Samsung Ativ Book 7 review: The look is fine; the feel is not

Benchmarks are the best way to gauge a notebook’s prowess with applications such as office suites, photo and video editors, video players, games, and the like. Aesthetics are another important consideration, because you'll likely be staring at the thing for the next several years. By those measures, Samsung’s $1060 Ativ Book 7 Ultrabook (model NP740U3E-K01UB) is a fine machine. But a notebook must also feel good in your hands—unless you rely on dictation software, you have no other way to use it. And on that score, I found this laptop a major disappointment. ROBERT CARDINSamsung Ativ Book 7 is pretty enough to look at, but actually using it can be problematic for touch-typists. The Ativ Book 7 has a gorgeous brushed-aluminum finish. But if you wear a watch with a metal wristband, take it off before you lay hands on this computer’s keyboard. The noise produced as one metal scrapes the other is enough to curdle a glass of milk into cottage cheese. Reliance on integrated graphics doomed the Ativ Book 7's gaming performance. After my ears recovered from the horror, I once again laid my hands on the home row of the Chiclet-style keyboard. Such shallow-travel keyboards are common among Ultrabooks—they’re practically a necessity to achieve the required thinness—and I’ve touch-typed on more than my fair share of them. But the keys on the Ativ Book 7 travel such a short distance and deliver so little tactile feedback that I found myself constantly making typos. To read this... Continue reading at 'PC World'

[ PC World | 2013-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One in six children doesn't read a book a month

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 15:18 One in six children do not read a single book per month, according to a new survey by the National Literacy Trust. The research suggested the United Kingdom is polarised between those who do not read and the one in 10 children... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Grant appointed World Book Day director

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 19/08/2011 - 12:03 World Book Day has appointed Kirsten Grant as director, with Cathy Schofield stepping down from her position as co-ordinator which she has held since October 2000. Grant, who was previously Puffin marketing and campaigns... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Housman study to Union Books

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 11:42 Union Books editorial director Rosalind Porter has bought a book about poet A E Housman by Peter Parker, author of The Last Veteran. Porter bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from David Miller at Rogers,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book trade escapes effects of the riots

Written By: Benedicte Page and Philip Stone Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 15:38 The book trade’s TCM sales showed another big year on year drop last week, but the regional breakdown of the Nielsen BookScan figures suggests the nationwide riots were unlikely to be the major factor,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How the Chinese edition of my book about the periodic table got such a risqué cover.

I've been lucky enough to have my book published in a few countries now, and despite the universal subject matter—the periodic table—each country has had a different take on it. Some publishers merely tweaked the book: The British, for instance, re-imagined the cover. More drastically, the... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-book buyers expect discounts, but do buy more

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book sales slump £1m in riot-riddled week

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 16/08/2011 - 16:03 Spending on printed books slumped £1.1m last week, as the UK riots caused retailers to shut stores early and the public to avoid the high street. Although bookshops remained largely unscathed during the rioting, spending... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers "lax" on physical quality of books - Daunt

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sainsbury's signs exclusive deal to sell Joan Collins book

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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SoA in royalties row with Beautiful Books

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Brookes brokers romantic two-book deal

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British Library launches E-Book Treasures for iPad

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple's Device Dominance Drives E-book Price-fixing Lawsuit

A class-action lawsuit accuses Apple of working with publishers to raise the cost of ebooks. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Poet Laureate selects third Xmas poetry book

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book chains in talks with police to protect stores

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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July retail growth "modest", amid poor book market

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From "Most Effective Digital Mag Brands" to "7 Magazine Web Sites That Suck"

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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gallic to open Belgravia Books next month

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 09/08/2011 - 13:45 An independent bookshop to be run by an indie publisher will host an interactive website and offer home delivery when it opens in London next month. Belgravia Books, launched by publisher Gallic Books, will first welcome... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media Cache: After Much Ado, a Google Book Deal in France

Could the Internet giant's deal with Hachette Livre clear a path for a deal to settle longstanding litigation in the United States? Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Baltimore Sun | 2011-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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