Samsung just took the wraps off its newest Galaxy Book laptop: the Galaxy Book S. And the main highlight of the device is the fact that it’s powered by an ARM processor.
The device is powered by the Snapdragon 8cx compute platform. It’s an always-on, always-connected PC. Offers LTE connectivity and 23 hours of battery life.
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The design of the device is very identical to Microsoft’s Surface Laptop. There isn’t anything standout of the design of the device, and it’s pretty simple for a laptop. But it still has a pretty nice and simple design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiGkOVG73kc
Under the hood, the device comes with 8GB RAM, and up to 512GB of internal storage. Samsung says the new Snapdragon 8cx compute platform on the device will allow for 40% greater CPU performance than the Galaxy Book 2, and 80% greater graphics performance and added memory bandwidth.
Samsung says the device’s battery life will offer up to 23 hours of video playback on one charge which is pretty great. The device features a 13.3-inch FHD TFT display panel and comes with a Fingerprint Scanner for authentication via Windows Hello. It also comes with AKG stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos.
The device starts at $999, and it will be available in Earthy Gold and Mercury Graybeginning shades this September.
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#447942">In reply to rmlounsbury:</a></em></blockquote><p>The key question isn't the raw performance of the processor vs Intel's, but rather its performance running Win32 programs that haven't been ported to ARM.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#447955">In reply to JG1170:</a></em></blockquote><p>Most people buying PCs understand the role that Windows plays as a standard. Part of the value of Windows is knowing that you can run standard Win32 apps if you need to even if you don't run a lot of them today. For a lot of people a computer represents a significant investment and they don't want to suddenly find out down the road that the program they want to run isn't compatible or runs dog slow in emulation.</p><p><br></p><p>But as I've said before, anyone who uses their smartphone just for consumption, emails and other limited activities doesn't need a computer nor do they need a quasi-desktop environment. </p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#447999">In reply to JG1170:</a></em></blockquote><p>Sounds like the same exact scenario when people buy mobile devices. Why iPhones? Because all their friends have one. Then they ask the same sort of uninformed questions concerning which iPhone they should buy. </p><p><br></p><p>But the point is that you don't need to be tech-savvy to understand that standard devices have value. </p>
skane2600
<p>Or you could buy a under-$500 laptop and probably get better performance on real Windows programs.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#447954">In reply to JG1170:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's a laptop, it provides a desktop experience out of the box. What would you need DeX for? Or was this just an off-topic promotion of DeX?</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#447962">In reply to JG1170:</a></em></blockquote><p>Still has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Having said that, characterizing smartphone idioms as "good manners" is very strange IMO. Like most smartphone makers Samsung wishes to have features that differentiate them from the others but I doubt even Samsung believes their smartphones via DeX are going to replace laptops. The fact that they are still offering new laptop designs to the market is very good evidence that they don't consider this a viable scenario.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#448002">In reply to JG1170:</a></em></blockquote><p>Sounds like a very contrived scenario. I think most people who would leave their device alone for days or weeks wouldn't even remember what they were trying to accomplish when they got that phone call. The much more likely scenario is you get off the phone and immediately return to your computing activity. </p><p><br></p><p>One of the weaknesses of smartphones is their tendency to suspend or kill running applications without the least by your leave. It's an understandable feature for a device that has limited battery capacity and has to use power to maintain an RF presence to work as a phone.</p><p><br></p><p>As I've noted before, how difficult it is to install applications on Windows is entirely in the hands of the developer of the application. As you would expect, mobile applications with limited capabilities require less setup than more sophisticated applications and when mobile applications are more powerful setup can end up leaking into the post-install activities.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#447996">In reply to warren:</a></em></blockquote><p>It depends on what "most tested applications" mean. Are they unmodified Win32 applications and if so, which ones? At the end of the day, it only matters to a customer what the performance is for the applications they use.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#448035">In reply to dontbeevil:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, if the physical aspects are more important to you than performance and you operate in an environment where you can access the Internet only via the cell network, than this more expensive device would be preferred.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#448036">In reply to dontbeevil:</a></em></blockquote><p>I think you're talking about two different groups of people. Most people don't own $999+ smartphones. </p>