Samsung Series 7 Gamer Questions - UI, bloatware, etc

Hi Everybody,

I'm looking into a new laptop for gaming and to act as a (semi) portable virtualization lab. The S7 Gamer is a contender.

I have a few questions for those who own one if you don't mind.

- Bloatware - how bad is it? I hate unnecesarry junk running on my machine and I uninstall as much as possible. Some vendor utilities I don't mind if they're useful. From what I can gather it's probably not a good idea to uninstall any Samsung stuff on this machine. Is that accurate?

- The mode knob - While I'm capable of managing my own power profiles I get why they did this. And I'm thinking it might be useful (going to meetings for example). But... how useful/annoying is it really? And can the settings be tweaked at all? I read that you can modify the wallpaper & such for gamer mode, but can you tweak any other settings?

- Sound color animations & lighting - I like keyboard backlighting. I'm not sure I'm going to like the flashing/animated sound lighting I've read about. Can it be disabled? Is it intrusive?

- Balanced mode - I'm guessing day to day work would be done in this mode. Any drawbacks? I'll probably have to do screen captures & video recording. Not sure I'd want "gamer mode" on for that.

I like the performance features of the laptop from everything I've read. I do have some hesitation about the UI (obviously). Just looking to get some real user features before buying.

Thanks!

 

Quick follow up with another question -

I rarely use the touchpads on my computers as I almost always have an external mouse hooked up. Is there an easy way to disable the touchpad?

Thanks

 

Bloatware is not much of an issue. I removed a bit of it rather easily. I left the pieces I thought were useful. (Easy software manager, mode switch, and a few others.

I Removed the custom wallpaper and animation, my own wallpaper is there. It's easy to do with the software. I read if you don't have the mode software installed it still adheres to the clocks etc.. so it's hardwired I guess. Someone mentioned it in the forums here I think.

As the keyboard backlighting has two modes and it can be turned on and off. The bar under the trackpad turns on and off based on if you have it enabled or not. The pulsing-to-audio-output red rings annoyed me at first. I don't notice them anymore. Red is the easiest color on the eyes after all. Still, I wish I could turn it off on principle. Doesn't appear you can.

Have no idea here, I leave it in game mode 100% of the time.

I love it. The display is to die for, highlight of the package. I also like the keyboard, thought I have a MacBook Pro 13" that I use all day for work and I like that keyboard too. Shrug.

It's a solid overall package with a couple small annoyances that are easy for me to overlook. For the price I paid (1760) couldn't go wrong if you ask me. The only thing I might do sometime is install a 512GB SSD and then use one of the existing 750GB to keep a backup of it. Maybe stick the other 750GB in my PS3.

Alienware makes a compelling case with the 7970M and 680M available, but they are definitely more expensive comparatively specced otherwise (750GB x 2, 8GB Express Cache, 16GB 1600, Blu-Ray). I tend to like the more understated look of the Sammy as well. Man.. I have alot of samsung products.. hah They are all great.. My 4yr old 1080p 40" TV is still going strong. To my chagrin.. hard to talk the wife into a bigger one when it still works and picture is still fantastic.. , nexus s and GSM galaxy nexus.. now this laptop. All good quality so far.

 

thanks for the great feedback hfm! appreciate it.

I've read through the whole thread on the laptop so I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. I like it, looks pretty much perfect for my purposes.

Now to figure out support options. My company gives us a bring your own computer allowance. Not enough to cover this, but every bit helps. The catch is we have to get 3yr support. I'm not sure if Amazon's square trade meets the criteria. Looks like square trade only covers parts up to the original value. After that you're on your own.

Looking at CDW they have it but their specs indicate 2 1TB hard drives. Assuming those are 5400 that's a dealbreaker. Have to have 7200 (with the intent to move to SSD later).

 

im considering this laptop too. I tried to make one with the same specs and with all features, 3d and blue ray included the alienware m17x cost approximately 600 dollars more.
tbh the only gain with alienware i find is that it looks more stealable and it has a rainbow keyboard. get the samsung ^_^

 

they are 7200 rpm