Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook listed at US retailer for $900, 'coming soon'

[John Ratsey]

Also looking for a HDD bay to replace the optical drive in the 14" Series 5. Anyone?

See this thread. it might apply.

John

[joeyl]

anderson did you get yours?

[andersonjacob54]

anderson did you get yours?

Yes, I did. Here's what happened:

I ordered from Amazon and got it in 2 days (thanks for Amazon student) on Tuesday. Opened the laptop from the box. The laptop looked really nice. I opened the lid and noticed that on the right on the keyboard there was some sort of glue or melted plastic residue. I tried removing it using fingernails, disinfectant wipes, even a soft/moderate cleaner, but to no avail. Upon closer inspection, I also noticed that the left side of the screen (the outside part that is supposed to hold the LCD panel) was loose. This caused the laptop to look uneven when closed. What I mean is, when the laptop was closed, there was a gap between the lid and base on the left, but no gap on the right. Regardless of the unevenness, I was worried about the long-term effects of a loose screen hinge.

I decided since I was going to buy a new laptop and hopefully use it for 4 (or more!) years, I would want it to be perfect. I contacted Amazon and they agreed to return and replace it. The UPS guy came and picked up the laptop yesterday (Wednesday). Now I have to wait about 1-1.5 weeks for shipping/processing before I get a new laptop. I did not even power the machine on, but on the outside the machine looked pretty good. It's definitely the form factor I was expecting.

As soon as I get the new laptop, I plan on inspecting it carefully again. Then, I will go ahead and reinstall Windows 7 Pro and OpenSUSE.

[c_ram_run]

Yes, I did. Here's what happened:

I ordered from Amazon and got it in 2 days (thanks for Amazon student) on Tuesday. Opened the laptop from the box. The laptop looked really nice. I opened the lid and noticed that on the right on the keyboard there was some sort of glue or melted plastic residue. I tried removing it using fingernails, disinfectant wipes, even a soft/moderate cleaner, but to no avail. Upon closer inspection, I also noticed that the left side of the screen (the outside part that is supposed to hold the LCD panel) was loose. This caused the laptop to look uneven when closed. What I mean is, when the laptop was closed, there was a gap between the lid and base on the left, but no gap on the right. Regardless of the unevenness, I was worried about the long-term effects of a loose screen hinge.

I decided since I was going to buy a new laptop and hopefully use it for 4 (or more!) years, I would want it to be perfect. I contacted Amazon and they agreed to return and replace it. The UPS guy came and picked up the laptop yesterday (Wednesday). Now I have to wait about 1-1.5 weeks for shipping/processing before I get a new laptop. I did not even power the machine on, but on the outside the machine looked pretty good. It's definitely the form factor I was expecting.

As soon as I get the new laptop, I plan on inspecting it carefully again. Then, I will go ahead and reinstall Windows 7 Pro and OpenSUSE.

I also received a laptop from Amazon with the residue on the side of the keyboard exactly as you described. I didn't notice the other issue with the lid as I packed it for return when I couldn't get the residue off. I held off on having it replaced and got a refund.

[andersonjacob54]

I also received a laptop from Amazon with the residue on the side of the keyboard exactly as you described. I didn't notice the other issue with the lid as I packed it for return when I couldn't get the residue off. I held off on having it replaced and got a refund.

Are you going to repurchase the laptop, look for another one, or hold off buying a computer?

[joeyl]

Yes, I did. Here's what happened:

I ordered from Amazon and got it in 2 days (thanks for Amazon student) on Tuesday. Opened the laptop from the box. The laptop looked really nice. I opened the lid and noticed that on the right on the keyboard there was some sort of glue or melted plastic residue. I tried removing it using fingernails, disinfectant wipes, even a soft/moderate cleaner, but to no avail. Upon closer inspection, I also noticed that the left side of the screen (the outside part that is supposed to hold the LCD panel) was loose. This caused the laptop to look uneven when closed. What I mean is, when the laptop was closed, there was a gap between the lid and base on the left, but no gap on the right. Regardless of the unevenness, I was worried about the long-term effects of a loose screen hinge.

I decided since I was going to buy a new laptop and hopefully use it for 4 (or more!) years, I would want it to be perfect. I contacted Amazon and they agreed to return and replace it. The UPS guy came and picked up the laptop yesterday (Wednesday). Now I have to wait about 1-1.5 weeks for shipping/processing before I get a new laptop. I did not even power the machine on, but on the outside the machine looked pretty good. It's definitely the form factor I was expecting.

As soon as I get the new laptop, I plan on inspecting it carefully again. Then, I will go ahead and reinstall Windows 7 Pro and OpenSUSE.

that's a bummer, looks Samsung is shipping these out without proper QC. As for me, the repair center for Samsung scratched the bottom of my laptop (did they use a screwdriver to pry open the bottom?) and broke off one of the tabs inside and the bottom was loose at the trackpad, I called Samsung and back it went to the repair center. I should be getting it today. Hopefully that will be it, I have been using my old laptop (HP NX7400) and it sucks compared to the Samsung (spongy keyboard, rubbery trackpad and hyper glossy screen that has streaks in the plastic from factory, you can see the waves where the plastic was poured and molded)

[andersonjacob54]

Replacement computer came in today. The outside of this model looks fine to me. I'll throw Windows 7 Pro and Linux on it by the end of this weekend.

Anyone know any ways to manually control the fan speed? I'm installing Windows updates on my machine right now, and the bottom of the laptop is starting to get pretty hot. I want to ramp up the fan because it doesn't even seem to be spinning (at least it's inaudible).

The heating is particularly bad when the laptop is charging.

[John Ratsey]

Anyone know any ways to manually control the fan speed? I'm installing Windows updates on my machine right now, and the bottom of the laptop is starting to get pretty hot. I want to ramp up the fan because it doesn't even seem to be spinning (at least it's inaudible).

The heating is particularly bad when the laptop is charging.

As far as I know no one has developed any fan control software for Samsung notebooks. What CPU temperatures is HWiNFO reporting? it may not be the CPU that is causing your heat problem and Samsung may not have enabled other temperature sensors to also control the fan.

John

[joeyl]

pretty much a lot of laptops that I install Windows on get toasty hot, the bad ones actually restart before the install is complete. You are fine as long as the fan is spinning...

[andersonjacob54]

I've attached a screenshot of my temperatures. As you can see, I am only browsing the internet and installing updates, and the computer is hotter than what I think it should be. If I unplug the charger, the temperatures go down by about 5 Celsius.

I *think* I can hear the fan running, it's really hard to tell because it's so quiet, but at this point, I would rather hear it make really loud sounds to keep the heat low and let me know that the fan control is working.

If this is only a Windows issue, then I won't mind it so much. I'll be throwing Linux on this later today after all these stupid Windows updates finish.

And if this heating issue continues into the weekend, I may have to return this laptop and start searching for another laptop.