Samsung 15" Series 9 NP900X4C with Ivy Bridge CPU

[Triskite]

All right, I'm having a very weird problem here. I bought the X4C a few days ago. I also bought a 256 GB SSD. I used Clonezilla to image the OEM SSD, wrote the image to my new one, and everything worked great, but of course I needed to mess with the partitions to take advantage of the larger disk, and I also wanted to install Linux.

At first everything was working great. I could boot Clonezilla or any Linux distro from a usb key by disabling Fast BIOS and setting the correct device boot order. But at one point I had to rewrite my imaged drive again, so I did. Again, everything seemed to be working great. I booted into the GParted live CD to delete the recovery partition. Then two things happened simultaneously. First, the USB drive I'd been using suddenly couldn't be read by Windows (it said I needed to format the drive). I did, and wrote a Linux live CD to it. The other thing that happened is that my computer will no longer boot from the USB drive. It's very bizarre. I fix all the settings in BIOS, but it just skips straight to Windows. If I ENABLE UEFI, it'll try to boot from the USB drive, but I get a GRUB screen and whenever I select an OS, it fails to boot. If I disable UEFI (which is how I did things before), the computer just ignores the USB drive. Perhaps even stranger, BIOS recognizes that the USB drive is plugged in (I see the brand and model listed in the device order). I'd appreciate any suggestions, because at this point I can't boot into Clonezilla to restore my factory image if I screw things up.

Here's what I've done:
- Disabled Fast BIOS
- Disabled Fast Boot
- Disabled UEFI
- Selected the USB HDD as first boot device
- Updated the BIOS with the newest firmware from SAMSUNG's website
- Tested the USB drive on another computer--the drive is fine

I'm at my wit's end here. I really hope I'm just missing something really stupid and someone can set me straight.

not sure if someone answered this yet, but disable fast boot and disable the SSD from boot options by highlighting it and pressing shift 1

also try a different USB port

[John Ratsey]

My 15" A03US is arriving today!

Of course, I've waited until now to consider a case. Any recommendations out there from current owners? Wondering if cases designed for the MacBook Pro will fit this as well.

I've got one of these, more for protection against dirt and scratching without adding significantly to the size. Look for 15" size but you may find that a big 14" sleeve would also fit.

John

[nkhalique7]

I've had the 4C for two days now. and it has the sandisk! i am keeping it as i just dont have the luxury of waiting anymore and even with the compromises i prefer this to anything else out there right now (same size and price ranges) My thoughts are below

- The screen isn't all that bad. If like me you come from an average oldish laptop you will actually find it really nice. Horizontal angles are great its just vertical angles this lacks so you have to adjust from time to time. not that big a deal for the average user
- keyboard travel is shallow but doesn't bother me one bit and i can type as fast as normal
- build quality is fantastic. really solid. really uniform and understated design.
- its really quiet, fan hardly ever comes on
- WIFI is great no problems
- mini connections are going to be a pain.. just ordered the samsung mini hdmi to vga dongle from ebay
- battery is way better than anything i have experienced, i think i can get through the most part of a day
- Plays full HDMI movies no lag at all. I haven't really stressed the processor I hope it can handle big spreadsheets with lots of formulas!
- Samsung easy settings just works and i find it very useful. function lock is very useful.

A few questions
- Any way to control bluetooth on/off from function keys?
- any good recommendations for laptop bags (not sleeves) with pockets for this laptop? something that can take all the extra dongles and power adaptor

[Thors.Hammer]

Do you have a case, Thor? What works well for you?

I have been bouncing between 13.3" and 15" machines for the past couple of months.

I use Microfiber Script for MacBook 13 / MacBook Pro 13 for the 13" machines.

I use Microfiber for MB 15.4 for the 15" machines.

The are good microfiber universal cases.

[John Ratsey]

- its really quiet, fan hardly ever comes on
- WIFI is great no problems

You are lucky. In my experience these are two of the less good features. Have you tried (i) running the wPrime 1024 benchmark and (ii) gone far enough from your router that the signal strength drops?

A few questions
- Any way to control bluetooth on/off from function keys?
- any good recommendations for laptop bags (not sleeves) with pockets for this laptop? something that can take all the extra dongles and power adaptor

For bluetooth on/off you need to go to the bottom of the wireless page in Easy Settings. I've got a Samsonite bag that looks to be an older version of this. It's nominally for 14" notebooks but the internal width fits the X4C nicely (but not much space to spare). The bag is also not very heavy - I don't like bags which weigh as much as the computer.

John

[nkhalique7]

Thanks John

No not tried any performance tests

I have taken the laptop to the attic which is two floors higher than where the router is and I still get 4/5 bars. That's probably the furthest I can get from my router in the house. I do have a billion router which I have found to be very reliable and excellent!

I have also noticed sometimes things slow down I assume this is the Sandisk but this is more rare

[John Ratsey]

Can someone please check my findings on fan noise: Run wPrime or similar as a CPU stress test and HWiNFO or similar to watch the temperatures. On my X4C the fan switches to noisy mode once the CPU exceeds 70 or 71C and stays there until the temperature drops to nearer 60C. And noisy mode is, in my view, quite noticeable (disappointing compared with the twin fan X3B). Even running a single-threaded task (set wPrime to one thread) is enough to get the fan noisy.

If my temperatures / fan noise are abnormal then I need to consider repasting the CPU.

John

[igniztion]

I ran some tests on my X4C-A01SE with an ambient temperature of around 25 degrees celsius.

- Single thread: Never got the fans to speed up to top speed. Ran the entire 1024M test and the fans were noticeable, but far from annoying. I had some other ambient noise in the room though. Maxed out at 71C.

- Multithreaded: Took about 15 seconds to reach full fan speed which kicked in around 73-74C

I also find the fans quite noisy when they're at full speed, but I haven't noticed it happen too often. Mostly when I compile large projects. Never happened while watching HD video or HD smooth streaming where it probably would be a bit annoying.

[nkhalique7]

tested wPrime with HWinfo

62C low fan, 66C medium fan, 71C high fan noise

once the test is stopped/complete it quickly drops to 50s and fan reduces from high fan noise quickly (seconds)

[ad19]

For those in Canada, the A03US is the same as the A02CA.