31 Dec
Blog

Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey Review: Yet Another Poor Display

Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey Review

Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey

RRP $ 1,400.00

"The Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey is fast for the productive user and can meet some entry-level gaming needs, but its poor display is a real disappointment."

benefits

  • Solid productivity performance

  • Good keyboard and touchpad

  • Attractive design

  • Great battery life

disadvantage

  • Build quality is a little below average

  • Display is a real disappointment

  • The gaming performance is a little overwhelming

Samsung has expanded its line of laptops with a new entry-level Galaxy Book and an updated version of the Galaxy Book Pro 360. One of the more interesting introductions is the Galaxy Book Odyssey, which Samsung positions as both a productivity and gaming machine with a nod to its creators. That's a fine line to walk both aesthetically, where the laptop has some frills, and in terms of performance.

Our review unit is priced at $ 1,400 but is currently on sale for $ 1,210, a more attractive price point for the Intel Core i7-11600H 11. You can spend another $ 100 and upgrade from 8 GB to 16 GB of RAM, but the 512GB PCIe solid state drive (SSD) is the only option, as is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU. The Galaxy Book Odyssey wants to play on either side of the fence, and in the end it doesn't shine as a productivity laptop or gaming device – and developers will be disappointed with the display.

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An oblique view of the cover of the Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The Galaxy Book Odyssey is made entirely of aluminum, which usually results in a rigid laptop. In this case, the lid was a bit flexible and the keyboard deck and the bottom of the case yielded a bit. I've noticed this tendency on a few other Samsung laptops like the Galaxy Book that show the same lack of rigidity. It's not bad, but laptops like the Dell XPS 15 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 feel significantly more durable. I've forgiven the Galaxy Book, which costs $ 900, more than the Galaxy Book Odyssey, which sold for $ 1,400. Even with a retail price of $ 1,210, I would expect a more solid feel.

Aesthetically, the Galaxy Book Odyssey is mostly a minimalist design, especially around the edges where the angles are simple and streamlined. Its “Mystic Black” is an attractive color that differs from the more common silver, and there are some decorative strips with a striking chrome logo on the lid, which add a little flair. It's not as harmoniously designed as the XPS 15, nor as colorful as some mid-range options from Asus and Lenovo, but it's a laptop you won't be embarrassed to carry around. As a gaming laptop, it's muffled.

Speaking of carrying around, the Galaxy Book Odyssey is pretty average size for a laptop with a 16: 9 15.6-inch display. The bezels are smaller, not as narrow as those of the XPS 15, only the lower chin is larger than it could be. Even so, there's not a lot of fat, and it's roughly the same width and depth as the Galaxy Book. It's 0.70 inches thick and weighs 4.08 pounds, which makes it just as thick but considerably heavier than the Acer Aspire 5, which weighs 3.64 pounds. The Galaxy Book Odyssey is pretty much in the Goldilocks zone, neither too small nor too big.

On the left is a full-size HDMI port, a USB-A 3.2 port, and two USB-C 3.2 ports.

On the right side there are two USB-A 3.2 ports, an Ethernet socket, a 3.5 mm audio socket and a microSD card reader.

Connectivity is generous with only one disappointment. There's a full-size HDMI port, a USB-A 3.2 port, and two USB-C 3.2 ports on the left with two USB-A 3.2 ports, an Ethernet jack, a 3.5mm Audio jack and a microSD card reader on the right. The disappointment isn't Thunderbolt 4 support that is to be expected on a laptop in this price range. The fastest Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5 provide wireless tasks.

Power is supplied via USB-C via a large 135-watt power supply that exceeds the usual 100-watt USB-C limit.

power

The Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey shows the desktop.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The Galaxy Book Odyssey is based on an 11th generation Intel Core i7-11600H, a 45 watt CPU with six cores and 12 threads. That lies between Intel's 4-core / 8-thread 28-watt U-series CPUs and the 8-core / 16-thread 45-watt H-series processors. So I expected a solid productivity performance and maybe even some creativity performance with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti.

As it turns out, the Galaxy Book Odyssey performed as expected in our non-gaming benchmarks. It didn't impress in Geekbench 5, lagging behind the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 71 Pro with a 35-watt 4-core / 8-thread Core i7-11370H, but ahead of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio with the same CPU. As expected, it couldn't keep up with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U or the Core i7-11800H. In our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420MB video as H.265, the Galaxy Book Odyssey did well, beating all but the Ryzen 7 and the Core i7-11800H. Samsung took second place in Cinebench R23 and surprisingly beat the Ryzen 7, which typically does well in this benchmark. Finally, the Galaxy Book Odyssey took second place again in the PCMark 10 Complete benchmark, which is the best indicator of productivity performance, with a strong performance in the test's essentials, productivity and content creation.

I also ran the laptop through the Pugetbench benchmark running in Adobe Premiere Pro where it got 318 points. That is less than the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, which also equips the RTX 3050 Ti, and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 with its Core i7-11800H and RTX 3060. It is faster than a laptop like the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 with a U-series Core i7-1165G7 that scored 241 points but wasn't as high as I'd hoped. Creators can use the Galaxy Book Pro Odyssey for their work, but it will be delayed.

Overall, the Galaxy Book Odyssey is a strong productivity performer and good enough for creative lower-end tasks. Some other 15-inch laptops like the Dell XPS 15 and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 are much faster, but also more expensive.

Geekbench (single / multiple) Handbrake
(Seconds)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) PCMark 10 Pugetbank
Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey (Core i7-11600H) 1478/5366 151 1601/8571 5989 318
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro (Core i7-11370H) 1578/5957 202 1514/5544 5149 N / A
Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (Ryzen7 5700U) 1184/6281 120 1287/8013 5411 N / A
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 (Core i7-1165G7) 1327/5201 N / A 1469/4945 5147 N / A
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio (Core i7-11370H) 1321/5131 179 1304/5450 5091 417
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (Core i7-11800H) 1520/7353 106 1519/10497 6251 432
MSI Sumit E13 Flip Evo (Core i7-1185G7) 1352/4891 207 1360/4392 4872 N / A

Gaming performance

Since Samsung has positioned the Galaxy Book Odyssey as a part-time gaming machine, it's fair to compare it to its competition. Having an RTX 3050 Ti installed means low-end gaming laptops and non-gaming laptops that happen to have separate graphics cards.

I usually start to discuss benchmarks with 3DMark Time Spy, but for some reason the Galaxy Book Odyssey wouldn't install 3DMark. It did 60% of the way through the installation routine and then just hung around there until I restarted. So take this test.

With current games, the Galaxy Book Odyssey was not the fastest gaming laptop in our comparison group. It didn't rank first in any of our benchmarks, and in fact, it was last or second to last in most of them. His Assassin's Creed Valhalla score was particularly low at 15 frames per second (fps) at 1080p and ultra-high graphics and only lost to the equally strangely low Asus ROG Flow X13 gaming computer. In Battlefield V and Civilization VI, the Galaxy Book Odyssey was more competitive but still lagged behind the competition and was able to hold its own in Fortnite. Outside of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the laptop was a decent entry-level 1080p game machine that lets you turn up the graphics in some games and still get playable frame rates.

That's a decent result since Samsung wanted this laptop to be both a productivity workhorse – where it performed well – and a part-time slot machine. For the most part, I would say Samsung succeeded.

Laptop Assassin & # 39; s Creed Valhalla
(1080p ultra high)		 Battlefield V
(1080p Ultra)		 Fourteen days
(1080p epic)		 Civilization VI
(1080p Ultra)
Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey
(RTX 3050Ti)		 15 fps 40 fps 54 fps 61 fps
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio (RTX 3050TI) 47 fps (1200p) 51 fps 47 fps 75 fps
Asus ROG Flow X13 (RTX 3050Ti) 7 fps (1200p 52 fps 57 fps 65 fps
Acer Swift X (RTX 3050Ti) N / A N / A 43 fps 66 fps
HP Victus 16
(RTX 3060)		 59 fps 72 fps 99 fps 118 fps
Razer blade 14
(RTX 3070)		 60 fps 96 fps 96 fps 111 fps

display

The display of the Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey shows a picture of the home screen.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Oops, they did it again. For a company that sources great displays for so many other manufacturers, Samsung can pick some inferior panels for its own laptops. I noticed the poor display in the Galaxy Book which kept this device from getting a higher score. Unfortunately, the more expensive Galaxy Book Odyssey shares a similar display.

Subjectively, the display doesn't look bad. For my productivity workflow, such as writing this review, it was sufficient. The colors were fine and the contrast wasn't so bad that black text was a light gray. But the screen didn't jump on me. It's only Full HD, which means it's not sharp at the 15.6-inch size, and it's old-school 16: 9 aspect ratio.

Perhaps most importantly, Samsung is at least partially targeting developers with this laptop and they would hate this display.

My colorimeter agreed. While the display was bright enough at 350 cd / m² (300 is our threshold for a display that can handle most bright lighting conditions), its colors were incredibly narrow for a premium laptop at just 48% AdobeRGB and 65% sRGB – we expect that you'll see at least 70% of AdobeRGB and 95% of sRGB from similarly priced devices. Those colors weren't particularly accurate either, with a DeltaE of 2.37 (1.0 or less is considered excellent), with premium laptops typically under 2.0. And the contrast was 800: 1, lower than the 1,000: 1 we like to see, which guarantee deeper blacks rather than dark grays. For comparison: The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro costs a little less than the Galaxy Book Odyssey, and yet its display comes in at 369 cd / m², 80% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB, a DeltaE of 1.65 and a contrast ratio of 1,340: 1 .

A close-up of the display and keyboard on the Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

It's not that this is a terrible display for simple productivity jobs, but if you plan to use it to view photos and videos, the colors will leave you disappointed. And text didn't show up on a white background, which makes the ad less than ideal for writers and anyone who works with lots of numbers. Perhaps most importantly, Samsung is at least partially targeting developers with this laptop and they would hate this display. Overall, this was my biggest disappointment with the laptop, and frankly I don't understand why Samsung would choose an inferior panel for its own laptop.

The sound is provided by two downward-facing speakers on the front of the laptop, which ensure a clean sound with pleasant highs and mids and just a hint of bass. The only problem: The volume was incredibly low. I turned the speakers all the way up thinking I had 50% left to go. If you're in a quiet room watching Netflix, you'll be fine. But keep a pair of headphones handy.

Keyboard and touchpad

A close-up view of the Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey's keyboard and trackpadMark Coppock / Digital Trends

The keyboard offers a lot of space and even manages to squeeze a usable number pad into it. The keycaps are big enough and sculpted very lightly to make them a bit more comfortable. The switch mechanisms are good too, they're a bit flat but make up for it with a comfortable floor movement with a bit of pressure. It's a sufficiently accurate keyboard that is a step ahead of the best, like the HP Specter range and Apple's great MacBook keyboards, but it keeps high-speed typists productive.

The touchpad is large and takes up most of the space on the palm rest. It has tactile feedback that helps with swiping, and as a Microsoft Precision touchpad (pretty much the norm today) it reliably and precisely supports all of Windows 11's multi-touch gestures. Unfortunately, the display cannot be touched, which I always miss and for me personally it is actually a deal breaker at this point.

Passwordless login under Windows 10 Hello is provided by a fingerprint reader integrated into the power button. It was quick and accurate.

Battery life

The Galaxy Book Odyssey has 83 watt-hours of battery capacity, a nice number for a device with a 15.6-inch Full HD display. I was hoping the laptop would live up to its productivity performance with all day battery life.

I was not disappointed. The laptop got 10.5 hours in our web browser test, which goes through a number of popular and complex websites, a solid score that is much better than the 8.3 hours of the Galaxy Book and nine hours of the Dell XPS 15 OLED. The Galaxy Book Odyssey lasted 14.25 hours in our video test repeating a local Full HD Avengers trailer. I also tested the PCMark 10 Applications battery test, the best indicator of battery life productivity, where the Galaxy Book Odyssey again scores well with 11.75 hours compared to the Galaxy Book with just under 11 hours and the XPS 15 OLED with eight hours . And finally, the Galaxy Book Odyssey got 93 minutes on the PCMark 10 gaming battery test, which shows how hard a laptop works when turned off, which is almost average and indicates that you aren't giving up much performance on battery power.

Overall, these are strong results that suggest the Galaxy Book Odyssey can handle a full day of work with some time for evening productivity or media strolling. Samsung did a respectable job of designing a laptop that would meet the demands of productivity workers.

Our opinion

I wanted to give the Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey a higher score. It offers solid productivity performance with the ability to handle some creative tasks as well, and while its gaming performance was a little overwhelming, it can still handle 1080p games with decent graphical detail. It has great battery life, a good keyboard, and an excellent touchpad, and its build quality is just a little below average.

Unfortunately, the display is a huge disappointment. You just can't offer as narrow colors and low contrast on a laptop in this price range, especially one that is at least partially aimed at creative people. With a better display, I could have easily recommended this laptop, but I have to go through it as it is.

Are there alternatives?

You can get a Dell XPS 15 for roughly the same retail price if you go down the specs a bit, and it's probably worth considering for the XPS 15's great build quality and harmonious design. Or, spend and get a little more Get equivalent performance with a much better display.

The HP Envy 15 is a solid competitor to the Galaxy Book Odyssey. It costs less and performs better with a much better display.

How long it will take?

The Samsung Galaxy Book Odyssey has some bends and bends in the lid and case, but it's not exceptional. It should last for several years with typical use, and its components are up-to-date and should also meet Windows 11 requirements for years to come. As always, the one-year warranty is disappointing.

Should you buy it?

No. The Galaxy Book Odyssey is competitive in many ways, but you can get much better displays for the same money – and that's very important.

Editor's recommendations



23 Nov
Blog

Samsung Galaxy Book Review: Too Many Compromises

Oblique view of the Samsung Galaxy Book for Business.

Samsung Galaxy Book for Business

RRP $ 900.00

"The Samsung Galaxy Book for Business has good productivity performance and battery life, but its display is below average and it lacks great features."

advantages

  • Thin and light

  • Excellent keyboard and touchpad

  • Solid productivity performance

  • Battery life for good productivity

disadvantage

  • Disappointing display quality

  • Lid and chassis yield too much

  • No useful business features

More than ever, Samsung is committed to creating a laptop that lives up to the Galaxy brand's pedigree.

However, the Galaxy Book Pro came close with its ultra-thin case and vibrant OLED screen. But can a cheaper, simpler version of this laptop have the same effect?

The Samsung Galaxy Book I tested was technically the "for business" model, although its hardware is almost identical to the consumer model. The laptop has an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, a 15-inch 1080p screen, and is priced at $ 900.

That's in the middle of the package when you factor in the price, features, and design. Unfortunately, the price isn't low enough to warrant so many compromises, especially with so many other great options

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Angled view of the back and the cover of the Samsung Galaxy Book for Business.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The Galaxy Book is made of aluminum, which usually results in a solid build quality. However, Samsung must have used thin aluminum to save weight, because the lid bends more than I would like and there is a lot of keyboard flex. The Acer Aspire 5, a budget-conscious 15-inch device that you can buy in a similar configuration for less than $ 500, had slightly better keyboard deck and chassis rigidity, although the lid was also a bit pliable.

The HP Envy x360 15 is about the same price as the Galaxy Book and is much more solid. Of course, if you go up the price, you get much better build quality, but I think the Galaxy Book should feel more solid at its $ 900 retail price. An example of a much more expensive laptop that shares the same lack of rigidity as the Galaxy Book is the LG Gram 16, which is made of magnesium but also weighs just 2.62 pounds – in which case you're trading solidity for extremely light weight .

At 3.42 pounds, the Galaxy Book is also relatively light for a 15-inch device, while the Acer Aspire 5 comes close at 3.64 pounds. However, the Acer benefits from some plastic components. More rugged laptops like the Envy x360 15 and the Dell XPS 15 typically weigh four pounds or more. The Galaxy Book is 0.61 inches thick, slimmer than the Aspire 5 at 0.70 inches, the Envy x360 15 at 0.72 inches, and the XPS 15 at 0.71 inches.

Directly in view of the Samsung Galaxy Book for Business.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

All in all, one of the Galaxy Book's greatest strengths is its thin and light nature, which makes bending and bending the laptop a little more forgiving. However, the Galaxy Book's bezels around the old-school 16: 9 display aren't that tiny, especially the top and bottom, and it's still a full-sized 15-inch laptop.

Aesthetically, the Galaxy Book is a rather mundane silver color that is reminiscent of so many other laptops. It has simple lines and angles and black keycaps with white lettering. There's nothing wrong with minimalist designs – HP has perfected it on devices like the Envy x360 15 – but the design philosophy can go too far. I find the Galaxy Book is on the wrong side of that thin line.

A note about the software. Samsung offers a ton of additional applications in addition to the usual support utilities. This includes Samsung Flow, a pen app that cannot be used on the Galaxy Book, Samsung Gallery, Samsung Studio Plue, Samsung TV Plus, etc. Some of these apps can be useful, but for those who don't want to install additional apps on their laptops, the Galaxy Book gets annoying.

Two USB-C ports, a full-size HDMI port and a USB-A port line the left side of the Samsung Galaxy Book for Business.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Hinge on the back of the Samsung Galaxy Book for Business.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The right side of the Samsung Galaxy Book for Business is equipped with another USB-A port, a microSD card reader and a 3rd

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The connectivity is fine. Two USB-C ports, a full-size HDMI port, and a USB-A port line the left side, while the right side has another USB-A port, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm. is equipped with an audio jack. There's no Thunderbolt 4 support we've seen on laptops for the same price. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 take over wireless tasks.

power

Close the Samsung Galaxy Book for Business screen and keyboard.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

You can buy the Galaxy Book with either a Core i5-1135G7 or a Core i7-1165G7. My test device was equipped with the Core i5 and did well considering the CPU.

In all of our benchmarks, the Galaxy Book was at or near the top of a handful of other Core i5-1135G7-equipped laptops. Only the Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Gen 2 could match or exceed its values. The Galaxy Book was particularly strong in our most CPU-intensive benchmark, including our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420 MB video as H.265. Its 175 second result was much faster than any other except the ThinkBook 13s Gen 2, and it can rival many Core i7 laptops in our database. The Samsung was also strong in Cinebench and narrowly lost to the ThinkBook.

In the PCMark 10 Complete benchmark, the Galaxy Book again took the top spot with 4735. It also did well in the areas of essentials, productivity and content creation of the benchmark.

Overall, the Galaxy Book was a solid productivity performer that could keep up with heavy workflows. Its performance is another area in which the Galaxy Book earned its $ 900 price tag.

Geekbench (single / multiple) Handbrake
(Seconds)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) PCMark 10 3DMark time spy
Samsung Galaxy Book (Core i5-1135G7) 1401/5221 175 1361/5391 4735 1584
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14
(Core i5-1135G7)		 1397/4301 213 1325/4411 4550 1026
Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Gen 2
(Core i5-1135G7)		 1406/5379 178 1357/5502 4668 1511
HP Envy 14 (Core i5-1135G7) 1549/5431 204 1399/4585 n / A 1380
Acer Aspire 5 2021 (Core i3-1115G4) 1215/2544 300 1274/3128 3752 652

In the 3DMark Time Spy test, the Galaxy Book does well with 1584 points and leads our comparison group. However, that's not a good score for a gaming laptop. We usually use Fortnite to test thin and light laptops with integrated graphics, in this case Intel's Iris Xe, but the game crashed with a video memory error every time I tried to run it. Either way, you can rely on this laptop for older games, esports titles or newer games with low resolutions and graphics settings.

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Close up on the display of the Samsung Galaxy Book for business.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

At $ 900, expect a decent display. Given that Samsung is known for making great displays, the Galaxy Book is twofold. Subjectively, I found the 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) display bright enough for all the places I normally work, but I wasn't impressed by the apparent contrast or colors. In particular, I found black text on a white background a bit gray.

My colorimeter confirmed my suspicions. The Galaxy Book's brightness was okay at 326 nits, exceeding our 300 nit threshold. From then on, however, things went downhill. The display's colors were surprisingly narrow with only 48% AdobeRGB and 64% sRGB and not particularly accurate with a DeltaE of 2.41 (1.0 or less is considered excellent). That's a big disappointment, especially at the price.

Worse, the contrast was only 700: 1, well below our preferred 1,000: 1. It's not uncommon to see results like this on laptops that cost hundreds of dollars less, but I expect something better at this price point. The HP Envy x360 15, for example, was not as bright with 270 cd / m², but achieved 71% of AdobeRGB and 95% of sRGB with an accuracy of 1.06. The contrast was also significantly better at 900: 1.

This is a laptop designed for the casual business user and doesn't need the wide and accurate colors that developers demand. But they are expecting something closer to the industry average for the machine class, and this display just doesn't live up to that standard. I was surprised to see Samsung put such an inferior display in a laptop at this price point.

Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard and trackpad of the Samsung Galaxy Book for Business.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The keyboard has a standard layout with a lot of space and large keycaps with continuous 3-level background lighting. There isn't a lot of travel, but the switches were crisp and snappy with a comfortable floor movement. They were calm too which is a plus. I would rate this as a very good keyboard that is only a step behind the best, such as those found in HP's Specter range and Dell's XPS.

The touchpad is larger than average and has a comfortable surface with Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers. It handled Windows 10's entire suite of multitouch gestures with consistent reliability and had a solid but quiet click. This is a great touchpad that is only surpassed by the much larger version of the Dell XPS 15 in 15-inch laptops. The display is non-touchable, which is always disappointing.

Windows 10 Hello support is provided by a fingerprint reader built into the power button. It was quick and accurate, and logged me in the instant I hit the laptop wake-up button.

Battery life

The Samsung Galaxy Book for business.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The Galaxy Book offers 56 watt hours of battery life, which is not much for a 15-inch laptop. I did not go into my battery test with great expectations.

The Galaxy Book only lasted 8.25 hours in our web browser test, which ran through a number of popular websites. That is well below the 10 hours we'd like to see in this test. The HP Envy x360 15 managed 11.25 hours, the Dell XPS 15 with its power-hungry OLED display lasted almost an hour longer. The Galaxy Book ran for 11.25 hours on our video test repeating a local 1080p movie trailer, which is a stronger score but still below average. The Envy x360 15 reached 13.65 hours and the XPS 15 was just minutes away from the Galaxy Book.

I switched to the PCMark 10 application test, which is the best indicator of productivity performance, and the Galaxy Book got 11 hours. That too is a stronger score and closer to the average. The Envy x360 15 outperformed the Galaxy Book again with 12.5 hours, the XPS 15 fell behind with just eight hours.

The Galaxy Book will likely last a full working day as long as your workflow isn't too CPU intensive. These aren't the best results for a 15-inch laptop at the price, but they aren't terrible either.

Our opinion

As I said at the beginning, the Samsung Galaxy Book is a strange laptop. The model I tested is aimed at business users, but does not offer anything that many consumer laptops do not offer. Its greatest strength is solid productivity performance and a thin and light chassis, and while these are welcome for business users, they are not exactly business-specific features.

Most disappointing is the display, which should offer a better experience for the price of the Galaxy Book. The battery life was a mixed picture, with the laptop doing well in the PCMark 10 test but not as good in our other benchmarks. And in terms of look and feel, the notebook is a bit boring and lacks rigidity. There's just not much to recommend this machine over its broad competition.

Are there alternatives?

The HP Envy x360 15 is a strong alternative to the Galaxy Book. It's less expensive, but offers better performance and battery life, and a great display. It's also a convertible 2-in-1 that adds flexibility.

We haven't reviewed many 15-inch laptops in this price range lately, but if you're ready to drop on a 14-inch unit, there are several good options. The HP Envy 14 is a good example with the same performance, superior battery life, and a better display for a similar price.

How long it will take?

The Samsung Galaxy Book isn't the toughest notebook we've tested in this price range, but it's still solid enough to last for several years. The components are also up to date, so it should keep up with Windows 10 and 11. The one-year warranty can be extended to Samsung's Care + for Business warranty extension.

Should you buy it?

No. There are just too many other good 15-inch laptops out there for about the same price, and the Galaxy Book doesn't offer much to entice its intended business destination. If you really like the design and performance of the laptop, then consider the consumer version of the Galaxy Book.

Editor's recommendations



14 May
Blog

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 Review: OLED Disappointment?

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 review 04

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360

"The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is close to the size, but is insufficient in some key areas."

  • The OLED screen is alive

  • Good performance

  • Excellent battery life

  • Surprisingly thin and light

  • Comfortable keyboard

  • Nice S Pen integration

  • Mediocre build quality

  • Limited to 1080p

  • Large bezels, 16: 9 aspect ratio

Samsung has been preparing for this moment for years. It's finally taking its Windows laptops seriously, and the Galaxy Book Pro 360 crowns this development, ripe for a spot among the best laptops you can buy. At least that's the plan.

It has an AMOLED screen, works hand-in-hand with your Galaxy phone, and is as thin as any laptop you'll ever use.

But is it a laptop that you should buy? I tested the 15-inch model, which comes with an 11th generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, but you don't get a discrete graphics card or 4K screen. Galaxy phone fans will find a lot to like here, but the 15-inch model still lags behind the competition in some key areas.

Video review

Jump to: Design | Display | Ports | Keyboard and touchpad | Webcam and speakers | Performance | Battery life | Our opinion

design

The Samsung Galaxy Book comes in different versions: the entry-level Galaxy Book, the Galaxy Book Pro and the Galaxy Book Pro 360. The model I tested may be the niche of them all – the 15-inch Galaxy Book Pro 360, the convertible 2-in-1 notebook in the line-up. It weighs a little over three pounds so soon you won't be using it as a real tablet anymore.

The 13-inch model is probably better suited for tablet use, but the real advantage of these convertibles is the S-Pen. It's the same thing that interests people about the Galaxy Note smartphones, and it's an important part of the Galaxy brand's DNA. Older Galaxy laptops included a smartphone-sized S-Pen that could be housed in the case. It made sure you never lost the tiny pen, but it wasn't the most enjoyable color experience.

The new S-Pen is bigger and feels a lot more like a real writing implement for this size of device. It's not as beefy as the Surface Pen or the Apple Pencil, but it felt very natural for tasks like taking notes, illustrating, and even navigating. The S-Pen is powered by an AAA battery and can magnetize on the lid.

The device itself is a pretty high quality looking laptop, made from a mix of aluminum alloy in some parts and plastic in other parts (e.g. the bottom panel). My test device was the color Mystic Bronze, a subtle mix of gold and silver. It's not obnoxious if not a little boring. The color Mystic Navy is a bolder color option.

Once you pick up the Galaxy Book Pro 360 and start maneuvering, you may find that it's not quite as well constructed as it looks. There's nothing outrageous here, but the keyboard deck is a bit flexible, especially towards the center. The lid feels nice and firm, although there is a weak point in the middle of the lower bezel between the two hinges. There are also spots along the side walls where it creaks when you press on it.

There were some build quality tradeoffs to get this light.

I also felt that the hinge was too loose for my preference. Many convertibles have screens that are too heavy, resulting in an oddly balanced device. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 has the same problems. It opens with a finger, but closes on its own once it's 75% closed and wobbles too much. This can make the touchscreen uncomfortable to use as you could never accidentally press the screen down.

All of this is pretty common on mid-range Windows laptops, but the Galaxy Book Pro 360's price tag is a bit outside of this category. Of course, Samsung was interested in making the device as thin and light as possible, but there were some trade-offs in the build quality. You can even click the touchpad by lifting the laptop up and pressing on both sides of the palm rests. Not a great look.

display

The screen is the most important feature of the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360. It is not the first laptop to feature an OLED screen. However, there are some special features to consider when implementing.

Most importantly, it is only a 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution. Even the 15-inch model doesn't have a high-resolution screen, which is unusual for a number of reasons. The Asus ZenBook 13 OLED is the only other 1080p OLED notebook you can buy. You'd think Samsung would want to improve the image quality of its OLED screen, but I'm hard pressed to get a 15-inch 1080p display regardless of what type of display technology powers it.

There are two advantages to using 1080p: price and battery life. This will be a cheaper entry point into OLED as it avoids expensive 4K panels. The laptop also has phenomenal battery life, which shows in the results of my tests (see below).

I often found myself squinted and wished it was a sharper screen.

The loss of sharpness is the obvious downside to sticking to 1080p. I'll admit it's been a while since I've spent a long time on a 15-inch 1080p screen, but it's a thorn in my side. As someone staring at small black text on a white background every day, the difference in resolution is palpable. I don't know if the OLED is somehow making it worse, but I blinked and often wished I was working on a sharper screen. It is not for nothing that both the Surface Laptop 4 and the LG Gram 16 have a screen with a higher resolution as standard.

On a 13-inch display, I really don't think it's a problem. However, on a 15-inch device, this is a buzzkill for this laptop's most impressive feature. If you set this next to the 15-inch Surface Laptop 4 and wonder which device I would rather work on, I have no question about whether I would pick the surface, the LED screen, and everything.

Even so, you won't notice that much when looking at pictures or videos. This is where OLED really bends. I will not take up the whole argument again, but the OLED image quality is far superior to the standard LED on a technical level. The individually lit pixels create incredible contrast, and even the viewing angles are an improvement.

As announced, the color coverage is almost perfect. It's 100% across the board in both sRGB and AdobeRGB. This is rare in general, but extremely rare on a 1080p screen. The gamma was slightly off, however, which is unsuitable for watching movies – and I really noticed how oversaturated the colors appeared. According to Samsung, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 is designed for entertainment. This is why the company stayed at 16: 9, and I suspect that is a major reason why it initially chose OLED.

People certainly use their laptops for entertainment, but a greater percentage of the time is spent on work. And a 16:10 or 3: 2 display would have been the better choice for this. The increased area for vertical screens could also have helped reduce the size of the thick lower bezel. I had a similar complaint about the Galaxy Book Flex, but the effect isn't as noticeable on a 15-inch screen.

The brightness of the screen was a bit overwhelming.

When switching between work and leisure, Samsung offers other color modes in the settings, each of which improves the gamma and delivers more natural colors. The changes are minor. However, I recommend keeping the default photo editing and switching to AdobeRGB mode to watch videos.

However, these additional color modes did not solve the problem of brightness. I tested the screen at a maximum of 285 nits, which is a little overwhelming. It's a pretty glossy screen too, and when combined with the solid black created by the OLED screen, you'll struggle with reflections from time to time.

The Galaxy Book Pro 360 supports HDR500, which means you are promised at least 500 nits of brightness. But as we all know, Windows 10 still doesn't play exactly well with HDR. It looks terrible if you are not watching HDR content. This means you'll have to toggle the setting when you're ready to watch them.

Ports

The Galaxy Book Pro 360 contains a limited number of ports. On the side walls there are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two standard USB-C ports, a micro SD card slot and a headphone jack.

This has become standard in the world of premium laptops, but when you see what Samsung did with the clamshell Galaxy Book Pro, you will get jealous. It includes older ports like USB-A and HDMI, though it's even thinner than the Galaxy Book Pro 360. You wonder why Samsung couldn't have incorporated these options into the convertible model.

The Galaxy Book Pro 360 includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1. A 5G model may be available, but only in the 13-inch screen size.

Keyboard and touchpad

I really enjoyed my time with this keyboard with springy scissor switches and 1mm of travel. The 15-inch model has a number pad to the right below the power switch and an integrated fingerprint reader. I'm not someone who makes a lot of sense of having a number pad, but it's not a huge distraction and some people will surely appreciate the addition.

The keys have a bright white backlight that looks pleasant and offers three levels of brightness.

The touchpad is also of high quality. It tracks well, registers gestures with multiple fingers with no problem, although it does have some oddities that are widely used for nitpicking. First of all, it's nice and wide, which I would never complain about. That is, unless the palm rejection isn't absolutely perfect. The size of the touchpad means your thumbs will rest on the edges of the touchpad as you type. This often resulted in accidental clicks or movements of the cursor.

This touchpad is pretty loud too. When I was working with others in a quiet room, I didn't want to click. Compared to the quiet touchpad of the Surface Laptop 4 or the quiet, non-mechanical click of the MacBook Pro, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 is irritatingly loud.

Webcam and speakers

The Galaxy Book Pro 360 includes a simple 720p webcam, which is a disappointment. It's still the standard definition, but some manufacturers have finally started moving to 1080p. Given that we all rely on our webcams these days, a higher resolution camera has become a major selling point on some laptops.

One feature that is missing is an IR camera. That doesn't mean Windows Hello facial recognition, which has become the standard on high-end Windows laptops. This is a handy feature that Samsung shouldn't have given up.

The speakers included in the Galaxy Book 360 are decent. They will make you watch YouTube videos or background music. However, they are pointing downwards, which means that the sound will be muffled when the device is used as a standard laptop. It improves when you put it in tent mode. Even so, these speakers aren't loud enough to fill a room. They're not even loud or crowded enough when you sit further back, such as when you're watching a movie with someone else.

performance

The 15-inch Galaxy Book Pro 360 has only one processor option: the Intel Core i7-1165G7. It's usually reserved for 13-inch laptops, but it does appear occasionally in ultra-thin 15-inch laptops like the LG Gram or the Surface Laptop 4. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 falls into the same category, so you shouldn't expect it to compete against a fully configured Dell XPS 15 or MacBook Pro 16-inch. This is a 28 watt processor with only four cores and eight threads. And instead of a discrete graphics card, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 is based only on the integrated Xe graphics from Intel.

But I was surprised at how much juice Samsung squeezed out of its components. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 was one of the best-rated devices in its class in PCMark 10. In the "Essentials" test category, in which basic work functions such as video conferencing, Internet surfing and word processing.

It still lagged behind the newer Ryzen 5000 laptops like the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED, but for a quad-core processor, I was impressed.

Cinebench R23 (single / multi) Geekbench 5 (single / multi) PCMark 10 3DMark Time Spy
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 1308/4062 1554/5603 5159 1800
Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 1137/5881 1016/6658 4849 1177
LG gram 16 1394/4137 1573/5454 4827 1390
Asus ZenBook 13 OLED 1171/7824 19175 6034 1342

I was also surprised by the graphics performance. I've tested countless laptops with Intel Xe graphics and the Galaxy Book Pro 360 outperforms them all. They're actually quite a step ahead of the Radeon graphics I tested in the Ryzen 5000 processors. For example, the graphics here are 35% faster than the built-in Ryzen 4000 graphics in the Surface Laptop 4 that I recently reviewed.

This in no way turns the Galaxy Book Pro 360 into a gaming laptop. It struggled with Fortnite, the one game I tested on it. At medium settings, the game averaged 50 frames per second (fps), but the frame rate varied a lot and the game felt choppy. Lighter indie games should work fine, as should 3D games that don't require too much graphical power.

The improved graphics help the Galaxy Book Pro 360 perform well when it comes to video editing. I use PugetBench to test the performance of Adobe Premiere Pro – which includes playback and export of 4K video, plus more – and was surprised at how well this thin little laptop actually worked. Despite fewer processor cores, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 was 32% better than the Surface Laptop 4 in the same test. The M1 MacBook Pro even slightly exceeded the GPU score.

Don't get your hopes up now. Even the fanless M1 MacBook Air, a cheaper and smaller notebook, was an overall 25% faster video editing in this benchmark. The discrepancy between Windows laptops and the M1 MacBooks is still an issue that the Galaxy Book Pro 360 cannot really solve on its own.

Fan noise wasn't too much of a problem, and neither were the surface temperatures. Again, it is an advantage to use a low-performance processor in a large package. However, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 pushed the internal temperatures quite high and was 94 degrees Celsius in runs of 3DMark Time Spy.

Battery life

The Galaxy Book Pro 360 has great battery life. The combination of a large 64-watt-hour battery, a lower-powered processor, and a 1080p screen is a recipe for all-day battery life on a single charge.

In our light web browsing test, which used the iMacros plug-in to repeatedly go through a series of websites until the battery ran out, it took 13 hours and 14 minutes. Your daily workload is likely higher, but I had no problem getting away from a point of sale for a full day with web apps, surfing, streaming music, and office apps.

In an even lighter load, the Galaxy Book Pro 360 can get closer to its claimed 21 hours. The system lasted 17.5 hours of local video playback, repeating a 1080p movie trailer until the battery ran out.

Both the Surface Laptop 4 and LG Gram 16 took a little longer, but all three devices are masters of battery life.

Our opinion

The Galaxy Book Pro 360 doesn't seem to be quite the pinnacle of design that Samsung has been asking for. The build quality is shaky and the screen disappoints. However, I like the 13-inch clamshell Galaxy Book Pro much better than the 15-inch model. It has better port selection, is lighter, and the 1080p resolution bothers me less.

Are there alternatives?

The Surface Laptop 4 is one of the biggest competitors to this laptop. It has a higher resolution 3: 2 screen but is not a convertible. The LG Gram 16 fits into a similar class of laptops. It has a 16:10 display but is also a standard clamshell.

The HP Specter x360 15 is a 15-inch convertible with touchscreen and pen support. Both the Dell XPS 15 and Dell XPS 15 offer slim chassis, although they are not quite as small as the Galaxy Book Pro 360. However, these slightly larger laptops can be configured with more powerful components such as 45-watt processors and discrete GPUs .

How long it will take?

The Galaxy Book Pro 360 should last at least five years. It has the latest components under the hood as well as future-proof connections. However, the build quality isn't the best, which means it can be damaged and damaged over the years.

Samsung offers a standard one year warranty. You can also add an extended two- or three-year warranty through Samsung Care +, which costs up to an additional $ 350.

Should you buy it?

This is a great option for Galaxy ecosystem users, especially if you find using the S-Pen on a bigger screen attractive. However, the 13-inch model is probably the better option for most people.

Editor's recommendations




10 Feb
Blog

Razer Book 13 Review: This is Almost a Perfect Laptop

Razor Book 13 Review 01

"Razer's debut nongaming laptop does almost anything right if the price tag can be put up with."

  • Perfect port selection

  • Fantastic design and build quality

  • The performance is impressive

  • Nice 16:10 display

  • Limited configurations

  • The battery life is not good

Razer products have never been so colorful. Take away the RGB lights and snake logo and you may not know that there is a gaming muscle under the hood.

That's why the Razer Book 13 felt so inevitable. With the exception of the Razer logo, this 13-inch laptop finally leaves the gimmicks behind. It can't play games, but it does Contain everything you'd expect in a modern laptop. The Razer Book 13 offers a 16:10 aspect ratio with super-thin bezels and the latest 11th generation Intel Tiger Lake processors.

Can Razer really compete with industry veterans like Dell, Apple, and HP in this category, or has the company bitten more than it can chew?

design

The Razer Book 13 is the company's first true nongaming notebook, although it has already tried its hand in this category. The Razer Blade Stealth was the brand's first 13-inch laptop, and the Razer Book looks almost identical. What's the same They're both made of solid unibody aluminum and have very similar dimensions. They're both 0.6 inches thick, use the same keyboard and touchpad, and have identical port choices.

The Razer Book 13, however, is a bit lighter at 2.95 pounds. That's both thinner and lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Pro, albeit a bit more powerful than options like the Dell XPS 13 or Surface Laptop 3 13.

The Razer Book 13 is absolutely great to look at.

However, the Razer Book 13 has a few new tricks up its sleeve. The standout feature is the 16:10 aspect ratio with ultra-thin bezels. The chin is based on the Dell XPS 13 and hides part of the lower bezel using a dropped hinge.

In 2021, this design will become more common – but that doesn't make the Razer Book 13 any less beautiful to look at. I also like the silver and white color combination.

The white keys, illuminated by the RGB backlighting per key, make the design stand out – and are a feature you would never find on a Dell or Apple laptop. Not only can the colors be adjusted via Razer Synapse, but they also have an incredible 15-level brightness control. That even affects the control Apple offers.

It's not a big deal, but when the competition is this tight, every additional feature counts.

Another highlight for the Razer Book 13 is the port selection. Unlike the XPS 13 or MacBook Pro 13-inch, the Razer Book 13 includes some handy legacy ports that most people prefer. HDMI and USB-A are included along with two Thunderbolt 4 ports – one on each side. This means you can connect displays and power cables on both sides, unlike the MacBook Pro M1, which has both USB-C ports on the same side.

If you need a laptop to dock a monitor and some peripherals, the Razer Book 13 can handle it without the need for a USB hub or docking station.

Keyboard, touchpad and speakers

If you've seen or used the Razer Blade Stealth, there aren't any surprises with the keyboard. I've talked about the RGB backlighting before, and the layout itself is close to perfect. The path in the keys is a bit short, but I didn't have any usability issues after familiarizing myself with the feel of the keystrokes.

The same goes for the Windows Precision touchpad, which is large and responsive. Every millimeter of space has been maximized for the benefit of the user.

The speaker grilles are located directly on the keyboard deck and flank both sides. Although they lack any bass (as with almost all laptop speakers), they have a nice stereo spread thanks to the placement. They work in the blink of an eye, but aren't good enough for long hours of music or film.

display

Razer has really stepped up its game with this laptop's screen. Not only is it in the brilliant 16:10 aspect ratio with stripped-down bezels, the image quality is also fantastic. For a $ 1,200 laptop, you get an extremely bright 514-nit screen that is always crystal clear no matter how bright your surroundings are. This additional brightness also brings out the contrast in the colors, which is as high as that of a laptop at this price.

The color saturation and calibration are nothing special (98% sRGB, 77% AdobeRGB), but they go well with the non-4K panels you get in other laptops.

It is not a laptop primarily designed for professional color grading. However, this doesn't mean you can't get creative on the side. This also applies to performance.

performance

The Razer Book 13 has a base configuration for $ 1,200 that comes with a Core i5-1135G7, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage, and is sold exclusively through Razer's online storefront.

My configuration was the souped-up $ 1,600 model that was upgraded to a Core i7-1185G7, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. You can upgrade to 512GB of storage, but most premium laptops offer configurations of at least 1TB. Unfortunately, you have to pay $ 2,000 to get a model with more storage. Razer actually charges the Wazoo for these more expensive configurations.

However, if you do choose the Core i7 model, you will be impressed with the performance. The best single-core performance that we tested in a 13-inch laptop (1,508) was demonstrated in Cinebench R23. And yes, that includes the M1 MacBook Pro (1,487).

what does that mean to you? Given its excellent scores in PCMark 10, the Razer Book 13 should be a fantastic productivity and office tool. Like many Razer laptops, this one competes with larger 14-inch and 15-inch options like the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 or the Acer Swift 3X.

When I say this really isn't a gaming laptop, I mean it.

The Razer Book 13 is a little less impressive in terms of creative application performance. It did not do quite as well in the Cinebench R23 multi-core test (4519) and in the PCMark 10 creation test. I confirmed this in a real test in Handbrake where I encoded a 4K movie trailer for H.265. The Razer Book did the job in three and a half minutes, which is not as fast as some of its competitors. It's just 3% behind the XPS 13, but 14% behind the ThinkPad X1 Nano and 26% behind the MacBook Pro.

Photo editing, graphic design, or even light video editing shouldn't be a problem. Just don't expect the Razer Book 13 to encode 4K video as fast as larger laptops.

Intel's built-in Iris Xe graphics are also included, which can run some light games in 1080p, provided you turn the graphics settings down a bit. I tested Civilization VI at 1080p with settings on Medium and the Razer Book 13 averaged just 37 frames per second. When I say this really isn't a gaming laptop, I mean it.

For more gaming capabilities, consider upgrading to the Razer Blade Stealth, which packs a discrete GTX 1650 into a similarly sized laptop.

Battery life

The Razer Book 13 really only has one major flaw: battery life. This is a step behind the leading battery life providers like the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425 or Lenovo Yoga 9i 41. Barely worth mentioning, the M1 MacBooks blow all of these laptops out of the water in terms of battery life.

The Razer Book 13 only lasted a little over eight hours with light web browsing. Again, this is not a terrible result, but it is far from being a leader as it is in many other aspects.

The video playback score was also a little worrying and lasted just over 10½ hours. Battery life has always been an issue with the Razer Blade Stealth, and while Book 13 does better, it's still not quite what I'd like to see.

You can make it through most of the working day without having to plug it in. However, with the M1 MacBooks reducing battery life, Windows laptops are struggling more than ever.

Our opinion

The Razer Book 13 gets almost everything right. Among first-class laptops like the Dell XPS 13 and the HP Specter x360 13, the Razer Book 13 is well suited due to its quality and performance. The limited (and expensive) configurations are really the only weakness.

Are there alternatives?

The clearest competitor is the Dell XPS 13. The XPS 13 is $ 400 cheaper, although it has a more colorful screen. The HP Specter x360 13 is available even cheaper.

And let's not forget, the more powerful MacBook Pro M1 is just $ 100 more expensive, with a higher resolution screen, more power, and longer battery life.

How long it will take?

The Razer Book 13 should last at least four or five years. It is equipped with the latest components and has the right port technology. Razer laptops come with a standard one-year warranty.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Pro 13-inch are slightly stronger options, but the Razer's unique aesthetics and well-rounded port selection are enough to make it stand out.

Editor's recommendations




02 Dec
Blog

Porsche Design Acer Book RS: Porsche Designed, Porsche Tuned

Porsche Design Acer Book RS Featured image

Porsche Design Acer Book RS

"The Porsche Design Book RS is very, very fast for a Core i5 laptop – Porsche tuning at its best!"

  • Unique and modern aesthetics

  • Impressively fast performance of the Core i5 CPU

  • Competent gaming performance for a Core i5

  • Solid build quality

  • Good battery life

  • Expensive, even with an unusually fast Core i5

  • Average keyboard and touchpad

Acer has teamed up with Porsche Design to develop a laptop for “trend-conscious mobile professionals”. Sure, the companies have made a great looking laptop that has its own unique aesthetic, but often such collaborations can only be up close. So I was excited to find out if that's the case with this 14-inch laptop.

I got the entry-level Book RS configuration for $ 1,399 that came with a Core i5-1135G7, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD), and a 14-inch Full HD -Drive (1,920 x 1,080). IPS display. Read on to find out if there's more to the Porsche Design influence than good looks.

design

Porsche Design Acer Book RS DesignMark Coppock / Digital Trends

I'm not going to say that I look at this laptop and immediately think of the Porsche sports cars. The Acer Book RS is quite angular in many ways, while I usually think of Porsche cars as more curvy. It doesn't matter because it's a beautiful laptop that absolutely stands out from the rest.

Let's start with the carbon fiber lid, which is manufactured using the NIL (Nanoimprint Lithography) process and covered by silver aircraft aluminum with the Porsche Design logo. It's noticeable and the carbon fiber stands out more than, for example, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3, where it's much more subdued. Here, the texture gives a futuristic look, drawing attention to the sides of the laptop, which – as mentioned – are chiseled into an angular aesthetic exemplified by the hinge on the back. The chassis doesn't have much, if any, angle – oddly enough, the blocky look stands out instead of being overly simplistic. When you open the lid you will find a standard island keyboard with black keys and white letters. The Porsche Design logo above the keyboard is the only outstanding design feature. The frames aren't as small as on many newer computers like the Dell XPS 13, but they aren't too big either.

Build quality is solid, with no bending, bending, or twisting unless you put way too much pressure. It's as good as any other premium notebook, and you'll have a hard time finding unsightly seams or misaligned parts. The Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA is another 14-inch laptop with a solid build, and the Acer Book RS matches it – as do the Dell XPS 13 and Apple MacBook Pro 13. That shouldn't come as a surprise – Porsche clearly doesn't. I don't want his name to be tainted by a sloppy build. Acer has also used the Micro-Arc Oxidation (MAO) lacquer that has been used on some of its recent laptops to harden the case surface and resist scratches and corrosion.

The Book RS is a very thin and light 14-inch laptop that measures 0.63 inches and 2.65 pounds. That's slightly thicker than the 0.54-inch ZenBook 14 UX425EA and a bit heavier than the ZenBook's 2.58 pounds. It's also not as thin as the 0.58-inch XPS 13, but it's lighter compared to the Dell's 2.8 pounds (to the touch). Of course, you don't mind carrying the basic case around with you.

Connectivity is another strong point: a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 4 support (a second port would have been handy), two USB-A 3.2 ports, a full-size HDMI 2.0 port with HDCP support, and a 3rd port , 5mm audio jack. A major complaint is that there is no SD card reader. Hence, photo and video editors need to buy an adapter. The wireless connectivity is state of the art with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1.

performance

Porsche Design Acer Book RS performanceMark Coppock / Digital Trends

If you've looked at the $ 1,399 price tag and were disappointed that the Book RS only has an 11th Gen Core i5-1135G7 CPU rather than the Core i7 you can usually find for that kind of money , you have the feeling. I felt the same way when I first saw the specs and pricing, but found that Acer had paid the Porsche Design group a fair amount of money that was passed on to the buyer. The thing is, this is a Porsche Design laptop, and if there's one thing usually associated with that name, it's performance.

I'll give it to you right away: the Porsche Design Acer Book RS with its Core i5 is just as fast – if not faster – than any Tiger Lake Core i7 laptop we tested, with the exception of the reference device that Intel sent us to look at Has . This laptop featured the fastest Tiger Lake CPU, the Core i7-1186G7, compared to the Core i7-1165G7 machines we tested.

Take a look at the synthetic benchmark GeekBench 5, in which the Book RS achieved 1,415 points in single-core mode and 5,364 points in multi-core mode. That's a lot faster than the other Core i5 laptop I tested, the Lenovo Yoga 7i, and it challenges the Core i7 machines. For example, the Dell XPS 13 9310 scored 1,540 and 5,432 points, which means that it was significantly faster than the Book RS in single-core mode, but less in multi-core mode. The same goes for the faster Acer Swift 5 with 1580 and 5836 points – again faster than the Book RS, but not as much as you might expect.

But check out the handbrake results, a more realistic test that converts a 420MB video to H.265. The Book RS finished the test in three minutes, faster than the Swift 5, the XPS 13 9310 and the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA (all Core i7 machines). And the Book RS was only eight seconds away from the faster Intel reference laptop. That's a remarkable feat of a Core i5 laptop, and I was tempted to pry open the case and look for a turbo-charger hidden inside.

Cinebench 20 was similar: The Book RS was faster than the XPS 13 9310 in multi-core mode and in close proximity to the Swift 5 and the Intel reference device. The Book RS was a bit slower in single core mode, but not by much. As I said in the headline, Porsche not only designed this laptop, it must have optimized it too.

You lose next to nothing when you buy the Book RS and its Core i5, and you can spend an extra $ 600 and get a Core i7 that I can imagine will do even more spectacularly. That leaves the question of GPU performance unanswered, however – the Yoga 7i's Core i5 Intel Iris Xe graphics underperformed significantly, and I feared I'd see the same on the Book RS as well.

Play

Porsche Design Acer Book RS GamingMark Coppock / Digital Trends

Fortunately, that wasn't the case. While the Book RS couldn't quite keep up with its Core i7 competitors, it was close enough that you won't be too disappointed here if you opt for the supposedly slower chipset.

We start with the synthetic 3DMark Time Spy test, in which the Book RS scored 1,504. Compare that to the Yoga 7i with the same Core i5, which only hit 913. The Dell XPS 13 was faster at 1,647, as was the Acer Swift 5 at 1,686, but the difference is nowhere near as big as the Yoga 7i. In short, in this benchmark at least, the Core i5 of the Book RS was competitive with our Core i7 comparison machines.

In Civilization VI with 1080p and medium graphics, the Book RS achieved 46 frames per second (fps) compared to the Swift 5 with 53 fps and the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA with 36 fps. The Yoga 7i could only reach 28 fps, which shows that it was slow in real games, and not just benchmarks – and that the Core i5 itself isn't that much slower. When switching to epic graphics, the Book RS achieved 25 fps compared to the Swift 5 with 27 fps and the ZenBook 14 with 24 fps.

I also ran Fortnite, and the Book RS was competitive again at 27 fps on 1080p and high graphics and 20 fps on epic graphics. There aren't any good results either, but they're not far behind the Swift 5 at 31 fps and 22 fps and are identical to the Dell XPS 13 at 27 fps and 20 fps. The Yoga 7i only managed 20 FPS and 12 FPS in this title.

The bottom line is that the Book RS is almost as light a gaming notebook as the Tiger Lake Core i7 systems I tested. Even the Intel reference laptop with its faster chip wasn't much faster.

display

Porsche Design Acer Book Case DisplayMark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lately – and by that I mean the last few years – premium Full HD IPS displays are pretty similar in performance. They're great for productivity work and Netflix, but they don't offer the huge gamut of color and accuracy that photo and video editors require. I was excited to see how the Book RS display behaved, and that's how my colorimeter came out.

Basically, the laptop's display is at least average – which is very good – or a little better in some cases. First, it reached 318 nits of brightness and exceeded our preferred threshold of 300 nits. So this is a good thing. The contrast was 970: 1, just below our 1,000: 1 standard for great displays. That too is good enough. The colors were typical of 73% of AdobeRGB and 97% of sRGB – the vast majority of premium laptops fall in the same range, maybe a few percentage points higher or lower on either color gamut, but not enough to be noticed. Finally, the color accuracy was very good with a DeltaE of 1.15, with 1.0 or less indistinguishable to the human eye and considered excellent.

In short, this is a fine display that makes productivity a pleasure and makes watching videos a pleasure. I have no complaints about this display and have enjoyed using it as much as the rest of this excellent laptop. You will find that it is on par with other similar laptops like the Acer Swift 5 (which may have used the same display, the results are so similar). Note that the Yoga 7i had a very low contrast ratio of 690: 1, so the Book RS gives this laptop a superior experience.

The audio, on the other hand, suffers from low volume – turn it all the way up and there is no distortion but not much sound either. The mids and highs are okay and the bass is missing as usual. You should therefore use headphones or an external speaker with the Book RS.

Keyboard and touchpad

Porsche Design Acer Book RS keyboard and touchpad

The Book RS has a typical island keyboard with smaller function keys on top. The keycaps are a little small for my tastes, and the key spacing is such that I occasionally find my fingers looking for keys. The switches are also softer than I like – not muddy, but with no crunchy floor effect. Acer uses the same keyboard on multiple laptops and I would have preferred to see something special on this one. In terms of precision, the keyboard is certainly not in the same class as the Dell XPS 13, HP Specter x360 13, and the latest MacBooks.

The touchpad is fine, responsive to swipes and taps, and supports Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers. The key clicks are a bit loud, which I don't like. Finally, the fingerprint reader for Windows Hello login assistance without a password is embedded in the top left of the touchpad. This is something companies have moved away from, and something I think Acer should have avoided here. It worked well enough that I rarely had to enter my PIN to sign in.

There is a Gorilla Glass touch display which is good to have and which responds as usual. You will benefit from an antimicrobial coating if you use it. This doesn't protect you from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but rather reduces the bacteria that build up.

Ultimately, I was a little overwhelmed by the input options given that the laptop is excellent in so many other areas. It just feels like Acer cut a corner here where it could have done something special.

Battery life

Porsche Design Acer Book RS battery lifeMark Coppock / Digital Trends

The Book RS only contains a 56-watt-hour battery, which isn't much for a machine with a 14-inch display. In comparison, the Lenovo Yoga 7i has a battery capacity of 71 watt hours, which would theoretically result in better battery life – and an even better comparison since both laptops use the same Core i5-1135G7.

The thing is, the RS book lasts longer than the Yoga 7i, which is all the more remarkable given that it works so much faster. For example, in our web browsing test, which provides the best estimate of productivity longevity, the Book RS lasted nine hours while the Yoga 7i lasted just under an hour less. The Book RS also beat the Acer Swift 5 (almost eight hours) and the XPS 13 9310 (by 27 minutes). According to Intel's Evo certification, a laptop's battery should last nine hours of normal use, and the Book RS is the first that I'm sure will meet that requirement.

When switching over to our video test, in which a local Full HD Avengers trailer is repeated until the laptop is shut down, the Book RS took a little over 13.5 hours. This is a decent score that once again surpasses the Yoga 7i, Acer Swift 5, and XPS 13.

While I usually use the Basemark web benchmark test to see how long a laptop will last when the CPU and GPU are under heavy strain, every Tiger Lake laptop I have tried failed this test. So I used the PCMark 10 gaming benchmark for this purpose, and the Book RS took just under two hours. Here the Yoga 7i lasted 50 minutes longer, while the XPS 13 9310 lasted more than twice as long. The Acer Swift 5 was away from the Book RS within four seconds. It is likely that the same tuning that led to the Book RS's exceptional performance resulted in the battery burn out faster in this test.

Overall, the Book RS impressed me with its battery life, especially considering the relatively small battery and excellent performance. Would I rather have seen a bigger battery? Sure, but I wouldn't be disappointed with the longevity of the laptop at all.

Our opinion

The Porsche Design Acer Book RS is an impressive laptop in both looks and performance – as befits the Porsche nickname, I suppose. Thanks to its solid construction, it feels good in the hand and lasts long enough on one charge that you can probably last a whole working day – a real achievement for such a runabout.

The keyboard and touchpad were a bit underutilized, and let's face it – the Core i5 is fast in this computer, but it's still a Core i5. So $ 1,399 for this configuration is steep and you are definitely paying for Porsche Design's dedication. But if you're looking for a beautiful, uniquely designed laptop that performs well, then you might not mind the price, just like Porsche sports cars.

Are there alternatives?

The Acer Swift 5 is an obvious competitor to the Book RS. It offers the best performance you can find in any of the Tiger Lake laptops tested so far by Digital Trends, and it's a well-built laptop in itself. You also pay less for a Core i7 (that's no faster than the Book RS's Core i5, remember), more RAM, and more storage.

If you are craving a 2-in-1 device, the HP Specter x360 13 is an excellent choice. We haven't tested it yet, but it is also available with Tiger Lake and has its own attractive gem-cut look. You can also get it with a stunning OLED display that puts the Book RS display to shame.

Finally, the Dell XPS 13 always remains a solid alternative as it is one of the best laptops out there. It also runs on Tiger Lake, and while it can also be expensive and have a slightly smaller screen, these may be trade-offs that are worthwhile if you're not impressed by the Porsche Design look.

How long it will take?

The Porsche Design Acer Book RS is a well-made laptop that will work reliably for years and perform well in this way. We don't like the one-year guarantee. What can you do? It's the industry standard.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The Porsche Design Acer Book RS is beautiful, thin and light, well built and fast. Just be ready to pay a little extra for this logo.

Editor's recommendations




17 Jun
Blog

Microsoft Surface Book 3 13 Review: Portable and Powerful

Microsoft Surface Book 3 13 review

Microsoft Surface Book 3 (13-inch) review: a portable powerhouse

"The Surface Book 3 13-inch does an excellent job of supporting its unique design."

  • Great job

  • Good battery life

  • Excellent input options

  • Sharp, high-contrast display

The Surface Book 3 is said to be the performance-oriented laptop from Microsoft. This can sometimes be a problem for the 15-inch model, which has to compete with powerhouses like the Dell XPS 15 and the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch. These laptops use powerful eight-core Intel Core i9 processors that promise excellent performance.

However, a powerful 13-inch laptop is rarer. This smaller Surface Book 3 has the chance to shine here. My test configuration consisted of a 10th generation Intel Core i7 CPU, a discrete Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti graphics card and a whopping 32 GB of RAM.

The price of $ 2,500 is undoubtedly high, but based on the specs alone, this could be the most powerful 13-inch laptop ever made.

design

The surface book 3 is a contradiction. On the one hand, it remains the most futuristic laptop on the market today, despite a design that is identical to the Surface Book 2 released in late 2017. Pressing a button and tearing off the display is as satisfactory as ever – no other 2-in-1 is pretty cool.

The build quality is excellent and competes with the MacBook line for elegance and solidity. There is no creaking, bending or groaning of the laptop, no matter how you handle it, in the lid, in the keyboard deck or in the case bottom. The Surface line is generally well made, and the Surface Book 3 offers perhaps the most impressive build quality of all.

At the same time, the Surface Book 3 feels a bit old. The bezels are relatively large, and the same goes for the bulky case. While other laptops are squeezed into tiny frames thanks to tiny bezels, the Surface Book 3 feels like a relapse when the machines were thick and chunky.

Using it on the tray table of a commercial aircraft is not easy.

As a 13-inch laptop, it competes with the incredibly slim HP Specter x360 13 and the Dell XPS 13, both of which are significantly smaller (for example, more than 1.5 inches less deep). The Surface Book 3 is 0.59 inches thick at its thinnest point at the front, which seems to be thin enough, but then it flares up to a massive 0.91 inches at the back due to the rounded pivot hinge. The Specter x360 13 is 0.67 inches and the XPS 13 is 0.58 inches, and both feel a bit thinner. The Surface Book 3 also weighs 3.62 pounds compared to the HP at 2.88 pounds and the Dell at 2.65 pounds.

You won't find it easy to use the Surface Book 3, for example, on the tray table of a commercial aircraft, especially given the fact that the display is more recessed than most other models. Like the thickness, this is due to the pivot hinge, which balances the heavier display than usual. You can flip the display easily enough and use it in media mode, but the same goes for other 2-in-1 devices. And smaller laptops like the Specter x360 13 and the XPS 13 fit well in the same limited spaces.

An advantage of the design of the Surface Book 3 is that the keyboard base stays cool thanks to the heat-generating components in the display, unless you press the discrete GPU.

As a tablet, however, the Surface Book 3 is very comfortable and has only one major disadvantage. First of all, it's thin and light, surprisingly for its 13.5-inch size. Thanks to the 3: 2 aspect ratio, which is closer to a sheet of paper, and the excellent support for the active Surface Pen from Microsoft, it is ideal for coloring. It could be an older design, but it remains pretty functional.

The only problem with using the Surface Book 3 as a tablet is that, unlike the Surface Pro 7, there is no stand and it is therefore not easy to use it to watch media, for example. The best way to bend Netflix is ​​to flip the tablet around the pivot hinge and use the keyboard base to support things. It's not an easy solution, but it works well.

Connectivity is another area where Microsoft has not fully adopted modern computing. The Surface Book 3 has two USB-A 3.1 ports, an SD card reader, a USB-C 3.1 port and the Microsoft Surface Connect port, which enables quick charging and connection to the company's new Surface Dock 2. These ports are all on the keyboard dock, while the tablet has a Surface Connect port for charging.

Thunderbolt 3 is missing, which limits the number and performance of the connected devices. This also means that the Surface Book 3 cannot connect to external GPUs. According to internal reports, Thunderbolt 3 poses a security risk. For this reason, it has been excluded from Surface devices.

performance

Yes, the Surface Book 3 is big for a 13-inch laptop. There is a reason, however: most of the computer components, including the CPU and most of the electronics, are on the display. The discrete GPU (on the Core i7 models) and a number of battery capacities are located on the keyboard base. That's why the laptop is so thick overall and the tablet area is so bulky compared to a simple display.

During my tests, the Surface Book 3 was very fast in my test configuration with a 10th generation Intel Core i7-1065G7 and 32 GB RAM (unusual for 13-inch laptops). It has passed our benchmarks and performed better than many of its 13-inch competitors. In Geekbench 5, for example, the HP Specter x360 13 was surpassed and adapted to the Dell XPS 13. It was even faster than our test configuration of the Surface Book 3 15 with less memory.

The Surface Book 3 is a leading provider of 13-inch laptops.

In our real handbrake test, in which a 420 MB video was encoded as H.265, the Surface Book 3 was completed in one second over 3 minutes, which in turn corresponds almost exactly to the very fast Dell XPS 13 and the Specter x360 13 um surpasses almost a minute.

This makes the Surface Book 3 a leading provider of 13-inch laptops. The MacBook Pro is the only 13-inch laptop that outperforms the CPU thanks to its custom 25-watt processor.

When you use the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics, you have a laptop that becomes even more competitive for any creative application that the GPU can use. This isn't the fastest GPU, but it's a lot faster than the built-in Intel graphics that almost every 13-inch laptop relies on. The only other outlier is the Razer Blade Stealth 13, which uses the GTX 1650 Ti. This laptop doesn't have the unique design of the Surface Book, which doesn't force the GPU and CPU to share the same space.

Play

You may want to put the GTX 1650 Max-Q through its paces and use the Surface Book 3 13 as a gaming laptop for beginners. And for the most part, you can do that – as long as you alleviate your expectations. I guided the laptop through our gaming tests and was a little underwhelmed. The laptop isn't quite as fast as some other laptops with similar GPUs, although most of them are larger 15-inch laptops.

For example, the Surface Book 3 was far behind the previous Dell XPS 15 with the GTX 1650 and even further behind the latest XPS 15 with the GTX 1650 Ti in all of our benchmarks. This includes the synthetic 3DMark suite, in which the older XPS 15 more than 10% faster and the newer model was almost 20% faster. Civilization VI was a game in which the Surface Book 3 was a little more competitive, probably thanks to the strong CPU performance, at 68 frames per second (FPS) in 1080p and medium graphics compared to the older XPS 15 with 56 FPS and the newer 114 FPS model. In Assassins Creed: Odyssey, however, the Surface Book 3 only managed 25 FPS in 1080p and high settings, compared to the older XPS 15 with 42 FPS and the newer model with 47 FPS. The trend continued in Battlefield V: The Surface Book 3 reached 41 FPS compared to 54 FPS with the older XPS and 60 FPS with the newer model.

The Surface Book 3 couldn't reach 60 FPS in Fortnite, a lighter game that serves as a benchmark for starter games. The older XPS 15 achieved 67 FPS and the newer model reached 74 FPS. If you reject graphic details, you can get playable frame rates of 1080p with the Surface Book 3. This is great for a 13-inch laptop. Just don't expect it to replace a real gaming laptop anytime soon.

Of course, the discrete graphics are not standard. The base model starts at $ 1,600 and you'll have to pay $ 500 more to get this extra graphics performance. The larger 15-inch version offers the option for the more powerful GTX 1660 Ti.

display

The Surface Book 3 has an IPS display in a productivity-friendly 3: 2 aspect ratio and a high resolution of 3,000 x 2,000. It's not quite 4K, but both text and image details are sharp. As with all Surface devices, all configurations of the Surface Book 3 contain the same high-resolution display.

According to my colorimeter, the display has its advantages and disadvantages. First of all, it is bright with 422 nits and has an excellent contrast of 1,420: 1 (we like displays with 1000: 1 or higher). That is the good thing. However, the color gamut is not particularly large at 94% sRGB and 73% AdobeRGB, and at 2.10 they are not the most accurate (1.0 or less is considered excellent). You get better displays on 13-inch laptops like the OLED display of the HP Specter x360 13 and the excellent 4K display of the Dell XPS 13. Both offer wider and more accurate colors, as well as equivalent or better brightness and contrast.

The display of the Surface Book 3 is a real pleasure. The aspect ratio gives you more vertical space for a more expansive work area. Although this results in some letterboxing when watching videos, the images are sharp and bright.

However, audio is not that impressive. There are two front-facing speakers on the display that offer enough volume to watch YouTube videos occasionally. However, the bass is missing and you should have a pair of headphones at hand if you want high quality sound.

Battery life

One of the most famous claims of the Surface Book 2 was its battery life, as it is one of the longest-lasting 13-inch laptops ever. The Surface Book 3 takes a step back and offers a strong, but not quite class-leading longevity – this is another area in which the competition has overtaken and surpassed Microsoft's offer.

The Surface Book 3 took 5 hours in our demanding Basemark web benchmark test. This is a good result and surpasses the 15-inch Surface Book 3 and the Dell XPS 13 with a full HD display. In our web browser test, the Surface Book 3 managed almost 10 hours, a good but not great score that the XPS 13 beat by 100 minutes. In our video loop test, the Surface Book 3 lasted just over 13.5 hours, which was almost an hour less than the XPS 13. Of course, given the XPS 13's Full HD display, this is not a completely fair test. Compared to the HP Specter x360 13 with OLED display, the Surface Book 3 lasted for hours while surfing the Internet and watching videos. Note that the Surface Book 2 took 20.6 hours to go through our test video and 15.5 hours to surf the web.

However, most of the battery capacity is in the keyboard base. If you remove the display and use it as a tablet, the battery life will be significantly reduced. In this mode, the Surface Book 3 lasted just under 1.5 hours in the Basemark test, less than 2.5 hours when surfing the Internet and only 3.5 hours when playing our test video. This is disappointing, especially when compared to other tablets that last for hours, like the Surface Pro 7.

Keyboard and touchpad

The Surface Book 3 has always had one of the best keyboards. It has a lot of travel with a snappy feel that ensures a precise and comfortable typing experience. It's also pretty quiet, which is a plus for work without bothering anyone around you. I like the Magic keyboard better on the latest MacBooks, but the Surface Book 3 comes close to my second favorite, the Specter x360 13 keyboard.

The touchpad also works well. It is based on Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers and offers a smooth and consistent Windows 10 multi-touch experience. It's as good a touchpad as a Windows laptop, although it's smaller than it could be on the keyboard deck. However, the size did not hold me back.

The display is of course touch sensitive and reacts just as well as all surface displays. It supports Microsoft's superb Surface Pen, which offers tilt, 4,096 pressure sensitivity levels and one of the best Windows color experiences. As already mentioned, the display has an aspect ratio of 3: 2, which makes it look much more like a normal 8.5 x 11-sheet paper. It's just unfortunate that the $ 100 surface pen isn't included in such an expensive laptop.

Finally, the Surface Book 3 supports password-free Windows 10 Hello login via an infrared camera and face recognition. It's fast, reliable, and better than a fingerprint reader on the keyboard deck because it only works in tablet mode.

Our opinion

The Microsoft Surface Book 3 is a unique 13-inch laptop. It's a bit bigger than its competition, but it offsets this with a strong performance that you will find in few other machines of similar size. Compared to the Surface Book 2, the latest model is simply a faster iteration of a proven design.

It is also very expensive as my test configuration is $ 2,500. The unique design makes it difficult to compare it to other laptops, but it's only worth the cost if you're convinced of the usefulness of the tablet elements.

Are there alternatives?

You can choose from the other Surface devices if you're just excited about the brand. The Surface Pro 7 and X give you better tablet experiences, and the Surface Laptop 3 is a more traditional clamshell offering. However, none of them offer the same level of performance.

The only 13-inch laptop with similar graphics performance is the Razer Blade Stealth. The stealth is a little cheaper, and you can purchase the GTX 1650 Ti model with options for a 144Hz refresh rate display or a 4K touchscreen.

How long it will take?

The Surface Book 3 is built like a tank and uses current components (except for the lack of Thunderbolt 3). You get years of productive service. When you shop in a local Microsoft store, you also get the 60-day money back guarantee and the year of in-store technical support. This is a real plus. However, the 1 year warranty is standard and less impressive.

Should you buy it

Yes. The 2-in-1 design and powerful graphics make it a unique laptop.

Editor's recommendations




21 May
Blog

Microsoft Surface Book 3 15 Review: Graphics, Unleashed

Microsoft Surface Book 3 review 01

"The Surface Book 3 is not for everyone, but it is a unique laptop that is a pleasure to use."

  • Unique 2-in-1 design

  • Large, sharp display

  • Powerful graphics

  • Great video editing performance

  • Excellent keyboard

  • Limited processor performance

  • Very overpriced

  • Reduced battery life

The Surface line has never been known for its performance. They are devices to be held, played and drawn. The performance is not a weakness, but for most Surface devices it is in second place behind the design.

That was a problem for the Surface Book. It is the only Surface product that Microsoft often calls "powerful" – especially for the large 15-inch model.

The latest version, the Surface Book 3, doubles this performance promise with better graphics via the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti and updated Intel processors. But don't be fooled – the Surface Book 3 still doesn't have the heart of a real workstation laptop. Does that hold you back?

performance

Performance is the only major change in the new surface book. So let's start there. The Surface Book 3 extends its processor and GPU to the latest Intel or Nvidia silicon. In this case, it is the 10th generation Intel Core Ice Lake processors and the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti. My test device came with a Core i7, 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD.

The CPU performance alone is not impressive for such a large device. There is one main reason for this: The same 15-watt chip is used that is also used in small laptops such as Dell XPS 13, Surface Laptop 3 and HP Specter x360 13. This is important. Not only is this less power than the CPUs in most 15-inch laptops, but there are only four processor cores available. The Dell XPS 15, ThinkPad X1 Extreme and 16-inch MacBook Pro all have up to eight cores.

The difference in the number of cores makes a massive difference in performance. If you add four cores with a laptop like the Dell XPS 15, the Cinebench R20 multi-core test scores 53% better than the Surface Book 3.

The 15-inch Surface Book 3 has an ace up its sleeve. Graphic.

It's not that Microsoft is deliberately limiting performance. The Surface Book 3 must contain most of its components – CPU, memory and more – in its tablet section. Everything sits behind the screen, like an iPad or a Surface Pro. As much as I want Microsoft to do technical magic and use a 45-watt processor, there are limitations that are inherent in this design.

But the 15-inch Surface Book 3 has an ace up its sleeve: graphics. It now uses the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti and is available in all configurations. And as we'll see, the Surface Book 3 can use these graphics in a way that other laptops can't.

I loaded a 2 minute 4K video project into Adobe Premiere and started rendering the clip in ProRes 422. To my surprise, the Surface Book 3 completed the task in just 5 minutes and 25 seconds. This is really fast. Despite four additional cores, the XPS 15 only beat 30 seconds in the same rendering test. Options like the MacBook Pro or the Razer Blade aren't even that fast.

The Surface Book 3 can maximize the load on its CPU and GPU in many places during the entire rendering time. The system can transfer the additional load on the processor to the graphics card. This is not possible with a standard laptop, in which these hot components are all housed in the same housing. The Surface Book 3 has the graphics card in the base, while the CPU and other components are behind the screen.

Ironic, isn't it? The same reason why the Surface Book 3 is processor-controlled also gives the graphics card so much room to breathe. The only catch (and it's a big one) is the fact that this only applies to software that the GPU can use. Demanding software that the GPU cannot use does not benefit from the boost it can offer.

Of course, a powerful graphics card has other uses. Although the Surface Book 3 is anything but a gaming laptop, it surprised me with its gaming chops.

3DMark's time spy test increased 33% over the Surface Book 2, which used the GTX 1060. While a laptop like the XPS 15 has a much more powerful processor, the GTX 1660 Ti helps make the Surface Book 3 a better laptop. With a resolution of 1080p and graphics at Ultra, Battlefield V played at a speed of 60 frames per second. It doesn't make much sense to go beyond that because the Surface Book 3's display is updated at 60 Hz.

The Surface Book 3 was particularly impressive in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, a tough game that challenges even high-performance gaming PCs. While the game was almost not playable on the XPS 15, the Surface Book 3 can process it at an average of 48 frames per second even at extremely high settings. Microsoft even fixed the battery issue that prevented the Surface Book 2 from charging while playing.

Not all applications are ready to use the GPU in this way. You're not as lucky in Lightroom, and even video encoding software like Handbrake is limited to the CPU. The surface book 3 is painfully slow in these situations. Even smaller laptops such as the Dell XPS 13 and the MacBook Pro 13-inch are making their mark in video coding thanks to better thermals or processors with higher performance.

Yes, the Surface Book 3 can be a powerful laptop depending on the task. It's a surprisingly powerful video editing device and even a decent gaming laptop when you need it.

Surface book 3 as a tablet

The Surface Book 3 remains an adventurous design for Microsoft too.

It is a 2-in-1 device like the Surface Pro, except that the screen is attached directly to the "dynamic pivot hinge" at the base. With a surprisingly close connection, the tablet part is plugged into the base to create a laptop experience with very few compromises.

The tablet can be removed relatively easily by pressing a function key. You can even reattach the tablet backwards so that it can be used for presentations or watching videos. It's an intuitive alternative to using stands or magnets to hold up the screen.

The new Surface Book 3 works just like the original launched four years ago.

However, I miss the tablet stand. I often use tablets in the kitchen when cooking or cleaning, for which both the Surface Pro and the iPad are good. There is no way to support the Surface Book 3 without reattaching it to the large base. The lack of an adjustable stand also makes writing on the tablet a bit awkward. It is most convenient to turn the keyboard backwards.

In the era of the iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard, the Surface Book 3 solution isn't the only game in town. Despite the emphasis Microsoft places on the experimental design of its products, the new Surface Book 3 works just like the original launched four years ago.

The software also feels frozen in time. Windows 10 is still lacking a robust, touchable app ecosystem and meaningful gesture support so that tablet mode feels anything but complementary. This is more forgivable here than on the Surface Pro, but it rains on the parade of the impressive tablet hardware.

The tablet itself only weighs 1.8 pounds, which is slightly heavier than the 1.4-pound iPad Pro (12.9-inch). The Surface Book 3's total weight is a hefty 4.2 pounds, but for its size, the tablet feels remarkably light.

It's easy enough to hold a clipboard in one hand and use it with your Surface Pen, or to scroll the web while lounging on the couch. Unfortunately, the pen is not included and was not included in my test device.

Battery life is the main problem in tablet mode. Only part of the battery is available in tablet mode because the battery is split between the tablet and the keyboard dock. You can only expect a few hours of battery life from the tablet alone – long enough to watch a movie in bed, but not much more.

The Surface Book 3 as a laptop

The Surface Book 3 is more than the Surface Pro and should be a laptop experience.

The blunt hinge is not noticeable when the laptop is open, but it makes the device thicker. At the thickest point it is 0.90 inches. That's a lot of pressure in many backpacks. Otherwise, it's a robust, exceptionally well-built laptop. Just think about the size before buying.

Like all Surface products, the Surface Book 3 also has a first-class keyboard and a touchpad. Because the keycaps are located above the keyboard deck, it is an extremely tactile keyboard that mimics an external keyboard more than most laptop keyboards. If you miss that click feeling on modern laptops, you'll love typing in Surface Book 3.

If you are not a professional photo editor, you will enjoy this large, crisp display to the fullest.

The same applies to the glass touchpad, which has a quiet click mechanism and precise tracking. The touchpad is big enough, although I would like to see it expanded. The MacBook Pro 16 has a larger trackpad, and even the new Dell XPS 15 has expanded in size to take advantage of every millimeter of available space. There's no reason the Surface Book 3 couldn't be bigger.

The speakers are not in the base of the laptop, but in the tablet itself. This ensures good positioning as they point directly at your ears. However, they are not the loudest or booming speakers in the world to watch movies.

You will definitely not complain about the ultra-sharp 3240 x 2160 display. It is a beautiful, high-contrast screen. As long as you stick to the sRGB color mode, it is even color accurate. It's not bright enough to compete with the MacBook Pro, and the color gamut isn't wide enough either. However, for anything other than professional photo editing, you'll enjoy this large, crisp display.

Since the case hasn't changed in four years, the Surface Book 3 gets stuck on an older set of ports: two USB-A ports, a full-size SD card slot, the Surface Connect dock for power, and a USB -C connector. The lack of Thunderbolt 3 is a blatant omission. Microsoft continues to avoid the powerful, super-fast port technology that almost all competitors use. Since Dell switches to four Thunderbolt 3 ports on its XPS 15 and XPS 17, the options of the Surface Book 3 are a bit outdated.

Battery life is an integral part of the laptop experience, and the Surface Book 2 was a record holder. Thanks to its two batteries – one behind the screen and one in the base – it took 20 hours of local video playback. The Surface Book 3 still has a whopping 82 watt hours of juice, and yet in some tests the battery life has been reduced by more than 50%.

Local video playback takes 13 hours and 42 minutes, while moderate internet surfing is closer to 8.5 hours. It takes me through the working day, but the huge reduction is pretty disappointing. I suspect a firmware update might fix the problem, but Microsoft has not yet responded with an explanation.

After all, the price of the Surface Book 3 cannot be overlooked. The 15-inch model costs a whopping $ 2,400, but only has 256 GB of SSD storage. Even the expensive 16-inch MacBook Pro offers twice as much storage space for the same price. If you're more expensive than a brand that most already criticize as overpriced, you're in trouble.

The only way to add more space to the Surface Book 3 is to spend an additional $ 400, which also gives you up to 32 GB of RAM. Due to the limited configuration, it is difficult to customize the Surface Book 3 exactly as you want it.

Our opinion

The Microsoft Surface Book 3 remains a niche laptop, especially in its 15-inch form. The price is insane and the mediocre processor limits the type of work it excels at. However, the impressive graphics performance makes the Surface Book 3 a solid video editing and gaming machine. However, the unique design remains its main attraction

Are there alternatives?

The closest alternative to the Surface Book 3 are the other Surface products like Surface Pro 7, Surface Pro X or Surface Laptop 3. The Surface Laptop 3 is the only one that is also available in this size, although it does not offer any discrete products graphics option.

If you can give up the tablet experience, the Dell XPS 15- and 16-inch MacBook Pro offer better processor performance. The XPS is also a lot cheaper.

How long it will take?

The Surface Book 3 should last longer than a few years. Due to its unique design, you cannot update the memory or memory yourself. The Surface Book 3 offers a 60-day return policy and one year of in-store technical support if you live near a Microsoft Store. The guarantee is a standard one-year fixed-term contract.

Should you buy it

Yes. Thanks to some powerful graphics, the Surface Book 3 is by far the most powerful Surface device ever made.

Editor's recommendations




04 May
Blog

Samsung Galaxy Book Flex Review: QLED For the Big Win

"The Samsung Galaxy Book Flex offers incredible battery life and a vibrant QLED display."

  • Light, thin design

  • Good performance

  • Excellent battery life

  • The QLED display has great colors

  • Built-in S-pin

  • Cumbersome keyboard placement

  • Huge lower bezel

Samsung operates a tech empire. From phones and televisions to air purifiers and vacuum cleaners, Samsung has expanded everything down to the individual components that drive these products.

However, laptops have always been the only small domain outside their limits. Sure, there have been a lot of Samsung laptops over the years, but none that were really worth putting up Samsung's proud banner.

But 2020 is the year of conquering Samsung's laptops, and the Galaxy Book Flex is its war horse. It starts at $ 1,349, though my more expensive configuration comes with 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage, and a Core i7 processor. No question, this is the best laptop Samsung has ever made. But is that one you should buy?

QLED display and battery life

The Galaxy Book Flex has some outstanding features that come from other areas of the Samsung empire. The most notable feature is the QLED display. This comes from Samsung's hugely successful TV business. As an alternative to the standard LED, the Galaxy Book Flex is the first laptop to use QLED that uses quantum dots. The results are groundbreaking.

It's bright (428 nits) and has a high contrast (1,080: 1), but QLED really makes a difference in color gamut and accuracy. It hits 92 percent of Adobe RGB, a color space that most laptop screens struggle with. This colorful, accurate screen is important for photographers. Perhaps it is one of the best photo laptops you can get at this price.

There is even an "outdoor mode" that increases the brightness to 600 nits. This can be useful if you work outdoors. This is Samsung that flexes its muscles.

The Galaxy Book Flex offers the best battery life you can get with a laptop.

However, Samsung has two competitors. The 13-inch MacBook Pro still has a brighter, more colorful screen and a higher-resolution display. OLED screens also offer better contrast and better colors, but are rare on 13-inch laptops. There is only one option for the HP Specter x360 13 and only available in 4K. It looks good, but it's expensive. The Specter is a $ 300 display upgrade, while the Galaxy Book Flex QLED is standard.

In addition, 4K OLED screens are expensive in terms of performance. The Galaxy Book Flex's QLED 1080p is far better in terms of battery life. In fact, the Galaxy Book Flex has some of the best battery life you can get in a laptop.

It delivers almost 14 hours of battery with low power consumption and a whopping 17.5 hours when playing local videos (no streaming). Many laptops promise such numbers, but none deliver as much as the Galaxy Book Flex. It overtook the Dell XPS 13 battery life champion by an hour and lasted more than twice as long as the 4K Specter x360.

Sticking to 1080p helps here, but Samsung also jammed a 69.7-watt-hour battery. It's a huge battery for a laptop of this size that pays off.

S pen and keyboard

The S Pen was also borrowed from another Samsung product – in this case the Galaxy Note. Earlier Samsung laptops also used the S Pen, such as the Notebook 9 Pen and the Galaxy Book 2 from 2018. The pen itself has not changed, but is now in a slot above the keyboard. Clicking on the pin in the slot ejects it, making it quick and easy to access (and you won't lose it). This accessibility has always been special about the S Pen: it is part of the device and not an additional peripheral.

The S Pen is suitable for all common pen functions such as notes, sketching and selecting. A button on the S Pen opens a familiar options menu that allows you to dive straight into the drawing on the screen. These simple apps are fairly simple, but provide a good entry point to try the S Pen for the first time.

A larger pen like the Surface Pen or the Apple Pencil fits better in the hand for illustrations and detailed work. The S-pen is just long enough to fit in my hand and doesn't mimic the feel of a real pencil as well. However, that was never the point. As with the Galaxy Note, the greatest strength of the S Pen is its convenience. It's always there and it's easy to take out and start writing.

The Galaxy Book Flex is a 2-in-1 device, meaning you can fold the screen flat with its 360-degree hinge. Unfortunately, the screen is pretty shaky and the hinge is a bit loose, so using it in a position other than completely flat makes it difficult to take notes.

The S Pen's convenient location also has a disadvantage. To make room in the case, Samsung had to impair the typing experience. The keyboard sits closer to you and leaves less space for the palm rests. They are one centimeter narrower than a MacBook Air and about half a centimeter narrower than the Dell XPS 13. The lack of support is just enough to make typing on the Galaxy Book Flex uncomfortable, as the edges of the aluminum case dig into your palms . The keyboard layout also feels tight, although the keycaps are no smaller than most laptops.

To make matters worse, the Galaxy Book Flex uses a keyboard with low travel. It's not as flat as the old MacBook keyboards, but the keystrokes could take a little more depth.

The touchpad is quiet, easy to track and can even be used as a wireless charger. Now there is something I have never seen in a laptop. A Qi-enabled phone or a pair of earphones will charge wirelessly, which is a nice addition. You can't use the laptop often when a phone is in the way, but I could imagine that this is a convenient option in a confined space.

design

In the past, Samsung made some of the lightest laptops. They were also some of the most flimsy. The Galaxy Book Flex manages to balance these two things by providing aluminum for stability and keeping the weight at just 2.5 pounds. It's lighter than the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and the MacBook Air, but built just as well as the Galaxy smartphones with which it shares its brand.

The Galaxy Book Flex is pretty too. The silver-colored, diamond-cut edges subtly reflect the light, and of course the dark blue color is unforgettable. If you want something different, but even bolder, check out the red on the Galaxy Chromebook, the Chrome alternative to Flex.

Both are a little too brave for my preference. The flex resembles the HP Elite Dragonfly in tone, but is even brighter and more pronounced. Compared to the Flex's two main competitors, the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and the HP Specter x360, the Galaxy Book Flex is the aesthetic that I least prefer.

It's more than just a color preference. The steady rests are my real touch. The top and bottom edges are narrow, and to make up for this, the Galaxy Book Flex has an unusually large lower chin. It is a real eyesore. When you sit next to the XPS 13, it's strange how high the screen starts. In addition to the MacBook Air, it even looks strange, which I often criticize for its large bezels.

These bezels spoil the otherwise attractive design.

On the silver sides you will find a selection of USB-C ports, but no full-size USB-A. Two Thunderbolt 3 ports flank the right side next to the power switch and S-pin. The headphone jack, the microSD card slot and a USB-C 3.1 port are on the left.

Next to these connections is a pair of speaker grilles. The audio output is branded by AKG and the result is impressive sound quality. The MacBook Air is in another league, but the Galaxy Book Flex has a fuller-bodied audio profile than some of its competitors and even offers a hint of bass in the mix. It blows the XPS 13 2-in-1 out of the water with thin, downward-facing speakers.

performance

The Galaxy Book Flex is powered by a standard mix of high-end components. On the processor side, the latest 10th generation Ice Lake processors from Intel are used, which provide the laptop with four cores, eight threads and a base clock speed of 1.3 GHz. My test device was the Core i7 variant with 16 GB RAM, although the only 13-inch model sold in the USA only has 8 GB RAM. It also comes with 512 GB SSD storage.

I would like to see more configurations in the future, but the one offered is a fairly fast computer. My daily routine consists of dozens of Chrome tabs, Spotify, Slack, Office and some light photo editing. The Galaxy Book Flex never flinched. It'll crank up its fans and seem to get a little warm by chance, but it was never loud or hot enough to distract.

There are faster laptops like the XPS 13 in this class. The Galaxy Book Flex was only 5 percent behind in Geekbench 5, but 24 percent slower in Handbrake video coding. You may not be planning much video encoding with the Galaxy Book Flex, but the ability to create content may be somewhat limited compared to the powerful XPS 13. Still, it's one of the more powerful laptops with these processors.

The Galaxy Book Flex also has Iris Plus graphics. This is the greatly improved integrated graphics from Intel, which promises twice the performance of the old Intel UHD graphics. The Core i7 model has the best of these Iris Plus graphics, which allow for improved content creation and even easy gaming.

It was still struggling with a game like Fortnite, which is unfortunate. You need to reduce the resolution to playable frame rates. But the Galaxy Book Flex can handle lighter games like Rocket League without too much trouble.

Our opinion

The Galaxy Book Flex is everything you could want in a modern laptop. It's slim, portable, and powerful – and outperforms some of the best laptops in key areas like display and battery life. Adding the S-pin to the case is just the icing on the cake.

Some minor user experience issues such as keyboard placement and front panel size prevent them from getting really great, but it is without a doubt the best laptop Samsung has ever made.

Are there alternatives?

There are tons of laptop options out there, but the Flex's closest rivals are the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and the HP Specter x360 13. The Galaxy Book Flex gains battery life and display, even though I match the keyboard and frame size of the other options prefer. The Specter x360 is also a battery life champion and the cheapest of the three. I prefer the design and look of the XPS 13 2-in-1, although the Galaxy Book Flex's colorful QLED screen is ideal for photographers. I wish there was a 4K option as well as a cheaper Core i5 model.

When you're ready to go without the 2-in-1 element, the Dell XPS 13 remains the best laptop you can buy as it can be configured with a touchscreen.

How long it will take?

The Galaxy Book Flex should last for at least four or five years. The components are up to date and the build quality is excellent. Samsung offers a one-year limited warranty at the time of purchase.

Should you buy it

Yes. The first-class battery life and the display make it an outstanding 2-in-1 laptop.

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