Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled its brand new “Slate PC Series 7,” the combination of a tablet and a laptop.

The Samsung’s latest PC, running Microsoft’s Windows operating system, offers the key functions of tablet PCs such as e-books and mobile applications, the tech giant said.

“The Slate PC reflects the consumer demands for a device that puts together the benefits of tablets and laptops,” Samsung’s executive vice president Nam Seong-woo said during a media event at the company’s headquarters in southern Seoul.

“This is a portable product with full Windows functionality,” added James Woo Kim, CEO of Microsoft Korea.

The PC supports finger swipes and taps, an optional dock and keyboard and a stylus to write on the screen, while it offers Microsoft Word and other Windows programs at the same time.

Samsung has added a “launcher app” that a user can populate with his favorite apps for quick and easy access.

The device includes a 400 nit, 11.6-inch capacitive panel, Intel’s 1.6GHz Core i5 CPU with integrated graphics and 4GB of RAM. But it weighs just 860 grams, and is 12.9 millimeters thick.

Samsung’s unique “fast start” technology reduces its boot-up time to 15 seconds, while it takes just two seconds to active the PC from sleep mode.

The PC is priced here at 1.79 million won ($1,602).

By Lee Ji-yoon  (jylee@heraldcorp.com)