Samsung launches 12.2-inch tablets to replace notebooks

Just when the PC industry thought things couldn’t get any worse, Samsung has gone and released a 12.2-inch tablet or two designed specifically to be used instead of a notebook computer.

The Galaxy NotePRO, launched here at CES in Las Vegas, is the biggest Galaxy Note tablet yet, capable of displaying four separate apps (or four views of the same app) simultaneously on its massive 12.2-inch, 2560x1600 pixel screen. That makes it a serious contender for productivity apps on the go.

Where previous, smaller tablets like the 10.1-inch or the 8-inch Galaxy Note models might have had the unintendedconsequence of delaying the purchase of a notebook PC upgrade, this is the first Samsung tablet to be expressly designed to replace a notebook, at least for lightweight applications. Samsung just needs to release a decent keyboard cover for it, and you could leave your laptop at home.

It’s the very thing Apple is rumoured to be doing later this year, when (according to various rumours) it’s expected to replace its smaller MacBook Air with a large-screened iPad Air. The difference of course is that the NotePRO runs Android and has a stylus.

Samsung also launched three other premium tablets at CES: the 8.4-inch, 10.1-inch and 12.2-inch TabPROs, which have the look and feel of a NotePRO (replete with the leather-look backs) but lack the nifty stylus.

Given how great a stylus could be on a 12.2-inch, 2560x1600 pixel screen - you could conceivably do some very nice Photoshopping, with the right software - I would be heading straight for the NotePRO rather than the 12.2-inch version of the TabPRO. And it seems Samsung Australia shares that thinking: they’re not going to bother releasing the 12.2-inch version of the TabPRO in Australia, figuring people will want the stylus.

There’s no word yet on exact pricing or availability. WiFi-only variants will come first, followed quickly by LTE versions. On top of the impressive screen size and resolution, impressive specs for the NotePRO include: 750 gram total weight (or 3 grams more for the LTE model); an 1.9/1.3 octa-core GHz processor on the WiFi model, and a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor on the LTE model; an 8 megapixel rear camera with a 2 megapixel front camera; Android 4.4 (KitKat); MIMO WiFi; 3GB of RAM and either 32 or 64 gigabytes of storage, depending on how much you spend.