Samsung is bolstering its family of ATIV devices with the newly announced ATIV Tab 3, which it claims to be the thinnest Windows 8 tablet on the market. Weighing just 1.2 pounds and measuring 0.32-inches thin, the ATIV Tab 3 is slightly more compact than Apple’s 0.37-inch 1.4 pound fourth generation iPad. When it ships in August, the Tab 3 will cost $699 and come with a keyboard folio case.
Powered by an Intel Atom Z2760 processor, the ATIV Tab 3 comes with 2GB of RAM, a 10.1-inch 1366 x 768 display and a 720p front-facing camera. Apple’s most recent iPad, however, comes with a sharper 2048 x 1538 9.7-inch touch screen display. Samsung promises that its Windows 8 tablet will boast up to 10 hours of battery life, and the slate comes with 64GB of internal storage space.
Additionally, the Tab 3 comes with SideSync support, just like other devices in Samsung’s ATIV line. This means you can sync the Tab 3 with your Samsung smartphone to run Android on its 10.1-inch display.
Most notably, the ATIV Tab 3 comes preloaded with Microsoft’s Office Home & Student productivity suite, which would otherwise cost $139.99. This news comes just after Microsoft announced at this year’s Computex that all smaller-sized Windows tablets will come with Office for free.
As Microsoft’s Windows 8 PC operating system makes its way to more lightweight, low-cost devices, Windows RT becomes less and less relevant. Samsung is one of several vendors including HP and Toshiba to have canceled plans to manufacture devices based on Microsoft’s ARM-only operating system. Samsung's ATIV Tab 3 is one of several new tablets to run Windows 8, along with Acer's 8-inch Iconia W3 slate-- which also comes with Office for free.
