Samsung Reveals Additional Details on Series 5 and 7 Slates and Ultrabooks
by Jarred Walton on August 31, 2012 2:05 PM ESTAlong with their ATIV, Smartphone, and Series 9 coverage and their Galaxy Note II, Samsung has released additional details for several upcoming Windows 8 Ultrabooks and Slates. The Series 5 and Series 7 slates (ATIV PCs) are obviously the biggest attention grabbers, as they’re using Intel CPUs to power Windows 8 tablets. There’s some conflicting information on branding, with the slates alternately being called ATIV, but we have the full specs and MSRP now so we thought we’d revisit the topic. Let’s start with the specs table.
| Product | Samsung Series 7 Slate (XE700T1C-A01US) | Samsung Series 5 Slate (XE500T1C-A01US) | Series 5 Ultra (NP540U3C-A01UB) | Series 5 Ultra (NP540U3C-A02UB) |
| Size | 11.6” | 11.6” | 13.3” | 13.3” |
| Resolution | 1920x1080 | 1366x768 | 1366x768 | 1366x768 |
| Touch Screen |
Capacitive (10-point multitouch) |
Capacitive (10-point multitouch) |
Capacitive (10-point multitouch) |
Capacitive (10-point multitouch) |
| Dimensions |
11.6"x7.2"x0.5" 295x183x12.7mm |
11.6"x7.2"x0.38" 295x183x9.65mm |
12.4"x8.6"x0.66"-0.78" 315x218x16.8-19.8mm |
12.4"x8.6"x0.66"-0.78" 315x218x16.8-19.8mm |
| Weight | 1.89 lbs. | 1.65 lbs. | 3.83 lbs. | 3.83 lbs. |
| OS | Windows 8 | Windows 8 | Windows 8 | Windows 8 |
| Processor | Core i5-3317U | Atom Z2760 | Core i5-3317U | Core i3-3217U |
| RAM | 4GB | 2GB | 4GB | 4GB |
| Storage | 128GB | 64GB |
500GB w/ 24GB ExpressCache |
500GB w/ 24GB ExpressCache |
| Networking |
Gigabit LAN (via adapter) 802.11abgn Bluetooth 4.0 |
Gigabit LAN (via adapter) 802.11abgn Bluetooth 4.0 |
Gigabit LAN 802.11abgn Bluetooth 4.0 |
Gigabit LAN 802.11abgn Bluetooth 4.0 |
| MSRP | $1199 |
$749 w/ keyboard $649 w/o keyboard |
$849 | $799 |
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The Series 5 ATIV PC uses an Atom Z2760 processor/SoC codenamed Clover Trail, which we’ve discussed previously. The short summary is that it’s Cedar Trail but for tablets rather than netbooks/nettops. It appears to be clocked at 1.8GHz with a higher clocked PowerVR SGX 544MP2 GPU. The interesting aspect of such a tablet is that, unlike ARM products running Windows RT, Atom chips are able to run the full backlog of existing x86 software along with all the Metro/Modern/Windows 8 applications. Pricing is obviously quite a bit higher than what you’ll currently pay for an Android tablet (though it’s slightly less than the new 64GB iPad), but the software side of the equation might be enough to get some people to pony up and you can also buy the optional keyboard dock for additional flexibility—note that the keyboard does not include any extra battery capacity.
The Series 7 ATIV PC is priced significantly higher, but it’s essentially a full-blown Ultrabook with the ability to undock the display and use it as a tablet. It comes with a 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, and a 1080p display, putting it in the same performance category as higher end Ultrabooks. It also comes standard with the keyboard dock, though again the keyboard doesn’t add any additional battery life. We’re obviously going to see a lot more interesting devices like this in the near term, and how successful they end up being will determine whether we see more companies go the hybrid route. It’s certainly an innovative idea, but selling a $1200 hybrid device compared to the $200 to $600 typical tablets might be asking too much—you could buy a $400 tablet and an $800 laptop and end up with two devices that might work better individually instead of a single do-everything device, though there’s certainly a convenience factor in being able to use a single device for both functions.
Moving on from their ATIV/Slate offerings, Samsung also has a couple new Series 5 Ultrabooks coming out with multitouch screens. The specs are essentially identical with the exception of the CPU; the $799 model will use an i3-3217U (1.8GHz, no Turbo) while the $849 model goes with an i5-3317U (1.7GHz with Turbo up to 2.6GHz). The storage solutions use ExpressCache, similar to the Series 7 Chronos laptop we reviewed, and we haven’t found it to be particularly great in our previous experience; we’d much rather ditch the caching and just get a 128GB SSD as the baseline instead, but obviously there’s a cost factor that Samsung needs to deal with. We don’t have any details on the type of screens used other than the resolution and multitouch capabilities, but given they’re Series 5 we wouldn’t expect high-end LCD panels—those are usually reserved for Series 7 and 9 products. Certainly Microsoft is putting a lot of emphasis on touchscreen interfaces with Windows 8, and for tablets, slates, and smartphones that’s the wave of the future. How that will translate over to laptops and desktop is a different question, but we should have plenty of opportunities to try it out in the near future.
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Spivonious - Tuesday, September 4, 2012 - link
Have you seen the new Dell AIO that pivots down almost flat, like a drafting table? I think touch would definitely make sense on that.Penti - Friday, August 31, 2012 - link
Why would you use touch on a desktop? It's not designed for that or even for tablets, we won't be switching devices all the sudden and not use notebooks and desktops/workstations and stop do any work, obviously the software engineers sits there writing the software and testing it on normal laptops and standard notebooks is where your gonna run Windows, without touch. Metro/Tiles is just a sandboxed environment for Windows Store-apps. It's still Win32 underneath it's just a schizophrenic abstraction. That desktop apps can't be immersive and Metro apps can't run in desktop mode is just ludicrous and stupid. Choosing two methodologists and metaphor/styles running side by side doesn't make it meant for low-end tablets. It's still the same OS as before with the same target market and hardware. It's not a change to drop traditional clients or even change them. The desktop continues to be developed and is the primary environment. Unless you mean a Wacom/N-trig pennable screen I can't see the point for a touch-enabled 24-27" display. You certainly won't be in a position to touch them, neither would you really need to look at where your hands are when using a navigation device so why start.It's not like you watch the stick shift when you change gears and a multitouch and accurate touchpad is so much better then touching the screen on a desktop/notebook, you don't loose gestures only making them more powerful and useful to skip touch as a navigation tool. Touch screen is extremely useful when it's your only input method but that is on sub 800 gram tablets and devices. You simply don't navigate that way on clients/desktops, and as far as painting and writing goes, on desktops you will probably be better of with a wacom tablet.
At least I don't crave for a future where you got to hug your 20-30" display sitting inches from it at most and having touch (finger) as your only and primary means of input. It's just so much more impractical to a touchpad or touch mouse or even old fashion mouse or pointing stick. Lifting your hand off the keyboard even is a real killer in real life use. Hurt productivity and is a mental pain if your working in a business environment.
damianrobertjones - Sunday, September 2, 2012 - link
You can already buy themlord69 - Friday, August 31, 2012 - link
Does anybody know anything about Clover Trail's HD decoding capabilities?I wonder if it could decode 1080p videos for example as good as exynos.....
nerd1 - Friday, August 31, 2012 - link
I wonder why the article completely misses the #1 feature of the tablets - they have built-in wacom pen to be written on. $1199 pricing is actually VERY affordable considering the form factor, full HD PLS screen and spec.ilkhan - Friday, August 31, 2012 - link
No excuse for a $1200 laptop not having 8GB of RAM, but other than that the 7-slate looks damn interesting. Significantly larger screen than my Nexus7, but smaller than my 14" laptop. Doubt it has Thunderbolt, but that would really complete the package for me.charliem76 - Saturday, September 1, 2012 - link
Can they please cram that 1080 11.6 screen into a notebook? I don't really care if it's touch enabled or not. Preferrably an i5/a8 or better.ramiro - Saturday, November 10, 2012 - link
where can you buy this in canada??? thanks