The Galaxy Book S, a new ultralight laptop powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx processor was announced by Samsung just a few days ago at the Samsung Unpacked Event 2019.
The Galaxy Book S is a device that looks to promise the best of both worlds by marrying the battery life and LTE data of a smartphone with the power and feature set of a full Windows 10 laptop.
Samsung’s new always-connected PC features Microsoft’s Windows 10 OS and emphasizes that its Arm-powered computers compete against mainstream x86-based laptops in terms of performance and capabilities. Like other Snapdragon-based Windows machines, Samsung is aiming for long battery lifetimes here, with the new Galaxy Book S rated to work for up to 23 hours on a single charge.
The Samsung Galaxy Book S has a 13.3-inch Full-HD LCD featuring a 10-point multi-touch system and a 16:9 aspect ratio. This is different from last year’s Galaxy Book2 which used a 12-inch Super AMOLED display featuring a 2160×1440 resolution and a 3:2 aspect ratio. Unlike last year’s mobile PC, the new one is a laptop and not a convertible. Meaning it cannot be used as a tablet.
The 8cx is Qualcomm’s 7-nanometer chip designed for PCs, and Samsung says that this version of the Galaxy Book should have “40 percent greater CPU performance, 80 percent greater graphics performance, and added memory bandwidth” compared to the Galaxy Book 2.
When it comes to wireless connectivity, the Samsung Galaxy Book S includes Snapdragon X20 LTE modem (Cat 18, 5CA, 4×4 MIMO, depending on the market and operator), 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.0. The PC’s wired connectivity department is limited to USB Type-C that is used for data and charging.
When it comes to imaging and multimedia capabilities, the Galaxy Book S has a 720p webcam, a built-in microphone as well as Dolby Atmos-badged stereo speakers co-designed with AKG. The laptop also has a Windows Hello-compatible fingerprint reader and is also fanless.
Interestingly, it features a traditional clamshell design, which is different from the 2-in-1 stylings of the Galaxy Book and Galaxy Book 2.
Samsung kept things pretty simple with the Galaxy Book S. There’s only a single USB-C port on the right edge, while another USB-C slot and a headphone jack are all you’ll find on the left. A SIM card slot that also has a spot for a microSD card is tucked under this pair of ports. This tray is where your SIM is connected to an LTE network, which is one of the best things about a Snapdragon-powered laptop.
The Book S supports Gigabit LTE and instant-wake and weighs just a little over two pounds. It comes with either 256GB or 512GB of storage, expandable up to 1TB.
It’ll be available starting at $999 this September in “select markets”, and will come in pink and gray.
Here are the basic specs of the Galaxy Book S:
Display: 13.3’’ FHD TFT (16:9) Touch: 10-point multi-touch screen
Dimensions: 305.2 x 203.2 x 6.2-11.8 mm, 0.96 kg
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx, 7nm 64-bit Octa-core processor (Max. 2.84 GHz + 1.8GHz)
RAM: Memory 8GB RAM (LPDDR4X),
Storage: 256 / 512GB+ microSD slot (up to 1TB)
Camera: 720p HD
Battery: 42Wh, up to 23 hours video playback
Other features: Gigabit LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, fingerprint sensor, Dolby Atmos, Windows Hello support
