Samsung NP700Z7C-S01US Pro Reviews

Despite the fact that the Samsung Series 7 didn’t quite handle our stress testing as well as I would have liked, the limited throttling isn’t a complete deal breaker. In most games, the CPU will actually run at its rated 2.3GHz (or higher) speed without difficulty, and while temperatures are still higher than we’d like at least games run quite well without requiring the use of a tool like ThrottleStop. Incidentally, I did do some testing with ThrottleStop and was unable to improve on the initial results, which is why I didn’t have a lengthy section discussing performance while using the utility. The updated BIOS manages to hit a pretty consistent 2.3GHz on the CPU while keeping the GPU clocks at 725MHz, and the result is performance slightly better in some cases than what we’ve shown in our charts. It’s still possible that Samsung could further improve performance in worst-case scenarios with another BIOS update, but short of pathological workloads most people should be fine with the latest BIOS revision (though tweaking the fan speeds to run at a higher RPM might still be useful if it can be done).

The Samsung 17-inch Series 7 Chronos (NP700Z7C-S01US) desktop replacement laptop has a lot going for it and a decent amount of power. But bloatware and a few other missteps keep it from gaining our highest honors.

In a world of 17.3-inch bruisers and juggernauts, the Samsung Series 7 Chronos stands out. It's not exactly a 17.3-inch-screened ultrabook, but it's as reasonably close to one as we're likely to see. It offers an impressive blend of desktop-replacement performance in a remarkably slim and stylish chassis. Its Core i7 processor provides all the horsepower you'll need, whether you're encoding audio and video files, running office productivity tasks, or just kicking back to watch a movie on the spacious screen.We wish Samsung offered a Blu-ray drive option for this model—the 1080p HD display is practically begging for one. And a user-replaceable battery would be nice, although Samsung addresses that concern with a battery that, it claims, retains 80 percent of its capacity for up to 1,500 charges. Neither of these two complaints, however, prevents the Series 7 from becoming our latest Editors' Choice among giant-screen laptops.