I have been waiting for Samsung to release their Windows Slate device ever since BUILD this year when all the delegates. After checking the Samsung web site i noticed they had a new listing under the “Thin and Light” category for the Series 7 Slate.
After waiting forever on the phone to JB HIFI I was told they were only in limited stores so I ran (in the car) to the Carindale store to pick one up. When I got there the help full sales assistant said they have been in stock since Monday (It took me 4 whole days to find they were out in Australia… I am getting slack). He seemed to really like the device and said it was selling well but people thought it was to expensive compared to the iPad. We then both agreed that yes it was expensive but it was a full computer and well worth the extra cost…
The hardware specs on this device are pretty good. The Second Generation Core i5 mobile part give it a lot of power yet still with useful batter life (4+ hours). 4gb ram is more than enough to run pretty much any application I need and the 64gb SSD is enough so long as I don’t load it up with heaps of media. The model that I got did not have 3G but it is an option so we may see another versions come out at a later stage sporting this mobile connectivity. What I did not realise at the time is that the screen Gorilla Glass which makes it scratch resistant and almost unbreakable.
The obvious comparison is with the iPad which does have a solid one piece metal body. The Series 7 has a back is a brushed metal but does have some give when you try to warp the device. I also noticed tha the touch screen goes crazy when you grab the screen with you hand due to the pressure put on the screen. The device also has a fan which the iPad does not so when you star cranking the CPU it does generate a bit of heat (it is a Intel CPU after all). Battery life is a lot shorter than the iPad at about (4+ hours) but this is still fairly decent when compared to other laptops.
Update: Another thing I like about the device is that it also come with a dock Bluetooth keyboard and stylus (that I have not used yet).
The device is not an exact replica of the Windows 8 device that Microsoft gave away but it is pretty close. I bought this device primarily to load Windows 8 Developer Preview. However while I was making my Windows 8 Developer Preview USB key I gave the factory fitted Windows 7 a good run for its money…
Windows 7 on this device runs fantastic… The device is smooth and responsive to the touch unlike many of the atom based slates I have used. This has confirmed in mind that many of the issues Windows 7 on previous slate device has a lot to do with the slow hardware and not the OS itself. The Windows 7 OS does have a Samsung "Touch” skin loaded (see image below) however I found this very cumbersome and I removed it almost straight away.
After my short stint on Windows 7 I quickly loaded Windows 8 on the device with no issues using the USB install drive I just made. There are a couple of device drivers missing but this is only a developer preview so I was not expecting complete drive support. I am not too worried about the computer eventually getting full driver support as it is listed as one of the device they are using in the Windows 8 hardware test lab. Of course knowing that Microsoft is actively testing this device also made my decision to buy this table a lot easier one to make…
So with the OS loaded I logged on with my live ID account I was pleased to find that it had kept all must customisations I made using Windows 8 on my other test virtual computer. This is good example of how the cloud can make a users life much easier. It just works…
Windows 8 on this device is simply awesome. I must admit I was struggling to understand how the new UI would work and if the new start screen would be that useful… But having used Windows 8 on this for a few days now i get it, I really get. It was almost like I had an epiphany when watching a YouTube video snapped to the screen while using the full desktop browser on the other side. While this might seem trivial and something you can already do with any laptop the key here is that I was doing it using touch and that I could have a full multi-tasking and Windows desktop experience using nothing but a touch enabled device…
Update: I am also finding the ability to have the true “full web” experience in a touch screen slate device to be amazing. I have Flash and Silverlight installed and the performance and battery life is still excellent….
Samsung is in a rather unique position here with many Android and now Window device on the market. This makes me wounder if their biggest competition with the device is not Apple but it is in fact themself. Overall this device is excellent and even if you have no interest in running Windows 8 on this device it would be an excellent alternative as your next laptop purchase…
Update 1: It would seem I am having the separation issues as reported here http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/samsung/45808-you-having-screen-bezel-problem.html
Update 2: This issues is almost definitely cause by the pressure put on the edge of the screen when in the dock. The separation ONLY happens when left in dock for a period of time… I think this could be easily fixed by a different do design that does not lean the entire weight of the device on its bezel.
