Samsung wants to make ARM-based Windows 10 laptops affordable. The company’s new Galaxy Book Go laptop comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor inside, and pricing starts at just $350.
Available June 10, Galaxy Book Go expands on Samsung’s 2021 suite of laptops by providing a more entry-level experience over premium products like the Galaxy Book Pro. Yet, since it is powered by an ARM-based chipset, the laptop delivers on some things you won’t find on Samsung’s other laptops with Intel 11th-generation chips inside — instant boot as well as a longer battery life of up to 18 hours.
In terms of design, the new Galaxy Book Go has specs for military-grade durability, while still being lightweight, with a 180-degree hinge. And, there’s a slim-bezel, 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 full HD screen onboard. However, the panel is a lower-end TFT panel, rather than an IPS panel that you’ll find on more expensive laptops, a sacrifice for the price.
RAM and storage options on the Galaxy Book Go range from 4GB to 8GB of RAM, and 64GB and 128GB of storage. Note that the storage is the slower eUFS flash storage, rather than a traditional solid-state drive. Ports include two USB Type-C ports, a USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack, a microSD card slot, and Nano-SIM slot.
In addition to the Galaxy Book Go, Samsung plans on launching the Galaxy Book Go 5G later this summer. Pricing and specific details were not shared on this model, but Samsung says it will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cX Gen 2 5G ARM processor. This means it’ll have the same battery and instant-boot benefits as the Galaxy Book Go, but the additional support for 5G cellular connections.
Samsung’s Galaxy Book Go could just be the first of many new ARM-based laptops to be released this year, in a market otherwise dominated by the Apple M1 processor. That’s because at the Build 2021 conference, Microsoft announced a Snapdragon Developer Kit.
This aims to help developers code apps for ARM-based devices without needing to purchase expensive hardware. Qualcomm also announced the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor the day before the event, which is a new entry-level ARM chip, as found inside the Galaxy Book Go.
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