Samsung Galaxy Book Go Review
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Book Go a upkeep Windows machine riddled with problems. While information technology may have a squeamish look to it, everything else is subpar, including the performance. The Galaxy Book Become feels sluggish in the real globe, its display is very dim and doesn't feel well fabricated. It'southward but worth a buy if yous're drastic for Windows at a upkeep price.
Pros
- Proficient-looking silver beat out
- Relatively tactile keyboard
- Lightweight
Cons
- Chronically slow
- Dim display
Availability
- Uk RRP: £399
- U.s. RRP: $349
Central Features
- Lightweight Weighing only 1.38kg, the Galaxy Book Go is a good option for those wanting something portable.
- Excellent battery life It'due south capable of lasting two working days or 13 and a half hours on a single accuse.
- Legacy and current ports Plenty of good ports on offer besides, including USB-C, Micro-SD and USB-A.
Introduction
The Samsung Milky way Book Go looks like a terrific laptop deal on paper, offering the freedom of Windows in a portable system for as petty as £399/$349.
Taking a leaf out of the Surface Laptop Go'due south book, it looks like Samsung is hoping to disrupt the Chromebook market place by offering a budget-friendly alternative to the hordes of ChromeOS portables.
This Samsung Galaxy Book Go review unit of measurement I've got features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c, a similar bit to the one inside the Acer Chromebook Spin 513. Alongside this comes 4GB of DDR4 RAM (can be upgraded with more than expensive configuration) and a 128GB SSD, which trumps Acer's Chromebook by double.
Just while the specs expect neat on the surface, the Samsung Milky way Volume Go is a perfect instance of why you shouldn't gauge a book by its cover, with an underwhelming operation and a dim display pain its chances of condign 1 of our best upkeep laptop recommendations.
Design and keyboard
- Silver shell looks business grade
- Outer casing does experience cheap
- Decent ports and a relatively tactile keyboard
The Samsung Milky way Book Become sports a squeamish-looking argent beat that could, from a distance, wait similar a MacBook Air M1, or a significantly more expensive ultrabook. Merely this illusion soon disappears when you actually start using the laptop.
During testing, I constitute Samsung's portable feels much rougher and slightly cheaper compared to the smooth terminate of the Spin 513. This is a shame, considering the remainder of what'due south on offering. It has decently thin bezels and a weight of 1.38kg, which makes it easy to transport around.
The Galaxy Volume Go isn't a convertible machine and it doesn't have a touchscreen. You lot tin at least push the screen down then it lays entirely flat, offering a tad bit more flexibility than the bulk of clamshell designs.
The use of an Arm CPU, which doesn't emanate as much heat equally the usual suspects from Intel and AMD, also means less cooling is needed. This enables Samsung to keep the laptop's profile adequately slim.
Despite this, the Get has a reasonable selection of ports. On the left, you'll find a headphone jack, Micro SD card reader and a Type-C port for charging, while on the correct there'south another Type-C, USB-A for connecting hard drives or USB sticks, a security slot, and intriguingly, a SIM card slot. Popping in a SIM card with a data plan will enable you to apply an LTE connection for internet browsing abroad from the Wi-Fi router.
Samsung's speakers piece of work for basic tasks, only I establish they don't handle the peak cease very well at high volumes, with some distortion creeping in. The fact they're mounted directly downwards with ii grilles tin mean sound is directly affected past the surface that the laptop is placed upon. Put information technology on a blanket or duvet, and the audio quickly becomes muffled.
The keyboard is relatively tactile and quiet, but in that location isn't a fingerprint reader and information technology isn't backlit which could be an consequence for students who programme to use information technology in dim lecture halls.
Samsung has provided a standard-issue 720p webcam for video calls, and this can also piece of work with Windows Hullo. There are some function buttons handy in club to increase and subtract screen effulgence, to enable users to connect to wireless displays or play and pause video.
A redeeming feature in the design of the Galaxy Volume Get is its large trackpad, which provided smooth tracking and rather business firm merely tactile buttons when pressing down.
Display
- 1080p resolution is great for casual viewing
- Flat colours diminish video quality
- Dim brandish makes it unsuitable for outdoor use
The Galaxy Book Go comes with a 14-inch 1080p panel that offers mediocre performance, at best. A quoted effulgence of 150 nits seems very low for a laptop this price, with most laptops aiming for 300 nits at least.
With real globe use I found it doesn't provide half equally good of a viewing feel as other similarly priced machines I've reviewed.
It does look somewhat precipitous, just subdued colours means that it looks an awful lot flatter than other displays at this price. If desire a laptop for casual Netflix or Disney Plus binging, then you're better off looking elsewhere,
The fact it's an anti-glare panel looks to be the only saving grace, but it'south however going to exist difficult viewing the screen when outside on a bright 24-hour interval sue to the low brightness.
Performance
- Snapdragon 7c provides slow performance on Windows
- Arm-based Windows suffers from compatibility bug
- SSD feels comparatively sluggish to competitors
The Galaxy Book Become'south chief effect is its functioning power. With real-world use I found the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c and on-lath Adreno 618 graphics combine to create something chronically slow.
| Samsung Galaxy Book Become | Acer Chromebook Spin 513 | Microsoft Surface Laptop Go | |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c | Intel Cadre i5-1035G1 |
| Geekbench five Single Core | 525 | 536 | 1205 |
| Geekbench five Multi Core | 1652 | 1574 | 4406 |
With a clock speed of ii.55 GHz, the 7c is by no means a slow processor for a laptop at this price, and benchmark results were comparable to Acer's Spin 513, every bit they both run the same chip.
But in the existent world, Acer's laptop felt noticeably snappier than the Galaxy Book Go. Opening even a handful of Chrome tabs acquired a noticeable slowdown, and the less said nigh multi-tasking, the better.
It seems similar the Snapdragon 7c simply can't handle the actress taxation of Windows ten opposed to the streamlined ChromeOS. If you lot want a speedy Windows machine, you're going to accept to pay more for the likes of the Surface Laptop Get.
The headline issue though with the Galaxy Book Go is compatibility. Even with this beingness a Windows machine, I couldn't go either 3D Mark, or PC Mark ten to work here, as the fact that this is an Arm-based machine severely inhibits its use of major apps.
Microsoft has announced that it's looking to improve Windows compatibility for Arm devices in the future, but for now, these limitations arguably defeat the betoken of opting for Windows over ChromeOS.
The performance isn't much better from the difficult bulldoze either. Sure, the capacity is fine for almost at this cost, offering 128GB. But the difficult bulldoze'due south read and writes of 560.93 MB/s and 207.03 MB/southward respectively are dreadful. This means saving or loading data on the physical bulldoze will take far longer than more premium Windows laptops on the market.
Bombardment Life
- Lasted xiii hours 27 minutes in our tests
- Capable of lasting ii working days
The merely real saving grace for the Galaxy Volume Go is the fact information technology offers great bombardment life – lasting over half a day (13 hours and 27 minutes) in our tests when winding the effulgence to fifty percent and utilising video playback.
This puts it ahead of other upkeep Windows offerings by some margin, chirapsia off Microsoft'southward Surface Laptop Go by nearly four hours, Given the Milky way Book Become is Arm-based though, the battery life gains may exist a little unsurprising.
You tin can also become a superior battery life with more powerful machines, with the Lenovo Yoga Slim vii one of the most impressive alternatives. Information technology will price you a few hundred quid more, but it's absolutely worth it in the long-run.
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Should you buy it?
Yous're desperate for Windows on a upkeep:
The Milky way Book Go is really only a worthwhile purchase for those who have their hearts attack using Windows merely take a strict limit on what to spend.
You lot desire a laptop with a vague sense of speedy performance:
Information technology's by no ways the quickest nor the most compatible car, and the Arm-based experience is better on a Chromebook.
Final Thoughts
The Galaxy Book Become is a hard sell. This upkeep Windows car has a skillful bombardment life and decent looks, but are there just as well many compromises to brand it a worthwhile selection over a Chromebook or Surface Laptop Go.
Its scratchy instance, terribly slow performance and overall inexpensive design all combine for a subpar experience. For the price, you're better off ownership Chromebooks that are designed for the budget end of the market.
How we test
Every laptop we review goes through a series of compatible checks designed to gauge key things including build quality, performance, screen quality and battery life.
These include formal synthetic benchmarks and scripted tests, plus a serial of real world checks, such as how well information technology runs the most often used apps.
Nosotros use every device as our master laptop for at least one week.
We judge the performance via both criterion tests and real-time utilize.
Nosotros test the screen by doing day-to-twenty-four hour period tasks such as video streaming.
We test the battery life by reducing the screen brightness to 50% and looping a video.
FAQs
Does information technology have a touchscreen?
No, it does not have a toucscreen.
Is this a two-in-1 convertible laptop?
No, the laptop can non be flipped into tablet mode.
Is it powerful enough for gaming?
No, the Galaxy Book Get is not capable of gaming.
Trusted Reviews' exam data
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Geekbench five single core
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CrystalDiskMark Read speed
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Effulgence
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Specs
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UK RRP
USA RRP
CPU
Manufacturer
Screen Size
Storage Capacity
Front end Camera
Battery
Battery Hours
Size (Dimensions)
Weight
Release Date
First Reviewed Date
Resolution
Ports
GPU
RAM
Connectivity
Display Technology
Screen Applied science
Touch Screen
Convertible?
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Jargon buster
USB-C
The modern USB connector y'all'll find on most Android phones, new laptops, cameras and games consoles. It'south reversible and used for charging forth with information-transfer.
LTE
A wireless standard that allows yous to access the internet without the demand of a Wi-Fi router. Yous more often than not have to pay a data allowance to make use of LTE.
Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-book-go
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