Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon chips have rapidly turned Windows on Arm right into a viable platform. We’ve examined over half a dozen laptops with the brand new processors, and even the least highly effective chip matches Intel and last-gen AMD on CPU efficiency and beats them on battery life. But I’ve been desperate to get my arms on a laptop computer with Qualcomm’s quickest Snapdragon processor to see if it may well do much more. I obtained to see the high-end mannequin in motion again in April on a demo machine, and it appeared like it might be the chip to assist usher in a brand new period of sooner, extra power-efficient Windows PCs and tackle Apple’s MacBook Air M3 in a approach that Intel or AMD hadn’t been capable of accomplish.
That chip — the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 — is just accessible in a single Copilot Plus PC: Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Edge. It’s Samsung’s thinnest and lightest 16-inch laptop computer, designed for on a regular basis internet looking, a mixture of business- and creative-focused work, and operating Windows Copilot Plus AI apps like Live Captions and Cocreator. The Edge has comparable options to the Intel-based Galaxy Book4 Ultra, like an AMOLED show and a fingerprint reader, but it surely additionally affords sooner ports and sooner Wi-Fi.
The X1E-84-100 chip is meant to be as much as 20 p.c sooner than the following mannequin down. Samsung had an opportunity to make the laptop computer that might present the platform’s full potential. Instead, it underpowered the hell out of that chip to have the thinnest chassis potential. There’s nonetheless a great laptop computer within the Book4, however you don’t want to purchase one of the best chip to get it — and also you’d truly be higher off saving the money.
Surprisingly moveable
Heavy, barely moveable 16-inch laptops have practically grow to be a factor of the previous, making bigger screens an more and more interesting selection. The Book4 Edge pushes the boundaries of a 16-inch machine even additional. It’s one of some 16-inch laptops that’s below half an inch thick and below 3.5 kilos, making it some of the moveable giant laptops accessible. It doesn’t pressure my again after I carry it in my shoulder bag, and it looks like I might be nimbler with it since its weight is distributed throughout a bigger space in comparison with some lighter and smaller Copilot Plus PCs I examined. It’s simpler to carry, so I’m not afraid of dropping it.
The Edge’s construct high quality is strong. Its steel chassis is completely inflexible, the lid doesn’t flex once you open or shut the laptop computer, and the hinge retains a agency grip on the lid no matter the way you tilt it. Aesthetically, the machine’s grey keys mix in properly with its silver physique. Samsung says the physique shade is definitely a sapphire blue, however I don’t see any blue in it.
The keyboard is responsive however not attention-grabbing. I like that the keys will not be too shallow and that they don’t make numerous noise, particularly for a heavy-fingered typist like myself. But they really feel sluggish. The precise press feels slower and softer than I anticipated. I don’t outright dislike them, however after typing on the Asus Zenbook S 16 — a competing 16-inch laptop computer that’s practically the identical dimension and weight — I don’t need to return to Samsung’s.
Disappointing efficiency
The Book4 Edge could be nice for work, faculty, or any setting the place all you want is a quick, dependable machine to deal with the fundamentals. The laptop computer opens packages a smidge sooner than numerous competing AMD or Intel-based machines, and it may well deal with a bunch of browser tabs or streaming films simply as nicely. But since Samsung prioritized design over efficiency, it handed over an opportunity to point out off what Qualcomm’s quickest Snapdragon chip is able to at its greatest.
The base Book4 Edge mannequin comes with a Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, however the higher-end mannequin I reviewed has the X1E-84-100 chip, which is meant to be as much as 20 p.c sooner. It’s additionally presupposed to be able to boosting the max clock pace of two of its cores from 3.8GHz to 4.2GHz.
I monitored the X1E-84-100’s clock speeds throughout testing. Even in our most punishing multicore benchmarks, none of its 12 cores hit 4.2GHz. Samsung wouldn’t inform me precisely how a lot energy it’s giving the CPU within the Book4 Edge, but it surely’s clearly not sufficient. I additionally monitor energy consumption throughout benchmarks. The Book4 Edge by no means drew greater than 35W from the wall in my testing; each different laptop computer I’ve examined with a Qualcomm chip drew nearer to 50W.
Like many processors, the Snapdragon X Elite chips can work inside a reasonably broad energy vary: give it extra energy, and it’ll go sooner. It may even produce extra warmth. The thinner the laptop computer, the much less room there may be for the cooling system to dissipate that warmth, and the much less energy you can provide the processor because of this. By giving the chip much less energy, Samsung retains the temperature below management and the chassis skinny. Fortunately, the Book4 Edge not hitting its max clock pace doesn’t have any impact on the way it feels to make use of on daily basis. It’s nonetheless across the identical pace as the opposite Snapdragon X Elite laptops we’ve examined.
But it was a letdown after I in contrast its benchmark scores to laptops with lower-tier Snapdragon chips, just like the Dell XPS 13 and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, and noticed decrease numbers; the Book4 Edge was 13 to 16 p.c slower in multicore efficiency than these laptops, respectively. The Edge is at the moment the one laptop computer with Qualcomm’s quickest processor, and I needed to see it fly!
Long battery life
The upside to the laptop computer not operating full tilt is that it’s pretty energy environment friendly: I sometimes obtained round 14 hours of battery life on a cost. I used to be ready to make use of it for practically two full work days whereas loading up Microsoft Edge with dozens of tabs, streaming music, writing, and taking the occasional video name. I had the laptop computer’s energy mode set to probably the most environment friendly setting, however there wasn’t a change in Book4 Edge’s responsiveness. (I didn’t see a notable distinction in energy draw between effectivity mode and efficiency mode.)
The factor that impressed me probably the most about this laptop computer’s battery life was that it lasted that lengthy on a comparatively small 61.8Wh battery, exhibiting how power-efficient Qualcomm made its Snapdragon processors. Just how environment friendly? Consider the virtually equivalent 16-inch Galaxy Book4 Ultra, which has an Intel Core Ultra chip and a 76Wh battery. The Book4 Edge outlasts it by about 20 minutes, even with a battery that’s 18 p.c smaller. Yeah, the chip is that environment friendly.
Its 2880 x 1800 (3K) AMOLED show additionally helps save energy. It has round half the pixel rely of a 4K show, so the laptop computer doesn’t have to work as exhausting to energy it. But there are nonetheless loads of pixels to maintain photos trying clear and sharp whereas producing an expanse of correct, vibrant colours. It’s a cheerful center floor that doesn’t sacrifice picture high quality for battery life — an enormous motive why shows with comparable resolutions are beginning to crop up extra typically in productiveness and gaming laptops alike.
A compelling base mannequin
The Book4 Edge is an efficient, skinny, and light-weight laptop computer for somebody like a scholar who wants a big-screen machine that may deal with a number of open apps with ease. It has glorious battery life, a pleasant display screen, and attractiveness. I simply can’t see why Samsung put probably the most highly effective Snapdragon X Elite chip right into a laptop computer after which didn’t reap the benefits of it. There’s no motive to get the $1,750 mannequin I examined; the $1,450 base mannequin is a a lot better worth for 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 chip.
The Snapdragon processor makes the Book4 Edge one of many thinnest, lightest 16-inch Windows laptops you will get, with nice battery life and efficiency. But energy customers who want a Windows laptop computer for artistic work or gaming are nonetheless a lot better off with an AMD or Intel machine. Those machines can have higher app compatibility and higher graphics efficiency, even when, sure, you’ll have to commerce at the least just a few hours of battery life. Asus’ Zenbook S 16, as an illustration, begins at $1,699. It has sooner efficiency, comes with extra RAM, and prices rather less than the Book4 Edge, but it surely’s a few third of a pound heavier and will get round 11 hours of battery as an alternative of 14.
Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Edge is an efficient laptop computer for the whole lot that it does provide. But I nonetheless haven’t seen what Qualcomm’s strongest Snapdragon X Elite chip is able to.
Photography by Joanna Nelius / The Verge
