Samsung Galaxy Book S Intel
Core, blimey!
LAPTOP ❘ £999 from John Lewis www.snipca.com/37648
The Samsung Galaxy Book S Intel is a wafer-thin laptop, measuring 11.8mm at its thickest point. It contains a hybrid Intel Core I5-L16G7 processor, which has been specifically designed to run on highly portable laptops, consisting of one ‘big’ core and four ‘small’ ones.
The big core is the kind that’s found in a normal Intel Core processor, while the other four are based on Intel’s low-power Atom processors, usually reserved for lightweight, more portable laptops. The idea is that the power-hungry main core should be called into action only when it’s required for intensive tasks.
Its focus is on mobility, and weighing in at just 950g, it’s incredibly light
In general use it feels responsive but it was by no means outstanding in our benchmark tests. It’s faster than the Chuwi Herobook Pro+ (see our review, Issue 601) but not by much, and the Chuwi is significantly cheaper. You can also forget about serious gaming. It runs basic games but failed to run some of our more complex tests.
So this laptop hasn’t been designed for intense use. Instead, its focus is on mobility, and weighing in at just 950g, it’s incredibly light. However, it still feels robust enough to withstand the knocks of a daily commute, thanks to its sturdy aluminium alloy chassis.
It has Wi-fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 built in, and also a combination microsd card and 4G SIM slot, letting you choose between expanding the storage or adding a mobile-data connection. With all this focus on mobility, it’s therefore surprising that its battery lasted only a tad under eight hours in our videoplayback test.
Samsung caters for use outdoors by offering a simple way to boost screen brightness quickly. Press the Fn button+o and the screen jumps from its standard peak brightness of around 350cd/ m2 to 600cd/m2.
Overall it’s an impressive screen. Full HD resolution in a screen measuring 13.3in across the diagonal ensures the detail is sharp. Samsung also gets the colour right, covering 95 per cent of the SRGB colour standard.
We’re less positive about the keyboard, which has a mushy feel compared with some we’ve tested recently. This led to occasional missed keystrokes – though you can get around this by adapting your typing style. The touchpad is better, being
SPECIFICATIONS
Intel Core I5-L16G7 processor • 8GB memory • Intel UHD graphics • 13.3in 1920x1080-pixel screen • 512GB UFS storage • Wi-fi 6 • Bluetooth 5.0 • 2x USB-C ports • 1x 3.5mm audio jack • 1x Sim/microsd card slot • Windows 10 Home • 11.8x305x203mm (HXWXD) • 950g • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/37563 a large, glass-coated surface that’s a pleasure to use.
The fingerprint sensor built into the power key works equally well, but there’s no Windows Hello webcam. Nor will this laptop appeal to those wanting to make regular video calls, with an adequate 720p webcam but a microphone that adds echo to your voice.
We were pleasantly surprised by the laptop’s speakers, however, which were clear and fairly powerful, with plenty of volume and enough definition to make music listening a pleasure.
If you’d prefer to use a 3.5mm jack headphones then there’s good news: Samsung found room for only three connectors and that’s one of them. The other two are both USB-C ports, both of which can be used for power delivery, video output and data transfer.
The Galaxy Book S stands out from the crowd thanks to its superlightweight design, though it would be improved by better battery life and keyboard
VERDICT ALTERNATIVE
14 UX425 £941 With an Intel i7 processor, this is a larger and more powerful laptop for r a similar price