Samsung Notebook 7 Spin
performance you’d see in a system with a discrete graphics chip—and indeed, it doesn’t.
The Spin’s test results tell the tale, essentially running even with other quad-core systems with integrated graphics, and only moderately outpacing the dual-core Vivobook 5. Blowing all those systems out of the water are the (considerably bigger and pricier) Lenovo Yoga 720 and Samsung Notebook 9 Pro, which boast discrete Geforce and Radeon cores, respectively.
BATTERY LIFE
The Notebook 7 Spin’s benchmark results may not be quite as fast as its 8th-gen quad-core competitors, but it can certainly outlast them.
We test laptop batteries by looping a 4K video with the display brightness set to about 250 nits and the volume on halfway. The Spin’s 43WHR battery lasted (on average) 468 minutes, or about 7.8 hours, a figure that outstrips the peppier Inspiron 13 5000’s time by more than two hours. Sound like we’ve got a case of the tortoise and the hare (although calling the Notebook 7 Spin a tortoise isn’t exactly fair).
Incidentally, the two laptops in our comparison that beat the Spin’s battery life score benefit from their roomier shells and battery capacity.
BOTTOM LINE
Like we said before, speed isn’t everything, and indeed, a wicked-fast ultrabook with a dead battery won’t do you any good at all. So while the Samsung Notebook 7 Spin isn’t the fastest 2-in-1 convertible on the block, it boasts an enticing combination of solid quad-core performance and impressive battery life, all in a reasonably small and affordable package.
PROS
• Gorgeous touch display with HDR support • Sensitive ‘far-field’ microphone
• Solid quad-core performance
CONS
• Performance slightly lags that of similar laptops • Muddy VGA webcam
BOTTOM LINE
While the Samsung Notebook 7 Spin isn’t the fastest 2-in-1 convertible on the block, it boasts an enticing combination of solid quad-core performance and impressive battery life, all in a reasonably small and affordable package.
$900