Samsung Ativ Q

The Samsung Ativ Q along with the Ativ Book Plus and Ativ Book 9 Lite are now available for pre-order in the UK. They dropped in Germany earlier this week. With the Ativ Q’s pre-order release comes a finalized list of specs and other features that will come with the much-anticipated device.

When I last wrote about the Samsung Ativ Q, I believed that it would be a high-end device whose price would put it out of the reach of the average consumer. Sure enough, the pre-order price of the Ativ Q is €1599, which is a little over $2000 USD. The price in the UK is £1299, which is nearly as much. While the device has yet to be made available in the US, it’s a fair bet it will be around $2000.

Keeping that price in mind, let’s take a look at the specs. The display sounds impressive, first of all, boasting a 3200X1800 resolution. Its processor is an Intel Core i5 1.6 GHz, it has 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD Hard drive, WiFi and LAN, a Webcam, and Integrated Graphics. One of our readers dreaded that the 4GB of RAM seen on the sample models would end up being in the final product, and it seems that he was right.

In fact, in a phenomenon I can only call ‘curious,’ the Ativ Book Plus also comes with a mere 4GB of RAM. While it is certainly enough RAM to run Windows 8 and many applications, 4GB has become the standard in most laptops. While Samsung seems determined to capture more of the professional market (at that price, this is who they’re aiming for), it seems counter-productive to cheap out on the RAM.

The primary selling point on the tablet is the dual OS. Being able to pin Android Apps to the Start Menu and run them as if they were a native program is a pretty big advantage to people who are used to the Android OS. As a side note, for some reason people are calling this a “dual boot” system, but that is incorrect. “Dual boot” implies that it can boot into either Windows or Android, when in reality it simply emulates the Android interface when running its Apps.

Devices like this are a pretty clear attempt to continue selling Windows 8 devices by offering access to a more developed App ecosystem. One big drawback to Windows 8 is the fairly bland offering of native Apps. There are currently nearly 800,000 Android Apps, while Windows 8 just recently topped 100,000.

About the author: Justin David View all posts by Justin David

A tech-loving blogger from Central California who loves innovation, intuitive design, and the entrepreneur spirit. When not writing about the newest gadgets and productivity tools, he is spending time with his family, probably by teaching his 3-year-old how to use his iPad to learn the alphabet.

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