Samsung includes some pre-installed software, including a few useful apps. S-Note is a nice note-taking app and a good demo platform for the S-Pen. SW Update is a one-stop driver-updating tool. S Player handles photos, music, and videos, S Camera is a basic camera app, and there's also S Gallery (a photo-album app) and AllShare connectivity for media sharing between Samsung phones/tablets/TVs.
| Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T | Average for category [ultraportable] | |
|---|---|---|
| Video | Micro HDMI | HDMI or DisplayPort |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jack | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks |
| Data | 1 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0 (in keyboard), Micro SD | 2 USB 3.0, SD card reader |
| Networking | 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Ethernet (via dongle), 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Optical drive | None | None |
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Ports and features
Matched up against the Microsoft Surface Pro, the ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T has very similar features, from Bluetooth 4.0 to a single USB 3.0 port in the tablet itself to a Micro SD card slot. The keyboard base adds a few USB 2.0 ports. This tablet/laptop still lacks dedicated Ethernet or an SD card slot, even though there was clearly room for both in the keyboard base.
Performance
The internal specs of the Smart Pro PC 700T I reviewed are exactly the same as the Surface Pro: a 1.7 GHz Core i5-3317U, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD.
The specs are familiar, and match the basic components of your average ultrabook, so it isn't surprising that it performed equivalently in our benchmarking tests. Test for test, the ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T was a couple of seconds slower on average than the Microsoft Surface Pro, but not enough that anyone would notice. Boot-up time is especially fast, at less than 10 seconds. Look at the charts and you can see that the best part of the Smart PC Pro is its speed; it's about as fast as the Lenovo Yoga 13. It's a real laptop under the hood, without a doubt.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
The included Intel HD 4000 graphics are good enough to handle some general games, but I wouldn't recommend diving deep into that; the rear vents and fans kicked in even under basic Web browsing use.
(In seconds, shorter bars indicate better performance)
(In seconds, shorter bars indicate better performance)
(In seconds, shorter bars indicate better performance)
(In minutes, longer bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Battery life
The Smart PC Pro 700T's battery lasted 5 hours and 19 minutes. Roughly 50 minutes more than the Surface Pro is nothing to sneeze at, especially when both aren't terribly stellar. Getting over the 5-hour hump matters to a day's work. It's also notable because both the Surface Pro and Smart PC Pro weigh about the same, and Samsung's tablet has a larger screen size. Again, that keyboard base doesn't add any extra battery oomph.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Worth the upsell?
When you do the hard math, the cost of full Core i5 ultrabook-like Windows 8 laptop-tablet hybrids don't make a whole lot of sense. The $1,100 cost of the ATIV Smart PC Pro isn't outrageous, but you can get a budget touch ultrabook now for as low as $700. Samsung makes some good ones, too. You're paying $400 more for that added detachable screen functionality. Would you be better off simply buying a small, cheap tablet plus a laptop?
The clever magic trick that the Surface Pro performs with that Type Cover is, in a sense, that it never stops being a tablet. The cover folds up and becomes part of the tablet experience, and adds to the overall portability. By comparison, the Smart PC Pro 700T feels and looks like...well, like a Chromebook. Its closest look-and-feel cousin is probably the Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook I reviewed last year. It's a far different beast under the hood, of course, but this four-pound machine isn't all that thin or different in appearance -- or size -- from a 12-inch laptop. The keyboard, while comfortable, doesn't add a lot to the equation other than a couple of USB ports. Yes, the Smart PC Pro feels like a laptop, but it doesn't transcend being a laptop most of the time.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
I didn't feel all that compelled to detach the Smart PC Pro all that much. Maybe that's because it works well enough in laptop mode. Maybe I simply feel like an 11.6-inch tablet is just a bit too large to be practical. That 1.98-pound tablet feels best when docked in the keyboard base...in which case, why not skip getting a tablet hybrid altogether?
If the Smart PC Pro 700T faces that level of identity crisis in my eyes, odds are you'll find even less use for it yourself. It can't bend into clever shapes like the Lenovo Yoga. It can't even bend back all that far compared to a regular laptop.
At $800, I'd have warm feelings towards the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T. At $1,199, it's a little less easy to embrace.
Find out more about how we test laptops.
System configurations
Samsung ATIV
Windows 8 Pro (64-bit); 1.7GHz IntelCore i5 3317U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz; 32MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 128GB LITEON IT SSD
Microsoft Surface Pro
Windows 8 Pro (64-bit); 1.7GHz IntelCore i5 3317U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz; 32MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 128GB Micron SSD
Acer Iconia W510P-1406
Windows 8 Pro (32-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760; 2GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz; 747MB (Total) Intel GMA; 64GB SEM64G SSD
Dell XPS 12
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; 32MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 256GB LITEONIT SSD
Acer Aspire S7-391-9886
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; 128MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 256GB Intel SSD
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5 3317U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 128GB Samsung SSD
HP Envy x2
Windows 8 (32-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 1066MHz; 747MB (Total) Intel GMA; 64GB SSD
