14" Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3C

[SoundsGood]

Hi guys,

I thought it might be time to start a separate thread for the 14" Samsung Series 7 (current model NP700Z3C).

Anyone have one or considering a purchase?

Let us know...

[oatsonix]

I purchased one last Monday from Microsoft store and it's supposed to be delivered next Tuesday.
If I had known it would take that long to ship from CA to NY, I would have paid extra $10 for 2-day
shipping. =)

I originally bought a Sony S13P but had to return due to the screen being too grainy and difficult
to calibrate. Maybe it's just me, but the screen door effect is very pronounced on the S13P. I can
also see pixel-jumping/slight flicker on the upper right corner of the screen. Since I read a lot on
my laptop, that's a deal breaker on the otherwise very nice, gorgeous and pricey machine.

Then I came across the NP700Z5C at bestbuy, and really liked its design, build and keyboard. Its
thin bezel, brushed aluminum finish, and great keyboard really stood out from other laptops in the
store. Although the screen may have narrow viewing angle and lack contrast (black looks grey),
it's quite sharp and easy on the eye (no screen door effect). The only problem with it is that I
found 15.6", despite samsung thin bezels, a tad too big and heavy.

I then saw the NP700Z3C at the Microsoft store website and decided to take a shot. Hopefully
it will turn out as nice as, if not nicer, its big brother. I kinda wish it had more usb port than two
but I guess a $5 mini usb hub should solve the problem.

[SoundsGood]

Sounds like we're in the same boat on several levels.

I too have one on the way (NP700Z3C-S02US) scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday.

And I too was impressed with the 15.4" model at BestBuy but felt it was a bit too large / heavy. I also didn't really want a number pad.

And I'm with ya on the USB ports too. Not happy that there's only two, but yeah, a hub should do the trick.

[Terran1212]

Sounds like we're in the same boat on several levels.

I too have one on the way (NP700Z3C-S02US) scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday.

And I too was impressed with the 15.4" model at BestBuy but felt it was a bit too large / heavy. I also didn't really want a number pad.

And I'm with ya on the USB ports too. Not happy that there's only two, but yeah, a hub should do the trick.

I'm thinking of picking one up this weekend. I had a sony vaio s 13.3 which was perfect in almost every way -- except the speakers were so bad they hurt my ears. Like I'm not an audio buff I just don't want something that hurts my ears...

This has a weaker graphics card than that (630m vs 640m le) but you know looking through youtube videos of people utilizing it it seems like it still packs a decent punch.

UPDATE: If I end up grabbing it tonight or tomorrow, I'm going to try to test left 4 dead 2, starcraft 2, maybe crysis 2 on it over the weekend. Also going to try to report any issues on speakers, battery, screen, which I think is people's biggest issues with samsung lines (and some touchpad stuff but I think that's been cleared up by now). A microsoft store just opened a 15 minute walk from me so I'm lucky

[krasher134]

Let me know what you guys think of the 700Z3Cs when you get them. I'm considering it along with a few other laptops, including the 700Z5C. It's tough to swallow the only $100 price difference for such a huge drop in specs (i.e. graphics card and processor), but the 700Z5C is just too big for what I'm looking to do.

I originally bought a Sony S13P but had to return due to the screen being too grainy and difficult to calibrate. Maybe it's just me, but the screen door effect is very pronounced on the S13P. I can also see pixel-jumping/slight flicker on the upper right corner of the screen. Since I read a lot on my laptop, that's a deal breaker on the otherwise very nice, gorgeous and pricey machine.

I'm thinking of picking one up this weekend. I had a sony vaio s 13.3 which was perfect in almost every way -- except the speakers were so bad they hurt my ears. Like I'm not an audio buff I just don't want something that hurts my ears...

Just recently picked up the S13P from Best Buy and I think the "screen door effect" is a fantastic way to put it. I've been using it for about 3 days now and I will say, you tend to notice it less and less after a while. And yes, laptops usually have crappy speakers, but the ones on this Sony are just horrendous. I also have had a few issues with the bottom of the screen being brighter than the top of the screen, almost like a brightness gradient. It's really frustrating, especially because I can't tell if it's an issue with the specific machine or if it's a series-wide issue...

I also purchased a UX32VD but returned it due to poor QA on the IPS panel (horrible backlight bleed and random brightness flickering). I still like that laptop a lot, but the $1300 price tag is steep, especially when there have been numerous complaints regarding the display issues. I also don't think I really need the full HD on a 13" laptop, although I'll miss the amazing viewing angles. I think it's down to the S13P and the 700Z3C for me, with the S13P holding a slight lead due to the free PS3 and $100 MIR.

A microsoft store just opened a 15 minute walk from me so I'm lucky

FYI, I was at a Microsoft Store on Monday and they only had the Sandy Bridge version of the 14" (700Z3A) and the Ivy Bridge version of the 15" (700Z5C). I'll be visiting another one tomorrow morning to see if they have the Z3C to play with.

[ansoncool]

this laptop also got my attention for a while. I bought the vaio s13 10 days ago and the screen and speaker are just turn me down.

after two days of research, i think there are several things that's helpful for the viewers here.

1. i found the review for np700z3c at a German website:
Test-Update Samsung Serie 7 700Z3C-S01 Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests

i think the biggest con of this laptop is its display.. it's the same display of 700z3a.. ("The strong backlight proves this with a very high black value of 2.72 cd/m2. It results in a disappointing contrast of only 129:1.") that means black will be extremely gray...

2. at bestbuy, the 15.6 version is NP700Z5C-S01UB, which i think its only for bestbuy. the graphic memory of this version is 512mb and the graphic is 630m. there is another 2 versions which are NP700Z5C-S01US and NP700Z5C-S04US. their graphic are 640m and graphic memory are 1Gb.

3. something different between the samsung website and microsoft store website. at samsung website, the 700z3c has the 1Gb graphic memory, but at microsoft store website, the same version says "up to 800 MHz DDR3 GDDR5 graphics memory". don't know which one is real... and when i went to microsoft store at san diego, they dont have one for presentation, so i have no way to verify it..

[Terran1212]

Let me know what you guys think of the 700Z3Cs when you get them. I'm considering it along with a few other laptops, including the 700Z5C. It's tough to swallow the only $100 price difference for such a huge drop in specs (i.e. graphics card and processor), but the 700Z5C is just too big for what I'm looking to do.





Just recently picked up the S13P from Best Buy and I think the "screen door effect" is a fantastic way to put it. I've been using it for about 3 days now and I will say, you tend to notice it less and less after a while. And yes, laptops usually have crappy speakers, but the ones on this Sony are just horrendous. I also have had a few issues with the bottom of the screen being brighter than the top of the screen, almost like a brightness gradient. It's really frustrating, especially because I can't tell if it's an issue with the specific machine or if it's a series-wide issue...

I also purchased a UX32VD but returned it due to poor QA on the IPS panel (horrible backlight bleed and random brightness flickering). I still like that laptop a lot, but the $1300 price tag is steep, especially when there have been numerous complaints regarding the display issues. I also don't think I really need the full HD on a 13" laptop, although I'll miss the amazing viewing angles. I think it's down to the S13P and the 700Z3C for me, with the S13P holding a slight lead due to the free PS3 and $100 MIR.



FYI, I was at a Microsoft Store on Monday and they only had the Sandy Bridge version of the 14" (700Z3A) and the Ivy Bridge version of the 15" (700Z5C). I'll be visiting another one tomorrow morning to see if they have the Z3C to play with.

I was at a Microsoft store this week and I took a screenshot of the specs of what they had on the 14 inch.

This is the processor: Intel core i5-3250m.

I think this unit just hit the msoft store. It's online too.

UPDATE: I looked at the German review and was disappointed that they didn't review its audio considering that was my main problem with the Sony. As for the contrast I guess that's something I'll have to test at the store to really see if it bothers me. Otherwise a 1600x900 resolution seems like a sweet spot without having to shell out for the cash for a full top of the line HD

[ansoncool]

that's strange... it should be 3210m..

[Terran1212]

that's strange... it should be 3210m..

Ha ha it is. My phone has a tiny screen it was hard to tell...

[ansoncool]

Ha ha it is. My phone has a tiny screen it was hard to tell...

i went to microsoft store too, and i saw the tag said intel 3210m and nvidia graphic card, but when i played with the laptop i found out that the presentation laptop is the old version 700z3a. dont know whats ur situation...