Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 5g – “Perfect size”


Samsung has managed to pack an incredible screen and decent performance in an ultra-lightweight package. Unfortunately, there is a loud back, writes Ny Teknik’s Simon Campanello.

Everyone I ask to pick up the computer is struck by the same thing: it weighs almost nothing. With the Galaxy Book2 Pro, Samsung has succeeded in building an almost perfectly portable work computer. But the weight of course entails compromises.

The laptop comes in a stylish matte black plastic chassis and holds a widescreen screen of 15.6 inches. Still, it is super thin (11.7 millimeters) and weighs a modest 1.16 kilograms, significantly less than a 13-inch Macbook Air (1.29 kilograms).

There you have the whole salespitch, really.

The screen itself, however, is worth dwelling on. It is an amoled with good brightness and incredibly nice color reproduction. Although it has “only” FHD resolution (1920×1080 pixels), it is still a delight to the eye.

The screen edges are thankfully thin, but there is still room for a 1080p camera at the top. It’s not incredible, but it does deliver a fully featured video conferencing experience. Samsung has also packed with its own software that allows you to change settings and apply filters as a blurred background no matter what chat service you use.

Unfortunately, Samsung, just like on its mobile phones, is a little too fond of printing computers full of their own software. There’s a slight bloatware warning on the Galaxy Book series, so the uninstall button may need to get hot at first.

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“A competent mobile workplace”

But the 15.6-inch screen and widescreen play very well with the new Snap Assist functions in Windows 11. So that with a shortcut or by dragging the window you work with to the corner of the screen, you can sort windows so that you have two in width.

The computer is wide enough to hold both a full-size keyboard and a numpad. In addition, it has a decent port range with modern dimensions with both usb c and usb 3.2, thunderbolt 4, hdmi, headphone jack and an sd card reader.

As the name suggests, the computer comes with built-in 5g support, so plug in a SIM card and you have a very competent mobile workplace. Unfortunately, the battery leaves something to be desired.

It’s by no means useless. Depending on how you choose to balance performance versus battery life, you can manage a working day as long as you have the opportunity to take a short charging break. But a full eight hours can not be squeezed out (although Samsung claims up to 20 hours of video playback, but then with the firearm that you drive video players in airplane mode with low light setting. Raise your hand you who use your computer that way).

Then we have the thing of balancing performance.

The computer is equipped with a 12-core Intel Core i7-1260P from the Alder Lake generation. It has four performance cores and clock speeds from 2.1 GHz to 4.6 GHz.

It is not a regular power package, but it handles most work situations well.

The other specifications promise 16 GB working memory (LPDDR5) and 512 GB ssd storage.

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“Cooling is a problem”

The problem, and this is a pretty big problem, is rather the cooling. It may not come as a huge surprise when you have already read about how thin and light the computer is.

If you set the computer to maximum performance, you get a fan sound that I have not experienced since the AC on my car was a hot summer and I had to turn up all the fan controls to the max to try to withstand. It requires proper noise reduction in the headphones to withstand, and you will not become popular when the fans are running at maximum power on the train or in the office landscape.

With a shortcut button among the function keys, I can switch between different performance modes, where it is possible to dim, or completely turn off the fans in exchange for a slightly lower speed on the processor.

Unfortunately, some problems arise here as well. When I try to push the computer by running a game while I turn off the fans, the top of the keyboard becomes almost scalding hot. I hate to be the one pulling up self-igniting cell phones, but you get a little worried …

In short, the Galaxy Book2 is not made to carry heavy workloads. The computer works best when I set what Samsung calls optimized mode. It keeps the fan sound in check while I can work on it unhindered.

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Verdict: “Obvious compromises”

One last thing to consider is the price. The test computer with the above-mentioned processor and 5g support costs SEK 18,490 (only the 5g support means a price increase of SEK 2,000).

It is possible to bargain down to SEK 14,490 if you take a step down in performance, memory and abolish the 5g support. The computer is also available in a 13.3-inch version with an entry price of SEK 13,490.

Despite obvious compromises, I’m still very happy with the Galaxy Book2 Pro. If I only look at my own needs, where I rarely work with any heavier programs, it is an almost perfect work computer. It has a brilliant screen, looks really nice and it is so light that I can barely notice that it is in the bag.

Specifications: Galaxy Book2 Pro 5G

Operating system: Windows 11.

Dimensions: 355.4 x 225.8 x 11.7 millimeters.

Weight: 1.16 kilograms.

Processor: Intel Core i7-1260P.

Graphics: Intel Iris Xe.

Screen: 15.6 FHD Amoled (1920×1080).

Working memory: 16 GB LPDDR5.

Storage: 512 GB NVMe ssd.

Ports: Hdmi, thunderbolt 3, usb-c, usb 3.2, microSD, 3.5 millimeters.

Connection: Bluetooth 5.1, Wifi 6E, 5g sub6.

Biometrics: Fingerprint reader.

Price: SEK 18,490.


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