Hardware

Samsung is no stranger to the , but this model is its first attempt at a Windows-based slate. The Series 7 Slate benefits from Samsung's overall design experience; at 0.51 inch thick, the Series 7 Slate is the thinnest of the six Windows 7 tablets we've tested to date. Nevertheless, a number of recent Android tablets are thinner, as is the third-generation (at 0.37 inch).

Thanks to its dual-core 1.6GHz Core i5 CPU and 1GB of graphics memory, Samsung's Series 7 Slate is virtually an ultraportable with the keyboard chopped off. The machine comes with a generous 4GB of RAM, four times what you'd find in a typical Android tablet, and twice what the other Windows models we've seen offer. It also has either a 64GB or a 128GB solid-state drive (we tested the 64GB version).

The 11.6-inch IPS display supports 1366-by-768-pixel resolution. Viewing angles are expansive, and our panel of judges gave high marks to the color and contrast in our display testing. The 16:9 aspect ratio on a screen of this size display does seem oddly wide, and (conversely) unusually tall and thin in portrait mode.

The touchscreen's responsiveness is great. In my hands-on testing, I experienced no missed taps; and with the larger screen, I could expand the onscreen Windows keyboard to near-touch-typable size. The tablet instantly recognized my swipes and flicks.