While Apple fans are still waiting for a new Mac, Samsung fans have just been shown the new high-end desktop from the South Korean company, known as the “ArtPC Pulse.”
The ArtPC Pulse was revealed via Amazon listings, and has been liked to the PC version of the Apple Mac Pro. This is particularly true of the ports, with four USB Type-A ports, one USB Type-C port, an audio jack, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, an SD card reader, and a power connector. The presence of this plug suggests that there is an internal power supply to save floor space, a feature also seen on the Mac Pro.
Samsung experimenting with Pulse PCs
The Pulse has a 360-degree speaker on its top layer, made by Harmon Kardon. This has been taken as a sign that the Pulse is being marketed as an entertainment PC.
Another sign is the choice of processors. Both Pulse models have quad-core Skylake Core i5-6400 and 17-6700 CPUs, which are solid but not pushing the envelope in terms of performance.
Luckily this is also reflected in the pricing. The base model costs $1,200 and ships with an i5 processor, while the high-end i7 model costs $1,600.
The Core i5 Pulse has 8GB of DDR4 RAM and a 256GB NVMe SSD, while the premium version boasts 16GB of RAM and a separate 1TB 5400RPM HDD for more storage space.
Expansion modules will also be offered
Both of the new PCs have a 2GB Radeon RX 460 GPU, an entry-level graphics card. It should be able to handle 1080p gaming, but will most likely struggle with 4K and VR.
The Pulse PCs come with Microsoft “Signature Edition” PC, so there are fewer pre-installed apps than on the standard version of Windows 10. There will also be “expansion modules” on offer so you can build your ideal machine, but it’s not clear what they might contain at this point.
Samsung is one of a number of manufacturers experimenting with PCs. HP has made a speaker-cum-PC known as the Pavilion Wave as well.
Pre-orders for the Pulse are now open, and the machines will go on sale properly on October 28.
