14" Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3C

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...

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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..

 

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

 

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

 

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...

 

I'm going back tonight or tomorrow. The guy I talked to last time said that it was the new one -- is there any easy way to tell? (I guess i could just dxdiag and check out if it has nvidia, etc...)

 

If it helps, here are the specs of the NP700Z3C-S02US I ordered:

DISPLAY | 14.0 in LED HD non-glare SuperBright (1600 x 900)
PROCESSOR | Intel Core i5-3210M 2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.10 GHz
MEMORY | 6 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
HARD DRIVE SIZE | 750 GB SATA 7200 RPM + 8 GB SSD for caching
OPERATING SYSTEM | Windows 7 Home Premium
OPTICAL DRIVE | DVD +/-RW SuperMulti dual layer (S-ATA)
MEDIA DRIVE | 4-in-1 memory card reader
AUDIO | SoundAlive
VIDEO | Intel HD Graphics 4000 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M with up to 800 MHz DDR3 GDDR5 graphics memory
PORTS | 1 USB 3.0 • 1 USB 2.0 • HDMI • Headphone output/Microphone input combo • RJ-45 (10/100/1000)
BATTERY | 8-cell lithium-polymer (up to 7 hours)*
CAMERA | Integrated webcam
WIRELESS | 802.11a/b/g/n • Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) capable (separate adapter required)
BLUETOOTH | Yes
DIMENSIONS | 12.70 x 8.80 x 0.93
WEIGHT | 4.56 lbs
COLOR | Silver
Model number: NP700Z3C-S02US
TPM chip

 

simplest way is just hit right mouse at desktop and see if there is a nvidia panel.. because the old version is amd graphic.

when u open nvidia panel, go to help->system information, im curious about the graphic memory, since the samsung website and microsoft store website are different..

 

so when will your laptop arrive?

 

1) The NP700Z3A (Sandy Bridge) has an AMD 6490 GPU with 1GB GDDR5. Don't know which video memory the Z3C has with its Nvidia GPU, but I would assume the same or better.

2) As I posted here previously, the 1600x900 resolution works perfectly on this display. It is very crisp and sharp. Yes, contrast is its weakness, as has been discussed a thousand times. But in real life practical use, the high brightness and matte glass makes this screen readable anywhere, even out in the sun. That brightness and matte glass are big reasons for the low contrast and partially for the tight viewing angles.

I've always been a real nitpick with screens and TVs, and I almost passed on this laptop because of it. Today I am glad I didn't. It's not great, but it really works better than you would think from casual tests and posts around here. And far better than other 13-14" screens I tested, most of which are low res or superglossy or both.

That's been my experience anyway. Admittedly, if watching movies was my primary use, I would feel differently

 

so u have this laptop right now? u bought it at the microsoft store? could u check the video memory size for me? u can go to nvidia control panel-> help -> system information to check it

 

oh, i think maybe u got the z3a right?

 

Nice. I'd love to be able to use this in the backyard.

Yeah, I don't watch any movies on my laptop (I own one of those TV things ). And my laptop is for my eyes only, I don't share the screen with anyone next to me... so unless the viewing angles are absolutely terrible, I'm not gonna be that concerned. Besides, I've got an external monitor for more critical stuff.

 

Yes, I got the Z3A back in July. Got an excellent deal, even knowing that the Z3C was on its way. The differences between the NP700Z3C and the Z3A are:

1) Ivy Bridge vs Sandy Bridge CPU (2.50 vs 2.6 GHz, Ivy Bridge faster and cooler). Also Intel HD4000 vs HD3000.

2) Nvidia GT 630m vs AMD 6490m GPU (faster, better GPU switching with Optimus).

3) 6GB 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM vs 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM (RAM size varies with model)

4) 4W Stereo Speaker (2Wx2) with Subwoofer vs 1.5Wx2 and no subwoofer. Sound is already decent on Z3A (FAR better than Sony) and should be even better on Z3C.

5) Bluetooth 4.0 vs 3.0.

6) TPM on Z3C.

This is based on THESE specs on samsung.com (they also claim it has 3 USB ports which we know is wrong.) I am almost certain that the LCDs are the same, that's why I posted those comments.

I have posted my impressions a few times around here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...eres-np700z5c-ivy-bridge-103.html#post8809233

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...00z5-series-owners-lounge-62.html#post8774121

You will find more discussions about the 14" Series 7 in these threads:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...0z3-np700z4-np700z5-series-owners-lounge.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/615338-samsung-series-7-laptops-14-model-np700z3.html

And specifically about the new Z3C here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/671287-samsung-chronos-7-700z3c-review-tomorrow.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...eres-np700z5c-ivy-bridge-100.html#post8802318

 

Yeah, I saw your list of criteria earlier, and I think you'll like this laptop a lot. I suspect there there will also be some frustrations/disappointments along the way. Just give it a little time.

And write your findings back here

 

Always. No laptop is perfect (unfortunately).

 

So 1) I found out that the store unit is the older one 2) I picked one up (the newer one we're all discussing!)

So far my impression of trying it for 10 minutes is that it's pretty sleek, extremely quiet, you can barely tell it's on (haven't done any gaming or anything however). One thing immediately I'm seeing is I can't really get the Fn keys to work for brightness. I'm guessing that this is some setting I need to mess with. The speakers are not as full and rich as maybe I'd love but they I think also completely destroy the Sony Vaio I had.

UPDATE: The Fn keys for brightness and volume work fine now. It may have been a matter of needing to give the drivers some time to load. With Microsoft Signature I am not being drowned in ads and popups which is a nice change. Microsoft also put some sort of brightness setting on it.

UPDATE 2: This is so important I'll say it twice -- the speakers blow the Sony Vaios out of the water. Thank you Samsung for showing that company how it's done.

The screen viewing angle really isn't bad. It's not a Macbook Pro but I haven't really had a problem yet. Maybe if you're someone who's constantly tilting it. But I think you could even probably put a bunch of people around it and still get a decent angle. I also think the blacks are decent enough. Not totally rich but It definitely works for me. Screen is very bright.

 

Anyone know a quick and easy way to turn off that CAPS LOCK pop up that comes when you hit caps? Most ways I google seem to take a bit of work. Although maybe it'll train me to not be lazy using caps lock instead of shift...

 

Double post...

But just to add, the keys are much better well lit than the Sony. Much less bleeding below the keys. Might even be better than the macbook pro, to bring up that cliche comparison.

My mute key has a scratch that's hard to see normally but you can see it due to the lit up keyboard p), I wonder if the msoft store people when they do the Signature if they're the ones responsible for that kind of stuff... still no big deal.

 

I'm likin' what I'm hearin' so far.

 

@Terran: The Fn key module (part of Samsung Easy Settings) only starts loading 30 secs after user login. WiFi also has a delay. It's all part of Easy Settings's magic - my biggest gripe about these PCs

 

So you'd say it "sounds good"?

 

Well it boots up very quick so waiting another 30 seconds for that part I suppose is not a huge deal breaker, lol. The giant CAPS LOCK when you use the caps which I think is also easysettings is probably the most annoying thing thus far. But other than the scratch I found on a key I'm probably almost never going to use let alone look at closely I really don't have any major gripes thus far. It's a little heavier than it should be i'm 90% sure because Samsung wanted to give it a metal top, but that makes it look stylish and who knows maybe one day it'll deflect some sharp object or small missile and save your computer...

The one thing I haven't been able to try yet is gaming. Downloading left 4 dead 2 off steam to try that. I know it isn't the most demanding game. I'm going to grab crysis 2 some time over the weekend as it's on sale on amazon for 10 bucks download. Starcraft 2 was tested on notebook check's german site, and it seemed to get decent performance but not as good as the 640m le on the vaio s I returned (not surprisingly).

But with the games I'll at least be able to report fan noise and see if the auto switching on the nvidia works well. I've heard it works a lot better than ati's (the sony I had had a manual switch to switch which was one of its good features).

By the way the laptop I'm trying to upgrade from is a macbook 2008 white so a lot of this is very new to me, but I'm liking the great performance.

 

@Terran: Yes, that Speed/Stamina switch is one feature I miss from the Vaio. Also a dedicated wireless switch.

 

@Dannemand Yeah I could see myself missing that. I'm also going to see how this gt 630m performs in a couple of hours when my l4d2 download is down (and hopefully later when I grab crysis 2), but I think I'm going to miss the 640m le. That being said the laptop is a little heavier than the vaio so there's that but the screen is bigger, a higher resolution and the speakers honestly sound like samsung actually put some work into them unlike sony which apparently thought soldering a cell phone's speakers onto their unit would only cause a tiny amount of eardrum damage to people (they literally hurt my ears...)

 

@Terran: Yes, the speakers on my Vaio SA were terrible. It did weigh one pound less, yes, but had only half the battery life (without the extra sheet battery). The Vaio is still a nice machine, it wasn't an easy decision for us.

 

I picked this laptop up yesterday while on vacation (I live in Canada but had it shipped to a US location across the border) so I haven't done much with it so far. Typing this message is the most I have done with the laptop so far, but here are my initial impressions:

I am coming from a 2011 Macbook Pro, and used Macbooks almost exclusively the last three years. Before that I was a PC laptop user.

1. The screen viewing angles are quite limited. Just a slight tilt of the screen up or down, or moving to the side makes things go considerably darker. I will be using this laptop mostly for business and I often answer client emails or do creative work in public places, so having narrow viewing angles is a benefit in my situation.

2. Someone asked about dedicated RAM on the video card. My Nvidia control panel says 1024 MB GDDR5.

3. My brightness keys work fine for the screen, and the function lock key is a nice addition.

4. The keyboard is amazing. This laptop is brand new so there may be some "brand new bias" in my opinion at this point, but I prefer the keyboard to that on my Macbook. The keys have a bit more resistance and feel nice and sturdy and are a pleasure to type on.

5. The trackpad is the closest thing to my Macbook trackpad I have used on a PC. However, I have noticed reading these boards and testing laptops how personal this is. I had a UX31a before this and people were complaining about how over-responsive that trackpad was, but I found the trackpad on the UX31a very slow to respond coming from a Macbook.

I find the Samsung's trackpad to be very responsive, two finger scrolling is way smoother than on the UX31a, as is the two finger right-click. On the UX31a the scrolling always felt like it was stuttering to me, and the two finger tap required a great deal of pressure to activate.

Palm rejection on the Samsung is also way better than on the Asus. I have yet to have my cursor accidentally skip and type over something.

4. I actually prefer the resolution of this screen to the UX31a. I found the 1920x1080 (or whatever it is if I am off by a few numbers) made everything way to small for a 13 inch screen. The text on the Samsung is very readable.

5. The Microsoft Signature was nice, though they still load their own stuff like Zune on the laptop. It started up fast and is running nice and smooth so far.

6. The laptop is way quieter than the UX31a. If I was using the UX31a to type this post my fan would have gone on a few times already, the Samsung hasn't made a sound.

7. The laptop's build feels nice and sturdy and high quality.The bottom is plastic which doesn't bother me other than the fact that it annoys me that the Microsoft sight says ALL ALUMINUM in capital letters, but the base is plastic. The edge that I read some people complaining about has not been an issue so far and does not cut into my wrists while typing.

8. The capslock graphic coming up whenever I hit capslock is very annoying.

9. Windows Experience scores: 7.1, 7.4, 6.7, 6.7, 5.9

Overall I am very pleased with the laptop so far. Not sure what else to include in an initial report, but if anyone has any questions I can try to answer them.

I won't try any gaming until I get home, at which point I will download "The Secret World" on it and see how that plays.

 

I just played Left 4 Dead 2 with pretty much all settings on high, max resolution. Very solid framerate, no drops. I know that's not the most demanding game in the world but it's a popular one and one that my 2008 macbook of course had no chance in the world of playing.

I'll try starcraft 2 at some point this weekend, hopefully crysis 2 as well. In the meantime I might see what demos steam has to download to try. Like batman or something.

 

UPDATE: I tried the Crysis 1 demo. It runs on high but if you turn the resolution up all the way the framerate does get a little choppier than you'd want. So I hit around 1300x768 I think and it was pretty good (probably 30fpsish). Not gaming workhorse, but not bad at all either. Hopefully gives me some hope on Crysis 2.

It runs much better than crysis 1 on my ps3 that's for sure.

It does get a bit warm towards the front when gaming hardcore. But I don't really notice it (it's a little warm towards the front of the keyboard, more hot in the section at the hinge) if I'm gaming because it's not on my lap, anyway. And it cools down very fast once you stop gaming and you really can't hear the fan at all in normal usage.

 

Hi all,

I purchased my NP700Z3C from the UK (since that's where I live ), so the specs might be a little different to what you guys have over the pond- 1TB+8GB cache and 8GB RAM for example. I think everything else is pretty much the same.

One question though- Has anyone else tried replacing the HDD inside it with an SSD?

If so, you might have noticed the screws on the bottom of the laptop are an absolute pain in the backside to work with?

There are tutorials for the bigger versions of the laptop ( See Here and here) but I'm convinced that the screws used are different to what we have on the 700Z3C.

I've tried using various crosshead phillips screwdrivers (#0, #00, #000) but none seem to fit properly and anything that was close to fitting would just strip the screws if pushed any harder!

Has anybody else managed to identify these screws, anywhere spares could be sourced from, or even any screwdriver that will fit perfectly?

Thanks in advance!

 

Here are some pics I took of the laptop

ImageShack Album - 9 images

 

@SJMiller: Excellent review, thank you for posting that.

@Terran: A notebook cooler might give you a few more fps. Keeping it cooler may allow both the CPU and the GPU to run faster (or at least not throttle).

We got a Cooler Master NotePal X-Lite ($5 on Buy.com after MIR, free shipping, no tax). It fits perfectly.

 

Just a quick update on the wifi. I am still in the hotel with not great internet, but I am managing to surf the net easily at the moment, while my wife on iPad cannot even get the signal.

I know, not the greatest or most relevant test, but I know past Samsung models have had Wifi issues.

 

Again, thanks for posting. I actually think this IS a relevant test: The Wifi issue of previous models (certainly the two Z3A units I tested, one Broadcom, one Intel 6230) was one of range: Difficulty obtaining and keeping a quality connection at distance from routers or through walls. Exactly what you'd find in hotels and coffee shops.

The (partial) solution that all seemed to agree on was (is) to increase WiFi power to Max in the windows power profile, for both battery and plugged-in.

I'd be interested in what WiFi settings your Z3C has (power profile as well as adapter settings); and if the good results were on battery as well plugged-in.

Thanks again

 

Great news about the wifi. That's always a concern with any new laptop.

 

I just want to add that the wifi seems to be Intel. I am not in a situation where the router is very far away (its int he living room outside my room) but its at 4/5 bars I believe -- so I don't know the range might still be weaker than you might expect. But I haven't had any connectivity problems. Still not in the best position to judge that bit, but I have a feeling samsung did work to deep six this problem.

Also I really don't find any problems with viewing angles or black/grays. I think all the contrast issues people ight complain about are just the things you expect with a matte screen. I kinda like the look of glossy screens but if you'er someone who's around a lot of sunlight I guess you'd really appreciate the matte. Videos look very good.

 

Since the Microsoft Store is close to my house I went ahead and swapped mine out for one without a scratch. Noticed when I booted it up that it told me windows was not shut down properly -- must've been a sloppy Microsoft dude doing the Signature tune up, but no big deal. This unit seems to operate the same, so I guess I'm a real reviewer now, having reviewed two units to assure quality!

 

For those of you that already own this: are you able to click in the *middle* of the trackpad and have it register as a click?

I still haven't seen one of these units in person, but some other Samsung laptops I've played with didn't work if the trackpad was clicked in the middle -- it would only work if clicked along the bottom edge of the trackpad.

 

Do you mean as in the middle of the bottom of the trackpad and it register as a middle mouse click? If so, then no I'm afraid not. The trackpad has two really distinct-feeling buttons in the bottom left and right- there's no "middle ground" like in other laptops.

However, the gesture settings for the trackpad in control panel do allow you to set a double-fingered tap as being a middle click (e.g. to open a new tab in your internet browser) and there are loads of other options too, so maybe this is a good compromise.

EDIT: If you mean as in a single tap to be treated as a left-click like in most laptops then yes, of course!

 

No, no... What I mean is, if you click in the middle (dead-center) of the trackpad, will it register as a Left-click? Or do you have to click on the bottom-left area of the trackpad?

Know what I mean?

 

While in the hotel I was using the battery. I just checked the power settings and the wifi adapter is set to "Medium Power Settings" while unplugged.

I am back home now and upstairs one floor from my wireless router, downloading Secret World, and my current download speed is fluctuating between about 500-1000 KB/s. I am still on battery.

 

Soundsgood: I am replying to your post after clicking the "Reply" button with my finger directly in the middle of the touchpad (dead center of the square as you asked). I also tested two-finger right clicking directly in the middle of the touchpad (I actually tested it all over) and no problems registering the two-finger tap. And unlike the UX31a I had it is actually a nice light tap that is working, not a hard press.

 

Yeah it works just fine. You can click it anywhere to register as a left click.

 

Awesome. Thanks guys, that's good news.

 

UPDATE: I played Starcraft 2's starter edition with everything on high, worked pretty well. I'm downloading crysis 2 to give that a shot.

One minor annoyance is the Fn keys and the fact that they sometimes lag and take time to work especially when you boot the computer up. But this is apparently a long-time feature of Samsung's software.