Samsung’s first take on Microsoft’s new Arm-powered Copilot+ PCs is the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, which promises to finally deliver the speed and battery life to properly take on Apple’s MacBook Air.
The new ultra-thin and light laptop comes in a choice of 14in or 16in screen sizes and packs the very fastest of the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips, which aim to dethrone Intel as the PC laptop chips of choice.
The machine starts at £1,399 (€1,699/$999.99) and costs £1,700 for the top 16in version, as reviewed, making it a premium PC competing directly with those from Microsoft, Dell and Apple.
The outside of the laptop looks like Samsung’s numerous other Galaxy Books. While the smooth aluminium frame, tapered lip and one-handed opening all feel premium, the design is uninspiring.
The touchscreen is the star of the show. A bright, crisp and smooth OLED display that helps everything look its best. It is a fingerprint magnet and isn’t as bright as some rivals, but the screen has an anti-glare coating that makes a real difference when working under overhead lights.
The keyboard is fairly typical for a laptop, with a reasonable but not quite first-rate typing experience. But the trackpad is comically large and feels a bit like a waste of space. It is smooth and precise, but is the older mechanical-type that only clicks towards the bottom, which is not as good as the superior haptic touchpads found on premium rivals from Microsoft, Apple and others.
The speakers are decent, but they fire out from the bottom of the machine and so are easily blocked if using on your lap or a sofa. The webcam supports various fancy AI effects, but does not have face recognition relying on fingerprint scanner in the power button to unlock the machine instead, which is not as convenient.
Specifications
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Screen: 14in or 16in 3K AMOLED 2880 x 1800 (120Hz)
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Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite
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RAM: 16GB
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Storage: 512GB or 1TB
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Operating system: Windows 11 Home
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Camera: 2-megapixel (1080p)
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Connectivity: wifi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, 2x USB4, headphones, HDMI2.1 (USB-A and microSD 16in only)
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14in dimensions: 312.3 x 223.8 x 10.9mm
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14in weight: 1.2kg
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16in dimensions: 355.4 x 250.4 x 12.3mm
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16in weight: 1.6kg
Snapdragon speed, but where is the battery life?
As one of the new breed of Copilot+ PCs the Samsung is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite X Arm chip, which is also available in Microsoft’s latest Surface Pro. However, the top Galaxy Book model has a slightly faster version of the chip, which gives it about an 8% power boost on the processor and about 21% improvement in graphics.
The difference in day-to-day use will be minimal and is mainly there for bragging rights. But if pushed to the maximum the Samsung is the fastest of the current Snapdragon X-powered crop of laptops. That makes it about on par with the top Intel Core Ultra laptop chips and Apple’s M3 in the MacBook Air, which is no bad thing.
The Arm chip brings with it the same app and accessory compatibility issues as the Surface Pro. The majority of apps will run just fine, but any that haven’t been updated for the Arm chip will either run relatively slowly in a translation system or won’t run at all.
Performance may be top notch, but the Galaxy Book’s battery life does not live up to the hype. It lasted about eight hours of work using a mix of browsing, writing, chat and note taking apps. That’s enough for a work day and matches what you can expect from an Intel-powered machine, but it falls far from the best in the business that can last double that.
Forget the AI
The Galaxy Book has the same fairly lacklustre AI features as the Surface Pro and other Copilot+ PCs. Most are not worth bothering with, though some can be useful such as automatic captions.
The laptop has solid integration with other Samsung kit you might have, though, such as Galaxy phones or earbuds. You can remotely mirror your phone on the PC, use a tablet as a second screen, cut and paste between devices and automatically connected your earbuds. If you already have other Samsung kit these may be killer features.
Sustainability
Samsung does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery but it should last in excess of 500 full-charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity.
The laptop is generally repairable priced on a case-by-case basis but not upgradeable. The laptop contains recycled plastic in its casing. Samsung offers trade-in and recycling schemes for some old devices. The company publishes annual sustainability reports but not impact assessments for individual products.
Price
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge costs from £1,399 (€1,699/$999.99) for the 14in version and £1,499 (€1,799/$1,099.99) for the 16in version.
For comparison, the Galaxy Book 4 starts at £599, the Galaxy Book 4 Pro starts at £1,699, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 starts at £1,049 and the Apple MacBook Air M3 starts at £1,099.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge proves that Arm-powered PCs can deliver the performance to take on the best. It is snappy, quiet and maintains its top performance even when unplugged – something Intel or AMD-powered laptops cannot manage.
But where it fails to deliver is on the promise of long battery life. With eight hours of working battery it only matches the supposedly more power-hungry Intel machines, falling far short of Apple’s MacBooks that last up to twice as long.
The screen is great, the keyboard is decent and the old-school trackpad is enormous. The machine is certainly thin and light, particularly in its 16in version as tested. But the design is rather dull.
The Galaxy Book 4 Edge is a good, but not great machine. Unless you are a Samsung aficionado and can tap into the company’s wider ecosystem, such as its Galaxy phones and earbuds, then there are better Copilot+ PCs options available for similar money.
Pros: great 14in or 16in OLED screen, excellent performance, cool and quiet running, USB4, HDMI 2.1, USB-A and microSD (16in only), OK speakers and webcam, thin and light, good integration with other Samsung gear.
Cons: expensive, app and accessory compatibility issues remain for the Arm chip, battery life doesn’t live up to the hype, AI features disappointing, no face recognition, design is uninspiring, no 32GB RAM option or upgradable storage.
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