What’s the deal?
Samsung’s new Copilot+ PC, the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, launched earlier this summer, is already getting its first significant discount on The best buyIt’s $300 off 16-inch version for $1,149and $350 off the 14-inch version, for only $999.
What makes this offer recommendable to ZDNET?
We recently went practice with the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge, praising its speedy, high-powered performance. The new Snapdragon X Elite chip is as power efficient as it is performance-wise, giving this laptop impressive battery life. Plus, the PC’s AMOLED display makes it a great device for creators.
ZDNET’s key findings
- He Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge is now on sale for $1,149. The configuration I tested (with a 16-inch display and 1TB of storage) usually starts at $1,749.
- It’s one of the most impressive Copilot+ PCs to hit the market this year, with a stunning display, long-lasting battery life, and boundary-pushing performance.
- It’s expensive, has some design quirks, and finds its full potential in the Samsung ecosystem.
Samsung has earned a place at the table with the big boys with the Galaxy Book 4 Edgea Copilot+ PC powered by the new Snapdragon X Elite processor that is a trendsetting machine. The laptop feels as good as it looks and has the features consumers care about most: a bright display, a thin and light form factor, and long-lasting battery life.
I recently had the chance to test out the Edge, using it as my primary device for a week while commuting to and from the office and working remotely, and I really enjoyed it. This device is fantastic: it’s lightweight, has incredibly fast performance, fantastic battery life, a beautiful display, and surprisingly good speakers.
Also: I tried to put Panasonic’s ultra-rugged Toughbook through a torture test. It didn’t even blink.
Of All new Snapdragon Copilot+ PCs launching this yearThis laptop has one of the clearest use cases. It really stands out when paired with other Samsung products, particularly a Galaxy Phonewhich can be controlled remotely on the laptop using the Samsung Plug-in application, something Apple is still in development — as well as a host of other features.
However, to get the most out of the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, there are a few things to keep in mind. We’ll talk more about that shortly. First, let’s look at the specs.
The first thing you notice about the Edge is its thin and light form factor. It weighs just 3.4 pounds, but still feels solid, with minimal screen movement compared to other 16-inch ultraportable laptops.
Also: One of the best tablets for work travel I’ve tested isn’t made by Lenovo or Apple
And what a display it is! The 16-inch 2x AMOLED (2800 x 1800) display features a gorgeous 3K resolution with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 120Hz refresh rate for silky-smooth visuals. It’s also plenty bright with 400 nits for standard content and up to 500 nits in HDR video. Plus, the screen features excellent anti-glare technology with impressive light mitigation.
Earlier this year, my colleague Review by Kerry Wan This machine’s predecessor, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra with the Intel Core Ultra 7 or 9 chip, also impressed me with its OLED display. Samsung upped the ante with the AMOLED display on the Edge, which offers better power efficiency and better resolution (but comes at a higher cost).
Also: I saw the future of AI at Qualcomm headquarters, and Copilot+ PCs were just the beginning
This display is also touch-enabled, but it doesn’t include a stylus or fold up to become a tablet. However, some of the most useful touch applications include the ability to zoom with your fingers and scroll, two functions we’re all intimately familiar with on our smartphones.
As for the rest of the physical form factor, the Edge’s keyboard feels good; it’s tactile and has a satisfying key travel distance, and I appreciate the full-size format with the number pad on the right.
However, the Edge’s touchpad is truly enormous. Like on the Book 4 Ultra, this device has a football-field-sized touchpad that some people will love, but for others may be more trouble than it’s worth.
During my testing, I registered a fair amount of false inputs with the trackpad due to typing or wrist position, though this lessened over time as I got used to it. I don’t love it, but it’s not a problem because the trackpad itself is well-optimized.
Review: Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra: This Windows flagship gave my MacBook Pro a run for its money
In our review of the Edge’s predecessor earlier this year, We noticed that the trackpad was not the laptop’s strong point.:It oscillated between being too sensitive and not sensitive enough. Samsung seems to have optimized the technology on the Edge, as I didn’t have any noticeable issues with its responsiveness this time around.
Not only does the Galaxy Book 4 Edge come with the new Snapdragon X Elite processor, it comes with the most powerful version of it yet. The 3.8GHz, 12-core processor with dual-core boost is only available in the Edge’s 1TB configuration, a big power move on Samsung’s part.
After evaluating the processor in Geek Test BenchI got a single-core score of 2953 and a multi-core score of 15672, an impressive number that puts the Galaxy Book 4 Edge at the top of the Copilot+ PCs and beats some of the MacBook’s numbers, though Apple Silicon still scores higher with single-core performance and its GPU.
Also: I’ve tested dozens of 2-in-1 laptops. This one ticks all the boxes.
The integrated Qualcomm Adreno GPU isn’t going to beat Apple’s M3 integrated graphics in a head-to-head comparison, but paired with the Snapdragon’s NPU and ultra-fast CPU, it puts up a good fight. Video editing in DaVinci Resolve on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge was smooth, especially with AI-related tasks, and I expect performance in this area to continue to improve over time.
Also note that this machine, throughout all this heavy lifting, remained quiet and cool, with barely any noticeable heat generation and virtually no noise (despite it having onboard fans).
Benchmark numbers are technical indicators that aren’t always useful to the average consumer, but they’re important in staking out the Snapdragon X Elite chips as real competition for Apple’s Silicon processors. We’re seeing consumer machines, available for purchase today, outperform the MacBook Pro in real time, not in a controlled demo environment. That’s all there is to it; they’re here.
The other big feature that sets the Galaxy Book 4 Edge apart is its use of universal flash storage (eUFS) instead of a solid-state drive (SSD). Because eUFS is the type of storage technology used in smartphones, it seems logical that Samsung would incorporate this technology into its line of laptops, but it does come with a few caveats.
First off, the storage on this laptop is a solid drive that can’t be modified or upgraded in any way – it’s built into the machine as is. For that reason, I highly recommend opting for the 1TB configuration if you’re interested in purchasing the Edge, as whatever you choose at the time of purchase will be what you’ll have for the rest of the laptop’s lifecycle.
Also: I tested LG’s 17-inch Gram Pro and it’s the lightweight, big-screen laptop that beats
Secondly, the 3.8GHz processor only comes with the 1TB configuration of the Edge. And since the 1TB version only comes in 16 inches, this is a laptop where the difference between the 14- and 16-inch versions is much bigger than just screen size.
I would only consider buying this laptop if you’re ready to commit to the 16-inch, 1TB storage version. Any other configuration is just too cheap. On that note, the 16-inch version costs $1,750, which is certainly not cheap, but still under $2,000, the limit of what the average consumer would consider “practical.”
Also: This Lenovo laptop is ultraportable, lasts all day, and has MagSafe-like superpowers.
Finally, the Edge’s battery life is truly impressive. I recently tested the HP Omnibook X 14another Copilot+ PC with the Snapdragon X Elite processor, and highlighted its excellent battery performance. The Galaxy Book 4 Edge is even better, considering the huge AMOLED display and more powerful processor.
During ZDNET’s standard benchmark test where you run a 4K YouTube live stream over Wi-Fi at 50% brightness, I got over 13 hours of playback – far longer than what’s considered “good” for a laptop and more than enough for a few days of standard work. Even better, while this laptop is idle, battery life is reduced to a minimum.
ZDNET’s buying advice
He Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge It’s a powerful laptop that’s worth the money if you’re willing to compromise on the 16-inch, 1TB version with the top-tier Snapdragon processor. The deal is even better if you own a Samsung smartphone and appreciate the integration this laptop brings to the Samsung device ecosystem.
If none of these situations apply to you, the Galaxy Book 4 Edge is still a phenomenal choice for its stellar power and impressive performance. However, if you’re unsure about the price but still want a Copilot+ PC, you may want to consider the Galaxy Book 4 Edge option. Microsoft Surface Pro or the Asus Vivobook S15 –Both are Snapdragon laptops with OLED displays available for significantly less.
When will this agreement expire?
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