High-end tablet will be available for a cool $1,199.99.
With the October 26 launch of Windows 8 edging closer, Samsung has revealed the hardware it'll launch alongside the new operating system.
The 'Smart PC' lineup includes a 13-inch Series 5 Ultra Touch Windows 8 ultrabook. The device features a 1366x768 display, 500GB hard drive with 24GB of ExpressCache, 4GB of RAM, as well as being powered by a Core i3 processor that can be upgraded to a Core i5 for $50.
The South Korean company will also release two Windows 8-powered tablets for the OS -- the Avit Smart PC 500T and 700T. Each model have a 11.6-inch display, with the former boasting a 64GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM and an Atom Z2760 system-on-chip. The 700T, meanwhile, runs on a Core i5 processor, in addition to boasting 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM.
The 500T will be available for $749.99 with a keyboard, while the price without a keyboard is $649.99. The 700T will retail for $1,199.99.
The hardware will become available on Windows 8's October 26 release.
The MSRP for each product is as follows:
· Samsung ATIV Smart PC 500T = $749.99
· Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T = $1,199.99
· Samsung Series 5 Ultra Touch: Intel Core i3: $809.99; Intel Core i5: $859.99
· Samsung Series 7 All-In-One: 27-inch: $1,699.99; 23.6-inch: $1,099.99
· Samsung Series 5 All-In-One: $799.99
· Samsung Series 7 Notebook: $1,099.99
· Samsung Series 9 Premium Ultrabook: Starting at $1,299.99
I don't know... I think high margins are coming back in general, to be honest. If you look at Amazon certain products aren't even cheap anymore. Especially with our obsession with the "new".
Quality pieces of technology we usually talk about(Computer industry perhaps), like Lenovo ThinkPad series or some sort of Apple products cant be as cheap as the other cheap products although some parts are equal but some people like the feeling of these things and how die-hard they are..., IMO.
Heavily discounted my ass. For an i7 2600 with 8GB of RAM, 2TB HDD and a Radeon 6570, it'll set you back $1300 here.
I could build that same machine for what, $824?
That's still a markup of $476, minus shipping, manufacturing other things per machine of roughly $50-100 (probably less since shipped in bulk) and it's still marked up by more than $300.
Hell, I'd be happy to make a cool $50 per machine. If I'm selling thousands of them that adds up.
Wait.... Does nobody notice the stolen iStockPhoto images in the pictures?
Granted it's more computer than an IPad and thus far more capable, but I wonder if there will be as big a demand--possibly in businesses, like hospitals, but . . . I don't know . . .
+1
I am still waiting on a tablet with AMD's new A10 APU to replace my HP TM2T w/C2Duo and AMD 4550.
After seeing the Surface RT's pricing today, I'm almost certain the Surface Pro will come in more expensive than we were counting on. With the RT ranging from $500 to $700 I'd be suprised of the Pro was less than $1000, at least for the 128GB option which is basically a necessity running the full Windows OS. Taking into account how much easier the 700T will be to use in laptop mode with a transformer style keyboard as opposed to a smart-cover type, it seems to me much more worth the $200 or less difference we'll likely see compared to the Surface pro.
The lowest I can possibly see the Pro is $800 64GB bare, $900 128GB bare/64GB w/cover, $1000 128GB w/cover, and I would be stunned if they hit that. I would expect $100 to be added to each of those prices, meaning there is only a $100 difference between the Pro 128GB w/cover and the 700t. And that $100 seems very worthwhile for a ~3 month sooner launch and a much better keyboard in laptop mode IMO.
After seeing the Surface RT's pricing today, I'm almost certain the Surface Pro will come in more expensive than we were counting on. With the RT ranging from $500 to $700 I'd be suprised of the Pro was less than $1000, at least for the 128GB option which is basically a necessity running the full Windows OS. Taking into account how much easier the 700T will be to use in laptop mode with a transformer style keyboard as opposed to a smart-cover type, it seems to me much more worth the $200 or less difference we'll likely see compared to the Surface pro.
The lowest I can possibly see the Pro is $800 64GB bare, $900 128GB bare/64GB w/cover, $1000 128GB w/cover, and I would be stunned if they hit that. I would expect $100 to be added to each of those prices, meaning there is only a $100 difference between the Pro 128GB w/cover and the 700t. And that $100 seems very worthwhile for a ~3 month sooner launch and a much better keyboard in laptop mode IMO.
The $1200 model isn't a tablet like the iPad. It's a PC in tablet form factor. The CPU will run circles around any iOS or Android device, it has 4 GB of RAM, and the 128 GB SSD is probably on SATA3 with ~500 MB/s transfer rates.
For a PC it seems overpriced too. But keep in mind it's been shoved into a tablet form factor which weighs less than 2 lbs. I'm possibly in the market for one because I've gotten sick of waiting for regular tablet makers to come out with bigger screens. There are some applications where you simply cannot move the screen closer to your eyes (displaying sheet music in my case), and the tiny 10" screens are simply inadequate. 11.6" is borderline (I used to use a 12.1" tablet PC, which was small but acceptable).
If you ever start a business expecting to survive on 5% margins, good luck! 10% is a more realistic minimum, and the average for all industries is around 15%. There are a few industries which have margins smaller than 10%, but they're usually oversupplied, extremely competitive, or in contraction (e.g. the hard drive industry which saw all the manufacturers merge into Seagate, WD, and Toshiba because of the extremely thin margins).