Windows laptops and tablets with ARM-based processors have been around for a few years, but for the most part they’ve suffered from two issues: they’re not very powerful and they’re not very cheap.
Now Samsung is taking aim at the second problem with the launch of a new Samsung Galaxy Book Go line of Windows laptops with Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processors and prices starting as low as $349.
That puts them in the same price category as budget laptops with Intel Celeron processors, which seems about right for a laptop with a processor that should offer acceptable performance for light tasks, but which will struggle with heavy-duty workloads. But Samsung’s new laptops have an energy-sipping processor that should enable all-day battery life.
It will be available in WiFi-only or 4G LTE versions, an option you don’t normally find for notebooks in this price range. And later this year Samsung will offer a Samsung Galaxy Book Go 5G that will support faster mobile connectivity and which will also have a more powerful Snapdragon 8cx gen 2 5G processor.
We first heard about the Galaxy Book Go when details began leaking in April, and now that the laptop is official, it looks like the leaks were largely accurate.
It’s a 3 pound notebook with a 14 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display, LPDDR4x memory, and eUFS storage. It has a 42.3 Wh battery and comes with a 25 watt USB-C power adapter.
The notebook has stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos sound, a 720p webcam, two USB Type-C ports, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a microSD card reader. And in addition to optional support for cellular networks, it supports WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1.
The Galaxy Book Go measures 323.9 x 224.8 x 14.9mm (12.8″ x 8.6″ x 0.6″) and has a 180-degree hinge, allowing you to fold the screen flat.
Samsung will offer configurations with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and the Samsung Galaxy Book Go should be available for purchase starting June 10th.
I really wish manufacturers would make these SystemReady compliant. That’s the ARM spec that adds in UEFI, PCIe, ACPI, and other standards that already exist for bootloading, device enumeration and such. That would make it possible to install generic Linux on these. Making them work like phones and SBCs with custom bootloaders and device trees unique to each device configuration is going to become a nightmare for all parties – users, Microsoft, and manufacturers (who, let’s be honest, will just drop support after at most 2 years).
I am hoping for better arm support both on linux and windows. Running software through a translation layer decreases the main advantage of ARM — performance per watt. Also an unlocked bootloader to install manjaro for arm on this device would be nice.
netbooks are back!!!!
*Smartbooks: https://liliputing.com/2009/05/qualcomm-coins-the-term-smartbooks-for-netbooksmartphone-mashup.html
Sorry, smartbooks are back!!!
It is so interesting to see these arm based windows laptops are coming up. ARM offers excellent battery life, performance and value for money when compared to x86 counterparts.
These are just preview and test devices for the upcoming exynos with rdna2 gpu powerhouse.
I didn’t even think of the Exynos with AMD outside of phones. Yeah that might actually be really good.
If anything they are test devices for windows on ARM, as good as Exynos with RDNA will be, until Microsoft starts to put real work into ARM and brings app developers to do the same it’s all pointless.
Either commit to it or drop it, otherwise it’s just embarrassing (like the surface pro x, it’s a joke)