Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 review - Multimedia laptop with Arc A350M fails to impress ↺
The Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 is a new multimedia laptop that is equipped with the latest components from Intel. Besides a current-gen Alder Lake P-series processor, the Korean manufacturer has included the Arc A350M - an entry-level discrete graphics card from Intel. At an RRP of 1,299 Euro (US$1,300), it also features a matte IPS display, 16 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of PCIe SSD.
Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
79.8 % | 08/2022 | Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 i7-1260P, A350M | 1.6 kg | 15 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
83.5 % | 07/2022 | Dell Inspiron 15 Plus i5-11400H, GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU | 1.9 kg | 19 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
80.6 % | 11/2021 | Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ i7-1165G7, GeForce MX350 | 1.6 kg | 17.9 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
85.6 % | 03/2022 | Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU | 1.9 kg | 20 mm | 15.60" | 3840x2160 | |
81.2 % | 06/2021 | HP Pavilion 15-eg i7-1165G7, GeForce MX450 | 1.7 kg | 17.9 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
82 % | 07/2021 | Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | 1.6 kg | 16 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 |
Case - Lots of creaking noises
The Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 uses the same chassis as its predecessor, but it is now only available in a graphite color scheme. The device has a very clean look without any striking elements. And its smooth surfaces are quite sensitive to fingerprints. However, the 15.6-inch laptop, which is made of plastic and aluminum, fails to impress in terms of quality. Our review unit makes unpleasant creaking sounds. The lid area in particular is severely affected by this problem, but the base unit isn't spared either.
We also have an issue with its level of sturdiness. For example, the keyboard flexes noticeably when pushed and we are also able to quite easily distort the image on the display. In addition, although the screen hinge lets you open up the display to a 180° angle, it also exhibits a significant amount of teetering. Overall, the laptop doesn't feel at all like a product with a list price of 1,300 Euros (US$1,300).
Weighing slightly under 1.6 kg (3.5 lb), the Galaxy Book2 is one of the lightest and most compact laptops amongst the devices in our comparison. Samsung ships the device with a compact 65-watt wall charger that weighs just 183 g (0.4 lb) with the USB-C cable.
Connectivity - Wi-Fi 6 support
The laptop has a good selection of modern USB-C ports, regular USB-A ports, and an HDMI output. This means that you will be fine using the laptop without an external hub or adapter. However, Samsung doesn't include USB 4 or Thunderbolt, which limits the use of the device with docking stations.
SD Card Reader
On the right, there is a microSD card reader that is connected internally via USB 2.0. Consequently, the card reader was only able to transfer data at speeds of up to 26 MB/s with our reference card (Angelbird AV Pro V60).
SD Card Reader | |
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
Average of class Multimedia (17.6 - 205, n=65, last 2 years) | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ (AV Pro V60) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 (Angelbird AV Pro V60) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE (AV Pro V60) | |
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
Average of class Multimedia (16.8 - 266, n=61, last 2 years) | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ (AV Pro V60) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE (AV Pro V60) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 (Angelbird AV Pro V60) |
Communication
Even though Samsung didn't include a Wi-Fi 6E module (6 GHz), the laptop still comes with the Intel AX201, which is an excellent Wi-Fi module that supports Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax, 2x2). During testing with our ASUS reference router, data transfer rates were outstanding at around 1.6 Gbit/s and also very stable. The laptop also supports Bluetooth 5.1 but doesn't have an LTE or 5G module.
Webcam
The webcam located at the top of the bezel only uses a 720p sensor. Whilst it gets the job done, the image quality isn't great even under good lighting conditions. There is neither a mechanical webcam cover nor an IR camera for Windows Hello face authentication.
Maintenance
The bottom cover is relatively easy to remove because Samsung has hidden the four Phillips screws under rubber feet that are plugged in rather than glued down. Inside the laptop, you will have access to the fans, Wi-Fi module, and two SSD slots (underneath an extra cover). The onboard RAM (LPDDR4x-4266) is soldered and can't be expanded.
Input devices - No backlit keyboard
The black chiclet keyboard with a dedicated numeric keypad offers very shallow travel that takes some getting used to initially. Its response will feel very precise once you are familiar with the keyboard, and keystrokes are also not very loud. However, the arrow keys are very small. According to specifications, there is supposed to be a fingerprint scanner in the power button on the top right, but this is not the case in our review unit.
Another problem with the keyboard is the lack of backlighting. This likewise differs from the information provided on the official spec sheet. The Samsung app even has an adjuster for the backlight level, but it didn't change anything on our review unit.
The smooth clickpad works without any issues, but the clicking noise is definitely too loud and feels cheap. The clickpad is able to properly recognise gestures with up to four fingers.
Display - Samsung used a cheap IPS panel
Similar to the older model, the Galaxy Book2 still uses a matte Full HD IPS screen with a 16:9 ratio, but the panel is now made by the company BOE. At about 325 cd/m² on average, the new panel is slightly brighter than the previous one, but it has a worse black level (0.4), resulting in a contrast ratio of just 843:1. Furthermore, the screen also has a visible blue tint and the overall subjective image quality is simply not good. Colors appear dull by comparison and the image seems somewhat washed out, but at least bright areas don't look grainy.
The panel has typical response times and a remarkably wide viewing angle. We also didn't detect any PWM flicker. However, there is noticeable IPS glow towards the edges when the display is showing dark images.
|
Brightness Distribution: 89 %
Center on Battery: 337 cd/m²
Contrast: 843:1 (Black: 0.4 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.7 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5, calibrated: 2.8
ΔE Greyscale 5.4 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
51.3% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
74.8% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
49.6% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.07
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 NE156FHM-NS0, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Dell Inspiron 15 Plus Dell INSPIRON LGD06A6, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ Samsung ATNA56YX03-0, OLED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE LEN156UHD, IPS, 3840x2160, 15.60 | HP Pavilion 15-eg Chi Mei CMN1523, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA CEC PANDA LM156LF5L03, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | 27% | 77% | 70% | -14% | ||
Display P3 Coverage | 49.6 | 64.1 29% | 99.9 101% | 90.2 82% | 42.9 -14% | |
sRGB Coverage | 74.8 | 92.8 24% | 100 34% | 100 34% | 64 -14% | |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 51.3 | 66.2 29% | 99.9 95% | 100 95% | 44.4 -13% | |
Response Times | 8% | 91% | -66% | 18% | 11% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 32.3 ? | 31.6 ? 2% | 2.2 ? 93% | 66 ? -104% | 22.8 ? 29% | 29 ? 10% |
Response Time Black / White * | 25 ? | 21.6 ? 14% | 2.9 ? 88% | 32 ? -28% | 23.6 ? 6% | 22 ? 12% |
PWM Frequency | 59.5 ? | 26320 ? | ||||
Screen | 5% | 37% | 43% | 2% | 5% | |
Brightness middle | 337 | 298 -12% | 384.5 14% | 542 61% | 294.3 -13% | 325 -4% |
Brightness | 325 | 285 -12% | 388 19% | 496 53% | 251 -23% | 297 -9% |
Brightness Distribution | 89 | 86 -3% | 98 10% | 73 -18% | 76 -15% | 86 -3% |
Black Level * | 0.4 | 0.4 -0% | 0.31 22% | 0.26 35% | 0.445 -11% | |
Contrast | 843 | 745 -12% | 1748 107% | 1132 34% | 730 -13% | |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 4.7 | 3.68 22% | 2.53 46% | 3.7 21% | 4.08 13% | 3.48 26% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 15.7 | 7.39 53% | 6.16 61% | 5.8 63% | 19.49 -24% | 8.07 49% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 2.8 | 2.61 7% | 1.1 61% | 3.7 -32% | ||
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 5.4 | 5.3 2% | 1.6 70% | 4.4 19% | 3 44% | 5.27 2% |
Gamma | 2.07 106% | 2.102 105% | 2.24 98% | 2.38 92% | 2.21 100% | 2.41 91% |
CCT | 7727 84% | 6143 106% | 6464 101% | 7116 91% | 6616 98% | 7769 84% |
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 44 | |||||
Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 70 | |||||
Total Average (Program / Settings) | 13% /
10% | 68% /
57% | 16% /
33% | 2% /
1% | 8% /
6% |
* ... smaller is better
Our analysis using the professional CalMAN software (X-Rite i1 Pro 2) verified that the panel has a blue tint and a colour temperature that is certainly too cool. In particular, the colour deviation really goes to show that the IPS display is cheap. Whilst we were able to overcome the blue tint through calibration (the profile is available as a free download above), this also reduced the display's maximum brightness by approximately 30 cd/m² and didn't alleviate the high colour deviation. Together with the very low colour gamut coverage (only 75% of sRGB), this panel is unsuitable for photo and video editing.
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
25 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 13.3 ms rise | |
↘ 11.7 ms fall | ||
The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 53 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21.5 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
32.3 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 14.8 ms rise | |
↘ 17.5 ms fall | ||
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.2 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 37 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is similar to the average of all tested devices (33.8 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM not detected | |||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 17933 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. |
Thanks to its matte display, the Galaxy Book2 15 is quite comfortable to use outdoors, as long as you can avoid having direct reflections of light sources on the display.
Performance - Alder Lake-P with 20 watts
Test conditions
Samsung offers three different power modes that you can select in the Samsung Settings app or by pressing Fn+F11 on the laptop. In the table below, we have listed the TDP values of the processor and graphics card under constant load for each of the modes. Fundamentally, both the CPU and GPU were able to take advantage of the higher TDP values at the beginning of the tests, but only for a very short period.
Silent | Optimised | High performance | |
---|---|---|---|
CPU load | 11.5 watts | 17 watts | 20 watts |
GPU load | 14 watts | 20 watts | 25 watts |
Stress test | CPU: 10 watts GPU: 13 watts |
CPU: 8 watts GPU: 17 watts |
CPU: 10 watts GPU: 20 watts |
When you look at these values and consider that the Core i7-1260P is an Alder Lake-P chip with a nominal TDP of 28 watts, it is rather disappointing that the system greatly falls short of this nominal TDP even when it is only under CPU load and is running in high-performance mode. We ran the following benchmarks and measurements in High Performance mode in order to at least get the best performance the laptop has to offer.
Processor - Core i7-1260P
The Core i7-1260P is part of Intel's current-gen Alder Lake family, which uses a hybrid architecture that combines performance and efficiency cores. The Core i7-1260P features four high-speed performance cores (8 threads) and eight efficiency cores (8 threads), meaning it is able to run up to 16 threads in parallel. Intel caps the maximum power consumption of Alder Lake-P chips at 64 watts. But as we've already seen, the chips themselves don't even hit their maximum clock speed with that amount of power. Nonetheless, the new chips still perform very well at high power usage, even if they aren't the most efficient.
Looking at the TDP values of the Samsung Galaxy Book2 15, you can already imagine that its processor is going to perform significantly worse. In any case, power management still really needs some optimization because results can fluctuate drastically. For instance, we obtained scores between about 7,800 and 10,200 points in Cinebench R23 Multi without any difference in the procedure. In addition, we noticed that the processor only seems to be able to make use of the full 35 watts when running current benchmarks such as Cinebench R23 and R20. Even then, performance still fluctuates frequently.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
As expected, the single-core performance is very good. On battery power, its performance likewise fluctuated significantly with a power draw of 13-20 watts. Generally, you can expect a deficit of around 30%. More CPU benchmarks are available on this page.
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
CPU Performance Rating | |
Average of class Multimedia | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ -2! | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg -2! | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA -2! |
Cinebench R23 / Multi Core | |
Average of class Multimedia (4624 - 30789, n=99, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (3173 - 12150, n=27) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg |
Cinebench R23 / Single Core | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average of class Multimedia (878 - 2110, n=97, last 2 years) | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (1155 - 1812, n=25) | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus |
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core) | |
Average of class Multimedia (1783 - 11768, n=95, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (1234 - 4748, n=25) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg |
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (448 - 698, n=25) | |
Average of class Multimedia (341 - 812, n=95, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA |
Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit | |
Average of class Multimedia (785 - 4703, n=104, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (549 - 2034, n=29) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg |
Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit | |
Average of class Multimedia (142.6 - 308, n=97, last 2 years) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (165.4 - 260, n=27) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA |
Blender / v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (264 - 906, n=26) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average of class Multimedia (107 - 662, n=93, last 2 years) |
7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 | |
Average of class Multimedia (20166 - 119900, n=88, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (16146 - 47064, n=25) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg |
7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 -mmt1 | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average of class Multimedia (3398 - 7163, n=88, last 2 years) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (4064 - 5791, n=25) | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA |
Geekbench 5.5 / Multi-Core | |
Average of class Multimedia (3828 - 23059, n=98, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (3866 - 10570, n=25) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus |
Geekbench 5.5 / Single-Core | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Average of class Multimedia (926 - 2342, n=98, last 2 years) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (1436 - 1786, n=25) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus |
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset | |
Average of class Multimedia (4.99 - 30.5, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (3.45 - 13.6, n=26) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA |
LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (40.2 - 65.7, n=25) | |
Average of class Multimedia (6.7 - 84.9, n=90, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE |
R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (0.4559 - 0.727, n=25) | |
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 2022 i7-1260P | |
Average of class Multimedia (0.3826 - 0.723, n=88, last 2 years) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 |
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
Performance Rating | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average of class Multimedia | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA -9! |
AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average of class Multimedia (3804 - 27411, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (2176 - 10898, n=26) | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 |
AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
Average of class Multimedia (16379 - 136048, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (11015 - 56906, n=26) | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 |
AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average of class Multimedia (1099 - 6681, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (669 - 2709, n=26) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 |
AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
Average of class Multimedia (21547 - 134321, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (42571 - 82493, n=26) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ |
AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average of class Multimedia (3099 - 15484, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (2901 - 6975, n=26) | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg |
AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average of class Multimedia (9602 - 68591, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (5950 - 26376, n=26) | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 |
AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Average of class Multimedia (23702 - 169946, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (16041 - 92356, n=26) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 |
AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
Average of class Multimedia (302 - 1901, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (259 - 771, n=26) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA |
AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average of class Multimedia (1996 - 14590, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (1237 - 5858, n=26) | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 |
AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average of class Multimedia (7419 - 52727, n=86, last 2 years) | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (13261 - 43652, n=26) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus |
System performance
Despite the low TDP values of the Core i7-1260P, the Galaxy Book2 15 is still a highly responsive laptop thanks in part to its PCIe SSD. We didn't encounter any issues during our review. Results from the synthetic benchmarks are good. Nonetheless, we are going to be somewhat cautious here because the driver for the new Arc A350M GPU is very highly optimized for benchmarks.
PCMark 10 / Score | |
Average of class Multimedia (4635 - 8670, n=83, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P, Intel Arc A350M (5486 - 5609, n=2) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA |
PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
Average of class Multimedia (8480 - 12420, n=83, last 2 years) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P, Intel Arc A350M (9411 - 9997, n=2) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus |
PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Average of class Multimedia (5845 - 11186, n=83, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P, Intel Arc A350M (6714 - 6728, n=2) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA |
PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
Average of class Multimedia (4688 - 13548, n=83, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P, Intel Arc A350M (6677 - 7562, n=2) | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ |
PCMark 10 Score | 5486 points | |
Help |
AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average of class Multimedia (20513 - 92745, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (25125 - 71544, n=25) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus |
AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average of class Multimedia (22917 - 90142, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (24983 - 72065, n=25) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus |
AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average of class Multimedia (20226 - 95196, n=86, last 2 years) | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (23512 - 66799, n=25) | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus |
AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
Average of class Multimedia (75 - 346, n=85, last 2 years) | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Average Intel Core i7-1260P (77.9 - 118.4, n=21) | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
In our standardized latency test (Internet browsing, 4K YouTube video playback, CPU load), the Galaxy Book2 showed some limitations on the current BIOS version and is therefore not optimal for running real-time audio apps.
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
HP Pavilion 15-eg | |
Dell Inspiron 15 Plus | |
Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
Unsurprisingly, Samsung put its own SSD in the laptop. The PM991 has a storage capacity of 512 GB, of which 413 GB is available after the initial setup. During our tests, the PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD managed to deliver transfer rates of up to about 2 GB/s. Even though the Galaxy Book2 isn't going to set any record with this, the drive is good enough for day-to-day use and its performance remains stable. Thanks to the second SSD slot, the laptop's storage capacity can be easily expanded as required. Click here to see more SSD benchmarks.
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
Graphics card
The Arc A350M is the new entry-level GPU in Intel's lineup that offers 6 Xe cores and 6 ray-tracing units with a maximum clock speed of 1,150 MHz. The Arc A350M can be configured by manufacturers to draw 25-35 watts of power and has 4GB of GDDR6 (64-bit) VRAM.
In our benchmarks, the GPU reached a peak power consumption of 35 watts, but it quickly settled down to 25-28 watts. Until now, we have only observed this behavior in CPUs, whereas GPUs usually have stable power draw. As a result, the GPU doesn't offer stable performance and failed the Time Spy stress test with a score of 92.9%.
In synthetic benchmarks, the Arc A350M generally delivered good results and often performed better than competing products such as the Nvidia GeForce MX550 and the integrated AMD Radeon 680M. This is something we have already seen in our detailed GPU analysis. On battery power, the GPU's performance isn't stable because its power draw keeps fluctuating between 14 and 32 watts. You can find more GPU benchmarks and tests on our comparison page.
3DMark 06 Standard Score | 31625 points | |
3DMark Vantage P Result | 31023 points | |
3DMark 11 Performance | 10123 points | |
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 26328 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 6009 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 2976 points | |
Help |
Gaming Performance
In actual gaming benchmarks, not much is left of the good performance seen in the synthetic benchmarks. The Arc A350M almost always trailed behind the Nvidia GeForce MX550 and sometimes even performed worse than the integrated AMD Radeon 680M. In some cases, this new dedicated GPU didn't even perform much better than the fastest versions of the integrated Iris Xe Graphics G7 with 96 EUs.
F1 2021 | |
1920x1080 Medium Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
Average of class Multimedia (54.8 - 336, n=25, last 2 years) | |
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED | |
Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO 3 24IAP7 | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Arc A350M () | |
1920x1080 High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
Average of class Multimedia (43 - 264, n=26, last 2 years) | |
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED | |
Lenovo IdeaCentre AIO 3 24IAP7 | |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 | |
Average Intel Arc A350M () |
Our Witcher 3 loop showed that the GPU wasn't able to maintain its initial performance but didn't exhibit any further performance fluctuations later on. It is difficult to play games on battery power because the laptop consistently experiences FPS dips.
Witcher 3 FPS graph
low | med. | high | ultra | |
GTA V (2015) | 134.5 | 109.3 | 36.5 | 14.7 |
The Witcher 3 (2015) | 120 | 76 | 41 | 18.4 |
Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 102.9 | 83.5 | 63.9 | 62.1 |
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 59.3 | 29.8 | 20.7 | |
X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 33.9 | 29.4 | 25.8 | |
Far Cry 5 (2018) | 65 | 39 | 37 | 35 |
Strange Brigade (2018) | 138 | 59.8 | 47.4 | 40.9 |
F1 2021 (2021) | 166.6 | 63.8 | 52.2 | 21.1 |
Farming Simulator 22 (2021) | 121 | 63 | 47 | 43 |
God of War (2022) | 22 | 18 | 15 | 11 |
GRID Legends (2022) | 78 | 56 | 41 | 28 |
Cyberpunk 2077 1.6 (2022) | 27.4 | 18.5 | 16.2 | 11.6 |
Ghostwire Tokyo (2022) | 32.2 | 30.6 | 29.6 | 29.2 |
Emissions - Loud fans
Noise emissions
The two fans sometimes start running for no apparent reason whilst the laptop is at idle. Moreover, they can rev up to the maximum speed (determined based on the power mode selected) within a few seconds more or less regardless of the load. In High Performance mode, fan noise reached a very audible 47.5 dB(A). In Optimised and Silent mode, the maximum levels were 41.3 dB(A) and 37.2 dB(A) respectively. We didn't notice any other noise from the electronics.
Noise Level
Idle |
| 24.3 / 24.3 / 29.8 dB(A) |
Load |
| 47.5 / 47.5 dB(A) |
| ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
||
min: , med: , max: Earthworks M23R, Arta (15 cm distance) environment noise: 24.3 dB(A) |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 A350M, i7-1260P, Samsung PM991 MZVLQ512HBLU | Dell Inspiron 15 Plus GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU, i5-11400H, Micron 2450 512GB MTFDKBA512TFK | Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ GeForce MX350, i7-1165G7, Intel SSD 660p SSDPEKNW512G8 | Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H, Samsung PM9A1 MZVL21T0HCLR | HP Pavilion 15-eg GeForce MX450, i7-1165G7, Samsung PM991 MZVLQ1T0HALB | Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA Iris Xe G7 80EUs, i5-1135G7, Lite-On CL1-8D512 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Noise | -5% | 8% | 4% | 7% | 1% | |
off / environment * | 24.3 | 26 -7% | 23.4 4% | 26.15 -8% | 25.4 -5% | 26 -7% |
Idle Minimum * | 24.3 | 26 -7% | 23.6 3% | 26.15 -8% | 25.6 -5% | 26 -7% |
Idle Average * | 24.3 | 28 -15% | 23.6 3% | 26.15 -8% | 25.6 -5% | 26 -7% |
Idle Maximum * | 29.8 | 32 -7% | 23.6 21% | 26.15 12% | 25.6 14% | 26 13% |
Load Average * | 47.5 | 47 1% | 41 14% | 33.34 30% | 39.2 17% | 43.3 9% |
Witcher 3 ultra * | 47.5 | 46 3% | 42.9 10% | 44.64 6% | 39.1 18% | |
Load Maximum * | 47.5 | 48 -1% | 47 1% | 45.79 4% | 41.5 13% | 45.7 4% |
* ... smaller is better
Temperature
The laptop doesn't have any thermal issues. The entire chassis remains nice and cool when the device is handling less demanding tasks. Even at full load, we only measured a maximum surface temperature of 47°C (116.6°F) at a hot spot on the bottom, located in the middle towards the back. You can nevertheless still place the device on your lap when it gets this warm. During the stress test, both the CPU and GPU experienced significant throttling because their power draw was limited to just 10 watts and 20 watts respectively.
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 44.6 °C / 112 F, compared to the average of 36.9 °C / 98 F, ranging from 21.1 to 71 °C for the class Multimedia.
(-) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 47.5 °C / 118 F, compared to the average of 39.1 °C / 102 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 25 °C / 77 F, compared to the device average of 31.2 °C / 88 F.
(±) Playing The Witcher 3, the average temperature for the upper side is 36.1 °C / 97 F, compared to the device average of 31.2 °C / 88 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 27.5 °C / 81.5 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(±) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.8 °C / 83.8 F (+1.3 °C / 2.3 F).
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 Intel Core i7-1260P, Intel Arc A350M | Dell Inspiron 15 Plus Intel Core i5-11400H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU | Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce MX350 | Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU | HP Pavilion 15-eg Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce MX450 | Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA Intel Core i5-1135G7, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Heat | -26% | -12% | -13% | -7% | -4% | |
Maximum Upper Side * | 44.6 | 50 -12% | 48.8 -9% | 42.8 4% | 44 1% | 46.5 -4% |
Maximum Bottom * | 47.5 | 51 -7% | 42 12% | 48.6 -2% | 53.4 -12% | 44.8 6% |
Idle Upper Side * | 25.8 | 38 -47% | 30 -16% | 36 -40% | 27.4 -6% | 27.8 -8% |
Idle Bottom * | 26.1 | 36 -38% | 35 -34% | 29.2 -12% | 28.8 -10% | 28.3 -8% |
* ... smaller is better
Speakers
The two stereo speakers only offer average performance and sound very thin and rather metallic compared with premium multimedia laptops. They are good enough for occasional videos or a little background music, but you may want to use external speakers or a pair of headphones if you are looking for better audio quality.
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (76.1 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 18.5% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (12% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 4.2% away from median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (7.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 3.9% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (6.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (18.3% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 50% of all tested devices in this class were better, 8% similar, 43% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 18%, worst was 45%
Compared to all devices tested
» 34% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 58% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE audio analysis
(-) | not very loud speakers (68.4 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 15.3% lower than median
(-) | bass is not linear (16.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 1.9% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (6.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 2.5% away from median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (7.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (17% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 39% of all tested devices in this class were better, 8% similar, 53% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 18%, worst was 45%
Compared to all devices tested
» 25% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 67% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Power management - Multimedia laptop with good battery life
Power consumption
When idling, the Galaxy Book2 is very efficient for a 15-inch device and requires only 8.5 watts at maximum screen brightness. Under load, you can expect power usage of about 55-60 watts, meaning the 65-watt wall charger is barely adequate for the laptop.
Off / Standby | 0.56 / 0.77 Watt |
Idle | 4 / 7.8 / 8.5 Watt |
Load |
59.1 / 62.4 Watt |
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 i7-1260P, A350M, Samsung PM991 MZVLQ512HBLU, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Dell Inspiron 15 Plus i5-11400H, GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU, Micron 2450 512GB MTFDKBA512TFK, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ i7-1165G7, GeForce MX350, Intel SSD 660p SSDPEKNW512G8, OLED, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, Samsung PM9A1 MZVL21T0HCLR, IPS, 3840x2160, 15.60 | HP Pavilion 15-eg i7-1165G7, GeForce MX450, Samsung PM991 MZVLQ1T0HALB, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs, Lite-On CL1-8D512, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60 | Average Intel Arc A350M | Average of class Multimedia | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Power Consumption | -82% | 2% | -113% | -17% | 16% | -17% | -65% | |
Idle Minimum * | 4 | 9 -125% | 3.7 7% | 10.69 -167% | 4.9 -23% | 3.5 12% | 5.25 ? -31% | 7.29 ? -82% |
Idle Average * | 7.8 | 11 -41% | 6.3 19% | 17.85 -129% | 7.9 -1% | 8 -3% | 7.7 ? 1% | 11.7 ? -50% |
Idle Maximum * | 8.5 | 15 -76% | 9.7 -14% | 18.67 -120% | 14.2 -67% | 9.4 -11% | 9.15 ? -8% | 14.5 ? -71% |
Load Average * | 59.1 | 97 -64% | 59 -0% | 98.17 -66% | 64.3 -9% | 37.8 36% | 72.1 ? -22% | 77.7 ? -31% |
Witcher 3 ultra * | 56.7 | 100.1 -77% | 51.4 9% | 100 -76% | 55.6 2% | 36.7 35% | ||
Load Maximum * | 62.4 | 129 -107% | 67.7 -8% | 135.55 -117% | 65.4 -5% | 45 28% | 76.7 ? -23% | 120.2 ? -93% |
* ... smaller is better
Power Consumption - The Witcher 3 / Stress test
Power Consumption - External monitor
Battery life
Like its predecessor, the new Galaxy Book2 has good battery life thanks to its 54 Wh battery. The previous Galaxy Book is the only device in our comparison that could go longer without charging. In our Wi-Fi test, the laptop lasted between 6 and 8 hours depending on the screen brightness. It even managed to play videos at 150 cd/m² (equivalent to 45% of the maximum brightness on our review unit) for almost 10.5 hours. A full charge takes around two hours with the device switched on; the battery is 80% full after approximately 65 minutes of charging.
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15 i7-1260P, A350M, 54 Wh | Dell Inspiron 15 Plus i5-11400H, GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU, 56 Wh | Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ i7-1165G7, GeForce MX350, 42 Wh | Lenovo ThinkBook 15p G2 ITH 21B1000YGE i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, 57 Wh | HP Pavilion 15-eg i7-1165G7, GeForce MX450, 41 Wh | Samsung Galaxy Book NP750XDA i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs, 54 Wh | Average of class Multimedia | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Battery Runtime | -23% | -20% | -45% | -19% | 16% | 11% | |
H.264 | 635 | 269 -58% | 698 ? 10% | ||||
WiFi v1.3 | 494 | 356 -28% | 361 -27% | 225 -54% | 396 -20% | 607 23% | 569 ? 15% |
Load | 90 | 74 -18% | 78 -13% | 69 -23% | 74 -18% | 97 8% | 97.6 ? 8% |
Witcher 3 ultra | 117 | 81.8 ? |
Pros
Cons
Verdict - Galaxy Book2 suffers from a weak display and poor gaming performance
Featuring a current-gen Alder Lake-P Core i7 CPU and the new Arc A350M GPU, the new Galaxy Book2 15 promises to deliver decent performance. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The processor is practically limited to 20 watts right away, meaning that a U-series processor would have been a better choice for the laptop. The CPU performance has improved significantly compared with the previous Galaxy Book. That said, the Tiger Lake processor in the predecessor was already performing far below its actual potential. Although the new Intel A350M graphics card performed well in synthetic benchmarks, the latest AMD iGPU is often just as fast or even faster than the dedicated Intel GPU in actual games. Despite the laptop's lacklustre performance, the two fans inside are very loud, and its energy management still has room for improvement because the system can sometimes exhibit huge fluctuations in performance.
Another issue is the poor display. Samsung chose to use a very cheap matte IPS panel that doesn't utilise PWM, but that is about it in terms of the positives. Our subjective impression is that image quality is very poor: colours appear washed out and the image simply doesn't have very high contrast. Furthermore, the panel has high colour deviation and only managed to cover 75% of the already small sRGB colour space. This display may have been acceptable on an office laptop that costs 500-600 Euro (US$500-600), but not on a product that retails for around 1,300 Euro (US$1,300).
Price and availability
In the review configuration, the Galaxy Book2 costs around 1,230 Euros (US$1,230). It is not yet available in North America. Nevertheless, you can still order it from Cyberport, who kindly sent us the review unit.
Samsung Galaxy Book2 15
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08/23/2022 v7
Andreas Osthoff