Hi,

I’ve been using the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T solidly for a week for work purposes while travelling, so I thought it was about time to put up a brief review.

What is it? A hybrid laptop/tablet from Samsung that runs Windows 8. It’s a hybrid as you can undock it from the keyboard (similar to a Microsoft Surface, but the docking/undocking mechanism is nowhere near as nice) and use it as a tablet.

Here’s the Samsung site for it: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/tablet-pcs/XE700T1C-A01US

…and here’s the specs from the same site:

Processor

Processor

Intel® Core™ i5-3317U Processor

Speed (GHz)

1.70 GHz

CPU Cache

3MB L3

Display

LCD Size

11.6"

Type

LED Full HD

Resolution

1920 x 1080

Brightness

400 nits SuperBright™ Plus Technology

System Memory

System Memory

4GB

Memory Type

DDR3 (1600MHz)

Max. System Memory

4GB (On Board)

Storage

HDD

128GB SSD

HDD RPM

SSD

SATA

SATA2

Graphics

Chipset

Intel® HD Graphics 4000

External or Integrated

Integrated

Maximum Graphics Memory

Shared

Sound & Camera

Speaker

Stereo Speakers (1 W x 2)

Sound Effect

SoundAlive™

Web Cam

2.0 MP HD(Front)

 5.0 MP HD (Rear)

Internal Mic

Yes

Wireless

Wireless LAN

802.11 a/b/g/n

Bluetooth

4.0

WiDi

Yes

I/O Ports

HDMI

Micro HDMI

Headphone Out

Yes (Headphone/MIC combo)

Microphone In

Yes

USB Ports (Total)

1 x USB 3.0

Multi Card Slot

1 Micro SD

Docking Port

Yes

Input Devices

Touch Pad / Track Point

Available with Keyboard Dock Accessory

Power

AC Adapter

40 W

Number of Cells/Cell Type

4 cell / Li-Po

Watt Hours

49

Dimensions

System Dimensions (L x W x H, Inch)

11.97" x 7.46" x 0.47"

Weight

System Weight (w/Std. Battery, lb.)

1.96 lb.

As you can see, it’s grunty enough with an i5 CPU and has the current standard Intel graphics chipset, but the screen runs at a rather high 1920 x 1080 for an 11.6″ screen. For general day to day use, this is just makes text a bit too small, and makes the cursor difficult to use with a small trackpad and a lot of pixels to cover distance wise.

The undockable keyboard is quite nice to use (I’m typing on it right now) so no complaints there, but due to the weight of the screen being a stand-alone tablet, there are two annoyances. First, it’s top heavy so can easily fall backwards as the keyboard is quite light. Secondly, the joints that hold up the screen aren’t tight enough so if you’re trying to type in bed on your back, the screen will just collapse onto you.

Other things like battery life were adequate at 3-4 hours, screen orientation detection works quite well and the 3 USB ports are again adequate, but 1 or 2 more wouldn’t go astray. There’s only one USB port on the tablet, and an extra 2 on the keyboard. The touchpad is nice to use, but I kept triggering right clicks when I didn’t intend to.

Overall a decent device depending on your needs, but in my eyes the Surface is a better pick.