The 2012 Samsung Series 9 13.3" (NP900X3B)

had a play with one at john lewis today, very pretty and a good solid feeling machine. can feel the weight in it compared to the tosh but it feels much more solid and better made.

unfortunately they had their rediculous software running on it and i couldnt have a proper play and as i had only skooted in quick while the missus wasnt looking (if i buy another laptop she will literally kill me) i didnt have time to consult a sales person and get them to let me into the o/s for a tinker.

as such i can only comment on the look of the thing and the design which i enjoyed muchly, its a very very nice looking machine, but alas i feel its just not worth it at the price point for the hardware specs....even with the VAT back dare i say it!! i shall await the IB refresh with baited breath and keep everything crosses for an 8gb model with 256gb SSD at some point later in the lines life..........or even the next replcement............

 

I'm still attracted to that Toshiba every time I lift one and realize how crazy light it is AND that it's got all the right ports PLUS it's got dedicated Home and End keys. I'm just not mad about the size and/or shape of the keys on the keyboard for some reason.

 

Regarding the problem with usb boot, I was having this little big problem a couple of days ago. The solution was to disable Fast Boot in te BIOS and change the boot order, nothing else.

PD: BTW, hi, everyone!

 

Hi, Welcome.

Unfortunately, Samsung Easy Settings has a bug in some of the shipping versions and although you attempt to turn off fast boot, the change doesn't persist.

I had to download a later version from samsung.com

 

Samsung is silly.

There is no VGA input on the Samsung Series 9 SA970 Monitor. However, there is the expected Display Port and Dual Link DVI that allow for a 2560 x 1440 resolution. $1,199- list price. Looks sexy though.

 

turn down the sensitivity with the more advanced software thors links to a few pages ago.

also make sure click lock is off.

it's been MUCH better and i was experiencing the same frustration as you before

 

Hi again-- can somebody help with a problem I have just started having? When I first got this computer (after doing clean windows install, etc.), it would resume from sleep if I opened the lid. It would not automatically resume from hibernate, which was expected: then the power button would be dark, and I would push it to start.

Now that behavior isn't really happening any more, or at least has gone wonky: if I close the lid and open it fairly soon, the screen pops back on again. But if I wait even a few minutes, and then open the lid, the power button lights up, wifi lights up, but screen stays dark. I have to push power button to get the screen to light up. Worse, a couple of times I have closed the computer when not plugged in, and come back after overnight to discover that the battery is completely drained!

I have done a system restore which hasn't helped, and am wondering if anybody has any troubleshooting suggestions. Thanks so much.

PS one last observation: when I put the computer to sleep, using the power button, or start menu, or closing the lid, the power and the wifi leds remain lit. My recollection is that, before, when I put the computer to sleep, those lights would turn off, and then, upon opening the lid, they would turn back on again.

 

Fixed it. Posting here for those who are curious: I had enabled usb3 charging in the bios while on holiday, so that I could charge my cell phone using computer. It seems that when that is enabled, the power and wifi lights stay on, and it strikes me that this might also be draining power even when something isn't plugged in. All of my wonky behavior (opening the computer to find it dead after overnight, no normal resume from sleep, etc) started after the bios change, and the sleep behavior (leds going off when computer is put to sleep, opening lid resuming) is normal again after turning the setting off in the bios. I expect the battery drain to resolve as well, will report back if that's not the case.

Is this behavior by design, or should I alert somebody at Samsung?

 

Shelley, are you still lovin' this laptop, or ?? (any updated thoughts or comments?)

 

I certainly don't think it's all be design. What BIOS version are you using? What version of Easy Settings?

 

Thanks dude and also to Thor for posting that link. I can now, by playing with those settings get my tapping back without rebooting the machine.
A little more investigation is required to see which individual setting is fixing it but i'm getting somewhere now.

Cheers

Now my EasySetting isn't holding my wireless preferences! I leave WiFi on and when I reboot, it comes back as on but soon as the EasySettings .exe loads it disables the wireless and the FN+F12 wont do it - have to go into easy settings to enable it

I think i'll blast the machine anyway an rebuild from scratch and try and slim down the OS a bit.

 

Bios: P05AHH, Easy Settings: 11.0.3.

Okay, now I'm going totally crazy. For one brief moment I got things back to normal, I thought, by turning off usb charging. Now it's gone back to the same behavior as before: however I put the computer to sleep, both power and wifi led's stay illuminated. My memory is that, previously, the two blue led's would go off. Further, in order to get the system to resume, I have to push the power button-- opening the lid doesn't do it. It seems as if the computer isn't going to sleep. Any thoughts about how I might trouble shoot this? It's driving me kind of crazy. Opening the lid to start the computer is not an essential feature, but one that I really appreciate.

Thanks so much for all your tips btw. I was thrilled to find out about the secret touchpad settings app-- I had been trying to hack the registry, to no avail.

@soundsgood: in spite of all the above complaints, I am truly very very happy with this computer, which fills a long (and long standing) wish list for me, from backlit keyboard, to thin and light, to non glossy screen, etc. It's mighty fast for my purposes, and I find the touchpad to be lovely. Battery life stinks, in my humble opinion, but since I'm usually plugged, it's not a deal breaker for me.

 

My unboxing video finally finished uploading. It's also my initial impressions of the aesthetics on this notebook:

Samsung S9 NP900X3B - Unboxing - YouTube

 

Update your Easy Settings. I know for sure that version has a bug and doesn't always write the settings correctly. I discovered this when testing fastboot.

I am using 1.1.0.41

My machine works properly with one exception. Lid open doesn't resume from sleep. I still need to press the power button. I'm not sure why but it's like something I haven't installed. I am not using Intel Rapid Start. This thing boots to the desktop in 12 seconds. That is rapid enough for me.

I am on the older BIOS. I have not installed P05AAH, yet.

Regarding battery life, I get 5 hours from a 100% charge, and a little less than 4 from 80%.

 

Thanks Shelley! What DPI did you settle on? 100%? 125? Something else??

 

So I bought this on Friday. It is an amazing piece of hardware.

The battery life isn't as top class as the rest of the package, but depending on usage it is decent. I'd say easily 4-5 hours of office document working/web surfing. Less while running an Android VM!

The only thing which is annoying me at the moment is that the touchpad will generate a keystroke if I do a downward slide (move mouse down the screen) on the top half-inch of the touchpad. If I do this a 'z' is entered - as if I pressed the 'z' key.

I'm on the latest driver, but I upgraded to that pretty quickly so I can't confirm that it wasn't happening on driver it shipped with.

Has anyone else experienced this?

It is the same issue as described in this thread where it is also happening on a series 7.

 

What I discovered after my last post is that my computer wasn't sleeping at all-- long after the computer was put to sleep, the fans were whirring, and the computer was warm. (Kudos to Samsung-- I had to put the computer right up to my ear in a quiet room to hear the fans, and it was so minimally warm that if I hadn't been paying attention I wouldn't have noticed.) I wonder now if some of my bad experience with the battery (waking up to find out that I had 1% charge left) was related to that?

Anyway, based on your recommendation, I downloaded the newer Easy Settings. And disabled all the rapid start settings (there's one for Intel and two for Samsung). And, miracle of miracles, as of now, my computer is sleeping normally. I have put it to sleep about six times successfully. I no longer am able to wake the computer by opening the lid, but frankly, I could care less at this point. (I had been imaginging having to rebuild windows, and/or send the whole unit back. Power button is good enough for me.)

Five hours would be fine for me; in practice, less than four is not so great. Right now I have the computer set to stop charging at 80% in order to prolong battery life. I'm wondering if I should turn that feature off. Any thoughts?

@SoundsGood: I have the font set to 150%, and never think about it (I realize that's not going to work for your dual monitor set up), even when I get to a screen that can't resize. Others have said that the resolution is so sharp it makes reading easier, and I agree.

@paddyb: no ghost fonts here. I tried and tried to make a z, but failed.

 

Ouch. Right, that won't for me. Oh well, thanks for letting me know. Glad to hear you're happy with the unit!

 

YES!!! I posted about this issue a number of pages back, but no one seemed to be having the same issue (or at least no one replied). Mine will also print a "c" character with a sideways swipe from right to left. I contacted Samsung about this and they told me I should send my computer in for service. I explained that this seems to be a result of the most recent driver (the problem does not occur with the driver which shipped with the machine) but they would not provide me with the original driver to downgrade.

I've done a complete restore and re-setup of my whole machine, updating/installing everything i need except for the touchpad driver, and I can not now cause the "z" or "c" characters via touchpad.

 

personally i would charge the battery to full and use it, if you only get 4 hours out of 80% charge then its counter productive isnt it, you want over 4 hours but dont want use the battery to get it, seems silly. charge it and use it. if the lifespan seems to be dipping maybe notch back to 90-95% charge.

personally i always charge my z830 to full and it has an internal battery, so far still see over 6 hours normal use from a charge and i've had the thing 5 months or so

 

Is there a way to do this on the Samsung? The only setting I can find is bios/easy settings to 80%. And, by lifespan, do you just mean keep an eye on my wear level and see if it's increasing faster?

I don't want to start a long battery discussion, but I would love it if somebody could clarify this for me: my understanding is that the reason to stop charging at 80% is because batteries appear to last (significantly?) longer when they are never charged to 100%. If this isn't true then I will happily go back to 100%, and might just do so anyway.

From my reading, I gather that whether or not the maximum charge is set to 80 or 100, the charge cycles of the battery will accrue at the same rate. The battery will automatically stop charging once it reaches the maximum set charge, trickle down to some recharge trigger (5% less than full charge?) and then charge again to maximum. Each of those trickle down/recharge cycles contributes to the charge cycle count of the battery, the same way unplugging and using does. However, the effects of these recharge cycles on the battery life is somewhat minimal-- your battery is going to die in 2-3 years no matter what, so you might as well cycle away. The only thing that can truly hurt the life of the battery is to do a complete discharge too frequently.

Would love to hear comments about this, but especially thoughts about how much life can really be gained by stopping the charge at 80% vs. 100%.

 

I don't know, but what Samsung assert is that charging to 100% puts significant heat into the battery, altering the cell structure inside over time. It is this that affects the overall life.

http://www.samsung.com/us/article/tips--tricks-extending-notebook-battery-life

 

FYI, I do not have any issues with sleep. BIOS, I have been on P03, P04, and now P05. I have used the stock/old Easy Setting for over a month, and now the newest version. I have Samsung Fast Boot, Fast Start, and Intel Rapid Start Technology all on. I actually like the IRST because after the system sleeps for 75m or so, it then goes to a special hibernate so my battery doesn't get drained. It also wakes up insanely fast compared to the normal Windows hibernate. Most I have ever lost for extended time is 10%! I don't think Samsung's Fast Boot do much, but recommend IRST. My system sleeps fine when I close the lid, and wakes up when I open the lid. So, all the software should be fine. Just curious what drivers you may be missing.

 

Like you I have had no issues with sleep, with all these turned on. Though I still cannot get the laptop to wake itself for the Windows Home Server automated backup.

 

there is no setting i know of to stop charge at 90% plus, they all seem to do 80% and are none user changeable

however as said before, way i see it battery is there to be used, the main thing i avoid is the charge cycles your on about when you leave it plugged in. i never do this as its killed my mobile phone batteries before (same battery chemistry) so i just charge until it hits the green light on the front of the unit and unplug it. its boded well so far for my R700 as well which i've had for a year now and still holds over 5 hours use from a charge

 

I would say if you use the battery daily and need all 100%, I would charge it in that manner.

If you routinely stay plugged into the wall, set the 80% threshold for charging and only change that for trips where you need the full 100%.

It isn't like you can never replace the battery. It's actually pretty easily done.

 

My guess is that the Intel Rapid Start program installs a missing driver that corrects the lid open detection. I might have to install that today and see.

 

That is what I do. By default, I keep it at 80% because I usually have an outlet around. When I am on trips, or mobile a lot, I change it over to 100%. From my previous experience with Vaio's, keeping 80% does slow down the deterioration of the battery. My estimated mah and battery life used to drop about 20% a year, but now its single digits. It might also be newer battery technology, so who knows.

 

This is good advice.

 

No kidding! It's great advice, thank you all very much.

I am still, incredibly, fussing with my sleep issue-- I think I was prodded on by all the people who have it working fine. I have determined that it is the rapid start service which is somehow, for some reason, preventing sleep. I know for a fact it's not connected to opening the lid/resuming because the lid opening had always worked for me until just recently, and I didn't install the service until later. Plus, uninstalling/reinstalling the service has not affected the lid opening behavior. It's pretty clear, tho, that when I have Rapid Start enabled in Easy Settings, I can't sleep, and when it's off, I can. I'm guessing I have a driver conflict, or something, and so I'm going to fuss a little more and then either a) call Samsung (who will likely tell me to reinstall Windows), b) forget it. Leaning towards b, except for my tech-ocd.

Do you guys use Easy Software, or just download from the Samsung Website? And do you, as a rule recommend changing settings via Easy Settings over changing them in the bios?

 

This turned out to be a dead end. It does not add lid support. Oh well, I am perfectly comfortable with the way my machine is working. I have removed Intel Rapid Start and the partition it created.

 

- I've done both, manual update from the web and using the easy software manager. I usually prefer manual because I save old copies of my drivers.
- I change settings both in the easy software and the bios; haven't had any issues yet.

Maybe it is one of the MS critial updates or MS packages that Samsung provides? Maybe it corrects this? Not sure, just an idea.

 

Here is what I am learning: with Intel Rapid start enabled, I can't sleep at all. But with the two Samsung settings enabled (fast boot and fast start in easy settings), I now can resume from sleep by opening the lid. As long as rapid start isn't enabled. So, Thor, I think your driver settings must be hidden on one of those two fast start settings. Maybe you could try and confirm?

I can't install intel rapid start from easy software, because it thinks it's installed (the earlier downloaded settings seem to persist), but if I download it from the web, I can install it, and (later) force delete it, using revo uninstaller, by searching "fast flash resume" which seems to be the samsung program that installs/enables intel rapid start. After discovering that rapid start is what's hanging me up, PLUS getting my lid back, I uninstalled the fast flash resume program, which disabled the ability to enable intel rapid start from inside easy settings, and restored the hibernate/hybrid sleep settings to my advanced power options. (Those go hidden when rapid start is enabled.)

I remember that Easy Software was the ONLY way that I could get the touchpad drivers to install, and I'm wondering if, by installing Rapid Start through Easy Software, I somehow corrupted rapid start, so that it's not working. If any body has any tricks for working with/installing intel rapid start, I would welcome them, otherwise I think I'll give it a rest.

Meanwhile: I have this hibernate partition. Should I delete it? Or does the SSD use it for something? (I know I didn't have it when I first reformatted and reinstalled windows-- pretty sure it was created by Intel Rapid Start installation.)

 

Shelleyevans, with IRST installed, I can enable or disable it, and my system still sleeps, with all lid conditions working.

If you don't use IRST, you will not need the hibernate partition. Windows has it's own hiberate file in the system partition.

What I learn is that IRST has issues if you try to install when you already have 4 partitions (not including the hibernate partition). IRST needs to create that partiton, and you can't have mroe than 4 total.

 

Ha!!! Thanks Shelley!!!

That was the mystery setting for me. When Fast Start is enabled in the Samsung Easy Settings application, lid sleep and resume works correctly for me.

So I am using the following in Easy Settings:

Samsung Fast Boot = ON
Fast Start = ON
USB Charging = OFF
Battery Life Extender = ON
Silent Mode = OFF
Keyboard Backlit sliders = all the way to the right
UAC = 3rd setting (default)
Intel Rapid Start Technology = OFF (manually deleted partition then uninstalled software)

 

So happy that mystery is solved! I have the same settings in Easy Settings-- although IRST doesn't even show up as an option once it's uninstalled.

I kind of wish I could figure out why IRST doesn't work for me, but I am going to attribute it to the probability that I hosed the installation somehow, and can't find a way to fix it.

Thors, I thought Isosunrise (?) made a good point earlier about IRST saving battery life during sleep. Why don't you use it?

 

guess what i got today

 

^ please post if there are noticeable differences felt between the RunCore and stock samsung 830 SSD

 

what speeds are folks getting on the 830?

 

Several reasons. First, I don't want to give up any disk space for a hibernation partition. Second, I don't really want to use hibernation.

When I use sleep/resume, it's during a busy day of meetings and I am bouncing between conference rooms. Sleep/resume is convenient but I don't usually leave a lot of applications active so saving and persisting state isn't an issue for me.

I'll do some testing with sleep and the loss of battery over the next few evenings and see how my machine does. I usually shut it down at night, but I'll suspend it instead and see what happens.

 

Thx. I will try to do the same over the next several days and see what happens here, too. Usually I don't think about it until the next morning.

 

Twice as fast as what? I guarantee it isn't going to be twice as fast as my machine. The mSATA in my NP900X3B is SATA III 6 Gb/s Samsung and nearly as fast as the 256GB 7mm Samsung Series 830 drive I have.

 

Here are a couple of tests

 

right i didnt know it was sata iii stock - samsung folks told me it was ii when i asked them.

even if runcore is faster it would be marginal. not worth the effort - going to return it.

 

Yes, IRST indeed wastes space, but to me that is the only real downside. IRST actually first goes into the normal sleep mode. It stays in that mode for 75 min. Only after 75 min, it will go into this special hibernate mode. It is not the traditional slow hibernate mode in Windows where it takes 10-20 sec to boot up with logo and everything, it is super fast, less than 5 sec (you probably think it was sleeping). So, you are going from about 2 sec to 5 sec (sleep to IRST hibernate). During that time, you don't waste any battery if you left it in your bag over the weekend or what not. That said, if you shut down, then it won't waste battery either.

 

I left my S9 untouched for a week and it work up within a few seconds. The battery had dropped from 80% to 76%.

Thanks for this explanation. That rapid resume is one of the S9's useful features. We just need bigger SSDs so the extra space is not an issue but using one of the sparse partitions is still a nuisance. I guess that it uses mapping between RAM and SSD and needs to avoid the risk of a file being moved.

Putting 8GB RAM on board will, I presume, increase this SSD space loss. At the moment my S9 also had the standard windows hiberfil.sys. Running Powercfg -H Off to disable it gives a message "The system firmware does not support hibernation". So I manually zapped it and restarted. It didn't automatically reappear.

John

 

First of all, thank you. I LOVE this board-- every problem leads me to more understanding (eventually).

Second of all: ARGH. The more I understand, the more I want to get this feature to work. I know it's the IRST service that won't let me sleep at all, have reproduced the behavior multiple times now. I have even reproduced the behavior in safe mode, so I know it's not my start up programs. I have removed and reinstalled the service several times. I have deleted and recreated the partition. I changed ACHI from "Auto" to "Manual/Enabled" in the bios. Can't think of anything else to do, short of a clean reinstall.

 

Does anyone know how to ensure that the WiFi stays off when turning the laptop on/off (and indeed when it turns on after sleep mode)?

If I use the Easy Settings, they are not remembered once the machine turns back on....

Do you reckon that your machine was in hibernation or sleep?
Sounds like very little battery usage if it was just sleep (looking at the way mine performs)?

Kind regards,

Nic

 

Mine seems to remember the last setting if sleeping but it doesn't remember the WiFi setting when the computer is restarted. What is even worse is that it turns Bluetooth back on, which I don't like since BT can be a power hog. So if you are flying, you have to use only sleep and not restart the machine. I think we need to all hit Samsung with bug reports.

The workaround is the untidy one: Disable the WiFi and BT devices in Device Manager.

I think it had hibernated but using the Intel rapid system it was up and running in very few seconds.

John

 

Yup, I had to disable the BT in Dev Mgr too (although easy settings will still let me turn it on/off - doh!).

How do you guys play the hibernate / sleep options wrt using the lid / pwr button?

I can't quite decide if I'm better off having the laptop go into hibernate every time I close the lid or have to remember to press the power button if I want it to hibernate!

Is there really much of a difference between hibernate & sleep start up times?

Kind regards,

Nic