Samsung Galaxy Book S $1219 @ Harvey Norman

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Cheapha on 20/08/2020 - 08:30 harveynorman.com.au (626 clicks)
Last edited 20/08/2020 - 13:56 by 1 other user

Cheapish price for a relatively new laptop with inbuilt 4G capability and huge 25 hr battery. ARM-based chip definitely isn't for everyone as you'll come up against software incompatibility issues unless you stick to core Windows applications or do most of your work in a web browser.

Still $1699 in most stores

Processor: Snapdragon 8cx
Operating System: Windows 10
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB
Graphics: N/A
MicroSD slot: Yes
Display: 13.3-inch, FHD
Battery: 42wHr
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, 4G,
Front-Facing Camera: 720p HD
Dimensions: 305.2 mm x 203.2 mm x 6.2-11.8 mm
Weight: 961g
Warranty: 24 Months

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• 

  Jamessaba on 20/08/2020 - 09:25

  Just curious what use these laptops could be if they come up with frequent compatibility issues….

  • 

    CEO Rachel Jake on 20/08/2020 - 09:30

    +1

    People claim that they can use the Surface Pro X despite the compatibility issues but I don't see why a regular person would want to deal with it, especially if they only have the money for one laptop.

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 20/08/2020 - 09:37

      Very tempting, device but compatibility issue is a let down. Nice 4g, super light weight and super low powered but powerful processor are very attractive in a laptop

  • 

    Cheapha on 20/08/2020 - 09:37

    +3

    I'm usually (pre-covid lockdown) on the road/flying for work and these notebooks are great for a work-only computer (think Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Salesforce CRM, etc.) because of great battery life, 4G and lightweight.

    • 

      limafoxtrot on 20/08/2020 - 18:22

      Yup - using a (seconds) Lenovo C630 which is the previous gen Snapdragon WOA to this.
      Great for travel or moving between several different office locations given weight, size and battery. Running Office365, Edgium and other native ARM apps, I've had no major problems except Citrix Workspace is not native ARM yet -> I'm using RDP to access Citrix apps instead of dropping out of Windows S mode. Feels a bit sluggish at times, but I'm typically running 3 screens, a heap of browser tabs, and my SOC is substantially slower than the 8cx platform in the Book S.
      Note that keyboards for C630 and this Galaxy Book S are very shallow - not a brilliant typing experience, esp if you're used to a Thinkpad!
      A quirk that is probably specific to my C630 is that is recently stopped going to/waking up from sleep properly…slightly annoying.
      In the end, at this price-point, I'm not sure I'd go with WOA, as there a bunch of full-Windows options in this ballpark that will deliver a better overall experience. Worth considering if you can pick one up cheap enough and are happy to use it as your secondary mobile device, and not rely on it as you primary device as well.

• 

  reacher on 20/08/2020 - 09:36

  -2

  not sure why you want this when you can just get android, which got heaps of app you can use straight away, ARM windows is just a glorified chromebook as per quote

  • 

    Nadder on 20/08/2020 - 12:07

    +1

    Not sure why you got downvoted tbh, I'm inclined to agree with you.

  • 

    bchliu on 20/08/2020 - 17:08

    +2

    I think it's mainly for getting official support for certain MS Apps like Office / Visio / Project. Yeah, there's "Equivalents" around, but honestly nothing beats using the original Windows versions with guaranteed compatibility when opening other documents from other MS Office users. Chromebooks are nice and light, but I am not a fan of using Google Docs or Open Office to ensure documents are formatted and looking the way it was meant to be.

  • 

    NuclearWessels on 23/08/2020 - 03:02

    You're right but I'd rather an ARM version of Windows for the office suite + web browsing which makes it a great travel laptop. I'm assuming it'll still have the built in remote desktop and VPN which makes it ideal to connect back to another work/home desktop on the go.

• 

  shellshocked on 20/08/2020 - 09:43

  +1

  Didn't have one of these specifically, but used one of the other manufactures versions. Had a lot of compatibility issues with apps beyond the mainstream stuff. Unless the app was specifically developed for ARM there were issues. Sometimes the app would not load at all, whilst at other times it would load but other parts wouldn't work. Sometimes the app would be really slow vs using it on an x86 laptop. I think the device would be good if you are mainly using it for MS Office and browsing only.

• 

  merajaan on 20/08/2020 - 10:08

  Chicken and egg situation - if more people bought laptops like this the more developers would port their Windows apps to ARM. That said the thing that kills it for me is the 16:9 aspect ratio - a taller 3:2 display is the way to go for getting stuff done on a notebook so I would go the Surface Pro X instead of this

  • 

    shellshocked on 20/08/2020 - 10:29

    Unfortunately when launched they are at a price point beyond what most mainstream people would pay for it. I feel these laptops will land up going the way of Windows Mobile. Good idea but poor execution, before eventually being dropped.

  • 

    bchliu on 20/08/2020 - 17:15

    +2

    This laptop doesn't need specialised ARM ports of the Windows applications to run on the Snapdragon processor. You can actually use the standard x86 binaries (32bit only) but there are still some levels of incompatibility.

    Have to remember: Apple has declared they are going in this direction. They will be ditching Intel in favour of their own ARM chips. They will also be working on a Rosetta Stone to allow x86 compatibility as well when the new ARM Macs come out. Think a lot of companies are having enough of Intel and wanting to look at alternatives as a result.