Customer Reviews

Samsung Series 7 XE700T1A-A03US 11.6-Inch Slate (128 GB, Win 7 HP) - Dock and Keyboard Included

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased this hoping that it could replace by my laptop PC and my iPad. It has done both of those items quite well. It's still not perfect, but it's a step forward. Here's my quick rundown:

Replacing a Laptop: A-
I liked the idea of exchanging my laptop for something that was lighter and nearly as powerful. For the most part, it did not disappoint. I have all the capabilities of my old laptop PC and a more portable package. The system is fast (because Samsung used an i5 processor rather than the less powerful Atom, which I've heard can be frustratingly slow). It's battery lasts nearly as long as my old laptop battery (Samsung claims 7 hours; I've gotten 4-5 hours without even activating any power saving features). The screen is large enough for laptop work and the docking station allows me to use an external monitor when I'm in the office or in my home office. Disappointments as a laptop replacement:
* It came with Windows 7 Home, which does not allow you to join the laptop to a domain on a business network. Not a big deal for me because my business furnished a copy of Windows 7 Pro.
* It's not quite as easy to just sit down, open this machine, and use it like a laptop. I sit in front of the TV and work on my laptop frequently, and this machine is actually a little more cumbersome to do that with than is a true laptop. Samsung really should have included a case with a built in "kick stand" to offset this issue (I've ordered one, but it has been on backorder since I got it over 2 weeks ago - Samsung did not do a good job of building out the add-ons market here before rolling out this machine). Perfect world: someone will roll out a case with an included keyboard and trackpad so it can be used exactly like a laptop when needed.
* The front-facing camera is very low quality. I can skype better on my iPhone, old laptop or my wife's Mac. There's no good excuse for this - Samsung when cheap on the front camera.

Replacing an iPad: B+
You should know that I was trying to replace my iPad as a "content creation" device primarily. If you spend (or intend to spend) a lot of time reading books and watching movies on a device, then the iPad is probably a better choice than the Samsung slate - simply because the Samsung is just too bulky to hold up in bed to read a book. On the other hand, I always felt like my iPad was too bulky for reading too (so I also purchased a Kindle Fire - which I've also reviewed and am very happy with). On the other hand, I wanted to be able to create content with my iPad, and I was never very happy with it for that purpose. With the Samsung, and no keyboard, I can create content just as easily as I could on my iPad (using the on-screen keyboard). The Samsung also has a built on "launcher" program, with it's own "touch friendly" apps. That program is hardly necessary, however. I've found that I can pretty easily use the touch interface to open applications in windows, scroll web pages, etc - all the same things I used to do on my iPad. I thought I would miss many of my old iPad apps a lot, and I do miss them, but I've found that I'm so much more productive on this machine, that it's not a very big factor.

Using as a Slate/Tablet: A-
One of the things that I was most excited about was using this as an entirely new device - doing things on it that I could neither do on my iPad nor on my tablet. It has not disappointed in that area (though it could use some improvements). Having the stylus as an option in addition to the touch (finger) interface, is a great improvement over my iPad. I had tried a few sytluses (stylii?) with my iPad, and none of them worked well - the machine was simply never made as something you could truly use like a "sheet of paper". I am very frequently in meetings and I want to be able to take notes, without pecking at a keyboard - but I don't want to have to transcribe those notes from a notepad to an electronic format. Using the Samsung with OneNote is the perfect solution. The additional capability to be able to record audio that is synched with those notes is even better. I've not even fully tapped into this capability yet, but so far am VERY happy with it. Handwriting recognition is also outstanding; I'm torn as to weather it is faster to use the on-screen keyboard or handwriting to quickly enter a web URL. The Samsung also has a "Widi" capability which is very nice when you're running a meeting using a projector - you can walk around the room (or pass the Samsung around for others to mark up) and the images can be projected wirelessly. One thing that is missing (as noted above) is a case for the machine - Samsung should have included at least a basic case with this machine (as Asus does with their slate). One other small downside I've noticed is that the casing doesn't seem entirely solid on this machine - if you apply a bit of pressure near the edges, you will hear a "creak" as the edge of the machine and the cover rub against one another (you'd expect iPad quality on a machine of this cost). A last downside: there is no button on the outside of the machine that duplicates the CTRL+ALT+DEL button; this is a downside if you're on a network that requires you to press that keyboard combination in order to log onto the machine (it took me a while to figure out how to bring up the on screen keyboard to do this and I briefly thought that I would only be able to login when using an external keyboard).

Getting Ready for Windows 8: Grade TBD
I saw some reviews of Windows 8 several months ago and decided to wait on a machine with this new "wide" form factor in order to have something that would do the best possible job of working with all of Windows 8's features. But I am at the mercy of Samsung and Microsoft as to the compatability of this machine with Windows 8 (I've heard that Samsung is readying a similar model that is Win8 compatible, which makes me wonder if mine will be). Still, based on Microsoft's history with keeping new OS's compatible with older hardware (and, in particular, how good of a job they did with Win7) I'm hopeful that this machine will work with Win8 and will remain a good machine for business use for at least several years.

Microsoft shipped me this tablet early on the 25th. What a pleasant surprise! Thin, looks and feels great, nice screen, FAST!(boots up photoshop CS 5 in 3 seconds). The down side is that it bloatwares the hell out of the product...so out of the "128gb" which was only 98 gb - 40gb of other random BS your left with 50! LOL. Camera isnt good but but it works. The pen feels better than the ASUS EP 121, even has a side click to press and hold then tap with the pen to right click. Runs League of Legends on High settings smoothly. I wish it had a button to launch the virtual keyboard and also a curved 90 degree charging tip...straight ones always go out fast. It doesnt come with ANYTHING so you would have to buy all the accessories for it. Overall i enjoy this tablet very much...rarely touch my iPad now. Maybe here and there to play video games that are only on there :)

EDIT: 11/5/2011
Pen is starting to not detect on me for some reason. Spent 2 hours with Samsung and another 1 hours with Microsoft Signature (Made me format my tablet and all). Word of advice, don't even bother trying to contact Samsung. They just keep "Escalating" your ticket and also the person on the other line is obviously just reading a script. Why did i waste 3 hours of my life trying to replace a Digital pen? I have no idea. But for all of you out there that may have your pens fail on you, [...] is the replacement pen. The representative from Microsoft also said that any Digital/Wacom pens should work. The only difference is that Wacom uses batteries to operate. Apparently the Pens that came with Samsung is made by Toshiba hahaha minus the Toshiba logo on the side, even comes with the spare tips and the metal ring used to pull the tips out (Don't lie, you too was wondering what the metal ring was for! All in all very bad experience with Samsung customer service. Will never buy an expensive product from them again. At least Motorolla straight apologizes and sends a replacement within 2 days. The tablet is still by far the best investment i have ever made :) just wish it was made by someone else heh :p

I have had my Slate for about two weeks now and have finally reached the point where I can offer some observations. Not trying to be comprehensive here, but share the things I have noticed so far that I would have liked to have known before I bought it.

I have the XE700TA1-A04US model, which specs out with the 128GB SSD and Windows 7 Pro.

First observation:
Early adopter beware. Not all of the features listed in the early releases have made it into these models. There is no GPS, and while there is an SIM card slot, no information on carrier support here in the US. Try to register your product on the Samsung site and you will find that not all model numbers are listed. Early indications were that this model would ship with the dock and the keyboard, but that has changed. I purchased mine through the Microsoft Store online and they did ship a dock separately.

Hardware:
If you have ever (not everyone has, I know) looked at a computer and thought "Sexy!" this slate should evoke a similar response. A couple of things that I have noticed though: Along the lower edge, below the Quick Start key, the screen surface seems to flex. Holding it by this edge has caused the digitized to (temporarily) go crazy. I would be interested to see if others have observed this.

Oh... Glass. Polished metal. Fingerprints.

In addition to the HD being 128 "Marketing" GB (Which works out to about 119 GB) there is just over 20 GB dedicated to recovery, so the actual usable space is just over 98 GB. Before you get upset, that is 98 lightning fast GB. Still, would have liked to have known myself.

The Windows Experience was 4.2, held back by the Graphics rating. Considering the shared memory, not totally surprising. That 98GB of C:\ drive scored a smoking 7.9.

Just four days after my slate arrived I took a business trip and discovered how specialized the power supply is when I forgot the charger at home. If you can find a 19volt, 2.1 Amp, 40 Watt charger (same as my Asus netbook) you probably will not find a tip to work. I did get a peak at a Samsung netbook charger with the right output in CompUSA, but cannot confirm if the tips were the same yet. Samsung has no option for a power supply on their site. And I was surprised when the dock showed up but does not include a power supply.

The good news? I was able to do some writing in OneNote, and use the Slate for three of the four nights I was away before it died from lack of power.

Configuration:
Not sure if it's because of where I bought my Slate, but it is remarkable free of bloat and freeware. That said, I do have an issue with the configuration: Power Management. Specifically management of the wireless NIC . For the first three hours I was playing with my Slate, installing updates, etc. everything was fine. Then it started reporting the there was no internet access on my home LAN. Way too much time chasing that issue, I narrow the issue down to how the power management scheme is set up to power on/off the NIC. Plugged in, no issues. Unplugged network connectivity was hit or miss once the device was idle for more than a minute or two. I am still tweaking the power settings to see what is optimal.

Now, just to be clear, I will say this: I love this thing!

The Samsung slate is an impressive piece of hardware. Performance is quite good, the screen is beautiful (with the exception of some odd brightness instability even with the adaptive display brightness disabled) and the pen input is excellent. There are a number of things worth pointing out.

*Contrary to initial reports and previews, the device does not feature a GPS. This is a significant and baffling decision on their part as it makes the device useless for something like streets and trips.
*The docks are not included in the higher end packages as initial reports indicated. Right now nobody seems to be offering them separately either.
*There's a hardware start button, but it launches a Samsung launcher application which is slow and clunky. There's no obvious way to rebind it to launch the Start Menu. This gets annoying really quickly.

Other than that it's an excellent device. Between pen, touch, additions, and voice recognition the device is very usable as a consumption device without a mouse and keyboard. It's nice to have a mobile media center screen (Live TV anywhere within WiFi range. With a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard you've essentially got everything an ultrabook offers plus some of the best pen tech available. The price tag looks high for a tablet and minor elements of cheapness (Not including the dock, no GPS) kind of accentuate that but fundamentally the Series 7 Slate offers very good value for money.

I love it. Finally a useful tablet pc for artists. I love the fact that the tablet has everything I need to run Zbrush, photoshop, painter and 3D Studio Max, anything you'd have on a regular pc. Sure you don't have all the tools maybe ot do a masterpiece but this tablet does provide a perfect place to sketch or block things out outside of your usual computer area. The screen seems to have 512 lvls of pressure and the response of it is as good as the Wacoms Cintiq. It also doesn't get hot and isn't heavy at all. The 8 points of touching helps with the programs that need more than 2 fingers on the screens (especially for programs like Zbrush). Not only that but you can use it for image reference, video tutorials on the go as well as reading art books or comics. I love this thing and being able to work without being on my main pc is a worth every penny.

Bad things is that I wish there were a couple more programmable buttons.

Simply put, this is by far the best and most powerful tablet computer on the market as of today. 4GB of DDR3 RAM and 128GB SSD definitely help running things smoothly. Basically, this toy's performance is on par with the modern laptops. Windows 7 is pretty fast on it; it is fully Windows 8 ready and runs Developer Preview version just fine. Very nice bright screen; camera and audio are not brilliant but pretty decent; battery life is not amazing but not bad either. Overall, this is a product closer to performance laptops category rather than to lightweight Android powered toys (so it is not a competitor to Kindle Fire or to powertrain smartphones), and as all Windows products it is made more for content creation than for consumption. It seems very expensive, but sometimes there are good discounts in Microsoft stores - I got mine for sub-$1K price so it was a no-brainer.
I have yet to buy the dock station but honestly don't see many advantages in it, as the slate itself has all necessary interfaces (HDMI, audio, power) and as for the Ethernet jack who needs it these days when wireless is everywhere.
It also pairs with a bluetooth keyboard just fine, so you can enhance your typing experience (virtual keyboard is not too convenient for those who needs much typing).

Received it a month ago and so far is great, complete laptop replacement for me. Deducted one star because of the slight screen raise problem on the bottom left corner. Battery life is 4-5 hours of normal use, can stream netflix movies for about 3.5 hours with screen brightness turned down to about 10% (it is bright enough at night).

I see a lot of people saying no sound comes out of the internal speakers when connected to the dock, when docked it defaults to the dock speakers, but you can change that by just right clicking on the volume icon on the taskbar, select playback devices and make the realtek speakers the default by right clicking and selecting "set as default device".

Also when using the bluetooth keyboard, the first key press does not register when not in use for a period of time because to save battery by default windows turns off the device until it receives that first keypress, you can change that by going to control panel, select device manager, expand the bluetooth radios list, right click intel centrino wireless bluetooth adapter, select properties, select power management tab, and uncheck the "allow computer to turn off this device".

So before I give you my initial thoughts on the device, it'd be useful to know what drew me to this purchase. l wasn't looking for another tablet , the kindle fire is performing that limited use case well. Rather, it was the promise of a full-blown PC capable of running REAL apps like Photoshop, Lightroom, a real browser and doing REAL productive work in a super small form factor that got me interested. But as a photographer, It was the allure of the wacom powered pen input that would allow me to draw right on the screen just like the Cintiq's I've been lusting after for years that actually made me hit the 'buy' button. I actually got mine at the microsoft store- they were having a special, $1200 for the 128Gb version with a free dock & $100 store credit.

So after a week,what are my thoughts so far? Let's see.

Pen vs. Touch: Well everything you may have heard about Windows7 being terrible with touch is absolutely true, and while the hardware is very responsive the OS just doesn't know what to do with it. And while Samsung makes an attempt at putting a touch enabled launcher on top of Windows with a couple of touch enabled apps, it's a futile attempt at making this tablet something it's not; which is, anything remotely competitive to the Ipad. All this being said, its pen interface is mature- and it's winning me over. The handwriting recognition , even without training it, is amazingly accurate with my writing style. In fact I wrote this whole post using it and found it much better than pecking at a virtual keyboard. The accuracy & precision of a stylus just can't be matched by one's finger and the added expression enabled with pressure sensitivity is just awesome when using Photoshop or Painter. Steve Jobs may have been right that 'people' don't want to use a stylus, but as a photographer / artist, I've 'seen the light' and couldn't imagine going back to finger painting.

Screen: While not the gorgeous IPS display of the Ipad, the display is bright, vibrant, and has sufficient viewing angles for typical single user close up tasks like writing & painting where you are typically working at a consistent distance and angle to the display. Since this is a Windows box, I can use my Eyeone display to properly calibrate the screen and get some consistent results when editing my photos (+1 for the Windows tablet) The ultra-wide aspect ratio of the screen sort of forces you to use a landscape orientation, which works out perfectly in Photoshop allowing your panels to dock on either side and still allow enough room for an adequate canvas. For some reason the screen rotation is obnoxiously slow sot usually leave it locked. I have to believe this is a software driver issue because there's no way hardware Sensors could be this slow.

Performance: I heard the Core i5-2674 processor was throttled for thermal envelope reasons and may never reach its full Clock rate of 1.6GHz or 2.3GHz in Turbo mode yet the system is very responsive and has enough horsepower to smoothly track the artist brushes in Photoshop without any appreciable lag between pen & stroke. If you put any value in the Microsoft experience index, this system scores a 4.2, but this low score is due to its Aero Performance score, all other values are in the mid 5's, and the SSD scores a blistering 7.5 which may account for the system's sub 30 second boot times. Photoshop start up times are also much quicker than on my SSD equipped desktop.

Conclusions: I was originally skeptical and ready to pack this thing back in the box to send back but as I used it, even with all the touch unfriendly aspects of Windows7,it has really won me over. I truly feel this is a powerful media creation tool, not just another neat gadget as I view the Ipad as - and I'm positive the release of Windows8 will just make things better. I know this thing isn't for most, but when I consider that this has all the power of a laptop packed into a sleek tablet, for me, it's a keeper.

Update:12/20/2011 - still loving the this tablet. Finding that the battery life is around 5+ with my typical web browsing wifi use which I'm happy with - when I'm out an about and not on wifi and just doing offline painting or photoshop work it seems to do much better maybe closer to the quoted 7 hrs.(though I've never run it down that far) I've now loaded Painter XI on it and brush tracking is very good even with some of the more processor intensive brushes like watercolor.

A couple nits:
1) The handwritting recognition input doesn't work consitently with all apps. (Google docs spreadsheets for example) also I like having it in the lower right of the screen but it always defaults to appear at the top center of the screen. (docking it will make its location consistent at the bottom but then it takes up the whole width of the screen and I don't like that either)
2) The digitizer sometimes looses calibration in certain apps when I rotate the screen, so I tend to just lock the rotation and use it in a single orientation.

I bought this as I take a ton of notes - I go to grad school and work as a recruiter (IT and Consulting) - so I interview candidates and take a lot of notes regarding each one. I have tried other alternatives - Xoom, HTC Flyer...but this one allows me to do everything I need to do well.

I got the 64gb version. space is not an issue as I back-up docs to the cloud via dropbox, amazon cloud, and evernote (all for different types of data). With the full Office Suite on the machine and other productivity software, I have 20GB left. Added a cheap MicroSD (16gb for $12 here on Amazon), so that helps as well.

Use:
OneNote - heavy daily use for both work and school. This makes the device exactly what I needed. Everything gets captured in the same place (in different "notebooks"), and I can push Word/Excel/Powerpoints into it and annotate. Ink to Text conversion works better when you train Windows (control panel under Pen and Touch Input settings). I have a LiveScribe Echo pen that I also use (now its mostly for Audio capture) and I can attach these files to the OneNote pages to provide synchonized content. With Skydrive, this can be synced to the web, and opened on other machines if you have a primary desktop or another machine you need to access content on.

Works great with web browsing - no issues with IE9 and Firefox running with multiple tabs concurrently and other apps such as OneNote and Outlook open. Compared to the Android tablets, it's night and day. With Win 7's snap, I can view content and take notes as well.

Backlight - Adaptive backlighting can be annoying - this can be turned off in the control panel as well.

Build Quality - not as solid as I could have liked, but generally ok.
I have some flex, but the power and usefulness of the machine make up for it.

I have a US Robotics tablet stand - USR 5510, and a MSFT Arc wireless keyboard that essentially transform this from a tablet that I can write directly on, to a veritable laptop. Solid battery life as well.

Overall, 8.75/10 with minor gripes on some tweaking that had to be done and build quality. If you are a mobile professional or do work/school and need to have your information available to you consistently, this is a solid solution.

If you head over the the MSFT Store, now you can get a free dock too. That's easily another $100 or so savings. This thing is nice.
[...]

UPDATE: The free doc was only for a short time; they are thinking of offering again, but it's not listed online now.

Regardless, the device rocks

UPDATE: The device is great, but I'm downgrading my review: 1) battery life - at best 5 hours in "general use". 2) The power connector is "risky" in that it just seems awkward.

And finally - where are all the accessories?