Samsung’s Windows 8 tablets are now available for pre-order, with prices ranging from $650 to $1200.

These tablets wear a few different names. Some stores sell them as the Samsung Series 5 and Series 7 tablets, while others call them the Ativ Smart PC 500T and Smart PC Pro 700T. But in each case you get a Windows 8 tablet with an 11.6 inch display.

One thing that sets both tablets apart from most Windows 8 tablets is the inclusion of a digital pen for writing and drawing on the screen.

Samsung Ativ 500T

Samsung Series 5/Ativ 500T

Samsung’s entry level tablet features a 1366 x 768 pixel display, a 1.8 GHz Intel Atom Z2760 dual core processor, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of solid state disk space.

This model has 1 USB 2.0 port, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a micro HDMI port, and audio jacks. There’s a 2MP camera on the front, and an 8MP rear-facing camera.

The tablet alone weighs about 1.7 pounds, but Samsung also offers an optional keyboard docking station that brings the weight to 3.3 pounds.

You can pre-order the tablet from Amazon for $649.99. The model with the keyboard dock runs $749.99.

Samsung Series 7/Ativ Smart PC Pro 700T

Looking for a more powerful Windows 8 tablet? This model features an Intel Core i5-3317U processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a high resolution 1920 x 1080 pixel display.

Samsung ativ smart pc pro 700t

Samsung’s higher-end Windows 8 tablet also comes standard with the keyboard dock, which helps explain the $1199.99 starting price.

This model includes Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11n WiFi, a USB 3.0 port, micro HDMI port, 8MP rear camera, and 2MP front-facing camera.

The Series 7 Slate weighs 1.9 pounds. When you add the keyboard dock, the weight goes up to 3.5 pounds.

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34 replies on “Pre-order Samsung’s 11.6 inch Windows 8 tablets for $650 and up”

  1. I live in Thailand where a Sim slot is included for 3G networking…Is this available in the states??

  2. This is an awesome price for what this device offers. To bad it’s waaaay overpriced in rest of the world 🙁

  3. does it have USB ports? and can you have access to the BIOS? if yes, it’s like a laptop and a tablet at the same time! if not, truly useless to me

    1. Windows 8 systems will be switching to UEFI instead of BIOS, features like Secure Boot are features of UEFI they are taking advantage of, and the article points out the USB port in the specs!

      1. except that its permitted by microsoft (manufacturer is another story) to turn it off in the x86 versions. The arm version you can forget it. Its on and its staying on. With that said i think its a good thing. Just one more security feature to make windows more secure than ever. Its more secure than most people think, but since it has 90% of the market or something like that, its also more at risk just from the numbers alone.

        1. There is the option to dual boot with ARM, the firmware company Insyde Software has stated they can provide a dual boot option if there’s enough interest.

          Mind, 3rd parties have yet to vet these devices and it’s likely that just like locked down Android devices that a number of solutions may soon become available after launch.

          The Linux Community is also working on a solution to boot 3rd party software without disabling secure boot.

          Fedora and Red Hat will get certified to run on Windows 8 systems, and Ubuntu 12.10 and later will get a special boot loader solution.

  4. The Samsung 700T is looking like the most likely candidate to me at this point. Of all the hybrid tablet screen styles (swivels, flip overs, detachables, etc), the detachable with clamshell kb seems to make the most sense. I’ve looked at the Dell and Toshiba and Asus all the rest of the Core i powered tablets coming out. A lot of stabs that don’t quite hit the mark.

    It’s a lot of coin, but this is not replacing a simple tablet for me so much as will be my main power pc. I have a cheap 10″ Android I picked up for $170 that is fine for a tablet – light browsing, email, simple games, books. I imagine my wife will inherit that.

    I haven’t had a new main computer in 5 years, and this little tablet with a Core i5 will have more horsepower than my two older desktops (one of which is a quad core machine which was pretty high end at the time.) And for someone like me who lives with a pencil and sketchbook at hand 24-7, and a super-size Wacom tablet hooked up to my desktop, the stylus and the high resolution screen and touch will frankly propel this into another level completely. Win 8 but moreover the amazing hardware that’s coming out for it – I think it’s finally a convergence of a lot of cool tech that just had not at all been put together right before. The pieces all seem to mesh now and it’s really taking these things to a different realm.

    I mean, I can see how people who don’t sketch or use heavy graphics programs might say, meh, I just want a super thin laptop, plus an iPad mini or a Nexus 7. That makes sense. But for someone like me, these things are looking pretty amazing.

  5. It looks like bezels are getting larger when comparing non-touch notebooks to convertible tablets with the same screen size. That’s not good.

    1. That’s because when you hold a tablet you kinda need a bezel otherwise you would be touching the screen.

      1. I believed wrong. KT double-checked her notes and confirms that unlike keyboard docks from some other companies, these Samsung tablet docks don’t have batteries.

    1. no. the dock has no extra battery, just 2 usb and a mini hdmi
      blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-announces-a-trio-windows-8-tablets-meet-the-ativ-tab-ativ-smart-pc-and-ativ-smart-pc-pro/

  6. 650$? Really? Who in their right mind would pick this up over a much, MUCH cheaper iPad? Do tell.

    1. An iPad with the same 64GB of storage costs $699.

      The Samsung tablet also has Bluetooth and HDMI, a digital pen and active digitizer for pressure-sensitive input, which the iPad lacks… and the ability to run standard Windows desktop apps as well as full-screen tablet apps.

      1. You forgot the USB 2.0 port.
        Daniel Lundh, you bring shame to your excellent avatar.

          1. This isn’t Highlander. There’s room for more than one.

            The iPad can continue being a very popular device even if Samsung, HP, Acer, Asus, or other companies start to sell a fair number of Windows or Android devices.
            It’s too early to say if that’s what will happen. But nobody was suggesting that this is an iPad killer… just answering your question as to “why” anyone might buy a Samsung tablet for $650 instead of an iPad.

          2. Between the Nexus 7 and the iPad I think the Windows 8 tablets are gonna have a rough time. I just don’t think Google or Apple are lying awake at night worrying about the “onslaught” of overpriced Windows 8 tablets.

          3. Neither do I. But I don’t think that Samsung (or anyone else) has to sell more tablets than Apple to succeed in this market. They just need to sell enough devices to meet whatever internal goals they’ve set.

          4. Overpriced? Compared to what? Not the iPad as that was already pointed out that for equal storage capacity you’ll usually pay more for a iPad.

            For Android? Not really either because for similar capacities you’ll be paying similar amounts.

            A Asus Transformer Infinity goes for about $500 for 32GB and that’s the capacity Windows tablets will start with because MS requires a minimum amount of free drive space. Add the Keyboard Dock for another $149 and you got a similar $650 price range.

            32GB Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 goes for $549, just to give a idea of how much a active digitizer pen adds to the cost compared to the Asus Transformer that doesn’t provide that feature.

            The only Android models that are really lower cost either provide less capabilities/features/build quality or are made by companies that have alternative revenue sources and can afford to sell with minimal to no profit on hardware sales.

            Amazon has already admitted they make no profit from the Kindle Fires. However, aside from B&N and Google there aren’t really any other companies that can afford to do business that way and need to make all their profits from the hardware sales.

            Never mind x86 based hardware tends to cost more than ARM based systems anyway and Windows isn’t a free OS like Android (licensing fees not withstanding).

            So it’ll be more of a question of whether the Windows RT models will be justified in pricing but they’re mostly expected to be priced about the same as Android models.

            Only if they’re not could you then call them overpriced…

          5. I agree, but I also expect these first generation Windows 8 devices to drop in price quite a bit, and likely rather quickly. If sales are lower than expected, prices will drop very quickly. Also, once the next wave of devices come out, these first generation ones will be much cheaper. I expect that by this time next year, there will be devices similar to the ones in the article at, or likely below, the price of an entry level iPad. But only time will tell.

          6. There’s room for all. Tablets have been pretty much incapable as productivity machines, and that’s where Windows will shine. iPads will continue to sell tons because they are slick and easy and have a gigantic ecosystem. Android will have a tougher time but will have it’s devotees as well as the lion’s share of the $100-$250 market. I can still see having a 7″ super thin tab like a Nexus 7 for goofing around and to take to the beach and keep by the TV. Neither Apple nor MS seems to want that end of the market.

            Personally I think Windows 8 will sell more tablet and and tablet hybrids than iPad. People will be buying them instead of ultrabooks and laptops because they need to run real productivity apps. So yes they will be popular but only taking some sales from iPad, much of their sales will be coming from people who’d be buying Win something or others anyway.

      2. iPads don’t have bluetooth now? Also, on the subject of lacking, 1366 x 768 resolution?

        1. Ahh, my bad on the Bluetooth. The rest of my points stand though. Yes, the iPad has a higher resolution display, but it’s not *much* cheaper if you compare the 64GB iPad to the 64GB Samsung tablet.

          Mostly it’s a fish to pigs comparison though. While many people would use the two tablets for the same things (surfing the web, watching videos, reading books), they run different operating systems, have different apps, and different strengths and weaknesses.

          It remains to be seen whether there’s a strong market for this sort of Windows 8 tablet — and what you may have been trying to get at is true: I haven’t seen a Windows 8 tablet with a *starting* price of $499 or less yet. But that’s because I haven’t seen a Windows 8 tablet with 16GB of storage yet… and probably won’t.

          So many potential tablet buyers may opt for a $499ish iPad or a $199 Nexus/Kindle/NOOK tablet if it meets their needs, and buy a full-fledged laptop or desktop computer the next time they need a PC. This type of system is aimed at people that want their tablets to do all the things they’d expect from a notebook computer and a tablet.

          1. Ooh, I love it when commenters actually take time to understand one another (even if they don’t always agree).

            There’s too much name calling on the internet.

    2. Are you really that clueless or just stirring things up for a barrage of insults against you?

      1. So the ativ 700 dock is 1.6lbs but the ativ 500 is 2lbs?

        Looks like the asus vivo tab is gaining points for me over the samsung. Isn’t the vivo tab 1.8ghz?

        1. The Clover Trail is rated for 1.8GHz but that may be just the Burst Mode and not the normal clock speed rating.

          For example, Medfield Z2460 is actually 1.3GHz with a Burst Mode of 1.6GHz. The newer Z2480 basically just tweaked the Burst Mode to 2GHz.

          While Clover Trail is basically a dual core version of Medfield with a GMA based on the SGX545, like Cedar Trail, instead of SGX540 or the SGX544MP2 that the Z2580 will be using either.

          So there could be some confusion on the actual clock speed.

          It’s also possible that Samsung tweaked it to not go higher than 1.5GHz to help get a run time advantage.

          We’ll have to wait till units get out and officially tested before we know for sure…

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