Meet the Samsung ATIV PC Pro
The Windows PC experience has been in a constant state of change and innovation in the last few years. We’ve seen a variety of form factors but the ones that are getting a lot of attention are the tablet-laptop hybrids. It’s perfectly understandable since with hybrids you get best of both worlds. You have full productivity with your laptop and you have the portability and intuitiveness of a tablet. One of the best hybrids in the local market right now is from Samsung – the ATIV Smart PC Pro. We’ve been testing the unit for the last month now and we’d like to kick things off by sharing our unboxing experience and initial impressions (to be followed by a full review).
Before anything though let’s quickly go through the specificaitons.
Samsung ATIV PC Pro Spec Sheet
- Intel Core i5 3317U CPU
- Intel HD Graphics 4000 Video Card
- 4GB DDR RAM
- 128GB nSATA HDD
- 11.6-inch Full HD (400init) LCD
- 5.0-megapixel rear-facing camera
- 2.0-megapixel front-facing camera
- WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0. 3G/LTE
- S Pen
- Micro HDMI, USB 3.0, microSD card Slot
- Windows 8 Pro
As you guys can see, the internals aren’t something to be sneezed at. These are actually full Ultrabooks specs which means you can do almost everything you can do will an actual Ultrabook laptop. Anyway, more on this during the review. For now let’s move on to the unboxing!
Packaging and Unboxing
The Samsung ATIV PC Pro came in the usual Samsung mobile gadget packaging. That’s the white box with the hero product shot at the front and back. Technical specifications were written down on the sticker which was posted at the lower left part of the front of the box.
To open we just removed the tape on the top and flipped open the box. Upon opening the top of the box we found the Samsung ATIV PC Pro covered in two layers of foam and plastic. The device was already docked and closed like a normal laptop.
Other than the Samsung ATIV PC Pro we also found the usual manuals, certificates, and the power brick in the compartment underneath the device.
Hardware Check: Form Factor, Ergonomics, and Design
As we mentioned earlier, this is a hybrid device and you have two major components for it – the tablet and the keyboard dock. For the tablet you basically get a hefty but compact 11.6-inch Windows 8 machine. The full HD display is gorgeous and the 11.6-inch canvass is perfect for web browsing, watching movies, and reading. The touch screen is very responsive and smooth as well.
For the apps you have access to all the stuff offered by the Windows Store. There is already a significant number being sold with a good mix of games, social networking, and reader apps in it.
Now let’s check out the keyboard. It’s actually a full-sized Chiclet keyboard that looks quite sleek and professional. It’s very easy to type on and you can simply dock the tablet in it and the device is now a full Ultrabook experience.
During our review we tried the usual Microsoft Office apps, browsing, VLC for movies, and StarCraft 2 on the Samsung ATIV PC Pro. It was able to handle them all with no problems. Definitely impressive considering that this is a hybrid machine.
Initial Verdict
As far as initial impressions go, we’re pretty satisfied and impressed with the Samsung ATIV PC Pro. There are still a lot of features that we have to check out like the built-in S Pen and the LTE connectivity (yes it has a SIM card slot) but we’ll reserve those for the full review.
The Samsung ATIV PC Pro is already available locally with an SRP of Php59,000.
