Samsung Book 7 Evaluation

If you've been waiting for Samsung to update the series 9 last year, the result is probably disappointing, because there's basically no change beyond the screen upgrade to 1080P resolution. However, this does not mean that Samsung temporarily slowed the development of the hyper-polar product line, and in fact the debut of the Series 7 series (now renamed Ativ Book 7) at CES this year has officially begun. As you can see from the model, this is a secondary flagship product that is below the 9 Series, and you can get a high-end ultra-high profile, including the Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory, a 128GB solid state drive, a 13.3-inch 1080P Full HD resolution screen, and a stronger JBL speaker than the 9 Series, The price is only 1060 U.S. dollars (about 6487 yuan). So what's the experience with it, and look at the content.

Exterior design

Samsung Ativ Book 7 and Series 7 Chronos series (now renamed Ativ Book 8) have many similar designs, including Al-Mg metal chassis, drawing process, and metal keyboards, while the Samsung Ativ Book 7 feels more fancy than the 9 series that locates more high-end business , such as the upper left of the keyboard power led section, with an orange "JBL" Logo, indicating that the machine used JBL speakers.

Samsung Ativ Book 7 is a beautiful notebook, using a number of streamline design, the top cover has a certain radian, the overall design looks very modern. But the overall feeling of the machine is not high-end, probably with 18.7 mm thickness of the fuselage also has a relationship, not as thin as the 9 Series. In addition, the fuselage weight also reached 1.65 kg, this weight is more than 13 inches of the same model weighs about one-third, the same type of Lenovo Yoga and Toshiba Kirabook are lighter. Unfortunately, the machine does not have a stand-alone video card or optical drive, so we don't understand why the fuselage is heavier, but it is certain that Samsung Ativ Book 7 is not equipped with a large battery.

However, in terms of interface, Samsung Ativ Book 7 has a more comprehensive performance, with Ethernet interface, three USB interface, an HDMI interface, headphone jack, security lock and an SD card reader. In addition you can see a dedicated interface, you can connect a dedicated VGA adapter, of course, compared to HDMI does not seem to be very practical, completely can be ignored.

Keyboard and Touch pad

We don't know how Samsung did it, but the Ativ Book 7 keyboard design layout is very reasonable, the key area is large enough, especially including "Shift", "Enter" such as the function button, have a very ample area, basically can achieve good blind effect. Even the arrow keys are quite large, in the general pursuit of a small volume of the super, this button is the first to reduce the size of the target. In fact, you will find that the Samsung Ativ Book 7 fuselage still has large free space on both sides, so the keyboard layout of the machine is quite smart.

If there is any shortage of keyboard, that is the key process. Samsung Ativ Book 7 keyboard buttons are very flat, causing the key to too short, many times you will find that the input failure, you need to start over. But the machine is not Samsung's most lightweight notebook, so the keyboard has a full upgrade space, perhaps because the product more pursuit of exquisite appearance style bar. In addition, the keyboard also has backlight function, you can press FN and F10 to adjust the back brightness. In fact, all of the Ativ Book 7 adjustments need to be implemented using FN with another key, such as adjusting the screen brightness or sound.

It is no exaggeration to say that the touch panel of the Samsung Ativ Book 7 is the best experience we have had in our recent evaluation models. It enables smooth two-fingered sliding and scaling operations, and, even better, its single finger tracking function. Although most of the ultra-extreme can do smooth operation, but the actual use of the experience is general; but the Samsung Ativ Book 7 touch panel is not only sensitive, accurate positioning, moving the cursor without any pause effect. In addition, although the use of an all-in-one design, but the touch of the left and right buttons is also very good, in our testing is basically not misoperation.

Display and sound effects

Although Samsung has come up with 3200*1800 pixel-high resolution notebook displays, 1080P Full HD resolution is fine enough for Samsung Ativ Book 7, which has a 13.3-inch screen. The color of this screen is bright, the visual angle is also good, the font and the edge effect of the icon is very delicate. Although the design of the mirror screen can sometimes be viewed from the side of the reflective phenomenon, but the high brightness of 350 lumens to some extent also reduce this situation.

If you want to choose, do you want the sound effect of the notebook small but balanced or large but sharp harsh? In fact, this is the problem we have recently encountered in evaluating hyper-polar. If you choose a relatively balanced sound effect like ours, you may not be able to get larger volume output, as is the case with Samsung Ativ Book 7. Although I like to play jazz on this machine, but the maximum volume is often not loud enough, even if you open the window, the street side of the traffic may be the sound of the notebook drowned, although the sound effect is not distorted or sharp piercing phenomenon. Therefore, an external speaker is the best choice.

Performance and battery life

Samsung Ativ Book 7 is equipped with the core i5-3337u processor of Intel Ivy Bridge, with a frequency of 1.8GHz, with 4GB memory, 128GB solid-state drives, and integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics. Through the PCMark 7, 3DMark and other running division software testing, the machine's performance and other similar models, the overall performance is very good, the other 8 seconds of Windows 8 startup time is also typical.

Samsung Ativ Book 7 contrasts with the mainstream ultra-polar performance

The part that surprises us is the disk performance of Samsung Ativ Book 7, first of all, SSD's write speed seems to be slow, only 137mb/s, but the reading performance is surprisingly high, after many tests finally reached the 626 MB/s average level. In addition, the degree of loading speed is also very fast, the use of online video software or IE10 browser has no cotton phenomenon. After about an hour of music play, the keyboard is still cool, but the bottom fan attachment is slightly warm. In total, Samsung Ativ Book 7 has a better thermal performance, can be comfortably placed on the knees, and fan noise is small, especially compared to the competitive model Toshiba Kirabook.

Samsung Ativ Book 7 vs. mainstream ultra-extreme battery life

Samsung Ativ Book 7 is built with a WH battery, which is officially advertised for about 6.7 hours of endurance. Use the light of daily application for testing, including connecting WiFi, screen brightness remained around 65%, endurance of 5 hours and 2 minutes, this performance in the ultra-extreme product is not bad, but also not outstanding. However, Samsung Ativ Book 7 is not equipped with a larger battery, but the fuselage is biased, which is regrettable, we hope that the future of the Intel Haswell chipset will bring better power performance.

Software and warranty

When you see the full application of the Samsung Ativ Book 7 main screen page, you may realize that this is not a good phenomenon. The machine has a large number of pre-installed applications, including Netflix, impression notes, weather applications and other third-party content, as well as from Samsung's own cameras, players, galleries, software updates, such as a vote content. Also included are some Xbox Live games (Pinball FX, Microsoft Mahjong, Microsoft Solitaire, cutting ropes, minesweeper, etc.), and a plant vs. zombies, but in fact just a purchase link. These lengthy lists are a bit annoying, many of which are redundant; even worse, desktop apps have more pre-installed content, including Beta Norton Antivirus and Samsung's mobile screen-sharing software, which may have some practical value if you use the Galaxy series.

In line with most laptops, Samsung Ativ Book 7 offers a one-year warranty.

Configuration options

In the US market, Samsung Ativ Book 7 offers only one configuration option, the version we tested, with the Intel Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor, 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD, at $1060 (about RMB 6487). It is not yet known whether Samsung plans to upgrade the series to Haswell or add additional configuration options, such as a more high-end Core i7 processor or a 256GB solid-state drive. But from the previous upgrade process of Samsung notebooks, it is not hopeless.

Market competitiveness

In fact, Samsung Ativ Book 7 's time-to-market is a bit awkward at the moment because, as Intel launches the next generation of Haswell processor upgrades, we may see some products with new designs. So unless you are eager to use it, we recommend that you postpone the purchase plan appropriately.

In addition, the market also gradually began to appear some Super high-definition screen, the current Toshiba Kirabook has been listed, with 2560*1440 resolution of the Super High-definition screen. However, the actual effect of this screen has yet to be improved, the perspective is narrow, and not for high resolution to make the appropriate optimization. In addition, as a ultra-thin model, its fan noise, high price is also a daunting aspect. At the same time, HP's Envy TouchSmart 14 will also be upgraded to 3200*1800 's Super HD screen in the near future, but we are not currently aware of specific configuration and price information.

Evaluation Summary

In total, Samsung Ativ Book 7 is a good choice, with its excellent 1080P screens and Core i5 processors, which provide mainstream performance and are reasonably priced, without the latest Haswell platform. It is not only the advantages of a balanced configuration, but also has a good touch pad feel, quiet running effect, high speed hard drive reading speed and excellent display effect.

Of course, some of the small shortcomings are also difficult to avoid, such as the heavier fuselage and peace-facing keyboard. But even so, it has not affected its affordability, at least at this price is still attractive. However, we still advise you to wait for the launch of Haswell new platform model, and in the next few weeks should be able to see other PC manufacturers related actions. Samsung Ativ Book 7 is a cost-effective option only for the moment, but we still want Samsung to be able to add more optional configurations to the machine.

Advantages:

· 1080P HD Display

· Quiet operation, outstanding heat dissipation

· Touch pad Feels good

· Balanced Sound Performance

Disadvantages:

· Heavy body

· Keyboard key is short

· No More configuration Selections

· A lot of bloated pre-installed software