Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro (XE700T1C-H02PH) Review

Samsung’s revolutionary ATIV Smart Pro features complete Windows 8 that let you enjoy the same high productivity and familiar environment as a normal PC. This means you can install and run all Windows programs found in a normal PC. As promised, it's the best of both worlds. Since we already done with the unboxing and first impression of the device, this review might help you decide even further, whether this tablet is the one you are looking for or not.

SAMSUNG ATIV Smart PC Pro: Simple, Beautiful and Powerful!

Design and Feel
The Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro case is made of a combination of magnesium alloy and plastic, the tablet feels solid and sturdy, but it doesn't have the premium feel like some competitors. On the front there's the scratch-resistant Gorilla glass, Windows home button, 2-megapixel front-facing camera and the front-facing speakers found on the left and right of the display. While the back features a brushed metal finish and closely resembles the bottom of a laptop. Also, on the back you will find the four grills for ventilation, a 5-megapixel camera and a NFC antenna.

All the buttons and ports are spread out around the edges of the device. The bottom is home to the DC power jack, the docking connector (covered with dummy caps) and the docking port. On the left side of the tablet, there's a micro-HDMI port (full-sized HDMI is not included in the package) and the volume rocker. There's no port on the right side except for the S-pen slot.

Because the ATIV Pro is also a tablet, most of the ports and buttons can be found on the top of the display. On the top left, the tablet features an audio combo jack, power/lock button, orientation lock button, dual-array digital mic and a fast USB 3.0 port.

While on the top right is the air vent, microSD card slot (up to 64GB) and SIM card slot. Yes, you can pop in a SIM card with a data plan/prepaid and stay connected while on the go! While you can always tether using your smartphone or insert a USB dongle to get online, it’s always great to have mobile connectivity built into a device.

Keyboard
The Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro keyboard dock features a full sized chiclet keyboard (not backlit) and touchpad, so there’s no compromise on performance or productivity especially when creating text-heavy documents. As well as the normal “function” features, all the important keys have nice sizes and there’s no out of place key anywhere.

The keyboard also has two extra USB 2.0 port (one on each side) so you can connect extra peripherals and a DC power jack (you can double battery/dual charge via keyboard/via tablet). The dock is solidly constructed and made of what feels like a hollow matte plastic, since most of the device’s components was built into its display.

The transition from notebook computer to tablet and vice versa is a seamless one. The keyboard locks into place easily and snaps off with the press of a button. Btw, don't forget to remove the dummy caps at the bottom of the tablet before connecting it to the keyboard dock.

Display
The Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro comes with a SuperBright Plus 11.6-inch Full HD (1920x1280) LCD display (that’s twice the resolution than other tab pc’s out there) and supports 10-finger multi-touch. The color of the 400nits display of the ATIV Pro is bright, sharp and has a wide range of viewing angles, thanks to Samsung's very PLS panel technology - an improvement over the IPS technology which allows for extensive viewing angles in all directions. However, expect reflections (holds true in all gadgets of this type) from it, even at the maximum brightness of the display.

Another amazing feature of the ATIV Smart PC Pro display that makes itself stand out among other Windows 8 tablets in the market is the Corning Gorilla Glass panel, a thin-sheet glass which is specifically designed to function as a cover glass for portable display devices. So, no need for a screen protector for this device. Also, for this review we did a scratch test using both a cutter, a scissors and a set of keys. The device came out unscathed.

Audio
The front-facing speakers are covered by a metal grill and can be found on the left and right of the display. The maximum volume is very high and are also adequate for casual personal use.

Performance
The ATIV Smart PC Pro is equipped with a Core i5-3317U, a low-power dual-core processor clocking at 1.7GHz but goes up to 2.6GHz with Intel’s TurboBoost. It also uses 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. Below is the Windows Experience Index for it:

The CPU-integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 handles the graphics duties and with the lack of a dedicated GPU, the ATIV Smart PC Pro is not made for heavy gaming, or gaming with high settings. It can handle light Photoshop work and some casual games or heavy multitasking though. Boot time is an impressive 10 seconds!

Battery Life
The ATIV Smart PC Pro uses a lithium-polymer 6,540mAh battery which can give you far more charge cycles than the typical Li-Ion ones. Battery life on the Ativ Smart PC Pro is a decent 4-hours, although it is rated to last up to 8 hours with minimal use. During our tests, we used it as our main work computer running Microsoft Word, Google Chrome (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) all at the same time. The tablet seems to get too warm on the air vents and a just a little bit warm on the back so heat is definitely not an issue here. Also, there’s no system noise on this device.

Camera
The built-in 5-megapixel (No LED flash) rear camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera gives you multiple options for input. The front camera was good enough for video calls, so the flaws are acceptable. The rear camera, on the other hand took a respectable shots in daylight, but don’t expect anything spectacular here, since the device is nowhere near a DSLR or even smartphone. Here are some of the unedited/uncompressed photos we took using the Ativ Smart PC Pro below.

S-PEN and its ease of use
Fortunately there's one more input option and it's one of the plus points of the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro is the accompanying S-Pen (The S-Pen is also bundled with Samsung’s Note line of phablets/tablets), a Wacom-certified stylus made specifically for the device. The S-Pen& has an expected 1024 pressure levels of sensitivity for accurate note taking, drawing or just doodling. It doesn’t require battery power as it relies on electro-magnetic resonance technology from the screen that powers the pen upon contact, and as well as detect the movement of the stylus.

The S-Pen also works smooth and responsive with the native Windows Journal app. Samsung also ported the Android version of its proprietary note-taking and drawing app called S-Note. S Note allows the user to add images, voice recordings and text to virtual paper either with the keypad or the S-Pen, but it uses more resources than it really should. There are quite a few drawing apps to take advantage of the S-Pen, like Autodesk Sketchbook Express and Fresh Paint, available in Microsoft’s Windows App Store you can download.

Verdict
Samsung has come up with a more than what you expect on a premium 11-inch Windows 8 tablet with the ATIV Smart PC Pro. Overall, it’s both a good tablet and a great computer, but if you’re looking for a tablet for casual computing, it is the standout winner among other tab pc’s out there with its sleek and thin design, solid construction, high-resolution display with its extreme viewing angles, clever features, speedy start and wake-up times (Thanks blazingly fast SSD), flexibility and ease of use and a comfortable keyboard dock out of this machine.

So, is this the tablet you are looking for? The answer is “Yes,” even if the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro retails for Php59,900 (which is actually one the most expensive tablets in the market), you’ll never get disappointed once you get a hold of it!

Update: On April 25, 2013 Samsung unified its line of Windows 8 devices under the ATIV Name and on April 29th, Ultrabooks, tablets and All In One (AIO) PCs will be split up into 3 categories - Book, Tab and One respectively. The Ativ Smart PC Pro was renamed the Ativ Tab 7. However, the name change won't be reflected until the Philippine product relaunch scheduled this July.

Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro (XE700T1C-H02PH) Specifications
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64 Bit
Processor: Intel Core i5 Processor 3317U (1.70 GHz up to 2.60GHz, 3 MB L3 Cache)
Chipset: Intel HM76
Graphic: 350MHz Intel HD Graphics 4000
Display: 11.6-inch Full HD (1920x1080) PLS Touch-screen Display
Memory: 4GB DDR3 System Memory at 1600MHz
Hard Drive: 128GB Solid-state Drive, expandable with microSD card slot
Multimedia: Stereo Speakers (1W x 2) with SoundAlive and Internal Dual Array Digital Mic
Camera: 2-megapixel Webcam (front), 5-megapixel Webcam (rear)
Network: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235, 2x2 802.11 abg/n (up to 300Mbps), Widi Support, Bluetooth v4.0, HSPA+
Ports: 1 x Micro HDMI, 1 x USB3.0, 1 x MicroSD Multi-media Card Reader, 1 x Headphone out/Mic-in Combo, 1 x Dock Port, 1 x DC-in
Battery: Lithium-Polymer 6,540mAh, 4 Cell (49Wh)
Dimension: 304 x 189.4 x 11.9mm
Bundle: Keyboard Dock / S Pen
Software: S Note, S Player, S Gallery, S Camera, Evernote, Microsoft Office Trial, Settings, SW Update, Recovery, Norton Internet Security and Norton Online Backup
Sensors: Ambient Light, Accelerometer, Compass, Gyro and GPS
Price: Php59,900 (Official SRP)

Read more: Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro (XE700T1C-H02PH) Unboxing and First Impression

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post and Samsung provided an unit for review.