Samsung backs Windows 8 with refreshed Ativ tablet range

published 20 June 2013

Samsung continues to rollout products at a phenomenal rate with the Korean manufacturer debuting a handful products at its Galaxy & Ativ Premier event in London.

The firm led the announcements with two Windows 8-based tablets, which business users could find useful: the Ativ Tab 3 and the Ativ Q.

Ativ Tab 3

Touted as the world's thinnest Windows 8 tablet, the 10.1in device boasts a 1366 x 768 display. It's powered by a 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Atom processor and 2GB of RAM. The lightweight 550g chassis also packs 64GB of internal storage, and Samsung is claiming 10 hours of battery life.

Samsung preloads the full version of Microsoft Home and Student onto the device, so users will be able to be productive straight out of the box. The Ativ 3 also supports Samsung's S Pen functionality and has confirmed this will be compatible with Office.

Ports include 1 x micro USB, micro HDMI and micro SD.

Pricing and availability are yet to be confirmed, but the device will ship later this year.

Ativ Q

Aimed at users who want to access Android and Windows on the same device, the Ativ Q is a dual-OS device with a slide-out keyboard.

Users are able to run Windows 8 and Android 4.2.2 JellyBean on the same 13.3in qHD+ display. It's even possible to pin Android apps to the Windows Start Screen - with Samsung claiming users want the option to use Android apps.

The display itself features an eye-watering 3200 x 1800 resolution display with a pixel-density of 275.

Samsung has opted for Intel's Core i5 Haswell processors together with 4GB of RAM, which should give the Ativ Q comparable performance to high-end Ultrabooks. The next-generation chips should also mean battery life is not compromised, with Samsung quoting 9 hours of battery life.

The Ativ Q will ship with a 128GB SSD and ports include 1 x USB 3, 1 x USB 2, HDMI as well as a micro SD slot.

Pricing and availability are to be confirmed, but a Samsung representative told us the device is expected to have starting price of around 1299.

Khidr Suleman is the Technical Editor at IT Pro, a role he has fulfilled since March 2012. He is responsible for the reviews section on the site - so get in touch if you have a product you think might be of interest to the business world. He also covers the hardware and operating systems beats. Prior to joining IT Pro, Khidr worked as a reporter at Incisive Media. He studied law at the University of Reading and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism and Online Writing at PMA Training.

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