73
Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Speed and features for being an in between device it has surprised me how fast and responsive it actually is
- Design and form factor this device reminds me of the Galaxy tab in some ways with its plastic parts but over it looks good an feel solid
- Battery life No comments
- Display No comments
- Durability on par with what i have com to expect from Samsung. solid build mostly plastic parts.
- Expandability it has a USB port and Micro SD card so you can add up to 64 GB there and it looks just like a 2nd HD.
- Noise nice an quiet as it has no fans.
- Portability (size / weight) not much different than transformer pad with its keyboard attachment and with out the keyboard not bad feel lighter than an iPad 4
Detailed review
1st this is not a desktop or even a laptop replacement. I would say it’s better than the old netbooks and better than a standard Android or iOS Tablets when trying to be productive in the work place. Now what I mean by this is that you can run the full office suite on this machine and since this is not an RT machine you are running the full version of Windows 8 but the 32 bit version not the 64.
I have to say that I was surprised how responsive it is. Its running the new Atom processor from Intel and it’s not like the old atom in netbooks this one feels rather solid. It’s a dual core processor running 1.8 GHZ and the machine also has 2 GB of RAM.
The tablet itself have a micro SD card slot, a USB 2 port, micro HDMI, NFC, a rear facing 8 MP HD camera and a front facing 2 MP HD camera. As it only comes with 64GB of onboard storage you are going to want to a micro SD card. The Camera is pretty good. It’s good for taking pictures of white boards. The USB port though is on the top of the tablet which I find is an odd place for it also especially if you are using any accessories that cables. I bought the model that came with the keyboard and it has 2 USB ports but no additional battery power but it does have a pace to plug in the power which I found odd since there is no battery but also nice as it let me leave the keyboard plugged in and just pull the tablet when I wanted to use as a tablet and not a netbook.
This model also has the Wacom digitizer that Samsung’s market as the S Pen. I have to admit that I found using the desktop a lot easier when I used the S Pen. A lot of the applications like office have small touch target that I find hard to hit when just using your fingers. The S Pen helps a lot in hitting those targets. When in Metro your fingers work fine as these icons are larger and geared more toward using touch then the desktop is.
Performance wise as I mentioned I was surprised at how responsive the device it. It’s not something you are going to be doing some serious multitasking but having Outlook, Lync, and excel running I didn’t notice any major lags but you are using them more as individual application I think then true multi-tasking. What I mean is that you are going to be working in one application at a time for the most part. You can have 2 open and taking up the screen at the same time but even then it doesn’t feel like true multi-tasking when on a normal PC.
Battery like has been good but not great. When just running it as a tablet I’m getting about 6 hours of battery and this is running the basic office suite in the back ground and using the docking station about 3/4ths the time. Samsung claims you get up to 9 hours.
The ATIV smart PC is a good tablet and when docked a good netbook alternative but it is not a PC replacement. It just doesn’t have the horse power to do that. As a secondary device especially in the office it’s a great option especially if you are in a Microsoft rich environment. You can use it as a tablet or as a netbook when docked, the S Pen comes in very handy and works well (after the last software update) and touch screen is responsive. As this is a Win 8 tablet you also have access to the Microsoft App Store or you can load your own software either by download or you can even use a USB DVD drive to install from there. I would recommend that you buy the version that comes with the keyboard as it save you about $100 as it sells for about $150 as an accessory and the tablet by itself is about $700.00 but when bundled its only about $750.
Is this something I would recommend to family and friends? That’s turning out to be a tougher question to answer then then you would image. I like the ATIV; I think it’s a good tablet/netbook. But at $700 that’s a lot of money especially since you can buy other tablets for less. You can also buy a full low end laptop for less. But for some one that wants a true windows tablet that runs the full office suite it is a good device and something I would recommend but for most people I would point them to either a dedicated tablet or a dedicated laptop instead. So I guess my answer would be “no” it’s not something I would recommend to family and friends.
I have to say that I was surprised how responsive it is. Its running the new Atom processor from Intel and it’s not like the old atom in netbooks this one feels rather solid. It’s a dual core processor running 1.8 GHZ and the machine also has 2 GB of RAM.
The tablet itself have a micro SD card slot, a USB 2 port, micro HDMI, NFC, a rear facing 8 MP HD camera and a front facing 2 MP HD camera. As it only comes with 64GB of onboard storage you are going to want to a micro SD card. The Camera is pretty good. It’s good for taking pictures of white boards. The USB port though is on the top of the tablet which I find is an odd place for it also especially if you are using any accessories that cables. I bought the model that came with the keyboard and it has 2 USB ports but no additional battery power but it does have a pace to plug in the power which I found odd since there is no battery but also nice as it let me leave the keyboard plugged in and just pull the tablet when I wanted to use as a tablet and not a netbook.
This model also has the Wacom digitizer that Samsung’s market as the S Pen. I have to admit that I found using the desktop a lot easier when I used the S Pen. A lot of the applications like office have small touch target that I find hard to hit when just using your fingers. The S Pen helps a lot in hitting those targets. When in Metro your fingers work fine as these icons are larger and geared more toward using touch then the desktop is.
Performance wise as I mentioned I was surprised at how responsive the device it. It’s not something you are going to be doing some serious multitasking but having Outlook, Lync, and excel running I didn’t notice any major lags but you are using them more as individual application I think then true multi-tasking. What I mean is that you are going to be working in one application at a time for the most part. You can have 2 open and taking up the screen at the same time but even then it doesn’t feel like true multi-tasking when on a normal PC.
Battery like has been good but not great. When just running it as a tablet I’m getting about 6 hours of battery and this is running the basic office suite in the back ground and using the docking station about 3/4ths the time. Samsung claims you get up to 9 hours.
The ATIV smart PC is a good tablet and when docked a good netbook alternative but it is not a PC replacement. It just doesn’t have the horse power to do that. As a secondary device especially in the office it’s a great option especially if you are in a Microsoft rich environment. You can use it as a tablet or as a netbook when docked, the S Pen comes in very handy and works well (after the last software update) and touch screen is responsive. As this is a Win 8 tablet you also have access to the Microsoft App Store or you can load your own software either by download or you can even use a USB DVD drive to install from there. I would recommend that you buy the version that comes with the keyboard as it save you about $100 as it sells for about $150 as an accessory and the tablet by itself is about $700.00 but when bundled its only about $750.
Is this something I would recommend to family and friends? That’s turning out to be a tougher question to answer then then you would image. I like the ATIV; I think it’s a good tablet/netbook. But at $700 that’s a lot of money especially since you can buy other tablets for less. You can also buy a full low end laptop for less. But for some one that wants a true windows tablet that runs the full office suite it is a good device and something I would recommend but for most people I would point them to either a dedicated tablet or a dedicated laptop instead. So I guess my answer would be “no” it’s not something I would recommend to family and friends.
good review!
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