Samsung Chronos 7 - 700Z3C Review tomorrow

[Norwaygeek]

In lack of some solid info on the New Ivy Bridge 700z3C model
(C=Ivy bridge cpu/chipset) (700z3A = Sandy Bridge previous gen. )



The config.
NP700Z3C-S01SE
Intel Core i5 3210M / 2.5 GHz (3.1 GHz at turbo)
6 GB ( 4+2) SDRAM DDR3 1600 MHz
1 TB HDD (8 GB flash-5400 rpm (will be swapped With my 256 Vertex4 SDD)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M - 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM (With optimus)
14" LED 1600 x 900 ( HD+ )
Bluetooth 4.0
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235

Comments: I did Not want to wait for a 700z3c with a Core i7 (that might come later , but i dont know) (and i guess it would not give me as much battery life as i5 3210 will bring)

As With 6gb ram (i might upgrade later on.. but feels 6gb is enough for me at this time)

Im really excited to see if the nvidia GT 630 chip is of the New 28nm kepler (GF117) and NOT the 40nm - Firstly due to battery longelivity. I will be hugely dissapointed i if it proves that the "old" 40nm kepler is still beeing shipped With Ivy bridge. (22nm cpu With 28nm gpu will give a Nice boost of battery life compared to the fist gen 700z3A series.)
UPDATE - I can confirm that the GPU is indeed the new 28nm Kepler (GF117) - But it has a 64 bit memmory interface (probably to conserve battery life)

Benchmarks: Windows Performance Index - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
7.1 CPU
7.5 RAM
6.7 Wingraphics
6.7 Gamegraphics
7.9 HDD Vertex 4 256

Note I replaced the 1 TB HDD With my Vertex 4 SDD 256

IBatterylife about 4 hours (at 80% charge limit) around 5h30m at 100%

Its quite silent (and there is even an option to set the fans in silent mode, which i dont see the point in... as silent as it is by default.)

Its quite cool and stays that way (even on some lighter gaming tests)

LCD screen is quite good - But as some of you have mentioned it does not give Black/Black .. but more in the lines of charcoal (gray - But it does not bother me - And goes from low light.. all the way to very very Bright.

The Touchpad is excellent - I have configured it to work like a macbook.. Two finger scrolling works smoothly - two finger tap brings up "right button" alternatives.


Be ware - It came preinstalled with all sorts of Bloatware - and it took me some time to get rid of 95% of it - The only software i kept was Samsung easy settings to get the FN keys to work

[walkingtoaster]

Thanks for the review!

Maybe you could explain how to change the hdd in your review? I ordered the same laptop but i'm not sure about changing it without a little tutorial.

And maybe you could state if theres a way to replace the hdd without losing the warranty

Btw. all GT630M chips are based on Fermi as you can see here.Just relabeled GT540M cards

[John Ratsey]

And maybe you could state if theres a way to replace the hdd without losing the warranty

Just don't damage anything and keep the original HDD and replace it if you want warranty service. There are no seals to break to indicate that you have been inside the computer.

John

[Sebl]

Could you compare the screen with other notebooks? I really want to know if they got the same screen in the ivy bridge model as with sandy bridge. Its contrast really sucks and black is more grey.

[REMF]

Thanks for the review!

Maybe you could explain how to change the hdd in your review? I ordered the same laptop but i'm not sure about changing it without a little tutorial.

And maybe you could state if theres a way to replace the hdd without losing the warranty

Btw. all GT630M chips are based on Fermi as you can see here.Just relabeled GT540M cards

the 630 can also be a 28nm respin (GF117)

so low power, even if not kepler tech.

[Norwaygeek]

Removed - Updated the top post instead

[Aycerr]

Ok Here goes:
I cant make out if the nvidia 630 chip is 28 nm (but i found it to be 64 bit - a bit dissapointing since i got the impression at wikipedia it was 128 bit.

Are you sure the 630m is 64 bit? According to notebookcheck, as well, all 630m chips should be 128 bit.

[Norwaygeek]

No im not 100% (nvidia controlpanel system info said 64 bit (in win7 pre installed) - And allthough notebookcheck say 128 bit.. there can allways be variables on some chips (64 Draws less Power, so the manufacturer can choose to Down"clock" the chip a bit.

[motherfo]

hmmm when will this model come to the US I need an nvidia chipset. The AMD card has caused me nothing but problems with my 3D work.

[XtremeProject]

Unforunately you cannot use Nvidia drivers because you need to get drivers directly from Samsung only. Unless something like Leshcat drivers appear.