The first laptop with an Intel Lakefield processor is now available for purchase. After introducing the new version of the Samsung Galaxy S thin and light notebook a few months ago, Samsung has begun selling the notebook.
The new Samsung Galaxy S is available for purchase for $950.
It’s interesting to note that this means the new model is $50 less than the version of the notebook with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx processor that went on sale earlier this year.
That model has an integrated 4G LTE modem, which the Intel version does not. But it also has an ARM-based processor, which means that some Windows applications that aren’t optimized for the architecture may not run as well.
The new Intel-powered model features an Intel Core i5-L16G7 Lakefield processor, which is Intel’s first “hybrid” processor that combines two different types of processor cores into a single chip. The 5-core chip features a single high-performance Intel “Sunny Cove” CPU core similar to what the company uses for its 10th-gen Intel Ice Lake chips, and four low-power “Tremont” cores based on Intel Atom architecture.
While Tremont is a brand new architecture that should bring a bit of a performance bump over previous-gen “Gemini Lake Refresh” processors, these CPU cores are designed for efficiency rather than speed.
The result, according to early reviews, is a laptop that may not offer the kind of performance you’d expect from a PC in the $1000 price range… especially since for $50 more, you can get significantly longer battery life and 4G LTE connectivity.
That said, the new Samsung Galaxy Book S is a 2.1 pound fanless notebook that measures about half an inch thick, features quad speakers, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 support, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of eUFS storage.
In addition to Samsung.com, the laptop is available from Amazon, B&H, and Newegg.
A direct comparison of the performance of the two models will very interesting. Hopefully, Intel and AMD will up their game because of this ARM competition. Intel could lose at least 5% of its high-end sales with Apple going to ARM.
Lakefield has the ability , according to the pdf , of direct linking to the dual sim lte modem . It’s Samsung , Karl .
I am not sure why there is no Intel version with LTE. Maybe They figured the people using LTE were OK with fewer compatible applications to get more battery life. It is a choice I would rather make for myself.