Samsung Galaxy Book S Laptop Review: Lakefield with initial problems

[Redaktion]

Samsung now also offers its compact Galaxy Book S with an Intel processor. Compared to the ARM model, you get better compatibility with apps, but in return there is no LTE modem and the battery runtimes are also shorter. We checked if there are any other differences between the two models.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-Galaxy-Book-S-Laptop-Review-Lakefield-with-initial-problems.480990.0.html

[joseph]

For 1100 euro, might as well buy LG gram for similar runtime or even a ryzen laptop.

[aaronw]

The thing is, the battery life of LG Gram 14 is 41% better (internet browsing test).

So for the same amount of money, LG Gram has the same weight & size, much better set of ports, much better performance and much better battery life. Why did they both get 85% score? Where is the logic?

[Jesse]

LG Gram 14 wins over this hands down.

I like the move towards passively cooled laptops.  I like the move below 1kg for laptops.

But the price and limitations kill my interest in this model.

[Theo]

No one still got no idea but this is pretty alarming.
I encourage you to read that other review about this exact machine with the same soon-to-be-changed-but-really-stupid-for-now settings of Samsung.
The TDP is lowered, the clock speeds are nowhere near where they should be. And yet even when underclocked new atom cores matches the best arm cores available to test - 8cx / sq1. (Actually a very good cpu going overlooked)
Intel is saying "so you don't want complex cores - just cool and low voltage ones even if slower - we got it now with tremont and especially with lakefield."
Everyone in the industry knew with tiger lake the performance margins would be at least as much as jaguar core era again. But new atoms will be shocking. And lakefields on top of that - they must be thanking MS every day for the approach.

[S.Yu]

Ok, I'm just glad I got a proper, ventilated ICL i7.

The thing is, the battery life of LG Gram 14 is 41% better (internet browsing test).

So for the same amount of money, LG Gram has the same weight & size, much better set of ports, much better performance and much better battery life. Why did they both get 85% score? Where is the logic?

Strange indeed! But the subscores answer your question, chassis(72Wh under 1kg really scared me, there must have been true compromises on the chassis strength), keyboard, and pointing device(these are relatively subjective metrics I realize). And by very thin margins, audio, display, noise, and temperature.
The fanless thing is definitely a thing, some people swear by fanless and don't tolerate the quietest fan, and the LG still did cut corners, and the average of the Samsung is 2% lower, but the weighting of subnotebooks is probably a little deviated from what one generally expects, so the weighted average ends up the same.

[DavidC1]

All in all, the competition just offers much better overall packages for the money.

Seriously? Compatibility is a huge thing. 32-bit mode doesn't have guaranteed compatibility for WoA - you'll find many circumstances where drivers and applications don't work.

Also the Intel device runs significantly cooler than the ARM version.

[_MT_]

Seriously? Compatibility is a huge thing. 32-bit mode doesn't have guaranteed compatibility for WoA - you'll find many circumstances where drivers and applications don't work.

Also the Intel device runs significantly cooler than the ARM version.

I thought "the competition" referred to standard ultrabooks. While Lakefield offers better compatibility than SD, if it indeed requires support at application level to make full use of the CPU and not just OS level, it's not great either. I would rather have an Ice Lake for this kind of money.

[DavidC1]

I thought "the competition" referred to standard ultrabooks. While Lakefield offers better compatibility than SD, if it indeed requires support at application level to make full use of the CPU and not just OS level, it's not great either. I would rather have an Ice Lake for this kind of money.

Not at all from the context of the paragraph. It's clearly against the ARM Galaxy Book S. It's not the first time they said so. Another article by NBC recommends the ARM S. The one released today said Intel version is a "hit and miss".

[_MT_]

Not at all from the context of the paragraph. It's clearly against the ARM Galaxy Book S. It's not the first time they said so. Another article by NBC recommends the ARM S. The one released today said Intel version is a "hit and miss".

Then why are they using plural "packages"? Or why refer to the ARM version as "the competition" since it's the same product, just a different version (that word usually refers to a different manufacturer; not even a different model from the same brand is usually called the competition). Yes, people at NBC sometimes use weird expressions, but I think they meant other ultrabooks (possibly including the ARM version, but certainly not only). I gather that in their opinion, Galaxy Book S with ARM could be the better package for some people. And for others, an ultrabook with Ice Lake might be the better package. This loses some of the advantages of ARM GBS while not really beating ICL ultrabooks. It's neither here nor there. That's how I read it.

[_MT_]

Not at all from the context of the paragraph. It's clearly against the ARM Galaxy Book S. It's not the first time they said so. Another article by NBC recommends the ARM S. The one released today said Intel version is a "hit and miss".

As for the ARM version, they seem hung up on battery life. And LTE. That's what they like about that device and this one doesn't deliver. And if x86 compatibility is a deal breaker for you, then it seems they think an Ice Lake ultrabook is a better package. You're not really getting a much better battery life. You're certainly not getting the performance of ICL. And there are still compatibility issues because of the hybrid design (it's going to run the software, it just might be Atom slow - for Ice Lake money). And I agree. Why would I go with Lakefield and its performance problems if I'm not getting a substantially longer battery life? Passive cooling is attractive, but not enough for me. Sub 1 kg weight isn't critical either. If Intel's hybrid designs are going to be dependent on third party software support, then it's going to be a deal breaker for me. I might just as well wait around for ARM binaries. In my view, the appeal of this device is very narrow (passive cooling + very low weight).

[elmakay]

Yeah... anyone buying this has more money than sense and/or knows nothing about laptops.

The Toshiba Z30-C has upgradeable RAM, SSD, Wifi, better keyboard, a better Cinebench score with the i5 6200U, similar battery life and weighing in at 1.2kg - and can be found for around $200-$250. HP Elite X2 1012 Tablet is in similar territory for both price and performance, and HP make fantastic keyboards, and has USB-C charging and even Thunderbolt 3 if you want that.

There are many laptops and hybrids released over the past few years that do what this does and don't cost over a thousand euros.

[Norbs]

The point most commentators seems to be missing is that this is a passively cooled, fan-less laptop. It is quiet now and it will remain so during its whole lifetime, unless many of those fan-cooled laptops which start off quiet but will get noisier and noisier as they age. Quiet (and quality of display) is more important than performance for many folks.

[joe hill]

I really like this Intel model of the Galaxy Book S .. Except - one cannot boot from the USB port or uSD port. Hence, I cannot do a clean install of Windows, which is incredibly annoying.

My usual start menu has 10 items or so, this laptop has 50. I don't use most of the bloatware on this machine.

Has anyone successfully installed Windows on this laptop?