Samsung’s Galaxy Book2 is the newest addition to ARM-PC Family
While it’s likely fair to say that ARM-based Windows PCs haven’t caught on in a big way, that doesn’t mean that they are going to go the way of the Dodo. Samsung clearly sees the benefit with this type of a device and is announcing the Galaxy Book2.
Yes, it is Book2, not Book 2, and the always-connected PC features a Snapdragon 850 under the 12in 2160×1440 display, with 4GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, two USB-C ports, microSD. 3.55 headphone jack, fingerprint sensor and battery life of up to 20hrs. Notably, Samsung says this battery life is with Windows 10 in S Mode.
Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
The device does not come cheap and starts at $999, this is very much a premium PC running a Snapdragon chip; the big question will be the performance as the previous generation WOA devices were a bit slow with the older Snapdragon 835. The device becomes available on November 2nd and can be purchased at AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon stores.
The device will also utilize Samsung’s S Pen, that is included in the box, to take advantage of Windows 10’s inking support. Further, the keyboard is included as well which means even though $999 is not cheap, it is comparable to an entry-level Surface Pro 6.
And as you can guess from where this device will be sold, it does feature LTE connectivity.
The only question that matters with this device is the performance of the CPU. If the 850 is able to keep it on par with the comparable Intel chip, this will be a huge win for Microsoft as it looks for options for its hardware other than Intel.
Conversation 27 comments
-
dontbe evil
<p>nice to see more ARM Windows 2in1 coming</p>
-
skane2600
<p>IMO, once you get beyond enthusiasts and technical people, ARM is unknown. Average users look at price, performance, and appearance. They don't care about the underlying technology. </p>
-
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#354731">In reply to wright_is:</a></em></blockquote><p>Unless those "small range of applications" are exclusively the UWP version of MS Office apps, they won't run on Windows S. LoB apps or standard productivity programs based on UWP are extremely rare. </p><p><br></p><p>They'd have the option of upgrading to Windows 10 Pro which would allow them to run many 32-bit legacy applications and no 64-bit legacy applications. That's a lot of trouble to go to for a still limited solution when they could just go out and buy a laptop that does it all "out of the box" for less money. </p>
-
PeterC
<p>I don’t see how Qualcomm will catch Apple up in chip capability. Looking at the 850 versus A12 stats is sobering. Unless MS can tune Win ARM to Qualcomm chips extremely quickly and overcome OS overhead they’re toast in performance terms, but that still requires Qualcomm to really speed up their design/development/manufacture schedule…. and Apple aren’t standing still and have a chip road map with iOS embedded into its chip design.</p><p><br></p><p>Anyways lovely Samsung hardware – performs slowly – and does It all day! </p><p><br></p><p>Why haven’t they used their own chips? Does it still relate to modem patents held by Qualcomm for the USA territory?</p>