's not merely the increased amount of RAM that improved the score, it was dual channel. All RAM was the same brand and speed rating BTW. When I used a 4 gig and 8 gig DIMM together (same brand, speed and voltage) the benchmark didn't increase. But I do have the integrated graphics model, and two DIMM slots with no RAM soldered on (no chance for asymmetrical dual channel there).

 

Yes, I got the version with dedicated graphics, AMD® Radeon™ HD 8570M 1 GB gDDR3

 

could you run 3dmark06 and 3dmark11? or if only one, then at least 06?
you would be the first one to do so.

 

How is the WiFi on this this Series 7?

Is there a plastic panel along the top edge of the display back? It is visible on this Samsung photo of the 740U3E



but not on the photo for the 730U3E



I am assuming that if there as a plastic panel then it means that the antennae are along the top edge of the display, with better WiFi performance compared to antennae along the back of the chassis (as on the 2012 Series 7 and Series 9).

John

 

Sure! As soon as I get out from work later today. Sorry it didn't ocurred me yesterday...

John R. I can confirm that my 730u3e doesn't have that plastic edge. All alu.

 

Sadly, no! It sticks out a little bit!

 

In case some of you havnt seen the review of the 740:

 

Thank you!
That is so bad i thought i can use my 64 GB SD for data storing

BTW: do you have dGPU and touchscreen?

 

Can you guys tell me how to perform the 3dMark06 with the dedicated graphic? It always runs with the hd4000. Laptop set to max performance.

 

One of the German reviewers on youtube also had the same problem when running 3dmark.. it kept using the integrated graphics. thus no one knows how good the 8570 is

 

I wonder if that is pdagal who has been posting in this thread?

Have you searched your computer for an AMD Utility? I'm sure in the discussion of the bigger new Series 7 someone commented there was a utility for associating programs with the AMD GPU.

John

 

What CL has the internal 2 GB RAM? CL 11 or CL 10? Just wonder which 8 GB RAM to buy.

 

John R. yes, I set the application to run in high performance:

 

Yep, that's me

 

German customers confirmed what was seen at the Cebit 2013: The 730u3e does NOT come with a real matte display. Although it doesnt have a glass front it is coated similar to the Macbook Air. Plus, display hinge is reported to be not very tight. Moreover, customers reported UEFI problems.

I tested a Samsung series 9 yesterday - the keyboard was so bad it doesnt even deserve to be named like that. MBA or Asus Ultrabooks are way better! Given that people reported that the 730u3e keyboard is not as good as the series9 and the aforementioned bummers, I guess I will look elsewhere...

 

satyr33, if I were you, I would try to see one in person. I hate a gloss screen. I didn't buy a touch laptop because of that. I find the matte display of the 730u3 quite nice. The keyboard isn't worse than the s9 model, besides color scheme, mainly when the keyboard light is dimm... You barely can see the characters.

 

I agree I tried the basic ultra 7 at best buy and the keyboard had more travel and flexed less than the Asus UX31.. but it wasn't as good as the Macbook Air.

btw.. did you try updating windows or your drivers to get it to recognize your graphics card?

 

I will check one in person once it is available in stores here. Still, I will wait for the new batch of ultrabooks with the Haswell update. Samsung mentioned a while ago they are working on the series9 keys/touchpad after receiving criticism in numetous reviews - havent seen a result yet. I dont like apple, but the MBA has at least Thunderbolt and a decent keyboard....lets see if the 730u3e screen is less glossy....

Another point is the 64bit dGPU - whats the point? Haswell GPU will perform at a similar level...

 

please see the graphics card sub forum. there are some doubts about its claimed performance.

 

But far more important, the 7 has user serviceable RAM - up to 16GB dual channel - and user upgradeable SSD, up to the limits of mSATA at any given time. If you really can't handle the gloss screen, you can get a high quality matte screen protector, but given the high brightness of the S7's screen, reflections are less likely to be a problem. I had use of an Asus UX31A Touch with the glossy touchscreen and found that given it's high brightness and IPS angle diversity, it was always easy to find an angle that minimized or eliminated glare or reflections yet still provided that extra contrast kick that only glossy screens provide. I actually think it is win/win because you can use it quite effectively as is or you can "convert" it to matte with a high quality matte screen protector and retain the touch screen capability for those who wish to run W8 "tiles." Am I missing something here?

 

The Ultra 7 does not show up on the Best Buy US site. Did you see it at a US store or elsewhere?

 

Yup, I went to the store myself to see it. I also did not see it at Best Buy.
The model at Best buy does not have a video card unfortunately.
Out of all the notebooks they had there.. the Asus UX31 and Ultra 7 blew all the others out of the water in terms of display. its just that good! I don't think I can give up IPS displays after seeing it.

I like the UX31's design and feel over all. but the Ultra 7 had the better keyboard. Ports the ultra 7 is also better, but that's also because its thicker.
in terms of upgradeability.. that youtube video a page or two ago showed that the bottom panel cannot be fully opened it seems.

 

Speaking of which... What are the current limits of mSATA? I'm debating between the S7 Ultra and the S7 Chronos... the only (very important) reason I don't want the S7 Ultra is because I definitely need more HDD/SSD space.

 

There's a 512GB Samsung PM841 just arrived (presumably what is in this model of the Series 9) and a 480GB Crucial M500 mSATA is imminent. Mushkin also make a 480GB mSATA which uses a second board to pack in more chips and is slightly thicker than the standard mSATA specification. The Samsung PM841 may not be officially available through the retail suppliers.

A further point I would note with these 13" Series 7s is that it is only the version without the AMD graphics that has two SODIMM slots. The model with the AMD GPU has some RAM on board and one SODIMM slot (the GPU takes up some space on the board).

John

 

Yes, latest drivers, still no go with 3Dmark06

You and me both! ips screen is way to much improvement to pass by. If i didn't care about that, i would have bought a 13" way sooner.

Lisa from MobileTechReview opened a 740 version. She said that you must use something like a credit card to "open" one side of the bottom. Youtube user Angelika Schlächter will try that, I think.

The asus ux31a is also very appealing, but the lack of normal size ports (s7 has one more usb, normal size hdmi and lan), and upgradeable parts lead me to the s7. I would have bought the UX32VD with ips screen way sooner, much alike the s7, but it isn't commercialized in my country.

CrystalDiskMark results:



Quite low writing, don't you think...?

 

Yes, surprisingly low on the sequential and 512k writes. What model of SSD is it? The 512k and 4k write results are better than the Sandisk U100 (see here) but it's definitely not one of the top performers.

What SSD model number does Device Manager report?

John