Samsung is expanding its range of ARM notebooks today with the Galaxy Book Go and Galaxy Book Go 5G. Both rely on processors from Qualcomm: the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 and the faster Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2. Compared to last year's Galaxy Book S with Snapdragon 8cx, the starting price is much lower at 449 euros.
The Galaxy Book S (test) was the first ARM notebook with Snapdragon 8cx almost exactly a year ago. But as convincing as the hardware was, the base price of 1,100 euros was a deterrent in view of some of the limitations of Windows 10 on ARM. With the new Galaxy Book Go, however, Samsung is targeting a completely different price range, as the market launch in Germany is planned for EUR 449. And in comparison to the USA, the “always connected” approach of the Snapdragon platform is not taken ad absurdum – more on that later.
Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 clocks higher
The Galaxy Book Go uses the recently introduced Snapdragon 7c Gen 2, a SoC with a 2 + 6-core CPU design whose two performance cores, which are based on the Cortex-A76, are allowed to clock slightly higher at 2.55 GHz ( + 150 MHz) than in the Snapdragon 7c “Gen 1”. The chip also offers six efficiency cores and uses the Adreno 618 as a GPU. Internationally, Samsung has presented the Galaxy Book with 4 GB LPDDR4X-RAM in the base and 8 GB as an option, but the notebook only comes to Germany in the 4 GB version, but interestingly with the larger 128 GB eUFS memory, because in the USA the basic configuration is only 64 GB.
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Galaxy Book Go (Image: Samsung)
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Galaxy Book Go class =” text-width text-h2 “id =” section_lte_ist_hierzulande_serienmaessig “> LTE is standard in this country
The German version of the Galaxy Book Go also comes with LTE connectivity as standard, after all it is an “Always Connected PC”, as Qualcomm is promoting the platform. Not so in the USA, where LTE is not yet included for 349 US dollars before taxes, although the chip always has a corresponding integrated modem. Acer recently reduced the always-connected platform to absurdity with the Chromebook Spin 513, which uses the Snapdragon 7c, but has deactivated the LTE module in the base model despite the hardware already designed for it.
5G variant will follow later in the year
Later in the year, Samsung plans to offer the Galaxy Book Go with Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2, Qualcomm's currently most powerful ARM processor for notebooks, which also offers 5G. The notebook, appropriately renamed “Galaxy Book Go 5G”, has not yet been announced by Samsung Germany, but has only been announced for “later this year” via Samsung's international press office. Apart from the processor and the extended wireless connectivity, the equipment is identical.
14-inch notebook at 1.39 kg
< p class = "p text-width"> The Galaxy Book Go measures 323.9 × 224.8 × 14.9 mm and weighs 1.39 kg. The notebook comes with a 14-inch full HD display, connections for USB 3.2 Gen 1 and 2.0 Type C, USB 2.0 Type A and a 3.5 mm jack. There are also slots for a microSD card and the nano SIM card required for LTE. In the wireless area, in addition to LTE, Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 are also offered. The energy supply is provided by a battery with 42.3 Wh, which is charged via a 25-watt power supply unit at one of the USB Type-C sockets. Other features include a 720p webcam with a microphone and stereo speakers. Windows 10 Home (ARM) is used as the operating system.