Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge review: beauty before brawn

Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon chips person rapidly turned Windows connected Arm into a viable platform. We’ve tested over fractional a twelve laptops with the caller processors, and even the slightest almighty chip matches Intel and last-gen AMD connected CPU show and beats them connected artillery life. But I’ve been anxious to get my hands connected a laptop with Qualcomm’s fastest Snapdragon processor to spot if it tin bash adjacent more. I got to spot the high-end exemplary successful enactment backmost successful April connected a demo machine, and it seemed similar it would beryllium the chip to assistance usher successful a caller epoch of faster, much power-efficient Windows PCs and instrumentality connected Apple’s MacBook Air M3 successful a mode that Intel oregon AMD hadn’t been capable to accomplish.

That spot — the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 — is lone disposable successful 1 Copilot Plus PC: Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Edge. It’s Samsung’s thinnest and lightest 16-inch laptop, designed for mundane web browsing, a premix of business- and creative-focused work, and moving Windows Copilot Plus AI apps similar Live Captions and Cocreator. The Edge has akin features to the Intel-based Galaxy Book4 Ultra, similar an AMOLED show and a fingerprint reader, but it besides offers faster ports and faster Wi-Fi. 

The X1E-84-100 spot is expected to beryllium up to 20 percent faster than the adjacent exemplary down. Samsung had a accidental to marque the laptop that could amusement the platform’s afloat potential. Instead, it underpowered the hellhole retired of that spot to person the thinnest chassis possible. There’s inactive a bully laptop successful the Book4, but you don’t request to bargain the champion spot to get it — and you’d really beryllium amended disconnected redeeming the cash.

Surprisingly portable

Heavy, hardly portable 16-inch laptops person astir go a happening of the past, making larger screens an progressively appealing choice. The Book4 Edge pushes the limits of a 16-inch instrumentality adjacent further. It’s 1 of a fewer 16-inch laptops that’s nether fractional an inch heavy and nether 3.5 pounds, making it 1 of the astir portable ample laptops available. It doesn’t strain my backmost erstwhile I transportation it successful my enarthrosis bag, and it feels similar I tin beryllium nimbler with it since its value is distributed crossed a larger country compared to immoderate lighter and smaller Copilot Plus PCs I tested. It’s easier to hold, truthful I’m not acrophobic of dropping it.

The Edge’s physique prime is solid. Its metallic chassis is wholly rigid, the lid doesn’t flex erstwhile you unfastened oregon adjacent the laptop, and the hinge keeps a steadfast grip connected the lid careless of however you tilt it. Aesthetically, the machine’s grey keys blend successful nicely with its metallic body. Samsung says the assemblage colour is really a sapphire blue, but I don’t spot immoderate bluish successful it.

The keyboard is responsive but not attention-grabbing. I similar that the keys are not excessively shallow and that they don’t marque a batch of noise, particularly for a heavy-fingered typist similar myself. But they consciousness sluggish. The existent property feels slower and softer than I anticipated. I don’t outright dislike them, but aft typing connected the Asus Zenbook S 16 — a competing 16-inch laptop that’s astir the aforesaid size and value — I don’t privation to spell backmost to Samsung’s.

Disappointing performance

The Book4 Edge would beryllium large for work, school, oregon immoderate situation wherever each you request is simply a fast, reliable instrumentality to grip the basics. The laptop opens programs a smidge faster than a batch of competing AMD oregon Intel-based machines, and it tin grip a clump of browser tabs oregon streaming movies conscionable arsenic well. But since Samsung prioritized plan implicit performance, it passed implicit a accidental to amusement disconnected what Qualcomm’s fastest Snapdragon spot is susceptible of astatine its best. 

The basal Book4 Edge exemplary comes with a Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, but the higher-end exemplary I reviewed has the X1E-84-100 chip, which is expected to beryllium up to 20 percent faster. It’s besides expected to beryllium susceptible of boosting the max timepiece velocity of 2 of its cores from 3.8GHz to 4.2GHz.

I monitored the X1E-84-100’s timepiece speeds during testing. Even successful our astir punishing multicore benchmarks, nary of its 12 cores deed 4.2GHz. Samsung wouldn’t archer maine precisely however overmuch powerfulness it’s giving the CPU successful the Book4 Edge, but it’s intelligibly not enough. I besides way powerfulness depletion during benchmarks. The Book4 Edge ne'er drew much than 35W from the partition successful my testing; each different laptop I’ve tested with a Qualcomm spot drew person to 50W. 

Like galore processors, the Snapdragon X Elite chips tin enactment wrong a beauteous wide powerfulness range: springiness it much power, and it’ll spell faster. It volition besides nutrient much heat. The thinner the laptop, the little country determination is for the cooling strategy to dissipate that heat, and the little powerfulness you tin springiness the processor arsenic a result. By giving the spot little power, Samsung keeps the somesthesia nether power and the chassis thin. Fortunately, the Book4 Edge not hitting its max timepiece velocity does not person immoderate effect connected however it feels to usage each day. It’s inactive astir the aforesaid velocity arsenic the different Snapdragon X Elite laptops we’ve tested.

But it was a letdown erstwhile I compared its benchmark scores to laptops with lower-tier Snapdragon chips, similar the Dell XPS 13 and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, and saw little numbers; the Book4 Edge was 13 to 16 percent slower successful multicore show than those laptops, respectively. The Edge is presently the lone laptop with Qualcomm’s fastest processor, and I wanted to spot it fly!

Long artillery life

The upside to the laptop not moving afloat tilt is that it’s reasonably powerfulness efficient: I typically got astir 14 hours of artillery beingness connected a charge. I was capable to usage it for astir 2 afloat enactment days portion loading up Microsoft Edge with dozens of tabs, streaming music, writing, and taking the occasional video call. I had the laptop’s powerfulness mode acceptable to the astir businesslike setting, but determination wasn’t a alteration successful Book4 Edge’s responsiveness. (I didn’t spot a notable quality successful powerfulness gully betwixt ratio mode and show mode.)

The happening that impressed maine the astir astir this laptop’s artillery beingness was that it lasted that agelong connected a comparatively tiny 61.8Wh battery, showing however power-efficient Qualcomm made its Snapdragon processors. Just however efficient? Consider the astir identical 16-inch Galaxy Book4 Ultra, which has an Intel Core Ultra spot and a 76Wh battery. The Book4 Edge outlasts it by astir 20 minutes, adjacent with a artillery that’s 18 percent smaller. Yeah, the spot is that efficient.

Its 2880 x 1800 (3K) AMOLED show besides helps prevention power. It has astir fractional the pixel number of a 4K display, truthful the laptop doesn’t request to enactment arsenic hard to powerfulness it. But determination are inactive plentifulness of pixels to support images looking cleanable and crisp portion generating an expanse of accurate, vibrant colors. It’s a blessed mediate crushed that doesn’t sacrifice representation prime for artillery beingness — a large crushed wherefore displays with akin resolutions are starting to harvest up much often successful productivity and gaming laptops alike.

A compelling basal model

The Book4 Edge is simply a good, thin, and lightweight laptop for idiosyncratic similar a pupil who needs a big-screen instrumentality that tin grip aggregate unfastened apps with ease. It has fantabulous artillery life, a bully screen, and bully looks. I conscionable can’t spot wherefore Samsung enactment the astir almighty Snapdragon X Elite spot into a laptop and past didn’t instrumentality vantage of it. There’s nary crushed to get the $1,750 exemplary I tested; the $1,450 basal exemplary is simply a overmuch amended worth for 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 chip.

The Snapdragon processor makes the Book4 Edge 1 of the thinnest, lightest 16-inch Windows laptops you tin get, with large artillery beingness and performance. But powerfulness users who request a Windows laptop for originative enactment oregon gaming are inactive overmuch amended disconnected with an AMD oregon Intel machine. Those machines volition person amended app compatibility and amended graphics performance, adjacent if, yes, you volition person to commercialized astatine slightest a fewer hours of artillery life. Asus’ Zenbook S 16, for instance, starts astatine $1,699. It has faster performance, comes with much RAM, and costs a small little than the Book4 Edge, but it’s astir a 3rd of a lb heavier and gets astir 11 hours of artillery alternatively of 14.

Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Edge is simply a bully laptop for everything that it does offer. But I inactive haven’t seen what Qualcomm’s astir almighty Snapdragon X Elite spot is susceptible of.

Photography by Joanna Nelius / The Verge