Apple has set a new performance bar for what's possible using an ARM processor in a laptop with its M1 chip. For Windows 10 laptops, the choice and performance is much more limited, but Samsung just gave us a new, and cheap option in the form of the Galaxy Book Go and Galaxy Book Go 5G.
The silver Galaxy Book Go sports a 14-inch 1080p display and weighs 1.38kg. It runs Windows 10, and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 chip consisting of a Kryo CPU and Adreno GPU. 4GB and 8GB LDDR4X RAM options are offered, as are 64GB and 128GB eUFS storage options. The battery is 42.3Wh, supports 25W USB Type-C fast charging, and Samsung isn't sharing battery life estimates yet unfortunately.
Samsung opted for two USB Type-C ports, a single USB 2.0 port, headphone/mic combo, MicroSD card slot, and a Nano Security slot. There's also a 720p HD webcam, Dolby Atmos speakers, 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.1, and optional LTE (Snapdragon X15 LTE modem).
If you want the Galaxy Book Go 5G, then expect the same spec options, but with one exception. Samsung switches out the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 for a Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G, which will have an impact on the price, but also the battery performance assuming it uses the same 42.3Wh battery as the Wi-Fi version.
The Galaxy Book Go certainly isn't trying to compete with Apple's M1 laptops, and that's reflected in the price. The cheapest M1 MacBook you can get is the MacBook Air starting at $899. The cheapest Galaxy Book Go on the other hand is $349, which will get you the base Wi-Fi spec including 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Samsung says the Wi-Fi version will be available this month, but the 5G version won't arrive until later this year and a price hasn't been announced yet.