If you’re waiting for Samsung to refresh the
last year’s Ultrabook Series 9, don’t hold your breath: except for the recently
update to 1,080p res, basically it’s the same. However, that doesn’t mean that Samsung
is severing the relationship with ultraportable: recently the company has
started to release Series 7 Ultra (currently called ATIV Book 7), releasing for
the first time at CES.
Regardless
of the name, the idea is always making it a part of the performance line of Samsung,
ranking right behind the flagship Series 9 line. Finally, it has the price of
1,060 USD with all the technical specs you hope to find in a premium Ultrabook:
Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 1,080p, 13.3 inch screen and the more
powerful speakers than Series 9. Obviously, the fact that it uses Ivy Bridge is
a punch against it, but on the other hand how can it compare? Can it be a good
bargain if there’s CPU refresh?
If
you’re waiting for Samsung to refresh the last year’s Ultrabook Series 9, don’t
hold your breath
Design and feelings
ATIV Book 7 is released at the same time
with Series 7 Chronos (currently called ATIV Book 8) and like that, it shares
most of the same design language, from the aluminum chassis to the metal keys
and brushed texture. Like the more premium Series 9, Samsung proves to be
easy-going with the striking details: all you will find here in term of decoration
is the power button staying flush on the keyboard, small orange JBL logo and
the thin band of chrome fringing surrounding the trackpad. Of course, the
difference is that ATIV Book 7 doesn’t feel equally premium – it never intends
to do so. Don’t misunderstand us: it’s still a pretty nice laptop, with the
neat straight lines and the modern feeling. The slightly curved and the chassis
that expands to the thickness of 0.74 inch, it’s not as attractive as the elder
brother as well as not being well-made.
ATIV
Book 7 is released at the same time with Series 7 Chronos (currently called
ATIV Book 8)
ATIV Book 7 is much heavier. At 3.64 pound,
it weighs more than 1/3 pound than other touch screen 13-inch model, like Lenovo
IdeaPad Yoga 13. Especially right after the test of the 2.9 pound Kirabook of Toshiba,
ATIV Book 7 feels unnecessary heavy. We don’t understand the reason why it
weighs up to 3 pound and a half: there’s no built-in optical drive, and no
discrete GPU, basically, these are the same technical specs as other 13 inch Ultrabooks,
and there’re still something in design that affect it. (alert: it doesn’t have
heavy battery, which is certain).
At least it has lots of ports. On the
inside, you will find the Ethernet jack, with a panel dropping down to create
more space when you actually need to insert a cable into that place. There’re
also 3 USB ports (one USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0), along with HDMI socket, headphone jack,
Kensington cock slot and SD card reader. There’s also an exclusive port which
you can sue to connect the optional VGA, so fell free to ignore it if you don’t
buy the accessories.
On
the inside, you will find the Ethernet jack, with a panel dropping down to
create more space when you actually need to insert a cable into that place.
Keyboard and trackpad
We’re not sure how Samsung has done that,
but it created an Ultrabook keyboard that largely had no size-reduced key.
Everything from the Shift key to Backspace to the Enter button is spacious, and
easy to type without looking. Even the arrow keys are pretty large, and that’s
usually the first field that is compromised when the company finds the way to
save the space. It’s interesting that there’re lots of unused spaces on the
sides of the keyboard, which creates a feeling that Samsung actually has saving
space.
We’re
not sure how Samsung has done that, but it created an Ultrabook keyboard that
largely had no size-reduced key
If it’s possible wish to have more moving
keys which they’re completely capable of, if you consider the priority of Samsung,
it’s clear that it doesn’t mean for building this thinnest laptop ever since.
That’s not a huge problem – most Ultrabooks have flat keyboard – but there’re
several cases I have to re-enter the character after unrecognized tap. I also
feel that I have to type the keys with more force than normal, certainly
because I don’t believe that the tap will be realized.
Being a premium laptop, ATIV Book 7 has
back illumination on the keyboard, which you can control by pressing Fn-F10. In
fact, you will need to press the Function key to do other stuff, such as
adjusting screen brightness or changing the volume level.
Trackpad
of ATIV Book created by Samsung is the best we check recently.
Trackpad of ATIV Book created by Samsung is
the best we check recently. Everything works as expected: 2-finger scrolling, pinch-to-zoom
and better than all, 1-finger tracking. It’s actually the last part that causes
the highest impression to us – plenty of Ultrabook is capable of zooming
smoothly, providing you lots of controls when you recreate page rate. Bit
there’re just a few Ultrabook working well with one-finger navigation just
because of some reasons. However, in here, the pointer gets to where you want,
without stop or stuttering – a good thing when you’re pricking around the home
screen in 1,080p. moreover, the button itself is easy to press and they never
get confused between the right click and the left click. Why can all Windows touchpad
be like this?
