Samsung is refreshing its Galaxy Book laptop line with a new Galaxy Book S model, packing Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx chip, which promises a sizeable performance boost over last year's effort.
The updated Windows 10 laptop is slated to arrive this fall, starting at $999. The big change is that Snapdragon 8cx processor inside, which should offer 40 percent faster CPU performance than the older Galaxy Book2 model.
We reviewed the Galaxy Book2 last year and found it to be a solid device. Unlike other Windows laptops that use Intel or AMD processors, the Galaxy Book2 opted for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 850 chip. The result was a notebook that offered an impressive 20 hours in battery life, far higher than the competition. Unfortunately, the same model lagged when it came to running certain software programs involving graphics.
The new Galaxy Book S may have resolved some of those issues; the Snapdragon 8cx processor, built with a 7-nanometer manufacturing process, will offer an 80 percent performance boost in graphics over the Galaxy Book2, according to Samsung's claims. Battery life has also been improved, to up to 23 hours on one charge.
Unlike the Galaxy Book2 design, which is a 2-in-1 detachable with a 12-inch screen, the Galaxy Book S is a more conventional clamshell laptop, with a larger panel and overall footprint. Still, it's designed for people on the go. The 13.3-inch laptop sits inside a thin-and-light aluminum case that weighs about 2.1 pounds (0.96 kilogram). In addition to Wi-Fi connectivity, the product comes with a gigabit LTE modem, like the Book2 did.
Other core specs include 8GB of RAM, either 256GB or 512GB of local storage, and an additional microSD slot to add another 1TB of memory. The display is a touch screen with a 1080p native resolution. The laptop will be available in two colors: "Earthy Gold" and "Mercury Gray."
The Galaxy Book S was unveiled as part of Samsung's Unpacked event today in Brooklyn, which also saw the debut of the Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ smartphones; check out PCMag's hands on.