Samsung DP700A3D-A01US Pro Reviews

As is the case with most Windows 8 systems, the Samsung Series 7 All-in-One comes with a plethora of pre-installed apps—everything from Netflix and Kindle to Evernote, Skype, and Shark Dash. You'll need to add and remove tiles to set your Windows 8 Start screen to your specifications, but there are a couple of apps from Samsung that hold some appeal. The first, called Quick Starter, comes preinstalled. It aids navigation in the desktop view, adding a toolbar at the top or bottom of the screen that includes, most notably, a button that mimics the Start button from earlier versions of Windows that Microsoft removed from Windows 8. The other, AllShare Play, is available for download via Windows Update. It lets you stream content to other Samsung devices, including the company's smart TVs and smartphones. To sum it up, with the Series 7, Samsung puts a shiny face on an otherwise average mainstream all-in-one. That's not to say the Series 7 is without its charms. While the gesture controls are largely useless on a system this size (or in general), we can see many users moving from Windows 7 or XP to Windows 8 coming to appreciate the Quick Starter app. The number and variety of ports isn't overwhelming and their placement isn't ideal, but you should have everything you need, including both HDMI-in and -out. Plus, the video and audio capabilities are stellar. You're obliged to pay a slight premium for the Samsung's sleek design and HDTV-caliber screen, but that arrangement will be perfectly acceptable to many buyers who are seeking an all-in-one PC for a room in their home that is not a back office.

With the Series 7 All-in-One, Samsung delivers a solid, nice-looking all-in-one PC that has few weaknesses other than as a gaming machine. For everyday standard computing chores, it should do nicely. That said, it would be nice to see options such as a solid-state drive, a discrete graphics card, TV connections, and a Blu-ray drive to pump up performance and fill out the entertainment package.