Dell has revamped the Venue 11 Pro with the new Venue 11 Pro 7000 Series tablet, but don’t write this off as a refresh.

The new Venue tablet is one of the first with Intel’s new Core M processor, allowing slimmer designs with better performance than you might find in a more limited Atom-based Windows tablet. The Venue 11 Pro 7000 Series is so good, in fact, that Dell hopes to take on Microsoft in education, healthcare, and retail verticals, areas where the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 ($779.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) has done quite well. I was shown the new tablet recently; here are my first impressions.

Updated Hardware
The Venue 11 Pro 7000 Series tablet has a slimmer, fanless design thanks to its Intel Core M 5Y70 processor, one of Intel’s new processors designed to offer ultrabook performance without the cooling demands that you would see with a Core i3 or Core i5 chip. This allows a fanless design than is thinner, and the 11-inch tablet sure is slim—under 11mm thick. I haven’t had time to run our usual benchmark tests, but what I’ve seen of the Core M processors suggests performance that is faster and more capable than cheaper Atom chips, which should be perfect for the sort of basic productivity and task-specific uses for which this tablet will be used.

Also packed inside is 4GB of RAM and a solid state drive (configurable with either 64GB or 128GB capacity). Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi keeps you online, and Bluetooth 4.0 is available (with NFC pairing) for pairing wireless accessories. WiDi and Miracast support let you beam content over to properly equipped TVs and displays. Mobile broadband is also available, but will cost extra depending upon your service provider.

The 11-inch tablet has only a 10.8-inch display, but the 1,920-by-1,080 IPS display looks very good, and the bezels around the display work well with the swiping gestures in Windows 8. The system is available with either Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.1 Pro, and is aimed largely at vertical markets. On the front is a 2-megapixel webcam, with an 8-megapixel camera in back. On the edges of the tablet are ports for USB 3.0, micro USB, micro HDMI, and a full size SD card slot.

Accessories Galore
The tablet is also available with all sorts of accessories. Some are basic tablet accessories, which will surely appeal to standard business users, like Active Stylus support, or the Slim Keyboard Cover, which is very much like Microsoft’s Type Cover keyboard —the keyboard doubles as a screen cover, docks securely thanks to a magnetic latch, and offers a measure of productivity on the go. A back flap on the cover also folds up to prop up the tablet so you don’t have to hold it.

For those more used to laptops, there’s also a docking clamshell keyboard that offers a full chiclet keyboard and touchpad, but also adds a secondary battery, which Dell claims will add up to 10 hours to the battery life. For desktop users, there’s also a desktop tablet dock, which adds several full size ports, like USB, HDMI and DisplayPort, and Gigabit Ethernet. Through those two display outputs you can run an additional two displays, using the little tablet for a full desktop experience. Through the HDMI port, you can also run a single display at up to 4K resolution.

For retailers, there’s the Mobile Payment Cover, which has built-in hardware for swiping credit cards and reading barcodes, allowing you to ring up customers anywhere in the store. You can attach a hand strap for more portability or use the built-in VESA mounting holes to attach it to a Point-of-Sale docking station. The credit card stuff is all handled by VeriFone, a well-known name in credit authentication, but if you ever need support for the device you also get Dell’s dedicated customer service (in partnership with VeriFone) along with tech support for the tablet and cover.

It’s not all about sales, either. Dell also offers a special case for healthcare environments. The white plastic case is safe to scrub with common sanitation chemicals and then simply wipe down. All of the ports are covered and protected from various fluids and materials, and the screen cover works with latex-gloved hands.

The Dell Venue 11 Pro 7000 Series is available now(Opens in a new window) with a starting price of $799 for the base model, bundled with stylus and keyboard cover.