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Samsung Galaxy Book 2
83
Engadget Review
Samsung’s Galaxy Book 2 looks like the ultimate Surface Pro rival, thanks to its crisp, vibrant display and handy new kickstand. Its long-lasting battery and speedy gigabit LTE are compelling draws, too. But its Snapdragon 850 CPU causes some programs to perform slowly and limits app compatibility. For $999 with a keyboard and S Pen, the Galaxy Book 2 is a reasonable deal, but only if you often travel for long distances.
It looks the part, but doesn't have the guts required to play the part.
Cherlynn LowOctober 26, 2018
Pros
- Excellent battery life
- Sturdy kickstand
- Fast and always available gigabit LTE
- Brilliant screen S Pen and keyboard included
Cons
- Performance lags Intel systems
- App compatibility remains questionable
Samsung
Galaxy Book 2
Engadget
83
Critics
10 reviews70
AVERAGE CRITIC SCORE
Users
6 reviews70
AVERAGE USER SCORE
View All Critic & User Reviews
Samsung Galaxy Book 2
- Critic Reviews (10)
- User Reviews (6)
- 70AVERAGE CRITIC SCORE10 ReviewsPC World70Performance takes a back seat to battery lifeSamsung's latest 2-in-1 now looks much like the competition, but with a key change: it uses Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon processor, which delivers game-changing battery life but anemic performance.Gizmodo60Samsung's Galaxy Book 2 Tries to Do Too Much, FailIn the end, I did manage to get my work done on the Galaxy Book 2, but the device ultimately doesn’t make a very good case for itself. It tries to do a lot of things and hobbles its way through most basic tasks, but I’m not sure the user the Galaxy Book 2 invites you to imagine really exists. Who is this mythical person who needs a stylus or an AMOLED display on a device stutters and quivers when you’ve got too many browser tabs open? I think this person might not be real, and if they are, they would almost certainly notice that they spent $1,000 on weak performance.Laptop Magazine60Samsung Galaxy Book 2 ReviewThe Galaxy Book 2 boasts an awesome OLED display and built-in LTE, but this Snapdragon-powered 2-in-1's performance and battery life aren't quite good enough.PC Mag60Samsung Galaxy Book 2With a power-sipping Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 processor, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Windows tablet offers excellent battery life and LTE connectivity, but it suffers from lackluster computing performance.CNET80A Windows 2-in-1 that lets you work anywhereThe Samsung Galaxy Book 2 is a clear-cut example of the always-on, always connected future of PCs. If you want to work anywhere at anytime and don't mind adding a device to your data plan, it's worth consideration.TechRadar70Samsung Galaxy Book 2 reviewThe Samsung Galaxy Book 2 gets a lot of things right, namely its fantastic new design that brings it in line with industry norms, some impressive battery life and included accessories. However, this is yet another Windows tablet that’s largely held back by its Qualcomm processor – not to mention supporting hardware.Windows Central90A stylish, capable 2-in-1 with ARM and 4G LTESamsung delivered a Surface Pro-like PC that runs on a Snapdragon 850 with LTE. And it's glorious.The Verge70The Surface AmateurSamsung may have come the closest to making my dream computer, but the Book 2 just doesn’t have enough of the pro I need to be my everyday computer.Digital Trends70Samsung Galaxy Book 2 reviewSamsung’s Galaxy Book 2 targets the Surface Pro 6, but just barely misses the mark.PocketNow70Samsung Galaxy Book 2 ReviewThe Qualcomm ARM architecture does provide for some pretty great battery life as long as you don’t need to do any serious work other than the lightweight UWP apps in the Microsoft Store, the ARM-optimized included version of Office 365, and whatever else you can do within a web browser. If you can do without some of the hefty Windows programs out there, the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 could be a real gem for the frequent traveler.
- 70AVERAGE USER SCORE6 Reviewselizabeth10August 26, 2019Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!This is the worst piece of electronics I have ever owned. It is broken will not turn on, huge hassles from AT&T (who I bought it from) and Samsung giving me a big run around. It is only 4 months old. Never really liked it, it doesnt know what it wants to be, its not a tablet and its not a laptop. Its as heavy as my Dell laptop. I will never purchase Samsung again, stick with Apple, and never buy anything from AT&T, they do not stand behind their sales. Poorest customer service everRobert90August 10, 2019Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!I work for an airline and am out in the world with this most days. I LOVE the OLED display!, It’s the only screen [besides my ThinkPad] that is easy on the eyes, never get tired reading with this incredible display. Battery life is ALL DAY. I loaned it to a friend for two weeks and did not realize how much I missed it. Was so glad to get it back.Richard80July 9, 2019Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!I've had the Galaxy Book 2 since March 2019 and use it on Sprint. I was looking for something light, durable and LTE provided with a microsoft windows. This seemed to be what I was looking for. I have been really happy it so far. The performance is based on what you need it to do. I use it mainly for MS Office use and the browser. I was using a Galaxy Tab S2 for a few years and needed something else besides an android operating system. I love the s-pen...a huge plus and the keyboard is adequate and the keyboard backlighting is a plus.If you're looking for a portable, LTE provided gaming computer...this is NOT it. It can run netflix, hulu or any other app without any issues.Overall - happy with the battery life, design, included accessories...and the LTE is big for me as I work at several sites where wifi is not available and an aircard is an unnecessary cost.I would like to see accessories available for this product. There is virtually nothing available whether looking on Samsung's website, amazon or the web. That was quite shocking as I searched for awhile without out a satisfactory resolve.Steven80July 6, 2019Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!I have been using the Samsung Galaxy Book2 for a few weeks now. I have found that it has exceeded my expectations especially in light of a few lukewarm reviews. I also own the Microsoft Surface Pro 2017 LTE (this is the older Surface Pro model) and in terms of speed I would say that both are on equal footing perhaps the Surface Pro is slightly faster although Windows itself feels more responsive on the Galaxy Book2.I do like the keyboard actually better than the Surface Pro Typecover and have found the touchpad to be adequate but not quite as good as the Surface Pro. One thing that I find annoying about the Galaxy Book2 keyboard is that it can't be connected in reverse for when it is being used mostly as a tablet. The pen is excellent and I love that it doesn't require a pen or Bluetooth. I don't like that there is no pen clip as I prefer the pen to be stored in my pocket. I primarily use the Galaxy2 in tablet mode on my feet rather than on a desk.I actually prefer the fingerprint sensor over using the camera in my usage because I find that outside in the sun the camera isn't able to recognise me properly so it quickly get switched off. The fingerprint sensor is as easy as swiping the screen to use and have gotten used to the location although I'm sure I have left plenty of grubby finger prints on the camera.The battery life on the Galaxy Book2 is perfect for my use. I found that most days the Surface Pro got me through the day but longer days I inconveniently had to carry my charger and charge up in my lunch break. Also the deep cycling of the battery has resulted in a reduction of my battery's capacity in the Surface Pro whereas I find that at the end of the day currently with the Galaxy Book2 I have around 60% battery capacity left which is better for the battery and hopefully should mean that it will last longer. I like being able to charge with my phone charger because of it's use of USB-C.In some respects the display is not as good as the Surface Pro. The Galaxy Book2 resolution is lower and I find that the Surface Pro displays nicer whites. That being said as I use this outdoors a lot it seems to display more clearly in full sun than the Surface Pro. I have also been able to run 4k screen at 30Hz through a USB-C dock but not both a 1080p and 4k screen together as I did with my Surface Pro through the Surface Dock.I really hope that ARM / Qualcomm succeed in the Windows tablet / laptop market. I have noticed that the iPad Pro is very competitive speed wise using ARM CPUs and it would be fantastic to see more software natively compiled for ARM. I hope by pushing up the TDPs of the CPUs performance can be improved further- the battery in my Galaxy Book2 is half the size of the Surface Pro 2017. In terms of software compatibility currently I haven't had any problems yet but I am expecting to run into some. My usage is primarily using Drawboard / Xodo for navigating PDF drawings, Microsoft Excel for recording data, Edge for web browsing and Synergy for keyboard and mouse sharing. I have also tried the Beta, ARM compiled version of Firefox and based on the Basemark Web 3.0 browser test is about twice as fast as Edge. Occasionally I may need to connect to industrial machines which rely on special drivers and I completely expect that in these times I might need to pull out my Surface Pro to deal with that.Donald90July 4, 2019Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!I abandoned my laptop to use this for my business. Love the size, connectivity, display and form factor. It's pretty speedy for my proposes but I'm not graphics intensive. I have a dongle to connect to an external display and this setup is perfect for me. Love the portability and connectivity (Lte). A great all around machine.Brad70June 1, 2019Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!I love this device. It got it from Verizon so it has it's own LTE connection. I'm an IT professional working in the MSP space, so I'm often out of the office at client sites. The 3 most important factors that I wanted was all day battery live, light enough to easily take notes, and a startup time quick enough to whip it out to take notes while in a conversation with customers (so I could stop carrying around a paper notebook). As fast as a Surface can seem, this thing is on par with unlocking your phone(almost instant). This device excels at these things and has also been powerful enough to act as a laptop in a pinch. IMO the web works best in Edge as it has been optimized for ARM (and Chrome for Windows on ARM isn't available yet). 4GB ram without an upgrade option is the biggest drawback for a device at this price point, but oddly enough it hasn't been as much of a problem as I thought it would have been. The other slightly annoying issue is that it only has a couple of USB-C ports, so you have to use dongles for Ethernet, etc. A single USB-A port would have been nice. I use a Microsoft Wireless Display adapter to plug into monitors/TV's over Miracast and a bluetooth mouse to limit my need for dongles.
Key Specs
TYPE
Tablet
FORM FACTOR
Convertible
BUNDLED OS
Windows
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